Benefits of Sweating

Okay... Let's talk about sweating. Gross, right? I hate sweating... Everyone does. But while I'm working out and I don't sweat, I know I'm not working hard enough! You should sweat even when you lift, so make sure you challenge yourself a little.

Sweating is very cleansing for your body. When you sweat, your body undergoes a series of processes that allow for the release of toxins and an increase in metabolism. So, if you still look cute after going to the gym, you might want to change things up a little!

Sweat is made up mostly of water, but it also contains minerals, urea, lactic acid, ammonia and sugar. That's a lot of stuff going out of your body! Sweating is your body's way of regulating its temperature, so when you run long distances or exercise in hot weather, your muscles exert themselves and your body overheats. Sweating is your body's way of bringing your core temperature back to normal. And this my friends, burns calories, YES!

When you sweat, you breathe faster, your heart works more, your circulation improves and your metabolism accelerates, all in an effort to resume your normal body temperature. One of the benefits of sweating is that many of the toxins and impurities are able to exit your body by way of your open skin pores, due to an increase in cardiovascular activity. Just make sure that you cleanse properly soon after, so that your pores don't close and collect more impurities. Therefore, always shower your body after the gym. You'll see that if you sweat regularly and cleanse properly, your skin will be softer and smoother.

The weight that you lose through sweating is water weight, which is quickly replaced when you replenish your fluids (which you SHOULD and MUST do!). However, the activities that lead to sweating often burn up calories. Just sitting in a sauna will use up your energy, but exercising burns calories.

So make sure you challenge yourself in order to burn those calories by breaking a sweat, but make sure you incorporate a balanced nutrition so that you can make up for the lost fluids healthily. And sorry for all the science talk, I get a little excited when I talk about biology.

Here is me breaking a sweat! And apparently I sweat like a fat man in 100 degree weather... Or at least it feels that way...

www.fitday.com for more information!