Ask a Trainer
Two elite 24 Hour Fitness Trainers tackle your most burning in-the-gym questions.
I sweat a lot at the gym. Is this normal? What can I do about it?
-- Jon, Phoenix, Arizona
First of all, congratulations! You’ve got a body that has the ability to cool itself. That’s nothing at all to be ashamed of—and besides, you couldn’t control it even if you wanted to.
Really, all you can do is control other people’s exposure to your sweat. So if your gym doesn’t provide towels, bring one, and make it a point to clean the machines and the floor around them after you’re done.
I’ve created puddles. Lots of people do. Just clean up the best you can.
I have a client who sweats so much, she’ll go and change her shirt after her cardio; it’s literally dripping, and I really appreciate it when she changes. It makes it easier for me to spot her. Even though it’s clean sweat, it’s somebody else’s.
And please don’t shake your head. Nobody—and I mean nobody—likes being next to the wet dog.
Meet the Experts
Two trainers, both with impeccable credentials but very different styles.
Brandy Bachmeyer, 28, a former Olympic weightlifter, is a rare amalgam of brains, brawn, and perkiness. Sort of like a cross between MacGyver and a local TV weatherperson. In a good way. An elite trainer at San Ramon Supersport Club in California, Brandy regularly puts in 12-hour days, sometimes joining them as they train for half-marathons—even surveying the contents of their sub-Zeros.
Scott Nunes, a trainer at the 24 Hour Fitness in Escondido, California knows firsthand that getting fit doesn’t just happen. “I used to be a bona fide couch potato,” Nunes avows. When Nunes was in his mid 20s, he had back surgery, developed arthritis, and found himself weighing in at 260 pounds: “When my one-and-a-half-year-old son raced me to the top of the stairs and beat me, I started doing pushups and sit ups that day,” he recalls. Nunes, 37, got in great shape, which helped him raise his son, who’s now 14.
COMBINED WISDOM Changing shirts midworkout plus cleaning up the machines is excellent perspiration etiquette. No harm, no foul. Unless it’s the smell.
