I recently read a study, which concluded that athletes’ performance , to some extent, directly related to their level of hydration or dehydration. The better the body is hydrated, the better they will be able to keep their performance at a high level and fatigue will also settle in harder than with a person who is suffering from mild or acute dehydration.

Obviously, this is not the only factor that affects performance, but it’s one of those small details that make up a whole. And as a soccer player, you’ll want to take care of each detail in order to ensure that the whole, your performance, is intact by the time the ref blows his starting whistle.

I noticed that a lot of soccer player (especially younger ones) tend to put an equality sign between dehydration and thirst. Although both concepts face the same bodily requirement to replace fluids, thirst is a momentary situation that you can solve with a single drink, whereas dehydration is a chronic state. For example, you’re lacking certain vitamins from your body and you’re hungry. Eating a plateful of chicken wings may settle your hunger, but that doesn’t mean that your vitamin problem will be solved.

There’s such a large gamma of sports drinks out there that it’s quite hard to choose the “right” one for yourself, or for your team if you’re a coach. A good sports drink is one that offers a high amount of carbohydrates and water, but that doesn’t mean that good old H2O can’t be good for proper hydration just by itself.

Sports drinks do have some advantages though: they’re better tasting so they can be drank in larger quantities, they have carbs that can’t be found in simple water and they have glucose which helps with reducing fatigue and muscle tiredness.

Obviously, juices and sodas aren’t the best choice. Anything that has carbonation in it can cause you an aching stomach and that’s the worst you could get in a soccer match. Milk is way too heavy on the stomach and can also cause an upset belly, so it’s best if you think of milk as a source of macronutrients rather than a means of proper hydration.

When should I drink it?

In order to keep your self well hydrated, you need to drink well at least 16 hours before the match, several times during the match and a few hours after it’s over. You can start by drinking plain water a few days prior to the match, at set intervals, even when you’re not particularly thirsty.

You don’t need to hydrate yourself using sports drinks that early on, since the extra carbohydrates you get from them will go to waste. However, it’s a good idea to use a sports drink in your light pre game meal as a source of carb fuel for the upcoming effort.

If the game allows it, try drinking sips of a sports drink during the match as well. Don’t drink too much, or you’ll get a full belly that can hinder you from running or being as mobile. However, short sips can replenish your carbohydrate storage and fluids, keeping you at 100% performance at all times.

After the game, you can hydrate yourself using an inverse method to the one used before it. Right after the match has ended, drinking some carb rich fluid will help you relax and replenish your energies faster, so you won’t feel as tired as you would otherwise. It will also help relax your muscles so you’ll be ready to jump right back into training the next day or the day after.

After you feel you’ve refreshed yourself enough using the carb rich sports drink, you can switch to plain water again, drinking it at set intervals for a couple more days, again, even when you’re not thirsty.

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Tags: Hydration, juices, performance, Soccer, Sports drinks