How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Strength Training Workout

Early on during Arthur Jones’ training at the Tulsa YMCA during the 1940’s, Arthur realized the value of hydrating his body and the extreme danger if the dehydration process started during a high intensity workout. The Tulsa YMCA weight room where Arthur trained was extremely hot and humid with poor ventilation. Arthur, who comes from a long line of MD’s in his family tree, approached the problem of potential dehydration in a very scientific yet common sense way. A portion of Arthur’s rigorous routine would be to record his body weight prior to working out and again at the end of the workout plus the amount of water he was taking in. He stated many times that “even if you are several ounces lighter in body weight at the end of your workout, then the dehydration process has started”.

According to Arthur, it was not uncommon for him to drink over a gallon of water during his intense training sessions which rarely exceeded one hour. During those high intensity workouts he stated he would sometimes lose several pounds of fluid. Because of Arthur’s genius mentality and methodical approach to high intensity strength training, he resolved his dehydration issues early on with good hydration habits.

Let’s be honest about how important hydrating is before, during, and after your workouts. As we all know, water is vital for all your bodily functions and makes up 75% of our skeletal muscle. Make no excuses, always plan out your water intake, because it can be very dangerous for your body to “dehydrate”.

So how much water should we drink per day and in what form?

My standard has always been 8 to 12 eight-ounce glasses of water in a 24 hour period of just plain water! This means you or I do not have to drink expensive imported water with vitamins and minerals and other additives. I don’t include liquids such as tea and juice-they do not count as a glass of plain water! (And don’t forget that caffeinated drinks will actually dehydrate you at a faster rate so avoid them during a high intensity workout).

If you are participating in intense vigorous exercise programs, I always recommended for you to do as I do and drink one gallon (96 ounces) of water each day and more as you need it during your strength training workout just as Arthur did.  If you are trying to reduce your body fat, then chilled water has the advantage because the body will have to “work” and actually burn more calories to raise the water temperature to your core temperature.

During my workouts, however, I have found that drinking water at room temperature is absorbed much more quickly into my body. Everyone has their preference so experiment and find out what temperature of water is delivered the fastest into your system because that is what it is all about-the delivery system and staying hydrated so as to avoid dehydration at all cost. If you do not, you may ruin a perfectly good high intensity strength training workout!

Whether you are strength training or participating in an outdoor activity, stay focused on the amount of water you are taking in and always remain aware of the symptoms of mild to even moderate dehydration so you can resolve dehydration quickly:

• Dry, sticky mouth
• Extreme thirst
• Profuse sweating
• Decreased urine output
• Muscle weakness & cramping
• Headache
• Dizziness or Light-headed symptom
• Fatigue

Remember: If you are exercising hard outdoors (such as snow skiing or snow boarding) in a cold & windy environment, you can become dehydrated almost as fast as if you were playing baseball or softball in a hot & humid environment.

The best advice I can give is to keep accurate records of not only your strength training reps, resistance, and time under load, but also your water intake before, during, and after your high intensity workout! Don’t ruin your strength training workout with dehydration-a condition that is 100% preventable.

Follow my simple strength training program, The Last Rep Advanced Video Series and you will be on your way to  greater strength and muscle mass for better quality of life!