Staying fit for five weeks in Thailand

[Craig krup]

Swim

Read the evidence - very unlikely you can keep your heart rate high enough to challenge your CV system.

[if anyone reading this thinks that saying, "Swimming's the best exercise because it "does" your whole body", or "Swimmers are some of the fittest sportsmen in the world", then this comment isn't right, or wrong, it's "not even wrong" ]

Swim faster?

I spend quite a lot of my time doing things which are completely futile, and I just can't seem to stop myself. I'm basically a born teacher - hardwired to try and advance the cause of common sense in the world until I be dead.

1) You tax your heart and lungs by using your muscles.

2) You have to find something which allows a lot of muscle to be deployed, to produce a lot of power, to tax the heart and lungs.

3) For a standard human the best exercise is running up a gentle slope: this employs a huge percentage of the muscle mass, and indeed is more effective than running on the flat, which sometimes involves bio-mechanical limitations that stand in the way of working hard.

4) This is why running, cycling, rowing and so on are the preferred activities for putting the heart and lungs under stress.

5) If you suggested swimming as a means of either training at high percentages of VO2 max, or as a means to measure it, you'd fail your exercise physiology project.

6) Swimming is one of the few "endurance" sports where people who have inherited low maximal oxygen consumption can triumph - it's all local muscular endurance in the shoulders, technique, high level of fat on the thighs, short legs in proportion to height........they've done the research, and they know what makes good swimmers and why it isn't a very good aerobic activity.

7) A lot of women like swimming because their overall levels of bodyfat, and the fat on their thighs, allows them to scoot up and down and do a lot of lengths on 70 watts of energy. At the start of triathlons with open water (fresh water) swims there used to be a row as to whether the water was cold enough to use wetsuits precisely because the women knew that without wetsuits they could zoom though the water, but once there was some neoprene holding the 5% bodyfat apes up a bit there wasn't a contest.

http://btc.montana.edu/olympics/physiology/pb02.html

[Craig krup]

Good grief, you are going to be dripping with sweat out here whether you exercise or not, copious showers are the way forward. As for all the nonsense about it not being safe or sustainable for 'late 40's) did you actually read my post, see the workout I did this morning and actually digest the information. I did similar workouts every day this week, and the one before and will do so again for the foreseeable future. I'm now watching the sun go down over the water with a very cold sing in my hand so obviously didn't get heatstroke or die! Oh and btw I am a 48 year old female so put your big girl panties on and suck it up.

There's a crucial distinction between what physiologists would call "rate of perceived exertion" and "power output". You can suffer like hell, but that doesn't mean that you're producing any power, and nor does it mean that you're doing the kind of exercise which will keep your oxygen consumption high and prevent you turning into a mess. VO2 max is nearly a perfect predictor of longevity, and if you don't exercise at high percentages of your total ability you won't maintain it.

However, many, many people won't have any problem exercising in the tropics. A top flight cyclist - elite - can process about 6 litres of oxygen a minute, and (this big Bradley Wiggins character) will be kicking out well over 400 watts of power and generating 800 watts of heat. I only every had 5 litres, and I can't sit much above 300W. Most men have 3-4 litres and struggle to sit at 200W, kicking out 400W of heat. A lot of women struggle to sustain 150W and 300W. Nearly all of these people have the same skin area heat loss capacity. At 90% of maximum I'd still be going after Bradley Wiggins was rushed to hospital, if we assume zero heat loss, which in Isaan at 28% and 90% humidity is a fair assumption. My pal's wife goes to agroup exercise session in Bangkok, and suffers horribly. I tried exercising with the women in Nong Khai in the car park during the group exercise sessions. It's pretty obvious - you do what they're doing, sweat from the heat, make 100W of power and lose fitness hand over fist. Or you do what I then tried to do, which was wind sprints up and down the car park, in which case you get your power output and heart rate up for a few minutes before you start overheating.

