Do I Need To Sweat In Order To Get Some Cardiovascular Benefit From My Workout?

July 1, 2009— -- Question: Do I need to sweat in order to get some cardiovascular benefit from my workout?

Answer: Well, there's quite a variety of when people start to sweat, how much they sweat, and at what temperature they sweat. So it's not really a good indicator of how hard somebody is working, or what type of cardiovascular workout they are attaining. Along those same lines, sweating more does not necessarily lead to healthy weight loss -- it's really just water weight that you're losing, your body is going to balance that out as soon as it can, so it's not leading to meaningful weight loss or physical effects in other regards. Really, your heart rate and hitting appropriate target heart rate is the best measure of a cardiovascular workout.