Training In Heat Yields Surprising Rewards

What doesn’t kill you doesn’t kill you. Sometimes, but not that often, it makes you stronger, as it does when we train at high altitude and our bodies learn to use oxygen more efficiently. And because that seems to work, some researchers wondered also about training in high temperatures. Could working out in heat possibly be good for us? Writing in the New York Times, long-time runner Gina Kolata cites research conducted at the University of Oregon that attempted to find out. The researchers put 12 experienced cyclists through a tough training regimen in a room that was heated to 106 degrees, and another eight cyclists through a similar workout in a room that was only 55 degrees. And? Kolata reports that after ten days of heat acclimation, “performance in the experimental (heat) group improved by 4 percent to 8 percent when they rode as hard and fast as they could.” Read more in the New York Times.