(upbeat electronic music)
- So it is hot here in San Diego,
and I work, you know,
the garage is where Dark Horse HQ lives,
and so, it just felt right
to put something together for you guys
because I've been dealing with it
and thinking about it here in the garage lately.
How do you deal with the heat?
How you deal with working out when it's hot,
when it's humid,
which is weird for San Diego especially,
but I know most, a lot of people, especially middle country,
go through humidity during the summer,
and I know a lot of people are facing this heat right now.
So let's get into top tips
for how to improve your conditions
when it is hot like it is right now here in San Diego.
I am miserable in this garage.
If this is your first time here, welcome to Dark Horse
where you are the hero of your own story,
and we are the guide that gets to help you get there.
Now into today's video where we're discussing
about the best things that you can do
to try and mitigate heat workouts,
whether that's on the rower or off.
Figuring out how to continue to be fit,
do the fitness (chuckles) in heat is really important.
So that's what we're talking about today.
Now, one of the more important things is
what you're going to do with the sweat
that you're inevitably going to get
and my secret weapon to that kind of sweat management,
particularly on the rower.
More on that in a second.
My first tip is the old shirtless, sports bra.
Just baseline, that's a good way
to make sure that you're not getting encumbered
with lots of sweat that's clinging to you.
Now obviously, that's a great option
if you're working out at home or on your own
or you're comfortable doing that.
If you're not, just make sure that you're wearing something
that has a nice moisture-wicking
or sweat-wicking fabric to it.
I, more than anybody, love just a really good
tri-blend cotton shirt,
but for working out in heat, they are terrible
because they just hold on to that sweat,
and the sweat just gets heavy and sits on your body,
and it's not pulling it away, helping you to stay cool,
so I would avoid cotton shirts if you can.
Get something that has a nice, like this lululemon shirt.
Make sure that you are using something
that pulls the moisture off of your skin
and helps it evaporate into the ether.
Another easy opportunity is if you, for example,
like me, have your equipment out in your garage,
garage, (bell dings)
where there's no air conditioning,
a lot of people don't think about the fact
that they can just pick up their machines
and move them inside.
I have air conditioning in my house,
so if I needed to, I could get it inside.
Now if inside is an option for you,
that's a great way to make sure
that you can just stay cool as you're working out.
Now, if you have to be outside or have to be in your garage,
ensure that you are working towards a place that has shade.
Staying in the garage is great
as long as I have both of my doors open
so that air can flow through.
Gets very hot if there's no air movement,
so the other good option is
if you can perhaps find an outdoor location,
maybe under a tree, it gives you a shade option.
You'd be amazed how much it cools down
just being in the shade of a tree,
so make sure that you find a way
to stay out of the direct sun.
Don't, just avoid that,
and you'll find that it cools you down pretty significantly.
(upbeat funk music)
(birds tweeting)
♪ This is how it go ♪
♪ Come on, we've already begun ♪
- This is one I don't have
particular experience with myself,
but I do know that it's an effective way of doing things
if you're facing consistent heat
and you're trying to get rowing workouts in on the regular,
and that's cooling vests.
They range from evaporative
where you would, like, dip it in cold water
for about five minutes and then wear it,
and as the water evaporates, it helps to cool you down.
The other would be just straight-up ice pack cooling vests.
Ice packs in the freezer stored in a vest,
and that helps keep that coolness against your body.
I think that's actually a fantastic option.
In San Diego, I just don't need it that often,
so I haven't tested with it,
but I do know that that's a really excellent way
of helping to cool you down
if you are facing consistent heat
and making sure that you can stay comfortable
as you're getting your workout in.
Now, as I mentioned at the beginning,
sweat maintenance is really critical
because you're gonna be sweating.
One way or another, sweat's gonna be happening
in a hot environment with a workout.
You can't avoid it.
Now, you'll notice my number one tip on sweat management,
especially on the rower,
because your hands are tied up,
have something that keeps the sweat out of your eyes.
There's nothing worse than sweat just rolling into your eyes
as you're trying to get through your workout.
With two minutes left, you're just hammering it,
and then, the sweat starts rolling in,
and you can't, you can't see
'cause you're blinking with the salt in there,
and it just gets bad.
So you'll notice I'm almost always wearing a hat.
That's just to catch sweat off of my forehead.
If you wanna wear a bandana or a headband
or an upside-down to the side visor, '90s style,
like, like a boy band, you can do it.
You do you, but keep the sweat out of your eyes.
That's the point.
That's why I said that to begin with,
and here's my secret weapon that I mentioned
at the beginning to sweat management
when you are on the rower.
It's super high-tech!
Big ol' thick tennis wristbands.
Why?
Okay, here's the deal.
Sweat is going to start at your armpits,
work its way down your arm.
It's just gonna start rolling down your arm.
It's eventually gonna make its way to your hands.
Hand management is really critical when you're on the rower.
