One of the most important and often overlooked components of a successful workout is proper hydration. Your body needs water to do just about anything, and when you’re active your body’s fluid requirements increase. Most people don’t realize they are mildly dehydrated, but even slight dehydration, as little as 2% can affect your power output by 10%. That’s why it’s so important to drink while you work out. When you work out, you sweat. When you sweat, you lose important electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride. Your body needs these little electrically charged minerals to help keep your muscular, cardiac, nervous and digestive systems all working correctly. Replacing these electrolytes is crucial to your performance, so during a workout you don’t want to drink just water, but water plus hydration mix. Hydration mixes are loaded with electrolytes and minerals, carbohydrates and sugars, essential nutrients that your body needs for fluid absorption and energy. When your body absorbs fluid during a workout it is used for blood circulation, regulating your body temperature, sweating and respiration. When you’re well hydrated your body works better, plain and simple. Fill your bottles up with a mix like Skratch Exercise Hydration, CamelBak Elixir, Nuun or Clif Shot Hydration to give your water a boost. You should start drinking a electrolyte-enhanced mix 15 minutes before you begin your workout to ensure you aren’t starting in a deficit. During a workout, you want to consume about one bottle of fluid per hour. It’s best to drink small sips every few minutes consistently throughout your workout. This ensures a steady stream of hydration and reduces the risk of having tons of water sloshing around in your stomach. Other factors that affect how much water you should drink include the temperature, humidity, altitude, and your own personal sweat rate. As the temperature rises and you begin to sweat more it’s important to increase your fluid intake. There are a ton of hydration products on the market, so try some of our favorite single-serves today to see which ones work best for you. Shop our hydration options.