Lot's of people don't have a problem exercising in the heat for the same reason that a 50cc air-cooled moped engine doesn't need a radiator. I'm not being rude, I'm just trying to make a point. I was at university with a lot of exercise physiologists, I've done road running, triathlon, I've been tested in the uni physiology labs.....I do know what others are saying, but I think they might misunderstand what I'm saying.

Thailand, from what I can see, is full of people who are using "rate of perceived exertion" to measure how "hard" they are exercising, and i can tell you for a fact that is a serious mistake. Your fitness will go off a cliff.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Craig krup

[Craig krup]

Sounds like a real fun guy that's going to have a real fun holiday. 5555

I know, I know....I try to avoid being intemperate, but the web's nearly dead because you can't use keyboards and words to communicate ideas. Nobody ever thinks that they have to think really carefully about anything. So if someone says - in effect - "If you're old and you've been managing to fend off the worst effects by red-lining it in the gym, there's a real issue in the tropics, and you'll be surprised how seriously fitness declines with the reduced activity imposed by heat. Any solutions?", and you try to avoid the tidal wave of colloquial statements (being replicated at the moment on the thread "why rice is the devil's spawn") by noting some science, people think you're doing a "Vic and Bob" shaking their handbags huff.

There's no way you can talk about anything without starting an infinity of tangential fires, and it pretty much convinces you that John Stuart Mill, Milton and all the other liberals were dead wrong. The truth cannot shift for itself. If everyone can talk it's just everyone's party piece. Nobody modifies anything they already think on the basis of anything that is said: or typed.

[Craig krup]

I'm not telling you you're weak or stupid, I'm telling you that you are overthinking it.

You use your "science" to refute any suggestion people have made. Swimming is not good exercise?

I have dozens of friends who jog, cycle, swim, work out in the gym,etc in this heat who are very fit in Thailand, but you reject every suggestion.

Advice with your attitude? Don't come, forget about Thailand or any other hot country, and be super fit at home in the cold.

Why "overthinking" rather than just "thinking"? Why "science" in inverted commas: don't you think this is a "science" question? You say I reject suggestions. Go right back to the start - I know how to exercise, this is a question about (in essence) "Is there anything a serious exerciser can do to get rid of heat that I haven't thought of?" Yous say you know people who are "..very fit.." who work out in the heat? What does that mean? Ever heard of a Wattbike? Manufactured for serious trainers every bike is accurate to within 1%, so they allow for competition. If you've got one in the gym try the 3,000m pursuit effort. I did it in 3:55. It nearly killed me. If one of the people you describe as "very fit" is over 40 and can equal that I'll eat my ....rice

Trying to stay fit as you age involves serious work. If you inherited a reasonable work capacity you won't be able to maintain that in Thailand unless you find a solution to the heat problem. As I say, the web's nearly dead because text doesn't produce ideas in the minds of the folk who read things. People just give strokes - "This is nice coffee, isn't it? Yes it is, isn't it? Yes it is". Use language for any other purpose and nobody appreciates it or knows what to do.

I've seen the guys suffering like a dog in the park, and I've joined them. I've had the kit look as if it has been dipped in a bucket of water after 20 minutes. And I'm saying as a matter of fact that one of two things applies. 1) People have small "engines" - low VO2 max - and so can ditch the heat into the environment even in the tropics, or 2) they're using perceived exertion as their measure of intensity, and when they come back to "the world" they'll find they've aged 4 years in forty days.

Before I got on the plane last June I did my "standard" Wattbike workout - ten one minute efforts at just under 400W with one minute recoveries. I came back after five and a half weeks, during which I'd beasted myself running stairs until saturated every other day, and couldn't turn the pedals for 45 seconds at normal power. I knew there would be a problem - I could see that it was impossible to sustain high heart rates even at 0600 - but I'd never in a million years have thought it would be that bad. In the gym in my pals gated community in Bangkok - with full power air con - I had my first proper workout, with the heart rate pinned up above 160. If you've a reasonable sized "motor" you absolutely cannot do that outdoors in Thailand except (maybe) on a bike with loads of water.

Incidentally, if anyone reading this was a good sportsman when they were younger, and you've been relying on perceived exertion as your measure, you might want to re-think. Not overthink, just re-think.

