Sweat evaporation is primary for heat loss during exercise and therefore it can be substantial to keep your body temperature in order. Sweat contains beside water also electrolytes in form of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and chloride, which are lost during e.g. an intensive Moto training or race. If electrolytes and water are not appropriately replaced it can have a striking impact on the riders performance as the body is getting dehydrated, which can highly influence the performance.

It is proven that dehydration increases the physiological strain on the rider’s body and this is very accentuated in warm-hot weather conditions. A dehydration of more than 2% of the body weight can degrade the aerobic exercise performance and as a result the greater the dehydration level the greater the performance decrement will be.

Maybe more of a performance limiting factor for the rider is the degrade of mental/cognitive performance. The dehydration of more then 2% body weight has an influence on the coordination and reaction of the riders which has a mayor influence, together with the aerobic performance, on the individual riding performance and in the end on the race result.

In summary the facts above show very significantly that a balanced hydration is crucial for an optimum performance like a motocross race or enduro event.

So the question rises next, what are the best strategies to prevent dehydration?

Make sure you drink adequate fluid in the last 8-12 hours before your physical exercise. It’s more efficient to drink continuous small amounts of fluid over the last 8-12 hours then instead of drinking a lot in the last 2 hours prior the exercise. Always have in mind that the body need time to “storage” of the fluid in your body. Don’t drink just plain water, have a variety of drinks like water, juice and sport drinks.

From various measurements in different sports it can be estimated that the sweat loss in a 30 minutes Motocross race can be easily around 2 litres of sweat.  If you calculate that on an average person with 75 kg body weight we have already a dehydration of more then 2% of body weight during one race.

The problem on a motocross race day is that you have two races of 30 minutes plus a warm up session in the morning and that not getting into a fluid deficiency throughout the day is a mayor task for the riders. The rider should take any opportunity to keep the fluid level in balance and regulate the electrolytes on the right level already during the exercise (race) to make sure he is able to perform on his best personal level. Beside the sweat replacement is also crucial to keep up your energy intake.

Carbohydrates are the “fuel” of the rider during a race day and as mentioned before its performance enhancing if you keep also your energy levels in balance. Especially in warm – hot weather conditions it’s highly recommended to ingest energy in form of carbohydrates throughout drinking as several sport drinks offer a perfect combination of energy which is needed to perform on the best level.

In summary drinking is a very important factor to keep your performance at the best possible level. Therefore it is very advisable to have fluid intake already during exercise, which is performance enhancing for your physical aerobic performance and not to forget for your concentration and coordination at that point of exercise and even more in warm – hot weather conditions and furthermore it will be also playing an important factor to optimize your fluid balance for the second race of the day.

For more information on how to stay hydrated check out www.uswe-sports.com