Your body is designed to produce excessive sweat during physical exercise, be it while doing cardiovascular exercises on the elliptical trainer or resistance training exercises on the weight machines.
Functions Of Sweating
Sweat is produced by the sweat glands, which are located in the skin’s deeper layer – the dermis. Although sweat glands can be found in all parts of the body, we have most of these glands on our armpits, forehead, palms and the soles of the feet. Thus, you will often experience excessive sweating on these areas of the body when performing exercises in the gym although you may think of your chest and back as having the most sweat glands. The sweat glands perform two main roles that contribute to general health, as follows:
– It regulates body temperature especially in the case of overheating during exercises. Your skin becomes cooler as the sweat, which is composed mostly of water with some salt, evaporates on your body.
– It helps in gripping through the slight moisture provided to the palms. If your palms will not produce a little sweat, you can just imagine the dry grip on the gym equipment. You will only hate it when the sweat becomes excessive because the object just seems so hard to hold on to.
Excessive Sweat
And speaking of excessive sweat, you will discover that the causes of sweating in gym addicts are basically similar for non gym goers. These causes include strenuous physical activity, hot weather and mental stress. After all, we are made from the same stuff so we essentially function in the same manner.
The mechanism may be different in gym addicts. Because your heart and lungs are under greater stress during exercise, the majority of the blood supply will rush to the surface of the skin. Your heart will, in turn, pump harder to make up for the loss of blood in other parts of the body and so the cycle of pump-and-sweat begins again.
Beware as excessive sweating can result in heat stroke. This is precisely the reason why the best attire when exercising is composed of light materials like shorts and tank tops.
You may consider thick clothes as appropriate exercise attire but in reality, you are in danger of overheating and it can also be the cause of your ill health, so beware.
You may also be sweating excessively because of anxiety over fitness-related matters. For example, you are worried over the upcoming bodybuilding competition or over not achieving your fitness goals. You can expect excessive sweating when stress is coupled with strenuous physical activity.
No matter what the causes of sweating are in your case, you should find the right treatments for you. Remember that your health comes first!