Chug Your Water: How Dehydration Leads to Poor Padel Performance
Have you ever noticed that no matter how much you like playing padel, there are days when you simply can’t seem to get yourself to practice? Even if you succeed, you will lack the will to practice diligently.
This is one of the most important things you should ask yourself: are you drinking enough water?
Dehydration might be the source of your exercise motivation—or lack thereof. Stay with us to learn more about how dehydration affects padel performance.
In playing padel you get to sweat it out and you can’t even notice time passing by because you’re having so much fun. But did you know that a typical day of exercise may result in mild (1 to 2 percent) or severe (2 to 5 percent) dehydration?
We frequently don’t feel thirsty until we’ve lost 1% to 2% of our body water, which indicates that the majority of individuals are moderately dehydrated throughout the day. This is much more probable for padel players because the game is such a high intensity sport.
In fact, there’s so much more to it than meets the eye
A 2% loss of body water might result in a 20% drop in athletic performance when it comes to markers like power, strength, and speed. This seems to be a major performance loss, but it’s much worse than you may expect since dehydration also affects the athlete’s cognitive ability.
Padel players, like any sportsmen, need to have good motor skills. A fascinating study of cricket players found that even when they were dehydrated by 2.8 percent, the pace of their deliveries remained constant. However, the length of their bowls was lowered by 15%, as was the precision of the line.
Another study of golfers revealed that when they lost two percent or more of their hydration, their shot accuracy dropped from an average of 12.3 feet (4.1 meters) to 23.7 feet (7.9 meters). The average shot distance dropped from 386 feet (128.6 meters) to 343 feet (114.4 meters).
Fine motor abilities are required in padel that’s why it’s important to maintain hydration to avoid losing your top shape during the most critical moments in-game.
Dehydration of more than 2% causes attention performance to quickly deteriorate. You’re unable to concentrate on the ball or your plan. Stay hydrated and you’ll be able to focus for the duration of the game.
At first, it seems like being dehydrated isn’t a big deal. Performing activities when dehydrated, on the other hand, results in a significant increase in neural effort in a portion of the brain that is essential for sophisticated thinking.
To reach the same level of performance as when you’re hydrated, the brain needs to work more
When you’re dehydrated, your concentration begins to wane. You may not have the same desire to work hard at the gym. Your drive and inspiration dwindle, and your performance suffers.
Other studies have shown that when you lose roughly 2% of your body’s water, you get headaches, have trouble focusing, and are fatigued. All of this makes having a fruitful padel practice or concentrated exercise more challenging.
