Sweat Workout

Sweat workout. That’s kind of an interesting title for an article. Think about it, how many times does someone gage the effectiveness on their workout based on if they sweated or not? A lot of people that I've talked to do. Personally, I used to think that it wasn’t that important. Now I realize that a good sweat workout is very beneficial.

You know, the kind that gets your heart, and lungs pumping, and your circulatory system, well circulating. It doesn’t have to be a super intense cardio workout like Tabata, Insanity or some of the cardio workouts that I’ve come up with. But those will definitely work. There are benefits to long duration, low intensity cardio workouts as well.

I had an interesting experience yesterday. In the past few days I’ve been getting over an illness that kept me very stationary, mostly in bed. I hate that, because it makes me feel very lazy. Anyway yesterday, I was feeling sluggish, and I had a realization. Because of my illness I haven’t been able to do any cardio workouts for several days. The kind that make you sweat. My mind was foggy and my body felt horrible. Normally, I would think that I just need more rest, but I had a feeling that something else was the problem.

So, in order to fight whatever was going on with me, I decided to exercise instead of rest. I knew that my body was strong enough to exercise. In fact, I needed it. As soon as I jumped on the treadmill, and started walking, I could feel my cardiorespiratory system activating. After a short warm-up, I began running. And although it was more of a challenge than a usual run of that speed, my body was adapting quickly. Soon I had a sweat going, and I maintained it for the duration. I only ran for about ten minutes and finished off with walking for another 10. That was all that I needed. My cardiovascular, respiratory, and circulatory systems were due for a jump start.

Right after my shower, and some food, I was able to come back to my work with a new energy. You can get a good sweat going with weight training but typically, the best kind of sweat workout is a cardio workout. As a general rule, you’ll want to lower the intensity as you increase the length of your cardio workout. An interval cardio workout can last anywhere from 4 to 30 minutes depending on the intensity. Although, I don’t recommend going over 20 minutes for intervals. That is excluding warm-up and cool down.

If you’re going for a straight run, anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes will work great for general health and fitness. 30 minutes to an hour is a good amount of time for a brisk or light walk. Unless you’re a long distance runner, there really is no need to be running for an hour. Unless you’re out in the sun, or you’ve got the heat turned up, you probably won’t sweat much from a light walk. There are benefits to be had from light walks, but getting a good sweat workout isn’t usually one of them. Make it a brisk walk for 30 minutes, and try to include some uphill work as well.

Of course, if all you want is a good sweat, then all you have to do is turn up the heat. This will be of little benefit because it is said that less than 1% of toxins are released from sweating. However, getting an effective cardiorespiratory workout will go a long way in helping your body filter out any deadly toxins. Just make sure that you replace that precious water that you have lost from your workout.