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Healthy Hydration & Choosing the Best Workout Drink

19th August 2025

Fitness Health

19th August 2025

By Josh Makin

We’ve all been there; you’re struggling through a workout you know you can ace, and feel especially tired afterwards. You might think it’s down to your fitness levels, a lack of sleep, or maybe it’s just ‘one of those days’ where things don’t quite click. In reality, it might be far simpler than that.

You might be dehydrated.

What is dehydration?

Dehydration happens when the body is losing more fluid than it is taking in, slowing down your ability to function and reducing the body’s number of electrolytes. For any exercise, staying hydrated is especially crucial. 

Dehydration can lead to issues like fatigue and decreased focus, with the lost electrolytes driving unregulated fluid levels, nerve function, and muscle contractions. That’s why electrolytes are one of the key ingredients behind our very own The Hydrate Blend supplement.

While current UK guidelines suggest that adults aim for around 6-8 glasses of water (1.5-2 litres on average) to stay hydrated, this figure doesn’t consider any sweat-loss water through exercise. As such, healthy hydration can differ greatly from person to person depending on exercise (eccentric, isometric &/or concentric), body type, temperature, age and plenty more. 

So that leaves the question: how much fluid do you need to stay hydrated? How do we know we are getting enough? And why is effective exercise hydration so important?

Man and woman working out

The importance of hydration?

It might seem obvious now, but healthy hydration during exercise is fundamental, yet frequently overlooked. In addition to the more general benefits of an improved mood and increased ability to concentrate, hydrating effectively also has these typical benefits to workout performance:

Delivers oxygen and nutrients

Rehydration drinks are an unmatched tool for your body to transfer oxygen and therefore fuel the muscles. The increased nutrients in the muscle such as carbohydrates, proteins (like those found in our The Lean Protein) and electrolytes, allow you to go the extra mile during your workout.  

Improved energy levels

Hydration plays a pivotal role in energy production. When you're dehydrated, your blood volume decreases, making it more difficult for your heart to pump blood efficiently. This can lead to reduced oxygen delivery to your muscles, resulting in fatigue and decreased energy levels.

Regulate body temperature

When core temperature rises because of a workout, our body’s natural response is to sweat to cool it down. Dehydration however limits the production of sweat meaning that the body can no longer regulate temperature properly during intense exercise.

Joint lubrication

When you're hydrated well (especially during strength workouts where you push to the max), your body can produce enough of a joint lubricant called synovial fluid. This reduces friction between the bones and cartilage in your joints, preventing wear and tear and reducing the risk of injury and inflammation.

Faster recovery

Adequate hydration is essential for post-workout recovery, helping your body repair and rebuild damaged muscle tissue. This means you can support your body's natural recovery process and return to your next workout feeling refreshed and ready to perform.

When is the best time to rehydrate?

Proper fuelling and hydration should occur at every stage of a workout to get the best benefit for your workout. According to a study from the nutrition journal, ‘maintaining proper hydration before, during, and after’ a workout will help to reduce any fluid loss, lower submaximal heart rate and help to maintain performance throughout.

This includes pre-workout hydration, workout rehydration drinking and post-workout recovery hydration.

Group Workout

Pre-workout hydration

Hydrating at this stage provides optimal oxygen to the muscles and enhances your focus and concentration to ensure your body is ready to perform at its best.

Exercise hydration

Drinking during exercise allows for immediate replenishment of fluids (and subsequent electrolytes, proteins and oxygen to the blood) once they are lost to sweat, fuelling your workout and reducing fatigue.

Post-workout hydration

Fuelling with hydration after a workout allows for effective muscle recovery as well as nutrient absorption, ensuring the body can quickly repair and rebuild any muscle tissue.

How much should I drink during exercise?

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) suggests individuals consume:

  • Around 500ml-600ml of water 2-3 hours before a workout
  • 200ml-300ml of water 30 minutes before a workout
  • 200-300ml of water per 10-20 minutes of exercise
  • 230ml of fluid 30 minutes after a workout. 

These figures however, are fairly general estimations. 

The amount of water you should drink before, during, and after exercise depends on several factors including:

  • Temperature and humidity
  • Intensity of the workout
  • Personal sweat rate

Tips for staying hydrated

As well as knowing when to hydrate, it’s just as important to know how to stay hydrated and the best ways to keep hydrated during a workout. Fear not. We have included our top 5 go-to tips for staying hydrated.

Listen to your body

With several different factors, only you know how hydrated you are. The most obvious thing to say would be to drink when you’re thirsty, however, there are other signs to rehydrate such as dry mouth, muscle cramping and fatigue.

