"Who wants to be ... an Exercise Physiol ogist?"

“OK, gotta question, some of you white collars may have the same issue.

When I work out before work or at lunch time, my problem is that it takes me too long to stop sweating if the workout is a little intense.

Today I went to a spinning class at lunchtime. Got off the bike, did some stretching, waited a few more minutes, took a long cool shower, got out and was still sweating.

So the question is this: what can I do to cool my body down faster after a workout?

- drink more? drink less?
- do a longer cool-down before stopping?
- does a cold shower just close up my pores and postpone the sweating?

Any other ideas?

(Mostly) Separate Issue: How long after donating blood is my blood volume back to normal? I donated on Thursday, that's four days before today's workout. Could my difficulty today be related to that?”

“Nah, the blood thing is unrelated. As for the sweating..depends on how long it takes your body to reset it's metabolsim after you've exercised.

If you do more aerobic exercise than anarobic, your cool down will be longer. If you want to cool down faster either (a) don't raise your heart rate so high or (b)give your body more time to recover.

The better shape you are in, the longer it will take you to get to your target heart rate and the quicker it will return to normal. But, then your fat burning isn't as efficient then..tough toss up!

Tex”

“The obviuos answer is to not excersize at all.

"It's a little known fact, that you are only allotted so many heart beats in your lifetime, any excersize you do just uses them up faster."

"Cliff" from Cheers!!!

p.s. Have a nice day Tex!!!”

“I'm like you Fritz...I sweat like a pig...and I sweat for a long time, after a hard workout.

Some people I know that's in pretty bad shape, or don't workout often don't sweat too much. I guess everybody's systems are different.”

“Hemoglobin level will decrease 10 to 20 g/L after giving 450 ml of blood, with adquate iron hemoglobin levels should return to baseline after 3 to 4 weeks. With proper diet maximum performance can return to normal in as little as 2 weeks. Your decrease in blood plasma will return in 48 hours. It does have some effect on your performance for the short term.”

“Hey Chief!!

I love that part from Cheers..there was alot of sage advice on that show!!

Fritx, just thought of something else..what is it you are trying to achieve with your workouts? Staying/getting in shape, burning fat, increasing your cardio capacity??

Really, that makes a difference..you shouldn't alter your workout to help yourself cool down, you should accomodate whatever time you need depending on what your goal is for working out in the first place.

I go to the Y several times a week and the Trainers there are quite knowledgeable - I've had a bunch of good conversations about exercise and achieving personal fitness levels based on my needs and my body's response to exercise.

Find one and pick their brains - it's cool!

Good Luck Fritz! Are you in for a Ocala reunion in January 2003??

Tex”

“Chief, you crack me up.”

“Also, as you become used to execising in hot humid conditions you will sweat more and it will become more dilute so you lose less electrolytes. It takes about 2 weeks for this to occur by working out in hot weather.”

“I exencise EVER DAY but I do not never swet. I gess I am jus a lady.”

“Yeah, but I bet you drool alot!!”

“Well, Sarabelle, actually you DO sweat but it comes out when you pant and through your pores, coz that's how doggies sweat. You don't have any sweat glands on the rest of your body like us humanoids. I think this helps you to catch tree rats better -

whatnever - ;-)”

“Just sit down and rest. Learn your recovery rate for whatever the exercise or activity you do, and thereafter allow adequate recovery time in your schedule.

As your condition improves, your recovery rate should decrease.

A cold shower may increase your recovery rate. You are just adding another situation from which your body must recover.

I suspect that decreasing your liquid intake for six or more hours preceding your workout will result in less sweating. Experiment.”

“Back in the old days when I ran competitively (last November and beyond - hopefully the future, too, if my injury heals), I would usually have similar experience, even when in terrific condition. I think some people just sweat more than others. I have a little fan on my desk for the wind chill effect - that seems to help cool down. Also, whatever you drink after your workout should be cold. One other specific comment - I favor the cool shower, including several seconds of cold-water-only directly on my head. I have had friends who insist that a warm-to-hot shower on a hot day helps them to cool off faster overall - doesn't work for me.”

