drinking water in class

[foolinthedeck]

hi again

i never drink water in class, never ever.. even when its hot and i am dehydrated. i drink it before i leave the house to go to class and after when i get home. it doesnt feel right to me to drink in the class... i dont know why, but physically i feel worse for it. now i know that sitting down will make you lose energy, as will taking a ****, so maybe even water in the internal organs while you are working with energy is bad?

any thoughts?

(ps, everyone else in the class drinks like 1-2 litres each class and i'm working just as hard)

[SevenStar]

we take 1 min water breaks. usually one after warm up and one before we roll. It's a 2.5 hour class though, and we sweat the whole time.

in thai boxing, we take one break, for a 1 min duration.

with both classes, you don't have to get water if yohu don't want to. It's a good idea to stay hydrated while training though, so there is nothing wrong with drinking water.

[AmanuJRY]

I think this would depend on the individuals hydration needs.

True, if your class is only say 2hrs. long and you hydrate before and after, you should not have to drink anything during, but this is a discipline not many have. Also, any form of digestion takes energy, but H2O is relativly easy to digest and probably doesn't tax the system too much. People who are dehydrated and drink a sufficient amount of water will make themselves ill, though.

Drink if you need it, but with proper preparation, you shouldn't need to.;)

[Matrix]

Justin,

I drink whenever there is a natural break in the action especially in the dog days of summer. In winter it's not as much of an immediate issue, although hydration is just as important. Drinking both before and after is great, but may be required during an especially hot and humid class.

I know it's not a fair comparison, but world-class marathon runners drink often during a race that lasts just over 2 hours.

You gotta know that too much heat is your engine's worst enemy. Just call me weak. :D

[Tydive]

Try drinking warm water. Cold water takes more energy to process and can be rougher on your system. Let us know if that helps.

[foolinthedeck]

mmm
good call on the warm water i should try that!
i only base my drinking on how my gut feeling tells me not to drink water... but actually my gut says warm tea would be fine...

alternatively, this could just be an ego thing where i have got used to enjoying the feeling of superiorty i get when those i train with keep having to stop for breaks.

having said that, i do believe its good to be able to just keep on training and not need to stop. when i was more junior i would not train so seriously. Now, even if sifu is demonstrating something to the class, i will still stand in basic stance, relax my arms by my sides, concentrate on what is happening, not joke around etc.

but maybe thats just ego too

[AmanuJRY]

Originally posted by Matrix
Justin,

I drink whenever there is a natural break in the action especially in the dog days of summer. In winter it's not as much of an immediate issue, although hydration is just as important. Drinking both before and after is great, but may be required during an especially hot and humid class.

I know it's not a fair comparison, but world-class marathon runners drink often during a race that lasts just over 2 hours.

You gotta know that too much heat is your engine's worst enemy. Just call me weak. :D

Bill,

I agree. I drink pretty often myself, my mouth gets dry and I just hate that. Plus, I'm addicted to coffee so I drink more water than most because of that. When we spar I have to take a drink between each round to refresh (and those are only one-two min. rounds).

When I was in training in the military we went on long road marches (10+ miles w/80 pounds of gear in full battle dress, middle of summer in Kentucky) and would stop on the hour and drink a canteen (1 quart) of water.

Different people will sweat and dehydrate at different rates, and since we are not camels and cannot 'store' water for later we need to drink when we need to drink.

[anerlich]

You should definitely take water diring long hard workouts, especially on hot days.

The "Eight Glasses of water a day" thing espoused in many magazines, etc. is not supported by most scientists.

I think there should be assigned breaks to take water. The flip side of you feeling superior is me noticing how many people suddenly get really thirsty about 2/3 of the way into hard drilling or conditioning. Sometimes I've been mean when taking classes and made those who took their own water break do extra pushups while the others take the SCHEDULED water break.

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by foolinthedeck
mmm
good call on the warm water i should try that!
i only base my drinking on how my gut feeling tells me not to drink water... but actually my gut says warm tea would be fine...

alternatively, this could just be an ego thing where i have got used to enjoying the feeling of superiorty i get when those i train with keep having to stop for breaks.

having said that, i do believe its good to be able to just keep on training and not need to stop. when i was more junior i would not train so seriously. Now, even if sifu is demonstrating something to the class, i will still stand in basic stance, relax my arms by my sides, concentrate on what is happening, not joke around etc.

but maybe thats just ego too

yeah, sounds more like an ego thing than anything else. I drink at least 64 fl. oz of water per day. If I feel the urge for water though, I will get some during the 1 min water break. When I don't get water, there is no feeling of superiority - we spar and roll on a regular basis, and most of us compete at various events. That tends to keep all egos in check.

