There are many people who underestimate the power of drinking adequate amounts of water for the promotion of muscle growth. The vast majority of your body’s muscle mass consists of water. Dehydration will instantly decrease your workout performance and will have a serious impact on your muscle mass gaining results. The rule of thumb is, if you wait until you feel thirsty then it is probably already too late to maintain optimal hydration.
The Significance of Water
Sixty percent of your body weight consists of plain water. This means that adequate water intake is crucial to your muscle growth. Water also makes up 70% of your muscles. While the human body can survive without food for months, it can only survive a few days without any water. Even cases of mild dehydration can cause very dramatic decreases in the muscle’s contractile strength and overall energy levels. Water has many important functions in the human body and many of those prove critical for gaining muscle.
Function of Water
The water you drink gives moisture to your body’s tissues and organs and protects them from any damage due to dehydration. If you fail to drink enough water, your body starts to literally dry you out. Water flushes out toxins from your organs and also helps your liver and your kidneys to get rid of waste products. Water also improves gastrointestinal health by helping digestion and preventing constipation. Water also carries minerals, nutrients, vitamins and oxygen to each and every cell in your body being a major constituent of your blood. In particular, your muscle cells require great amounts of these substances for them to repair properly and grow.
Effects of Water
Water plays an important role in thermogenesis or fat burning, as a natural regulator of body temperature. Water enables your body to more effectively produce energy and also increases the synovial fluid in your joints. This fluid lubricates the joints for better performance while you work out in the gym. Water also directly affects your muscular strength, protein synthesis and cell volume.
Benefits of Water
By drinking more water, you are literally inflating your muscles like balloons and that results in a cascade of events that trigger synthesis of muscle protein. The process drives muscle growth or anabolism. The fact is that muscles that do not get enough water start to shrink and to undergo what is known as catabolic reactions that actually breakdown muscle. You can support your training by replacing fluids lost during sweat, increasing energy and allowing your muscles to contract more forcefully by timing your intake of water.
It is recommended that you drink between 8 to 13 cups of water every day. You may require more depending on your body weight and level of activity. Although there is no “one-size-fits-all” recommendation for adequate water intake, 1.5 cups to 2.5 cups of water should be enough to replace the amount of water that you lose during a short duration exercise. For exercise that lasts more than an hour, you require much greater amounts of water. The best times to drink water include the time right after waking, with meals and between meals, and before, during and after working out.