
Hydration

Welcome to the Fitness Adaptive podcast! Today’s topic is hydration.
I’ve been active all my life. I love to exercise, play sports, and learn about the best fitness techniques. Throughout all of my training and exercise, fitness and sports coaches always had different philosophies about hydration. Through my studying to be a personal trainer, I found some important principles that we’ll cover in this podcast:
- The importance of hydration
- Hydration strategies
- When to hydrate
- How much water to drink
- How to indicate hydration level
The Importance of Hydration
Your body is made of about 60% water. Water has several important jobs that help the body function properly:
- Transporting nutrients through the body
- Regulating body temperature
- Providing Minerals
- Keeping healthy moisture levels in the body
Staying hydrated is crucial for completing these tasks, but losing water is a natural part of the equation as well. We lose water through sweating, urinating, and breathing. Our lifestyle, climate, and nutrition habits have an effect on how much water we need to drink in order to stay hydrated. In hot climates, more water is needed to regulate the body temperature, as much of it is lost through sweating. People who exercise regularly are more prone to dehydration as well. During physical activity, it’s normal to lose 0.5 to 0.2 liters of water per hour.
When we become dehydrated, our bodies aren’t able to perform the tasks listed above which can affect your health, endurance, mental capacity, strength and high and low temperature tolerance. Even just a little loss of water can have serious negative effects on your health. The chart below, from Precision Nutrition, outlines the results of body water loss percentages.
Results Of Percent Of Body Water Loss
0.5% | 1.0% | 3.0% | 4.0% | 5.0% | 6.0% | 10-20% |
Increased Strain On The Heart | Reduced Aerobic Endurance | Reduced Muscular Endurance | Reduced Muscle Strength, Reduced Motor Skills, Heat Cramps | Heat Exhaustion, Cramping, Fatigue, Reduced Mental Capacity | Physical Exhaustion, Heatstroke, Coma | Death |
Too much water
While it’s important to always be drinking water, there are certain times when drinking too much water can have negative effects.
Drinking too much water can make you feel full or give you a side ache, especially while you are exercising. In extreme cases, drinking too much water can also cause hyponatremia, a condition characterized by having too much water compared to the sodium content in your body. Hyponatremia can cause symptoms including, but not limited to, headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion, and/or restlessness. Too much water can also cause excessive urination, which can affect your health by flushing too many nutrients. It’s crucial to make sure you get enough water, but don’t overdo it.
Hydration Strategies
When should you hydrate? How much water should you drink? Everyone’s body is different, so the answer varies. Someone who exercises intensely would need more water than someone who doesn’t exercise at all because you sweat and lose more water when you exercise. A general guideline for daily water intake is 30-40ml/kg body weight/day.
For example, if you weigh 50kg, you would need 1.5 to 2L/day. (30×50=1500ml=1.5L. 40×50=2000ml=2L).
Keep in mind, this represents a balance between the amount of water you drink, and the amount of water you lose daily. For example, If a client’s fluid requirement is 2L/day, and the client loses an extra 1L of fluid daily through exercise, sweating, etc. the client will need to consume 3L/day in order to balance fluid-in vs. fluid-out.
Indicate Hydration Levels
One way to figure out your hydration level is to take a blood test. The test consists of a finger prick, from which a small blood sample is taken and put through a hematocrit test. This measures the ratio of white blood cells to red blood cells. A healthy hematocrit ranges from 39-54, but lower numbers indicate a better hematocrit/hydration level.
The simplest way to test your hydration levels on your own is through a urine test. With this method, all you need to do is take notice of the color next time you urinate. Generally, the lighter your urine, the more hydrated you are. The urine chart below, from Precision Nutrition, is used for indicating hydration level with urine. If the urine matches 1, 2, or 3 on the chart, you are well hydrated. If your urine is 7 or darker, you are very dehydrated and you should drink more water.
Urine Chart
Colorless to slightly yellowish | Soft Yellow | Pale Gold | Gold | Dark Gold | Gold Brown | Light Brown | Dark Brown |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
HYDRATE TO YOUR NEEDS
Hydration is not only extremely important for improving performance, but also to keep you healthy and alive. If you want to learn to calculate your fluid needs based on YOUR BODY, and YOUR ACTIVITY LEVEL, check out Fitness Adaptive’s fitness courses. I will teach you how to calculate your hydration needs based on your goals and your body type.
If you have any questions about hydration or fitness, contact me. Let’s talk about your goals and make a fitness plan suited to your needs. This is my invitation to you to take the next step forward and get the results YOU WANT!