[Stevo]

Isn't thirst your body telling you you need water? Isn't it better to drink little and often than to take it in large draughts? I can't see how it can be seen as a sign of weakness.

[Matrix]

Originally posted by AmanuJRY
Plus, I'm addicted to coffee so I drink more water than most because of that. Justin,
Just another thing we have in common. In Canada we have a chain call Tim Horton's. If you're ever looking for me, you will probably find me there. Although I do enjoy the occasional Starbucks. ;)

Most people do not drink enough water. Being dehydrated is not good for your system. Would you run your car low on coolant so that it's more macho than the other cars on the road? You and I can keep drinking our water. It's the right thing to do, IME. :)

[kj]

When I am thirsty, I drink.

I was once in a class where the instructor forbade people to get a drink except upon his permission. It remains rather incomprehensible to me that mature adults, fully responsible for their own health and well-being, would be told something like when they may and may not take a drink of water. There were other issues of excessive control as well, in addition to tension when some challenging technical question were posed. I grew more a sense of being in kindergarten than a mature adult class, and that there was an undue emphasis on humoring an instructor rather than on mutual respect and the needs of the learners. I did not stay in that class for very long.

Now when I am thirsty, I take a drink, and water is available to all in our training studio. If someone stops to take a drink as an excuse for being tired or lazy, as mature adults it is their right and their loss.

Regards,
- kj

[blooming lotus]

we know that dehyrdation comprimises performance by up to 60 % ( !), so for those that aren't hydrating throughout, how long at max would you do that for ..... train without rehydrating that is??

[Matrix]

Originally posted by kj
If someone stops to take a drink as an excuse for being tired or lazy, as mature adults it is their right and their loss. With Laser Beam accuracy, KJ, hits the center of the target. :)

[Matrix]

Originally posted by blooming lotus
we know that dehyrdation comprimises performance by up to 60 % ( !), so for those that aren't hydrating throughout, how long at max would you do that for ..... train without rehydrating that is?? Hey BL, I don't know about the 60% number, but regardless. It is signficant! I also understand that flexibilty is significantly impaired as well. Once again the ladies prove to be the more sensible than their chest thumping counter parts.

[foolinthedeck]

i know the science
even when you get a feeling of thirst your body is already dehydrated and operating at less than 100% efficiency. But its not just that i dont feel thristy at all and so dont drink.

its that if i do take a drink i feel worse, i feel like my chi sau suffers and i feel as if others find my chi sau suffers - now i havent done any double blind randomised controlled trials, but thats my experience.

maybe someone who is a water expert can diagnose my wierdness... i did go through a phase of drinking alot - the 8 glasses a day, but all that happened was that it made me feel more thirsty and i felt as if performance was compromised more, so i gave it up and just drank as normal.

at the time a colleague who is a nurse was telling how this could have been bad for me because its not just water we need, but also salt and minerals - which is why runners etc drink gatorade or whatever instead of just water. so perhaps my body is just telling me that water on its own will just reduce my mineral levels.

the things to do i think is to try drinking lots of water in class and record what happens, drinking hot water, salted water, gatorade, etc..

I'll let you know if u r interested at all

[Matrix]

Foolinthedeck,

You ain't no fool, that's for sure. :)
Your colleague may be on to something there. Maybe it's an electrolyte thing. I used to run a lot, 10ks and marathons. I could not drink Gatorade or equivalent as it made me feel ill. I could drink it watered down, but not straight. I guess we're all different and need to be in tune with our bodies. Many endurance athletes tend to work out their own mix, but one thing is for sure, they drink often during the event, not to mention before and after. Like you said, by the time your body tells you that it's thirsty, it's probably too late. I guess we should be discussing "fluid" in-take, not strictly water.

Let me know how it works out for you.

Take Care,

[blooming lotus]

yah, sure I'm interested. How much water do suppose you take in a day??

[AmanuJRY]

Originally posted by Matrix
Justin,
Just another thing we have in common. In Canada we have a chain call Tim Horton's. If you're ever looking for me, you will probably find me there. Although I do enjoy the occasional Starbucks. ;)

Most people do not drink enough water. Being dehydrated is not good for your system. Would you run your car low on coolant so that it's more macho than the other cars on the road? You and I can keep drinking our water. It's the right thing to do, IME. :)

Bill,

Ernie too. He likes the Starbucks ;) . Around here we have a roaster by the name of Dawson Taylor (http://www.dawsontaylor.com/default.aspx) who distributes to several shops and stands. I'm usually to be found at one of them, or a place called 'Flying M', which also has good beans. I hope to hang at Tim's and drink some java with you one day.

As a general rule of thumb, for me, every time I urinate I drink more water.:D