Drink proactively

It’s a good tip to try and drink before you get to a point of needing rehydration. Consider sipping water regularly throughout your workout, even when you're not thirsty. This helps maintain hydration levels and prevents dehydration from becoming severe.

Consider your environment

As we mentioned at the start, your environment plays a large part in how much you need to drink to rehydrate. While heat can play a large part in needing to hydrate more (hard exercise in warm weather is particularly tough), the intensity of your workout also plays a large part in hydration. 

Choose the right rehydration drink

Water is the tried and true rehydration drink, however, it’s also important to consider any hydration supplements such as Innermost’s The Hydrate Blend.

Look for any signs of dehydration

The last tip is to look for any signs that could indicate dehydration and rehydrate as soon as possible if the symptoms do begin to show. Below are a few of the signs to look out for: 

  • Headaches and Dizziness
  • Muscle Cramps
  • Dry Mouth and Throat
  • Fatigue
  • Difficulty Concentrating

Choosing the best workout drink

When it comes down to your workout, healthy hydration is possibly one of the simplest yet overlooked tools to smash your next workout. By staying hydrated with regular sips of water infused with Innermost’s The Hydrate Blend, your body’s muscles will be infused with both oxygen as well as performance-driving nutrients such as proteins and electrolytes. 

As with all our products, The Hydrate Blend ingredients are backed by science, and science never lies.

References

  • Sawka M, Latzka, R. et al. Hydration effects on temperature regulation. Int J Sports Med. Click here
  • Duvillard S, Braun W, R. et al. Fluids and hydration in prolonged endurance performance. Nutrition. Click here


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How To Stick To Your New Year Fitness Routine

