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When you engage in a lot of sports, it is important to drink enough water. Excessive sweating can lead to fluid loss and dehydration, which can in turn affect performance. Below, you can read more about the impact of decreasing performance in relation to endurance sports and strength training. Let’s first delve deeper into how much water you should drink and the best times to hydrate.
The importance of water
In addition to consuming the right amount of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, water plays an important role in achieving your
fitness goals. Water can be considered as a
fourth macronutrient and should form the basis of your fluid intake and hydration. If you want to optimize the functioning of your body and organs, it is important to drink enough water. After all, our bodies consist of
over 70 percent water. What role does water play exactly in strength training, muscle strength, and muscle mass? What are the consequences of dehydration? You’ll find out below.
How much water should you drink?
There are of course various sources of fluids but
water is the best choice to replenish your fluid levels. When you lose a substantial amount of fluid through heavy physical activity such as training or competition, you need to drink between
150 and 250 ml every 10 to 15 minutes during the activity. As an athlete, the recommendation is to drink about
3 liters of water per day, especially on days when you are active. For non-athletes, the recommendation from the nutrition center is 1.5 liters, but more is advisable here.
In addition to sweat, water is also part of your blood, urine, and other bodily fluids. It acts as a transport medium in the body and helps regulate body temperature. This is called
Thermoregulation.
How much water you lose and how much you need to drink depends on several factors. Naturally,
temperature plays a big role. If it’s hot, you’ll sweat more and are likely to need to drink more to replenish your fluid stores. Additionally,
humidity also plays a role. If it’s higher than usual, you’ll notice it and will need to drink more. When you train, the duration of the activity and the intensity play a significant role. You don’t run a half marathon with just one sip of water before starting. Finally,
the clothing you wear also plays a role. But that’s nothing more than logical.
Read also the article: exercising in warm weather
When should you drink water?
Always start with proper hydration. So, begin every physical activity with enough water, but make sure you haven’t drunk too much. The advice is not to drink for 45 minutes before the activity so that you don’t have to go to the toilet constantly during exercise.
During training, you should be
sweating and losing fluids. You can replenish this by drinking well at opportune moments. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty because by then, it’s often too late and your athletic performance may already suffer.
Impact of water on muscle strength
Several studies in the past have shown that a
lack of water can have a negative effect on the performance of endurance athletes. However, this varies greatly from person to person. Zooming in on the impact of
water on muscle strength, we see different outcomes from various studies. Some studies showed no effect on muscle strength with dehydration. For example, in a study, there was hardly any impact on muscle strength during a dehydration when performing leg extensions. But in the same study, it was observed that performance was significantly reduced when performing squats. Therefore, it can be stated with limited certainty that adequate water intake during strength training has an impact on muscle strength.
Impact of water on hormones
In the same study a year later, researchers looked at the relationship between fluid and hormone levels during exercise. These studies showed that dehydration has no beneficial effect on your hormone levels. It was found that levels of testosterone and growth hormone are significantly lower during dehydration compared to the control group with normal fluid balance.
Can you drink too much water?
The answer to whether you can drink too much water is: yes. There is even such a thing as
water intoxication. If you take into account a number of factors when drinking water before a major sporting event such as a marathon, little can go wrong. During a marathon, you lose not only a lot of fluid but also sodium. There is about 1 to 5 grams of salt in 1 liter of sweat. So, you lose that too. When you replenish your fluid reserves after the marathon by drinking water, you don’t replenish the sodium reserves. This can lead to very low sodium levels in the blood, which can lead to Hyponatremia. This can occur due to too little sodium in the body or when there is too much water in the body. Drinking too much water does not mean you will retain more fluid. Retaining more fluid has other causes.
Conclusion
There have been several studies that have demonstrated the impact of dehydration, also known as
“hypohydration,” on endurance performance, meaning efforts of longer duration at moderate intensity. It has been shown that dehydration has a negative impact on athletic performance, although there are large differences from person to person.
However, when it comes to the impact of fluid and dehydration on high-intensity efforts where mainly muscle strength is needed for short durations, the studies vary widely in outcome. Some show a negative impact on performance. Others show no effect and therefore see no difference in performance.
