[Chantelle Robitaille]

Hi all,

For those of you who participated in the last group session, we had a discussion on heat acclimation as a way to help prepare for altitude. I have prepared some guidelines here for those who have asked:

Heat Acclimation Guidance

– Remember that heat training is stress! Your body doesn’t know the difference between different kinds of stress…so make sure you aren’t adding heat stress at the same time as a high training stress, life, stress, etc.
– Heat acclimation takes time. You should see benefits in 7-10 days of exposure (women may be 10-14 days)
– Acclimation declines with time- lose approx.. 2.5% per day
– You can maintain the benefits of the initial acclimation by adding a dose of heat exposure every 3-4 days
– If you are new to heat training, try it out months in advance (as a trial run) of your objective to make sure you can handle the added stress. Then bring it back in 7-14 days before your objective (but don’t forget to decrease your training load!)

– A passive protocol is recommended
o Do your workout and then while your body temperature is still elevated, get your heat exposure.
o 20-30 min heat session
o Sauna 160-190F/71-88C
o Hot tub 104-108F/40-42C
o In a hot tub, submerge yourself so that shoulders are below the water level
o Don’t drink anything while in the sauna/tub
o Rehydrate SLOWLY post-heat session (ie. Don’t slam a Gatorade right after)

– More (time, temp, etc) isn’t more better! Follow these guidelines to stay safe and get results.

Topic

[Rogbot]

Rogbot on May 3, 2023 at 6:46 am #77828

This is very clear and actionable, thanks!

[Paula Kim]

Paula Kim on May 4, 2023 at 1:26 pm #77896

Very clear and helpful. Thank you!