Post 4: How to Hydrate for Fencers

I go to as many tournaments as possible, and between rounds at every tournament, I make sure to keep a full water bottle near me all the time. I always did it as an instinct or just because my coach told me to. I never gave it much thought beyond “it’s hot in here” or “I get tired easily.” It turns out, there’s a pretty good reason behind it: losing just 2% of your body weight in sweat is enough to cause a noticeable drop in performance. Your reactions can get slower, your decision making is worse, and your strength and endurance just isn’t as good. A fencing tournament is never short. Sometimes, it can last up to six hours, and that’s plenty of time to sweat out more fluid than you’d expect while barely noticing it happening.

Taking care of your hydration doesn’t need to be complicated, sip little bits of water steadily throughout the day instead of chugging it all at once. Don’t wait until you start to feel thirsty to start drinking your water, since by then you’re already behind. A tournament is also not the day to experiment with some new sports drink or supplement you saw online, stick to things that you know work well. For an away tournament, that just means bringing your own water bottle and refilling it whenever you pass a fountain, rather than hoping you find water at the venue.

Interesting trivia: tennis pro Jim Courier once won a tournament in Orlando so severely dehydrated and cramping that he could barely stand to accept his trophy, and a tournament doctor had to give him IV fluids on the spot after messing up the needle placement (ESPN, 2009).