How drinking water can help you build muscle

Dhun Jain
3 min readJun 20, 2022

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If fitness is essential to you, you probably have a variety of daily routines and disciplines in place to help you gain muscle — a certain amount of time spent exercising, a specified diet, a defined intake of vitamins, calories, and protein, and so on. But, among the long list of healthy behaviors, water consumption is frequently ignored.

Although water does not produce energy in the same way as carbs and fats do, it is a crucial medium in which energy reactions occur. Meaning, that if you’re dehydrated, your body’s energy processes are disrupted, resulting in weariness and decreased performance, especially when you’re completing strenuous workouts.

Being hydrated can have the following benefits for all those looking to build their muscles-

Water helps to keep your joints lubricated:

Water is an important component of the synovial fluid, which lubricates your joints and allows you to move freely. If you don’t drink enough water, even for a short period, your joints will have less fluid to protect them, which can be dangerous with the increased stress of weight lifting. Having healthy joints helps you perform all the movements with much more efficiency.

Water helps you get a better pump during a workout:

When your muscles are forced to contract by external forces, they contract. Water is drawn from the blood into the muscle cells and surrounding tissues during this contraction, causing the muscles to expand. However, if your water intake is insufficient or you’ve sweated a lot while working out, your body will shuttle water from muscles to the bloodstream to keep blood pressure and circulation stable, making appropriate water intake vital between sessions to keep the muscle pump going.

Water helps you recover faster:

Sore muscles are one of the most common roadblocks to continuous strength and muscle gains, and they can be difficult to overcome. Dehydration might make the recuperation process even more difficult. Drinking water can help you recover faster and feel less sore by flushing toxins from your system and keeping your muscles in good shape. Check out Root7’s stainless steel insulated bottles which keep the water cold or hot for up to 30 hours and also act as a reminder for you to complete your daily hydration quota.

Prevent muscle exhaustion and cramping:

Water is necessary for the passage of carbohydrates and oxygen into your muscles, among other things. It helps with digestion and eliminates metabolic waste like carbon dioxide from your hard-working muscles. It also aids in body temperature regulation, especially since your body muscles generate 20 times more heat while working out. When our body is dehydrated, the electrolytes in our muscles are depleted, resulting in cramping. Muscle strength and control are harmed in the absence of sufficient water and electrolyte balance since your muscles are regulated by nerves. So it’s important to keep the water bottle handy.

Muscle growth is enhanced:

Each time you lift weights, your muscles adapt to the increased strain. Muscle growth is hampered when you’re dehydrated. Dehydration, even mild or severe, reduces muscle endurance and strength. As a result, you lack the energy to complete one more rep. According to research, 1.5 percent dehydration reduces one rep max bench press muscular strength. Decreasing rep count inhibits muscle growth in terms of size and strength.

Make sure you drink a minimum of 3 liters of water every day to keep those muscles and joints strong and healthy.

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