The key to exercising whether in hot weather, outside, inside, sport or just weightlifting you need to be vigilant of your fluid intake and ensure you’re staying hydrated. A failure to do so can result in dehydration, poor performance, overheating and health effects.
Drink Before Your Workout
Drink fluids ten minutes prior to your exercise. Gradual sips are superior to large volume gulping.
Drink During Your Workout
During your exercise, take fluids if the intensity of your workout demands it. Exercise lasting in excess of 60 minutes, 14 to 28 oz/hr is a good starting point.
Drink After Your Workout
After your exercising, drink to replace lost fluids. For exercises lasting beyond one hour, a sports drink or water (20 fl oz) every hour is a good starting point.
Add a Sweetener To Your Drink
If you exercise for up to one hour, water is usually sufficient. For longer sessions, sports drinks can be useful for energy replacement as well as hydration. Sport drinks contain about 6-8% carbohydrate and most is a sugar in some form. Sweetness can be important to encourage drinking in longer training sessions.
Monitor Your Urine Color
Pre-exercise note a very light lemon colored urine. Perfectly clear urine may indicate excessive hydration, which isn’t a problem so long as it doesn’t interrupt your exercise and you don’t continue excessive fluid intake.
Small Sips!
Small quantities of fluid over time are more easily absorbed than large gulps of fluid.
Rely on Thirst But Not Too Much
Some believe you should rely on thirst to judge fluid intake. Thirst is a good indicator, but thirst in combination with some knowledge of reasonable fluid intake for the conditions is a better approach.
