Keeping adequately hydrated is essential for an athlete as it can aid a number of factors: aids immunity by avoiding a dry mouth; aids efficient organ function; reduces hunger; aids digestion; controls temperature.
As a guideline, try to drink 2-3 litres of water per day. However, everybody has different sweat rates which can also be affected by training intensity and duration as well as the weather.
Always having a drink to hand, drinking to thirst and adding electrolytes to your drink during training will help maintain hydration.
An easy and simple way to make sure that you are maintaining hydration is to weigh yourself before and after training. Any weight that you have lost during training will mostly be due to water losses; this needs to be replaced as quickly as possible. You should aim to drink 1.5 times the amount of water you have lost.
Unless ‘sweating out’ for a weigh-in (which should be used as a last resort only) avoid using sweatsuits during training. Using sweatsuits during general training sessions will not impact upon body fat loss, only increase sweat rates, resulting in a high likelihood of dehydration. As a result there will be a high chance of a reduction in training intensity and quality as well as a lack of concentration, which may be noticeable during sparring or padwork.
