Athletes need to drink more water. Without water you may get stagnation in muscle growth, reduced fat loss and overall worse health.
Water is a solvent and helps the body transport nutrients easier, regulates temperature all the time, which keeps all systems in harmony in the body. If you are not drinking enough water, your muscles, nerves, brain, heart, lungs and kidneys can’t function properly.
All chemical reactions in the body, including energy production and utilization use water as an intermediator.
When your body is sufficiently supplied with water the hormones and enzymes can develop their highest potential and the result of this you can see directly during a workout.
Many people in our modern society are very often unaware that they are constantly walking around dehydrated. Fatigue and headaches are a very common result from this ongoing dehydration.
The average human loses at least 2,5 liter of water per day just from the body’s natural maintenance (for example breathing, sweat and excretion).
However an athlete has a significantly higher demand for water. Your increased metabolic activity let’s you excrete more liquid.
Most affected by this is the brain. Dehydration can lead to a critical shrinkage following that the ability to focus and think clearly gets thrown out of balance.
The central nervous system can not function effectively, the response between muscular reaction and coordination decreases. Water is required to supply the muscles with electrolytes, without electrolytes muscles can’t move and contract which later leads to muscle cramp and spasms.
Remember that even if water does not provide energy in the way our makro nutrients like carbohydrates, protein or fat do, BUT without water the body is not able to process nutrients in an effective way.
Time to get to the point – How much water should I drink?
I recommend to have the guideline of at least 3 liters a day. If you are exercising you will have an increased overall metabolic activity, so the need for water is always higher than average for an athlete.
If you want to find out exactly how much water you should drink I recommend you to visit a sports laboratory as it is always individual. A great guideline is to drink about 0.05l per kg body weight spread over the whole day. So for me that would be 77kg x 0.05 = 3,85 liter per day!
And keep this in mind: At warmer temperatures 26 °C +, we should drink 1-2 liters more to stay hydrated as the amount of liquid we lose from the heat increases dramatically!
“Average water loss per hour for a typical adult caused by sweating at various air temperatures during rest light and moderate physical activity” from the great book Exercise Physiology Mcardle Kath & Katch Eight edition
So there is water in cola zero yeah?
When I say water that is exactly what I mean pure water – not energy drink, “isotonic sports drink”, coca cola or zero light whatever. They contain many unnatural and harmful additives that your body has to unnecessary additionally deal with.
If you really need something extraordinary just go for unsweetened tea or some drops of lemon or other fruit in your water.
Make it a good habit already today to always carry fresh water with you wherever you go, and enjoy your new life staying hydrated and more healthy 🙂 !
Thank you for reading and I hope this article helped you to become aware of your water intake and how much water you should drink a day.
If you have any questions or want to discuss further please contact me 🙂 !
Best Regards Mikael Dabrowski