Michelle Rupp: Joining me now is JJ Mayo, JJ Thanks for coming in. We want to talk about exercising in the heat. Of course, we just heard a little bit about gardening and a lot of gardening can take place kind of early in the morning before the sun pops up, but what about exercising, whether you’re riding a bike, running, or swimming, how do we exercise in the heat and stay comfortable?
Dr. JJ Mayo: I understand there’s so many people out there that want to get started exercising but as the summer progresses, were like in the dog days of summer now, people are a little afraid. They’re like, “I don’t want to get out of the heat, but there are ways to do it and do it safely, so I’m excited to jump into that.
MR: Yeah. So, what are some of the good tips? I think.
JM: Yeah, I think the biggest thing when you’re exercising in the heat is to be prepared, you know, before you dive out into the 100-degree heat. You want to make sure that you’re hydrated before, and that’s the biggest thing. Having 2-3 cups of water, you know, something like that a couple of hours before you go out is a good thing. So, you want to kind of pre-hydrate before you get out there because we are going to be sweating more than we would on a fall or spring day, so you want to make sure before you even get out into the climate that you’re going to have fluid.
MR: You know, you have fluid, is there a better time of day to exercise?
JM: The time of day is important around exercise. People ask, “What is the best time is when you can do it?” You know, a lot of people are working all day and so they’ve got to get out in the morning before work and that’s a perfect time because it’s cooler in the morning. Other people, you know, if you have to get out in the heat of the day, I wouldn’t prefer it, but some people do. If you’re going to do that, then you should start off a little slower. So, you get out there for 10 or 15 minutes instead of a half an hour, like maybe you planned. You start a little slow, you progress and let your body acclimate to that warmer temperature, if that’s the only time you have to run. But again, you still want to make sure you’re hydrated before and you exercise out in the heat.
MR: Okay, well, that’s really that’s some great, great information. I was reading to where um sometimes and this this might be more for an advanced athlete that when it is so hot and when the dew point is muggy, steamy, yucky, not to expect to be able to go at your peak performance. And some people may think, well, I don’t care that it’s 72 degrees out. I should still be able to perform at a top level, but and I know this is more advanced, but that the heat, the humidity dew point, you’ve got to factor that in as you start your workout, you’ve got to know that okay, it’s it’s 90 degrees and 97 with the heat index.
JM: So, you can’t perform like you would in a cooler fall day, you just can’t do it. Um And so you have to have some perspective as you start your workout for sure.
MR: My last question, if we were to get into trouble, if we’re out exercising, we’re running, we’re biking, we’re swimming, whatever we’re doing, and we get into trouble, we start feeling dizzy. What do we need to do? Stop?
JM: I would think, yeah, you need to slow down. You need to look and feel your body and say, okay, what is going wrong? And I’m breathing too heavy and heart racing. You know, those are signs of dehydration and that type of thing. So yeah, you just needed to slow down essentially. Slow down and then if you need to get help then obviously you can, you know, if you’re outdoor exercising, you can flag somebody down if you need to. But I think most of the time people are okay if they just slow down.
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