I have been working out fairly regularly for years (more than 10) Also I just turned 50 if that helps. I do cardio and weight training mostly and am a member of a gym and workout average 3 times a week in the gym and do a lot of walking elsewhere. Other people working out, as well as trainers, have helped me develop different programs over the years and overall I am pleased with what I am doing and the results. However, I have this running argument with a friend and my husband because they say since I don't sweat really good while working out, it is not doing me any good. I think some people just sweat more easily than others and I also find that weight lifting does not necessarily cause you to sweat as much as cardio does as a general rule. What do others think about this issue? Is it necessary to sweat tons in order to gain benefit from exercising? I would love to hear what others think about this topic. P
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Workout/Weight Training/Must you Sweat
- Thread starter Pattio80684
- Start date
I have been working out fairly regularly for years (more than 10) Also I just turned 50 if that helps. I do cardio and weight training mostly and am a member of a gym and workout average 3 times a week in the gym and do a lot of walking elsewhere. Other people working out, as well as trainers, have helped me develop different programs over the years and overall I am pleased with what I am doing and the results. However, I have this running argument with a friend and my husband because they say since I don't sweat really good while working out, it is not doing me any good. I think some people just sweat more easily than others and I also find that weight lifting does not necessarily cause you to sweat as much as cardio does as a general rule. What do others think about this issue? Is it necessary to sweat tons in order to gain benefit from exercising? I would love to hear what others think about this topic. P
Everyone is different .....you could be really fit and sweat a lot even during an easy workout or you could be really out of shape and sweat very little - even with intense exercise. It varies with the individual. Beyond that fact, there's not anyone can do to alter how much they sweat.
But, my experience has been, the more fit you get, the more you tend to sweat quicker, so i have found, you tend to sweat more as your fitness improves. Sweat is simply a way to cool your body down - cooling yourself when sweat evaporates from your skin, causes your body heat to drop. As you might expect, it is influenced by a bunch of factors just beyond your fitness level like....high temperatures, humidity ( i.e makes evaporation tougher ) , exercise intensity, clothing and genetics ( i.e the number of actual sweat glands you have...some have more , some have less ...a low of 2 million and a high of 5 million I think is the range ..or close to that ) .
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I agree, sweating is no indication of much of anything, good or bad. If you are getting good results over time, who cares how much you sweat. Sweating is somewhat of an indication of how many calories you are buring while you are exercising, but it is much more important to perform exercise such that you burn more calories after the exercise session is complete (you burn 10x or more calories during the recovery after exercise than during the exercise session if you are exercising properly, called EPOC: Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption).
If you have any question about whether you are working hard enough, get a Heart Rate Monitor and be aware of what zones you are working out in. A heart rate monitor will let you know if you are slacking off or working too hard but telling you how fast your heart is beating during various exercises.
Here's a pretty good site for general information of training zones:
There are a lot of heart rate monitors on the market. I got mine two years ago and it is a basic model with a wrist unit and chest strap - it has only one button which makes it virtually idiot proof.
Here's a breif explainationof what a HRM does:
You'll probably want to do some research to determine the best HRM for you, but I would recommend some of the simpler Polar (brand) HRMs.
Here's a pretty good site for general information of training zones:
There are a lot of heart rate monitors on the market. I got mine two years ago and it is a basic model with a wrist unit and chest strap - it has only one button which makes it virtually idiot proof.
Here's a breif explainationof what a HRM does:
You'll probably want to do some research to determine the best HRM for you, but I would recommend some of the simpler Polar (brand) HRMs.