Sweaty Mama

I just completed a hard-core hour of power yoga and I am ridiculously sweaty! I used to not sweat so much when I worked out, but since I've raised the bar in the past few months with more cardio, I definitely see a difference in how much I sweat.

I was wondering what the relationship is between sweating and exercise: that is, does increased sweating correlate with burning more calories?

Sweating is a mechanism to cool down an elevated body temperature. When you work your muscles, the energy that powers your muscles is lost as heat, raising your core temperature. Perspiration is released, evaporates and cools the skin. Sweating demonstrates that your body is working efficiently to cool itself, a process that does burn some calories. By far, though, the greatest impact on caloric expenditure is going to be the frequency and power of the muscle contractions that creates the heat in your body. The more you exercise, the more efficient your muscles get at using energy and burning up those calories.

So keep those muscles pumping and don't be afraid to get sweaty!

Today's workout:
15 min. stretch
35 min. elliptical (weight loss interval)
60 min. power yoga