This story has been updated with new information.
I’m pumping away on a contraption that’s an elliptical trainer for the arms, a cycle for the legs, dripping in 125-degree heat in a wood-paneled room not much bigger than a fully extended dining room table.
A female trainer, working it with ease on the same apparatus, is shouting commands from a 43-inch flatscreen TV mounted on the wall, showing a mirror image of the room I’m in for a 15-minute exercise session. It’s called “Hot Blast” at HOTWORX.
This national fitness franchise and other wellness businesses are promulgating a relatively new fat-slaying tool — infrared light. It’s being sold as a metabolism booster, a stimulator of the body’s regenerative powers and even a way to keep the calories burning after the workout is over. Other places it’s being promoted as a youth-boost for your skin, too.
Mainstream medical thought is skeptical, but not entirely dismissive about how it could take on even bigger medical problems than being a little chunky.
“It is important to acknowledge that most current evidence (that infrared light shows health benefits for conditions like obesity and diabetes) is derived from preclinical models and small-scale clinical trials, limiting direct applicability to broader patient populations,” reads a May 27, peer-reviewed article in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
Jason Lambert, 51, of Boca Raton tried a few HOTWORX sessions and liked it so much, he started a franchise in Delray Beach. His 2,000-square foot HOTWORX studio, located right next door to Planet Fitness in Delray Square Shopping Center, is coming up on its one-year anniversary.
“It’s the same kind of energy that comes from the sun,” he said.
What is infrared light?
Infrared light, or waves, are a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that people encounter every day. The human eye can’t see it, but the human body detects it as heat. These invisible light waves are also used to change the channels on your TV, according to a NASA explainer online.
At HOTWORX, ceramic heaters are the source of the infrared light, its proprietor says. Infrared light is also on the menu of options offered at beem (copyright sign) Light Sauna in Jupiter that’s been open for a year — another burgeoning franchise with seven locations in Florida, two of them opening soon.
Nathan Thomas, franchise owner of beem, says that his “health and wellness studio” took over commercial space once occupied by a tanning business and now delivers the infrared light either in a sauna or in a bed that looks like a tanning bed. Beem also offers red light, green light and blue light therapy.
There’s no exercise at beem — clients listen to music or get a tablet for entertainment during the 40-minute sessions. And the spectrum of light that businesses like this one offer do not put it in the range that lands it in the category the Health Department is required by statutes to regulate at the county level, according to a spokesperson at the Palm Beach County Health Department.
How does infrared light work for exercise?
Some medical spas promote infrared light as deep cleansing for the skin, penetrating skin layers and stimulating cellular activity.
The way infrared light goes deeper is also part of the pitch at HOTWORX, which is registered with the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as all fitness studios must.
“What it does is, it will actually penetrate into your skin and get down into the molecular level,” Lambert said. “It’ll vibrate your fat molecules and vibrate your muscle molecules. And what it does is it warms you from the inside out.”
The concept does not appear to have penetrated the offerings at rehabilitation centers at local hospitals, however. Inquiries did not turn up any examples.
A Mayo Clinic consumer health bulletin confirms, however, that “an infrared sauna heats your body directly without warming the air around you.”
To the question of whether there are clear health benefits, Mayo’s bulletin says, “perhaps.”
“Many studies have looked at using infrared saunas in the treatment of long-lasting health problems and found some proof that saunas may help,” Mayo’s bulletin continues. “Conditions studied include high blood pressure, heart failure, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, headache, type 2 diabetes, and arthritis. But larger and more-exact studies are needed to prove these results.”
Why are infrared workouts catching on as a fitness concept?
This franchise HOTWORX, was birthed in 2016 out of a tanning bed franchise that now lays claims to 800 locations worldwide and 67 Florida locations from Panama City Beach to Miami, according to company officials.
HOTWORX, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to members who open the door through an application on their phone, is 58th on Entrepreneur’s list of 500 top franchises, with Jersey Mike’s Subs, Taco Bell and Dunkin’ as the No. 1, 2 and 3.
It’s well behind Planet Fitness (No. 16), but it is the third fitness business listed on the national magazine’s index of top franchises.
What can I expect during an infrared workout at the studio?
The trainers who push the clients to maximum perspiration are not live but beamed onto flatscreen TVs in the exercise saunas. The sessions run continuously, hundreds of them every day, in 15- or 30-minute segments of either high intensity workouts involving cycles and rowers. For veterans of other crazes like spin, Pilates and yoga, it’s a new set up — you can do some version of all those things in quick succession right here, deciding to join minutes before via phone app.
“I hate exercising, but this is fun,” my fellow exerciser in the room, Joy Howell of Delray Beach, had said to convince me to give it a whirl.
Not everyone might call it “fun” but you can definitely say “intense.”
Back in the exercise sauna, on the body trainer, I was urged to tighten the tension for a more uphill climb. After all, my virtual trainer told me, I am the hero of my own story!
Breathing hard and sweating what felt like gallons after 10 minutes and 23 seconds, I was glad the countdown clock on the screen was showing just four minutes and 37 seconds to go.
Rebecca Guez, 37, said it’s more than just a good workout. The Delray Beach holistic coach usually does two, 15-minute Hot Blast classes and maybe two 30-minute classes of hot isometric exercising.
“I feel like the body is healing on a deeper level,” she said. “… Because of the heat, I feel like I get some sort of release.”
Proprietor Lambert estimates about 1,000 people have tried the complimentary first class at his studio and about 300 have joined.
“I’ve got some girls who come in twice a day. They’ll come in before work and they’ll do a cycling and then they come in after work and do a yoga or Pilates before bed,” Lambert said. “And then other people come out after the first session and they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, no way. It’s too hot.’”
Jade Paul, 27, of Boynton Beach came in after a friend started going. She works as a billings analyst at a business in the square and will come in at lunch and then maybe after work.
After trying “a million things” this is how she’s lost 60 pounds, she said.
“I like feeling the detox,” she said. “It’s really affected my skin too.”
Anne Geggis is statewide reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK FLORIDA, reporting on health and senior issues. If you have news tips, please send them to ageggis@usatodayco.com. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://palmbeachpost.com/newsletters
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why are infrared workouts the latest exercise craze and do they work?
Reporting by Anne Geggis, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
