Sauna

Exercise & Sauna Suit: Is It Okay To Wear Sauna Suit During Exercise

Sauna suits generally replicate the impacts of the real sauna bath. Simply like the traditional sauna bath, sauna suits offer the same heat effect and make your body sweat more quickly.

Thus, the sauna suit helps your body detox toxins and other harmful materials. And that is why some people prefer to wear sauna suits as their workout gear. Athletes and celebrities wear them to get the maximum benefits from their workout sessions.

However, some non-believers of sauna suit effects, question the benefits of sauna suits. So, to answer their question, we analyzed the topic and found some interesting information.

Thus, we are now going to provide you with those interesting information regarding sauna suit benefits and we will also answer you whether it is OKAY to wear a sauna suit while exercising or not. Go through our entire content to find out your answer!

Should I Wear Sauna Suits While Exercising?

Sauna suits are generally made using rubber, vinyl, nylon, or other non-breathable materials, and feature elastic cuffs to stop ventilation. Thus, you will profusely sweat while wearing it, causing shed water weight.

This’s nothing unique, people are wearing clothes that can induce sweat in saunas. These sauna suits are most common among sports persons, who should quickly shed pounds to meet a specific weight class, like boxers and wrestlers.

Since the sauna suits make you sweat, you’ll lose weight because of fluid loss and consequently, your stomach will become smaller. However, this weight loss is temporary, and you’ll regain it when you consume drinks or food.

It means, wearing a sauna suit while exercising may increase your calorie burning (only slightly). During workouts in temperate and hot conditions, our body works harder and oxygenates muscles to prevent overheating. However, the effects will be too little to register on the bathroom scale.

Wearing a restrictive heat loss attire like a sauna suit while exercising, often seem to be an easy and quick way to get the most benefits out of the workout practice. But that is not the truth. Or we can say that it is a half-truth.

The fact is that this body heat and sweat-inducing attire will not reduce your belly fat. Although it helps you sweat faster that does not mean you are going to lose your fat and get rid of heat-related illnesses like magic.

A flatter belly and fatless body come from a proper exercise program and healthy eating, not simply wearing an article of garments.

Additionally, whether you will get a flat stomach or not, that more or less depends on your body type as well. Not every type of body can get a fully flat belly. So, rather than concentrating on perfecting a single body part, try to adopt approving lifestyle changes that can provide you healthy body weight.

NOTE:

There is no harm in wearing a sauna suit while exercising. However, you should not expect magical weight loss or other benefits from wearing sauna suits during exercise. This suit will indeed help you sweat faster but not shed fat or calories.

What To Look For While Buying The Best Sauna Suit?

There are a few things that you must pay attention to while buying sauna suits for exercising. These will certainly help you get the best sauna suit.

Ventilation

Generally, sauna suits are made using non-breathable material. But there are a few suits that are made using material that is just breathable enough so that you can keep your body cool enough not to harm the body. This will help you avoid the risk of falling ill or overheating.

Material

We recommend you get a sauna suit that is made using high-quality nylon or Neoprene. Also, we recommend avoiding PVC material as it is cheap and flimsy.

Cost

You will get a quality suit for under $100 generally. But if you have more budget then go for better sauna suits that are made using high-quality material.

Size

Neither goes for too-tight or too-large sauna suits. Small suits can prevent your blood flow and the big ones may not work as effectively as you have expected. Thus, always make sure the suit is just the right size for you.

Reasons To Wear A Sauna Suit While Exercising

Here are a few reasons to wear sauna suits while exercising. Let’s have a look at the reasons below.

Promotes Sweating

Well, when our body sweats, we tend to lose a lot of water in the process. This causes an almost immediate rapid weight loss just like doing it in sauna. This’s the reason why a sauna suit is popular, especially among athletes.

Athletes often have to lose a specific amount of weight just before weighing in. Thus, athletes prefer these suits a lot while exercising.

Help To Detoxify

Since sweat helps to eliminate toxins from the body, sweating in sauna immensely increases the impact of detoxification. And sauna suits are great for locking up the body heat, and thus, they help you sweat more when you work out wearing them.

Help in Rapid Weight Loss

Since sauna suits lock the core body temperature, they help you lose water weight rapidly. And this cause you to lose overall weight in the long run. These suits are mostly famous among athletes.

