Training through an Austin summer? Here is how infrared sauna may help you handle the heat.
Training through an Austin summer? Here is how infrared sauna may help you handle the heat.
If you train outdoors in Austin, you already know what is coming. By late May the morning humidity is climbing before sunrise. By June the pavement is radiating heat back at you before 8am. Austin's summers are relentlessly warm, and even in relatively mild years the city regularly logs triple-digit temperatures. Frontiers for runners, cyclists, and triathletes who refuse to move their training indoors, summer in Central Texas is not just uncomfortable. It is a physiological challenge that affects performance, increases perceived effort, and raises the risk of overheating if your body has not adapted to the thermal stress. The good news is that adaptation is trainable. And infrared sauna, practiced consistently through the spring and into summer, may be one of the more practical tools for building it.
What heat acclimation actually means
Heat acclimation is the process by which your body learns to manage thermal stress more efficiently through repeated exposure. The adaptations are real and well-documented. Your body starts sweating earlier and more efficiently. Your plasma volume expands, meaning your heart has more fluid to work with and does not have to work as hard at any given effort level. Your core temperature during exercise in the heat tends to stay lower. Your perceived exertion at the same pace or power output decreases.
These adaptations include an enhanced sweat response for heat dissipation and control of core temperature, expanded plasma volume, and reduced heart rate during exercise in the heat. nih
The traditional way to acclimate is to simply train in the heat. But training in Austin in July at full intensity carries real risk, particularly for athletes who are also managing heavy training loads. This is where passive heat exposure through infrared sauna becomes a suitable alternative. You get meaningful thermal stress on the body without the cardiovascular and muscular load of a hard workout.
What the research says about sauna and heat adaptation
The heat stress of a single sauna session produces an increase in plasma volume. With repeated exposures, a reduction in renal blood flow or the hemodilution resulting from plasma volume expansion may provide the stimulus to produce more red cells via release of erythropoietin, and the resulting increase in total blood volume could enhance high-intensity endurance performance by delivering more oxygen to muscles.
A review updated through June 2025 and published in Sports Medicine Open examined the full body of evidence on post-exercise heat exposure and athletic performance. The review found that whole-body heat exposure through sauna bathing or hot water immersion has been shown to induce various physiological adaptations that can improve athletic performance, though the effects on post-exercise acute recovery and training-induced performance adaptations are not yet fully understood. nih
We want to be honest about where the science stands. Most heat acclimation research uses traditional saunas or hot water immersion rather than infrared specifically. The physiological mechanisms are likely shared, but the infrared-specific research on heat acclimation is still developing. What we can say with confidence is that consistent infrared sauna use raises core temperature, increases heart rate to a level comparable to light aerobic exercise, and produces meaningful sweat output, all of which are the inputs the body uses to build heat tolerance over time.
A practical protocol for Austin athletes
The athletes who tend to get the most from infrared sauna in the context of summer training are the ones who use it consistently and strategically, not occasionally. Here is a general framework that aligns with how the research protocols are typically structured:
Two to four sessions per week, starting in late spring before the worst heat arrives, gives your body time to begin adapting before you are asking it to perform in 95-degree conditions. Sessions of 20 to 30 minutes at a comfortable infrared temperature are generally what the research uses. The goal is meaningful thermal stress, not pushing through discomfort to the point of feeling unwell.
Hydration before and after matters. You will sweat significantly in an infrared sauna, and showing up already slightly dehydrated from a morning run and not rehydrating after is a habit worth correcting. We recommend coming in with at least 16 ounces of water already on board and drinking again immediately after your session.
The red light therapy piece
Many of our members combine infrared sauna with red light therapy, and for summer training that pairing makes particular sense. While infrared sauna targets heat acclimation and circulation, red light therapy works at the mitochondrial level to support cellular energy production and reduce inflammation. For athletes logging high mileage or heavy training blocks through the summer, the combination may support both the heat adaptation side and the tissue recovery side of the equation.
If you are new to red light therapy, it is a separate modality from the sauna and uses specific wavelengths of light rather than heat. The two work through different mechanisms and are comfortable to use in sequence.
Why starting now matters
The athletes who feel best in Austin's July heat are rarely the ones who start thinking about acclimation in July. The adaptation process takes weeks to develop meaningfully. Starting consistent infrared sauna sessions in May or June, while temperatures are still building, gives your body a head start before the most demanding conditions arrive.
Think of it the way you think about a training block. You do not run a marathon on the first day of a training cycle. You build the base over weeks so the hard efforts feel manageable. Heat tolerance works the same way.
Austin summers are long and they are coming regardless. The question is whether you meet them prepared or spend the first six weeks of summer struggling to hold your normal pace at a heart rate that feels entirely too high.
We would rather see you prepared. Book your session and let's build your heat base before the real heat arrives.