Almost everyone knows the human body is made up of 70% water. But, NOT everyone knows that water is the most vital nutrient for the body and is the primary fuel needed to keep it working properly during physical exercise.

Drinking plenty of water during exercise is so important because it prevents dehydration. There are far too many people that don’t understand the negative effects dehydration can have on your body during exercise. Which is why I would like to discuss this matter first, then provide you with some tips on how I manage drinking water during my exercise routines.

 

 

The Effects of Dehydration On Exercise

Overall, when your body becomes dehydrated, it starts to retain the water left inside so it can function. The problem is, it doesn’t function properly.

When this happens, the retained water actually becomes contaminated with other toxins and waste in your body. Now, your kidneys are responsible for flushing these substances from your bloodstream, but they can’t do so if you’re dehydrated. In turn, your liver is forced to help your kidneys with this process, but then it can’t fully complete its job which is to break down body fat and turn it into energy. As a result, your liver metabolizes less fat than it normally would . So, if you’re trying to lose weight, you should be drinking lots of water.

Besides burning less fat, dehydration also leads to the smoothing-out or loss of muscular definition. This happens because retained water is stored subcutaneously or right underneath the skin, which ends up hiding your muscle shape and overall tone. So, if you’re trying to look good during a competition or while you’re at the beach, you should be drinking lots of water.

Dehydration also leads to a problem with sodium. When you’re dehydrated, sodium isn’t properly flushed from the body and thus causes further water retention, since sodium holds water. Too much sodium and not enough water can cause you to feel water-logged or bloated. Thus, you need to drink plenty of water to dilute the sodium in your body.

My Water Drinking Routine

To avoid dehydration, I take my water drinking very seriously, especially when it comes to exercise. They say that the average person should consume 64 ounces of water a day to maintain a healthy intake. This isn’t very hard to achieve, and is something I strive to do almost every day.

My water drinking routine actually begins at about 10 in the morning while I’m at work. After I get my share of caffeine, either from coffee or tea, I begin drinking 8 oz cups of water. I try to drink about 4-5 cups of water throughout the work day.

When I get home from work, I drink about 16 ounces of water a half-hour before I go to the gym. Sometimes this amount will be included in my pre-workout drink, N.O.-XPLODE™, however I’m on a break from it right now.

While at the gym, I’m constantly making trips to the water fountain, not because I’m out of breath, but because I’m trying to keep my self hydrated. Sometimes I’ll bring a bottle of water, but I can never remember to take it with me from station to station.

After I’m all done with my workout, I’ve consumed about 90% of my water intake for the day, and will usually finish it up with a couple glasses in the evening. I also try to drink a full glass of water right before I go to sleep. This is important because the average person burns about 72 calories an hour during sleep, and can burn even more with fresh water in the body.

Water Drinking Tips

1. Drink regular water. Forget the vitamin-enhanced or flavored stuff, just stick to natural tap or bottled water. With anything else, your getting extra calories and sodium.
2. Drink at a comfortable pace. This means not chugging an extra 8 ounces of water because you forgot to earlier. You don’t want to make yourself feel full.
3. Drink water at a cool temperature. Water isn’t ingested into the bloodstream until the body warms it up. So try to avoid drinking really cold water during exercise.
4. Don’t drink a lot right before or during a serious ab workout regimen. With the way you’ll be moving your body, this might make you feel uncomfortable. Give yourself a chance to digest.

Now you’ve got some facts, tips and my take about drinking water during exercise. Best of all, these lessons can be applied across the board to just about all forms of exercise. So give it a shot, it will increase your physical performance and more importantly, keep you healthy.

Tags: Dehydration Facts, Water and Exercise

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 11:47 and is filed under Nutrition, Weight Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.