Do you stay cool as a cucumber in a hot yoga class? If so, was it a bad workout?
Is sweat a good indicator? It depends...
If not sweat, then what? Read on...
http://www.fitsolutionsblog.com/does-sweat-indicate-a-good-workout/#!155
Does Sweat Indicate a Good Workout?
Does Sweat Indicate a Good Workout? Most people would answer Yes. So what is the answer? There is a short quick answer and then there is the longer answer that gives insight on whether or not sweat is an indicator of a good workout.
Does Sweat Indicate a Good Workout?
The Short Answer to the question Does Sweat Indicate a Good Workout is…
No! A good workout is not determined by the amount you sweat. Sweat can be an indicator of how intense your workout was, but there are much better indicators to a good workout, such as heart rate. In other words, even if you don’t sweat a ton but you bust your butt and you feel fatigued or out of breath when you are done, it was probably a good workout. Conversely, sweating buckets doesn’t mean you had a great workout. It may just mean you were really hot or worked out in a room with an elevated room temperature. Again, go by how hard you worked, not how wet your shirt is.
Does Sweat Indicate a Good Workout?
Now the long answer…
Sweating occurs to regulate body temperature. When you are too hot, your glands release a water-and-electrolyte solution across your skin’s surface to create a temperature reduction that ultimately reduces your core temperature of the body.
Our body has two kinds of sweat glands: eccrine and apocrine. Apocrine glands are located in all the nooks and crannies like your armpits and groin. Perspiration from these glands are emotionally activated. Examples are when we are nervous or stressed.
The second sweat gland, eccrine is located all over your body and these glands are the ones that do all the work when you exercise. There are approximately two to four million depending on the person.
So there can be a few reasons you may not sweat as much as another person during a workout despite similar efforts. The first reason is that two to four million glands is a wide range. You may simply have less glands. Other reasons that must be taken into account are genetics, fitness level, weight, and outside or room temperature.
Outside or Room Temperature: If the air is cool, it’s helps keep you cool, so you’ll sweat less, or if it’s extremely hot, your sweat may evaporate as fast as you generate it. Have you ever finished an event or workout to find you were completely dry, yet covered in salt? This is the residue left from evaporated perspiration.
Fitness Level: Fitness level definitely can create a decreased or increased amount of perspiration. The more fit you are the more efficient your body operates, so you will start to sweat earlier. The reason this happens is a properly cooled engine can work harder and longer, therefore the body knows to begin prepping for what it is used to doing.
Overweight people also tend to sweat more, because they have more weight to support and more mass to cool down, therefore they work harder, but they will also notice that they may sweat less as time goes on because it becomes easier to do everything.
Genetics: Some people just don’t sweat a lot regardless of how hard they workout, their weight, the room temperature etc. This is okay! The only way low sweating could be a sign of an underlying issue is if you are also becoming faint, dizzy, or not feeling well every time you do a workout. Do not confuse those symptoms with the same feelings you can get when you push yourself, because you may not be used to that kind of effort. Of course, whenever in question seek advice from your fitness and/or medical professional.
The best way to monitor your efforts is a heart rate monitor (HRM). The use of a HRM device is truly the best performance indicator for training until you get good at monitoring your efforts through perceived exertion. If it kicks your butt, you feel exhausted, you are doing what you should be doing.
Remember the answer is No to the question Does Sweat Indicate a Good Workout. Whether you are sweating or not, you must feel the burn and be spent when you finish your workout. If you’ve just started a program and are still mastering the moves you may not be quite there yet, but in time and efforts you will be seeing results with or without a lot of sweat.
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