{"id":929908,"date":"2026-07-12T13:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/929908\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T13:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:23:15","slug":"do-you-have-to-sweat-for-your-workout-to-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/929908\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you have to sweat for your workout to count?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

You might sweat less, if at all, during a strength training workout than you might during a run or spin class \u2013 and that’s okay.skynesher\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

As someone who used to be cardio-obsessed, one aspect of strength training has always seemed odd to me: I often feel like I\u2019m working hard, yet I barely ever break a sweat. While even the most casual 5K often left me soaked in sweat, a 45-minute strength session, which felt much more strenuous, produced barely a bead.<\/p>\n

I often wondered if my strength-training workouts were effective if I wasn\u2019t perspiring. <\/p>\n

Greg Heatherington, founder of Toronto\u2019s Fuel Training Club<\/a>, understood my concern because he\u2019s seen many people like me in his classes. First-timers often do jumping jacks or jog in place during rest breaks or while a trainer explains the workout. <\/p>\n

Why do some people gain more muscle than others?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people are looking for the quickest path to success,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd perceived success is often associated with more sweat.\u201d <\/p>\n

But whether you perspire and how much aren\u2019t the telltale signs of effort that you might think they are. <\/p>\n

\u201cSweating is not good or bad,\u201d says Paul Dorian, a cardiologist who leads the sports cardiology clinic<\/a> at Toronto\u2019s St. Michael\u2019s Hospital. It\u2019s simply our body\u2019s way of cooling down. Observing your sweat rate can help you determine water loss and hydration needs, he adds, but it\u2019s not a measure of effort. <\/p>\n

If sweat doesn\u2019t automatically equal a caloric burn, and if it\u2019s not a sign that I\u2019m working really, really hard, then what exactly does it mean? <\/p>\n

Why do we sweat during a workout?<\/p>\n

When you exercise, the friction of your muscles moving against each other produces heat, explains Dorian. The more friction and the more repetitive the movements, the more heat you\u2019ll generate, and the more you\u2019re likely to sweat. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat heat that\u2019s generated has to be dissipated,\u201d says Dorian. The evaporation of the beads of sweat on your skin is your body\u2019s way of cooling down. <\/p>\n

But how much you do or don\u2019t sweat, and how that differs from the person next to you, isn\u2019t solely based on your levels of intensity. <\/p>\n

Men, for example, often sweat more than women, says Dorian. The temperature outside or inside a studio has an impact, as does the clothing you\u2019re wearing. Trained athletes tend to sweat more<\/a> because their bodies have adapted to respond quickly as their core temperature rises. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s okay to not sweat during a strength training workout<\/p>\n

In a strength workout, in which you\u2019re lifting a weight for several repetitions, putting it back down, and resting several minutes, you might sweat less, if at all. That\u2019s because your body temperature isn\u2019t rising as high as it might during a workout in which you\u2019re in constant motion, like a run or a spin class. <\/p>\n

But \u201cwhether you\u2019re sweating or not doesn\u2019t necessarily equate to you burning more calories,\u201d says Heatherington. <\/p>\n

Guide to lifting weights: How to reach your strength, size and stamina goals<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, you can measure your work level and intensity using what\u2019s called the Reps in Reserve scale: at the end of a set, you should feel like you only have two or three more repetitions left in the tank before your form breaks down. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would strongly disrfercourage your readers from using sweat as a measure of anything,\u201d says Dorian. \u201cIt\u2019s just a measure of water loss but it\u2019s not a measure of how hard you worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

I still want to sweat! Do I really need to rest during a strength workout? <\/p>\n

If you really love the feeling of a good sweat, mix some cardiovascular work into your training schedule. Just make sure that during hotter weather, you\u2019re paying attention to signs of heat exhaustion<\/a>, which include weakness and dizziness. While sweating can be a sign of heat exhaustion, if your body stops sweating completely and your skin is dry to the touch, that can be a sign of heat stroke, which can be life-threatening. If that happens, stop and seek medical attention. <\/p>\n

If you know you\u2019ll be exercising in the heat, make sure to drink fluids before and during your workout (if possible) and add electrolytes to your beverage to replace the sodium lost through sweat. <\/p>\n

In strength training, regardless of whether you feel tired or hot, and even if you\u2019re working out in an air-conditioned gym, resting between sets is necessary. An easy rule is to rest for about three minutes between sets of a single exercise. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t rest enough, you\u2019ll notice that you\u2019re not able to do the same number of reps or lift the same amount of weight,\u201d says Heatherington. And that\u2019s a crucial part of strength training. To see results, you have to keep challenging your muscles. <\/p>\n

When your heart rate starts slowing down, that\u2019s your nervous system recovering from the work you just did, and that\u2019s what will allow you to put in the work for your next set. <\/p>\n

If you\u2019re used to doing a lot of cardio, you might start doing your strength training workout and feel like you\u2019re not doing all that much. You have to be willing to keep going for a bit to really see results, says Heatherington. \u201cStrength training is really about trusting the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alyssa Ages<\/a> is a journalist and the author of Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength. She is also a strongman competitor and endurance athlete, as well as a former personal trainer and group fitness instructor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: You might sweat less, if at all, during a strength training workout than…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":929909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[38],"tags":[1198,210,19617,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-929908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-noastack","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116907226177336255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}