Smart Summer Training: how to handle Heat, Hydration, and Performance
- Clem Duranseaud
- Jun 5
- 4 min read
Trees are in full bloom, London parrots are out and singing, and you've had a fair share of delicious patio drinks. Summer is finally here.
Along with all this fun stuff comes the heat. More heat means more sweat and a challenging workout environment. Unmanaged, this can make it harder for you to stick with your training.
In this post we will see how we can adapt to these new workout conditions and how to hydrate properly.
How heat impacts your summer workouts
During exercise, your body has to deal with two heat sources:
Its own internal heating. A result of muscle contraction is heat. The more we exercise, the more we heat up until we stabilize the intensity
External heat either from the sun or your gym's heating system
Warming up is a normal, even healthy process for our bodies. However, if left unchecked, and our internal temperature rises above 40°C (106°F), bad things may start to happen.
Performance drops, both endurance and strength
We may get dizzy or nauseous from heat exhaustion
Heat makes our blood vessels dilate, which lowers blood pressure. If left unmanaged for long training bouts this can lead to serious problems
In extreme cases, heat stroke can occur which can cause muscle and organ failure
This is why sweating is so important. And fortunately, managing heat while training is fairly straight forward.
Let's start with the most important: hydration
Hydration: your #1 summer training priority
Your body regulates it's internal temperature by sweating. This requires water. Making sure you drink enough water throughout the day is the easiest way to manage hydration.
If you're serious about training, you should be doing this year round anyways.
How much water should you drink?
The easiest and simplest way to understand how much to drink is with the urine test: what colour is your pee?
If it's clear, you're good. If it's yellow, go drink some water.
Sure you can get fancier than that, like weighting yourself before and after your session to see how much sweat you lost. But I find that overly complicated for what it is.
On top of the urine test, aim to for the following guidelines:
Drink 500ml of fluids per hour of exercise in the heat
Don't chug down your drink, small sips are more effective
Electrolytes: when and why they matter
Sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium are electrolytes. They help the body function properly.
You lose electrolytes by sweating, especially sodium.
Now I know that electrolyte drinks and tablets are popular out there, but for most people, they may be overkill. Here's a quick cheat sheet:
Any exercise under an hour: don't even need to think about electrolytes
Anything between 1-2 hours: some people MAY need to start thinking about replenishing sodium
Anything above 2 hours: yes, start thinking about how you'll restock your electrolyte stores
When exercising in higher temperatures, electrolyte supplementation may become more important
Hydration is the most impactful way you can enhance your summer training. The other strategies are a little more self explanatory.
Avoid the hottest part of the day
Train early in the morning or later at night. If your schedule truly limits you to workout during the hottest hours of the day, modify the duration of your routine.
When we did our fitness retreat in Costa Rica, I had people working out at 7am or 5pm in the shade. The 5pm workout was shorter than the morning one because it was still hot even in the shade.
Cooling techniques
Anything you do to help your body cool down while exercising in the heat will help. This can include
Jumping in a river when you see one
Drinking cold drinks
Getting hosed down while you run past your house
Dipping your hands in cold water
Wearing cooling clothing
I personally find most of them too complicated. I don't want to run with a thermos water bottle with iced water during my runs. Effective cooling garment are expensive.
I will gladly dip my feet in a river while on a long hike, or dip my arms if I'm on a long run. Leaving a towel in the freezer in wrapping it around my shoulders when I get home is also a simple way to cool off easily.
Nutrition for summer training
Take advantage of the summer to eat extra juicy fruits. Watermelons, oranges, mangoes, berries are all delicious during the summer months.
Fruits in particular have a high water content, which helps you stay hydrated throughout the day.
Other than that, keep your training nutrition similar to non-summer months. Eat enough protein and adjust your calorie intake to your goals.
Recovery during summer workouts
The only point I'll stress here is the importance of cooling off after exercising in the heat. When you get back home, take a cold shower or something similar.
This will help your body cool off faster and start recovering sooner.
Training in the heat recap
Summer is an awesome time to train. The weather is nice, all the plants are in bloom and it's just nice being outside.
When the weather gets really hot, we just need to manage our body's temperature a little more closely. This will ensure we can keep training (no falling off the wagon here) in a safe manner.
Adjusting your water intake to make up for the extra sweating, and focusing on fruits a little bit more than usual is a good place to start.
Taking the time to add a cooling routine after your training will also help you recover faster.
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