The Importance of Liquids to Physique and Physical Performance

By Stephen Berger

If three quarters of the face of our planet are covered in water, why do we call it Earth? I suppose it is because we live on land, but this does not change the fact that the most significant element of our planet is a liquid. And we can apply the same analogy to our bodies. The fact is we worry about the foods we eat for maximum performance and muscle gains without realising that, just like our bodies, they are comprised of around 70% water. It is without doubt the most important substance around.

If you paid attention in school you would know that chemically speaking the human body is nothing but a bag of water with some minerals in it. In fact, after death and the loss of all fluids and liquids all that is left of a human body is a little pile of four or five kilos of ashes or mineral salts. Everything else is liquid.
Even bones, as solid as they seem, are 25% water. The muscles that drive our physical performance and the brain that directs our movements and permits thought are made up of around 75% water, the blood that carries nutrients around 82%, and the lungs that permit respiration and obtain oxygen from the air we breath are around 90% water.
Depending upon the age and characteristics of an individual, such as proportions of fat and muscle, the entire mass of the body can be made up of 55-74% liquid. Young people generally have more than water in their bodies than old people, and women more than men.
Water is much more important to our survival than food. Of course, eating is necessary for life and even those who most rigorously use fasting as a life tool would still die if they did not eat, but while it is possible to go for some months without food a person would die in only a few days without water. 

The Significance of Water
Water is the source of life and the most essential factor in it. The body of a 75kg athlete contains about 50kg of water and in extreme conditions, such as intense training, that amount must be replaced entirely over seven days.
Body water is replaced through drinking, most often water itself, as well as milk, fruit juice, coffee tea and even soups. Fruit and vegetables are our other sources of liquid replenishment.
Studies show that a mere 3% loss of fluid can result in a 10% drop in contractile strength in muscles, or an 8% drop in speed. In general terms, physical performance can drop by 10% with just 2% dehydration.
In a sense, you could consider water to be the natural solvent, because it dissolves substances that are then transported about the body to permit the organs to function correctly.
Water is essential to digesting food and diluting nutrients so they can travel in the blood stream. It is also essential to expelling waste products from the body and is the perfect medium by which all the biochemical reactions of the metabolism take place.
Water also regulates body temperature and is indispensable in carrying the electrical pulses between cells that allow the muscles to move, the eyes to see and the brain to think.
Of all the liquid in the body, three quarters of it are in intracellular fluids, or inside the cells, and the rest is outside the cells in blood, lymph nodes, bodily secretions and urine.
Around 15% of this water is obtained through internal re-absorption during the metabolising of food, in other words recycled, and the rest comes from food and drink. 

The Best Drink For Hydration
You can get water from different sources. Drinking eight glasses of water is one way to replace all the water you body uses up during a day, but don’t forget that water is also obtained from other drinks like coffee, tea, soft drinks, juices and milk. Apart from oils, which are the only water-free liquids, all others contain abundant water, since that is what they basically are: water with a little of something else in it.
However, all drinks are not equal as far as replacing lost fluids goes. For example, equal amounts of coffee and water do not provide the body with the same amount of liquid, because the caffeine in the coffee is a diuretic that stimulates fluid loss. The same thing occurs with tea and cola drinks. Likewise, beer, wine and liquors contain alcohol, which as well as being a diuretic also damages the kidneys, thus causing even greater fluid loss. As you can see, all drinks are not equally suited to the task of hydrating the body.
With fluid loss the body runs the risk of dehydration, and it also loses electrolytes. These are essential to maintaining the water balance in the body, regulating body temperature, and take part in dozens of biochemical reactions. The body requires sodium, potassium and chloride in an ideal ratio in order to carry out its electrical functions.
Drinking water is not sufficient for replacing these electrolytes, because the content is too low, even though the loss of water from the body takes these elements with it. And without water and these minerals the muscles cannot function properly, they seize up and tire, circulation drops and sweating no longer keeps the body cool. As body temperature increases the muscles cramp, exhaustion sets in and the body may even collapse with excess internal heat.
So who needs extra water? Active people, those exposed to hot climates, and those who eat high protein diets.
When it is hot the body sweats, and the evaporating sweat cools the skin. If the body is not sufficiently cooled it will go on losing fluid through sweating, and if the fluid is not replaced things can become complicated, because it is not just water that is being lost but precious electrolytes as well.
With a high protein diet extra water is required to flush out the excess of nitrogen compounds that result from the metabolising of protein. So, if you love training and hope to build up your muscles you are surely on a high protein diet, as that is one of the keys to success, but be aware that you need to elevate your water consumption significantly. You need water to clear out the waste products resulting from the metabolising of protein, and the bigger your muscles are the more water you need, because as we said before they are around 75% water.
Ultimately, whether you are most interested in building a physique with toned muscle or simply maintaining optimum health, remember that as someone said a person is basically “a hairy bag of liquid”, and nothing is better for the body than a glass of pure water.

Average Water Content In Foods			How We Lose Water
Lettuce	90%		Respiration & Sweat	850-1200ml
Skimmed Milk	74%		Urine	600-1.600ml
Cream Cheese	59%		Faeces	50-200ml
Hamburger Pattie (raw)	50%
Swiss Cheese	38%		Daily Electrolyte Requirements
Bread	29%		(For a 70kg adult)
Margarine	10%		Sodium	500mg
Powdered Milk	2%		Potassium	2000mg
Oil	0%		Chloride	750mg