Excessive sweating

[u/Straight-Sock377]

Sweating was and has been easily manageable in the past. A simple towel wipe and the wrist band to catch the sweat from dripping into my hands to prevent slips in my grip. However, recently I started to play tournaments. Now playing multiple hour long matches and I’ve noticed a major problem from playing long hours in the heat of summer. My whole body is covered in sweat and my shorts are drenched completely. When that happens, the towel wipe no longer helps and it will drip down to my socks and make my whole shoes wet.

Does anyone have this problem and how do yal go about managing your sweat aside from changing clothing multiple times?

[u/cootershooter420]

lol you change clothes multiple times

[u/sink_or_swim_ → u/cootershooter420]

Multiple sets of clothes, multiple towels

[u/cootershooter420 → u/sink_or_swim_]

Indeed, I have a big honking 12 racket bag I bring to tournaments and it only has two rackets in it for that reason

[u/cripbit]

I never thought about it in any other way than to just change clothes. There is also something mental going on when losing the first set, changing shirt and socks in the change over and suddenly being a completely different player...sometimes 😄

Also, some conditions are just sweat galore. There's clips from pro players wringing their clothes between points because of humidity and sweat from heat and playing a pro match.

[u/Straight-Sock377 → u/cripbit]

Last weekend was 103 and high humidity

[u/jrstriker12]

Change clothes and sweat bands.

Bring multiple towels.

Even bring more shoes if needed.

[u/devoker35]

Check r/hyperhidrosis

[u/eanongayon]

Here in the Philippines, we have what I call “sweat season”. It’s the transition from dry to wet season from late May to early July. Daytime temperatures are still in the 90’s Fahrenheit, and humidity is just below precipitation. Shirts, shorts, briefs, socks, and sometimes shoes are drenched. The only solution is to change shirts and sweatbands between sets. We have one club member who changes shirts at each changeover. If you’re playing all day, extra briefs, socks and shoes are in order too. And don’t get me started on overgrips. I change rackets (I have 6 in my bag) every 2 sets because over grips get saturated. I take off saturated overgrips immediately and allow the base grip to dry before putting on a new one the day after. This time every year I also buy a tub of over grips cheap and sell them by piece at cost to the other club members, because everyone forgets to bring extras.

[u/ftjlush]

I've been drenched for the last 3 months each time I play. Changing shirts on a public city court with group classes and pickle ballers around is a little awkward, but I did it 3 times this summer. It helped, but was still awkward each time. Maybe that's just me.

[u/cootershooter420 → u/ftjlush]

I’ve been trying on shirts in the middle of department stores for 30 years. Don’t worry about it.

[u/aM_181]

Change shirt and headband, wrist bands etc. multiple times. Most of the sweat generates from upper body so won’t make it to socks and shorts. (But still have spare socks and shorts on hand for a full change if necessary.)

[u/DukSaus]

I have some good advice here (see below). For reference and credibility, my wife and I sweat heavily, and in quite different ways. My wife sweats very heavily from her feet and hands. I am a head and body sweater, where I’m soaking shirts after 30 minutes and my hats leak from the brim (as they are past the saturation points). Recently, I had a clinic and the coach thought we had to go inside from rain, but it was actually my sweat covering the court after a series of long rallies. This summer, for the first time, my hands sweat so much that rackets were flying out of my hand and balls were catching during my toss. With that said, some advice below:

• Change shirts often: A dry shirt keeps you cooler. Some people believe that being wet allows you to be cooler in the shade; however, a sweat-logged shirt will no longer wick sweat and allow air to pass through. It is essentially trapping heat (not to mention weighing you down). On very hot days, no joke I plan for a shirt change every 30 minutes.
  
• SweatBlock brand wipes and creams: My wife and I employ SweatBlock brand wipes and creams religiously. I will often use the Extreme XL wipes for my shaved head, neck, torso, and under any place where I’m wearing a brace (left knee, and a prophylactic sleeve on my right arm). After a few instances where I returned serve and the racket flew out of my hand, I started diligently using the SweatBLock branded hand and foot creams my wife swears by (she can literally start sweating within a moment of me holding her hand in hot weather). I apply the wipes or creams about an hour or so before hand (ideally much earlier). It works wonders, but I do suggest following closely the instructions and apply it a bit beforehand. I can say that I have tried other sweatblocking wipes and cream brands, and I can tell you that Sweatblock works the best. Caveat: I can only vouch for the sweatblocking wipes and creams—and have not used the deodorant.
  