[Craig krup]

yeah it gets harder as older you gets. You loose fast and you gain slow....the only thing you gain fast is a belly......

Sad how most people let go themself.....Most young Thais don't train anything beside the finger on the mobile phone and when you look at the tourists you see huge mountains of fat walking around....at least they must have strong legs....

Well, as you get older the tropics become less of a problem, because "85% of all you've got" isn't enough to produce a heat problem.

[Craig krup]

Lots of people come to Thailand just to get fit, spending anything from a week to several months here. I use an outdoor gym every morning between 9 and 10am doing cross fit type workouts, involving quite a bit of running (its very hilly round here) and weights. I'm 48 and I can assure you I've more chance of getting hit by a motor bike on a run than 'your death by physics' senario. This is what we did this morning, took an hour.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Craig krup

[Craig krup]

Lots of people come to Thailand just to get fit, spending anything from a week to several months here. I use an outdoor gym every morning between 9 and 10am doing cross fit type workouts, involving quite a bit of running (its very hilly round here) and weights. I'm 48 and I can assure you I've more chance of getting hit by a motor bike on a run than 'your death by physics' senario. This is what we did this morning, took an hour.

Recovery times and times for the run? Bushmen kill kudu and beagles catch hares for the same simple reason - they pursue them at a steady pace, and the kudu or hare overheats and dies. It's called persistence hunting. Hairless humans probably evolved to do it. Nobody, but nobody is running 59 second 400m efforts with 1 minute recoveries in 30 degrees and 90% humidity - any physiologist can tell you that. Mind you I couldn't do one now!

[Craig krup]

Craig krup - please help me understand your theory. You have a mathematic equation which states it is impossible to dissipate enough heat to properly exercise in Thailand (or, I guess, in the tropics in general). Yet, in the real world, many athletes DO manage to exercise and train in Thailand and other tropical climates - even without the benefit of aircon. Please explain - I'm must be missing something... do you believe poor Thai's throughout the country train for muay thai at expensive air-conditioned gyms?

You need to be clear about what is being said. You can't do the kind of endurance exercise that produces lots of heat. Muay Thai fighters won't even average out at 200W when they're hitting and kicking bags, and smaller bodies have a lot more surface area for their mass. Boxers used to do long road runs, but then the exercise physiologists came along and explained that this is a sport which has as its key requirement local muscular endurance in the arms and shoulders. Some disagreed and continued with the old school training. Concussion and lost titles proved to be the final decider in the dispute between the old timers - who believed that weights slowed you down and there was a condition called being "musclebound" - and the thinkers.

If you offered a Thai fighter a pound for every heartbeat above 160 in an hour do you think he - or she - would 1) choose to hit a bag?, 2) choose to kick a bag?, 3) choose to run in 30 degrees of heat and 90% humidity, or 4) choose to run up a 2% slope in a 15 degree air conditioned gym?

Four would make him richer than three, and with one and two he might struggle to make any money at all.

Incidentally, the bloke in the picture is quite fat - about 14% I'd guess, having seen people going in for immersion weighing.

[h90]

Maybe swimming burns less energy because most of the time you have the head under water and can't take as much oxygen in, but it is still high enough. Surely running and biking are the kings but it is still a very intensive sport.

[Craig krup]

...misguided notions about heat dissipation kick in, the light will serve as a warning to others you may be considering baffling brains with bullshit.

Well don't tell us that they're misguided, tell us why they're misguided.

Top tip. Don't try, because they aren't and ....I nearly said "we both", but that's probably false...one of us knows it.

[msealey]

Wow Dude, you're crying like a little girl about this, and come across extremely uptight. You wont fit in, in Thailand.

You've obviously got very specific beliefs about what you see as the ultimate life preserving way to exercise, and there may be a sub section of a fitness forum somewhere that people understand and agree with you.

Perhaps instead of trying to prolong a life that will amount to about 0% of the universes timeline, maybe you should mentally come to terms with death as a fact of life and wind down a bit.

