First time poster here but i have been a lurker for years.
Was very interested in this post when i first saw it but held off from replying for a few weeks as I was in the middle of trying out a few ideas of my own to address my own heavy sweating + fluid balance issues that I have been struggling with for years. Am now in a position to report back on this - apologies for the long post but hopefully others may find this info. useful in some way.
I completely disagree that heavy sweating is “normal”, a sign that you are fit or that it is purely genetic (although i agree that genetics will have some influence on one’s normal sweat rate). It cannot be normal to be able to wring your clothes out after running 5 miles at a moderate pace in sub zero temperatures (as i have experienced) - such a sweat rate is far in excess of whatever (if any) might be required to keep you cool in such conditions.
In my view, one of the earlier posters hit the nail on the head with the comment about it being related to your endocrine system - after years of being a heavy sweater - i am convinced that this is the case and also believe that this subject is not yet well understood by the sports science community (probably because it is a minority problem). In my experience, it is often dismissed as a non issue when I believe it could in fact be symptomatic of more significant underlying problems.
The good news is that if excessive sweating is in some way related to your hormone balance (which can to an extent be controlled by lifestyle/diet choices), it can potentially be improved.
Bit of an introduction on me to set the scene:
- 34 year old based in the uk
- 6ft 1 with a historical race weight in the 79-82 kg. Always relatively “slim” looking but have always had puppy fat and have never been that “toned” despite probably an average of 10-15 hours training a week for the last ten years - considerably more volume when approaching races
- triathlete from a cycling background - have raced all distances (sprint to ironman)
- reasonable in all 3 sports but not exceptional in any of them (57 min ironman swim pb, 10 mile open tt - 22 mins, 40km open tt - 57 mins, 37 min 10k pb). historically a very poor racer (especially in longer races) compared to training performances
- plagued by lower leg running injuries - rare to get 2 months of consistent run training at anything approaching reasonable volumes
- worked in mergers & acquisitions and now in private equity (only relevance is that my work involves long hours, project based work and high stress levels - also probably goes to my character traits - competitive, high aiming individual)
I have been a very heavy sweater for as long as i have been a triathlete but this has slowly been getting worse and worse. To illustrate this - a lot of my run training is commuting into and out of work which is an 8 mile flat run - I always ended these absolutely soaked in sweat (both t-shirt + shorts/tights) looking like i have been in a shower - regardless of outside temperature - literally to the point where i could wring out pounds of sweat from the clothes. I could easily lose 3/4 kg on such a run even in cold temperatures.
I’ve also always had problems with my day to day fluid balance which most visibily manifests itself in bloating/water retention. I often found that after a day of sitting at my desk and sipping water all day, I would retain a massive amount of fluid (hardly urinate at all) and could often put on 2/3 kg (fat ankles, bloated stomach etc).
Of rather more serious concern than the excessive sweating / water retention issues was an incident during Ironman Austria a few years ago (i actually feature in Noakes’ new book - waterlogged!) where i succombed to hyponetremia and ended up in intensive care, in a coma for five days. Luckily (and thanks to the Klagenfurt hospital) made a full recovery but something like that scares you.
Over the years. I have been to see various doctors about these symptoms with absolutely no luck at all. I have grudgingly been sent for blood tests but they have not shown anything out of the ordinary - I was usually sent away with a comment such as “you are a very fit, healthy young man, sweating is a sign of good health, accept it”.
For ages i did “accept it” but it has become more and more of a performance limiter for me - especially in hot conditions (its also embarrassing if you train in a group). I stopped racing ironman and moved to shorter distances as i found the sweat loss was just too great to compensate for over longer races.
Over time, I recognised that my fluid retention issues seemed to be much worse after a particularly hard training session, a stressful day at work or having eaten a heavily carbohydrate loaded lunch (especially bread). I started to do a lot of research on the internet and to read books on various related subjects. There is an awful lot of information out there but I didnt find any definitive solutions and little that directly considered excessive sweating in the context of endurance sports.
My own observations about my body and this research allowed me to identify a number of interesting things (not all obviously related to excessive sweating) which made sense to me and could perhaps help explain my symptoms. These then formed the basis of a number of changes i made to my training / diet about 8 weeks ago.
- Amount of sweating for me is far in excess of what is required for cooling and largely independent of outside temperature - it therefore must be another bodily response mechanism that is causing it rather than the body’s cooling system. I think this is the hormonal system and in particular hormones related to the body’s response to “stress” - cortisol etc.
- My sweating is much worse when I am more “bloated” - I believe that a lot of the sweat comes from my body ridding itself of this excess water - if i could therefore find a way to reduce the excess water retention then i might also be able to reduce sweating
- I have massive sugar cravings during the day which have been getting worse and worse - always feel hungry even after eating - characteristic of insulin balance issues. Perhaps by diet had too much carbohydrate.