“Don't decrease your liquids to try and control sweat! You'll only become a statistic.”

“for lack of time right now i just want to say that after a workout your body will burn calories at an accelerated rate for anywhere from 30-60 minutes. you could be sweating still cause you're hustling to get back to work on time. just a couple thoughts”

“I kind of have the same problem Fritz, though it's not really a problem for me since I exercise after work (I would during lunch, but no showers at my jobby job).

I think people like us are just natural born sweathogs.”

“Don't decrease your liquids to try and control sweat! You'll only become a statistic."
Pathman

I agree, if it is excessive. But I don't think a noon workout would be too dangerous. He could postpone the morning coffee until after his workout. But it is not the right approach to his problem.

I prefer to sweat. If fact, after each workout I take a real good steam bath. Leaves me feeling great.

It's funny. A comfortable water temperature, for my shower before the steam bath, feels very cool after the steam bath. So I increase the temperature.”

“Actually, coffee is an effective diuretic (makes one pee) and could actually contribute to dehydration.

I'd follow txwoodswoman's advice.

By the way, so what if you sweat. If you have an important meeting or something that you need to be "presentable" for, shift your workout for another time of the day.”

“Another sweathog here - no matter what kind of shape I'm in I sweat like a pig. If I do aerobics in the morning I'm still sweatin' when I get to work. That's a half to an hour later, AND after I've taken a cool shower. I like to sweat though, thought it was good for you.

I walk on my breaks at work, and don't start my best sweating 'til I'm sitting back at my desk. It really impresses my co-workers, lol!”

“Hey, thanks for all of the input!

Couple of random responses:
- I like to sweat ;)
- today was a distinctly more intense than normal workout
- goal is to improve cardio fitness and burn fat, which really should go hand in hand, at least in the longer term
- short term, I am relatively satisfied with my cardio fitness and would give just about anything to be able to lose 30 lbs.
- when I was in good shape (and younger) I was often amazed at how fast my pulse dropped back below 65 after a hard workout
- after working out I have to put on shirt and tie, and hate to sweat in my otherwise clean shirt; also, when overheated, my face gets very red, which is a little embarrassing

I think the consensus, as expected, is that there isn't much I can do except plan accordingly--either don't do such an intense workout, or accept that I will need to wait at least 20 minutes afterwards before getting in the shower.

Will be interested in any further comments. Thanks again!”

“Ok, I'd prefer NOT to sweat at my desk, but if I don't move around during the day, I'd fall asleep at my PC. Especially on a slow TT day, lol.

I also get red faced which I attribute to being fair skinned since I blush easily as well. It IS embarassing. I've also heard of exercize induced high blood pressure, whatever that means. Anyway no matter what, at least we're out there moving!”

“Sit in front of a fan with your wrists resting on your knees and your finger tips from your left hand touching your right. Close your eyes. Take slow deeeeep breaths and exhale deeeeeply. Think about standing on top of an ice covered peak with a icy gale wind blowing. Do this for at least two minutes and get up very slowly. Take a warm shower and apply body powder afterwards.

You can thank me later.”

“Can he do that on company time?”

“Bacpac is really Tuvok?”

“This isn't directly related to this topic, but it appeared in the SF Chronicle this morning. Note that the article mentions a recent study that found that caffeinated drinks should count toward fluid intake, contrary to the popular belief that they shouldn't.”

“Thanks for the info, martyb!

Interesting that the article says that coffee/soda/tea should count as fluid intake for people who are used to caffeine.

I'll drink to that!”

“Changing your bodies metabolic rate is a long slow process. Weight loss at the beginning canbe substantially higher simply because the body has more fat to burn and its being "stressed" into using extra calories.”

“Congrats on getting in such good shape Fritz. I too seem to sweat more than most and have run into the same problem. My solution was to gradually make my shower cooler then end on cold, stand in front of a fan while getting dressed, and most helpful was putting the air conditioner in my car on full blast while I drove to work. (if you're already at work I guess you could go out to your car and sit in it.)”