[Craig krup]

On a side note, it seems like OP is more interested in proving his science theories than actually finding a good place to work out in TH. If this was a serious request for advice, I would expect questions on serious gyms in the area he is planning to visit.

I'd expect you to read what I said, but we all have our expectations confounded on a regular basis. I know there are gyms - the one I liked is Your Fitness in Udon - which has the great advantage of having a bloke running it who isn't thick - but setting down in one place was what proved a bad idea last year, and asking for advice on a number of particular gyms depends on a whole series of assumptions about the reliability of testimony, and on what you can establish on the web. Bluntly, there was a queue of farangs to join and use Nong Khai's only gym, and none of them seemed willing to accept what was obvious; there wasn't a single piece of CV equipment which wasn't busted and unable to provide any resistance. I stupidly paid 500 baht - okay, it's only £10 - to have my legs whirl pointlessly around on every single bit of kit. Doubtless every single one of those guys would - as indeed they did - recommend that gym.

Thais seem happy to use "ellipticals" outdoors with no resistance at all built in at the design stage: that has to tell you something.

If somebody says something that makes sense which I haven't thought of - this morning's lighbulb was, "Running water might be cold, so maybe there's a park where you could dunk yourself" - I'll know it when I see it. But, as I say

[Craig krup]

Wow Dude, you're crying like a little girl about this, and come across extremely uptight. You wont fit in, in Thailand.

You've obviously got very specific beliefs about what you see as the ultimate life preserving way to exercise, and there may be a sub section of a fitness forum somewhere that people understand and agree with you.

Perhaps instead of trying to prolong a life that will amount to about 0% of the universes timeline, maybe you should mentally come to terms with death as a fact of life and wind down a bit.

Funny how nobody would accept that from anyone they were relying on: you wouldn't get on a plane if the pilot looked and sounded like the lead from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. It's a bit like "pedantry". As my pal says, "You never hear of engineers criticizing one another for "pedantry""

There's nowt wrong with thinking, lad. It's truly amazing just how many think that thinking is a social "fox's paw" akin to flatulence, and then they spend most of their lives telling you about all the horrific reversals they've suffered, all of which can be traced back to thoughtlessness, "going with the flow", "chilling out" and "not over-thinking".

I like to use reason to manage the world. My experience is that there's very little in the way of a downside to it.

[h90]

Good grief, you are going to be dripping with sweat out here whether you exercise or not, copious showers are the way forward. As for all the nonsense about it not being safe or sustainable for 'late 40's) did you actually read my post, see the workout I did this morning and actually digest the information. I did similar workouts every day this week, and the one before and will do so again for the foreseeable future. I'm now watching the sun go down over the water with a very cold sing in my hand so obviously didn't get heatstroke or die! Oh and btw I am a 48 year old female so put your big girl panties on and suck it up.

But the heat can kill people who are not used to it.

Most victims are males in their 40s-50s who didn't do sport long time and than think they are 19 again...midlife crises.

Heck that is me

But you start it slow, and increase and after just a few month you run or bike in the sun and everything is OK.......

If the heart is healthy, you don't fill yourself up with useless medications and if you are not massive overweight.

After 1 year you are running again easy like a soi dog....Consistence in exercise and healthy food is the trick.

Helps also with the decreasing Testosterone and makes you over all younger. I mix heavy weight training and bicycle, later running and swimming. From overweight (well in these times standards I might have been still normal to slim) I changed from Nov. 2013 to have a visible 6 pack (at the moment I got a bit sloppy but improving again) and a almost Bruce Lee appearance. Just being consistent, doing every day something only sometimes a day or two brake if I really need recovery.

[ElisabethA]

You are talking about doing step ups in a park wearing an ice vest and asking me if I know my rate of exertion?!!!! 'For example, I thought about taking a canvas resistance vest and putting the frozen packs from a chill box in it, and then using that to ditch the heat doing things like step ups in the park'. I wear a heart monitor, I time my runs and workouts, I keep a note of what weights I am using for how many repetitions, I know when getting through 8 hill sprints is suddenly doable without vomiting into a bush! Thats how most people work out,professional athletes use a more exact science and are 20 years younger!

