Both dehydration and overhydration can have a negative impact on workouts and adversely affect the health of your clients. How can you as a personal trainer help your charges hydrate properly before, during, and after workouts? Here are 10 useful suggestions to implement when working with your clientele:
- Encourage starting workouts well hydrated. If a client is carrying a fluid deficit from an earlier workout, chances are good that he or she will become dehydrated at their next exercise session. You can help prevent this by advising clients to get into the habit of consuming 14–20 fl oz (400–600 ml) of water 2–3 hours before exercise. Suggest that they carry a water bottle or sports bottle to class, on errands, at home, or on the job, and that they take sips regularly.
- Teach how to monitor hydration status. By monitoring urine volume and color before working out, your clients can judge for themselves whether they’re sufficiently hydrated. Large amounts of clear or light-yellow urine equate to being well hydrated. Small volumes of dark urine suggest more fluids are needed before heading to the gym.
- Explain the hydration zone. Let your clients know that when it comes to hydrating during exercise, the goal is to avoid gaining weight (a sign that they’ve consumed too much fluid) and avoid losing more than 2% of their pre-exercise body weight (the level of fluid loss beyond which athletic performance is undermined). This is the hydration zone, where individuals perform at their best and avoid the adverse health effects of dehydration and overhydration. So a client whose typical pre-exercise weight is 150 lbs (68 kg) should be hydrating during exercise at a rate where body weight stays between a high of 150 lbs (68 kg) and a low of 147 lbs (about 67 kg).
- Talk up sweat rate. It’s important for your athletes to understand that the way to stay in the hydration zone is to consume fluids at a rate that keeps pace with their sweat rate. While this generally requires about 13–26 fl oz (400–800 ml) every hour of exercise, preferably in smaller amounts taken frequently, fluid needs vary based on factors such as body size, exercise intensity, and workout conditions. That means that every client will have their own unique sweat rate, so it’s best that they calculate their individual sweat rates for the various conditions in which they train. For an easy guide to calculating sweat rate, direct them to the Sweat Rate Calculator at PowerBar.com. In fact, make sweat rate testing the focus of one of your training sessions.
- Integrate hydration into workouts. Walk the talk by calling for frequent hydration breaks during training sessions. For example, rehydrating every 15 minutes is better than once per hour. Also, start the rehydration process early in a workout. Let your charges know that the sensation of thirst during exercise is a poor indicator of fluid needs. In fact, by the time a client feels thirsty during a workout, chances are good that they’re already dehydrated. So set your watch to buzz you every 15 minutes as a rehydration reminder.
- Make a sports bottle required equipment. Reinforce the importance of hydration by making it a requirement that all your clients bring a sports bottle or water bottle to all workout sessions. Having their own bottle will help them track their fluid intake during exercise.
- Explain what to hydrate with and when. Water is fine for short workouts (less than 1 hour) in mild temperatures. But a sports drink containing sodium and carbohydrates, such as PowerBar® Endurance sports drink, is the better option for longer sessions and pretty much anytime it’s hot or humid. The advantages of a sports drink over plain water are many. The former provides carbohydrates to help sustain blood glucose level during exercise, and athletes typically consume more fluids when their hydration beverage is flavored, as is the case with a sports drink. The sodium and carbs in a sports drink cause the fluid in the beverage to be absorbed more quickly. The sodium also helps maintain the drive to continue drinking fluids when exercising, which is crucial to meeting fluid needs. And the sodium also helps with retaining the fluid consumed. Finally, cool beverages are best for promoting consumption, so suggest partially filling a sports bottle and freezing it the night before a workout session.
- Caution that workout attire matters. Let your clients know that what they wear during exercise can make a difference in the quality of their workouts. If conditions are hot or humid, suggest that they minimize the amount of clothing covering the body. This will make the cooling effect of sweating more efficient. Also, discourage rubberized clothing and heavy layers which can impair the body’s ability to cool itself.
- Suggest monitoring fluid losses with weigh-ins. Have your athletes weigh themselves before and after working out. A gain in weight during a workout is a sign that too much fluid has been consumed. A loss of more than 2% of their pre-exercise body weight indicates that they didn’t consume enough fluids during exercise. Have them adjust their fluid intake up or down for the next workout session.
- Encourage active rehydration after exercise. Following workouts, advise your clients to gradually drink 16–24 fl oz of a sports drink, recovery beverage, or water for every lb (1,050–1,600 ml per kg) of weight lost. Also, remind them that consuming sodium sources after exercise helps the body rehydrate more effectively. Sports drinks, crackers, and pretzels are all examples of sodium sources that can help with rehydration after workouts.
Topics:
Pre-Workout, During, Post-Workout, Hydration
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