Once you're fit... What changes?

I sweat when I work out. It makes me feel accomplished. The solution to it is to take a shower afterwards, not try to stop it. It means your body is working correctly. Sweat cools us off. Without that, we get sick.

You should be a little sore after you work out. It means you have stressed your muscles. Muscles develop by getting little tears in them, that's what lets them develop. When the torn muscles heal (which may take a few days) muscle has been build up. Little by little that happens.

You should be sore, not in pain. If you're in pain, you've done too much, or done the wrong thing.

There are a lot of factors for sweating and that is certainly different for each person and different types of exercise. Most people sweat more with cardio style exercise.

Muscle soreness can be pretty bad for some people just starting out for a couple of weeks. This is when your body is adapting the most. The muscles tear down, heal, get stronger, and repeats as you push harder. It subsides a bit, and it's never as bad as those first 2-3 weeks. As your muscle and joints become conditioned, it hurts less and it's just part of what you do. But if you stop, you have to go through that initial adaptation again. It is reason enough for some of us to never stop the consistency.

Consistency fixes that.

I sweat buckets. Have to wear a sweat band. Strength---always sweat, running- if I go all out or far yes sweat like crazy, if its just an easy short run...no, but then that's not working out either.

I only stayed sore for about a week when I first got into fitness. Strangely, even after I went through a time where I did intense workout DVD's, I never was sore. Are you taking rest days? Your body needs time to repair.

I started on this site 3 years ago. I'm in the best shape of my life (which isn't fabulous, by the way), and I sweat buckets. It's just me now. One of my primary exercises is a cardio/resistance class that is held in the deep end of the pool. Best part is, yes, I sweat, but I'm in water, so it feels great. When I run with my sister on Sundays though, I have to bring an extra sweatshirt (a dry one) for our after-run-coffee-visit. Otherwise, I'd be sitting in drenched clothes getting cold.

Congratulations on getting back at it! The best advice sounds cliche, but it's so true: find an activity you enjoy, and make that your exercise. I took up learning to swim. I'm still not very good or fast, but it's always a challenge, and it's a great workout. Progress is slow, but so what? All I have is time...

For me the biggest change as I get more fit again is attitude and confidence levels. How much I sweat varies all over the place. But as I get more fit, I have confidence to keep raising the bar and push a little harder, because as you reach the level you thought you couldn't, you realize a lot of it is just driven by desire.

I've been working out steady since June. I always sweat and if I don't I figure I'm not working hard enough or I must be dehydrated. I feel really sore when I start a new program, and slightly sore as I go through it. I try to keep mixing things up so I don't get bored.

Sweat: By the end of spin class, my terry cloth sweat band is almost wet enough to wring sweat from, and my (very short) hair is absolutely wet, along with most of my t-shirt. Some others in class literally have small sweat puddles on the floor around the bike.

Sweat is normal. Sweat is good. Though some people sweat less, this is not necessarily a good thing: Some of them have trouble with their internal cooling system, can't take as much heat, and are more likely to get things like heatstroke under extreme circumstances. If you continue, sweat will come to feel purifying.

I don't see that you've said how long you've been at your new routine. For me, when I do something new, there's usually about a week or two of pretty sore muscles, tops (so sore you waddle, as you put it), then maybe a bit more of somewhat sore muscles, and after that - even if I progress the weight or intensity of the exercise, as long as it's in sensible increments - there's more like a taut worked-out feeling to my muscles that I've come to like. It's good to press yourself to achieve, within reason, but you can temper the speed with which you increase intensity, if necessary.

It can be difficult to see the benefits of fitness as they develop, because it's such a gradual, incremental process. Within a few weeks, to 2-3 months tops, depending on your routine, you'll find yourself doing some perfectly normal activity that's part of your life . . . and you'll notice that you can do it longer, or it's easier to do, or you can reach/bend further, or something like that.

Be sure to incorporate gentle stretching in your routine (ideally daily), don't be afraid to ice right after exercise for 10-15 minutes if you've worked some body part especially hard (the gel packs you keep in your freezer are nice for this), take a warm bath before bed (with epsom salts if you have it, and maybe something that smells lovely just for nice). Drink plenty of water during/after your workout, and through the day. Massage therapy (ideally with someone who does sports massage) is also helpful, if you can afford it.

Fitness isn't a destination; it's a process. Over time, you'll get more of those moments where you notice daily activities are easier, that long-time aches or glitches or tightnesses have become less frequent or disappeared, you'll have more endurance & a spring in your step. At some point, you'll have to take a few days off, and notice that you feel more tense, maybe a little less cheery, and you'll be wanting to get back to your exercise routine so you feel great again.

I've been very active for a dozen years, starting while I was obese (and staying obese, BTW, until the past year). Even without losing weight, I lost a couple of sizes in jeans, and had more stamina & strength. I see a big difference between what I can do (daily life), and age-peers (I'm 60) who are not active. You're doing a great thing for yourself - keep up the goodness.

(Sorry I wrote a book.)

Sweating when working out? Yeah...that's normal...the only people I know who worry about it are people who don't workout.

As far as DOMs go, they last a couple of weeks when you're new to training...the best thing you can do for them is to keep moving. They do subside, but I'm always a little sore pretty much all the time. Also, make sure you're not doing too much too soon. One of the biggest mistakes people make is just diving in head first and working beyond their fitness level. Building up your fitness takes time and doing too much too soon is a good way to burn out for one, but it also invites injury. You need to make sure you're giving your body time to recover...the less fit you are, the longer the recovery time...rest/recovery days should be programmed into your fitness regimen. Note that rest days don't mean you have to do nothing...walking is a great recovery day activity.

Also, if you're lifting you should really look into a structured program...most beginners and people in general do really well with a full body routine 3x per week...you definitely do not want to be working the same muscles or groups of muscles on consecutive days...if you stick with your circuits, I'd still recommend having days in between to recover properly. Personally, I'd do that along with your walking and some cycling...increase your cardiovascular work as your fitness improves...go longer, faster, and further as your fitness warrants.

Be happy you sweat! I can't sweat due to genetics combined with kidney disease. My entire body instead gets overheated very quickly and all my fingers, hands, arms, legs and feet swell like a balloon. It makes exercise a real pain in the *kitten*!