What’s the best thing for girls hockey players to drink before hitting the ice? Check out this video to find out which drink is going to give you the most energy and help you take your performance to the next level.
Water is by far the best thing to drink before you hit the ice. Keep yourself as hydrated as possible all day long by carrying your water bottle around with you at all times and sipping from it constantly.
Save the sports drinks for after a hard practice or game. The majority of girls hockey players are not on the ice long enough to require using sports drinks during an ice session. If you are out there for longer than an hour and working hard, you might want to think about having a sports drink on hand if your energy stores start to run low. Most players aren’t on out on the ice longer than an hour and should stick to water instead of sports drink as their beverage of choice.
Avoid the energy drinks and pop/soda at all costs. The huge amount of caffeine and sugar in these drinks will only take away from your on-ice performance instead of enhancing it.
When it comes to pre-hockey hydration strategies for girls hockey players, stick with good old H-2-0.
Writing this post is making me thirsty - gotta go grab some water! You should too!
~ Coach Kim
Yesterday I worked out real hard, so today I had a long practice and a hour of chalk talk with Coach without a workout. I drank a bottle of water before practice, along with my custom sandwich from Subway (meat, tomatoes, onions, lettuce cheese and wheat bread- no mayo or butter). After practice I had home made applesauce! See ya!
Amy
How much water should we be drinking before a game, because I find that I need to go to the bathroom when I’m on the ice. Is there a certain time when I should slow down my drinking and then start ‘loading up’ again closer to my ice time?
Madeleine
That’s a great question about how much water to drink. You need to drink a minimum of 500ml (2 cups) of water 2 hours before you hit the ice. In the two hours leading up to your ice time, just sip water when you feel thirsty. You want to avoid drinking too much in this 2 hour lead-up period as you don’t want your stomach or bladder to be too full once you hit the ice.
~ Coach Kim