As an athlete there are things that you are told to do and not to do all the time. This is particularly true if you are a marathon runner or an athlete that has to have peak performance in a given activity. You are told that hydration is important, as is a healthy diet—but recent studies are finding that salt may be the key to better athletic performance too. This may seem a little confusing at first, but there are some legitimate reasons as to why this may be true.
Though you might think that salt can actually hurt your performance or slow you down, just the opposite may be true. Recent studies are finding that salt can help with the overall balance in your system. It may be the one single factor that helps you to be faster, stronger, and enjoy better endurance. Can it be possible that salt actually has a positive impact, particularly amongst athletes? Recent studies are finding that this is the way to go, and that increasing measures of salt intake may help you to be your best.
So if you are looking for ways to improve your overall athletic performance you need to look at salt in a whole new way. Yes, you do need to be careful not to overdo it, but this may help you in a whole new way and therefore it’s well worth taking a look at in your ability to be a trained athlete.
Increasing salt intake may help to make you faster and build up your endurance:
In these studies it was found that marathon runners for example cut up to 26 minutes off of their time. So by increasing your salt intake, it may help to make you faster. It may work in the same way for other athletes who are looking to be stronger or more efficient at their given activity. Though you might not think of salt as the catalyst in all of this, if consumed in the right amounts and the right way it can make all the difference.
You still must work to hydrate properly, as that becomes even more important:
This is an important point to make, for you aren’t just eating salt in unhealthy ways and then enjoying better performance. If you increase your salt intake, it is done in a healthy way, and you are also complementing it with proper hydration. To increase your overall athletic performance you balance out the salt intake with plenty of water, and that increase in water intake may be what helps you to be successful in the first place. It’s all about balance, and the more salt you eat the more water you drink and the equation works together in harmony.
Performing strenuous exercise may actually help to balance out electrolytes and therefore the salt as part of that:
When you strength train or perform a really strenuous activity, you are helping to balance out the salt in the body. Your body utilizes electrolytes and needs these, which are ultimately a combination of sodium and chloride. Since salt is part of that through the sodium component, you are giving your body what it needs and therefore contributing to better balance. Your body takes what it needs, and then contributes to the performance that you undertake.
The increased salt intake has a positive contribution to the mix of electrolytes in the blood:
To increase your athletic performance you are going to find that you need electrolytes just like you need water, as both will help you tremendously. By increasing salt in a measured way, you help to create the balance of electrolytes in the body and give your body what it needs in the proper amounts. You don’t end up keeping all that salt in the body as you do sweat it out. You turn to water out of thirst and that helps to keep you hydrated. So by adding just the right amount of salt in a properly measured way, you may help to balance things out and help your performance in a really effective way.