Sauna? Steam room? Both?

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agthorn
agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
My gym's locker room has both a sauna and a steam room, and I've never used either. Are there benefits of one versus the other, or is it just a matter of personal preference - like how some people prefer to live in Arizona instead of Georgia? Do you use them for different purposes? I do yoga in a heated room so I know the heat increases flexibility, but I've never seen anyone stretching in the sauna. I'm about to start increasing my running to about 15-20 miles a week as well as beginning the New Rules of Lifting for Women plan, and I'm wondering if I should be making time for one or both rooms.

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  • shelbygeorge29
    shelbygeorge29 Posts: 263 Member
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    I personally love the steam after a hard workout, I'm not sure about the health/recovery differences between that and the sauna.

    As an asde, I would caution you on the amount of running you're going to be doing in conjunction with the NROLFW program. Excess cardio can really hinder your progress with the program and I believe they touch on that in the book as well.
  • rwd5046
    rwd5046 Posts: 302
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    My gym's locker room has both a sauna and a steam room, and I've never used either. Are there benefits of one versus the other, or is it just a matter of personal preference - like how some people prefer to live in Arizona instead of Georgia? Do you use them for different purposes? I do yoga in a heated room so I know the heat increases flexibility, but I've never seen anyone stretching in the sauna. I'm about to start increasing my running to about 15-20 miles a week as well as beginning the New Rules of Lifting for Women plan, and I'm wondering if I should be making time for one or both rooms.

    As you probably already know, sauna is dry heat and steam is wet heat. I don't think one is any better than the other except for steam probably opening the pores a litle more I think. Kinda a personal preference. You sweat using either and that's good for aiding in detoxing. Flexability increases either way. My gym has steam and no sauna and I will stretch in the steam room on occassion. So I say use the one you like most.
  • godblessourhome
    godblessourhome Posts: 3,892 Member
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    i prefer a sauna, but i think they are both beneficial.
  • jadi97
    jadi97 Posts: 26
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    My gym has an infrared sauna and its wonderful. Dr Oz claims it lowers blood pressure, aids in detox, and many more health benefits. He even said that 30 min in there can burn up to 600 calories. I personally love the dry sauna, it feels so good on all my joints and is a great sweat!
  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
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    As an asde, I would caution you on the amount of running you're going to be doing in conjunction with the NROLFW program. Excess cardio can really hinder your progress with the program and I believe they touch on that in the book as well.

    I did read about cardio in the book, and my take away was that he says cardio isn't *necessary* for results. That said, my first decision was to run the 15K, and my second decision was to add the NROLW program because I know that cardio can burn muscle in addition to fat. I don't think 3 runs a week (and on different days than lifting) qualifies as "too much" though :-)

    Thanks for all the rest of the opinions :-) I guess I will try both and see which one I like better!

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