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    Do you judge how hard your workout was by how much you sweat

    Posts: 326 Member
    edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
    I'm asking because I have been doing 30DS and no matter how hard I workout I barely break a sweat BUT tonight I pulled out my old TaeBo Amped tape and was sweating buckets! And there was NO jumping what.so.ever. I felt like the TaeBo gave me a better workout.

    Just wondering if you don't sweat do you feel you didn't get a good workout?

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    • Posts: 895 Member
      I always feel like I get a good workout if I work up a sweat. After 20 mins of Zumba I'm soaked.
    • Posts: 309 Member
      generally, no.
      because i get really sweaty for no reason, so if i'm working out and that doesn't make me sweat, it probably wasn't that intense.
      i also base it on my heart rate, how much water i need to drink, and how much more i'm lifting compared to previous workouts.
    • Posts: 442 Member
      I sweat more the better the workout.
      Maybe the moves are too hard or you not pushing yourself as hard as you can with taebo? I know if I do a dvd level thats too hard I dont really sweat and dont burn near as many calories.
    • Posts: 385 Member
      Here's my theory:
      You sweat because your body is overheating and you're trying to cool it off.
      The faster your heart beats, the more likely you will sweat.
      High heart beat = High caloric expenditure, HOWEVER, you may be burning muscle (anaerobic exercise)
      The lower your heart beats, the more likely you won't sweat.
      Low heart beat = Lower caloric expenditure, HOWEVER, you may be burning fat (aerobic exercise)

      It's a give and take.. good balance of both aerobic and anaerobic exercise can successfully burn calories the right way. It would be no fun if you burned away all your muscle!
      I did that :embarassed:
    • Posts: 165
      I feel like sweating is an indicator of burning calories. I sweat buckets doing kickboxing and turbo jam.
    • Posts: 2,555 Member
      I exercise outdoors most of the time. Throughout a lot of the winter, spring and fall, I don't sweat that much - even with a tough workout. It's cold and the dry air tends to evaporate any sweat I'm putting out. But in the summer (doing the same exact workout), I sweat BUCKETS. I can sweat off 3-4 pounds of water in 90 minutes.

      If the workout is the same, I definitely prefer not sweating as much! LOL
    • Posts: 1,879 Member
      Absolutely. This is why it's hard for me to lift weights. I know it's good for me, but I don't do it long enough to get sweaty.
    • Posts: 140 Member
      Yes. Like you, i used to work out regularly and not sweat. Well--for me--it was because I wasnt working out hard enough.

      I always used to brag that eewwww, I NEVER sweat.

      Adding resistance to the elliptical fixed that fallacy.

      Oh, and now that i'm sweating, I'm actually losing weight.
    • Posts: 443 Member
      Not every time. I sweat more doing yoga than circuits.
    • Posts: 956 Member
      I make sure that whatever workout I do I sweat really good.
    • Posts: 532 Member
      I dont....I sweat a TON doing Insanity, but i'm not sore...p90x not nearly as much sweat, but the sore muscles prove a good workout!! If you feel you worked hard and pushed yourself thats all that counts!!!
    • Posts: 320 Member
      no.. a good workout for me is getting stronger.
    • Posts: 378 Member
      Yes and no, I used to do a lot of swimming so I don't know how much I was sweating (which is kind of gross when you think of how many other people were in the pool!). I tend to go on how I feel afterwards.
    • Posts: 26
      I'm so glad this question was asked!! YES I DO judge myself according to the sweat...I too rarely break a sweat but can burn a good amount of calories. So I always feel like I haven't really worked out lol I keep hearing Jullian say "if you're not sweating you're not working hard enough!" Sigh...I know the environment has a lot to do with it as well...the gym where we go is air conditioned and the environment is much cooler than my brother's home gym which is not air conditioned and kept at a warmer temperature. I tend to sweat at his gym but not buckets. I don't know...maybe I don't push myself hard enough.... :ohwell:
    • Posts: 61
      love sweating off after say 20mns on the treadmill or lifting heavy weights....but this may not necessarily be the reason for getting down, since every person is so very different.

