20 Jun Summer health & fitness: Part II beat the heat

Wednesday, June 20 marks this first official day of summer. All week I’ll offer summer health and fitness tips, continuing today with general tips to beat the heat.

Just about everywhere in the U.S., summer is officially being ushered in today with warm temperatures. In the Desert Southwest, they‘re dealing with temperatures in the 100s while in the many other regions such as the Midwest the mercury will rise into the 80s and even 90s.
The scorching temperatures by no means should prevent you from exercising outdoors, but you do need to take special precautions.
Here are five tips to beat the heat:
Get acclimated – Get yourself acclimated to the heat over time, especially if you‘re not used to extremely high temperatures. Take it easy.
Go outside early or late – Although many people often exercise during the day or right after work, to beat the heat get up early or get your workout in at 8 p.m. or so when the temperatures are cooler.
Move indoors – If it’s too hot, then move your workout indoors into the air conditioning. Run on a treadmill, use an elliptical machine and-or train with weights inside.
Stay hydrated – Don’t make the mistake of waiting until you feel thirsty to start consuming water or sports drinks. Once dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke set in they are tough to treat, but drinking enough fluids ahead of time can help prevent such problems.
Wear proper clothing – Lightweight, light-colored clothing will help you stay cooler. A hat is also helpful. Purchasing athletic clothes made with fibers that wick moisture from the skin to clothing for easier evaporation is also helpful.

At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen’s blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people’s lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com