Having participated in endurance events for
several years, I have been aware of the dangers of becoming dehydrated,
especially during long events. Add in
the heat and humidity of a South Carolina summer and staying hydrated is not
only a challenge but an art form as well.
Too little of the correct fluid can lead to cramps, dizziness, muscle
soreness and a host of other issues.
Working off of basic common science regarding
hydration, one must ingest plenty of water. While this is definitely true, the
amount of water and the timing of consumption are critical. On average, anyone participating in 40+
minutes of cardio activity each day should consume a minimum of 80 ounces of
water a day! This is on top of fluids
lost to perspiration during exercise.
Most athletes fall well short of this
goal. It should also be noted that the 80
ounce mark is pure water, as beverages such as tea and coffee do not count and
in many cases act as a diuretic that actually flush more fluids out of the
system than they replace.
So what about fluid intake during
exercise? While logic would seem to
dictate that drinking water during exercise, especially longer sessions over an
hour is a good idea, this is not the case.
In fact, consuming water during endurance activities such as running and
biking, especially in the heat and humidity of summer can actually be dangerous
and harm your performance.
There are two major reasons consuming water
during heavy endurance exercise is not a good idea. When you are working out and sweating, you
are draining your body of sodium and potassium. These are key elements your
body requires in proper amounts to keep muscles functioning properly and to
keep you from cramping. When you take in
water to replace fluids lost to perspiration, you are not only not replacing
lost sodium, potassium and sugars; you are further diluting the blood stream
that can accelerate cramping and other issues.
Your muscles operate on sugars to perform. As
you exercise, your muscles burn sugar in the form of glucose as energy. As the
exercise continues, sugars are used as energy and to maintain a high level of
effort, you need to replace these sugars.
When consuming water, the energy source is not replaced and not only do
you run the risk of cramping, your performance will degrade quickly until
energy is replaced.
So what is the answer? Replacing water with a high quality sports
drink will go a long way towards delaying or eliminating the severity of
cramping and performance degradation. Power Bar Perform or Gatorade Endurance
are two of the best sports drinks to consume during exercise. They have a
scientific blend of sugars that release from the stomach at different times to
help ensure a steady stream of fuel to your muscles. They also have a good mixture
of sodium and potassium as well.
One other benefit of sports drinks is they
trigger the thirst mechanism which helps you ingest more fluid whereas water
quenches thirst so you run the risk of not consuming enough of the right
fluids.
HERE’S TO BEING FIT FOR LIFE! Chris is a Certified Personal Trainer, USA
Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Group Exercise Instructor, exercise and endurance
enthusiast. He competes yearly in
numerous running races, marathons, ultra-marathons, triathlons and other
endurance events. He is a member of the
2015 QT2 Systems Advanced Team.