Does Water Help Build Muscle?

Staying hydrated is closely connected to making your muscles bigger, stronger, and more toned. Besides helping your joints move smoothly and keeping your body temperature in check, water also gives you energy. It carries important nutrients all over your body, including muscles and bones.

We can see how fitness and staying hydrated work really well together thanks to Iron Flask, the folks behind America's favorite sports water bottle. If muscle hydration is a goal, investing in Iron Flask tumblers and water bottles is a great first step. 

The Importance Of Muscle Hydration

Keeping your muscles hydrated is super important for staying healthy and performing well. It's not just about quenching your thirst – staying hydrated helps your muscles work better and recover faster.

Good muscle hydration allows your body to move and generate power more effectively. Hydration also makes your joints work smoothly, so you're making you less likely to get hurt during exercise. Water is like a delivery system for your muscles. It brings important stuff like electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals to your muscles, which gives you energy and helps you recover faster after exercise. This also helps prevent muscle cramps when you're not drinking enough water.

Does water help build muscle? In a way, the answer is yes. While it’s not exactly a shake, water does an important job: it allows muscles to improve at fixing themselves and growing. But if you're not drinking enough water, your muscles might break down instead, and that's not good for building strength.

Simple Ways To Stay Hydrated

Now that you understand the danger of dehydrated muscles, here are a few simple and effective ways to achieve optimal performance with good old-fashioned H2O:

Invest In a High-Quality Water Jug

When it comes to staying hydrated with water, the quality is equally as important as the quantity. Compared to plastic, a go-to for convenience, a premium quality water jug made with stainless steel is non-toxic and doesn’t contain harmful chemicals like BPA, which can leach into the body over time. One of the best materials for a sports water bottle, premium stainless steel also never rusts, so your water won’t have an unpleasant metal aftertaste. It also will last a lifetime, which means less plastic pollution in the environment, a major contributing factor to climate change. Not only is a reusable water jug better for your health, but it’s also better for the planet, making it a win-win for everybody.

Whether you're exercising in the gym, hiking on a trail, or walking round the block, a stainless steel water bottle can give you water whenever you need it during your daily activities. Find a bottle with a strong handle that will help you hold it securely without slipping when moving around. There are different kinds of tops for active people, like a flip-top you can open with your mouth, a flexible straw, and a wide opening. All of these tops let you drink water without it dripping and without any leaks or spills. Pick a bottle that suits you best and start drinking more water.

Pre-Hydrate, Exercise, Rehydrate & Repeat

The connection between water and muscle growth is obvious, but staying sufficiently hydrated isn’t enough. According to experts on sports nutrition, you also need to drink enough fluids before and after your workout. How much water you need depends on several factors, such as the intensity of your workouts and your unique physiology.

As a general rule, drink water before and after your workout. The American Council on Exercise suggests drinking 17 to 20 oz of water about 2 or 3 hours before your workout. During your warm-up, they advise drinking 8 oz of water; when exercising, you should drink 7 to 10 oz of water every 10 to 20 minutes. Finally, they recommend drinking 8 oz of water no more than 30 minutes after your workout. Furthermore, if you sweat during your training session, drink 16 to 24 oz of water for every pound of lost body weight. For more information on calculating your sweat rate, check out our blog, “Staying Hydrated in Winter: How Important Is It?”

For high-intensity workouts lasting longer than an hour, the sports nutrition experts from familydoctor.org recommend staying hydrated with a sports drink, which will help replace any salts or electrolytes lost through sweating. 

You should also carefully choose the right sports drink for your needs. According to familydoctor.org, "They are often high in calories from added sugar and may contain high levels of sodium . . . If you drink the entire bottle, you may need to double or triple the amounts on the nutrition facts label." They also point out that some sports drinks contain caffeine, which may have a diuretic effect on the body, causing frequent urination, which means more fluids to replace.

With the combination of a weekly fitness routine and plenty of muscle hydration, you can achieve all your fitness goals!