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Old October 22nd 11, 10:40 PM posted to rec.running,misc.fitness.weights,rec.bicycles.misc,sci.med
Tim Downie[_2_]
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Posts: 4
Default perspiration == effectiveness?

Existential Angst wrote:
"Jason Earl" wrote in message
...
On Fri, Oct 21 2011, RichD wrote:

I work out on the rowing machine twice per
week, among other things; running, stationary
bike, swimming, tennis, squash. It's the best
full body workout I know. I typically do 25 min.,
250 calories.


That sounds like fun, although I generally take the calorie readings
from machines with a large grain of salt. As long as you always use
the same machine (or same type of machine) it is a useful benchmark
though, and you probably do burn approximately that many calories.

However, there's one odd thing - I hardly
sweat! Is this a bad sign? Is the 'fitness
feeling' an illusion, am I really not getting my
money's worth? As opposed to the bike,
where I'm drenched.

Also, squash generates the most perspiration.
Which seems weird, because it doesn't feel
so draining as the others.


There's more to sweat build up than how hard you exert yourself. If
the room where you use the rowing machine has an unusually low
relative humidity, for example, or more airflow, then it would
effect how much sweat build up you get. Playing squash in a warm,
poorly ventilated, and humid room is going to make you sweat a lot,
even if you don't hardly move around at all. Heck, sit in the sauna
for a bit and you'll sweat buckets without even moving.

If you want to measure how hard you are working get yourself a heart
rate monitor. It's not perfect, but it is a heck of a lot better
than trying to measure how much you sweat.


One thing I've noticed with running in a club is how much sweating varies
from runner to runner. Logic would suggest that being fitter would result
in less sweating but if anything, I've noticed the reverse. It would seem
that fit runners start sweating "pre-emptively" to avoid overheating

This isn't awfully consistent however and I think some folk are just "early
onset sweaters" whilst others are "late onset sweaters". Consequently, I
think it would be hard to use sweating as a measure of how hard one is
working other than to say that on an individual basis, the more you sweat,
the harder you're probably working.

Tim

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