Every time I am at basketball or at the gym I always get asked what’s in my drink bottle? Some of you are probably reading this thinking it is silly to post something like this. But seriously, you have no idea how many times I get asked that.
Before gym
I usually go to the gym between 530am to 6am so after breakfast I still feel a little tired. This is possibly due to a culmination of not sleeping enough; I sleep on average about 6 hours when it should be 8. If I am feeling very tired I tend to take pre-workout that I mix with water. I don’t recommend taking pre-workout all the time just when you are flat to get a spike of energy.
Some of the pre-workout brands I have taken:
- Cellucor C4
- No-Xplode
- Best Mode
During gym
Whilst I am at the gym I am drinking water or hydralyte mixed in water. I do my best to stay hydrated during my workout as I am usually drenched in sweat. If you are not breaking a sweat in the gym then you are not training hard enough. Sorry, that was my little attempt to motivate you.
After gym
After throwing some weights around at the gym I always have a protein shake within 20 minutes of finishing my workout. Lifting weights fatigues your muscles and you need to feed your body to aid recovery. Having a shake helps feed the muscle with recovery food, protein. From my experience, after working out when I didn’t have a shake I am usually sore for a couple of days.
Before basketball training
Hydration before a basketball game or training session helps me a lot. I feel that my muscles particularly in my legs doesn’t get fatigued that quickly. So I tend to drink around 250-300ml of hydralyte. Sometime I’ll down a Powerade or Gatorade but I try not to do this all that often as these drink are high in sugar.
During basketball training
When I am training I have two water bottles 1L each. One bottle is filled with water the other with hyralyte. By the end of a two hour training session I have completely drunk both bottles.
After basketball training
I do my best to get a liter of water into my body followed by a protein shake approximately 30 minutes to an hour after training has ended.
When I relax
When I relax on the couch I love a cup of Dilmah black tea with honey and milk. Maybe it’s the Sri Lankan in me but I just can’t start the day without a cup of tea. It gets me ready for the day and
Note, I never lift weights and shoot or have basketball training on the same day.
The importance of hydration during physical activity is well publicized and I will be the first one to say that I don’t adhere to the medical experts advice. I do tend to not appropriately hydrate. The standard 8 glasses a day just does not cut it when you are training to a very high intensity.
Always remember, the best way of tracking if you are drinking water is by checking the colour of your piss. Few hours after you get up in the morning you should be passing clear fluid.
Thanks for reading this article I hope in some way this as helped. I know I finally have somewhere to direct people when I get asked this question.
So what’s in your drink bottle? How do you stay hydrated before, during and after a game?
