Hydration on the rower

[daveholdcraft1]

I want to create this thread to address best practices for staying hydrated - before, during, and after your efforts.

What advice do you have for noobs like me or even seasoned pros for staying hydrated throughout your efforts?

-Technique, form, & stroke maintenance
-Hydration solutions: water vs electrolytes
-Options & advice for hydrating during home workouts, gym workouts, and competition
-Helpful advice unique to indoor rowing

I am new to the world of indoor rowing but I am really excited to get on the machine and start logging meters!

[Citroen]

If it's less than 15K or an hour just get fully hydrated before you start.

For pieces over an hour you won't lose anything by putting the handle down, picking up a cyclist's bidon, drink, put the bidon down and continue rowing.

Some folks use a camel back but I've always found the stop for a bidon isn't a problem.

[Dangerscouse]

I want to create this thread to address best practices for staying hydrated - before, during, and after your efforts.

What advice do you have for noobs like me or even seasoned pros for staying hydrated throughout your efforts?

-Technique, form, & stroke maintenance
-Hydration solutions: water vs electrolytes
-Options & advice for hydrating during home workouts, gym workouts, and competition
-Helpful advice unique to indoor rowing

I am new to the world of indoor rowing but I am really excited to get on the machine and start logging meters!

Welcome to the forum.

Personally I don't drink anything for a session less than 20 miles (32k) as I don't need it, and that's despite sweating a lot. I do drink a lot every day (circa four or five litres) so that may make a difference. I almost always row in the early morning so I don't drink much beforehand apart from a double espresso and a small amount of water (probably 150ml)

If I'm a doing a FM, or further, I'll always row one handed with a quick drink every now and again.

As for the other topics, there is a ton of info if you do a search, or you can ask specific questions as we are always willing to help

[day]

i would not consider myself any kind of authority here and I mostly defer to the huge amount of assembled expert opinion accumulated here within these various forum threads

However, i personally always make hydration preparations for any row longer than 30mins (ranked or not) and am just sharing my own preference and solution.

Obviously there is a quite a time penalty involved in reaching for a water bottle or drinking from a cup/beaker (getting rim of vessel to connect with mouth and the liquid to go in and nowhere else) can get a bit messy. Also there is the unavoidable disruption to your stroke/rhythm. For me the camel-back suggestion would be a non-starter.

So, i would offer my own coping strategy for keeping hydrated, which is to split an orange or clementine into its constituent segments and have them within arm's reach - i have a bench sat parallel to the rower where the segments are within easy grasp - and to grab a segment on the return to the catch.
No effort/consideration is expended in docking of a bottle/rim of cup with your mouth and no time is wasted returning the bottle or cup to its resting place.

I've also tried using small pieces of chopped-up apple & pear, and whilst also good for re-hydrating, i have on a couple of occasions inhaled pieces of fruit which then totally disrupted the rhythm. So i now stick with orange or clementine segments and so far, have not had any further airway ingestion issues.

[MPx]

I typically erg in the early evening before dinner. I'll have had "normal" drinks (coffee/tea) all day and a slug of milk before I start. I never row anything longer than a HM which for me is just under 90 mins and I dont need a drink during that time. I do take <pint of milk in with me for interval sessions and have a mouthful or two during the rests. I like it, but I don't need it, and perform no differently when I forget to take it in. Once I finish, again milk is my refresher of choice. All the milk I drink is skimmed and I use it because I like it. However, that prejudice was reinforced by one of those Dr Mike Mosley myth buster medic programs when they tested people's recovery using various "sports" drinks - from water through isotonics to powders etc. Milk came out roughly twice as good as the next best.

[Carl Watts]

32K was the magic cutoff point for me when I tried to do a FM with no hydration.

You can bang out a HM no problem without drinking during the row, used to do it all the time for a monthly challenge day after day.

The FM I managed to complete I went through about 4 x 750ml bottles containing Electrolytes and still finished with bad cramp in both legs the seconds after I finished and stopped.