50. POST-EXERCISE SAUNA BATHING BOOSTS ENDURANCE PERFORMANCE

Photo by HUUM on Unsplash

In the previous KisW Research Notes we saw that heat training boosts endurance performance even when going back to exercise in a temperate environment both when performed in a heat chamber (a room where you can manually control temperature and humidity) or through wearing additional clothes (‘heat suit training’). The heat training’s positive impact on endurance performance has been observed both in amateur and professional cyclists and are related both to muscular and haematological positive adaptations.

While it is effective, sometimes heat training could not be an optimal solution for some athletes because they simply don’t like it (especially when they are already performing a high training load) or because it is not easy to fit it in their training schedule (or also job schedule if they are not pros). So, in these scenarios, using passive heat exposure through post-exercise sauna bathing could be an effective solution to replace all or some of the heat training sessions (active heat exposure).

Does post-exercise sauna bathing boost endurance training adaptations and performance in a temperate environment?

A study published by Kirby and Colleagues (University of Birmingham) on European Journal of Applied Physiology in 2021 tried to answer this question. (1)

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WHAT DID THEY DO?

• 20 middle-distance runners (mean VO_2max ~56, mean age ~20) were divided in two groups (SAUNA vs CONTROL) which for 3 weeks trained in a similar way:

  • 7 days per week

  • ~53 km per week

  • 1 long run, 2 easy shorter runs, 1 medium intensity run, 2 high intensity runs, 1 cross (other sport) training session

• The only difference between the two groups was the following:

  • SAUNA Group: 3 times per week, within ~ 5 min of the end of the long run or the easy runs, runners entered a sauna (101–108 °C, 5–10% RH) for 30minutes while drinking water ad libitum.

  • CONTROL Group: runners did not use the sauna.

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Differences in physiological and performance adaptations between pre and post the 3 weeks were tested at ~ 18 °C) for both SAUNA and CONTROL. So, they verified not if post-exercise sauna bathing boosts adaptations and performance in the heat, but if this passive heat exposure method optimizes physiological adaptations and performance in general, so even when returning to exercise at normal temperatures!

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