Welcome to the Get Fit Guys' quick and dirty tips to slim down and shape up.

My name is Ben Greenfield and I'm the Get Fit Guy.

If you tuned in to the recent New York City triathlon, you may have heard that there were many

heat-related illnesses during the race and two tragic deaths.

During the 2007 Chicago Marathon,

runners were rerouted to a city park and instructed to stop running since the heat was too intense to ensure runner safety. But even if you don't plan on doing a triathlon or a marathon in hot

weather, a high temperature outside or in your gym can make exercise uncomfortable,

inhibit your performance, cause dehydration, and leave you feeling literally and figuratively

under the weather after you finish your workout. So in this episode, you'll learn how to keep

cool when you're exercising in hot conditions. Let's first discuss what happens to your body in the heat.

As soon as you get into hot weather and begin to exercise, you force your body to circulate blood

out to the skin, where it can be cooled. But this circulation to your skin can draw precious

oxygen-delivering blood away from your working muscles and also lower the

amount of blood your heart can pump with each beat. In addition, you're already losing blood

volume as you lose fluid and sweat and this places additional demand on an already stressed heart.

So as blood becomes a precious commodity and your heart is forced to work harder,

your heart rate goes uncomfortably high, your breathing becomes more difficult, your blood pressure

drops, and your core temperature goes up. Eventually, you reach a point where your body sends a message

to your brain to stop, and at that point, exercise goes from being uncomfortable and difficult

to simply impossible.

So what can you do about this loss of blood volume and increase in body temperature?

Well, I'm going to give you five basic solutions.

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