My local Y has a sauna and a steam room. Which should I use for what purpose? I have a lot of problems with muscle pain.
Nobody knows?
I know there’s some skepticism on this Board as to whether saunas actually do you any good at all.
I sauna once or twice a week. I love 'em.
I mainly use the steam room to clear out my lungs and sinuses. But the sauna is where I just let the heat soak into my muscles. I generally do this routine:
- Shower
- Sauna. Upper shelf for higher heat, 5 to 10 minutes, or until I can hear my heartbeat (blood starts pumping fast enough you can hear it).
- Quick cool-down in pool or shower
- Rest on bench/bed. Hydrate.
- Sauna
- Quick cool-down then directly to steam room
- Rest and hydrate.
- Sauna on lower shelf for 10 minutes or until I just can’t take it anymore.
- Rest and cool-down.
- Quick sauna, quick dip in pool.
- Shower and dress and hydrate.
I feel that the sauna mainly relaxes me, gives me a good 45 minutes or so to forget about the world, helps cleanse my body (I drink at least 2 liters of water during and more after - gotta be good for washing away toxins to some degree). Oh, and did I mention that the average Czech woman is pretty and the saunas are co-ed and nekkid? Bonus!
-Tcat
I don’t use them a great deal but I find that steam rooms are very good for my skin.
In a steam room, you can take along some broccoli and shrimp, which will cook about as fast as you do. Then you’ll have a little snack when you’re done. 
Alright, fight some ignorance for me…what the hell is the difference between a sauna and a steamroom? Is a sauna just hot but no steam?
Sauna is heat. But it’s a dry heat.
[hijack]
This is that point in time where I thank God for my Slovak roots, my current online class in Russian, and my faith in God that I can pray for a trip to Prague. Please Lord, grant me a trip just once: to ‘practice my Russian’, and ‘learn some Slovak’ while I’m at it. Seriously, O Lord.
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Seriously, I loved the sauna. When I was working out in earnest, I’d hang out in the sauna for a good 10 - 15 minutes to let the heat penetrate my recently torn muscles, and relax them. I never did care for the steam room as it gave me sinus trouble, though. And now that I am starting a new routine, I will have to find the sauna in this new gym on base.
Tripler
- Note to girlfriend: Please ignore the first paragraph. Thank you.
A few drops of lemongrass essential oill on the steam head and… ahhhhhhhh. There is at least some therapeutic value if nothing else.
Yeah, the difference is pretty noticeable. The saunas I’ve been to are pretty dry with an interior heat of about 60-80 Celsius and a low humidity. The steamrooms I’ve been to generally top out at about 50 Celsius with 100% humidity. They are friggin scorching hot! It’s really, really hard to breathe in those if you’re not used to them.
Tomcat - your saunas are naked? Goddamn! I lived for five years in Budapest and if you’d expect anyone to have co-ed naked saunas, it’s the sex-crazed Magyars, but nooooo… Lucky you! I loved the saunas and steamrooms, and I did the same routine as you, with the cool-down in the coldest bath (usually around 15 C). After two passes of hot-cold-rest, hot-cold-rest, I felt like somebody just beat the crap outta me, but in a good way. Every muscle in my body felt limp and completely relaxed.
It’s mostly a dry heat, but you do throw water onto the rocks on top of the stove to generate some steam from time to time.
Tomcat, please tell us more about your saunas.