Keeping your body properly hydrated and fueled prepares you for the challenges of training, missions, and everyday performance.
There are many factors that can affect your individual hydration needs. Some factors are how much you sweat, the type and duration of your exercise or workouts, your environment, and the equipment you wear. Your goal is to try and replace the fluid you lose by sweating during an activity to maintain hydration levels. To do this, sip on a good-quality sports drink while you workout, exercise, or (if able!) during PT.
Drink 16–32 oz of fluid every 60 minutes during your activity to stay hydrated.
- If a "gulp" is about 2 oz, then drink 2–3 gulps (4–6 oz) every 15 minutes during exercise lasting longer than 1 hour to get in the needed 16–24 oz of fluids.
- If your exercise doesn’t exceed one hour, then no sports drink is necessary.
Tired of spending money on sports drinks?
You can make your own sports drink by combining 5 simple ingredients for just pennies per serving. Keep in mind sports drinks should provide (per 8 oz): 12–24 g carbs, 18–46 mg potassium, and 82–163 mg sodium, which this recipe contains.
An easy way to remember this recipe? You can tweak the sodium content to your specific performance needs.
Sports drink recipe
Serving size: Makes one quart
- ¼ cup sugar or honey
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup hot water
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 ½ cups cold water
- Dissolve the ¼ cup of sugar and the salt in the ¼ cup hot water.
- Add in the orange and lemon juices and the 3 ½ cups of cold water.
- Drink at room temperature or chill it in the refrigerator.
Nutrition per 8 oz: 50 calories, 12 g carbohydrates, 110 mg sodium, 40 mg potassium
