How to Exercise Safely When There Is Wildfire Smoke

Whether it’s a run down the Burke-Gilman trail, a hike in a nearby wilderness area or using the city’s plethora of outdoor stairs as a real-world stair machine, exercising outdoors can be a great way to get some vitamin D while you move your body. This is especially true during the Pacific Northwest’s clear, warm summers.

However, no matter how loudly the outdoors calls you, there is one time you should never exercise outdoors: when the wildfire smoke gets bad.

What to know about wildfire season in the PNW

The wildfire risk in the Pacific Northwest is highest during the summer months, typically peaking from July to September.

Wildfires can be destructive to the wildlife and communities in the burn zones, and wildfire smoke can be harmful to your overall health even if you live miles away. The smoke contains particulates, which consist of tiny pieces of burnt plant and inorganic material. When you breathe in those particulates, they can enter your lungs, make their way into your bloodstream and tissues, and cause inflammation in your body.

Too much wildfire smoke exposure can lead to eye, throat, nose and lung irritation, worsen skin conditions like eczema, and can be especially dangerous for people with pre-existing conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The long-term effects of chronic exposure to wildfire smoke are still being studied, but one thing is certain: You should consider canceling your Sunday morning long run or outdoor yoga class if it’s extra smoky outside.

“When you’re exercising, you increase your respiratory rate, which means you have a higher dose of pollutants that you’re breathing in,” says Cora Sack, MD, a lung disease specialist at UW Medicine. “In these fast-acting, really high pollution events from wildfire smoke, it’s crucial to reduce your vigorous exercise outdoors.”

If there’s an active wildfire in your region and you’re deciding whether it’s safe to exercise outside, check the air quality.

King County Public Health guidance recommends staying inside when the air quality index (AQI) is red or purple — 150 or higher — and that it’s generally safe to exercise when the AQI ranges from 50 to 100 (yellow).

If you’re an older adult, have asthma or heart conditions, or are pregnant, it’s probably a good idea to stay inside if the AQI is orange — 100 to 150 — and those who aren’t part of a sensitive group should still consider taking it easy when the AQI is in this range. 

How to modify your outdoor exercise routine if there’s wildfire smoke

Even if the AQI is over 150 and you can’t be outdoors, you can still find other ways to exercise.

“You can still exercise indoors if you have access to clean indoor air,” says Sack. That means you should look for a space with air filters and good circulation.

If you’re not a fan of the gym (or a membership at your local gym isn’t in the budget right now), no worries — there are plenty of ways to get a full-body workout (yes, including cardio) at home.

Indoor strength training exercises

If you have access to resistance bands or dumbbells (pro tip: search your neighborhood’s social media groups for people giving them away for cheap or free), you have everything you need to strength-train indoors.

Upper-body exercises using dumbbells (like bicep curls and shoulder presses) and modified lower-body exercises using resistance bands (like glute bridges and lunges) are a good way to have a productive strength training session.

If you’re a gym-goer, your gym should have all of this equipment ready for you to use. If you’re at home and want to use equipment but don’t have any, try using household items like water bottles or half-gallon milk jugs as substitutes for free weights.

Indoor bodyweight exercises

If you don’t have (or don’t care to use) equipment to strength train, you can still get a good workout using only your body.

Bodyweight exercises use your body’s own mass as resistance, as the name suggests. A few good bodyweight exercises to try inside include:

• Push-ups and tricep dips (upper body)
• Wall sits and lunges (lower body)
• Squats (lower body)
• Planks, crunches, bird dogs and bicycle crunches (core)
• Mountain climbers (full body)

New to bodyweight exercises and need a visual? Lyndsey Booker, MD, a sports medicine doctor at UW Medicine, has you covered:

Indoor cardio exercises

Cardio is an important part of your workout routine. On average, you should aim for at least 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity each week, which can be difficult when the air quality deteriorates. If you have a gym membership or access to an indoor treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical machine, or stair machine, using that equipment is an easy way to meet that suggested quota.

If you’re working out at home and prefer to use these types of machines, there are plenty of compact (and affordable) equipment options like fold-up stationary bikes, mini elliptical machines, under-the-desk cycles and more.

If you don’t anticipate using the equipment at home after the wildfire smoke clears, try one of these options:

• Burpees
• Jump rope: Start small — five to ten minutes — if you’re just beginning. If you’re a pro, jump for ten to 30 minutes.
• Take an online yoga or Pilates class: Search for a continuous flow or cardio-specific class; there are plenty of free pre-recorded videos available. Make sure to find a class that matches your skill level to prevent injury.

You can also use these cardio exercises as a quick warmup or combine them with strength training exercises on full-body days.

Take a deep breath (indoors)

It can be hard to change your exercise routine, especially when it’s because of something outside of your control, like wildfire smoke.  

But even if there’s nothing you love more than a jog around Green Lake, exercising outside when the air quality is poor isn’t worth the risk — and can do more harm in the long run.

Quotes from this story originally appeared in the UW Medicine Newsroom.