Sweating

G

gettingfit1

New member
I seem to sweat more than everyone else in the aerobics class...everyone is doing the same moves, but I am sweating like a pig and everyone else seems fine. I also sweat so much on the machines....

Anyone know what causes that? I get embarrassed about it and hate to work out at the gym because if it.
 
i was joking in my diary theother day how a pilates princess was on the treadmill and she got off and gently dabbed her forehead with her pristine white towel and wandered off - she had a nice glow to her... Me - I sweat - nothing feminine or glowy about it.. :D

and honestly - i'm not sure I care.. Sweat is the brain telling the hypothalmus (i think - it's been years since biology) too cool off the body... I

How much we sweat - depends on how many sweat glands we have - you might just have a few more than the other peope in the class - or perhaps you are just working harder than they are.

there are some conditions that excessive sweating is a condition of - but it doens't sound like that's you... becasue i think it hits the hands and feet generally...
 
Sweating is a natural reaction and I'm sure most people feel a little self-conscious about it---but really, who cares what other people think right? As long as you feel good about your workout and you're seeing the results that you want to from that workout everything else doesn't matter. :)
 
I'm a guy and I wear a white hanes shirt when I work out, I sweat a good amount, but I dont look like I'm dying compared to the other guys who wear darker colors where the sweat really shows.
 
sweating helps me know I'm actually doing some good. If I'm not sweating, then I'm not working out hard enough.
 
I have always been a sweater. Living in Arizona has been a liability for me.

In the gym, I've started to expect sweat and kind of judge my work out by it. 'oh, the sweat ring is down to my necklace, woohoo!" Try to remember than gym sweat isn't fetid and gross like "I've been in the sun all day" sweat. Sweat is odorless - it's the bacteria that grows when it sets that smells so bad.

This will only really help underarm sweat - but try Certain Dri antipersperant. It's the last step before perscription antipersperants, and it works so well. I can have a neck sweat line past my bra but have zero arm sweat. You actually put on Certain Dri at night for the next day. Highly recommended.
 
Llamabean said:
Sweat is odorless - it's the bacteria that grows when it sets that smells so bad.
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Actually sweat contains urea, ammonia, o-cresol, and p-cresol, among other compounds which are all odorants (compounds we can smell).

I've had good experience with Old Spice's deodorant for cutting down odor almost completely, I can't smell myself after a workout. It won't reduce sweat because it's not an antiperspirant however.

I think an antiperspirant for workout purposes is null. Sweat helps cool your body during a workout and it's not practical to apply it all over.

Have a little confidence, it's the gym. The people who aren't sweating should be worried that they look lazy and aren't pushing themselves :)
 
I'll have to stick to my "sweat is odorless" story. From the FDA: "Sweat itself is odorless. It's the bacteria that live on the skin and break down the sweat that cause the unpleasant odor" ()

And yes - using an antiperspirant at the gym seems backwards - but you don't smell all sweaty when it's not coming from the arm pits of stench :) I've felt using stuff that works helped me feel less self-conscious, even when my head and face were really sweaty.
 
heh im a sweater as well - i just drape the towel over everything before i start. I dont have smelly sweat though thank god. But I can never wear makeup because it just dribbles down my face as soon as there is ANY heat anywhere (ie nightclubs, dancing, anything!)
 
A person with more body fat has more weight to move around as well as a built in layer of insulation so it stands to reason such a person might tend to sweat more, but it is not an absolute.

Anything that makes you sweat is good for you, with the exception of the IRS. Sweat flushes toxins onto the surface of the skin making it easy to transport them to the shower drain. The toxins that accompany sweat do have a detectable odor but it does not develop that obnoxious level of stench until the bacteria have had time to swim around and poop in it for a while. Some people have the misfortune of harboring bacteria who can do their business faster than others.
 
MrAlaska said:
Sweat flushes toxins onto the surface of the skin making it easy to transport them to the shower drain. The toxins that accompany sweat do have a detectable odor but it does not develop that obnoxious level of stench until the bacteria have had time to swim around and poop in it for a while. Some people have the misfortune of harboring bacteria who can do their business faster than others.
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I've never read anything supporting this idea. My understanding is that the purpose of sweat is not to "flush toxins" -- that's what your kidneys do. Sweat is there to regulate your body temperature. As for the bacteria, that's not under your skin; it's on your skin. Even very clean people have around 160 different colonies of bacteria living on their skin.

Sweat itself has no odor. What most people smell is the breakdown of fat compounds caused by bacteria associated with the apocrine glands (armpits & crotch).
 
Removing toxins from the body is not a function of sweat, it just happens to be a byproduct from what I have read although the studies I have seen were sometimes sponsered by sauna manufacturers so at least some of them could have been biased.

If you google "sweat" and "toxins" you will see it seems to be considered controversial on the internet but all I saw were unsupported opinions. The FDA considers sweat to be an 'insiginificant route for eliminating toxins' but does not go so far as to say it does not happen at all.

Whatever the case, I think we all agree the offensive odor is a function of the bacteria on our skin responding with the sweat.
 
I guess I react whenever I see the word "toxin". There's so much crap out there purporting to "remove toxins" -- from colonics to skin cream to "natural herbs". As if the human body wasn't a teeming laboratory of bacteria, even in its healthiest state. The purveyors of "toxin removers" [not you, by the way] try to create an image in our mind that the body is somehow only a mix of "human" cells, and that any "foreign cell" is a "toxin". Nothing could be further from the truth. We would die a quick and miserable death without all the "toxins" that crawl on our skin and throughout our bodies.

Speaking of offensive odors in the gym, the worst of all of them is excessive perfume. Most people don't do that anymore, but you still run into someone now and then who does it.
 
If you are not sweating you are just there for looks.I sweat buckets.I love it it lets me know i am doing something good and my heart rate up.I ride a stationary bike and there`s a puddle under me when i quite.My shirts running water my sweats pants are soaked.Hey when you are in peak shape you still sweat.
 
Seconded :D

On the other hand i really get annoyed at the chafing you can get by having wet clothes whilst exercising - some of the cycling gear i use is awesome for stopping a lot of it - we need more clothes that do that (not just cycling stuff)
 
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