Tips for staying hydrated
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 6:27G’Day Athletes
Garry here from Step into Life Manly. This time of year (Autumn) is perfect for outdoor fitness training. It is starting to cool down in the evenings and early mornings which makes it more comfortable to train. However, we should not forget how important it is to stay well hydrated. Being dehydrated has a seriously negative impact on your body and your performance will suffer significantly if you are even just a little bit dehydrated. One thing that is not often considered is how critical electroltyes are to muscle function. Staying hydrated is not just a matter of chugging water. Our bodies lose essential minerals through sweat too.
Sports drinks are legitimate way of replacing the electrolytes that we lose through sweat. These essential minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium and are essential for cellular function. When they are depleted, you know about it because your performance suffers. Here are my top tips for choosing a sports drink:
1. Make sure it has at least 2 different forms of sugar carbohydrate in it (such as glucose, fructose or sucrose). Our bodies absorb carbohydrates at different rates so a combination of immediate energy-release and quick energy-release is optimal to get you to the end of your workout.
2. It should have at least 6-8g of carbohydrate per 100ml as this is the concentration that is most easily absorbed. It will probably say “isotonic” on it if this is the case
3. Check that it contains those electrolytes – some drinks are super-charged with magnesium which helps to avoid muscle cramps
Hope this helps. Until next time….
Garry Robinson
Personal Trainer
Step into Life Manly – Group Outdoor Personal Training for adults and teenagers
Lisa - Beyond Creative says:
March 11th, 2011 at 5:13 am
Are these sports drinks high in calories and not good for losing weight? Do you suggest only to use in moderation with generous amounts of exercise?
Garry Robinson says:
March 15th, 2011 at 5:17 am
Good point. Sports drinks of course have more calories than water alone. I use sports drinks when it is really hot and/or my workouts are longer than 45minutes. That way I know that I have already burned off the calories from the drink.
For weight loss, it is best to look at your calorie consumption over the course of the whole day and factor in the calories you burn during your workout . It is surprising; depending on the intensity, one 45 minute exercise session will burn several hundred calories, especially when its hot and humid.
If you total daily calorie intake is 10% to 15% less than your daily calorie expenditure then your body will use its fat stores as energy. Yay!
Watch out though – any more than that and your body will enter a starvation mode and become catabolic – that means it will store the calories as fat and break down muscle tissue to use as energy. Since muscle weighs more than fat, this has the effect of making you lose weight but gain fat. Boo!