Working out in the heat
 

We are having quite the heat wave here in Chicago, and I know lots of the US is experiencing the heat as well. I just want to hide in the AC as the heat drains my energy. I haven't walked my dogs in the last 2 days for fear that the heat will take a toll on my 15 year old dog. As soon as I let my dogs out in the backyard the old guy heads for shade and the other dog falls over in the grass and lays there like it is too hot to move. She's fine- just doesn't like the extreme heat, either! So I've been feeling so lazy the last couple of days, although I did get a workout in today.

How do you stay motivated in this hot weather? Is there a particular type of workout you like to do when it is really hot?

Our local mall opens at 6:30 am for walkers. I went a couple days ago, and there were quite a few walkers there. I enjoyed it as a different change of pace. One person even had their dog! Although maybe that wasn’t really allowed.

About five years ago, my friend and I did our regular walk. It was really hot that day but we figured waiting until 7:30 pm was okay. We drank plenty of water all day and had ice cold water in our car. We got to our halfway point and saw a police officer blocking a portion of the walkway. He told us to be really careful in this heat.

The reason he was there... someone died from the heat. We don't know if the person was running walking had health complications or anything. That cured us.
No more walking when it's dangerous heat. Bad air quality we dont walk. If the weather people are saying folks with breathing problems shouldn't be outside we don't walk.

If its too hot, I pull out my exercise equipment I never use or i go to our local rec center's gym. I love AC. Sometimes i have walked in my neighborhood around 9 pm.

Leonanna- One of my friends used to be a mall walker, but our mall doesn't open until 11:00 a.m. now. So, no early morning walks at the mall anymore. And I doubt dogs are allowed at the mall for walking. I would love to see them, but I also know some people who are TERRIFIED of dogs.

DCW- That is so scary to hear that someone died of the heat! And when the humidity is high the heat is so much worse. I guess I'm just missing my walks with my dogs. I walk them most every day. Snow and ice and cold I can deal with, but the heat is too much.

Wendy, my dog and I don't do well with heat either. Yesterday we did a short walk in the morning and it was already miserable at 73 and very muggy. We skipped the afternoon walk and ended up skipping the evening one too bc the heat index was still 91. No thank you! We do miss more walks for heat than cold as well, but it's very rare that we don't get in at least a short morning one. Neither of us does well without that.

I am in Chicagoland area as well but about 75 miles west of the city. I walk super early in the morning leaving at 5:30-5:45. I don’t have a dog but when I did we went on super early walks and then another around 9pm. It’s hot but our spring was awful and it felt like winter went on forever. I am just glad we finally have warmer weather.

I rarely get outside when it's very hot. We've had (and continue to have) an excessive heat warning where I live, so it's indoor workouts for me until we have more reasonable summer temps and humidity levels (although it's almost always quite humid in summer here).

Donna

That's too bad about the mall. The stores open at 10 am, but the main entrance is open at 6:30 for the walkers. I'm sure that dog was not supposed to be in there, lol.

I'm in Phoenix, and when we had dogs, I was able to walk them around 6 am, and it was anywhere from 80-90 degrees. But less than 10% humidity usually. Humidity makes a big difference for me. And of course, I'm used to the heat, and get cold very easily. I was born and raised in Yuma, and it's even hotter and drier there! Although, I must admit I stopped walking outdoors in the summer once we no longer had dogs.

Yeah, this spring I've been trying to make most of my workouts exclusively jogging outdoors, and this week it has been impossible. I did a few miles Monday and that's been in. I ALMOST went out this morning, early, but the heat watch was still in effect, so I'm pivoting back inside today. The last two days I haven't even done an indoor workout due to just feeling the heat even in the house and even with the AC on. It's awful in the midwest and south this week in particular. :(

What's especially frustrating is it's not even technically summer until next week! I really hope my favorite season isn't ruined this year by heat that's so oppressive you can't really be outside much at all.

I agree. Especially with the winter we had with little or no "spring" and I was still wearing my winter coat in mid-May. That's why I am a little tolerant right now of this heat.