What you put into your body is just as important as what workout you do with it. There are many different meal plans, nutritional tips and supplements on the market to help your body reach optimal performance. However, perhaps the most simple tip is the most important for your body’s performance and recovery: drinking enough water. Staying hydrated is key in maintaining a proper body temperature, transporting nutrients throughout your body and keeping normal muscle function following exercise.

 Water is a huge part of our biological composition. Water makes up for about 60% of a male’s body and 50% of a female’s body, so it makes sense why staying hydrated is so critical for the health of our bodies. Water helps break down food, carry the nutrients throughout our bodies and discard the waste through urine. From start to finish, it helps the intake and output flow of what goes into our body. During intense activity, you can lose upwards of 5% water weight, when it only takes 2% loss of water weight for dehydration to occur. When dehydration occurs, muscles lose their normal functionality and you may experience symptoms such as cramping, dizziness and weakness. Dehydration causes strain directly to your heart as it forces the heart to pump blood at a faster pace, causing potential heart discomfort or irregularities.

 In a Mayweather Boxing + Fitness class, the unique combination of boxing and conditioning circuit training causes members to sweat a lot – which is the goal. However, it is important to understand how you should replenish yourself following an intense workout. While the exact amount of water one should consume following a workout varies, a good guideline is to drink 15-20 ounces of water the hour or so leading up to your workout, and for every pound of water weight lost during exercise, 16-20 ounces of fluids to replenish yourself. While it is possible to drink too much water, the likeliness of that happening is very low, and most people tend to underestimate how much water they should really be drinking. While many people think sports drinks are needed to fully replenish themselves after a workout, oftentimes water is more than enough to do the trick. Sports drinks are beneficial with their extra electrolytes, but their levels of sugars are often much higher than an athlete of a standard level would need. With extremely long and arduous workouts, such as a marathon, sports drinks may be needed to help bring your body back to stable levels.

 Staying hydrated with water is also an important factor in weight loss. To begin with, water helps flush out your body of its toxins without putting anything foreign or artificial in your body. Drinking water half an hour before a meal has shown to increase satiety and and make you naturally want to eat less. Studies have also shown that drinking half a liter of water boosts your metabolism. If you’re feeling a little low on energy and lacking motivation for your upcoming workout, water can also be the answer you’re looking for. Water enters your body and keeps your cells firing, helping to wake you up and give a boost to your brain for an increased focus.

 People often take into account the more complex, trendy nutrition tips and forget the simple facts. Water is the most important thing you can consistently supply to your body, especially when you’re working out. In order to have more energy coming into your next Mayweather Boxing + Fitness class, push harder and recover quicker, it is essential to stay on top of your water intake and hydration level.