Water and Fitness
Since the muscles of your body are 75% water, it is easy to see why water would be important to your overall health, as well as your physical fitness. Fitness is more than just being at the proper weight. It�s also having the good muscle tone to carry out your day to day activities, and water can certainly help with that.
Muscles and Water
Because so much of your muscle tissue is water, drinking water seems like it would be logical when it comes to weight training and building more lean muscle. The water in your muscles makes them more elastic and stretchy, so that you don�t hurt yourself while using them. Water also makes them stretch when working out so they build faster. Of course, water consumption also helps in reducing the chances of getting cramps, which happen when your muscles are so free of water that they can�t stretch, and thus rebel against the action.
Exercise and Water
Drinking water while exercising is important not only because it cools your body down as you move and heat it up, but because you are replenishing what you lose when you sweat. Exercising to gain muscle mass won�t do you any good if your body is dehydrated. The experts suggest that you need to drink a glass of water every fifteen to twenty minutes of exercise that you do. This will replenish the water in your body as you lose it from sweating and even breathing deeply. This can also help take the strain off your heart from cardiovascular exercise because it makes the blood more fluid in your veins.
Weight Loss and Water
Drinking water is a major part of weight loss. Being properly hydrated not only makes your metabolism work correctly, but it also gives you the energy you need to exercise to facilitate that weight loss. Water also flushes the toxins out of your body and makes it possible for you to burn more calories and keep the weight off. Building muscles is hard without being properly hydrated, and while you lose weight, you also want to build muscle.
Alternatives to Water
For years, fitness companies like Gatorade have been coming up with sports drinks that are supposed to be used while exercising. While these drinks have electrolytes, they should never be used in place of water. The sugars and calories they contain can be detrimental to your weight loss goals and can dehydrate you even more. Some companies are coming out with sports waters like Propel, and these are excellent alternatives, as long as you read the sugar, calorie, and sodium contents first and make sure all three are low. Of course, there is no replacement for clean, healthy water.
Your personal fitness is obviously important to you, and drinking water is the key to staying fit. It will give you more energy in the long run as well as better chances to build muscle and lose weight. Water also keeps you from dehydrating and if you drink it during exercise, it can help you exercise for much longer.