However, National Collegiate Athletic Association has found out that it can be risky to do vigorous exercise wearing tight-fitting non-breathable suits. So, if you want to rapidly lose weight, be careful when choosing the right fit for you.

Improve Cardiovascular Health

Some studies found that exercising and wearing sauna suits may show a positive impact on cardiovascular fitness. Also, studies revealed that moderate-intensity, regular exercise wearing sauna suits increases cardiorespiratory health.

The participants in such a study experienced considerable improvements in systolic & diastolic blood pressure, body fat percentage, triglycerides, maximal oxygen uptake, and HDL cholesterol.

However, it is necessary to note that a sauna suit indeed works to improve heart fitness, but it is still not recommended or safe to try such suits on your own. You should consult a professional before trying such things out. Otherwise, you may face some adverse effects from wearing such suits while exercising.

May Boost Your Metabolism

When you exercise wearing a sauna suit, it increases your body’s metabolism because this raises your body temperature and it also helps to faster your pulse rate. And this is quite normal that when you will have better metabolism, your body will break down fats and translate them into energy efficiently.

Therefore, sauna suits can help you burn more calories in your workout session. However, keep in mind that only wearing a sauna suit will not help increase your metabolism. You need to work harder as well.

Boosts Immunity

Heat stress is an effective trigger for the elimination of our body’s cell-repairing proteins. And the help of the protein in our body’s cell reparation & maintenance of affected or weak cells helps in boosting immunity.

Wearing a sauna suit when you exercise applies heat stress to your body, and your body immunity gets boosted in this procedure.

Improves Your Aerobic Health

When you exercise wearing a sauna suit, the amount of used oxygen increases by 11.7 percent during your exercise session. And this then results in more useful cardiovascular workouts and improves your aerobic health.

Trap Moisture And Soothe Eczema

Plastic suits are effective to lock in moisture if you have extreme eczema. And since the sauna suits are made using non-breathable material, it works best to trap moisture inside and soothe your eczema. However, you should consult your physician before using sauna suits to soothe your eczema.

Improves Post-Workout Recovery Rate

During a regular exercise session, you may undergo muscle soreness because of the lactic acid buildup. Moreover, cardio exercises are about developing micro-tears in your muscles that are later repaired back more powerfully. A sauna suit uses heat therapy and prevents the building-up of lactic acid. Thus, it helps to prevent post-workout discomfort and soreness in your muscles.

NOTE:

No matter what, you need to be very cautious while wearing a sauna suit during your exercise session. In fact, it will be better if you only wear a sauna suit under the advice of a professional.

Reasons Not To Wear Sauna Suits While Exercising

Well, we have already known the reasons to wear a sauna suit while exercising but there are also reasons not to wear one. Do you know what the reasons are? Let’s know here.

It May Cause Overheating

When you use the sauna suits during an exercise session, it may prevent the body heat from escaping. But when you exercise, your body generates excessive body heat which is meant to escape in order to provide you with a healthy workout process.

But when this heat gets captivated, it may or may not cause overheating and lead to serious heat-related illness. Moreover, sauna suits offer no means to cool your body down, and thus, they may cause unconsciousness, fainting, fatigue, and weakness in the practitioner.

May Lead To Heat Stroke

Since the sauna suit may cause overheating, it may also result in heat stroke. This heat stroke can be deadly. Heatstroke can happen if your body temperature goes above 40 degrees. It’s marked by unconsciousness, fever, and confusion. So, you should limit your workout session period while wearing a sauna suit exercise.

Water Weight Loss

We already have mentioned that sauna suits help in weight loss. However, this weight loss is temporary as all you lose is water weight. And you will regain this weight when you drink or consume food further since it offers short-term weight loss.

Unsustainable Weight Loss

Keep in mind that this kind of weight loss is generally only the outcome of losing liquids, meaning it is not safe or sustainable. The truth is that drinking water supports weight loss effects in the long run.

Causes Dehydration

Sauna suits induce excessive sweating. This sweat may become counterintuitive. And thus, it may cause dehydration and then lead your body to feel dizzy, and fainting, as well as it may also affect your overall health.

