It’s been awhile sine The Prime Male has made a post – but that is all about to change, more on that later. Since we are currently in the midst of the summer, I couldn’t think of a better time to talk about ‘Sweat’. 

Sweating is vital to our health, if you could not sweat you would actually die! So think of it this way – men who are actually in the best shape will actually sweat the quickest and the most. Sweating is our bodies way of cooling itself. So when you exercise regularly your body is better able to deal with the ‘heat’ generated with exercise and jump into action to cool and cope. Therefore the more efficient you become at sweating, the better you are able to hold onto sodium which prevents muscle cramping. I can remember as a kid when my Dad was working out in the yard in the middle of the sweltering Florida summer sun and perspiring profusely, he would take a break, run in the house and pour about a teaspoon of salt into his glass of water. He explained to me that this was to counteract all of the loss of sodium from sweating. Hmmm – I guess what he didn’t realize was that he was already a ‘good sweater’ and he already got enough sodium from his diet.

Here are a few good rules of thumb for healthy sweating:

1) Be sure to drink plenty of liquids – water is the best. Keep in mind that after an hour or so of heavy sweating you would need to replace electrolytes and some sodium, so a sports drink would be appropriate – I personally like to dilute the sports drink with water. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that 2 – 3 hours before exercising drink 2 – 3 glasses  of water and then try to drink 8 – 10 ounces every 15 minutes during exercise.

2) Be sure to get plenty of sleep/rest. There are some studies that suggest that lack of sleep negatively effects sweat production.

3) Be sure to adapt to conditions. Sweating in a humid environment doesn’t allow for the evaporation of the perspiration which actually cools the body. Acclimating to heat and environment is very similar to acclimating to altitude. So if you workout in a gym or ‘air conditioned’ environment then suddenly step outside into a hot humid summer environment the effects on the body will be considerable.

4) Be sure to wear the ‘right’ workout clothes – think breathable clothing. So even if you don’t want to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe of ‘breathable’ fitness workout wear – your cotton clothing should be just fine, it gets wet – but it does breathe.

5) Do not try to force sweat by wearing something that is completely breathable – like a plastic bag. Let it happen naturally. Do not wear antiperspirants during exercises – deodorants are just fine. Let your sweat glands breathe!

Happy Healthy Sexy Sweating.