Random question about sweat(ing)

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imnotyourpal
imnotyourpal Posts: 162 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been wondering about this, so as lame as it sounds, I'm just going to ask:

Sweating occurs when the body heats up, yes? Does muscle heat at a lower temp than fat? Because since I've been lifting weights, I sweat way more on the parts of my body where my new muscles have developed than I did when I was all jiggly when I do cardio. I literally have sweat dripping off of my arms now, whereas I didn't before.

I figured without muscle it's harder to push yourself, therefore you'd sweat more, but by the (unpleasant) looks of things lately, I'm inclined to question that theory.

Anyone have any insight?

Replies

  • Arizona_JR
    Arizona_JR Posts: 275
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    when you work a certain muscle, you do heat it up much more than the non-worked muscles, but I've never paid attention to a certain sweaty region. I'll be curious to see what the docs say about this one.
  • trac3
    trac3 Posts: 134 Member
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    That is an interesting theory ~ I have no idea, but I'll be interested to see if anyone else knows about that! I always noticed that the better in shape I got, the more I would sweat. At one point (yeah, 3 years ago), I was averaging about 8 hours of hard cardio a week ~ almost exactly 12-13 minutes in to whatever I was doing, my faucets turned on lol :huh: I just dripped. Now I'm totally out of shape, and it takes a long time to start sweating, and it's not like it used to be (never mind the huffing and puffing):blushing:
  • mflm
    mflm Posts: 10
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    when your muscle cells heat (from exerting them), your blood vessels in the area sense the increase in temp. In order to attempt to decrease the temp, the vessels of the area dilate, letting heat to the surface of the skin. This appears as redness of the area. Sweat glands are present in almost every area of the body. With increased heat, sweat glands will produce fluid and release it to the surface of the skin in order to attempt to cool the area.

    If you've built muscle in the area, the area will heat faster, leading to increased sweating in an attempt to cool the newly heated area.

    edit: the first bit about dilation of the vessels isn't what you asked, I know, but it contributes to maintaining optimal levels of the body.
  • imnotyourpal
    imnotyourpal Posts: 162 Member
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    Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was starting to think I was crazy!

    And I'm glad I'm not alone. The better in shape I get, the grosser I am when I work out. Luckily (or not?) my sweat smells like bleach, so it's ugly, but not smelly. :) Well....unless you don't like the smell of bleach. ;)
  • ajk828
    ajk828 Posts: 335
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    for reals...you don't need my insight on sweat and muscle and body heat right about now
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
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    I don't know about the muscle heating up theory but I did recently read that as you exercise more your body becomes more efficient at cooling itself which means that you sweat more. I had been wondering what the heck was wrong with me because I sweat a whole lot more than I did before (and I was a sweaty girl already!) I do Taekwondo and literally drip sweat all over the floor! Whether it's cardio or weights, I sweat!
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    As you become more fit your body will sweat more because it becomes more efficient at cooling itself.

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