You don't want a blister,
and you don't want your hands to get moist.
Sorry about using that word,
but you don't want your hands to be wet and damp
because the more wet and damp they are,
the higher risk you have
for blowing up a blister on your hand.
So if you can get a nice thick sweat band on your forearm,
you're gonna save that sweat from running onto the handle,
and I've had workouts where it got so sweaty
that I came off, my hands were pruney.
That's a lot of sweat.
If you can avoid that, good
because you don't want to open up blisters.
It's only gonna set you back in your training.
There's nothing good about opening a blister.
Yeah, maybe it toughen your hands,
and you start a callus.
That's all well and good,
but in heat like this,
you need to stay as comfortable as possible.
A simple sweat band will stop that sweat
from dripping on to your hands.
Point blank, it is a fantastic option.
I highly encourage you
to consider sweat bands on your wrists.
Now if you are going to be inside
but maybe AC isn't an option,
another great option is fan yourself.
Find a way to get as large a fan as you can
blowing onto you.
Now, caveat on that,
do not have the fan blade blowing straight at you.
Two things will happen.
Number one, it interferes with the normal
fan blade performance on flywheel-based machines
because you're actually, it's like supercharging.
You put extra air into the flywheel,
and it changes the way that the machine is actually reading,
so I would suggest don't blow it into the flywheel housing.
Turn it to the side so that it's on a profile.
The upside to that as well
is just getting a nice cross breeze,
and the machine as well is not getting in the way.
If you put it in front of the machine,
that machine's actually going to be interfering
with the wind that you want on you.
Just to the side, profile,
so you can, like, every time you take a stroke,
you're like, "Ah, that's refreshing.
"That's what I need,"
and if you really want to go above and beyond,
buy one of those little misting fans.
Just don't, make sure that it's not misting
the monitor on your machine.
Maybe like slight profile, 45-degree,
like, coming at you this way
so that it's like (imitates mister spraying) ah,
the cooling ocean breeze as you're rowing.
That's a nice option.
Maybe that's like mimicking the real thing.
In rowing, you just, like, you get splashed
from the guy in front of you.
The oar splashes water on you.
That's nice.
You get a cooling,
misting fan at 45 degrees, right,
so that you're like, "It's like the real thing!
"I'm just, ugh, water spraying on me."
Maybe not,
or maybe.
This could be a thing.
Dark Horse humidifying fans.
Cooling fans?
I'll think about it.
An easy one and very simple one
that's well within your control
is your time of day of the workout.
Think early morning, late in the evening.
Try your best to squeeze the workout in in those times.
Avoid that middle-of-the-day heat
because it just gets brutal.
If you can catch it before the sun comes up
or as the sun is going down,
I know in the summer, that might be pretty late in the day,
but if you can catch one of those times,
you're gonna be much better off
because you're not gonna be facing
that intense sun and heat,
and you'll find that it's easier to manage
all of the factors of a hot, humid,
or just uncomfortable workout.
Finally, stay on top of your hydration.
This one's so well within your control, guys.
First thing in the morning,
you should be getting up
and putting a ton of water in your body
before anything else,
before you eat, drink your coffee,
like, go to the bathroom.
Just big ol' glass of water and multiples of them.
Like, try to get a liter of water into your system
very first thing in the day.
My second suggestion, get a lot of electrolytes
into your body at the same time.
Find an electrolyte addition that works for you
that you can just put in your water and add that to it.
That way, you're making sure
that you're getting good minerals into your body
to help you retain water
instead of just all of it coming out
in the toilet an hour later,
and then as well, as the day goes on, continue to,
continue to continue your water consumption,
making sure that it is a part of your day,
that it's a habit that you build,
not just something that you do in the morning
and then you don't drink any water.
Speaking of which, I think I haven't done a good job today.
I'm gonna, I might,
actually, I'll be back.
I'm gonna get my water bottle.
(bottle lid squeaking)
(Shane sighs) (bottle lid clattering)
That's better.
Remember, the heat is not really something to mess with.
You can't, just don't try and tough out heat.
It's not worth it.
You should be thinking actively ahead of time
about what you can do to manage your environment
because if you are not,
you're setting yourself up for, A, decreased performance,
B, a potential early end to your workout,
and C, just downright danger if,
depending on how hot it gets and where you are,
you need to be very, very conscious.
So be smart, set yourself up for success.
Take these habits, put them into play.
Easy, simple, done day.
Go and be better for it.
Remember, if you liked this video
and you consider yourself a Dark Horse,
you wanna be the hero of your own story
and you allow us to help you get there
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hit that Subscribe button and hit the bell next to it
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and as always, that was weird.
I effed that up, but we're gonna try it.
We're gonna roll with this.
As always, we'll see you on the other side.
(Piper barking)
Piper.
Jesus.
Put this right.
Hey, thanks for watching the video.
If you enjoyed this and you're looking for more
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and my other coaches in our private Facebook community,
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