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Fitness focus
There's a form
of exercise out there to suit your lifestyle - it's just a matter of finding
the right one.
Drink up - a hydration guide
by Karen Inge
Even in the cooler months it’s important to drink up for physical
activity. While sweating buckets during a summer run places you at greater
risk of dehydration, it’s also possible to lose significant body
fluid during indoor, winter pursuits like lap swimming.
Dehydration
dangers
Water is essential for life and your body’s main tool at regulating
temperature. As you become dehydrated there is a gradual reduction in
both physical and mental performance. And your workout starts to feel
a whole lot harder than other sessions.
Studies show
that a loss of fluid equal to 2% of body mass is sufficient to cause a
significant decrease in performance - that’s a 1.4kg loss in a 70kg
athlete (Source: Sports Dietitians Australia, 2004).
Assessing your
losses
A good way to monitor your sweat losses is to weigh yourself before and
after activity. Make sure you towel dry any excess sweat off before jumping
on the scales. And aim to weigh yourself naked so that you’re not
weighing any sweat lost in clothing.
As a general
rule you should aim to keep this sweat loss to less than 1kg, which equates
to roughly 1 litre of lost fluid. Remember thirst is not a good hydration
guide. Generally, by the time you feel thirsty there has been a significant
fluid loss.
What to do?
Make sure you’re well hydrated before you get started exercising.
Assess your typical fluid losses for different activity, by immediately
jumping on the scales after a heavy exercise or sport session and monitoring
your weight change.
If you find that you’re typically losing 1kg after say a squash game,
you’ll need to work out a plan to gradually replace at least 1 litre
of fluids while on court and afterwards for recovery.
Aim to work out drinking plans that suit, during and after your different
types of physical activity or training.
Take advantage of formal breaks during team sports.
Use hands free drink pouches and squeeze bottles for cycling or running,
when there’s “no stopping allowed”.
When choosing fluids, go for water or better still a specially formulated
sports drinks like Gatorade, which have added electrolytes to maximise
water absorption.
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