Water Bottles & Workouts

Look around you at the gym. You'll see a slew of people carrying water bottles. Carefully analyze who is carrying a water bottle and who isn't. You'll notice that the most serious people, especially the guys in the free weight area, don't have a water bottle.

I'm not sure, but I think women's magazines have scared women into thinking that if they don't keep drinking water every couple of minutes, they will become dehydrated and end up in the ER.

Don't get me wrong. Hydration is important. But the truth is that most of us don't exercise hard enough to need constant hydration during an hour or hour-and-a-half workout.

What I see is many people, mostly women, using the water bottle as a crutch. After every set, they stop and drink water. It's a nice way to extend the time between sets and work out less hard. After all, drinking water takes time--just enough time to let your heart rate start to go back to normal and to give the muscles a break. Don't do it!

Here are my tips:

• Drink plenty of water before you go to the gym.
• If you do a cardio workout and you're thirsty afterward, go get a drink from the drinking fountain.
• If you get thirsty while doing your weights, find a good time to take a quick break and get a drink of water...at the water fountain.
  
• Drink water when you get home after your workout.
• Leave the water bottle at home. You don't need one more thing to carry around and put down and pick up constantly.

If you are training hard enough to need constant hydration, I'm impressed. You must be training for a triathlon, the Tour de France or the Olympics. Average gym-goers like me don't sweat enough to warrant the ubiquitous water bottle. In fact, I'll work out a lot less hard if I have to carry the bottle around with me and stop every five minutes to take a drink.