With the World Cup in full force, the focus on athletic performance is high on everyone’s radar. Soccer players are exceptionally fit individuals, running up to 7 miles in a 90-minute game period, practicing three times a day up until the matches. While fitness, mental strength, and teamwork play a massive role in their success, hydration is essential for overall player performance.

With Brazil as one of the hottest tournaments on record, hydration is at the top of the list for players when it comes to strength, power and endurance. When athletes are competing in intense temperatures, hydration can make all the difference in the success of a team. In fact, in the 2006 World Cup, David Beckham blamed his poor performance on lack of proper hydration.

The sports journal published a study that found for even just 5% dehydration, which can happen in less than 45 minutes, a player’s physical capacity can be reduced by up to 30%. This is because the skin, muscles, and heart are all competing for fluids, and there simply isn’t enough to go around. As time goes on, the body becomes less efficient at cooling itself. When this happens, heart rate goes up substantially, pushing players closer to their physical max, and seriously compromising endurance and physical safety. When we see goals being made in the last few minutes of a game, it makes it clear that being strong and properly hydrated until the end can make all the difference.

Whether you’re a competitive athlete or simply use exercise to stay healthy and energized, hydrating the right way will have a powerful impact on your performance and results. Try these tips to get top results with proper hydration.

1. Calculate your sweat rate

Calculating your sweat rate helps you learn how much water you’re losing during a workout, and how much you need to drink to get rehydrated. To do this, weigh yourself before and after a workout. Multiply the difference by 16 and the result will be the amount of fluids in milliliters you need to drink to rehydrate. Knowing this number will help you be much more effective with your hydration to support physical endurance.

2. Prepare yourself

It typically takes the body 45 minutes from drinking water to become hydrated, and experts suggest getting hydrated the day before a big event so that your body is adequately prepared. If you realize right before you workout you need to hydrate, guzzling water can cause the stomach to cramp during exercise, and can impair your workout. Penta helps you perform at your best because your body is being hydrated with ultra-pure H2O that absorbs more quickly into your cells. 

3. Prevent dehydration

Dehydration of 2% or more-meaning you lose 2% body mass during an hour workout- can impair your athletic performance. Even when you’re not exercising, your body loses about 10 cups of water a day. That means it’s important to always be actively hydrating to maintain a constant balance. Water is your best source for this, but lots of foods help to hydrate you also including citrus, apples, melons, cucumber, lettuce and broccoli. By consciously drinking pure and refined water like Penta, and eating the right foods, you’ll satisfy your hydration needs and be able to expect the best from yourself physically.

Maybe you’re an athlete, or maybe you get your workout on the sidelines cheering on your team, but wherever you fall, hydration is essential for a healthy and vibrant life. We recommend doing it the innovative way, so live pure, drink Penta.