Staying fit in hot weather

During the warmest period of the year, temperatures can stay above 25 degrees Celsius for days on end. High temperatures are not ideal for training, but as an athlete you still want to stay in shape. How do you do that without overheating or exhausting yourself? That is the question this time in the column by nutrition expert Dr Samefko Ludidi.

The body is constantly working to keep its core temperature at around 36.5 to 37 degrees. Breathing, heart rate and sweating all play an important part in this. When you exercise and your muscles burn a lot of energy, you sweat more and your heart has to work harder. When the environment around your body gets warmer, your body adapts as well. If you exercise and it is warmer than usual, you are asking something extra of your body.

Sweating matters because the evaporation of moisture from the skin cools you down. But if you can no longer sweat because your body has run out of fluid, you overheat. Almost everyone knows that if you sweat more, it is important to drink enough to make up for the fluid loss. But there is more you can do to stay healthy and fit while exercising in summer.

When it is very hot and you lose a lot of fluid, you also lose more minerals. You can replace those while drinking, for example by dissolving a teaspoon of salt in a litre of water. There are also sports drinks with electrolytes, although you should check carefully whether they do not contain large amounts of sugar as well. It is also best to avoid alcohol, because it actually dehydrates your body. And coffee is not effective for replacing fluid either, because your body loses fluid while processing coffee.

You naturally eat lighter meals when it gets warm. Do not fight that. Eat more fruit. Melon, for instance, is ideal because it also contains a lot of water. Salads are good for you too. Heavy food such as mashed potato dishes and stews generate extra heat in your body, so you lose energy that way, because your body actually needs to cool down. A heavy meal like that also takes more effort to digest.

Train outdoors in the early morning if you can, when it is often still cool. Being outside and seeing the sun come up is the finest moment of the day. It is motivating, it is good for your mood and it is better for your body. If you train in the morning while it is still cool, you do not need to adjust the intensity either. Your body can then get used to the summer more gradually.

Your body will adapt anyway as the temperature rises gradually. So even if you train during the day or in the evening, you do not need to adjust the intensity drastically. Only when there is a real change, or when you go and train in another country where conditions are suddenly very different, halve the duration first and then build back up.

Above all, listen to your body. If the heat makes you feel more sluggish, respond to that. Take a little more rest between your sets and between training sessions. Whatever you do, do not sit in air conditioning, because then your body never learns to adapt. Go for a walk instead: you are still training your body to acclimatise, and you get to enjoy a bit more of the summer yourself.