How Hot (in degrees) is your School/Club/Kwoon/Dojo?

**_V_** · Posted On: 6/24/2010 10:05am

The BJJ academy has AC, but it's pretty small and there are classes back-to-back so it probably gets into the mid 80's in there. Which isn't too bad until you add the gi into the equation.

Where I teach kickboxing is the upper floor of an old grocery warehouse. The ground floor has AC, but there are no vents upstairs. And since heat rises, it probably tops 100 there in the summer. Friday afternoon workouts are especially brutal. But at least you can wear something cooler. There's been plenty of times my t-shirt does not have a dry bit of fabric left on it.

**cam4276** · Posted On: 6/24/2010 10:09am

Originally Posted by Earth Dragon

I am assuming all the people who train in very high (85+F) temperatures at least do so in ventilated environments where at least the heat is not constantly built up, keeping the temperature under a certain ceiling...otherwise the folks who sweats too fast will not vent properly, will gain to much heat, lose water and salt too fast, and possibly succumb to heat exhaustion or even stroke.

-ED

Remember that people who train in these temperatures live in them also so they are used to them to a certain degree. They also know about correct hydration, etc because they are taught it or they would be dead.

I have to admit, even i would struggle in a blast furnace ;)

**Diesel_tke** · Posted On: 6/24/2010 12:33pm

Man, I sweat my balls off last night!! It was about 98 degrees outsied and all we have is fans inside! It was so hot inside, that we went outside to train in the 95 degree heat. And it felt better!! But that was only after we did Fuhu Gong for 30 minutes. I seriously though I was going to stroke out! I kept drinking water and never could get anough!

Praying for winter!!

**kikoolol** · Posted On: 6/24/2010 1:55pm

I don't know what's with the building we're training in, but even if the temperature is at a freezing-balls level (like -20C), it's always awfully hot inside. We even have to open the doors in said temperature...

So imagine when summer comes and we get ball-sweating temperatures (anywhere from 25-30C on good days). My gi is drenched.

At the water fountain doesn't even have a cooler so we're stuck with room temperature water.

**Chili Pepper** · Posted On: 6/24/2010 2:13pm

My backyard is paved asphalt, which would be nasty to train on, except that there are trees overhead that form a nice bower - cool in the sunshine, and we can train outdoors when it rains. We move class outside as soon as it's warm enough, and keep training outside until eventually the cold drives us back in.

**W. Rabbit** · Posted On: 6/24/2010 2:46pm

Originally Posted by cam4276

Remember that people who train in these temperatures live in them also so they are used to them to a certain degree. They also know about correct hydration, etc because they are taught it or they would be dead.

Right my point was that depending on the actual training room environment, the temperature can still easily go beyond normal "local" temps. In the wrong room with too many people I can imagine the temperature easily rising to 110+...this is what kills kids/pets/people left in cars for too long in the sun and it doesn't take long at all. Knowing the signs of increasing heat stress is I think a really important and overlooked aspect of training...especially in certain schools that feel they have to maintain a "tough" appearance.

Even hydrating isn't enough to prevent you from the moderate->severe forms of heat sickness, because you need to replace things that aren't necessarily in water (salt/electrolytes) because you lose them too.

I was definitely almost in medical distress the other night, and here are the warning signs for everyone's benefit: stop training, get water, something salty, and cool down if you ever start to feel these after a massive sweat:

- Numbness/tingling in the hands/feet (this felt scary. this is what heart attack victims can feel). I immediately felt this and knew something was wrong with my body.
- Seeing spots, dizziness, nausea, headache
- Extreme sudden thirst (not just you need a drink of water...you can't stop drinking it, I read this is due to an overheated thalamus gland). Even with a belly full of water and kidneys starting to hurt I felt like I needed to drink another gallon...very weird feeling.
- Cold, clammy skin. This is what freaked me out the most, after I stopped training and went outside to vent my body heat, with all that sweat and heat I felt my skin felt like a dead person's. I've only felt this when fighting major bouts of the flu with a high grade fever.

Heat sickness -> Heat Stroke -> Dead. Dead is not worth any level of training so mo duk aside, don't ever push yourself past the point you feel these symptoms.

-ED

**Nefron** · Posted On: 6/24/2010 2:52pm

I train in a fucking shack. The temperature is the same as outside. We have some heating but it takes like 2 hours to start up.

**Mneme** · Posted On: 6/26/2010 10:25pm

That depends on the time of year. My club is located in a cellar with modest ventilation. With -15 outside it's pretty comfy down there when people are working and sweating. In summer when the ventilation (No AC up here) it get's in the 90F range. The nasty part isn't the heat though but how moist it gets (to the point where the sweat is condensing on the ceiling and starts dripping back down again).