Seeking sports physician or exercise physiologist: sweating during workouts I'm seeking a *sports physician or an exercise physiologist only* to cover the following prompts: - Is it necessary to sweat to have a "good" workout? Can you explain why or why not? - What types of factors (personal, environmental) dictate how much a person sweats during exercise? - When is it normal to sweat less while exercising (e.g., during winter, certain types of exercise)? - Sweat aside, what are 2-3 better gauges to know you've actually had a good workout and are progressing toward your goals (strength, speed, or beyond)? To save your time and effort, please respond first with your credentials and familiarity with the subject. If it's a good fit, I'll write back with the go ahead.

As a board-certified physician in Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation, and Sports Medicine, I can confirm that sweating is not a prerequisite for a good workout, it is simply a thermoregulatory mechanism to dissipate heat and cool down, not necessarily a measure of caloric burn or workout intensity. Personal factors like genetics, body mass, and fitness level, along with environmental humidity and temperature, can influence the rate of sweating in an individual. It is also perfectly normal to sweat less during low-intensity sessions like Pilates, yoga, or when exercising in cold, dry winter air where sweat evaporates instantly. To gauge true progress, I`d recommend focusing on the Rate of Perceived Exertion, noticeable improvements in load or volume of a workout like lifting heavier or more reps, and recovery heart rate, which indicate cardiovascular and neuromuscular growth and adaptation far better than fluid loss.

Sweating is not necessary for a quality session because intensity can be high in cold environments without significant visible perspiration. Personal factors such as gender, hydration status, the density of your sweat glands, and environmental factors, like ambient airflow and altitude, can all impact how we sweat. Also, you will naturally sweat less during swimming or when exercising in cold weather because the environment facilitates heat transfer without needing the body to cool itself down by evaporating sweat. Instead of looking at your shirt for sweat, gauge success by progressive overload, improved form and ease of movement, and by analyzing your resting heart rate trends, which reflect long-term physiological gains.

I treat excessive sweating in active patients, including miraDry for axillary hyperhidrosis. I also see the skin fallout of training, like heat rash, chafing, and irritant dermatitis. Sweat gland biology is part of my daily work. I'm not a sports physician or an exercise physiologist, so I will not claim expertise in VO2 testing or return to play calls. If your focus is sweating during workouts and what it means, I can cover that well. A 2025 review compared sweat rate models with 780 controlled exercise heat exposures and found sweat output tracks heat balance demands more than workout quality: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12416190/