How to work out in the heat, if you absolutely must

During my last few years in New York, I was a member of Murder of Crows Barbell in Brooklyn. It was a wonderful place, full of like-minded meatheads who loved low reps and big plates and meandering workouts full of extended rest periods, affording us time for both quiet contemplation of the mysteries of the universe and dancing in the background when someone was trying to film a squat set with their phone.

Murder of Crows was built in, as far as I could tell, a former auto repair garage. All the racks and platforms were set up in one big brick-walled room, where green tendrils of weeds occasionally, very charmingly, grew through the mortar. The walls retained some cold even when it was hot out, so stepping inside sometimes had the feel of entering a cave—a little damp, sure, but cooler than the shade alone suggested.

But as well as the brick could retain a little cold, it could retain enough heat to feel like I was being gently roasted alive. There was no temperature management, save for a giant aluminum heater in the winter, and an open garage door plus a couple of giant industrial fans that members would go stand in front of between sets in the summer. So if I arrived for a workout in the dead of the afternoon, I knew I’d be leaving looking like I just jumped in a pool fully clothed.

But that was nothing compared to when gyms started to tentatively reopen in July (JULY!) of 2020. Murder of Crows, respectful as it was of the rule of law, didn’t allow people to use the gym just yet. In place of the indoor gym, one of its coaches (Jean, bless him) bodily moved several sets of equipment outside to the baking sidewalk so he could run group workouts. I missed lifting so much that when I got the message about these workouts, I eagerly booked.