Today I discovered that the scientific term for my favourite supplement is dihydrogen monoxide. Companies are making billions off it, huge websites are designed around it. Heck, they even named a movie after it! Yes we are talking about water. The chemical substance H2O. Now before you leave the website, or call me a quack, lets take a closer look!
As with most things, there are negative results of over doing it. We don’t want you blowing up (Literally! Check it out). However, it is quite hard to over-hydrate. Most athletes (and everyone else) are on the side of not enough. One simple test is your pee color. You screwed up if its yellow, or especially smelly.
Think of your body as an engine. Water is your oil, seriously important stuff. Water helps lubricate your tissues, allowing them to glide smoothly and move with as little effort as possible. If you are low on water, things are going to stick, glue, adhere, and recovery will suffer.
Not only making sure you are drinking enough water, but ensuring you are absorbing that water through enough electrolyte intake is key. Better absorption = better quality interstitial tissues. Junky tissue isn’t cool. As a baseline, you need to be drinking about half your body weight in ounces. Yes, this means that anyone over 130 lbs needs MORE than 8 glasses a day!
Case study: Jeremy
Weight: 170
Base water: 85 ounces (10.5 ish cups)
Caffeine intake: 100 mg – add 4 ounces
Sugary soda: NONE! Add a bit if you have some
Hard workout: lost 1.5 lbs – add 24 ounces! And don’t forget the electrolytes
Phoenix sun: another pound lost – 16 ounces and electrolytes
That is a whopping 16 glasses of water! That even took me by surprise. The recommended 8 glasses is only half of what I needed to drink.
Go change your oil, and add some electrolytes while you are at it.
