WATER: THE ATHLETES MOST IMPORTANT NUTRIENT
Forget about every other question you have about nutrition until youʼve figured out how to stay hydrated. Being smart about water intake can separate good performance from great performance.

You are mostly water. In fact, if you took the water out of a 180-pound lean body, there would be about 55-pounds left.

Because your muscles, your brain, your blood, and sweat are mostly water, your body doesnʼt work like it should when it doesnʼt have enough water. You donʼt think as clearly, you lose endurance and your heart works harder.

When youʼre severely dehydrated, sweating stops and your body overheats.
The result: fatigue, weakness, dizziness, and collapse, or worse. In fact every year, deaths in young healthy athletes are linked to severe dehydration.

Sweat It Out
Sometimes you donʼt even see sweat i.e. when you swim. But you sweat whenever your body heats up from working out.

Sweat is your bodys cooling system. Evaporation of sweat from your skin cools you down.

When you sweat you lose water from your body and that water must be replaced. Replacing the water takes a plan.

Donʼt Rely on Thirst
You might be thinking, “Whatʼs the big deal? Wonʼt drinking when Iʼm thirsty guarantee that Iʼm hydrated?”

Surprisingly, no. During exercise, for reasons not totally understood, humans donʼt drink enough to prevent dehydration.

You need to drink before you are thirsty and keep drinking after you no longer feel thirsty.

Drink It In
Forget about the old rule of drinking 8 glasses per day. You probably need more than that on most days. Counting how many glasses you drink is only one way of keeping track of what you need. A better way of making sure your hydrated is to check your body weight before and after practice. For accuracy, weigh in minimal clothing if thereʼs privacy, and afterwards, change out of the sweaty clothing before you weigh. The weight lost during practise or competition is not fat,
its water loss. One pint of water weighs one pound. To replace the water, drink one pint of fluid for every pound lost.
(One Pint = 16 ounces = 500ml = ½ litre).

It is critical to replace the water loss as quickly as possible. Before your next workout, you weight should be back to normal.

If you canʼt check your weight, pay attention to your body for signs of dehydration. Your mouth should not be dry. Your urine should be lemon-coloured most of the time. More than one episode of dark yellow urine is a warning sign that you donʼt have much reserve.
(Exception: Vitamin supplements can turn your urine yellow-orange, even if you are hydrated).

Loss of appetite, stomach aches, and muscle cramps can be other warning signals of dehydration.

When?
Drink before, during and after working out. Drink a pint or so of fluid a few hours before exercise. This will help make sure you are hydrated and give you enough time to urinate if you need to beforehand.

Keep drinking during exercise. And donʼt worry about getting too much fluid. If youʼre sweating, your body needs a constant supply. Your stomach might gurgle, but your body will absorb and use the fluid. Feeling sick and cramping have been blamed on too much water when in fact, stomach aches and muscle cramps are usually signs of not drinking enough fluid.

Drinking fluids after workouts is extremely important. Even when drinking fluids during a workout, many athletes become dehydrated. Athletes working out in the heat for several hours can lose 10-pounds. Thatʼs more than a gallon of water.

What should I Drink?
Your body needs water. But remember, water comes in all sizes, shapes and colours. Milk is 90% water. Juice and most soft drinks are 89% water, sports drinks are 94% water and even pizza is 50% water. And it all counts. Nearly everything that passes your lips provides water for your body, and in fact, research shows that most hydration happens at meals from the combination of food and beverages.

Research also shows that we tend to drink more if the fluid is flavoured and if a variety of fluids are available.

Keys to Hydration
When you have figured out how to stay hydrated, especially when you sweat heavily, you have accomplished the single most important performance enhancing aspect of nutrition. Water is your most important nutrient.

This article reproduced with kind permission of the Best of British Ice Hockey Camps Players Handbook
http://www.bobihc.co.uk