How a Sauna Suit Elevates Your Combat Training
Combat sports benefit the human mind and body in a plethora of ways. They help develop fast reflexes, speed, strength, agility, and confidence. But one major advantage of practicing combat sports is that it burns fat, helping with weight loss and developing an overall healthy physique.
To accelerate these weight loss benefits, combat trainers often turn to sauna suits. During training with a sauna suit, an immense amount of body weight is lost through sweat. Given that 60% of weight in the human body is water, high intensity sweating is fairly effective in reducing overall body weight.
A sauna suit is a special type of clothing, developed to induce greater amounts of sweat as you train. It consists of a uniquely designed set of pants and jacket layered with an inner rubberized coating that traps heat. In this article we’ll be discussing how the sauna suit works, its advantages, and its downsides.
A Sauna Suit and How it Works
Most tracksuits are designed to allow air to flow through them to cool your body down as this air hits the generated body sweat. However, the sauna works opposite to that. The idea of a sauna suit is to trap as much sweat and heat inside the suit as possible. A coated interior is responsible for reduction of airflow through the suit. The suit is mostly worn by professional boxers and MMA fighters to drop down their body weight before a competitive match.
Before professional matches, athletes are weighed to verify their weight class. If an athlete is either overweight or underweight, then they are not allowed to compete with their opponents. Athletes on some occasions are required to lose weight to reach the desired weight class before their fight. A sauna suit is used by these athletes to speed up the process of weight reduction. They tend to avoid certain foods and drinks while losing the water from their bodies through sweat from training.
Advantages of Sauna Suit
Sauna suits are specially designed tracksuits with the reverse function of a normal tracksuit. Training in one can benefit you in more ways than just losing weight. It can increase blood circulation of the athlete which reduces injury risk and even increases muscular growth. A sauna suit can also be worn in any weather. Here are some benefits of a sauna suit and how it elevates once physical and fighting performance
Effective Weight Loss: whether you’re new to combat sports or a professional athlete, burning fat and losing weight is on your list to practice combat sports. Wearing a sauna suit while doing so accelerates the process of losing weight as it increases the sweat inside. This is due to the excessive heat trapped inside the suit. Training while wearing a sauna suit can increase calorie burn by 13%.Increase in Blood Circulation: Due to heat being generated by the body, the heart is required to pump more blood to supply oxygen and nutrients to every muscle and joint. When body heat increases, the heart circulates more blood within the body. A sauna suit increases this body which increases blood circulation. This ensures that the demand of oxygen and nutrients of your muscles, joints and tendons meet, pushing your body through a hard training session.
Reduction in Injuries: It is generally recommended to work out in a warm environment and warm up before exercise. A warm body relaxes your muscles and develops flexibility. It loosens your muscles which decreases muscle soreness and lactic acid build up. A sauna suit provides that heat to the body, decreasing risk of injuries caused from muscle tightness.
Suitable for Any Weather: To maintain a healthy body and improve yourself at combat sports, one must train everyday regardless of the temperature of your surroundings. Sauna suits effectively allow weight loss even in cold weather. This is because it traps the warmth inside it, creating a vessel of heat. This keeps the practitioner warm during the entire training session even in the cold weather.
Muscle Growth: When our body is exposed to heat, the muscle cells in our body heals and grows. The exposure of heat on the body releases a type of protein known as “heat shock protein” which is responsible for the growth, healing, and protection of muscle cells. These proteins also prevent functionless proteins from developing and help in protein folding. A sauna suit delivers the necessary heat required to release heat shock proteins, resulting in the growth of muscles
Removal of Toxins: Through profound sweating while wearing a sauna suit, a large amount of toxin also escapes within the pores of the body. Removal of these toxins has a great impact on your immunity. The loss of toxins improves your immune system’s defense, decreasing the occurrence of flu and cold.
Develops Healthy Skin: Removing dead skin cells from the upper layer of the skin is called exfoliation. This process ensures a healthier skin. The rate of exfoliation greatly increases due to the combination of improved blood circulation and removal of toxins from the body. Working out in a sauna suit provides both benefits to its wearer resulting in a healthier skin.
Disadvantages of Sauna Suit
Despite the numerous benefits of wearing a sauna suit, it can have harmful effects on one’s health. These effects can depend on the quality of the suit or the health condition of the one wearing it. The following disadvantages should be considered before training in a sauna suit
Dehydration: A sauna suit allows its wearer to sweat profoundly. This is to reduce the body weight by reducing the weight of water within the body. The immense loss of sweat from the body can cause dehydration. This can be problematic if sweating is allowed for a long period of time. Therefore, the duration of wearing a sauna while working out is recommended to be within 60 minutes.
Irritating Material: Depending on the quality of the sauna suit, it can be very uncomfortable to wear especially during workout sessions. People with sensitivity can be affected by its material the most. It can be very irritating to wear especially after a sweaty workout session. However, wearing tight-fitting clothes underneath the suit can prevent this irritation from occurring.
Harmful Under Certain Health Conditions: People suffering from certain health issues such as diabetes, sensitive skin, or heart problems, should avoid training in a sauna suit. The heat generated by the suit pressures the heart to pump blood faster than usual. It may cause severe harm to one suffering from heart problems. People with skin allergies like eczema cannot wear a sauna suit as it can make their skin red and itchy. If you suffer from any similar health problems, it’s recommended to consult with a doctor before working out in the sauna suit.
Duration of Wearing the Sauna Suit
Although working out while generating immense body heat is an effective workout technique, long duration of heat to the body can have severe harmful effects on it. These effects include dehydration, heatstroke and can even unbalance your electrolyte levels. It is recommended to wear a sauna suit between 10 to 60 minutes. Wearing it for a longer duration can cause a dangerous amount of sweating.
When you wear the suit, you should start measuring the duration of you wearing it. This is to avoid wearing it for more time than needed. You should also take breaks during this session and drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. The breaks will also cool your body down and prevent it from overheating.
Training in a sauna suit puts an extra amount of stress on your body. Training everyday while wearing one is not recommended. Instead, you should wear it after giving a gap of training without it. It depends on your body and goals on how long you can wear the suit. It’s best to consult an expert to get a proper suggestion based on your physique, goals and capabilities.
Conclusion
One can enjoy the many benefits of a sauna suit ranging from weight loss, skin care, detoxification, and even prevention of injuries. But it’s best that you also consider your health conditions before wearing a sauna suit. Before wearing one, consult a doctor or an expert to confirm whether you’re eligible to train in the suit or not.
The duration of wearing the suit is important to note. Wearing it for too long can damage the body and cause heat stroke, loss of essential minerals through excessive sweating and can slowly deteriorate your immunity. A maximum of 60 minutes is the recommended time to wear the suit in every training session.
When buying the sauna suit, you should focus on the material and the size that suits you. Some materials can be irritating for sensitive skin.
