BLOWING HOT AND COLD

Are saunas or icy baths better for fitness and well-being?

- Akshita Nanda

Fitness professional Muhammad Alfian Meswan, 29, recommends warming up in a sauna for 10 minutes before working out. "Warming up your body can help prevent injuries and improve your range of motion," he says.

After training, he goes to a steam room or has a warm bath to relax tight muscles.

He has also tried the growing trend of cold water immersion for fitness and well-being, but the icy temperatures do not appeal to him.

"It's just cold and that's it," says Mr Alfian, who is a fitness team lead at Grand Hyatt Singapore's Damai spa and fitness centre.

In contrast, competitive power-lifter Ong Wei Chaai finds it relaxing to sit in cold baths of 5 to 10 deg C for at least one minute at a time. "I like the cold bath. I have to concentrate on my breathing and I can't think of anything else," says the 30-year-old.

He also enjoys hot baths and saunas. Sometimes, he spends 10 minutes in the sauna followed by a minute-long cold plunge, repeating this cycle three times to recover from intense training.

How does exposure to high and low temperatures affect your fitness and well-being? Are hot baths and saunas better for you than cold plunges and ice baths? Or should you alternate them?

The answer seems to depend on individual goals and preferences, with evidence of some benefits at both ends of the temperature setting.

COLD WATER MAY HELP AFTER HIGH-INTENSITY EXERCISE

Cold plunges are increasingly popular here, with numerous businesses offering customers dips in pools as cold as 3 deg C.

Fitness business The ReFormd Group, which runs gyms and personal training, will in June launch a 3,000 sq ft recovery space, Shelter, with three cold pools at 3, 5 and 10 deg C, as well as a sauna and hot bath.

Virgin Active, which has offered an ice room since 2013, in March 2024 added cold plunge tubs to its outlets at Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar and Marina One.