Lots of people come to Thailand just to get fit, spending anything from a week to several months here. I use an outdoor gym every morning between 9 and 10am doing cross fit type workouts, involving quite a bit of running (its very hilly round here) and weights. I'm 48 and I can assure you I've more chance of getting hit by a motor bike on a run than 'your death by physics' senario. This is what we did this morning, took an hour.

Recovery times and times for the run? Bushmen kill kudu and beagles catch hares for the same simple reason - they pursue them at a steady pace, and the kudu or hare overheats and dies. It's called persistence hunting. Hairless humans probably evolved to do it. Nobody, but nobody is running 59 second 400m efforts with 1 minute recoveries in 30 degrees and 90% humidity - any physiologist can tell you that. Mind you I couldn't do one now!

[phetphet]

A bit out there, but what about some sort of "chill vest"? A sort of body cooling vest.

I even looked one up for you: http://www.veskimo.com/cooling-vests-sports-athletes.php

Edited May 23, 2015 by phetphet

[Craig krup]

A bit out there, but what about some sort of "chill vest"? A sort of body cooling vest.

I even looked one up for you: http://www.veskimo.com/cooling-vests-sports-athletes.php

Very interesting - so that's my patent application binned

As I say, I thought about jerry-rigging one from a weight-resistance vest and some ice-packs from a chill box, but ideally you want someone else to try it out in case there are issues you haven't thought about: like localised damage to your skin. If they are selling a product you can read the reviews. If you were going to give yourself a beasting in the park on a regular basis something like this would allow you to ditch heat and work harder.

The need to ditch heat, of course, isn't open to question. This is basic exercise physiology and sports science. First year exams involve questions asking the candidate to calculate how much sweat would have to be evaporated to allow an athlete to maintain a body temperature given a power output. It isn't open to doubt, and with very high humidity sweating doesn't work - also not open to doubt.

Of course, all scientific claims can be doubted. There's a Flat Earth Society that talks about the "globuralist heresy"!

[Craig krup]

You are talking about doing step ups in a park wearing an ice vest and asking me if I know my rate of exertion?!!!! 'For example, I thought about taking a canvas resistance vest and putting the frozen packs from a chill box in it, and then using that to ditch the heat doing things like step ups in the park'. I wear a heart monitor, I time my runs and workouts...

As I've said a number of times - if you've a small motor your heart rate will be high. One of the women at my work did martial arts, seemed quite fit.....got tested.......VO2 max of 26.

She'd have no problem working out in the tropics, and wouldn't be able to understand that anyone else did.

What's your Cooper Test distance - 12 minutes best effort?

[ElisabethA]

To be honest as long as can get up in the morning, feel amazing, look the way I do, lift heavy shit, run as much as i need to, I don't really care whatever your measure is. Perhaps you need to chill the hell out and work out whether in 10 or 15 years you can lift you ass off the toilet, put your baggage in the overhead locker, carry your shopping home and still string a sentence together. Oh and btw my resting heart rate is 68!

Edited May 23, 2015 by ElisabethA

[duanebigsby]

I'm not telling you you're weak or stupid, I'm telling you that you are overthinking it.

You use your "science" to refute any suggestion people have made. Swimming is not good exercise?

I have dozens of friends who jog, cycle, swim, work out in the gym,etc in this heat who are very fit in Thailand, but you reject every suggestion.

Advice with your attitude? Don't come, forget about Thailand or any other hot country, and be super fit at home in the cold.