It’s that time of the year again - the New Year's fitness buzz. A time where motivation is high, new workout plans are made, gym bags make a return, and everything feels full of possibility! And yet, for many people, this momentum is short-lived. By mid-February, routines can start to slip. Sessions get skipped. Motivation fades. The resolution quietly dissolves, something often accompanied by frustration or guilt. If that sounds at all familiar, it’s firstly worth saying this upfront: it’s not a personal failure. In most cases, it’s a structural one. It might sound strange, but having a long term and consistent fitness routine isn’t solely about having the most ‘willpower’, or forcing yourself to run just because it’s ‘new year, new me’, it’s about building an individual routine that works for you and sets you up in the best position to hit your workout goals in the long term. To make things easier, we’ve put together this nifty guide diving into the science of new year’s fitness, why traditional workout resolutions so often fall apart, and what genuinely helps when it comes to building habits that last for the long term. Right, let’s get into it. Why New Year’s fitness resolutions don’t succeed  Before exploring how you can set your fitness goals for the long term, it’s important to understand why so many fall short.  The main reason comes down to something psychologists call the “fresh start effect”. This is a period that interrupts the calendar schedule (such as New Year's), creating a mental separation between the past and the future. Such a fresh start makes change - like the restarting of a fitness routine - mentally easier to overcome because the past feels neatly boxed away.  While this sounds good on paper, the problem is that motivation alone isn’t enough to sustain long-term behavioural change.  Many New Year’s fitness routines struggle to last because they often: Focus on outcomes instead of training plans and sustainable behaviours. Target instant change Focus on unrealistic fitness goals Shall we run from the top? Outcome-based targets One pitfall people often find themselves in is setting a New Year’s fitness goal that is driven by outcome without proper planning.  Some examples might be: Losing weight  Getting fit  Running a marathon All great targets to strive for, yet without a training plan or strategy to achieve them, they can quickly feel unattainable and therefore interest drops off. This makes creating and sticking to a new year’s exercise plan key to achieving your goals, asking: what do you want to achieve? What steps are you going to take to achieve them? And how will you measure your progress? Too much change and unattainable fitness goals With the fresh start effect, it can feel productive to try and overhaul all your health practices. A new training plan. A stricter diet. Earlier mornings. Fewer social plans. Better sleep. More productivity. Individually, these changes are all positive (we’ve spoken about the positive effects of many in the past ourselves). Making all these large life changes in a short space of time, however, can lead to something called ‘cognitive overload’. Each new habit requires attention, decision-making, and self-control, leading to decision fatigue buildup and increasing the likelihood that behaviours will be dropped rather than maintained. Sustainable change tends to work the opposite way. Small, manageable shifts layered gradually over time allow habits to stabilise before new ones are added. Instead of replacing your entire lifestyle in January, long-term routines are built by choosing one or two priorities, letting them settle, and then building from there. Unrealistic fitness goals Another common reason why new year workout plans don’t work is that the end goals being set aren’t realistic to achieve in the time frame given. Training every day. Completely overhauling diet. Expecting visible results within weeks are just a few sure-fire ways to see your fitness plans gone by the end of January. This is because when progress isn’t immediately visible, individual motivation drops. Any missed sessions start to feel like failure, and the routine becomes something to avoid rather than return to. This can lead to a plateau in motivation and a workout rut that sees you lose all motivation to continue your fitness plan. The best way to avoid this? Tailor your New Year’s workout plan to what is realistic for you to achieve. Remember, everyone is different and you should avoid trying to replicate someone’s workout plan who is at a much different point in their journey. What helps you stick to a fitness routine So now we’ve covered the pitfalls faced with New Year's resolutions, what are some of the ways that you can set yourself up for success going into 2026? Starting your workouts small It might sound a little backward, but maintaining a new year’s fitness routine is all about incremental improvements - starting small and building up to ambitious fitness goals. In essence, try to make your workouts feel manageable from the outset.  This removes much of the physical and mental friction caused by sharp changes and removes the possibility of overtraining syndrome - something that can lead to both physical and mental fatigue. Instead of asking your body and mind to adapt to a dramatic shift all at once, you allow both to adjust gradually - which is exactly how sustainable habits are formed. Personal, not performative goals A common reason New Year's fitness routines fall apart is that the goal itself was never truly personal.  Many resolutions are shaped - often unconsciously - by external pressures: how we think we should look, what others are doing, or what feels ‘socially impressive’. These goals can create a strong initial push, but they rarely provide enough depth to sustain effort in the long term. Personal goals, by contrast, are rooted in lived experience. They’re connected to how you want to feel day-to-day, not how you want to appear to others. Wanting more stable energy through the afternoon, fewer aches and pains, better sleep, or improved resilience during stressful periods may not sound as dramatic as a body transformation, but they’re far more motivating over time.  This is supported by behavioural research showing that exercise routines rooted in intrinsic motivation - feeling better, moving more easily, managing stress - are significantly more likely to be maintained long-term than goals shaped by appearance or external pressure. These outcomes are felt quickly and repeatedly, which reinforces the habit itself. Fitting fitness into your routine Again, seems counterintuitive, but a workout routine that only works under perfect conditions won’t survive beyond January.  You can’t change things like long workdays, family responsibilities, travel, and low-energy weeks, and you shouldn’t try to. Your regular workout routine should function around these things. The key here is that fitness is flexible. It allows for shorter sessions, longer sessions, varied training styles, and a broader definition of movement that can all be tailored to your day-to-day routine. Your also not limited by location, you could workout at home, at the gym, with groups, whatever fits into your routine.  The role of recovery in New Year’s fitness One of the most overlooked reasons people struggle to stick to New Year’s fitness routines is actually physical and mental fatigue. While this is to be expected to some extent - and you can control fatigue by following the above tips - you also need to consider the importance of effective recovery and how you are fuelling your body between workouts. Just some of the ways you can improve recovery are: Sleep quality: Quality sleep is when the body actually recovers, repairs tissue, and resets energy levels for the next day. Without it, even light training can start to feel disproportionately demanding. Effective hydration: Staying properly hydrated helps support circulation, muscle function, and focus, making both workouts and recovery feel smoother and more manageable. Complete nutrition: Providing the body with enough protein, carbohydrates, fats, and micronutrients gives it the building blocks it needs to repair, adapt, and maintain steady energy over time. It’s also worth considering tailored nutrition-focused supplementation such as Innermost’s The Recover Capsules and The Hydrate Blend. Reframing New Year fitness: from resolution to routine An effective mindset shift you can make this new year is moving away from the idea of a “resolution” and towards a routine. Resolutions are often outcome-focused - lose weight, build muscle, run faster. Routines are behaviour-focused - train three times a week, walk daily, prioritise recovery. This reframing is also key when thinking about how to stick to your New Year’s fitness resolution. Instead of asking, “Am I seeing results yet?”, the more useful question becomes, “Can I repeat this next week?” Remember, the most effective fitness routines aren’t created in January - they’re carried through February, March, and beyond. References Dai, H., Milkman K.L., Riis,J. (2013).The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior. Management Science. 60 (10), 2563-2582. Click here. Cezar, B., Macada, A. (2023). Cognitive Overload, Anxiety, Cognitive Fatigue, Avoidance Behavior and Data Literacy in Big Data environments. Information Processing & Management. 60 (6). Click here. Ntoumanis, N., Healy, L. et.al. (2014). Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives. 13 (5), 594-612. Click here. Cleveland Clinic. Overtraining Syndrome. Click here. Sebire,S., Standage, M., Vansteenkiste,M. (2011). Predicting objectively assessed physical activity from the content and regulation of exercise goals: evidence for a mediational model. 33 (2), 175-197. Click here.  
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Why the Festive Period Breaks Your Habits

