<\/p>\n
Consuming enough water is a necessity to make sure you keep your body working optimally. Water plays a key role in maintaining cellular fluid balance, which is essential for cells to work efficiently. Allowing ourselves to become dehydrated can have a massive impact on our performance in and out of the in the gym, both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n
The amount of water we require to stay fully hydrated is influenced by the losses that occur on a daily basis. If we don\u2019t drink enough water, our body, through a complex hormonal system, will try to prevent water losses by decreasing the amount of urine we produce\u2026 this is why the colour of our urine is a loose indicator of the body\u2019s hydration status2<\/sup>. If we get to a point where our urine is a darker shade of yellow than very diluted orange squash there is every chance that you are becoming dehydrated to the point at which it might impact on your performance.<\/p>\n A loss of greater than 2% of our weight in water can seriously impair exercise performance. Even smaller amounts lost during exercise have shown to detrimentally influence immediate performance, with the level of performance reduction, and perceptions of fatigue, associated strongly with the level of dehydration1<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Water is lost during exercise through sweat; one thing we can do is weigh ourselves before and after exercise to determine how much fluid we have to replace. However, this kind of attention to detail is only really important for those who train for long periods, in warm environments and especially when it might not be convenient to take on fluids during exercise\/sport.<\/p>\n Weighing yourself to determine water loss is actually pretty simple to do. Because 1kg of water weighs the same a 1l of water, if you are 500g down compared to at the start the training session, then you need at least 500ml of water to top yourself back up. When weighing yourself, try to be as close to naked as possible, as sweat will likely be held in clothing.<\/p>\n Another consideration here is the assumption that we were already fully hydrated before we performed exercise. However, if we stick to our urine colour guide as a practical measure, then there\u2019s every chance you are going to be fully hydrated.<\/p>\n For many people, thirst is a good enough indicator of when to drink and to stay sufficiently hydrated. If you drink when thirsty, then there is every chance you are drinking enough water. However, for athletes, there is the suggestion that if you\u2019ve already hit thirst then you are dehydrated enough to impair performance.<\/p>\n A \u2018normal\u2019 person with a fairly sedentary job typically requires around 2.5l of water per day. This isn\u2019t just in drinking water and other fluids, food also contributes a good amount, meaning most people can \u2018get away\u2019 with around 1-1.5l of fluid per day and function at an ok level. However, we aren\u2019t just intent on functioning \u2018ok\u2019 we want to function at our very best. This takes us back to making sure we drink when thirsty and ensuring that our urine colour is on the pale side; do this and you will likely be consuming more than enough water to keep your performance levels where you want them to be.<\/p>\n Dehydration may also affect our perception of hunger, so drinking plenty of fluid is especially important when dieting. There is some suggestion that drinking water speeds up metabolism and may aid in fat loss. This is potentially true if you are consistently dehydrated and do not consume much fluids, however if you are drinking plenty of fluid and following basic hydration guidelines then drinking any more than this is not going to have as big an impact as many people think on weight loss from a metabolism point of view3<\/sup>.<\/p>\n In some more extreme conditions, such as exercising for long periods in hot and humid environments, we can lose huge amounts of fluids. In this situation we not only need to replace fluid losses but also electrolytes. Electrolytes<\/a> are essential to help to maintain cellular fluid balance and proper function, so may need replacing if a person exercises in these circumstances. It is then that hydration drinks<\/a> and electrolytes<\/a> can be important to support performance and promote recovery.<\/p>\n Some people really dislike the \u2018taste\u2019 (if you can call it that!) of water, but drinking any form of fluid can help ensure you have adequate intake. Adding amino acid supplements to water can also be a tasty and easy to way to promote hydration during a workout, whilst also providing the body with essential nutrients for recovery and muscle growth.<\/p>\n If you struggle to drink enough water or often ignore your thirst through being on the go, busy or easily distracted, then it is probably a good idea to take a water container<\/a> or bottle<\/a> with you at all times so that you have no excuse… this is a really basic but effective habit to get into and will often have a huge impact on improving your concentration levels and performance both at work and in the gym.<\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n 1.) Casa et al. (2000) National Athletic Trainers’ Association Position Statement: Fluid Replacement for Athletes. Journal of Athletic Training 35(2):212-224.<\/p>\n 2.) Sheriffs (2000) Markers of hydration status. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 40(1):80-84.<\/p>\n 3.) Vij and Joshi (2013) Effect of \u2018Water Induced Thermogenesis\u2019 on Body Weight, Body Mass Index and Body Composition of Overweight Subjects. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research 7(9):1894-1896.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Consuming enough water is a necessity to make sure you keep your body working optimally. Water plays a key role in maintaining cellular fluid balance, which is essential for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":13789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[351,352],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","category-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13788"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21904,"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13788\/revisions\/21904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Water and Exercise<\/h2>\n
How Much Should we be Drinking?<\/h2>\n
Dehydration and Hunger<\/h2>\n
Electrolytes<\/h2>\n
Amino Acid Supplements<\/h2>\n