Your core temperature can be maintained within its kind of healthy state without you needing to dissipate that heat. The degree to which somebody sweats, whether it’s being warm because they’re outside in the sun or exercising, does have somewhat to do with with genetics. Welcome to the Strength Changes Everything podcast, where we introduce you to the information, latest research, and tools that will enable you to live a strong, healthy life. On this podcast, we will also answer your questions about strength, health, and wellbeing. I’m Amy Hudson. I own and operate three exercise coach studios. My co-hosts are Brian Saigon, co-founder and CEO of The Exercise Coach, and Dr. James Fisher, leading researcher in evidence-based strength training. And now for today’s episode. Today’s episode is another listener question related to one of the factors that people look to as a potential indication of the quality of their workout or how hard their exercise session was. And today’s topic is sweating. Sometimes people think, okay if I sweat, if I get my sweat on, that means I’ve worked really hard or I’ve burned more calories, my workout made a bigger difference the more I sweat. And we’re going to talk about this because it’s related to understanding what makes exercise effective in general. And we’re going to approach it from a couple different angles similar to how we talked about soreness a couple episodes back, which is is it necessary to sweat during a workout or should I be sweating during every workout no matter what type of workout it may be?

And then secondarily, what causes one person to sweat during a workout versus another person? And how should we understand sweating in general related to activity and exercise? So Dr. Fisher is here with me.

How are you doing, Dr. Fisher? Yeah, I’m very well very well thank you Amy. How are you doing? I am well, I am well.

Okay so first question coming your way. I mean should we be sweating during our workouts? I love these kinds of questions. They’re so, they’re so, they’ve been portrayed such a certain way by different media. When people say to me, should they sweat during a workout? I’m kind of reminded of the historic approach by boxers when they go for a run and they wear a suit, like a sweat suit that makes them sweat with this, almost like this concept that if I’m sweating, I’m sweating the fat out of my body.

And that’s almost kind of like the way it’s portrayed in, you know, I think about movies like Rocky or things like that. And so, you know, it’s really easy to have this kind of question because we’re just, we’re kind of confused about it. What is it? What’s kind of the answer? So I love that a listener has written in and asked this question. It’s not that simple, I’m afraid, and it’s nothing to do with fat loss. The reason that we sweat during exercise or during anything is simply a cooling mechanism for our body. So it’s about our body’s thermoregulation. So our body wants to be within a very, or our core temperature should be within a very fine area. It’s typically within sort of two degrees Fahrenheit, about 97 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 37 degrees centigrade. And it wants to stay within that area.

If it gets too cold, we’re gonna shiver. If we get too hot, we’re gonna make adaptations to our environment or to our body to release that heat. So we all know if we get too cold, for example, hairs might stand on end. And the idea of that is to try and trap the warm air from our body and get closer to our skin. But when we get too hot, we’re trying to lose that heat. So for example, our blood from our core might go closer to our skin. And I have a very close family member, and her natural response when she gets too hot is she just goes very flush in the skin. So we might know somebody who experiences that. And it’s simply a case of vasodilation. Our core temperature is rising, our body wants to get rid of that heat, it sends that blood closer to our skin surface so that the heat can be dissipated from our body. We can lose that heat into the atmosphere. Now if we get too hot, then simply by sweating, we can lose some of that body heat. We sort of signal off sweat glands to release sweat and moisture onto the skin, and then it can evaporate, or hopefully it can evaporate. So we may all have experienced sweating in a very humid environment where we feel like we sweat more, but actually it’s just that the sweat stays on our skin and we can’t lose that heat into that environment. What I just heard you say is that sweating is somewhat dependent on one’s DNA or genetics in terms of the example you gave is some people may become flushed red in their cheeks when they get hot. Other people may be more quick to sweat and just their body is cooling themselves off and so the degree to which somebody sweats in any situation, whether it’s being warm because they’re outside in the sun or exercising, does have somewhat to do with genetics.

So then let’s talk about it in terms of exercise. Is it an indication of the quality of a workout?

Unfortunately, it’s not an indicator of the quality of the workout. We may experience sweat at different times and this is really interesting. So, for example, if somebody eats really spicy food, then they might sweat. If somebody is struggling with stress or anxiety in a specific situation, then they might find that they’re more prone to sweating in those stressful environments. So it’s simply an indicator that our core temperature is starting to rise for whatever reason that might be. Now that might be as a product of exercise in this case and it might be a marker of the intensity of the exercise. So if we are working harder than normal and we’re starting to sweat then yeah that’s great but actually it might just be that the room that we’re in is warmer and therefore we’re sweating more or it might not even be that. It might simply be that our bodies hydration levels aren’t quite the same, so the natural cooling mechanism within the body of that fluid that we have within the body isn’t able to circulate to keep our core temperature down. But yeah, it’s a completely, or it can be a really genetic kind of trait. And like I said, it’s not specific family members. It can be any individual. They might sweat earlier based on their core temperature rising, or they might sweat later and so forth.

