Sweating and Weight Loss are good friends

k, before we get started, I know I haven’t posted in a little while, but I do have good reasons… I’ve got them somewhere here, I’m sure :)

I’ll be posting up the sizzler for BodyPump 71 soon, stay tuned.

Now, I just read an interesting article on a friend Kat’s website here. She’s a personal trainer. It starts off saying that up to 80% of her clients do not like sweating and are even embarrassed and apologetic when they do. Ok, maybe I’m being a bit too much of a guy here, but this seems absolutely incredible to me. When I work out, I strive to be a sweaty mess by the end of it. I love to sweat. To me, it means my body is working at its peak and is achieving results. Why else would you work out ?

Kat also points out what I think a lot of people find a bit of a paradox. You actually sweat more as you get fitter. It’s just your body working more efficiently to keep you cooler as your workout intensity increases. It means you can train harder and longer. I have found that to be absolutely true in my workouts too. These days, I start to sweat a lot sooner into a workout, but I also cool down a lot quicker afterwards.

Basically, if you’re working out, the more you sweat the more weight you’re likely to lose. (I wont count the sauna or steam room in that as your body is trying to cool you due to external factors rather than internal ones, reducing the benefit).

So, what can we do about our attitude to getting a bit wet ? It sounds like it’s hurting the performance and results of the majority of gym goers out there.

If you’re a personal trainer or group fitness instructor, maybe explain what it actually means to sweat and the benefits to your clients and classes. Even is it’s just little snippet and factoids to make people feel a little better and less self-conscious about it. (I wont go as far as suggesting a class competition to see who can get the drippiest…)

In my Pump and especially Cycle classes, I always encourage people to train to a level that works up at least a ‘medium sweat’ (You decide what that means to you). Naturally, I always get the odd person telling me that they just don’t sweat. To them, I say: ‘turn up the resistance a bit or add an extra kilo to the bar and watch what happens’ ;)

Get out there, get wet and be happy about it. It’s good for you :)