Endurance is on every athletes mind while training for a big event. The more conditioning or training you put in to your sport the better trained your body is for the event, and the better your performance will be. An example are athletes who have been training for the 2018 Olympics this upcoming Summer. The Olympics is one of the most astounding athletic events as it only happens every 4 years. Athletes will train their whole life inching towards seconds coming off their timed performance, or an extra inch height, an extra rotation off the diving board the list goes on and on. It is past the olympic stage as well including athletes playing pro sports, UFC fighters, high school athletes, marathon runners, etc.
One thing that all athletes have in common is endurance, and the continual drive to improve it.
In this post we are going to focus on how athletes can utilize the sauna as a habit that will add extra benefits to their workout program improving athletes endurance. Even if you’re not an athlete this is still very important for you, as endurance is one of the main things looked at when measuring overall health.
Endurance training is very normal for athletes as they continually practice, so on game day their body is trained to perform to the best of its capabilities. Many athletes will condition their body by using exercise or physical activity. Athletes go through conditioning the body by practicing their sport. Working on individual skills, team practices, or using weight training and other types of training off the playing field. By practicing and working out off the field these athletes are working to increase their endurance. They push daily harder and harder, sweating, that is causing the body to push more blood to the muscles being used, the heart, and the brain. That is why either coaches, personal trainers, or the athletes will set goals for the individual, because once the body adapts to the virgorousity of the exercise the individual won’t get tired anymore and needs to be pushed more.
What this is called is hyperthermic conditioning, better known as “conditioning”, or dryland, off ice training by your coach. In short term as your body increases its internal heat, your body adapts, and becomes acclimated to the heat allowing you to perform longer avoiding that “wall” you hit when exhausted. Which improves your endurance in your sport.
The sauna has been shown in research to help improve individuals endurance by using the sauna after a practice, or training session. How it does this is the same way that your body conditions during exercise, the sauna heat mimics your exercise, and will add in added benefits post activity or practice.
One way the sauna helps improve your endurance is by increasing blood flow to the muscles. While exercising your muscles are working causing your body to deplete itself of glycogen stores in the muscle, when you run out, this is usually when you feel you’ve hit your “wall”. I say your wall because everyone’s wall or endurance levels are different. Heat acclimation has been shown to help to reduce the need of depleting your glycogen stores early on in the exercise allowing you to have an increase in endurance.
The second way sauna use can increase your endurance is by increasing blood flow to your heart, allowing you to workout longer. Same as practicing to better your endurance, the sauna is another workout on your heart as it needs to increase workload to keep the body cooled. That is why using the sauna can help increase your endurance performance because it has been stressed during practice, and sauna improving the hearts health and ability to perform.
The third way the sauna can help increase your endurance is by increasing blood flow to the skin. WHile in the sauna you increase your blood flow to your skin allowing you to sweat to keep your body cooled. This is the body’s sympathetic nervous system activating. This increases with more sauna use, and physical activity allowing you to sweat earlier which keeps your internal temperature cooler, which in turn will allow you to perform longer and have increased endurance.
This was proven in a study done in Finland on 6 male distance runners. In the study the 6 runners would complete a 30-minute sauna session two times a week after a distance run for 12 weeks straight.
The results in the study showed that the 6 runners increased their running ability to exhaustion by 32%. The runners also showed a 7% increase in plasma volume, and 3.5% increase in red blood cells.
Wow… just adding the sauna into your weekly schedule showed upwards of 30% improvement in athletic endurance, imagine what it could do for you!
In conclusion;
If you’re an athlete looking to improve your game anyways possible, try implementing the sauna after vigorous workouts or practices at least two times a week, and see how you feel. We recommend not using them before a game. You should not only feel better, but also notice an improved endurance ability on the field or in your workouts.
And if you’re not training to compete in the next olympics, or done with competitive sport, this research still shows that implementing the habit of sauna into your weekly activity will help increase your endurance in the gym.
Don’t think, just do! Get out and try the sauna out for yourself.
Stay Warm,
Northern Sauna Co.
Northern Sauna Co. 
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