Athlete Fuel

An athlete’s life is quite challenging. It requires a lot of physical, emotional and psychological effort. An athlete has to undergo the serious hardships of constant training, exercise and a high maintenance diet. It’s certainly not all fun and games as others may think. We can’t deny the importance of training in an athlete’s life. His performance in the game, more often than not, is always determined by the quality and quantity of his training. Training which involves a high level of physical endurance and many liters of sweat.

Now this is where hydration comes in. As we know, the human body is made up of 65% water. That’s a lot of water, and maintaining that much of it can be quite difficult especially when you’re an athlete. When you work out, you sweat, and when you sweat, you loose that precious water from your body in the process. Also there are other body mechanisms that contribute to the loss of water. So the bottom line is that dehydration can occur if you loose too much water and that’s something you definitely want to avoid.

Research has proven that being even 2% dehydrated decreases 10% of the total performance an athlete could make. In a world where competition and winning is everything, that much decrease, however minimal it may seem, is considered as a major threat. All your efforts could certainly fall into nothing and would be put to waste.

The best solution to this problem is rehydration. It is the process of continually replenishing or replacing the amounts of fluids, particularly water, which were lost from your system while you were working out. Rehydration may seem like an easy task but you have to remember that it is something that must be carefully studied and measured.

Before starting on a workout, an exercise or any activity, make sure you had enough water. It will be better to provide your body with more than what it needs than make yourself prone to the dangers of dehydration. Next, make sure to drink even during the activity itself. It is not wise for anyone, professional athletes and amateurs alike, to drink only if you feel thirsty or if you feel the need to.

If you wait for the urge to drink to come, chances are, you will already be dehydrated by the time you take in your fluids. Satisfying your thirst alone would not be enough to replace all the lost fluids nor will it be effective either. It will take more than a day or so before your body will be able to regain all the water that you have lost. Thus, any active person should consider drinking more that what he feels is enough for him.

All fluids are not appropriate to drink during workout. Some might be of less help and others may further aggravate the situation if taken without precautions. Caffeinated drinks are one of these. These drinks have high caffeine content in them. You have to understand that caffeine is not found in coffee alone. Colas, ice teas and some thirst quenchers may also have a high caffeine content. Make sure to read their labels before drinking them.

You will also have to avoid alcohol as much as possible. Minimal amounts of it may not be harmful, but once you’ve had too much of it, you will again be risking your athletic performance.

Caffeine and alcohol are both diuretics. It means that these substances will cause you to urinate much more frequently and thereby speed up the process of dehydration.

The best fluid to take in activities lasting about 1 to 2 hours therefore is plain water. That together with proper diet and training is enough to give your body what it needs to put forth an excellent performance. In cases where you are required to be in constant action for the entire day, you will have to consider taking in sports drinks in addition to your plain water.

Working out the whole day can wear you out and deplete your electrolytes thus causing you to loose that much needed energy. Sports drinks will help replenish the fluids plus the electrolytes you have lost during the activity.

The main role of hydration and water in relation to a physical workout is something every athlete must know. You must remember that other than allowing yourself to perform better, water is the one element your body can’t live without. Just as any other living organism here on earth, the cells in your body need adequate amounts of water for it to be able to work at its best. Whether you like it or not, you will have to take it in. Staying well hydrated should be one of your primary aims during tedious workouts and activities. So go on! Drink it up and train hard!