Understanding hydration protocols for Jiu-Jitsu
Being slightly dehydrated will affect your performance, so it is very important to stay on top of your hydration, especially if your sweat rate increases massively during training.
Physiology
We have 3 compartments in our body in which fluid is stored.
Within these compartments, we have electrolytes which are minerals in the blood and body fluid, that carry an electric charge, the body is moving these electrolytes around the body to maintain equilibrium.
Water moves in the body based on the concentration of electrolytes in different compartments of the body for example when we sweat our body moves fluid from the blood onto our skin to cool the body.
Each day we lose body fluid based on, daily activity, going to the bathroom, sweating, and breathing. This fluid loss is around 2.5L per day (depending on your weight). For most people, consuming around 2.5 liters of water a day is going to be ideal - not including exercise.
Electrolytes
When we are talking about athletes its a different ball game, due to the levels of sweat loss, we are losing not only liquid but also electrolytes. So it's important to understand when it comes to rehydration we MUST include electrolytes into the equation.
Electrolytes are needed so the fluid can move from compartment to compartment so the fluid can go back into the cells where it's needed most.
Find your baseline
As for athlete guidelines as suggested above the bare minimum should be 30ml per kg of body weight eg - 90kg males should consume 2.7L of water a day (not including exercise yet).
On top of that baseline, athletes should get into the habit of weighing themselves before and after training to calculate the total fluid loss. You will then x that loss by 1.2 - 1.5 for example let's say you lose 1.2 kg during training - 1.2 x 1.2 = 1.44 liters of fluid that needs replacing WITH ELECTROLYTE SOLUTION EACH TRAINING SESSION.
View all slides from this Instagram post to learn more about hydration and if you have any questions, ask them in the comments.