Recovery methods: using the sauna

In this post I really wanted to go through the use of saunas described by Joel Jamieson in his excellent blog and my own experience of saunas as a physical therapist, fitness trainer and sportsman. I will also add in recommendations I have come across from other experts in the field including Dave Tate, Eric Cressey and Charlie Francis the well known trainer who trained a host of top sprint athletes including Ben Johnson and Donovan Bailey.

I think there is quite a bit of confusion out there about what works and what doesn’t work and without the use of heart rate variability to measure response to the various methods, most people are just guessing so I can see why.

Not Just For Making Weight
Although the sauna has been used over the years mostly for dropping those last few extra pounds of water weight, I’ve found that it’s best use is really for recovery/regeneration.

The sauna has been used most effectively with athletes during periods of intense training. I’ve been using it myself and with athletes I train for over ten years now and all I can say is that it works. I’ve made a few modifications here and there over the years, but the method has stayed the same.

Using the sauna for recovery is most effective during periods of parasympathetic overreaching. You wouldn’t really want to use it if you’re sympathetically overworked as it wouldn’t really be of much help. Some of the symptoms of parasympathetic overreaching/overtraining are: general lethargy, lack of motivation to train, drop in morning resting heart rates and lowered heart rates during training, excessive sleep, etc.

The sauna works because it provides a very mild sympathetic stimulus that essentially triggers the body’s adaptive mechanisms without really placing much physical stress on the body itself. It’s akin to jump starting a car really, it gets things going. This is pretty much how all recovery/regeneration techniques work for the most part.

Using The Sauna the Right Way
To get the most out of the sauna method, you have to be pretty specific in how you go about using it. Just hopping in for a few minutes and then getting out probably won’t do a whole lot for you and is mostly a waste of time.

You also want to make sure that you’re using a dry sauna for this method, not a steam room, wet sauna, or infrared sauna and the hotter you can get it, the better – preferably over 200 degrees. If not any good dry sauna that gets very hot will work.

Next, you also need a shower close by to really do the method correctly. Fortunately, most saunas tend to be in locker rooms or near a shower anyway so it shouldn’t be an issue. Assuming you have a dry sauna that gets very hot and a nearby shower, you’ve got everything you need to use the sauna to promote recovery so you can keep training or get back to it.

I most often recommend and prefer to use methods such as the sauna either towards the end of an intense training cycle when I want to promote recovery and regeneration as I take the athlete out of the loading phase, or whenever I see an athlete is moving too far towards overtraining. Charlie Francis pointed out that saunas can be used at anytime except before an intense workout but that most people preferred to use them at night. I personally don’t believe in using these types of methods all the time as I believe that you need to overload an athlete/individual to force adaptation and if you are constantly trying to promote recovery all the time, there is a point where you will be losing this benefits of the loading.

It is also very important to note that if you overuse a recovery method and try to do it all the time, it will lose its effectiveness. I like to rotate recovery methods and use different ones depending on the athlete and the situation. You can use the sauna for a week or two at a time and then use something else the next time you need to promote recovery. Don’t overdo it or just like anything else, your body will become accustomed to it and it won’t have the same effect.

The Ultimate Sauna Recovery Method
To perform the method correctly and get the most out of it, make sure to follow these specific guidelines as close as possible:

1. Pre-heat the sauna to the highest temperature possible, at least 200 degrees is preferable
2. Begin by getting in the sauna and stay in until you first break a sweat and then get out
3. Rinse off for 5-10 seconds in luke warm water and then get out of the shower, pat yourself off, wrap a towel around yourself and then sit down for 2-3 minutes
4. Get back in the sauna and stay in for 5-10 minutes. The original method calls for staying in until 150 drops of sweat have dripped off your face, but I’ve found for most people this is 5-10 minutes
5. Take another shower, this time make it as cold as possible and stay in it for 30 seconds. It’s most important to let the water cover your head completely the whole time
6. Get out of the shower, pat yourself dry, wrap a towel around yourself, and sit down and relax until you stop sweating completely and your skin is dry. This typically takes anywhere from 3-10 minutes
7. Return to the sauna, this time stay in for 10-15 minutes and then get out
8. Repeat step 5-6
9. Get back in the sauna for another 10-15 minutes and then get out
10. Take another shower, this time make it fairly warm and stay in for 1-2 minutes
11. Dry yourself completely off, lay down and relax for 5-10 minutes

Well there you have it sounds pretty simple really, give it a go and let us have some feedback as to your thoughts. I recently read some of the work done by Charlie Francis who also has some comments of the use of ice baths and saunas as recovery methods and will post some of these later.