Hydration Nation Redux

When I first talked about hydration I complained like a grumpy old man about the virtues of water. I talked about how if you work out less than 90 minutes or are not a professional athlete you can probably just drink water and fine fine and save money. However, I realize that some of you may still want to drink sports drinks so today I am going to be like a grumpy old man about ...

That's right, Gatorade. The original sports drink. The deal, as we all know, was that Gatorade was designed to replace electrolytes. It was developed by the University of Florida (hence the colors and the name) (also hence why Florida State won't drink it) to rehydrate players. It was pretty amazing stuff and was ahead of its time. Yet now we poo-poo Gatorade. "It has carbs. It has sugar. blah blah blah." So now we have different types of Gatorade. In fact they have three of them.

Aptly named 1, 2 and 3. I mean really? I remember when it only came in three colors. (Green/Yellow, red and orange for you kids out there) You'll notice I said colors. I was never really able to associate a flavor with them. I mean red really doesn't have an identifiable taste, but then neither does Gatorade other than to say it tastes like Gatorade. But I digress.

You'll notice that the label also identifies it as "G Series Pro." Pro as in professional. By definition I don't think Woggers are professional athletes. Ergo my argument about water being fine. If you do need electrolytes but don't want the carbs try Smart Water.

On a side note, I'm embarrassed to admit when I first saw a bottle of Smart Water I thought somehow it would stimulate brain activity.

Anyway, I don't see why we feel a need to have three types of Gatorade. If three colors were enough to get us through the '80s and '90s shouldn't that be enough now? Surely. But apparently we were lucky to survive as a species without three types of Gatorade. Now we need to drink #1 before we work out, #2 while we work out and #3 after we work out (or as they like to put it "to recover" which makes it sound like you have survived a tragic event, which maybe you have: the tragedy of over marketing).

So I say to all of Wogger Nation: Just say no to three types of Gatorade. If Steve Spurrier could win National Championships in Football with one type of Gatorade surely we can go to they gym and live to tell about how we only drank the red, or even worse, from the water fountain.

Keep fighting the fight Woggers and I will see you Monday. Have a great weekend!