      Probably guess you can even tie it to your BMI and ability to sweat.
    • Posts: 5 Member
      I tend to sweat like a little piggy most of the time and sometimes I feel like I'm dying and sometimes I'm just sweaty and I never know if it's because I'm getting a good work out or what. The trainers at my gym recommended I get a heart rate monitor, which I did, and that REALLY helps me understand what's going on with my body. They are pricey, but if you use it, you will be soon be able to better see how you are improving, because its really your heart rate you want to be gauging, not the buckets of sweat :-) They can help you set it up so it calculates for you appropriately.
    • Posts: 416 Member
      Yes and no, I used to do a lot of swimming so I don't know how much I was sweating (which is kind of gross when you think of how many other people were in the pool!). I tend to go on how I feel afterwards.

      ah man-- ichy! lol never thought about sweat in a pool before. lol
    • Posts: 2,608 Member
      *edit* double post
    • Posts: 2,608 Member
      Not really. Temperature and other conditions are too big of a factor. The gym closest to my home is warmer than the one further away (but is open later). So when I go to the closer one, I usually start sweating instantly. The other gym, it takes me longer to get sweaty, even though it's the same machines and same intensity.

      And yesterday I ran outside in 50ish degree weather, with overcast, windy, and rainy. I did 12.5 miles in a personal best time and wasn't any sweatier than when I'd done three miles two nights earlier.

      Additionally, when I was in Disneyland the week before, I was standing in line and sweat was dripping down my back and making my shirt stick to my back. ;)

      So, personally, I judge my workouts by how I feel during, at the end and, the next day instead of by my sweat.
    • Posts: 287 Member
      No , I hardly sweat! When I was running 3 miles a day I wouldn't really sweat beyond my forehead being a little wet. I measure by how my body feels and where my heart rate is acting!
    • Posts: 32 Member
      Yes I do because sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough to get fit and feel like I have to do more.
    • Posts: 7,870 Member
      I sweat when I do cardio.

      A lot.

      Doesn't matter what I do, really, although I tend to put 110% into whatever workout I'm doing, so maybe that's why.
    • Posts: 777 Member
      When I lift, I barely sweat (except during squats, I sweat a ton squatting), but I can walk on the treadmill for a few minutes and look like I've been running. Everyone's different.
    • Posts: 732 Member
      No I don't judge my workouts based on sweating. I don't sweat that much during an hour and a half of exercising which includes a 40 min. tape and the rest on treadmill @ at least 4.0 and doing c25k. But put my butt to cleaning the house and I'll be pouring. Not sure what the difference is. Maybe I'm just weird.
    • Posts: 18 Member
      I don't because I live and FL and don't turn the air down upstairs where my gym is. So its normally 80 weather I workout inside or outside.
    • Posts: 442 Member
      I'm asking because I have been doing 30DS and no matter how hard I workout I barely break a sweat BUT tonight I pulled out my old TaeBo Amped tape and was sweating buckets! And there was NO jumping what.so.ever. I felt like the TaeBo gave me a better workout.

      Just wondering if you don't sweat do you feel you didn't get a good workout?

      I judge it by sweating and soreness. but I know what you mean though I have some videos and work outs that I feel like it I have done nothing and others that I feel like I have ran 20 miles at a fast pace.
    • Posts: 8,980 Member
      no
    • Posts: 2,608 Member
      no

      Succinct. I have much to learn in this realm. :D
    • Posts: 80 Member
      Not every time. I sweat more doing yoga than circuits.

      Super TRUE! I wear a HRM....Polar FT40 and I never leave home without it. I'm a group fitness addict also....and when they turn on the fan and it's pointing right at me, I don't sweat so I feel like I haven't done much....then I check my HRM and see just how hard I really did work......it's worth it!

      Also....I do HOT yoga...and I'm always the first one sweating. LOL. Same goes for group fitness.....sweat isn't really an indicator for me.
    • Posts: 8,329 Member
      nope. thats why i have an hrm that tells me how hard ive worked in calories
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