Your recent workout left you sweating buckets — that must mean it was great, intense and you burned 1,000 calories, right? Not necessarily. Sweat is not always a great indicator of how good your workout was. t’s really more of a body heat indicator that prevents itself from overheating. When you exercise, your body literally heats up, stimulating your sweat response. Then, as sweat evaporates off your skin into the air, you cool yourself down; but it has nothing to do with how intense your workout was. Sorry to break the bad news.
Because we often associate sweat with exercise, it’s easy to assume the two are related. The truth is, no matter how much or little you sweat, it doesn’t always correlate to calories burned or how hard you’re working. With that in mind, for my ladies who spend every Friday or Saturday in the hair salon and hate the idea of sweating but still want to get their exercise in, here are a few ideas that should keep your hair intact and still burn some calories.
Walking
It doesn’t get much easier or more natural than walking. You can walk outdoors, indoors or on the treadmill. It doesn’t really matter where you are as long as you get moving. Research shows that walking may help just about every health ailment you can think of. It reduces heart attack risk, manages weight, controls blood pressure, lengthens life span and reduces your risk of breast cancer—just to name a few.
Cleaning the House
Doing chores around the house definitely feels like work, but did you realize that it could be considered a workout, too? Talk about multitasking! Light housework such as dusting, taking out the trash, or organizing and changing the sheets, burns about 170 calories an hour for a 150-pound person. Heavier, more intense chores such as sweeping the floor, washing windows, scrubbing the floors and cleaning out the garage can burn more than 250 calories an hour.
Tai Chi
As mentioned in the study above, Tai Chi is a very gentle, meditative activity that is rooted in martial arts. One 30-minute session of Tai Chi burns about 84 calories for a 150-pound man or woman and can result in both fitness gains and stress reduction. The ancient Chinese form of exercise promotes balance, coordination and stretching—all good things for your health!
Strength Training
Too many women have the misconception that lifting weights will make them “bulky” or “Manly” looking. I can personally confirm that it would take a great deal of time and effort for such a problem to occur. Lifting weights builds muscles, boosts metabolism and helps you to do everyday activities more easily. You even burn fat with the replacement of muscle. But the best part of strength training to those who don’t like to sweat? It doesn’t have to take a lot of time or a lot or perspiration to get your lift on. In fact, by doing a few push-ups, squats, lunges and triceps dips, you can get a full-body strength workout in less time than it takes you to shower
Squat while brushing your teeth.
Practicing squats while doing simple activities — like brushing your teeth, talking on the phone or waiting for commercials to end.
Keep small exercise equipment in your living room. No one wants to turn his or her house into a gym. On the other hand, placing a few small pieces of equipment around your living room, like dumbbells, leg weights, steps and rotational discs, can provide some motivation while watching TV.