Hot & Bothered?

By Joburg Post

Or maybe just dehydrated………..

A typical scenario where you have individuals screaming across the gym floor – “fan on! Fan off! Aircon On! Aircon Off! On! Off!  And the poor instructor knows that its way too cold on the sweaty bodies to have cold air blowing down.  Sometimes it’s a scene from the beginning of a session when bodies have not even warmed up.  Difficult and unpleasant situations to handle when actually these culprits may just lack HYDRATION.

Water one of the most essential components of the human body.  Water regulates the body’s temperature.  Water composes 75% of all muscle tissue and about 10% of fatty tissue but it also acts within each cell to transport nutrients and dispel waste. Water is necessary for all internal organ function and regular consumption is absolutely necessary.  The USA Food and Nutrition Board recommends that women consume 2.7 liters and men 3.7 liters of water daily.  So for active individuals even more hydration is necessary especially in hotter weather.  Pre hydration is vital and that includes the 24 hours prior to a training session.  If a person arrives at an exercise session without enough water in the body to cool itself down, the body enters a state of dehydration.   This state obviously hinders performance and also leads to muscle fatigue.  Even when a person loses a small amount of water without replacement, it adds to performance loss.  These bodies lack energy, coordination and could even, apart from getting irritable, develop muscle cramps.  Small amounts of water on a regular basis, is a very important factor.  People need to take responsibility, especially in a group set up, to check that their bodies are well hydrated.  A very easy check is urine color.  A pale yellow color is necessary to know hydration is adequate.  High intensity exercise sessions longer than 60 minutes might need an electrolyte solution to assist in sodium replacement.

So now our “hottie” who is insisting on cold air when the heart rate has not even reached warm up status, could also have had a night out – or in – with the usual alcohol intake. Alcohol consumption interferes with muscle recovery from exercise and negatively affect a variety of performance variables.

Sleek fit lean bodies with 1 liter water bottles try to elevate heart rates for staying warm while the ‘fuller” more “dry” figures need constant cooling down.  The dilemma of training in a group.

Proper hydration with good lifestyle habits might just be the way to better harmony for all!

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