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If you’re an active person and have a gym membership then you probably have access to a sauna, steam room, and hot tub. You might even use these amenities on a regular basis to help boost your fitness goals.

To get the most out of your activities you might be wondering what is better, sauna before vs. after workout? This question has been debated multiple times and both sides do have their own points. In this article, we’ll review this common question and decipher which option is best for you.

Why Use A Sauna In The First Place

There are many reasons to use a sauna in the first place. The two main reasons are the physical and mental benefits that they promote. Mentally saunas relax you. They allow you a moment of time where all you have to do is sit, think, and relax. In combination with a warm and inviting environment, sauna bathing can be very therapeutic.

Physically saunas have many benefits. First, they relax your body. Allowing your muscles to become loose and flexible. They cleanse your skin, they remove toxins, they strengthen your heart, they boost your immune system and also promote weight loss (they do this by forcing your body to cool itself down, which in turn burns calories).

In addition to this, some studies suggest that using a sauna promotes human growth hormone. This allows your muscles to grow bigger, recover faster, and simply work more efficiently.

With all these benefits it’s a no brainer to use saunas regularly. They can greatly enhance your mental and physical well-being. If you also want to learn more about the benefits of a sauna bathing then visit this page HERE.

Benefits Of Using A Sauna After A Workout

There have been many studies conducted pointing to the fact that sauna bathing after a workout can be very beneficial to one’s mind and body. Specifically, one of the strongest benefits that saunas have is that they make you sweat profusely. With this sweat comes tons of wastes and toxins that your body naturally gets rid of.

Sauna bathing acts as a natural way to cleanse your body. This is very important because after a workout your body builds up metabolic waste in your muscles and joints. If you simply just stop your workout and cool down, your body will deal with those wastes by sending them through your blood eventually leading to your kidneys.

If you want to be as healthy as possible then it’s wise to take a load off your kidneys by sweating out those toxins instead. When you sit in a sauna for a long period of time, your body will begin sending that blood to your skin to keep you cool. This waste then gets transferred to your sweat that then cools your body as it leaves your skin.

Along with this saunas have other benefits to your body. They relax your tense muscles so you won’t get cramps after working out (which also helps with after-workout soreness). They increase your heart rate which strengthens your heart while also improving blood flow. They also promote weight loss so you’ll burn even more calories just by sitting down.

Overall using a sauna after a workout is a very wise choice as it can help your body in many ways. We recommend doing this after every single workout.

Benefits Of Using A Sauna Before A Workout

While sauna bathing before a workout isn’t very popular, there are still some benefits that might help your body/workout. The main benefit is that saunas allow your body to warm up before actually working out. This allows your muscles to relax and be more flexible. Which will then help improve your performance when actually working out.

If you do use a sauna for this reason then we recommend stretching your muscles while in there. This will allow for even more flexibility and better performance.

While there’re some benefits to using a sauna before there are also some negatives if you aren’t careful. First, you don’t want to sweat too much before a workout. This can cause you to become dehydrated and will limit your bodies potential. So drink lots of water and don’t stay in the sauna for longer than 5 minutes.

Secondly, saunas can be very relaxing and are often a very spiritual and cleansing experience. They’re very good at relaxing one’s mind and body. So if you want to have high energy for your workout then it isn’t wise to relax your body too much before working out. This will limit your body/minds potential and will just make you tired.

Sauna Before vs. After Workout

Overall, if you had to choose one option then sauna bathing after a workout is the best choice. Reason for is because you won’t overwork your body before your training session. Since you want your body to be in peak performance while working out then over-exhausting it beforehand isn’t a good idea.

With that being said we still do recommend using a sauna beforehand if you’re smart about it. Meaning you’re only in the sauna for around 5 minutes to warm up your body and to stretch. If you keep it within this time frame then you’ll be able to maximize your bodies potential without getting fatigued beforehand.

Best Home Sauna

Need a home sauna, but don’t want it to cost an arm and a leg? Well, portable saunas are the best option for you. These unique devices cost a fraction of the price of a traditional sauna but still promote the same mental and health benefits.

In addition to being extremely cheap, they are also very portable. Their compact design makes them ideal for small homes or apartments as they can be stored away in minutes.