July 09, 2010
The Sweating Myth
Posted by: Andrew : Category: Thinking Out Loud
I was in the gym and I noticed someone on the treadmill who was dressed like they were about to go on an Arctic trekking expedition.
When I see someone doing something in the gym that’s going to hurt themselves (going mad on a weight machine, dangerous form lifting free-weights, etc) I really want to talk to them and help them, but I still don’t have the guts to do so; come on I am still a chunky chap, what right do I have?!
But this person I felt was really going to do themselves some harm, overheat and faint or something like that.
So I thought that I would just vent out my frustrations here if you don’t mind 
So this person obviously thought that the more they sweat the more weight they are going to lose, maybe the thought that sweat is actually the way fat is burnt and expelled out of our bodies, and this my friends is a load of crap 
Lets look at sweating.
Why do we sweat? Two reasons; sweating (perspiration) is our body’s way of regulating body temperature (thermoregulation). So your body gets hot, then you sweat (made of water and various dissolved solids) from the pours in your skin, the sweat runs over the skin and then it cools down in the hope that this will cool the body down.
Another reason why we sweat is due to being nervous and can occur on the palms of the hands, feet and head.
So this is why we sweat!
This poor misguided person on the treadmill should have stripped down into their t-shirt and then their body would have been cooler and they would have more energy to push to burn calories.
So when you are working out wear enough clothing but not too much so that you overheat and sap your energy and rob you of results.
On the other hand if that person was training for the Marathon des Sables (a 6 day marathon across the Sahara Desert in Morocco) then dressed like this would be a way to replicate how the body can perform while over headed.
July 9th, 2010 at 1:09 am
Hmm … well maybe he was training for the marathon. Who knows?
I know what you mean about not saying anything. We should be careful though not to fall into the old trap that “because we’re overweight, our views dont count”. If the guy is approachable, it’s still worth saying something. Even if the only person we may be talking to is ourselves
July 9th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Hi Jonathan,
I agree with you (even though we are overweight we can give our views) but this guy was, you know the don’t-come-near-me type (you’d have to have seen him).
I have been asked advice by a few people in the gym who have seen me since I started in that gym and I gladly help when and if I can.
The few times that I have been brave enough to give some friendly advice have always been blown back, so I am gonna wait until the proof is in the pudding king of thing, not be long now ;-P
So how are things with you? How’s the training going?
Take care,
Andrew
July 9th, 2010 at 8:12 am
You know what’s really priceless? I’m a physical therapist, have study about the form and the kinetics in the gym, and every now and then this guy who is actually an instructor (has a t-shirt with the name and logo of the gym and everything) comes to me and gives me HORRIBLE tips on form. He says ” bend your lower back a little while doing the squats” and stuff like that… I’m not the kind of guy who throws degrees at people’s faces so I just nod and wait for him to go away.
So yeah, even more painful that seeing people exercise at bad form, is the instructors giving even worst advice to people.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Hi Reinaldo,
I know exactly what you mean! It’s easy to see the two types of gym instructor a) the one who is board and collects their pay packet at the end of the month with an out dated education and b) they have the theory and they live by example, passionate and always changing.
I tend to gravitate towards the latter for my advice!
Thanks for commenting Reinaldo!
Take care,
Andrew