Summer is finally here! And if you are like me, you love to spend time outdoors soaking in the vitamin D and breaking a great sweat! When it starts to get warm outside its very common for you to want to bring your workouts outdoors to experience some fresh air and get a nice change of scenery! There’s nothing better than flipping some tires in the sun or hiking to the top of a mountain to enjoy the view! BUT when the temperature and humidity start to rise you have to be very careful about dehydration and overheating.

Tips for working out on the hot summer days.

1. Stay hydrated!
   I know this seems like an obvious tip, but staying hydrated is critically important especially when exercising in the heat. Working out outdoors in the heat causes you to sweat out the water you drink making it easy to become dehydrated. Research shows that drinking plenty of water before, during, and after your workouts as well as eating foods that help to replenish the electrolytes, you lose while sweating. Foods such as pickles, bananas, and pink salt are great tools to aid in keeping your electrolytes balanced in the heat. Also eating naturally hydrating foods before and after exercise such as coconut water, watermelon, cucumber, and citrusy fruits can help keep you hydrated.
2. Wear light weight clothing.
   The best types of clothing to wear when you are working out in the heat would be whites or bright colored. Avoid dark colored clothing as that will attract the sun and make it seem hotter outside then it already is. Opt for moisture wicking clothing as well as that can help keep your body dry and bring your sweat to the outer surface of your clothing.
3. Listen to your body!
   Becoming aware of how you feel and to know and understand what your limits are when exercising in the heat is critically important too. If you start to feel light headed, nauseous or dizzy, that is a sign you need to rest and drink some water.
4. Start with short amounts of time.
   Especially when you first start exercising in the heat, it is best to start with keeping your workouts short. Let your body acclimate to physical activity in the heat before jumping into running a marathon on day one. Start with 20-30 minutes and slowly increase your time as you get more acclimated to the heat.

Now that we have talked about some precaution and safety tips for working out in the heat, lets talk about the benefits of exercising in the heat!

1. Comfortable being uncomfortable.
   Exercising in the heat is probably one of the most uncomfortable ways to exercise. Everything is soaked in sweat; you feel like you are breathing in water vapor because it’s so humid and no matter how hard you try to cool down that hot summer sun is burning you. But because this is such an uncomfortable feeling, research shows us that people who are more acclimated to exercising in the heat have less body heat storage and perform at a higher level and can push themselves that much harder. It can really improve your endurance!

2. It promotes detoxification.
   Remember the 3 things that cause all disease? Dysfunction in the nervous system, dysfunction in our gut, and lastly dysfunction of the detoxification centers in our body. Exercising in the heat causes you to sweat a lot! Sweating is one of your bodies ways of getting rid of toxins in the body. Research suggests that people who exercise in the heat for one hour, lose about one liter of sweat! This is why it is critically important to replenish your electrolytes and drink lots of fluids before and after exercise because this is a lot of sweat!
3. Improves Blood Circulation
   By exercising in the heat your body needs to respond and adapt to the new changes by increasing your sweat production and blood flow. Exercising in the heat increases blood flow to the skin allowing your body to cool itself much more efficiently.

I hope you can take these tidbits and apply them to your own exercise routine! So go get out in the sun, soak up some vitamin D, and get your body moving the way God intended it to!