Is it safe to drink water during exercise

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Iya Zorina is wondering if there is at least some reason not to do this.

There are two main reasons why people don't drink while exercising:

1. They just don't want to.
2. They are afraid that this will somehow prevent them from losing weight.

The second I heard for the first time in my childhood from a teacher of sports aerobics. She was obsessed with losing weight and believed that drinking should not be done on time or even after training. Unfortunately, some people still think so. Since this is absolute nonsense (and also harmful), let's start with it.

Does water interfere with weight loss

Losing weight is losing fat, not water. Yes, if you lose fluid during your workout, you can lose 500 g or even 1 kg of weight and enjoy looking at the scale. But, as soon as you drink, the dropped grams will return, and the fat will remain as it was.

The only reason to remove water from the body is to cut weight before a competition.

Athletes do so to enter the desired weight category. But we must understand that their ultimate goal is precisely body weight, and not appearance, and even more so not long-term changes.

As for real weight loss, when fat goes away, and the body becomes slimmer and healthier, water is simply necessary. It increases calorie expenditure, reduces appetite and helps you lose extra pounds, even without dieting.

In addition, if you are losing weight, the main goal of training is to burn more calories. To do this, you have to give your best, and for this you also need water.

Does water help you exercise better and more

Your muscles are 75% water. It participates in every cell in your body, in the chemical processes of energy production, nutrient transport, and waste disposal. Not surprisingly, a deficiency of such an important component hurts your productivity.

Loss of just 2% water reduces training results by 25%.

During physical activity, you lose fluid at an accelerated rate through breathing and sweat. Dehydration can lead to rapid fatigue and loss of coordination. Lack of water prevents the body from cooling itself effectively, so you can get heatstroke, especially if you exercise in hot environments.

At the same time, it is difficult for a person to determine a mild degree of dehydration, when productivity is already declining, but there is still no strong thirst. Even experienced track and field athletes underestimate the loss of fluid from sweat by 46%, and during preparation for a competition, athletes are often dehydrated even before the first training session.

As a result, they increase their heart rate and body temperature, increase the use of muscle glycogen instead of fat, and decrease cardiac output - the amount of blood that the heart is able to expel at one time. As a result, athletes lose concentration and alertness, can tolerate fewer maximum power movements, and fatigue faster.

And all this can be corrected by simply adjusting the drinking regimen.

As you can see, drinking water during training is not only possible, but necessary. This liquid is beneficial for both athletic performance and weight loss.

How to drink during physical activity

The general recommendation is very simple:

• 500-550 ml water two hours before training.
• 200-300 ml of water every 10-20 minutes during training.
• 450-650 ml of water for every 0.5 kg lost in training.

To simplify even further, it turns out like this:

Before training - a bottle of 0.5 liters, during training - a glass of water every 15 minutes, after training - how much weight you lost, so much water and drink.

If you find it uncomfortable to carry a bottle with you, for example, while jogging in the park, at least drink before and after the race. But when you sweat on the equipment or in the fitness room, water should be your faithful companion in the world of physical activity.