Originally Posted by diary:
I would say that kira DOES have a point. When I started working out in December, I thought an elliptical machine was waaayy too hard for me. Now, not so much, small steps and challenging yourself to try new things. Don;t do it if it hurts, but definitely try new things. I prefer to work out at a comfortable temperature. It's just all work. Work out, get the weight off, make it maintainable, that's how I do it!

I don't think there is anything wrong with pushing yourself. The original topic though is about heat vs calories burned. Of course if we know that more calories are burned, we may decide to work in hotter temperatures vs cooler.

In my case, I work out in my basement a lot and we keep our dehumidifier down there. It spews out hot air. So I'll turn it off when I exercise or else it is unbearably hot. I also don't like running outside when its hot/humid and rather do another activity.

Running in the Florida summer heat sure FEELS harder than running in cooler weather. It would be great if it burned more calories too! :p

Originally Posted by MBN:
Running in the Florida summer heat sure FEELS harder than running in cooler weather. It would be great if it burned more calories too! :p

Amen.

oh man. i'm a totally wimp when it comes to this. i love the idea of being all hard core and running in warmer temps, but the fact of the matter is that i am a MAJOR sweat factory. whenever i go into my gym, i turn the thermostat all the way down to 66 and still within a mile i'm drenched and actively dripping droplets from my face onto the treadmill. gross. gross. gross. if i were to run at even a moderately warmer temp but not anywhere near hot, say, 75 degrees, i'd probably be swimming in my own ickiness.

I don't know how people run in warm weather. I'm prone to side stitches and warm temperatures seem to make the situation worse. If it's above, say, 70 degrees, I just completely cramp up.

Also, when it's hot like that, my contacts slide out of position and I can't see where I'm going. I think the heat must make my eyeballs change shape slightly.

I have to say I find this really interesting too but not for my own use. I'm planning a series of books and one of my side characters is a woman constantly trying to lose weight through various gimmicks she's heard about and everytime novel she's got a new get thin quick scheme. In the first one she's on a frozen diet on the grounds that all waste leaves the body at the same temperature so if you only eat frozen foods you'll expend more energy warming them up while you digest. Of course it fails miserably because she lives on icecream for a week...

Personally I think the biggest thing is that you go out and do it. You'll burn more calories working out in an AC'd gym than sitting on your bupkiss in a warm room.

I am extremely heat sensitive when it comes to exercising. I get light headed and nauseous. That is no fun at all. How can I concentrate on my exercise and on improving if I feel like I have the flu?

That being said, I'd love to "get over" this challenge. I'm concerened about the upcoming summer days when it will be 80 degrees when I work out at 6:30am. I am currently working out with a fan on high, blowing right on me. I've had to use the room a/c a couple of times as well. It sucks.

I want to to know why some people handle the heat better or worse than others. I exercise 5-6 times a week and really challenge myself, so it seems to be more physiological than psychological for me.

My heart rate also reaches my maximum much faster than others, I have lower blood pressure. I wonder if that might be a reason?

Originally Posted by BlueToBlue:
I don't know how people run in warm weather. I'm prone to side stitches and warm temperatures seem to make the situation worse. If it's above, say, 70 degrees, I just completely cramp up.

To some extent, we can get used to it. The first run of the season when the outside temp is in the 70s always stinks for me. A week or two later, 70s are nothing. I find that taking it easier until I adapt to the temperature, plus wearing proper clothing (I so do not understand these women in long capris and sleeves doing high intensity activities when it's room temperature outdoors), plus proper hydration before and after.

And then OTOH, I've never been able to adapt to running above 85-- it just doesn't happen.

Specifically for cramping and contacts that float away, if it were me I'd try lowering the intensity a lot for a week or two; checking for enough potassium in the diet (leg cramps) and refueling with more specialized products after sweating a lot; and some kind of sweatband to prevent sweat from dripping into my eyes which IME can make my contacts move around.

FWIW.

The other thing to think about with respect to acclimatizing is that if you drive to work with your air conditioning on, you work in an air conditioned building (some are so cold you have to wear a sweater in the middle of summer!), you get back into your air conditioned car, drive home, spend a little time in your air conditioned home, then jump in your workout gear and dive into the steamy outdoors, you'll have a TOUGH time adapting to the conditions.
It might be an idea to sit outside for a good 30-45 minutes to get used to the heat before really extending yourself. This is one of the things you do to get ready for a Hot Yoga class. You get there at LEAST 15 minutes ahead of time (I get there a full 30 minutes ahead of time) so you can lie down and acclimatize in the room PRIOR to exerting yourself...
Just a thought...
Kira

I work from home and don't have AC (and rarely drive anywhere), so, for me, it's not a matter of not being adapted to the temperature. I'm pretty much at the outdoor temperature all the time (well, except in the winter--we do have heat). And, when I'm not actually exercising, it has to be over 100 before I feel hot. 90 to 100 degrees is just comfy for me.

But despite my tolerance for high temperatures, once the temperature gets over 70, running outdoors is an exercise in pain--no leg cramps, just really painful side stitches. I've tried to just suck it up in the hopes that I would adapt, but it never happens.

And, I don't sweat the much when I run outdoors. Or I guess it all just evaporates, but whatever the reason, sweat running into my eyes isn't a problem. I carry a hankerchief that I can use to wipe of the sweat if necessary, but mostly I just use it to blow my nose. So the contacts aren't sliding around due to sweat, it's just something about being hot that makes them move out of position. I've noticed it in both wet and dry saunas and even when taking a hot shower.

It's not that big a deal. I do lots of different types of exercise and I can just do something different until the temperature drops. And, these days, I have knee problems so I need to limit the amount of time I run anyway.

Wow, no AC, I'm impressed.

Last year, our AC broke during summer and it was horrible. We tried to keep the house cool but it reached about 90 degrees inside at which point we went and bought a window unit and that baby kept cranking 24/7 and the house cooled off to about 85 but I was glad when we got the AC fixed.

We try to use AC minimally though so our thermostat is set to 79 and in the winter, I think we keep the heat about 65.

Wow, really? I always thought that exercise in the cold was more effective because of warming yourself. Or that is what they said on my high school hockey team. They said that was why hockey got you in such great shape. Of course, it also involved a series of two minute sprints which use ever muscle in your body, which might have had some bearing on things.

Anyway, I do thnk it is hard to work out in the heat, but more that it is harder than that I work harder, if that makes any sense. In the cold, though, I find it hard to breathe, so there are challenges either way.

I definately don't like working out in the heat! It's so uncomfortable! Good thing I live in Canada :p. It is getting up to around 26-30 degrees here, and will probably stay like that all summer. I'll just have to wake up earlier when it's cooler. Running last winter was also hard. Mostly because I was doing run/walk intervals so during the walking parts I froze! And that was at like 6 degrees, not even that cold!