Hydration for Muay Thai Athletes

Muay Thai Authority — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 18:39:00 +0000

by James Bee

In my last article I touched on the importance of water for staying lean and healthy. Well now I’m back giving the M.V.P. of performance another shout out because, quite frankly, water doesn’t get enough ring time.

The truth is most of us don’t appreciate water like we should. We only really even think about it when we are thirsty. The problem with that is thirst only occurs once the body is 1-2% dehydrated. By this time even with this mild degree of dehydration, athletes especially will suffer reduced endurance, increased fatigue, altered thermoregulatory capability, reduced motivation, and increased perceived effort. And that’s just from 2%.

It is not uncommon for athletes to lose 3-4% of body weight in sweat loss during training and if you’re in Thailand that number could increase up to 6%, and can lead to exhaustion and heat stroke if fluids have not adequately been replenished. When dehydrated, the blood thickens putting greater strain on the heart, raising core temperatures and it’s all downhill from there. I hope now your beginning to see how staying hydrated is so crucial to your training performance.

So considering thirst is such a poor indicator of hydration, to get an idea of hydration status I encourage athletes to use this chart below compared to the color of their pee pee.

Urine color chart:

In the last couple of days prior to a weight cut, it’s pretty normal for an athlete’s urine to be a 5, 6 or 7 on the chart. If you’re urine color is anywhere between 3 to 5 on the chart you need to drink some water as its likely your dehydrated. Once urine color is 2-1 on the chart, you’re good to go. For most normal people, staying well hydrated should be pretty easy. Drinking around 2-3L of water per day will do the job just fine. But for us MT athletes, especially those who are training up to and in excess of 2 hours, Its super important to hydrate before, during and after training to maximize performance.

Studies demonstrate that maintaining proper hydration before, during, and after training and competition will ultimately reduce heat stress which prolongs performance and endurance.

Here’s the strategy:

Pre Training
It is recommended that you take into account your hydration status before training. If left until your break a sweat or are in dying thirst, performance losses have most likely already occurred. Thus athletes should consume 500ml of fluid 30 minutes before training and “pre-hydrate”.

During Training
Both fluid and electrolyte replacement is the main goal. This enables the athlete to avoid dehydration and electrolyte changes that can decrease performance. You should be consuming 250ml of fluid and electrolytes every 15 minutes of training. This amount will depend on body size, climate, training intensity.

After Training
Athletes need to rehydrate quickly to assist recovery. I recommend consuming 1L of water with ½ -1 tsp. of full profile mineral salt like Himalayan, Celtic, or sea salt.

Training in Hot Climate
If you’re training in a hot climate like Thailand, athletes should consume water with a pinch of sea salt. Studies suggest adding sodium to your drinking water during training in the heat plays a significant role in preventing performance losses.

So no matter how underrated, overlooked and unappreciated water is, no one can deny this hero of hydration remains a major player in your Muay Thai performance. Next time you’re feeling flat during training, ask yourself. How much water have you had today? Check your hydration status. It could be the limiting factor holding you back.

(Follow these hydration strategies for 1 month and you’ll notice the difference in your training performance and health.)

Until next time. – JB

Looking To Cut Weight The Smartest, Most Efficient Way?
The Lean Performance Diet 8 Cutting Guide has just been revised and updated. It’s a 150+ page science backed weight cutting plan focused on getting shredded and performance optimization. Tested on real professional Muay Thai fighters forget everything you know about cutting weight and get the guide here.

The post Hydration for Muay Thai Athletes appeared first on muaythaiauthority.com.

Hydration Archives - muaythaiauthority.com

Hydration for Muay Thai Athletes

Urine color chart: