Traditionally, a sauna is associated with rest and relaxation, a good pastime, and socializing with friends. However, recently, more and more often you can hear calls from fitness trainers and professional athletes to make the sauna an integral part of the recovery process after difficult exercise loads. So, what are the benefits of sauna after workout and what do experts say about it?
- A visit to the sauna after a workout helps to quickly remove lactic acid from the body, the synthesis of which is the cause of the well-known cramping. Professional athletes note that visiting a sauna immediately after training reduces the risk of muscle pain by 70 percent.
- The next advantage among the many benefits of sauna after workout is especially appealing to the fair sex. After all, the procedure provides a quick removal of toxins from the body, thereby contributing to weight loss and increasing skin elasticity.
- And finally, the most pleasant advantage of the procedure is that it promotes the production of the hormone endorphin, that is, it triggers the body’s recovery mechanism after stress. That is why after visiting the sauna, your mood improves significantly, and fatigue is relieved like a charm.
The biggest controversy that sports enthusiasts have is whether to go to the sauna before or after workout. Here it is worth referring to an interesting experiment by British doctors, which involved 20 athletes. Half of them visited the sauna before training, and the other half after. So, after visiting the sauna men found it difficult to cope with the set of strength exercises proposed by the experts, meaning that their endurance significantly decreased.
Despite the convincing benefits of sauna after workout, you should pay attention to the time of the procedure. How long to sit in sauna after workout? The answer is unequivocal: 8-10 minutes for beginners and no more than 20 minutes for steam room enthusiasts. At the same time, it is very important to monitor the water balance of the body, drinking at least 1.5 liters of water per procedure. So, strict adherence to all the rules of visiting the sauna will make this procedure not only pleasant but also very useful!