I always thought the purpose of a sauna suit was to rapidly shed water weight before an event. However, I am noticing more athletes, specifically fighters, like Canelo and Davis, are wearing Sauna Suits weeks/months before weighing in. I started looking into sauna suits and saw some “studies” online.
One said there is a variety of health benefits to wearing a sauna suit regularly, like increase fat loss, increases in VO2, and some other claims about heart health.
Then one completely contradicted the above, saying it will make you fatter, cause intense heat will only burn carbohydrates and that they are basically useless outside of making weight 2-24 hours ahead of a weigh in.
I am assuming neither study is actually accurate. But, I am curious are there any health benefits to a regular use of a sauna suit during cardio or sports training sessions?
We’ve been asked about this before, but unfortunately I have not spent enough time in the literature on this topic to have a strong opinion on it. There are many other folks in the industry who make inappropriate and/or hyperbolic claims about the benefits of sauna (such as “reduces your risk of death by 25%” and other nonsense based on study designs that cannot show direct benefits), but perhaps we can add this to the list of things to look into further for discussion on a podcast.
As someone who just moved into a house with roommates who built a sauna in their living room during the pandemic, I am now 100% interested in the benefits of its use as well.
I’ve been using a sauna suit jacket, top when doing bag work. It helps me to break a heavier sweat. I break a great sweat in a 30 minute session. What I’m wonder is, does it help me to burn more calories by wearing the sauna suit, then if i don’t wear it. I know its water weight shed, but im just trying to increase the amount of calories burned in my training sessions. I am looking for a knowlegable opinion.