One Bad Habit That You Must Remove From Your Workouts

I have a recommendation for all those people who currently do not take a bottle of water into their workouts. Stop this practice now. On the surface, I cannot disagree with most people's reasons. Yes, water may seem blah, boring, you name it so where is the benefit to you and the body? Remember this, water is liquid gold while you exercise. You have probably spent a considerable time researching ways to lose weight by exercising or workouts for bulking up. You can do all the research you want and have the world's greatest exercise program, but if you ignore your water you will not be working to your full potential. Let's discuss the importance of incorporating water drinking into your workout and training regimes.

Let's Get Wet

If you do much reading on this subject, you will find that reports tend to fluctuate when reporting out the total water percent of your bodyweight. The over-riding reason why the water percentage changes is due to the fact that we all have different body types. So as an example, the more lean muscle a person has, the higher their body water percent. The reason is simple; lean muscle is able to hold and absorb more water than fat. So let's throw around some averages then. A typical average person will have roughly 60% of their total weight as water. I don't know about you, but I think that this is a very substantial number.

So The Big Deal Is What?

Unfortunately during the normal course of a day, your body is working hard and as a result is expelling water through breathing, sweating and urinating to name a few. It should be pretty simple, that what goes out should be replaced because we all know that if you do not replace that liquid, your body will start becoming dehydrated. This then leads to other bad things. You never want to get to the point where you have become dehydrated. As a rule of thumb, if you lose more than 10% of your body weight in fluids, you have now joined the ranks of being dehydrated.

Now, the thing to remember here is that this number is for the "average Joe" that is not really engaged in high tempo activities or exercise. If you exercise fairly briskly on a regular basis with the goal to lose weight by exercising or maybe your goal is to complete that first marathon, then your dehydration level falls under a different category. With activity levels like this, you would start to become dehydrated after only losing 1-2% of your body fluids. When you hit this threshold, you start feeling like you lack energy and you also get that tired feeling. This makes finishing your workouts very difficult. This makes it very tough when you are trying to go 100% with your workouts. Another reason why an active or athletic person should be consuming their water is to help with joint lubrication. Remove the water from your system and your joints get stiff, which can then lead to higher risk of injuries. This is not a great outcome.

What Are your Options?

What some might call a negative property of water could also be considered one of its beneficial properties. I'm talking about its flavour. It's hard to make the argument that I don't drink water because I don't like the taste when in actual fact it doesn't really have a taste at all. If you are someone who works out consistently on a set schedule, then try the following ideas to help stay away from the dreaded athletic dehydration.

•  Try and drink at least 1-2 cups within a few hours of your workout.

•  Absolutely have water present, and use it during your training session.

•  If you are training at a high intensity you may want to add some salt to your water to help replace the salts you are losing through sweat. A sports drink may even be the right choice during these types of workouts. These drinks come pre-mixed with the sodium that you need for replacement.

• Don't stop drinking once you are finished your workout. Keep drinking water after your workout because your body is still working even after you stop so keep it hydrated.

• Of course I don't have to ask if you are stretching after your workouts, right? This is yet another reason for drinking that water. It will help your body flush out and remove the toxins that you have produced during your training and as a result of stretching.

So that is your Water 101 lesson for the day. Water is such an amazingly simple beverage but it is so important, when it comes to our bodies, and should not be underestimated and under-utilized. So water doesn't care if you are a weightlifter or just an individual that is seeking ways to lose weight by exercising. Drink it and love it because the health benefits from it are too lengthy to list. You won't be disappointed that you did and neither will your body. Remember to always enjoy the experience and live in the moment.

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