**This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase using the links in this article, I might earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Please see my full disclosure for further information.
We’ve all asked ourselves that question: “Do I sweat too much…is this amount of sweating norrrrmal??” Or on the other hand of the spectrum, “why am I the only one NOT sweating??” I am that girl in the gym that unfortunately needs to bring not one, but TWO towels. Every time I use a cardio machine I leave a pond of sweat behind, and even though I rigorously wipe down my machine, I always imagine the person that has to get on after me- they must think it is soooo gross haha. Sweating for me throughout the years has at times even led to embarrassment.
Brief Story
As most of you know, one of my ultimate hobbies is salsa dancing. There is an aspect of all my girlfriend dancers that has always left me bewildered. I find it so unbelievable that most girls dance through the night with perfect hair, soft-silky smooth skin and at the end of the night still pose for pictures in a perfect Hollywood state. I mean what the hell? After one dance I’m already drenched in sweat, not to mention my hair!! I tried a couple times the diva look; whishing my hair about like a goddess…but to my dismay it would only get stuck to my forehead or neck, or better yet would spray my partner with a couple of drips…how sexyyyyyy!! I was the girl with the hair always tied up that in between dances you could find at the bar, not drinking but stealing napkins!
But you know what… I don’t care anymore! I am just not that perfect diva that doesn’t sweat. If it makes a guy uncomfortable to dance with me that’s fine, I’ll just move on to the next. (Thank god my other half doesn’t mind LOL). I learned to see it as a way that shows how much fun I’m actually having! I mean if I don’t sweat that means I’m not really dancing….and that’s no fun. But anyyyyway, enough about me! Let’s get to the question that I’m sure we’ve all had: what does our sweat mean and how much of it should we be producing?
Post Contents
Why Do We Sweat?
First of all, there are two types of perspiration. We have common sweat which is produced by eccrine glands (found all over the body), and we have stress sweat which is produced by apocrine glands (found mainly in the armpit and groin areas). Common sweat is produced when our body temperature rises. We begin to overheat and must cool down. The sweat produced that evaporates from our skin takes with it some of the extra heat that we’ve accumulated, helping us cool down. This sweat is composed mainly of water and salt and is for the most part odorless.
Sweat stress on the other hand, as you may have guessed, is caused when we are particularly stressed. In this case, we are not trying to cool down our body, but our body is responding to tension by producing perspiration that is mixed with fat, skin bacteria, and protein…which is why this is the so-called stinky sweat! I always keep a deodorant in my backpack just in case an emergency arises and I need to perfume up lol. In this post however we are really going to tackle common sweat.
So, what is your sweat at the gym telling you??
1. Your Sweat Leaves White Stains on Your Clothes
No ladies, those stains do not come from laundry detergent or deodorant markings. Those stains come from your perspiration! Why is it white? Because it contains salt! (I bet it stings if it falls into your eyes and tastes salty as well!) So, what does this mean? It merely means that you are properly hydrated but are losing more sodium than you should be. Sodium is extremely important for physical performance- it is vital that we replenish these lost electrolytes after and during our workout. You might want to add some salts/minerals to your water or start using some kind of sports drink. Careful with the sugar in these drinks however!
2. You Sweat too much
How much you perspire depends on numerous factors: your gender, your DNA, your weight, your fitness level, etc. Some of these you can’t really change. For example, I’m a woman so technically I should sweat less…TECHNICALLY haha. I also probably have more sweat glands than other people. We generally have between 2-5 million glands. These are the things I can’t control. But I can control my weight and fitness level. Generally speaking, people that are heavier and that carry more fat tend to perspire more. Not only does fat act as a sort of insulator but bigger people obviously have to cool down more surface and thus sweat more. However, sweating profusely doesn’t always necessarily mean you are overweight.
On the flipside, studies have shown that the more fit you are, the more able you are to efficiently cool down your body. This means that not only will you sweat more but you will actually start sweating sooner! What a relief for me!! I mean I have always been a major sweater, but when I started working out consistently I realized the more I worked out, the easier it was for me to start sweating… I thought what the heck? Shouldn’t I be breaking less of a sweat by now?? On the contrary, the fitter, the sweatier LOL.
Your body learns to manage its body temperature more efficiently and knows how and when to kick-start the cool down process even before it begins to overheat! Furthermore, the more fit you are the more able you are to sustain workouts of a higher intensity- thus sweating even more! So this is how I always explain my sweat to myself…it’s just my awesome fitness level haha.
Now how much is too much?
I drench my towel, sports bra, and shirt….and that’s just with weight training! So that’s quite a lot of sweat! And yet it is still an amount not to get worried over. Chances of you having a medical condition are very slim. If you are consistently sweating profusely when at rest and while in well-ventilated areas, then maybe a little checkup wouldn’t hurt.
3. You Don’t Sweat at All
Now just having said that the more you sweat the more fit you are, if you are not breaking as much as a sweat as the girl next to you that doesn’t necessarily mean you are not working as hard as she is. People that don’t sweat as much often times are simply not hydrated enough. You need to be properly hydrated in order to sweat! You may also have fewer sweat glands than other people or you may just need to ramp up the intensity of your workouts to get our body temperature rising.
4. Your Sweat Smells
As mentioned before, common sweat doesn’t smell….at least not usually. If you’re starting to smell at the gym it could be due to three things: 1. Your clothing, 2. Your nutrition, 3. Your hygiene.
The reason common sweat smells is usually due to some kind of bacteria getting caught up in it. This can occur because you are not wearing proper fitness apparel that wicks the sweat off- for example cotton absorbs everything and is not the best choice in material for working out. If you also do not wash appropriately or wear the proper antiperspirants/deodorants, bacteria can build up and cause sweat to smell. Lastly, sometimes your sweat can change odor based on what you have eaten. If you notice a change in your odor, take note of what you ate and maybe try avoiding it the next time you hit the gym!
Remarks
We all have different levels of perspiration- those who start sweating immediately and profusely and those who never really sweat more than a real drop. This post serves as a general indication as to why you might be sweating that much or in that way. As a general indicator sweat is good! It indicates your body is cooling down and commonly suggests you are in good physical shape!
Please note: How much you sweat does not correlate to how many calories you are burning!! If you run a marathon in the summer or in the winter with the same intensity you are burning the same number of calories, you are just getting less hot.
I hope this post has helped you girls make sense of your sweat haha. Don’t ever be embarrassed if you sweat too much- hey that just means you are super-efficient. And if you don’t sweat enough, well first try getting more water and if you still don’t sweat that much, maybe you are just one of the lucky ones that was given the genetic gift of fewer glands! Now go break some sweat!
Happy Training!
This blog post is intended for general informational and educational purposes only. Please read my full disclosure for further information.
Leave a Reply