Hey everyone Summer is approaching. Ugh. Here's some tips for our best defense against heat exhaustion, heat stroke, low electrolytes, and dehydration during exercise...proper hydration practices. Thanks Mickey!
Mickey: Hi there i am again writing to the blogger nation, I find myself kinda hooked on writing about countless hours off researching nutrition and how it effects the body at work. My blog this time will cover Hydration and performance hopefully you will become "Better Drinker's" before, during, and after exercise. I chose this topic because we that live and train in well "HELL" really need to pay close attention to hydration for year round peak performance.
I have heard time and time again as most of you have heard people say Well I just forgot to drink or Ha i still have half a bottle left, this is the attitude I want to change in US, I am guilty as well but not any more. Most athlete's rarely drink enough fluids during training sessions and competition to offset sweat rates a term I call "voluntary Dehydration" and what that means is we have the fluid present to drink but we don't drink it. Most of this occurs because of poor education on the subject, Most good coaches will address fluid issues and amounts before any other dietary issues are dealt with.
I don't want to get into what should be in your drink IE what carb and salt ratios that's a WHOLE nother LONG blog That I will address at a later time I want to focus on just getting you to DRINK when your suppose to. Research has shown that flavor and temperature of your drink plays a huge role in whether you will consume your fluid like your suppose to or you won't. Let's just say you mixed a drink for your ride and it taste like a big plate of broccoli Ha I love broccoli but not a liquid version, what am getting at is find a flavor you like and stick with it trust me you will tend to drink all your fluids.
Temperature is another big issue some people like cold drinks and others like room temp drinks find the one that works for YOU and again stick with it. With our weather rapidly approaching HOT you can train your body to tolerate a higher fluid intake through training just as we train our MINDS and MUSCLES to do more work. I can only speak for myself and I think I can speak for Nancy we are both on the heavier sweat rates during exercise Ha Iam a SWEATER. I know this because when we do Bikram Yoga and I AM DYING I look around the room and observe how everyone sweats and don't get me wrong anyone who has done Bikram Yoga knows everyone sweats but next time you go look around the room there is always that ONE GUY, Well folks I AM that ONE GUY and very proud thank you.
During long bouts of exercise or racing people can loss fluid rates up to 2-4 ILB of body weight per hour to determine this you MUST weight yourself before and after your exercise sessions, I know this can be a pain in the butt some times but you have to find out what kinda SWEATER you are so you can tailer your fluid consumption around your rate of loss. Now I know you are saying all this is one big pain in the BUTT, trust me I get it, but If you can dial in your fluid requirements now during your training and before it gets hot then you WILL be ahead of the game, PLEASE don't let something like fluid replacement derail your performance on race day or any other day.
A few tricks to work on is finding that flavor drink you like, finding the right water bottle that works for you, and try and drink every 15-20 minutes like clock work. Without going into what nutrients your drink should have in it that will vary greatly upon your intensity and fitness level and goals but MOST that you will choose will have some sodium built into it,Sodium plays an important role in minimizing dehydration and helps maintain sodium balance within the body.
Well again thank you for your time and get out there and DRINK and EXPERIMENT your body and your performance will thank you for it, please feel free to contact me with any questions you have or tell me my blog sucks that's OK to. SEE YA BLOGGER NATION
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