Are You Actually Hydrated? A Decision Tree for People Who Train.
- Ward Stanford
- Jun 10
- 3 min read
Most hydration content falls into one of two camps. Either it's a scaremongering headline about how dehydrated everyone is, or it's an ad for a $4 electrolyte packet. Neither tells you what you actually need to know.
Here is the version that does.
Step One: Know Your Blood Pressure
Before you think about sodium, electrolytes, or any hydration strategy at all, you need to know what your blood pressure is doing. This is not optional, and it is not just for people who are older or overweight. Blood pressure is the upstream variable that changes what good hydration advice looks like for you specifically.
Monitor it at home with a cuff and bring the numbers to your doctor. If you have hypertension or hypotension, work with your physician to manage those first. Your hydration and sodium strategy should follow that clinical guidance, not replace it. Everything below applies to people whose blood pressure is normal or being well managed under medical care.
Step Two: Ask Yourself Two Questions
Question 1: Are you training for an hour or more per day?
Question 2: Are you a salty sweater? (Do you leave white residue on your skin or clothing? Does your sweat taste notably salty?)
If the answer to either question is yes, plain water is probably not enough during your sessions, and your daily sodium needs are higher than the average recommendation assumes. Here is why.
Sweat is not just water. You lose approximately 1.2 liters of fluid and 1.3 grams of sodium per hour of training. Water alone after a long session rehydrates blood plasma preferentially, not the interstitial space where your muscles actually live. Replacing fluid without replacing electrolytes is one of the most common and most avoidable mistakes active people make.
The other thing worth knowing: thirst lags behind fluid loss. By the time you feel thirsty during training, you are already behind. Even a 1% drop in body water begins to degrade performance. Waiting for thirst is not a hydration strategy.
If You Answered Yes: Your Starting Guidelines
Daily baseline: drink 2/3 of your bodyweight in pounds as fluid ounces per day. A 200-pound person targets roughly 133 oz.
Urine color check: aim for pale yellow, a 1 to 3 on an 8-point scale. Clear means you are overdrinking. Dark amber means you are behind.
Daily sodium for active individuals: 3 to 6 grams per day. Do not restrict it. If you are eating low carb, add 1 to 2 grams to that baseline.
During training: add 500mg of sodium per hour and match 1 gram of sodium per liter of fluid consumed. A quarter teaspoon of salt equals roughly 580mg.
Salty sweaters: aim for the higher end of sodium intake and consider electrolyte supplementation during sessions over 60 minutes.
Morning check: weigh yourself before bed and again in the morning. The difference in pounds is roughly how much fluid you need to replace before training. Add a pinch of salt.
Cramping during training almost always means hyponatremia, which is low sodium, not low potassium. Replace fluids with something salty, not just water.
What About Everyone Else?
If you train less than 60 minutes a day under normal temperature conditions and your sweat is not notably salty, standard water intake is sufficient for most sessions. You do not need to add electrolytes to every bottle. The supplement industry would prefer you think otherwise.
The exception is summer heat and high humidity. If you are exercising outdoors in conditions that feel like a wall of heat, treat yourself like a longer-session athlete for that day regardless of duration. Humidity reduces your body's ability to cool itself through evaporation, and heat exposure increases fluid and sodium losses faster than most people account for.
The short version: know your blood pressure, know your sweat rate, and stop treating plain water like a complete hydration strategy the moment your training gets serious. The answers are simple. Getting people to actually apply them is the hard part.
Ward Stanford | Built Anyway Coaching | NASM-CPT | NASM-CNC | J3U-L1 | MAOP
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