Sauna Before or After Your Workout: Yes, Timing Matters

So you've just discovered your gym has a sauna, or you're thinking about adding heat therapy to your routine, and now you're faced with the question: do you sauna before or after your workout?

Generally, most experts agree that if you're going to pair your sauna with your workout, doing it after is the smarter move. There are some solid reasons why, and a few things worth knowing before you head in.

The case for a sauna after a workout

Post-workout recovery is where the magic happens

When you finish a workout, your muscles are tired, your heart rate is elevated, and your body is in recovery mode. Hopping into a sauna after training can enhance your recovery by increasing blood flow to your muscles, delivering oxygen and nutrients, and flushing out metabolic waste products like lactic acid. Think of it like giving your circulatory system a little boost when it's already doing the hard repair work.

Most evidence is in favour of the post-workout sauna, with research showing that it can help reduce muscle soreness, speed up recovery time and improve overall performance. Other research has shown that adding a sauna to your workout routine can also improve cardio fitness, blood pressure, cholesterol, and even running speed, VO2 max and time to exhaustion.

Part of what's happening under the hood is the production of heat shock proteins (HSPs). When your body is exposed to heat stress, it releases these proteins as a protective response, and research shows they play a direct role in repairing and rebuilding muscle cells after training. Think of them as your body's internal repair crew, and the sauna as a way of calling them in faster.

One thing worth knowing if you go down the research rabbit hole: always check who the study participants were. A lot of exercise science research has historically been conducted on males, which means the findings don't always translate directly. Where you can, look for studies that include female participants or mixed-sex groups. The good news is this is changing, with more research on women specifically starting to come through.

Enjoy the post-workout mental wind-down

Sitting in a warm sauna feels absolutely incredible. It's meditative and relaxing, signalling to your body and mind that you're in wind-down mode, which can help calm your nervous system after a workout.

Feeling overly relaxed (or even dazed) isn't what you want right before a workout - we want you feeling alert and focused to get the most out of your session and avoid injury.

It's better to warm up with movement, not a sauna

Getting into the sauna might seem like a nice way to warm up your body for your workout, but we always recommend warming up with dynamic movement. Despite the fact that a sauna mimics exercise in many ways (your body temperature and heart rate increase, your blood vessels dilate, and your body starts to sweat), it doesn't adequately prime your muscles, joints and mind for the movement to come. If you're not sure which movements to do, every Sweat workout includes an optional dynamic warm-up!

A pre-workout sauna can actually mess with your workout

Extended sauna sessions before working out can actually tank your performance. When you spend significant time in high heat, your core body temperature rises, your heart rate increases, and you start to dehydrate and feel fatigued - before you've done a single rep. This means you're starting your workout on the back foot, which can reduce your strength, endurance, and coordination.

Research has shown that under heat stress, endurance exercise capacity and performance are impaired, and your body fatigues more quickly.

Plus, there's the issue of overheating. Your body works hard to regulate temperature during exercise, and if you're already heat-stressed from the sauna, you're putting extra strain on your cardiovascular system and increasing your risk of heat-related illness.

Infrared sauna: does it change things?

If you've been spending time in wellness spaces lately, you'll have heard about infrared saunas. They're popping up in gyms, studios and spa menus everywhere, and yes, they work a little differently from traditional steam or dry saunas.

The key difference is how they heat you up. A traditional sauna heats the air around you to high temperatures (usually 70-100°C), which then heats your body from the outside. Infrared saunas use light waves to heat your body directly rather than the surrounding air, at much lower temperatures (around 45-65°C). A lot of people find infrared sessions more comfortable to sit through, particularly after a hard workout.

When it comes to recovery, the results are genuinely promising. A 2025 study from the University of Jyväskylä, conducted specifically on female team sport athletes, found that regular post-exercise infrared sauna use supported neuromuscular performance and recovery over a six-week training period. The researchers also noted that unlike traditional saunas, which may impair next-day performance when used after heavy training, infrared sessions didn't carry the same risk.

So if your gym has an infrared option, the same "after, not before" rule still applies, and it may actually be the gentler choice on high-intensity training days. Either way, you're in good hands.

A couple of words of caution

If you plan on hopping in the sauna after your workout, there are a few things we suggest to help you feel better when you get out, rather than worse. 

1. Make sure you stay hydrated. No matter what time of day you choose to sauna, start hydrated and stay hydrated. Getting out and feeling dizzy and dehydrated is not a vibe.

2. Give yourself a minute. After your workout, we still recommend taking a few minutes to do some cool-down stretches, drink water, and let your heart rate return to baseline before you head to the sauna.

3. Listen to your body. If you’ve done an intense session and don’t feel great sitting in a sauna (we’re talking lightheadedness, nausea, dizziness, etc.), just get out. Don’t sit there hoping it’ll pass or that the benefits are worth the discomfort. Likewise, if you finish your workout and are already drenched in sweat and feeling fatigued, a sauna might not be what you need.

4. Start small.  Your first time trying a post-workout sauna doesn’t need to be long. Hop in for 10 minutes, see how you feel and give your body time to adapt before hitting longer sessions.

How long should you stay in the sauna after a workout?

This is one of the most common follow-up questions, and it's important because just like your training, more time doesn't automatically mean more benefit.

For most people, 10-20 minutes is the sweet spot post-workout. If you're new to sauna use, or combining it with exercise for the first time, start at the lower end of that range. Around 10 minutes is enough to get the blood flow and relaxation benefits without pushing your body too hard when it's already tired from training.

As you get more comfortable, you can work up to 15-20 minutes. Most of the research on post-workout sauna benefits used sessions in that range, so it's a well-supported target. Beyond 20 minutes, you're unlikely to get more out of it, and if you've had an intense session, your body might just be done.

A few signs it's time to get out, regardless of the clock: feeling dizzy or lightheaded, nausea, a thudding heartbeat, or any sense that something's off. These aren't things to push through. Get out, sit somewhere cool, and drink water.

One practical tip: wait a few minutes after your workout before getting in. Bring your heart rate down, do some cool-down stretches, drink some water, and then head in. You'll feel a lot better afterwards.

What about cold plunges?

Cold plunges have also been having a moment, and many people are pairing them with sauna sessions as part of a post-workout recovery ritual. This combination of alternating heat and cold is called contrast therapy, and it's been used in Scandinavian cultures for centuries.

The basic idea is that moving from heat (where your blood vessels open up) to cold (where they narrow) creates a kind of pump effect for your circulation. Research on contrast therapy suggests it can help reduce muscle soreness compared to passive recovery, though the evidence on exactly how much benefit you get is still developing.

If you want to try it, the standard approach is sauna first, cold plunge after. Heat helps your body open up and relax into the session, and it makes the cold feel a lot more manageable. Jumping into cold water first tends to feel more jarring and doesn't produce the same circulatory response.

One note worth knowing: there's research suggesting that cold water immersion immediately after strength training may interfere with the muscle-building signals your body sends post-workout. So if building strength or muscle is your main goal, it's worth saving intense cold plunges for rest and recovery days rather than straight after a heavy lifting session. For endurance or high-intensity cardio, this is less of a concern.

Neither sauna nor cold plunge is essential to a great recovery routine, but if you enjoy them and have access to both, they make a pretty good team.

Time it right

For most people, most of the time, the answer is after. You'll get better recovery benefits, you won't compromise your performance, and you'll actually enjoy it more when your hard work is already done.

At the end of the day, the best approach is the one that makes you feel good and that you'll actually stick with consistently. Whether that's a regular post-workout sauna session or a weekend recovery ritual, find what works for your schedule, your body, and your goals.