Thursday, March 19, 2009

H2O: The Importance of Water when Training

H20 is a vital part of a training regiment. When you are training whether it's boxing, kickboxing, mma, or weight training, you need to make sure you constantly refill your body with water.

Water is one of nature's most important gifts to mankind. Essential to life, a person's survival depends on drinking water. Water is one of the most essential elements to good health -- it is necessary for the digestion and absorbtion of food; helps maintain proper muscle tone; supplies oxygen and nutrients to the cells; rids the body of wastes; and serves as a natural air conditioning system. Health officials emphasize the importance of drinking at least eight glasses of clean water each and every day to maintain good health.

With two thirds of the earth's surface covered by water and the human body consisting of 75 percent of it, it is evidently clear that water is one of the prime elements responsible for life on earth. Water circulates through the land just as it does through the human body, transporting, dissolving, replenishing nutrients and organic matter, while carrying away waste material. Further in the body, it regulates the activities of fluids, tissues, cells, lymph, blood and glandular secretions.

An average adult body contains 42 litres of water and with just a small loss of 2.7 litres he or she can suffer from dehydration, displaying symptoms of irritability, fatigue, nervousness, dizziness, weakness, headaches and consequently reach a state of pathology. Dr F. Batmanghelidj, in his book 'your body's many cries for water', gives a wonderful essay on water and its vital role in the health of a water 'starved' society. He writes: "Since the 'water' we drink provides for cell function and its volume requirements, the decrease in our daily water intake affects the efficiency of cell activity........as a result chronic dehydration causes symptoms that equal disease..."

H2O to the Martial Artist

A large percentage of martial arts practitioners suffer from a small degree of dehydration from the lack of water consumption. With the various diet drinks, coffee, tea and sports drinks, the caffeine in these products often takes a hash toll on the human body. Therefore, by drinking water you will no longer be dehydrated and you will be able to feel the great health benefits especially while training in your chosen style of martial arts.

In martial arts (including boxing, kickboxing, mma, etc.), our body is one third of our training alongside the mental and spiritual components. Therefore, you must take care of your body so that you can train and workout to the best of your ability. To give you an idea about how important water is for the human body, here are a few facts and figures: 22% of bone is made from water, the brain is made up of 74 percent of water, 75 percent of our muscles is made of water and our blood with the highest percentage is 83% made of water. If your body is dehydrated, you will be unable to train at a high level and not see the improvement you're working for. Even more so, daily activities will become a burden such as getting out of bed in the morning. Water helps to supply our energy which is reduced when there are not sufficient amounts of water being consumed.

So how much is enough? It varies and usually it is recommended that you listen to your body when your body is thirsty during training grab a sip of water. A book I recommend on this is the Fighter's Body: An Owner's Manual.

In conclusion, martial artists need to be aware of their body's intake of water especially when training for a competition. Please, drink water and refresh your mind.

Cheers,
Alex

References:
Martial Arts Fitness and the Importance of Water, http://ezinearticles.com/?Martial-Arts-Fitness-and-the-Huge-Importance-of-Water&id=1715695

The Watercure, http://www.watercure.com/

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