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We are one month into 2011. How are things going? Have you stuck to your workout goals and resolutions? Are you still eating better?
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Do you feel like you’re not seeing enough of a change for all of the time you have been putting in?
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Let me ask you this – when you workout, are you sweating? I don’t mean schvitzing or perspiring. I mean really, REALLY sweating.
I don’t go to the gym a whole lot. I either run outside or on the treadmill in my basement. For strength training I do a lot of home-based workouts (push ups, planks, chin ups, TRX). BUT when I do go to the gym, I am often surprised to find that a lot of people finish their workouts with just the slightest hint of sweat on their brow and seem to be under the impression that they have put in a hardcore cardio workout.
I want to ask these people if they actually value their time? Don’t they want to make the most of the perceived effort they’ve invested? I don’t believe I’m being a workout snob. I just think that maybe these people don’t get what a hard workout really is.
Yes, I know that getting to the point where you are soaked is hard. Yes, I know that a hard workout hurts. But as the saying goes, “No Pain, No Gain”.
And it’s not like every workout has to be a hard one. In fact, ideally workouts should oscillate between hard and easy to make sure that the body has an opportunity to mend and get stronger while staying loose.
But if it is fast results that you want, you are going to have to sweat; sweat to the point where your shirt is soaked; soaked to the point where you can wring a cupful of stink out of it.
THAT’S when you know you’ve done your job. Quite honestly, there is very little that is more satisfying than hearing the hard smack of your drenched shirt hitting your bathroom floor after a hard workout.
So, if you are struggling to see results in your resolution workouts, I’ll ask you again – are you sweating?
Run Luau Run 
I am soaked as I am reading this. I am on my bike. Thank you for this amazing post and the reminder of balancing sweaty with non sweaty workouts and the reason for it. My favorite stinking sweaty time was my first Vinyasa yoga class. I over dressed and it was in a warm room. I had never sweated that much in my life. I felt such a high after it.
I can’t agree more and a great reminder to give each
workout your all so we are not wasting our time.
My day isn’t complete unless I’ve sweat-soaked at least one workout shirt 🙂 My favorite is when I move my head during a run and my ponytail splashes me in the face with my own sweat! That’s how I know I’m working hard enough.
I look like I’ve stepped out of the shower when I’m done. I don’t get the women who come to the gym in full hair and makeup and don’t sweat it all off before they leave.
Worse than those who don’t sweat at the gym are those who down a whole liter or more of Gatorade (and not the zero-calorie stuff) while not working up a sweat, thus leaving net-worse-off than when they came.
And no, regrettably I’m not sweating from my workouts these days, tough to sweat from core work no matter how hard you push it.