Steam Rooms and Suanas...
I like to spend time in saunas but I really like Steam Rooms. Here, in the US these spaces seem to be limited to "gyms". Places where people work out and exercise. When I lived in Europe, these spaces were more prevelant.
I like steam rooms better, but that is my opinion.
How do you fellow AI guys feel about this? It seems in the US the spaces are generally 'gay' spaces, but, nonetheless, I love sitting in a steam room or even a sauna for 20 to 30 minutes.
Discuss.
[ 10-17-2002: Message edited by: danielb0101 ]</p>
I like steam rooms better, but that is my opinion.
How do you fellow AI guys feel about this? It seems in the US the spaces are generally 'gay' spaces, but, nonetheless, I love sitting in a steam room or even a sauna for 20 to 30 minutes.
Discuss.
[ 10-17-2002: Message edited by: danielb0101 ]</p>
Comments
<strong>I like to spend time in saunas but I really like Steam Rooms. Here, in the US these spaces seem to be limited to "gyms". Places where people work out and exercise. When I lived in Europe, these spaces were more prevelant.
I like steam rooms better, but that is my opinion.
How do you fellow AI guys feel about this? It seems in the US the spaces are generally 'gay' spaces, but, nonetheless, I love sitting in a steam room or even a sauna for 20 to 30 minutes.
Discuss.
[ 10-17-2002: Message edited by: danielb0101 ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Don't get into them too much. But, you're right, they are not as prevelant as McD's.
but for some really amazing steaming, i suggest hitting an indian reservation, making good with the indigenous people, and gettin into a sweat lodge. it's like a religious experience. actually, for the native americans, it is a religious experience.
I've gone to the "sauna" after working out, and it seems to keep my puny muscles from tightening up afterwards. What gets me is this 96-degree Centigrade(!) temperature stuff-- I come out medium-rare.
And unfortunately, I'm as blind as a bat, so this male/female, everyone's-naked-in-Europe-thing doesn't do much for me. I do have to say that the quality of European female brea... er... sorry... I'm getting carried away.
Steams rooms are ranging from 60 to 70 ° C with oversaturated vapor , suanas are near 100 ° c : it's definitively too hot for me. Steam is good for many lung diseases like bronchitis. Suanas can be dangerous for people suffering heart diseases.
I never went in a steam room entirely naked, perhaps it's the case in scandinavia, but not in France.
In France you find steam rooms in many gym centers but also in Thermalism centers.
Speakings of Steam room and Suanas : there is one thing which i love to build in my house it's a jakusi (water with bubbles). I can spent a whole hour in it. Nothing better after a hard day of work or some exercices.
the wood-warmed seems nicer. at least i probably breath there.. the standard electiracally heated simplu kills my lungs
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
btw in sweden they call the saunas "bastu" and in normay both "sauna" and "bastu" but i dont know the difference.
also in russia.. tehy should be a bit different, and they call them something like "banja" - a russian friend suggested those would be good for me as they would be good for lungs, colds etc etc. as my impression (i want to try these banjas though) .. it's more close to steam room.
or turkish.. hm. nevertried.
i think i havent seen those famous mixed european saunas...
(Garden did you mean that the females have too big.. here???)
Mu-bianca has got it right: in Finland, there are three basic kinds.
1. Smoke sauna: no chimney. Inside charred black. The trick here is that you wait until the fire gives off very little smoke. Incidentally, the soot is baked on the walls, so the place is very clean.
2. Sauna with a chimney, heated with a wood stove with perhaps a hot water reservoir attached on the side. Tremendous safety improvement. This is the real deal.
3. Electric sauna. Better than no sauna.
Now most saunas I've been in outside of Finland or my home are ersatz: many have posted signs, for example, that state you may not throw water on the rocks! This defeats the whole purpose of a sauna, which is the gentle regulation of humidity versus heat. Likewise, saunas that are heated waaay too hot, without humidity, are uncomfortable and not on target.
A sauna is all about comfort, sweating and cleansing. It is not about "dry heat." The point of the water is to gently raise the humidity and, for me, to induce relaxation.
I imagine native american sweat lodges to be completely analogous...and in Finland, I have heard many times the sauna experience presented in religous terms.
A final note about mixed saunas: in the places I've visited these are extremely rare. You might go to sauna with your family, or sauna with the guys. The only mixed saunas I've been in were filled with foreigners.
[ 10-18-2002: Message edited by: Timo ]
[ 10-18-2002: Message edited by: Timo ]</p>
In Germany, a few of the workout gyms I've gone to have had mixed saunas. And in some hotels, actually, which always sometimes surprises us Americans.
My boss once lived at this apartment complex in the States that had a sauna. It was mixed, but not totally naked. One day, some guy walked in completely naked. She said, "Oh-- you must be German," which he was, of course.
[insert alternative one-liner here]
I went to Finland this summer. Almost everyday we would have a sauna, have a few beers, after 10 minutes, run out, jump in the water... get back in, etc etc. The feeling is great.
The best is when I was in Moscow. The 'bagna' is like the ancient roman one. A preparing room, a frigidarium (cold), and the sauna itself. The crazy ruskies were putting it at 98-102degrees. We had laurel sticks (with leaves) we would hit ourselves with. This helps circulation going. You could also use honeys and other menthol-like 'sauces'. They cleanse you and open your pores, etc. You then RUN to a FREEZING pool and jump right in. You dont feel the cold. You just get an INSTANT high for a few seconds. My god it feels so good. And its 'all natural'
Anyway, saunas are just soooo great.
And PS, dont even think of trying to have sex in a sauna. I salute you if you actually manage.
the most of those electiracl ones i've tried look like small cabins where you go to sweat and get a claustrophobia or an asthmatic attack.. so i don't really enjoy them ...
well it was diferent when i was blind as a bat. i mean other people or not, i didnt see my fingers so i dint notice if i was being observed..
The sauna is the stove with chimney type, I think. That's what it seems like to me, except that I believe it's heat by gas, and there is a pile of rocks around the stove. The sauna there is about 80 C. Not too bad.
The steam room is, I suppose, fairly standard. The temp in the steam room is about 55-60 C.
I like the steam room more. The sauna is too painful on my nose, even at a mere 80 degrees.
[quote]Originally posted by GardenOfEarthlyDelights:
<strong>I've gone to the "sauna" after working out, and it seems to keep my puny muscles from tightening up afterwards. . .</strong><hr></blockquote>
The trick is cramming protein right afterwards. Otherwise you'll get sore, and you'll actually get less out of it. And I mean protein. 50grams should do.
My best friend is a general musclehead. That's where the info came from.
-> And sex in a steam room seems to be possible, at least for James Bond in Thunderball.
[ 10-19-2002: Message edited by: Splinemodel ]</p>
The steam room was OK, but I only stayed in there as long as no one was sitting directly next to me. Steam rooms ought to either require towels around one's waist, or little dividers or something. That way you have your own space / don't have to worry about sitting in a puddle of something that might've recently slid down some guy's hairy back, through the crack of his ass and onto the tiles.
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
[ 10-22-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>