Do you drink water?
Yes, you obviously drink water or you’ll be dead, but do you drink enough water when exercising. As our body is 70% water we need to ensure that we maintain that level especially during exercise when we imbalance this level due to sweat. It is proven that drinking water whilst exercising will boost your performance levels, compared to not drinking water that will dehydrate you causing many problems.
Dehydration
Dehydration can cause many issues whilst exercising. These will not only limit your performance but prevent you from increasing performance in the future. According to the University of Michigan, 2011, dehydration can cause heat exhaustion, fatigue and the breakdown of skeletal muscle.
Benefits
Drinking water, on the contrary, provides many benefits that can improve your performance levels. According to Evolution Nutrition, 2015, water is able to improve body temperature regulation, blood pressure and the transportation of energy. These factors are able to greatly improve your performance just by drinking enough water.
Nicholas: My favourite drink while training is hot green tea, especially in the winter. I have definitely experienced better performance and injury prevention while sipping on hot green tea. My warm up session before weight training can be reduced too as I’m usually sweating within 5 minutes. It just looks a little odd with a thermos flask in the gym. Give it a try.
But how do I know if I am hydrated
Below is a photo of a chart in my workplace bathroom. Extreme temperatures can be encountered at this work site, this chart helps ensure the safety of the personnel by preventing dehydration. I think it is a good tool to use for checking your body water level.
What about over-hydration: I guess if your urine is clear and you’re still forcing yourself to drink water you could be in danger of over hydration or worse, drowning.
Just a final note, a rule to remember:
If you’re not sweating before lifting, then you’re not ready to lift.
-hairsonfire
You should also be sweating during your entire session to stay warm and primed so to perform at your best ever. That’s why you need to keep drinking water! Or tea…
What are the dangers of overhydrating and where do you draw the line?
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Get a app for your phone to check/compare your urine colour from a chart, but please don’t pee on your phone. Bodybuilding.com: “Normal, healthy pee actually has a yellow color from a pigment called urochrome. It’s true that the darker that yellow becomes, the less hydrated your body is. However, drinking so much water that your pee is clear can actually cause an imbalance in your electrolyte levels.”
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Thanks for the questions, we have updated this blog to answer your questions, please read.
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