Why the Festive Period Breaks Your Habits

Every year, the festive period gets blamed for breaking people’s health. Too many meals out. Too many late nights. Too many “I’ll start again in January” moments. By the time the New Year arrives, the narrative is already locked in. Damage done. Time to reset, detox, or punish yourself back into shape. But here’s the truth. The festive period doesn’t ruin your health. Losing structure does. The end of the year is uniquely disruptive. Work schedules loosen. Social plans multiply. Travel, celebrations, and irregular routines blur the days together. Sleep shifts later. Meal timing becomes unpredictable. Hydration drops. Movement becomes sporadic. Stress quietly rises. Food gets the blame because it’s visible. But the real changes are happening beneath the surface. Our bodies are built around rhythm. Circadian biology governs hormones, appetite, energy, glucose regulation, and recovery. When sleep timing drifts and meals become inconsistent, insulin sensitivity drops, hunger cues become noisier, and cravings increase. Not because you’ve lost discipline, but because your physiology is responding exactly as it should. This is why willpower fails so reliably during the festive period. Willpower is not a plan. It never was. Behaviour follows environment. And the end-of-year environment is designed to disrupt even the best intentions. More social pressure. More choice. Less routine. Less recovery. Expecting motivation to override that is unrealistic. Yet the wellness industry loves this moment. January resets. Detoxes. Thirty-day transformations. The implication is always the same. You slipped up. Now fix it. That framing is wrong. You didn’t fail. Your anchors disappeared. So instead of trying to be perfect between now and the New Year, there’s a better approach. Protect structure. Not outcomes. I think of this as a Minimum Effective Routine. The smallest set of habits that keep your system regulated when life gets noisy. You don’t need control all day. You need a few non-negotiables. First, a morning anchor. How you start the day sets the tone for everything that follows. Consistent wake times, early light exposure, and hydration matter more than whether you train or not. Even during the festive period, waking within a similar window each day helps stabilise energy, appetite, and sleep later on. Second, a nutrition anchor. Health doesn’t unravel because of one rich meal. It unravels when eating becomes random. Skipped meals followed by late, heavy dinners create blood sugar swings that drive overeating. One simple rule makes a difference. Anchor at least one meal per day around protein and fibre. No tracking. No guilt. Just consistency. Protein in particular becomes critical when routines loosen. It supports lean mass, regulates appetite hormones like GLP-1, and reduces the likelihood of grazing later in the day. Third, a movement anchor. This is not about training hard. It’s about staying active. Walking, light resistance work, mobility, or a short session at home. Ten to twenty minutes counts. Movement improves glucose handling, digestion, mood, and sleep quality. It is one of the most reliable ways to offset stress and irregular eating. Fourth, an evening wind-down anchor. Late nights are part of the festive period. That’s normal. What matters is how often they stack. Alcohol, screens, and social stimulation all fragment sleep. A simple wind-down routine most nights helps signal safety to your nervous system. Lower lights. Fewer screens. Breathing. Reading. Repetition matters more than perfection. These anchors don’t make you “healthy”. They keep you regulated. Now, an honest word on supplements. Supplements won’t rescue a chaotic routine. Anyone promising that is selling shortcuts. But they can support physiology when structure is under pressure. Hydration often drops at this time of year, especially when alcohol intake increases. Electrolytes support fluid balance, nerve signalling, and muscle function. Protein becomes more important when meals are irregular, helping to stabilise appetite and maintain muscle. Micronutrients also matter when sleep, stress, and food quality are inconsistent. This is how we think about Innermost products. Not as a reset. Not as a fix. But as tools that support the fundamentals when life is busy and routines loosen. The biggest mistake people make is treating the festive period as a write-off and the New Year as a clean slate. That approach creates a cycle of extremes. If you protect structure now, the New Year doesn’t need repairing. There’s no detox required. No dramatic restart. Just continuity. Finally, as we close out the year, I want to say thank you. Thank you for your support. Thank you for trusting us in an industry that often values hype over health. And thank you for being part of a community that cares about doing things properly. I hope you enjoy the festive period with your friends and loved ones, get some well-earned rest, and step into 2026 feeling steady, not behind.
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