SIMILAR POSTS

The TRUTH About Diets | What They DON’T Want You to Know!
[object Object]
RECOMMENDED

The TRUTH about BMI (Body Mass Index)
BMI is a common body composition measurement that is misunderstood and usually inaccurate. I came across BMI when I first started studying fitness. I started reading about it and thought, “This isn’t a very accurate form of measuring body composition.”
RECOMENDED FOR YOU

Bodyweight Exercises
It seems really fortunate that there are so many things you can do to improve your fitness without expensive equipment, but do bodyweight exercises actually work? Have you ever bought a workout program that promised results that never came to fruition?

Simple Carbs vs Complex Carbs
“How many carbs should I consume?” “Should I keep a low carb count?” “Should I carb-load?”

How to Stretch and Increase Flexibility
Each type of stretching accomplishes a different goal, so knowing when to perform each type of stretch is important. To understand when and how long you should stretch, think of a recipe…

Foam Rolling | Tips and Tricks
I often wondered, “What is the proper way to do these things?” After high school I signed up for a few personal trainers at a gym and started studying fitness. During my experience and studies, I came across a crucial element to fitness that most athletes, coaches, and trainers are neglecting: foam-rolling.

The TRUTH about BMI (Body Mass Index)
BMI is a common body composition measurement that is misunderstood and usually inaccurate. I came across BMI when I first started studying fitness. I started reading about it and thought, “This isn’t a very accurate form of measuring body composition.”

Squatting | Are you doing it right?
Welcome to the Fitness Adaptive live podcast! Today, I’m going to talk about squatting. What are the different types of squats? What types of squats should you be doing? How can I improve my squats?

All About Footwear | Types of Shoes, Factors To Consider
Today I’m going to go over footwear. I’ll talk about what types of shoes you should wear, based on your goals, what sports you play, what you do for work, foot size, foot type, etc..

Running Faster | What can you do?
Today, let’s talk about some common misconceptions about training to run a faster mile, 5k, or 800m. Train better, faster, and harder for results when it comes to running short and long-distance!

The TRUTH About Diets | What They DON’T Want You to Know!
[object Object]

Welcome to Fitness Adaptive
Welcome to the revolutionary personal training solution that aims to change the world. Read about our goals, motivations, and roadmap for the future as we continually grow and expand our operations…

Bodyweight Exercises
It seems really fortunate that there are so many things you can do to improve your fitness without expensive equipment, but do bodyweight exercises actually work? Have you ever bought a workout program that promised results that never came to fruition?

Simple Carbs vs Complex Carbs
“How many carbs should I consume?” “Should I keep a low carb count?” “Should I carb-load?”

How to Stretch and Increase Flexibility
Each type of stretching accomplishes a different goal, so knowing when to perform each type of stretch is important. To understand when and how long you should stretch, think of a recipe…

Foam Rolling | Tips and Tricks
I often wondered, “What is the proper way to do these things?” After high school I signed up for a few personal trainers at a gym and started studying fitness. During my experience and studies, I came across a crucial element to fitness that most athletes, coaches, and trainers are neglecting: foam-rolling.

The TRUTH about BMI (Body Mass Index)
BMI is a common body composition measurement that is misunderstood and usually inaccurate. I came across BMI when I first started studying fitness. I started reading about it and thought, “This isn’t a very accurate form of measuring body composition.”

Squatting | Are you doing it right?
Welcome to the Fitness Adaptive live podcast! Today, I’m going to talk about squatting. What are the different types of squats? What types of squats should you be doing? How can I improve my squats?

All About Footwear | Types of Shoes, Factors To Consider
Today I’m going to go over footwear. I’ll talk about what types of shoes you should wear, based on your goals, what sports you play, what you do for work, foot size, foot type, etc..

Running Faster | What can you do?
Today, let’s talk about some common misconceptions about training to run a faster mile, 5k, or 800m. Train better, faster, and harder for results when it comes to running short and long-distance!

The TRUTH About Diets | What They DON’T Want You to Know!
[object Object]

Welcome to Fitness Adaptive
Welcome to the revolutionary personal training solution that aims to change the world. Read about our goals, motivations, and roadmap for the future as we continually grow and expand our operations…
BECOME A FITNESS ADAPTIVE MEMBER TODAY
Get perks, discounts, and benefits when you become a member with Fitness Adaptive. Starting at 2.99$ a month, you’ll get access to all of our tools, weekly newsletter, and much, much more!