Water plays a massive part in every bodily function and physical process and is a key indicator in identifying when we are not at our best.
In fact, dehydration has been shown to have a substantial negative effect on aerobic, anaerobic and muscular strength endurance, all of which are heavily relied upon for skating.
A dehydrated state has also been shown to impair cognitive brain function which isn’t exactly great for learning new tricks. This can also become an extra risk factor towards injury when attempting to pull off normally easy tricks when dehydrated.
So, the big question is, how much water should we be taking in?
I have seen a lot of guides giving out water protocols that involve you weighing yourself and rehydrating based off weight-loss after making calculations based off… blah blah blah.
The truth is, I don’t know many athletes or trainers in the field that have ever done this. What are the chances that your regular skater will be actively weighing themselves and breaking out their 2nd grade maths skills every time they skate?
The solution: KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Whilst a little more crude but definitely easier than the first method this one will allow you to monitor your hydration levels and not have it be an arduous task. You just have to ask yourself one question: How’s your pee?
Seems a bit personal but allow me to explain. Monitoring your urine colour is a great way to assess hydration levels in the body. What we are looking to maintain is a relatively clear to slight discolouration of yellow colour. Anything darker means it’s time to drink up. Below is a simple info graph that can allow you to understand what you are looking for and offer solutions for different stages of dehydration.
One helpful tip is to have a 1L bottle of water with you during the day and aim to go through it twice. When you go for a skate, aim to fill it up again to get through 3L in total.
Remember rehydration levels are a moving target and can be affected by varying factors like weight, size, heat, activity levels, or perhaps even having one too many brewskis celebrating landing that trick.
So rather than having to constantly weigh yourself to make sure you’re hydrated just simply ask yourself the awkward question, ‘how’s my pee?’
Now we got a valid system for constant hydration here are some quick tips to add on top in order to ensure we are getting quality hydration for skating.
- Good hydration starts before the sesh:
Pre hydration before the skate sesh will set the stage for adequate hydration throughout the sesh. Oftentimes simply relying on drinking water in the session can leave us on the back foot playing catch up so be sure to start early.
- Don’t leave it till you are thirsty to drink:
By the time you actually feel thirsty there is a good chance you are already in a dehydrated state. To combat this ensure you sip on water throughout the skate sesh rather than wait till you feel you are thirsty
- Post sesh hydration:
After a big sesh, especially in the heat, you will need to replenish water in the system in order to be able to back up the following day. In fact, post skate sesh hydration can make or break the quality of sesh you have the next day so if you want to back up be sure to jump on it as soon as your sesh is over.
With a valid hydration system and some helpful tips you can maximise your potential during a sesh without hydration being an issue in those warmer months and having to lean on complicated protocols or fancy supplements.