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I have a participant in one of my classes that creates a commotion at the start of the class with regards to the use of fans in the cycling studio. He maintains that he will burn more calories by being hot and sweating and that the fans have a cooling affect and slow his ability to burn calories.

I feel the fans and the cooling are beneficial to performance and enable us to work harder for a longer period of time. If heat were a factor in proper training we’d be taking the bikes in the sauna and cycling in the extreme heat.

Endurance athletes in may sports spend a lot of money on proper clothing and equipment that expels heat and moisture from the body in an effort to cool it down.

How odd!  Most peeps in our classes don't like fans, especially when the fans are blowing on them.  But there are a couple peeps that insist on turning on the fans even before class starts.  So we've compromised by pointing the fans at the ceiling and towards the middle of the room so they don't blow on anyone.

But then very few people wear those outdoor cycling jerseys that you have to unzip to keep from overheating.

Personally I like to sweat, calories be danged, and a sleeveless cotton blend shirt works great.

Rex

Hi Mates,

Well FANS? ?? well I do say, most of the member does not like the fan to blow in their face during their work out. However, if you're talking about heat and studi temperature I don't have a proper set point temperature to share with you guys. BUT the most important thing during the class is not really the heat nor the fan. It's VENTILATION. Make sure your studio have sufficient ventilation. Either by using ventilation fan or air cond depending on your club facilites. Good ventilation will promotes better work out. It's a concern on air quality, humidity as well as building body temperature. Cold air contains higher percentage of Oxygen comparing to hot air. The key of your workout is oxygen and for better O2 you really need ventilation or air exchange in the room.

Cheers mate

I'm afraid I don't have any evidence to offer you but I should imagine that the difference in calories burned between fans on and fans off would be fairly low in comparison to the amount burned overall.  

Besides, what do the rest of your class think?  I don't think that one participant would be very popular if everyone else's comfort was sacrificed for his theories about sweating and burning more calories.

A couple of my participants bring they own fans while some of the body builders bike full body sweat suits and hoodies... Lots of people have lots of wacky ideas (remember the sauna suits). That is why we teach with the lights on and keep a closer eye on those with unique "needs"

Fans are good!  

Train with your brain!

 

Oh man. . . I'm so glad that we don't have any crazy calorie burning nutsos in our classes! We have ceiling fans and 2 oscillating fans on the walls - and they're ALL on throughout the class. I sweat like a maniac during RPM - the one time that I got to class late and wasn't near any fan at all, I had a lake beneath my bike. It was not a fun ride at all.

 Most biking studios that I've been in are kind of small, and without fans it can get really stuffy. Usually it's stuffy with fans.

I don't know where you all (or y'all ) live, but I'm in Houston, Texas and it's a matter not just of heat, but of humidity as well.  Without fans and proper air conditioning and in a full cycling studio, our members can become dangerously over-heated. It's not a personal preference, it's safety concern.  When you're riding and moving outside, the air against your skin acts as an evaporative cooler and helps your body maintain an acceptable core temperature.  Inside, the fans serve the same purpose - to help your body maintain a safe temperature.  Any weight loss this complaining member may be experiencing could be from de-hydration and not additional caloric expenditure from sweating.  If he thinks heat plus sweat equal caloric burn, he needs to come to Houston in the summer to really have some fun!

Paula

even in the cold uk we have the air con on it is essential for participant comfort. By being too hot all your body can do is vaso-dilate or flush the skin with blood and sweat, also tendency to breath out hot moistur occurs. you body is really poor at keeping itself cold, on the other hand we can deal with cold much more effectivly as burning calories creates heat.

Point being the body works best when core temp. is 37.7 degrees c and so just in balance you put clothes on in the relax session to keep warm in other classes you use air con to keep cool making working out not only more comfortable but also safer.

ask your person does he properly hydrate after each session as he sounds like the sort to be massivly dehydrated thinking hotter is better

ps try nike website for research as they spend loads on making sure top athlets get the best of science

I work with Paula (Hi Paula) in Houston-and she's right on.  I ride outside and I can tell you that you don't burn more calories when you're over heated which is what your member is trying to achieve.  Core temprature has nothing to do with how fast you burn calories.  Paula is correct saying that the loss he may see on the scale is in fact loss of water through perspiration.  As an endurance cyclist I weigh my self before and after my rides and hydrate accordingly. I can loose up to 6-7 lbs. in one ride-depending on heat/humidity.  That's purely water loss and not something I strive to achieve.

You could google caloric burn and core temprature.  Also IDEAfit.org may be a good resource-I'm not sure if you have to be a member to search for articles.

My best advice to you is to remember that YOU are in charge of the class.  You are there to teach,lead and inspire. Go in with a confident attitude and explain that because of safety concerns the fans and AC WILL remain on. Also if this participant wants to burn more calories he may want to consider working harder (within LM guidelines) in RPM.

I have sports induced asthma (which means only affects me during exercise)... if I breathe in cold air (as in starting from T1 onwards) before my body is warmed up (if say it was a cold day outside), the cold air has a bad reaction in my throat resulting in me not able to breathe at all, and thus I'm unable to continue.. my experience is I've had no problems when the rpm instructors turn on the fans after track2 or track3, or if its a hot day (australian weather). I've been doing rpm for nearly 2 years, and there have been afew times I've needed my inhaler because of cold weather.. but I would hate to see what it would do to someone with full blown asthma.

I think if you turn the fans on too early when their body is not warmed up, you run the risk of triggering an asthma attack.

We have both wall (high) mounted and low (portable) fans in our studio.  The clients that like to have low fans (in their face to to speak) will ride near those bikes. 

I once subbed for a class that had a hard-core "anti-fan" cadre and one of them was quite vocal about his distaste for fans (to the point of trying to belittle those who wanted them--in a "soft" manner)--but one client requested fans.  So, I turned a few of them on.

The client (Mr. anti-fan) got up and LEFT THE CLASS.  He then (of course) complained to the GFM and the club owner.  When asked why I chose to ignore the wishes of one and grant the wishes of the other I simply stated that I think they'd rather have to deal with a somewhat miffed client than to explain to a doctor/family/court of law why you chose to ignore the reasonable request of a client who subsequently suffered heat injury--(fill in the rest of the story).

Our official policy is if ONE client wants a fan--we turn them on in stages to accomodate them.  To deny their request is opening your club and you personally (in some regions) to liability issues. 

When participants understand this--they usually nod their heads and get on with the business at hand.  Riding strong!

-Cheers