We can also see other ways that we lose heat when we breathe. So when we breathe out on a cold day, we can see our breath and that’s our body’s kind of losing heat. So of course, when we breathe. So when we breathe out on a cold day, we can see our breath and that’s our bodies kind of losing heat. So of course, when we started to, when we started to exercise, if we’re breathing harder and we’re breathing deeper, and then we’re, oh, I’m breathing faster. Sorry.

Then of course we’re losing heat in that way. And the, the analogy there is the obvious one that, you know, a dog, that’s exactly how a dog will lose its heat by panting. And to some extent, humans are doing the same thing. So some people will be really efficient in losing that heat through that heavy breathing, but other people might not be so efficient in that way, and therefore their skin will go flush, and that might be more efficient for them. Or other people will just start to sweat earlier and that’s their body’s most efficient way to maintain and control their core temperature. Okay, that makes sense.

Here’s the thing that I want to say about this. So a lot of people don’t like to sweat during exercise because it means that then they have to shower and they have to then re-dry their hair, put their makeup on if they’re a woman. It takes, it adds so much extra time into the commitment involved in the exercise itself. And so one thing our clients love about exercising in an exercise coach studio and doing a strength training focused session in a cool environment is that they can work very hard and get a more effective workout often times than even a short jog for example in a cool environment where they’re not needing to sweat. So they can actually come and wear regular clothing. Um, and their muscles still work hard. They’re, they’re just not having to deal with sweat. So there are some people and that helps people succeed because it’s, it’s less of a commitment.

It’s less of a, um, a big deal to, for them to think about all of the time involved in all of the other implications of the workout itself for their day.

Right, right, and this is absolutely true. So the idea of walking into a boutique, strength training studio like the exercise coach is that it’s a nice, cool kind of calm environment. It’s not a typical gym of lycra and music and sweat and so forth.

Um, you know, and when you walk into that environment, the idea is that your core temperature can be maintained within its kind of healthy state without you needing to dissipate that heat. So you can still go through an incredibly hard strength training workout. That’s, that’s equally or more productive than, than a strength workout at any other, you know, typical gym, without the sweat and without feeling that level of discomfort, you know, when our body, when our core temperature rises and we’re trying to maintain that heat, that thermoregulation.

Yeah, and that’s great news for a lot of our clients, because they like the convenience of it, knowing they can do it and then go back out and do other things. So I really appreciate the insights there. Do you have any other thoughts on this?

Yeah, on a personal note, I think the other thing that people link this back to is they think that if they are sweating, then their heart rate might be higher and they might be working harder. Well, so when I was last in the States, I was in Tennessee back in the start of February and I did a workout, the exercise coach, Kevin put me through a workout and on a few of the exercises, my heart rate was up into the mid to high 170s, I think 174 to 178. So that’s a pretty high heart rate.

And most people during a strength workout might not get quite that high, but they, but they might get up around that point. Um, and I wasn’t sweating because it was an exercise coach studio. So it was air conditioned. It was nice and cool. And, you know, I’ve just moved from one exercise.

I’d had a little drink of water, then into the next exercise, so I’d had kind of a bit of time to catch my breath. But yet if I go for a run, and we’re experiencing some really nice weather here in the UK, it’s probably mid to high 70s Fahrenheit. And if I go for a run now, my heart rate might be around 160 or 165, so it’s a kind of a very steady pace. It’s not an overly hard workout, but because I’m out in the sun, I might find that I’m sweating more. Now there might also be a bit of a breeze, so I might not sweat so much, but it’s simply a product of my body’s temperature. It’s not even a product of how hard my body is working or even my heart rate. It’s just about the temperature of my body.

Wow.

Yeah, I can totally see that. I can totally see that. All right. So there you have it. So sweating is not an indication of the quality of your workout. That’s not the main goal.

That’s not the main goal. And we’re going to talk in a future episode about what is the main goal. If you’re looking for your exercise to be effective and change you, what is the goal? So it’s not soreness, it’s not sweat, it’s not even time spent exercising. So if you’re curious to hear what that is, stay tuned in a future episode. But thank you so much. Don’t forget to submit your questions at strengthchangeseverything.com because we love to address what you’re wondering about.

We will see you next week on the podcast. Remember strength changes everything. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it with a friend. You can submit a question or connect with the show at strengthchangeseverything.com. Join us next week for another episode and be sure to follow the show on Apple Podcasts,

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