{"id":314671,"date":"2025-12-13T23:28:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T23:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/314671\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T23:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T23:28:11","slug":"lying-in-a-warm-bath-after-a-run-can-significantly-improve-your-cardio-fitness-but-it-has-to-be-piping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/314671\/","title":{"rendered":"Lying in a warm bath after a run can significantly improve your cardio fitness \u2013 but it has to be piping"},"content":{"rendered":"

In sports science, as in life, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. So news that lying in a hot bath post-run boosts your VO2 max<\/a> \u2013 no exercise required \u2013 sets alarm bells ringing. And yet, that\u2019s exactly what a reputable study<\/a> has found. <\/p>\n

Admittedly, it was a small study, involving just nine men and one woman. But all participants were trained distance runners, making the findings particularly relevant to RW readers. When the runners completed a five-week block of hot-water immersion (45 minutes at 40\u00baC, five times a week), their VO2 max increased by 4%. For reference, that\u2019s the kind of boost that you might expect from a well-designed altitude camp. <\/p>\n

Unlike altitude training, however, the heat variety is cheap and local: you don\u2019t need to fly to Iten in Kenya to get the benefit \u2013 you just need to lie in your bathtub. Moreover, this kind of heat training is passive. In other words, it requires no changes in mileage or intensity to get results. It\u2019s a win-win. <\/p>\n

Want to try it yourself? Here are a few things to consider<\/p>\n

First, the temperature needs to be hot. Participants in the study started with baths at 40\u00baC, progressing to about 42\u00baC over five weeks. Spending 45 minutes in water at that temperature is not easy. If you can\u2019t do it at first, start with a shorter amount of time, like 30 minutes, or try to do in 3 x 15-minute intervals, allowing yourself a minute of two in between to cool down. <\/p>\n

Secondly, you need to do it regularly. The runners in the study got in the bath five times a week. That\u2019s a fairly big time commitment, particularly if you have a busy schedule or a family. <\/p>\n

Thirdly, you have to stick with it. The participants did it for five weeks. You\u2019ll need to do the same if you want to see comparable fitness gains. <\/p>\n

When should you do it? Maybe six weeks out from an important race, such as a spring marathon<\/a>. Look at it as a smart way to boost your aerobic capacity without adding extra miles. And if your spring race ends up being unseasonably warm, like the London Marathon<\/a> this year, all that bathing will have helped you to adapt to the heat, too. <\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In sports science, as in life, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. So…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[57162,125019,381,6647,102,1156,125018,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-314671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-content-type-advice","9":"tag-contentid-bbdc6e26-c34a-4f2f-9773-a5736f901350","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-locale-gb","14":"tag-shorttitle-lying-in-a-warm-bath-after-a-run-can-significantly-improve-your-cardio-fitness-but-it-has-to-be-piping","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}