Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2023-04-10 Origin: Site
Staying hydrated is an important part of your daily life, especially if you exercise and lose a lot of water stored through sweating. Without the right amount of hydration, your performance in a fitness class or your ability to jog around the neighbourhood can quickly decline. The fact that you start to feel thirsty during your workout could mean that you are dehydrated. Oops! Because water makes up 75% of all muscle tissue and 10% of fat tissue, even the slightest sign of dehydration can have a huge impact on your performance.
Drinking adequate amounts of water before and after class will directly affect how you feel halfway through, so make sure you drink enough throughout the day. But what exactly is this magic number? While dehydration can make it difficult to complete your workout and pose a risk to your health, drinking too much water can also slow you down. So, should you really drink throughout your workout or just take a big sip at the end of the class?
You should drink water during your workout. If you are working out, you will burn energy, your heart rate will increase and you will sweat. Drinking water throughout your workout will help prevent dehydration. The American Council on Exercise recommends drinking 7 to 10 ounces of water every 20 minutes during your workout.
If your workout lasts longer than two hours or in hot, humid conditions, drinking water regularly may not be enough for your body to do the hard work. Strenuous exercise such as this can deplete the glycogen supply used by muscle cells. If you can't take a break to refuel - say, you're running a marathon - you can turn to those brightly coloured sports drinks for much-needed carbohydrate and sodium.
The main goal of consuming H2O throughout your workout is to prevent dehydration and to not drink more water than you sweat. To determine if you are drinking enough, weigh yourself before and after a typical workout without clothes on. If your weight changes by more than 2% of your starting weight, then you should plan to drink more water throughout your future workouts.
To avoid this, the American Council on Exercise recommends drinking 17 to 20 ounces of water two to three hours before your workout. Then, about 20 to 30 minutes earlier, drink another 8 ounces. Within 30 minutes of completing your workout routine, drink another 8 ounces and continue to drink 16 to 24 ounces for each pound lost during the workout to rehydrate from sweating.
So what if you're in a class where you don't rest or run and don't have a bottle of water with you? Are you doomed? Well, not exactly. If your routine lasts about an hour or less and doesn't involve sweating in hot or humid weather, then you may be able to do it without a few sips of water. An average sized healthy person can produce up to 32 ounces of sweat during 60 minutes of vigorous indoor exercise and while this sounds intense, if you are properly prepared throughout the day you shouldn't suffer from, you guessed it, drinking the recommended amount of water.
You can find out if you should be hydrated in class with a simple but somewhat crude prior test: check your urine. If it's dark in colour and has a strong odour, consider drinking it throughout your workout, but if it's clear to pale yellow you can leave your water bottle in your gym bag. Just don't forget to hydrate after your class! Water encourages your body to flush waste out of your joints and muscles, reduces pain, improves flexibility and shortens recovery time.
Whether you're taking part in a one-hour HIIT class or a full marathon, it's important to stay hydrated throughout your workout. Be sure to prepare yourself by drinking your daily recommended amount of water during the day, followed by a glass or two of water to refuel your muscles. If you really don't want to sip in class, then only skip it if you've been steadily hydrating throughout the day and don't feel thirsty in class.
