Water makes up about 60% of your total body weight, so it only makes sense that your physical performance is directly tied to your hydration levels. The 8×8 rule says that we must drink eight glasses of eight ounces of water per day, but just how true is it?
The 8×8 rule says that to keep hydrated, we must drink eight glasses of water per day, with eight oz of water in each glass – coming up to a total of 64 oz or 1.89 L. There’s no clear answer as to where the 8×8 rule originated, but it has been found in documents from as early as 1945. No matter its source, this rule has established itself and been passed on as health advice from person to person, but just how true is it anyway?
To keep an optimal amount of body fluids, the World Health Organization (WHO) actually recommends that we drink more than the 8×8 rule suggests – setting at least 2.9 L (98 oz) for men and 2.2 L (74 oz) for women per day as the goal. These numbers, however, only apply to you if you have a sedentary lifestyle. If you’re more physically active, your body requires more water throughout the day, as you lose additional water in the form of sweat and moisture in the breath. Restoring your body fluid levels back to normal will need a greater amount of fluid intake.
Simply put, while the 8×8 rule may be a decent goal for those looking to reap the benefits of adequate hydration, you need more than that to sustain your body when you work out. So with that in mind here are five things you need to know about hydrating for a workout.
1. You need to hydrate long before you work out
Your pre-workout hydration will typically be no more than the normal hydration levels during the day, but you really need to lift that a bit before you work out, especially if you feel like you haven’t drunk enough water lately or feel a little low on energy. Remember though, you have to hydrate at least an hour before your workout to see the real benefit as it takes as little as five minutes (on an empty stomach) and as much as 120 minutes (after a heavy meal) for your body to absorb the water you drink. It will then take a bit more time for all those fluids to be effectively distributed throughout your body. Being well-hydrated is important for everyone, but is critically emphasized in endurance athletes, since they sweat continuously for extended periods of time. If all that additional water makes you want to visit the bathroom before your workout, then do it, the benefit is in the drinking, not the keeping.
2. You should mind your water intake during training
We naturally get thirsty when we exercise, but absolutely have to keep that impulse in check when you grab your bottle. Water sits in your stomach for at least a few minutes before it passes into the intestines to get absorbed, and if you have to get moving right away, you definitely won’t enjoy the sensation of it all sloshing around in your gut, or trying to escape to your mouth when you go head down. The experience is even worse if you practice high-intensity workouts such as kickboxing and Crossfit – (take it from me I know), they are notorious for causing lightheadedness and nausea, and excessive water intake might make you throw up. Strategically keeping your water intake small but frequent will help you avoid this.
3. Your post-workout hydration matters too
It may sound a bit extreme, but if you want to know exactly how much water you need to drink after a workout, you have to weigh yourself before and after you exercise. However much weight you lost (in grams) is equivalent to the amount of sweat you lost (in milliliters). For example, 500 g of body weight lost in a workout means about 500 mL of sweat excreted, so you have to make up for it by drinking back another 500 mL of water. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to step on the scales each time – if you lost 500 g in one boxing session, then you know that you typically need at least 500 mL of water after every boxing session.
4. You don’t always need a sports drink
It’s not uncommon to see people with brightly colored beverages in the gym. Contrary to popular belief, however, not everybody needs sports drinks. Sports drinks often supplement you with carbs and electrolytes to make up for the ones you use up and lose in sweat. They’re nice and refreshing to have, especially when ice-cold, but unless you’re sweating bullets and you work out for well over an hour, they’re not an absolute necessity.
Otherwise, your post-workout snack is enough to provide the electrolytes you need. In fact, in medical tests conducted on athletes, it was found that more benefit was found in drinking ordinary banana milkshake than either a sports drink or ordinary water – so why not swipe one from the fridge, or pinch it from your kid (just joking!) before your session starts.
5. You can drink too much water
It’s not very common, but it happens, especially in endurance athletes. Marathon runners, for example, work out for hours at a time, losing a significant amount of electrolytes in sweat. The loss of electrolytes is usually balanced by the loss of body fluids, but once they intake too much water, the blood becomes too diluted, resulting in a condition called hyponatremia. It means that there is too little sodium in the blood, resulting in symptoms including lethargy, nausea, and muscle cramps, but this can be easily reversed by restoring the fluid-electrolyte balance.