May Force You to Split Workouts

Since wearing a sauna suit while exercising may cause dehydration, you may have to split the workout session into two or maybe more. You should do this to avoid the negative effects of excessive dehydration.

If you practice cardio for over 15 to 20 min wearing a sauna suit during exercise, you may suffer dizziness, fatigue, and dehydration. Thus, if your purpose is to work out for over 15 to 20 minutes, you need to schedule your remaining sets after a break.

Electrolyte Imbalance

Losing way too much liquid without appropriate nourishment can put you in danger of an electrolyte imbalance, as per the United States NLM (National Library of Medicine). This can lead to symptoms such as:

  • Dry mouth
  • Feeling thirsty
  • Dizziness
  • Dark-colored urine
  • Sweating and urinating less than normal
  • Feeling tired
  • Dry skin

Discomfort

Generally, sauna suits are made using sticky materials– that’s how sauna suits manage to entrap the body heat inside. As soon as they get drenched with sweat, you may feel very uncomfortable as well as stop them from exercising with comfort.

Kidney Damage Issues

When you sweat a lot, you typically lose both essential electrolytes and water. Sweating excessively can weaken your body’s electrolytes, thus, causing kidney damage.

Top 3 Best Exercise Sauna Suit

Here we have reviewed several sauna suits available on the market right now. And thus, we have found the top 3 best exercise sauna suits. Ley’s have a look at the reviewed products in this article below…

Hagler Professional Sauna Suit 2.0 From BOXRAW

The Hagler Sauna Suit 2.0 from BOXRAW is designed with perfection by world-champion boxers. This suit comes with features such as an elastic waistline and neckline to trap heat inside, suitable headphone holes, rubberized cuffs, 4 pockets to keep your valuables, and waterproof, anti-rip 100% nylon material that is machine washable. It has all things to offer you under only $100.

Pros

  • 100% anti-rip, nylon material
  • More than 1,000 positive reviews
  • Lots of sizing and color options
  • Elastic cuffs for extra heat-trapping

Cons

  • The sizing is off, So, you should buy a size up

HOTSUIT Sauna Suits

These super comfy and lightweight sauna suits are the newest models for the HOTSUIT series. With wear-&-odor-resistant patented Silver-Heat REG V2.0 material, you will sweat excessively without reeking up your joint.

Pros

  • Waterproof/windproof
  • Patented Silver-Heat REG V2.0 material
  • Wide range of sizing choices
  • Odor resistant
  • Affordable

Cons

  • The sizing is off. Select 1 or 2 sizes larger than normal

KEBILI Sauna Suits

Made using 4-way stretch as well as better overlock stitching for extra durability. It has a hoodie to hold in even more body heat. It is waterproof and windproof for use in any weather or season.

Pros

  • Very comfortable and soft
  • Fair pricing
  • 4-way stretch
  • Elastic hoodie
  • No rubbing noise of plastic when exercising

Cons

  • Can’t buy bottoms separately
  • The label is written in Korean, hard for some people to understand

BOTTOM LINE

Wearing sauna suits while working out may deliver some useful benefits, however, the trouble starts when it’s overdone.

In case you really need to wear sauna suits while exercising, make sure you seek guidance from your doctor. Moreover, pay close attention to your body’s signals such as signs of distress. And also you should make sure to keep yourself hydrated!

 

References

  • healthline.com/health/sauna-suit-benefits#risks
  • livestrong.com/article/273136-does-a-sauna-suit-help-you-lose-weight/
  • webmd.com/fitness-exercise/what-is-sauna-suit
  • insidehook.com/article/health-and-fitness/runners-sauna-suits-training/amp
  • mysaunaworld.com/blogs/my-sauna-world-blog/guide-to-wear-2-person-infrared-sauna
  • livestrong.com/article/435695-workouts-in-a-sauna-suit/
  • healthyliving.azcentral.com/sauna-suits-give-flat-stomach-18720.html
  • healthyliving.azcentral.com/benefits-slimming-belt-11299.html
Cathryn McMillan

As a health and lifestyle enthusiast, Cathryn have always found the sauna and its healing effects fascinating. This life-changing technology transform her from a casual researcher into a passionate fan. A relaxing session at her at-home sauna unit has become a no-skip routine for her.