Replenish The Works

Most sports require a lot of physical and mental strength. That is why it is important for athletes to take care of every aspect of their body. In this post, I will explain how you are supposed to keep your body running while still breaking it down through sports and activities.

What would you rather drive?

Not Taken-Care-of Car
Photo Courtesy of: Friedman Archives

Taken-Care-of Car
Photo Courtesy of : The Internet Pet Vet

The most important thing that your body needs to survive, even, is water. Without water in your system, your brain can't think correctly, so you get headaches, nausea, and breathing problems. This will happen if your just sitting around at home doing nothing. Imagine if you are working hard at a sport, such as water polo, for several hours a day, and you have nothing to drink. Your body pretty much shuts down because it has nothing to work off of or REPLENISH it with. I really need to start drinking more water, myself. I don't think that I have had a glass of water for the past three days. This is a really bad habit of mine, and I think I am going to go downstairs and grab a glass of water right now!

Okay, I am back.  The next important thing besides water is eating healthy. Every meal should be balanced with vegetables, dairy, protein, and carbohydrates, especially before a game or practice. I am not very big on dieting because I find that more harmful on your body than good for it. The most commonly used diet is one without certain proteins and carbohydrates. Your body needs these to perform everyday activities, so living without them should not be an option. Another meal that is important is your post-workout meal. After every practice of either swimming or water polo, I usually mix up a big glass of chocolate milk! The dairy in this is proven to rebuild all of the muscles that were broken down during the workout. Click here for an article written on all of the benefits of this amazing drink. Besides being great for your body, it tastes great, too!

The next part of your body that needs replenishing is your skin. The one thing that I can say for this is MOISTURIZE! A water-sport such as water polo requires you to be in a pool for a long time. Certain chemicals in pools can make your skin very dry and tight. That means it is important to apply lotion to your face and skin after every practice or game. Without moisturizing straight after contact with water, you are drying out your skin and basically destroying it. Your body lotion and your face lotion should be two different things because the skin on your face tends to be more sensitive. Try Nivea Soft Moisturizing Cream because it has no added scents and is great for the more sensitive-skinned people.

Nivea Soft Moisturizing Cream
Photo Courtesy of : Chandigarh Store

If I want to become the best athlete I can be, I need to keep my body replenished as well as I can.

Stay tuned for more posts coming soon, and make sure to keep replenishing the works!