Heated Resistance Exercise Recommendations, Rewards, and Risks

Adding heat stress to resistance exercise or heated resistance exercise (HRE) was historically believed to be counterproductive as the additional thermal strain would induce excessive physiologic strain hindering training quality and the overall adaptive impulse. Emerging data from cell, animal, and now human models indicate that heat stress synergistically stimulates several molecular processes that favor skeletal muscle protein synthesis and muscular performance prompting reconsideration of the relationship between heat stress and resistance exercise. While mechanistic targets are becoming clearer, implementation of HRE remains ambiguous as there is a lack of discussion regarding the recommendations to promote adaptations and muscular performance enhancements. Resistance exercise with heat stress is not without risk. Within this brief review, we discuss the risks and rewards of HRE and highlight the preparatory and exercise programming aspects of this novel training approach.