Does exercise in the heat burn more calories? The short answer is yes; When you’re training and it’s hot, your cardiovascular system has to rush to maximum speed to cool the body and maintain a constant body temperature.
If you were to do the same exercise in a temperate climate and a hot climate, the additional “cooling” efforts of your body in the warmer environment would likely result in a higher energy expenditure.
However, the extra calories will be fairly minimal and there are a lot of other factors to consider. Without extra heat, you can achieve better results and burn more calories, because you can train for longer without any health risks or additional stress on the body.
Let’s take a deeper look and find out: Does exercising in the heat burn more calories? And if you’d rather avoid the heat completely when training, check out our guide to the best home workout equipment (Opens in a new tab).
Does exercise in the heat burn more calories?
As explained above, your body has to work harder in the heat to cool itself during exercise, so you can burn more calories — but any extra calories burned will have little effect on weight loss, says chartered exercise physiotherapist Helen. O’Leary.
During exercise, your body temperature rises to support the physical demands of the task. The body then regulates its temperature by sweating so that the heat dissipates into the air. Add to this process a hot climate, and your body has to work even harder to bring its temperature down.”
Helen O’Leary is a UK-based Certified Physiotherapist and Clinical Director of Complete Pilates (Opens in a new tab).
Interestingly, our bodies can already adapt to hotter environments, making working out in sweaty temperatures less urgent. As described by the CDC (Opens in a new tab)Regular exposure to hot environments can improve sweat efficiency and increase blood flow in the skin, facilitating the regulation of our temperatures.
It doesn’t take long for these changes to take effect either. Review published in Sports Medicine (Opens in a new tab) showed that people who train in hotter environments for only 14 days can experience improved physiological adaptations.
O’Leary adds, “As with anything, we’re surprisingly quick to adapt, so if you use heat-based training techniques regularly, you’ll acclimatise, so the body won’t work as hard and will need fewer calories to cool itself.”
What happens to the body during exercise in high temperatures?
Exercising in hot weather will put extra stress on your body. The exercise you do and the air temperature and humidity can increase your core body temperature, and your body needs to work hard to get rid of this extra heat.
“During exercise, the main challenge for the cardiovascular system is to provide enough blood flow to the skin to effectively regulate temperature but also to provide enough blood flow to the muscles to support metabolism,” O’Leary explains.
When it’s hot, your body will send more blood to circulate through your skin, but this will actually leave less blood in your muscles. Some researchers (Opens in a new tab) I hypothesized that this could increase anaerobic metabolism, which is when your body converts glucose into lactate – so you burn stored fat instead of using oxygen for energy. But not all recent research supports this.
Another thing your body will do to keep you cool is to sweat: “The amount of sweating is related to the amount of blood flowing through the skin…[but] How much we sweat varies and also depends on the environment we are in, the clothes and the physical activity we do.
Sweating can, of course, lead to dehydration, especially if you don’t replace the fluids you’re losing. That can set off a vicious cycle, according to O’Leary.
Dehydration caused by loss of perspiration leads to decreased blood volume and plasma tension [a cell’s ability to move water] Both reduce sweat secretion and blood flow in the skin. Because of this, your body’s ability to get rid of heat decreases and the risk of serious dehydration increases.”
How should you exercise in the heat?
Exercising in the heat can increase the risk of heat exhaustion: This occurs when the body overheats in response to external factors, such as temperature. It can happen to anyone and is common in athletes. However, it can also happen when you are sitting in a hot car.
“You can still exercise in hot weather, but a few things are important to think about,” O’Leary says. “The higher the temperature, the greater the risk of dehydration or heatstroke. Look at what time of day it cools down and try to time your exercise at that time. This generally means early morning or later evening periods.”
Is there a lot of moisture? If yes, then there is more water in the air, which makes it more difficult for your body to lose heat.
Making sure that you drink water while you exercise is key, but also make sure you do it before and after exercise to replace the fluids you’ve lost due to increased sweating.
“If you live in a cold place and it’s suddenly hot but you want to keep exercising, simply start slowly and reduce your normal intensity levels as your body adjusts. It can take up to two weeks for that to happen, so be patient with yourself and listen to what’s going on. feel it!”
How much water should you drink in the heat when exercising?
A lot of research has been done on this and there is a very thin line between ‘hyperhydration’ (excessive water content in the body) and ‘lack of water’
(Because he suffers from a lack of water in the body).
“The benefits of getting near-perfect hydration is that it helps you maintain your mood, recover from exercise, perform well and have good heat transfer.
“If you want to be really specific, you can calculate sweat loss (SL) by calculating: pre-exercise body mass (kg) – post-exercise body mass (kg) + volume liquid Consumed during exercise (liters) – urine volume (if available in liters). “The rate of sweating is sweat loss (l)/duration of exercise,” says Helen.
What are some of the best exercises to do in high temperatures?
“It depends partly on your ability and fitness levels and there is no one size fits all,” says Helen. All exercises can be adjusted for hot weather; you just have to know your limits.
“On really hot days, you can try things like paddle boarding, kayaking, surfing or swimming. All of these things help keep you cool but will also help you stay fit and healthy.” Staying hydrated is also key – Remember to buy one of the best water bottles (Opens in a new tab) And drink it regularly.
“If you are a beginner exerciser or have never exercised in the heat before, try doing more gentle exercises such as tai chi or walking. You can also do some Pilates, yoga or beginner body weight aerobics. Try to keep the program on the whole body instead of Mark areas and let your body adjust.Like we said, it takes about two weeks for that to happen.
“Knowing your exercise level is really important. If you haven’t exercised before, going for a run in the hot afternoon sun is not a good idea. Instead, build your stamina slowly and remember that things take time to adjust!”