If you don’t upload the sweaty post workout selfie… did you even exercise? Yes, there is glory behind the drip of sweat on a boomerang… but there is also crucial evidence of dehydration. Dehydration that could have impaired your muscular performance AND continue to impede muscle recovery. But do not fear, a simple addition of an intra-workout hydration supplement like INTRA HYDRA will enable you to sweat till your touch screen doesn’t work… without any adverse effects on performance and recovery.
Why is sweating bad for performance?
First of all, forget about the motivational memes that told you that “sweat is just fat crying”. Adipocytes (fat cells) do not have feelings. Overheating during exercise is extremely dangerous, and so the body shunts blood from the core to the skin to enable heat loss via transduction and sweat. Counteracting overheating is the bodies priority… it sacrifices the volume of blood (fluid lost by sweat) to do so. But it comes at a cost, with a lower blood volume in circulation, exercise performance decreases as less blood (carrying essential oxygen) is available to perfuse active skeletal muscle. On top of that, sweating is maintained by intracellular water moving out resulting in dehydrated skeletal muscle cells which consequently impairs actin-myosin cross-bridge formation (the biochemical process behind muscle contraction)[1].
So, in summary – sweating = good for post workout photos but bad for muscle performance.
How to best counteract dehydration?
Drink. Surely chugging down a few liters of water on the way home from the gym makes up for it? Not necessarily. Drinking plain water during/after exercise can actually lead to a decline in plasma osmolarity resulting in increased rates of fluid loss, potentially compromising rehydration [2]. In simple terms, just water is not the optimal hydration drink for intracellular hydration. But when water is mixed with INTRA HYDRA, the electrolyte profile (sodium, potassium and calcium) plus hydration compounds (CocOrganic, Pineapple juice powder and watermelon powder) and BCAAs (leucine, Isoleusine and Valine) create the ultimate hydration fluid.
NOTE: Yes, even protein has been shown to aid in fluid retention when added to hydration beverages…hence BCAAs (that come with a bonus improvement in muscle recovery)
Disclaimer: Do NOT stop drinking water before/during exercise for fear of impaired performance…passing out from dehydration is much more embarrassing. Water is better than no water… but INTA HYDRA is best.
FYI
- Hargreaves, M., Physiological limits to exercise performance in the heat. J Sci Med Sport, 2008. 11(1): p. 66-71.
- Shirreffs, S.M., et al., Post-exercise rehydration in man: effects of volume consumed and drink sodium content. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 1996. 28(10): p. 1260-71.