Hydration Basics For Athletes

Water is essential to everybody’s health and well being. Even more so for the elite athlete all the way down to the weekend warrior trying to stay fit. Water helps with many functions throughout the body including temperature regulation, blood pressure, digestion and removal of wastes. So how much water is needed to perform these basic every day functions? A typical rule of thumb for your average Joe is 8 or 9 glasses of water per day which equates to about 64-72 oz of water. That is a great baseline number for general population, however for our athletes which endure vigorous exercise bouts the norms change just a little bit.

Depending on how much an athlete exercises and the intensity at which the exercise takes place can vary the amount of water needed to be taken in by the individual. As far as athletes go a general rule of thumb is to divide the body weight by 2 and that is the amount of water in ounces you should drink. For example if I am 185 lbs I divide that by 2 to get 92.5oz of water per day (185/2=92.5oz). Now as I stated before the level of intensity and duration of the exercise for that day dictates how much water I am to drink and the timing of that water. Lets break down what that looks like in a timeline.

2 Hours Prior: 16oz

Withing 30 Min: 8-16 oz

During: Every 15-20 Min 4-6oz (depending on intensity/duration)

After: For every pound lost consume 16-24 oz

Again there is no end all be all total amount or set in stone number because just like the exercise itself everything is unique to each individual athlete. The amounts listed above are only suggestions and can be used as a guide to help you or your athlete stay hydrated throughout the day.