Entering the dog days of summer, athletes from around Greenwich are often seen outside, enjoying the bright sunshine and final few weeks of summer.
Whether it’s high school athletes gearing up for the upcoming fall season or runners and bikers trying to stay in shape, people are pushing themselves to perform and feel better.
This week, Mother Nature has thrown a dangerous risk into the mix. With the high heat and humidity, as well as air quality alerts posted throughout the area, it’s quite easy for athletes or exercise enthusiasts to overdo it and cause damage.
“The greatest risk is heat stroke and heat exhaustion,” said Kelly Dubois, Master Trainer at Chelsea Piers Stamford.
The first symptom of heat stroke or heat exhaustion is muscle spasm, and that’s usually in the legs and abdominals. Dubois said that can progress into nausea, cold and clamy skin, vomiting and headaches.
“The first thing to do is hydrate and also cool off with water,” Dubois said. “Pour a bottle of water over your head and definitely sit down and stop the activity.”
Dubois said that the scary thing is that athletes, especially younger athletes, see the symptoms but think that the problem is being out of shape or maybe they moved the wrong way.
“I see that all the time,” said Dubois, who sees countless athletes walking through the doors at Chelsea Piers in Stamford. “It’s very common.”
The easy fix for avoiding heat stroke or heat exhaustion is moving indoors or finding the water. Since different levels of physical fitness and the amount he hydration a person has depends on how long a person can safely workout outside in the heat and humidity, the best is to continue the workout at a gym or in a pool.
“You can run in a pool, run in a lake, run in an ocean as a way to cross-train,” said Erica Bates, Vice President of Public Relations at Chelsea Piers and also an avid runner. “It keeps you afloat if you move your arms and legs fast enough. Or take the opportunity to cross-train on a different piece of cardio equipment inside.”
“There are many different things you can do in the gym that will give you that endorphin rush that runners are looking for,” Dubois said. “They can take that opportunity to do a strength training session and I tell all runners that stronger legs are faster legs. People can also do metabolic workouts, push the sled, ball slams or battle ropes.”
However, if the athlete or runner has to be outside during this time for practice, there are some simple steps to take to make your exercise or practice easier on the body. Dubois said it’s all about getting the person’s core to normal temperature. For football players, don’t put a shirt under the pads and dump an bunch of water over the head before putting a helmet on.
And the obvious one, whether it’s an athlete, commuter going to a train, runner, bicycle rider or anybody else working outside during this hot stretch — hydrate before going outside and keep on drinking the water.
