How Much H2O

How much water do you need during a workout?

This is something I have pondered over for quite some time. It seems that it may differ from person to person depending on what you are actually doing. For cardio I’ve been told to take in 4 ounces every 20 minutes, but this seems like a wee bit of water for how much work you are doing. It is estimated that an hour of moderate to vigorous exercise can cause you to lose about 32 ounces of sweat, so you need to replace those fluids!

Improper hydration can cause you to lose strength during your workouts, so it is very important to drink that water! A lot of times when I am in a rush at the gym, I will end up taking a sip or two out of my water bottle because I am not thinking about hydration. I know this is so bad to do! When I am lifting, I am better at getting my water in because I sip in between sets even if I am not thirsty. Cardio, not so much and I need to fix that!

So how much water should we drink? After doing some research I found an “average” answer:

Drink Water How Much? When?
Before Exercise 8-16 oz At least 15 minutes before workout
During Exercise 4-8 oz Every 15-20 minutes
After Exercise 16-32 oz As soon as possible

Wow I guess I didn’t realize how much I should be drinking. Before exercise is not a problem for me, I am sipping on something all day long. If I do an hour and 20 minutes at the gym (most work days), that means I probably should take in anywhere from 32-40 ounces during my workouts. I think most days I am at the lower end of things, so I definitely need to up it some!

how much water

So from this I came up with the rule of 2’s using a 20 ounce water bottle. 2 bottles at work, 2 bottles during workouts, 2 bottles at home. That’s 120 ounces, almost a gallon! Bang.

Now that we’ve learned a little today let’s move on to the day!

Work was blah. Rounding, notes, dictations, same ol’. How sad is it that I couldn’t wait to wear my hot pink pants to the gym? I even wore matching hot pink socks to work!

hot pink socks

Then when it was time to go I changed into my workout gear! It was SO BRIGHT OUT! Wait no, that was the reflection from my pants 😉

bright clothes

See guys, this is what I’m talking about when I say clothes can motivate you to workout! They do not have to be expensive, but if you find items you LOVE and make you feel confident, then it’ll get your bum in that gym!

bum view

Funny enough my friend Alexis bought bright pants on Sunday too! We did not plan it nor did we ever talk about it. Must be friend ESP. They were a big bright move for both of us and we totally rocked them at the gym last night. Club neon was in the house!

Club neon
#brightbombshellbabes

Even our shoes kind of matched! I was about to swipe her headphones to complete my outfit 😛

My workout was cardio and biceps. I really was extremely sore from leg day, my knee was also bothering me, and my abs were feeling it from the chin ups. No ab exercise kills me like old fashioned chip ups. As I was doing them I could feel my abs strengthening and knew I was going to feel it the next day.

For biceps, I was getting sick of the same thing. So I wanted to try something new. After doing a little reading (yes I did a lot of this yesterday-slower day) I found cables and resistance bands work much better for building muscle because the body is constantly working against a resistance. If you pick up a dumbbell you work hard, but you’re more likely to let the weight drop on the way down. So I added cable and band work into my routine.

Here was my bicep workout:

  • hammer rope cable curls, 40-50 lbs, 12 reps x 4 sets
  • Bicep curls standing on resistance band, 12-15 reps x 4 sets
  • Side bicep curls standing on resistance band, 10 reps x 5 sets
  • Wide grip barbell curls, 30 lbs, 10 reps x 4 sets
  • Side bicep curls with 15 lb kettles, 10-12 reps x 4 sets
  • Hammer curls standing on resistance band, 12 reps x 4 sets
  • Pushups on bench, 10 reps x 4 sets
  • Prone barbell curls, 30 lbs, 10 reps x 5 sets
prone curls
these are my prone curls, I lie over the inclined bench and curl over the top, barbell is underneath (curl up and down)

Cardio was 30 minutes of the elliptical because my knee couldn’t handle anything else! I really should rest, but I‘m too darn stubborn.

biceps all day

When I came home I took Phoebe for a walk. She was so happy to see mama and danced around in the apartment. Outside she played in the bushes.

playing in bushes

We went back in and had chicken and a salad for dinner, followed by a casein treat (I freeze it to make it almost ice cream like).

The time really got away from me last night, before I knew it 11:20 was staring back at me and I still had things to finish up, but decided to put it off one more day and get some rest instead!

Later today I will be heading BACK to the gym for back day!

Remember to drink your water! Rule of 2’s 🙂

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie

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3 Comments

  1. Chelsea @ LittleOneRuns

    I find the water rules very interesting, especially the before. I was always told (for cardio) that it didn’t matter how much water you drank 30min-1hr before your run, it wouldn’t affect it, it was all about the water you drank the day before. So I’m not sure if that is true, it could have been just my coaches trying to make sure we took in enough water every day lol. But I will for sure try and at least reach 100 ounces now! Love that picture of you two! Love the neon 🙂

  2. amyt

    I’m sure I prob don’t drink enough….I have started drinking a gallon a day +…I bring my gal to work – mark it up, and I’m done by the time I leave work. So far so GOOD 🙂 I LOVE cute workout clothes…this is the part I hate about having my own gym, because I do not wear my cute stuff :-/ I want to save it LOL ahhh prone curls – those will work ya, I think it’s the whole hanging over, nothing to press your elbow against – just straight up curls…this reminds me I need to do some of these!!

    1. Katie

      I used to do the tick marks too but the big jug became overwhelming and I’d just stop drinking it.

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