Why "overthinking" rather than just "thinking"? Why "science" in inverted commas: don't you think this is a "science" question? You say I reject suggestions. Go right back to the start - I know how to exercise, this is a question about (in essence) "Is there anything a serious exerciser can do to get rid of heat that I haven't thought of?" Yous say you know people who are "..very fit.." who work out in the heat? What does that mean? Ever heard of a Wattbike? Manufactured for serious trainers every bike is accurate to within 1%, so they allow for competition. If you've got one in the gym try the 3,000m pursuit effort. I did it in 3:55. It nearly killed me. If one of the people you describe as "very fit" is over 40 and can equal that I'll eat my ....rice

Trying to stay fit as you age involves serious work. If you inherited a reasonable work capacity you won't be able to maintain that in Thailand unless you find a solution to the heat problem. As I say, the web's nearly dead because text doesn't produce ideas in the minds of the folk who read things. People just give strokes - "This is nice coffee, isn't it? Yes it is, isn't it? Yes it is". Use language for any other purpose and nobody appreciates it or knows what to do.

I've seen the guys suffering like a dog in the park, and I've joined them. I've had the kit look as if it has been dipped in a bucket of water after 20 minutes. And I'm saying as a matter of fact that one of two things applies. 1) People have small "engines" - low VO2 max - and so can ditch the heat into the environment even in the tropics, or 2) they're using perceived exertion as their measure of intensity, and when they come back to "the world" they'll find they've aged 4 years in forty days.

Before I got on the plane last June I did my "standard" Wattbike workout - ten one minute efforts at just under 400W with one minute recoveries. I came back after five and a half weeks, during which I'd beasted myself running stairs until saturated every other day, and couldn't turn the pedals for 45 seconds at normal power. I knew there would be a problem - I could see that it was impossible to sustain high heart rates even at 0600 - but I'd never in a million years have thought it would be that bad. In the gym in my pals gated community in Bangkok - with full power air con - I had my first proper workout, with the heart rate pinned up above 160. If you've a reasonable sized "motor" you absolutely cannot do that outdoors in Thailand except (maybe) on a bike with loads of water.

Incidentally, if anyone reading this was a good sportsman when they were younger, and you've been relying on perceived exertion as your measure, you might want to re-think. Not overthink, just re-think.

What does it mean that I know people who exercise in the heat?

I have a friend into bicycling who joins 12 hour long distance races where 2000 people participate and it's all day in the heat.

Overthinking? Yes you are overthinking it.

None of those bike racers have done the math and physics like you have to convince themselves they can't race.

I wouldn't tell a competitive or serious swimmer that they're not getting exercise.

You are obviously someone who drives himself nuts worrying about details.

People obsessed with 100% perfection, worry about the details won't last in Thailand and that has nothing to do with fitness.

Your posts indicate you should never think about moving here or any other country in the world. You need to stay home wherever that may be.

You aren't suited to travel and I don't say that to many people.

[msealey]

A bit out there, but what about some sort of "chill pill"?

[ElisabethA]

http://running.competitor.com/2014/07/training/heat-acclimatization-for-runners_12035

How to Acclimatize

Each runner is slightly different, but generally it takes about two weeks of continual training in the heat to acclimatize. Averaging at least one hour of moderate exercise daily in hot conditions is enough to get results in that timeframe. Gradually ease into heat training by keeping a low intensity at first (quality runs can be done in a cool gym). Depending on your normal running volume, fitness level, and natural heat tolerance, you may need to reduce your running volume slightly or significantly in the first days of heat exposure. As adaptations occur, intensity and volume can increase.

Certain adaptations occur quicker than others. Decreased heart rate can occur in as little as five days, while changes in sweating response could take weeks. Furthermore, trained endurance athletes usually adapt faster than untrained individuals.

Read more at http://running.competitor.com/2014/07/training/heat-acclimatization-for-runners_12035#JYKruex4RzeI4rti.99

Edited May 23, 2015 by ElisabethA

[duanebigsby]

A bit out there, but what about some sort of "chill pill"?

Craig krup pisses me off so much, the chill pill should be for me 55555

[ElisabethA]

I think he is some sort of personal trainer that thinks he may take the region by storm, by telling us his vo2max ice chamber, high altitude workouts will make us ripped. Craig Krup, I challenge you to come to one of our training sessions or a nice and easy Muay Thai workout, and we will see how you might need your ice vest!

[Myaimistrue]

Swim

Read the evidence - very unlikely you can keep your heart rate high enough to challenge your CV system.

