How to Stay Hydrated While Strength Training

People should drink fluids with all physical activity, including strength training. Staying hydrated allows you to do your best. When you don't take in enough fluids and you're sweating out what you do have, dehydration results. Minimal dehydration causes fatigue, while dehydration that is more serious can put you in the hospital.

Instructions

1. Hydrate throughout the day, not just during exercise and strength training. Some people don't know they're mildly dehydrated. If you start out dehydrated, you'll have a much more difficult time with resistance training.

2. Drink a glass of water an hour or two before exercise. Have another glass about 20 minutes before your strength training session starts.

3. Sip from a 1 liter bottle of water about every 15 minutes if you're exercising less than an hour. Strength training sessions for the average person often run less than an hour.

4. Stay hydrated with a sports drink if you work out more than an hour. Sports drinks replace the electrolytes you lose through sweat much faster than water. However, use sports drinks only when exercise is over an hour, strenuous or when it's hot. Otherwise, you're taking in unnecessary calories and a lot of sugar.

5. Continue to drink slowly after your workout. It takes about half an hour for digestion to return to normal after exercise. If you drink too much, you'll carry around an uncomfortable sloshing feeling.

6. Consider using glycerol if you're engaged in endurance activities, such as for competitions. Glycerol is a gel like substance that you mix with water. It allows your body to stay hydrated longer.

Tips & Warnings

• Beware of overdoing hydration. If you drink more than your body needs, it can dangerously lower levels of blood sodium in the body.

• At high doses, glycerol can cause headaches, stomach upset and blurred vision.

• If you don't drink enough fluids, you can suffer from electrolyte imbalance, which can cause neurological problems and even death.