• Usual suspects - wrist bands and headbands (but opt for quality over quantity): I will constantly carry a collection of wrist bands and headbands in each tennis bag. However, note that a saturated wrist band isn’t going to do much. Thus, you either have to carry some extras. The standard terry cloth ones are good but tend to get sweatlogged quickly, so I also carry around some of the ADV ones for backup. For headbands, I would recommend investing in Halo brand headbands—specifically the Extreme series. I have a handful of these, and they last for an hour and change on a very hot day before they get oversaturated (as opposed to normal headbands that get oversaturated within 15-20 minutes).
  
• Double up the water bottles: I keep a drinking bottle (usually 26 - 36 oz.) that’s about 1/3 ice and water, which I use and mix with hydration mixes from Skratch (or Liquid IV). I also have a second oversized water bottle (at least 46 oz. but if a longer session or tournament, 64 oz.), which I keep for only clean water and filled with a lot more ice. This way, I always have an ice cold water supply to wet cooling towels (the ones that activate by soaking and snapping) or even to apply a quick rinse to my head. It also means that I am filling my drinking bottle with the coldest of water. Sometimes, on changeovers or breaks, I will wet my head just a tad in the shade and use a very small portable fan to help cool down.
  
• Pre-hydration and overhydration: Hydration and overheating are obviously related. For myself, I frequently experience heat illness and overheating, and also dizziness, due to some past health conditions. I find that if I overdrink prior to playing in hot conditions, it’s night and day whether I feel overheating. I typically favor some coconut water to the point of feeling almost full at least a couple hours before. On really hot days, I’m drying to also continue to drink to the point where I am forced to use the restroom every couple of hours—otherwise I know that I am not drinking enough. Plus, I honestly don’t believe that on the hottest of days and playing tennis that we should worry about the warnings/concerns over drinking too many electrolytes. With apologies for the crassness, but I pay close attention when I relieve myself. Even on days where I feel like I’m emptying water bottles, I do notice that if it’s hot enough and I’ve started to sweat too profusely, my urine is a darker color—and thus my goal is to always hydrate and replenish electrolytes to the point where I reach the ideal slightly yellow and clear. Again, apologies for the graphic description, but as I had a partial nephrectomy, I am more prone to dehydration.
  
• Use of iceboxes: I have a portable REI icebox (light but still sturdy enough to be a makeshift chair), which I keep some cold water, half frozen water bottles, but most importantly cooling neck bands (this isn’t the brand I bought, but similar to this one available on Amazon). I also like to put a shirt change and a cooling towel in here. When I feel super overheated, I need to bring down my core temperature as quickly as possible, and often, if I towel dry, I can really cool down quickly by putting in essentially a frozen yet dry shirt.
  
• A few cooling shirt brands do work: Not all cooling tech shirts actually work. Still, I have a mission cooling performance shirt that actually does keep me a bit cooler on hot days, but note that it’s not great if you are hot indoors (I think it needs some air flow). I received a Freezetech shirt a gift that works amazingly well, but I would never purchase a shirt at that price.
  
• Shaded chair: I bought a quickly collapsible chair with shading on the sides from Amazon (similar to this), and it is oddly a gamechanger for keeping cool during breaks.

[u/TomS_Nbpt]

Just went through the same thing, and managed to get kidney stones as a fun and exciting side effect.

Make sure you are replenishing your liquids AND electrolytes.

I'm still trying to figure it out, but I think just drinking a lot of water on its own didn't help.

[u/SlapThatAce]

Bring a barrel of saw dust and jump into it :D

I don't think that there is much anyone can do other than bring a bunch of towels, wear breathable clothes, have more than one kit, bring several socks and shoes, have more than a couple of tennis racquets ready so that you can swap when the grip is too wet etc.

[u/h0pefulTransition → u/SlapThatAce]

This. Not much you can do besides being prepared to dry yourself off better. More exposure to the heat does help get used to it to a certain extent but if you sweat a lot then you're going to sweat a lot at the end of the day.

[u/Dizzy-Being1157]

Yeah man just bring several of everything two or three shirts, towels, wristbands, shorts socks, and at least two pairs of shoes it’s annoying but really no other solution

[u/ftjlush]

I'm considering keeping a second set of tennis shoes and several sets of socks with me. Changing socks and shoes between sets.

[u/theloniousdunk]

Bucket hat

[u/nonstopnewcomer]

You gotta change unfortunately. But you can prolong it by getting a big towel and wiping down your entire body as often as possible, including your shorts. Like you just got out of a pool and you’re trying to dry your swim trunks.

You can also wring out your shirt to make it last longer.

[u/YellowLabGirl]

In the summer I bring my Ryobi 7.5 inch Fan with me to matches! It’s very quiet and people comment all the time what a great idea it is! It cools/dries my face and hands and I will even hold my racquet grip in front of it! I think you can buy them for $80 for so with the battery! It’s worth every penny! I also use one of the sticky towel things on every changeover so my grip doesn’t get completely slick!

[u/Spirited-Ball2740]

Could be a hormone imbalance