[if anyone reading this thinks that saying, "Swimming's the best exercise because it "does" your whole body", or "Swimmers are some of the fittest sportsmen in the world", then this comment isn't right, or wrong, it's "not even wrong" ]

Swim faster?

I spend quite a lot of my time doing things which are completely futile, and I just can't seem to stop myself. I'm basically a born teacher - hardwired to try and advance the cause of common sense in the world until I be dead.

1) You tax your heart and lungs by using your muscles.

2) You have to find something which allows a lot of muscle to be deployed, to produce a lot of power, to tax the heart and lungs.

3) For a standard human the best exercise is running up a gentle slope: this employs a huge percentage of the muscle mass, and indeed is more effective than running on the flat, which sometimes involves bio-mechanical limitations that stand in the way of working hard.

4) This is why running, cycling, rowing and so on are the preferred activities for putting the heart and lungs under stress.

5) If you suggested swimming as a means of either training at high percentages of VO2 max, or as a means to measure it, you'd fail your exercise physiology project.

6) Swimming is one of the few "endurance" sports where people who have inherited low maximal oxygen consumption can triumph - it's all local muscular endurance in the shoulders, technique, high level of fat on the thighs, short legs in proportion to height........they've done the research, and they know what makes good swimmers and why it isn't a very good aerobic activity.

7) A lot of women like swimming because their overall levels of bodyfat, and the fat on their thighs, allows them to scoot up and down and do a lot of lengths on 70 watts of energy. At the start of triathlons with open water (fresh water) swims there used to be a row as to whether the water was cold enough to use wetsuits precisely because the women knew that without wetsuits they could zoom though the water, but once there was some neoprene holding the 5% bodyfat apes up a bit there wasn't a contest.

http://btc.montana.edu/olympics/physiology/pb02.html

Common sense tells me, using this chart from your posted link, that swimming is a viable alternative to running in this heat, based on their VO2 Maximums. If swimming is not enough resistance for you, try tying a cinder block to each leg.

[Rhys]

all in stride and time....

[cardinalblue]

What's the point of going to a gym here for a month? Missing a month will benefit you much more emotionally psychologically culturally and physically.

Enjoy LOS for what it is...

CB

[mikebike]

Craig krup - please help me understand your theory. You have a mathematic equation which states it is impossible to dissipate enough heat to properly exercise in Thailand (or, I guess, in the tropics in general). Yet, in the real world, many athletes DO manage to exercise and train in Thailand and other tropical climates - even without the benefit of aircon. Please explain - I'm must be missing something... do you believe poor Thai's throughout the country train for muay thai at expensive air-conditioned gyms?

You need to be clear about what is being said. You can't do the kind of endurance exercise that produces lots of heat.

Incidentally, the bloke in the picture is quite fat - about 14% I'd guess, having seen people going in for immersion weighing.

OK - thanks for the responses to myself and others - it has helped in clarifying your position and aims, which were unclear in your OP.

I think the main hinderance to you getting responses more on point to your query is your vague and undefined use of the term 'fitness' in this discussion. Members reading your OP were responding to 'fitness' in a more general usage than your micro-specific, personally-defined usage. What you are calling general 'fitness' most would perceive as 'physical obsession'. Your comment regarding the 'fitness' of the muay thai fighter in the photo pretty much defines your perception: you perceive him to be 'quite fat', but by any normative standards of general populations he would be seen as fit and athletic.

I truly hope you can figure out a way to exercise while on vacation that is compatible with your routine and requirements.

[mikebike]

Lot's of people don't have a problem exercising in the heat for the same reason that a 50cc air-cooled moped engine doesn't need a radiator.

A bit of a flawed analogy as there are many 1000cc, 100HP bike engines which require no external cooling either... A better one to illustrate your idea would have been to point out that an engine of any size will operate more efficiently and effectively being able to shed heat quicker. The Yamaha RD350 air cooled two stroke produced 39HP. Its liquid-cooled sister, the RZ350 59HP.

[Tolley]

A more sensible training regime for Thailand is:

One shag before bed and one shag in the morning. Repeat as often as required.