Like any other style of fitness, calisthenics requires a lot of energy. Energy that comes from the things we put into our bodies. The food we eat and the water we drink, play a huge role in the way in which we perform during training, the way we recover and the way we get to see results in our calisthenics journey.
Often times, we go about our day and forget about stopping. We’re busy, busy, busy with life and forget about eating, drinking and even thinking. I used to make this mistake unknowingly and ended up paying the price before, during and after every training session.
Hydration, especially when you live an active lifestyle is super important. Our bodies are mostly water and require at least 2 litres to function well. In calisthenics, we tend to sweat a lot, we tend to be outdoors and we tend to use a lot of energy. We need to make sure that water and proper hydration is an essential part of our training routine to make sure that we are keeping our energy levels high, getting rid of toxins inside us and aiding in our bodies processes to grow.
Here are some of my tips when it comes to water intake:
- Drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up. You can simply have this ready overnight on your night table so you don’t forget. Drinking water right as we wake up is great because after a whole 6-8 hours of sleeping and not drinking anything, our bodies are the most dehydrated. Starting with that, will boost your energy throughout the morning and will make the start of your day a lot easier.
- Always carry a water bottle and label it. This might sound silly but simply having a water bottle around you will be a visual queue that you need to drink water. Labelling it will enhance your sense of ownership over the bottle and will assure that if at any time you leave it in the gym, the park or your friends backyard, you an easily find it.
- Spice it up. Add some lemon, apple cider vinegar, cucumber, mint leaves or Himalayan salt (or all of them) to your water to not only give it some taste but also give it some added benefits. Lemon and apple cider vinegar for example can aid in fat loss and Himalayan salt helps balancing minerals in your body, help with muscle recovery and even sleep.
