Right now in Columbus, it is very hot.  I have readers from all over the world and in North America it is summer time, by far my favorite time of the year.  The sun is out and people seem to be happier because of those sunny days.

It also brings heat and currently we have had several days in the nineties.  Not that I wanted to bring an old school feel to my facility, but we do not have air conditioning there.  Which means, you are going to sweat and you will have to adapt to the heat.  We have fans which helps get the air moving, but you as an athlete must take the necessary steps to make sure you are properly hydrated so that you can have an optimal training session with us.

In the past few weeks, we have had several athletes take breaks in their sessions because of dizziness or nauseousness.  Consequently, they don’t get to spend the full time trying to better themselves as an athlete and it is almost viewed as a wasted opportunity to get better.  As much as I would love to say that our program was so intense that these athletes couldn’t handle it, that isn’t the case.

Usually, it boils down to not hydrating or eating enough prior to the workouts.

Or, if you are eating and drinking what you are normally have daily, then it isn’t enough on an extremely hot day.  The heat is depleting you of your water and electrolytes a lot quicker than normal, thus you have the negative reactions the way that you do.

Staying hydrated for an athlete, or anyone who is doing activity in extreme heat, is a 24/7 job.  You have to constantly be drinking liquids before you do your activity to top off your fluid levels.  You have to drink during the activity to keep them as high as possible as you are losing them quickly.  You have to drink after the activity to replenish what you lost and then store up for the next day.  The moment you feel thirsty, you have already started to dehydrate.

So, how do you stay hydrated?

The first thing is on a normal day you want to drink half your body weight in fluid ounces.  This does not include what you need for exercise or other activity.  Fluids that can also be included in this can be milk, orange juice, and up to 16 ounces of coffee (unless it is loaded with creams and sugars).

Now, let’s say you are going to exercise or play a sport in some hot conditions.  Make sure you are drinking fluids (at least 16 – 20 ounces) 2 to 3 hours prior to the activity.  Drink another 8 – 10 ounces 15 – 20 minutes before the activity, then 8 – 10 ounces every 15 – 20 minutes during the activity.

Afterwards, you will want to recover with a liquid that has carbohydrates, electrolytes, and sodium to regain all of your physiological functions.  Ideally, you will want to drink back 25 – 50 percent more than what you lost during sweat to get back to proper hydration levels.  Just weigh yourself before and after to get an idea of what that is.  The difference in weight is the number you are trying to identify.

In extreme heat, getting sodium in your system is crucial.

In weather that is mild or cold, water should suffice.  In my experience though, if it is hot out (80 degrees or above), I would make sure my replenishing drink is some type of sport drink.  The sport drinks nowadays are designed to have the proper mixture of sodium and potassium in them plus carbohydrate concentration levels.  You want to keep those levels less than 8%.  Anything higher might upset your stomach.

In heat, you sweat more and sodium loss can lead to faster cramping.  You also might lose the ability to send nerve impulses to perform proper muscle function.  A perfect drink to help combat this is Advocare’s Rehydrate.  It is low in sugar and has 100mg of sodium in it.  Drink this with some ice cubes and you can really control your body’s ability to handle hot weather.  You can get some at http://advocare.com/07111072.  I highly recommend it.

Now that you know how to combat the heat, utilize this knowledge.  I don’t want to see any of my clients get dizzy anymore unless they are battling the flu.  And at that point, you might as well not even come because I don’t want to catch what you got.