Walking is the New Cool – Especially During Extreme Heat

Most of the US is suffering from a heat wave right now.  Our bodies are amazing, but they are affected by the heat and those of us that workout outdoors have to modify our plans for our own good. In years past, during extreme heat, I’ve had two reactions … all or nothing. I’d either can all my workouts or I’d continue with the schedule I had because I was sure I was tough enough to handle it.

Neither of these approaches is good.

Totally canning all workouts is like not doing laundry for two weeks, you then have to play catchup the following week. But staying with your regular workouts is like driving at normal speeds in a snowstorm.

So what’s the happy medium? How can you respect your body in this heat? What is healthy if you don’t want to crank up the AC and undust the treadmill?.

Go out at the crack of dawn.

It will not kill you … seriously it won’t. Yes, you might have to go to bed earlier the night before … but avoiding the additional degrees of heat will be worth it. And you might see a scene like this.

Slow Down.

You can not expect your body to maintain the same workout pace as usual … it is working harder to breath (especially if there’s humidity) to keep vital organs cool and to get oxygen to important places, like your brain. (I prefer to give my brain all the help I can)

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Shorten your workout

Whether you are running or biking … cut your planned distance by a third or even a half. The heat will make your body work harder, so only going half the distance will still give you a good workout.

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Walk.

Walking is great exercise … and even in heat your body can keep up with your energy demands much easier than any other type of exercise. I recently heard Dan Buettner speak and he says, “Walking is not only good for our bodies, but also our brains and “walking is the best activity for longevity.”

Since hearing that, I value walking more and have enjoyed walks/hikes through a local state forest that I hadn’t explored before. And Dan isn’t the only one recognizing the value of walking.

Walking gets the feet moving, the blood moving, the mind moving.  And movement is life. ~Terri Guillemets

People say that losing weight is no walk in the park.  When I hear that I think, yeah, that’s the problem. ~Chris Adams

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ~John Muir

And for Harry Potter fans: Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas. ~J.K. Rowling (spoken by the character Mad-Eye Moody)

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With these adjustments, drinking gallons of water and hopefully some AC during the rest of the day, you can survive this heat dome (it covers so much of the country, that it’s moved from a wave to a dome) Then whenever the weather normalizes …  your body won’t have reverted to a couch potato, plus you won’t be physically and mentally exhausted from pushing yourself too hard through the heat.

With these adjustments, your body and mind will be ready to tackle your normal routine … with more energy than if you’d have taken the all or nothing approach.

How do you handle extreme heat? Any other suggestions?

For more great heat-related articles … visit The Heat is On at Runner’s World