Fitness Inventor

When it comes to water, some recommendations are all wet!

We’re always hearing different recommendations about how much water or liquid we should be consuming—eight glasses, one gallon, even two gallons! We’re told that it can detox the body, improve the skin, and even increase muscle gains and weight loss! So the first question is, how much fluid do we really need to consume in a day? And the second is, are these claims about the benefits of drinking tons of water justified?

Firstly, let’s clear up a few misconceptions. You don’t have to consume water to hydrate your body. You can drink virtually any drink except for alcohol to get the job done, and no, caffeine doesn’t dehydrate you unless you use a very large amount and don’t drink enough liquid along with it (as I’ve written about in reviews of the research in the past). Heck, even eating foods that contain a lot of water, such as many fruits and vegetables, will contribute to hydrating your body. So in today’s column, we’re going to look at why we need to be hydrated, how much liquid is really required, and the best way to ensure you stay hydrated.

As people who exercise regularly, we need more fluid. The reasons are threefold: First, we sweat more. Second, if we get dehydrated, our exercise performance will suffer, and severe dehydration can cause muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis), kidney problems, and even death. Third, dehydration slows down many of the normal processes of metabolism, and this is likely to impair muscle growth and recovery.

So the goal, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, is to begin exercise properly hydrated and drink enough fluid during exercise to avoid excessive dehydration. Here’s how to do it. First we have to predict how much water we will lose in sweat during exercise, which depends upon (1) how long we exercise for (2) the temperature (3) the clothing worn, and (4) if you’re used to the type of training and the temperature you’re training in. If you’re doing exercise you’re accustomed to, at the usual temperature, and have been drinking a normal amount of fluid in the 12 hours prior to exercise, you probably just need to sip water or a purpose-made sports drink during exercise. A post-workout protein, carb, and creatine drink is obviously also recommended for most guys.

The tricky part is if you’re doing a longer or unaccustomed type of exercise in hot conditions or in extra clothing (for instance, the equipment and clothing worn by football players makes them among the highest risk athletes—not to mention that some of these guys are gigantic, which also increases fluid needs). This is when you have to use a little strategy, so ensure you slowly sip water or a well-designed sports beverage leading up to the session and during it. But remember, too much fluid can impair your performance as well, so don’t overdo it. A good sports drink contains the right amount of carbs to give you energy but not so much as to cause stomach upset.

Unfortunately, there’s only one easy way to determine whether you’re getting enough fluids or are properly hydrated: weigh yourself in the morning for three days in a row (after having urinated) and record an average of the three weights. This gives you your properly hydrated weight. Using this weight, you can now aim to ensure that you’re within one percent of this figure before and after exercise. This ensures that you start exercise hydrated and by measuring afterwards, you’ll know whether you lost too much water. The rule of thumb is if you lose more than 2 percent of your baseline body weight, you probably need to try to drink a little more fluid during exercise.

Oh yeah, about those claims for drinking water I mentioned at the beginning: First, drinking extra water doesn’t “detox” the body or improve your skin. This has been well researched, and the results showed no differences in toxins in the body, organ function, or anything else, and no changes were seen in the skin. Also, beyond some research showing that eating foods high in water (such as soup) may decrease hunger a bit, there’s no evidence that water or fluids can increase fat loss or muscle gains.

So what are my recommendations? I’d suggest using water or a sports beverage if your main goal is to gain strength or muscle. Otherwise, drink normal amounts of fluid regularly unless you’ve been doing unaccustomed training and/or in hot weather, as suggested above.

Reference:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17277604?ordinalpos=19&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

To read more about why water is so important for fat loss and health, click here!