Summer on the Gold Coast: Training in the Heat
Every year around November, attendance dips slightly and the reason is always the same: it's simply too hot. I have some sympathy. A Gold Coast summer afternoon is not an invitation to exert yourself.
But summer doesn't have to cost you three months of progress. It just needs a slightly different plan.
Why it's the humidity, not the heat
Your body cools itself mainly by sweating and letting that sweat evaporate. When the air is already heavy with moisture, evaporation slows dramatically — so the sweat keeps coming but the cooling doesn't. That's why 28 degrees here can feel far worse than 33 somewhere dry.
It also matters more as we age. Our ability to regulate temperature becomes less efficient, the thirst signal becomes less reliable, and some common medications — blood pressure tablets and diuretics in particular — affect how the body handles heat and fluid. None of that is cause for alarm; it's cause for being a bit more deliberate.
"By the time you feel thirsty on a humid morning, you're already behind. Drink before you need to."
Timing is everything
Early morning wins, comfortably. Before eight, the air is cooler, the humidity is at its most bearable and the light is beautiful. The path around the marina at that hour is genuinely one of the better places to be on the Gold Coast, and several of our clients have quietly become morning people because of it.
If mornings truly aren't possible, after five is the next best window. The middle of the day is for indoor work, and that's not a compromise — it's just sensible.
Hydration, practically
Start drinking before you train, not during. A glass or two in the hour beforehand does more than anything you sip halfway through. Keep drinking steadily afterwards — most people are still behind by the evening.
If you've sweated heavily, you've lost salt as well as water, and water alone can leave you feeling oddly flat. A pinch of salt in your drink or a salty snack with your next meal sorts it. You don't need an expensive sports drink.
Signs to stop
Stop and get into the cool if you feel dizzy or nauseated, get a headache, stop sweating despite the heat, or feel your heart racing beyond what the effort warrants. Heat illness escalates faster than people expect, and there is no session worth pushing through it for.
The summer advantage
Here's the upside of an indoor, air-conditioned studio: your strength training doesn't care what the weather is doing. December and January are, if anything, ideal months to focus on it while the outdoor stuff gets shifted earlier.
Come in, do the work in the cool, then go and enjoy the water like everyone else. That's rather the whole point of living here.