- Real highs and lows in energy levels during the day and mood swings - characteristic of insulin balance + other hormones
- Eletrolytes have a real impact on fluid balance (sodium + magnesium balance is important). Electrolyte balance is also influenced by the hormonal system.
- High intensity training / long work hours produce significant stress on your body that releases hormones such as cortisol - these hormones are known to effect fluid balance. I love training hard - there is nothing i like more than a “smash fest” on the bike in the hills with my mates, a fast tempo run home from work or killing myself to keep up with the fish in the pool. i would say that 90% of my training was of this nature - i never used a heart rate monitor before but i am guessing most of my training would have been at 170 bpm+
- Thirsty a lot
- Exercising at heart rate intensities that require significant %'s of carbs for fuel burns glycogen and releases water (glycogen storage requires water molecules). I suspect that some of this released water could be released as sweat (i was not urinating it out so where else was it going?)
- Inability to lose weight below say 78kg despite increased training loads and calorie deficit. If i could find a way of losing this excess body fat then as well as being more efficient, my body would have less insulation and would have less need to sweat to control temperature
I essentially adopted an approach of going after “marginal gains” - I made a number of changes in the hope that each of them might have some small effect which together might have a more substantial impact. I have had very significant results (see below) from these in a matter of weks - I have no idea which of these changes has individually given the largest improvement - i imagine that that they have all contributed to some extent:
- Focus on a low carbohydrate diet (3 big meals a day - no snacking) with no refined grains (breads, pasta). Illustrative daily diet is now: Breakfast: 3 egg omlette with tonnes of mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, peppers etc. Lunch - massive chicken salad (chicken, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, pine nuts, olive oil, dinner - good quality meat or fish and lots of vegetables (no starchy vegetables), bowl of berries +coconut oil for desert. (note: my diet was not bad before by any means and i imagine i probably always on average ran a slight calorie deficit - i would have, for example, cereal+berries for breakfast, a sandwich +fruit at lunch and maybe some bread/pasta with dinner - i would snack though - maybe a couple of fruit yogurts a day and in stressful periods would sometimes indulge in the free biscuits at work!)
- Absolutely no added salt to any meal (not that i had much to start with)
- Magnesium tablets every day - widely thought that magnesium helps maintain fluid balance in the body
- Started to take vitamin and mineral supplements for the first time ever including Vitamin K, B, C, D, Fish Oils
- No “energy foods” or refined sugars even when training. If i eat on rides now, it will be dried fruit (dates, apricots, raisins etc), nuts and water
- All training is currently in aerobic training zone (for me - this is up to a max of <151 bpm) - rationale is that this maximises the % of fat burnt as a fuel and minimises the amount of glycogen being burnt (and therefore bound water molecules released). Side effect of this is that you really start developing your aerobic energy system + fat burning capability. Will do anaerobic / faster training but this will not be before the spring.
During this period i have not been doing any more training than i used to - in fact i have probably been doing less volume (and definitely less intensity) as I’ve had other things to occupy my time (i got married last week!).
So what has been the impact of all of this:
- “puppy fat” has largely disappeared in 2 months - i now weigh 72kg and for the first time have a 6 pack
- My energy levels are vastly better and i no longer get sugar cravings between meals (took about 2 weeks to get over these) - i really no longer get hungry between meals.
- Low heart rate training focus was difficult at first (but really only for the ego) - speeds i am achieving at 151 bpm are already improving (up from 230ish watts on the bike to closer to 260, 9 min miles running to 7.45 min miles)
- Raced in a 40km time trial a couple of weeks ago on a hilly course. Was worried how i would do given low heart rate focus of training but rode 57 mins and won it outright.
- Have run throughout the hotest (relative for the UK i know (!!) but 25-30 degrees) part of our summer with no sign of an injury and no niggles / tight calves that used to plague me
- I have pretty much stopped getting bloated during the day (and also interestingly urinate a lot more despite drinking less (!) - particularly interested in this as I think this could have something to do with the Hormone ADH which controls water loss via urine - Noakes identifys this in his book as potentially being related to cases of hyponetremia
And perhaps the best bit - my sweat rate has consistently reduced each week. I ran home from work a few nights ago - 8 miles in c. 20 degree heat. my t shirt was virtually completely dry when i got home.
Final point - whilst reading / investigating these subject matters, I came accross a book by Phil Maffetone (The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing). I had already implemented my changes before reading this book but I would say that I have rarely read something that I can personally relate to so much. Whilst I dont recall him directly talking about excessive sweating, many of the subjects matters that he does discuss (overtraining, aerobic heart rate training, impact of stress, diet, hormones, muscle balance etc) are all the issues that I have sought to address with these changes. It is an excellent book and well worth reading if you haven’t.a read.
Anyway - hope this is interesting/potentially useful to other people - it really has been a revelation for me (and quick as well). Still a few more thinks to try - caffeine (which i love), for example, is meant to raise cortisol levels which could also have an impact… may try these if necessary.
Considering a return to Ironman racing next year…