Sauna Before or After Workout? (Practical Guide)

Using a sauna before or after a workout can have a significant impact on your performance as well as on your recovery. Different opinions exist about when to use a sauna in relation to exercising.

Some say it’s better to jump in a sauna before exercising, while others prefer to use a sauna after doing their workouts in the gym.

Do you love running, swimming, or lifting, and your gym is equipped with a sauna or steam room?

In this article, we’ll discuss whether it’s better to use a relaxing, warm sauna before or after your workout.

Benefits of Sauna Before Workout

Some people prefer to schedule a sauna session before exercising. A light sauna before a workout helps warm the body and loosen up the muscles, which is important before starting your exercise.

A short sauna session before your workout can also be used to stretch the muscles, particularly those muscles that will be used most during your planned workout.

Find a Balance

It’s important that you find that perfect balance and don’t stay too long in the sauna before you start your workout.

A sauna session has a relaxing effect on both the body and mind. But when you exercise, you will, of course, need to be alert and focused.

Steam room
Steam room

Using a sauna also elevates your heart rate and makes you sweat. That is great, but you don’t want to overdo it when you still need to exercise. Otherwise, you might not perform as well as you should.

In short, a sauna before a workout is fine as long as you keep it short. It should really only be done to help warm up the body.

Also, always drink water during and after your sauna session. Dehydration is one of the most important things to avoid when exercising.

Benefits of Sauna After Workout

Most people prefer to use a sauna after they complete their workout. This makes sense because a tired mind (and body) naturally wants to relax, and a sauna can help with this.

Traditional sauna
Traditional sauna

But does using a sauna after exercising have any benefits? Here are some of the claimed benefits of using a sauna after a workout:

1. Muscle Relaxation

A sauna session not only relaxes the mind but also helps the muscles relax after an intense workout.

This, in turn, will benefit the overall recovery process of your muscles.

2. Remove Toxins

Sitting in the heat for a while leads to more sweating. This helps to further break down that lactic acid in your body.

It also helps to remove other waste that the body has built up in joints and muscles during exercise.

3. A Prolonged Workout

The heat in a sauna also keeps the heart rate going. In a way, this prolongs your workout as it simulates a light cardio session.

The main reason why many people would advise against using a sauna after working out is that the heart rate should gradually go back to normal after finishing a workout.

A sauna session typically does the opposite.

Exercising in the gym
Exercising in the gym

While this may be true, it needs to be put in context. If you’ve had a super intense workout and your heart rate is very high, I wouldn’t recommend using a sauna for another hour. In that case, a very short sauna session would help to relax the body and mind.

Recovering from a workout and lowering the heart rate back to normal levels can be seen as a gradual process. A short sauna session can help in that process.

So, instead of going from super intense to normal, it may be a good idea to squeeze in a short sauna session after your (intense) workout to allow your body (and heart rate) to recover gradually.

How Long Should You Be in the Sauna?

How long that post-workout sauna session should be will depend on the individual and how intense the workout was.

Wooden sauna
Classic wooden sauna

For some, a quick 5-minute session will suffice, while others can easily spend a half hour in the heat. Always use common sense and listen to your body.

It’s also good to have a cold shower after the sauna so that your body can cool down and stop that excessive sweating when you don’t want to sweat anymore.

Final Thoughts on Sauna and Exercising

Sauna use before or after a workout depends highly on an individual’s preferences and on the intensity and type of training session.

In general, though, using a sauna before a workout is fine as long as you keep it short and sweet. It helps with that initial warming up, but as soon as you start sweating, it’s time to leave the sauna and get ready for your workout.

Using a sauna after a workout helps to relax the body and muscles and to gradually lower the heart rate to normal levels. It also helps to break down lactic acid and remove other waste that the body has created during the workout session.

The best advice is to do what you feel works best for you as long as you always listen to what your body tells you.

 
 

Sauna before or after working out?

 

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Author:

Thomas Dunnett

Saunas played an essential role in my upbringing, having European parents who used saunas on a daily basis. I created this website to share my passion for saunas and steam rooms, and to help you discover the goodness of the sauna lifestyle.

12 Comments
  1. So I usually take a pre-workout before my gym session (C4 – 150 mg caffeine), I usually work out with weights for about 1hr 15 min then about 10 – 20 min on elliptical.

    Would there be in any issue in doing a 10 -15min sauna session after?

    Thanks
    -Cedric

    Reply
    • Hi Cedric,

      I do a similar routine; a short sauna session after my workout, just to relax the body. If you keep that post-workout sauna session under 10 minutes, I don’t see any issue.

      Reply
  2. I workout 4:30am-5:30am then go to work and do a 12.5 hr shift from 6:45am-7:15pm. I have been wanting to go to the sauna for 15-20 minutes after work then head home to do my things before bed. Is it still beneficial to do the sauna in the evenings even if I work out in the morning? Or should I do the sauna after working out?

    Reply
    • Hi Evely,

      For sure, that sounds like a good routine you have there.

      This article is more for people who want to do a sauna and gym session in one go (and are not sure in which order to do them), but if you do your sauna and gym sessions at different times, then that’s great.

      Reply
  3. I always sauna AFTER a workout and it’s the best after doing both cardio and weightlifting. I’ve also tried before working out but it just relaxes me too much and makes me feel weak.

    Reply
    • Thanks Sean, and I agree, using a sauna to relax and recover after a heavy workout works better for me as well.

      Reply
  4. I am 19 and wanting to run a 5k in two months. I haven’t done serious cardio in years, until I started training for my run. Right now I’m doing 10 minutes in a wet sauna before my workout. I was wondering if I should keep it like this or use the sauna after my workout?

    Reply
    • Hey Brenna, if you’re training for a long distance run, I would strongly suggest hitting the sauna after your workout, so you can relax and feel good about your run. Especially with cardio, if you’re doing a sauna session before your workout, it will likely impact your performance.

      Reply
  5. I’m 64 years old, very overweight, I am working out in the pool. 45 minutes, 3 times a week walking. Can I do the sauna after or is it better before the pool workout?

    Reply
    • Hello Diane, well done for working out three times per week in the pool. If I were you, I would go into the sauna after your pool workouts, otherwise you may feel too exhausted from the sauna in order to do your workouts properly. Using the sauna will help you relax after your workout.

      Reply
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