Disclaimer: Heat Adaptation requires stressing the body's thermoregulatory system. All information below is meant as general guidance. Please consult a medical professional and coach before undertaking any heat training. If at any point you experience any symptoms of heat-related illness, stop immediately and consult a medical professional.
CORE’s Heat Adaptation Score lets you track your heat adaptation progress to see how much of your potential you’ve reached. The score indicates how adapted you are to the heat, on a scale from 0 to 100%. Your score will increase or decrease based on your daily Heat Training Loads.
There are four heat adaptation levels:
- Thermal Rookie, 0–24%
- Heat Accustomed, 25–49%
- Heat Adapted, 50–89%
- Heat Champion, 90–100%
You can reach various levels in a number of ways: quickly with daily high Heat Training Loads, or more gradually with less-frequent lower Heat Training Loads. To help you plan your heat training schedule, below are some examples of how to raise and maintain your Heat Adaptation Score. Be sure to also read the article Integrating Heat Sessions into Your Training Plan to help manage the additional stress that heat training puts on your body.
For examples of workouts yielding various Heat Training Loads, see the article CORE’s Heat Training Loads.
Disclaimer: the following are examples of different heat training scenarios with corresponding adaptations meant for illustrative purposes. Please consult a medical professional before undertaking heat training.
Two weeks to Heat Champion
When you dedicate yourself to an intensive heat training program with 12 very heavy sessions on a daily basis, you can be a Heat Champion in only two weeks.
Two weeks to Heat Adapted
Two weeks of daily moderate heat training sessions will get you to the Heat Adapted level.
Six weeks to Heat Adapted
Some athletes prefer to spread their heat training sessions over a longer period, so that they do not interfere with the rest of their training schedule. For example, you could perform 2–3 sessions per week for 6 weeks.
Heat Training Loads of 5 will get you Heat Adapted.
And Heat Training Loads of 8 will bring you to the top of the Heat Adapted level.
Twelve weeks to Heat Adapted
You can also reach the top of the Heat Adapted level with Heat Training Loads of 5, 2–3 times per week. This will take 12 weeks.
Six weeks to Heat Accustomed
If long and/or intensive heat training sessions do not fit your training schedule, you can still improve your Heat Adaptation Score. For example, you can reach the top of the Heat Accustomed level with Heat Training Loads of 3–5, done 2–3 times per week.
Low Heat Training Loads
Workouts with a Heat Training Load of 3 will only very gradually raise the Heat Adaptation Score, as seen in the example below. To reach the Heat Accustomed level, you will need to extend the heat training period, heat train more frequently, or increase the intensity of one heat training session per week (see example above).
Maintaining your Heat Adaptation Score
Once you’ve reached the Heat Adapted level, you can maintain your score with 2 heat training sessions per week. Aim for Heat Training Loads of approximately 6.
Once you’ve reached the Heat Champion level, you’ll need frequent, light doses to maintain your score. Aim for 3 heat sessions per week with a Heat Training Load of 3.5 each time.
At the Heat Champion level, less-frequent sessions even at a high dose are not enough to maintain full adaptation. This is because of the decay of heat adaptation that happens on days without heat training. In other words, frequency is more important than total load.
Even so, for those maintaining full heat adaptation for a long time (8–12 weeks), it is likely important to sometimes include sessions with a higher Heat Training Load.