Boxing Archives - Page 24 of 36

You may have been a witness to a rather strange phenomenon, boxers spitting out water. You may think to yourself, why do they not drink the water? Isn't a fight extremely dehydrating? We'll answer all these questions in this article. Boxers spit out water to first clean their mouths from any blood or uneasiness. Likewise, they don't want to drink too much water to the point where a single punch will force them to puke. If they were to drink more water, then, their performance would decrease; so boxers avoid that. Try this out for yourself; before you go for your run, drink 0.5L of water. If you do so, you'll feel your stomach turn upside down with all the water you just drank; your performance would decrease immensely. The same applies to boxing. Nevertheless, 12 rounds of boxing can easily get the fighters to collapse from dehydration. Because of that, they drink some water and spit out the rest. That ensures they keep their performance at peak level while ensuring they won't collapse from dehydration. This article will discuss the act of athletes and boxers spitting out water. If you wonder why everyone seems to do it, continue reading. Likewise, we'll discuss the benefits of such an action. Before we dive in, if you want to pair yourself with a solid pair of boxing shoes, follow the link to read an article of mine where I list the best ones. Why do athletes spit out water? The act of spitting out water has long been familiar in many sports, such as Tennis and Basketball. The athletes perform this act often—for a primary reason; let's see what it is. Athletes spit out water to avoid symptoms of dehydration while keeping themselves at peak performance and not decrease it by drinking too much water. Consuming fluids at a specific level—will decrease your performance in almost any sport, such as in any martial art, running, ball games, and swimming. Image by Nick Looy from Pixabay You know how it feels like to want to puke from physical training, it's no fun. Athletes want to avoid that feeling as much as possible, so they'll be able of keeping their undivided attention on their goal. On the other hand, you know how dehydrating it can get to perform any sport at almost any level of difficulty. Any sport is tiring to a certain degree, even chess. As a result, you don't want the symptoms of dehydration to affect your performance. Dry mouth, headache, dizziness; are all symptoms of dehydration. You don't need 12 rounds of boxing to experience some of these. In fact, you only require about 1/12 of that to feel your body dehydrating. As such, spitting out most of the water counters these feelings, hence the dry mouth and headaches, while keeping performance at peak level. The benefits of spitting water in boxing This section will discuss the 4 benefits of spitting water in boxing. If you want to see your abilities increase by avoiding one of the most common mistakes athletes make in the realm of sports, adopt the habit of spitting water when you want to perform at your most elite level. Keeps performance at peak level When you drink too much water, you end up all bubbly and want to puke. That happens because you likely are moving in many directions and do so quickly. As a result, if your entire stomach is filled with water, your performance will inevitably decrease. That's why you don't see marathon runners drink nearly as much as they're going to sweat. They don't care about the balance and the ratio of sweat to drink. They sweat more, and thus they're capable of running faster. Image by Kira from Pixabay Do this experiment yourself, if you want; before going for a run, chug a considerable amount of water. See how you feel when you start your run. Removes symptoms of dehydration One of the most common symptoms of dehydration is dry mouth. Likewise, feelings of dizziness and headaches are also common. When boxers experience these symptoms, they're much less likely to perform at their peak. As such, the act of chugging water to your mouth will remove these symptoms. You essentially are tricking your brain to think you're drinking plenty of water. However, you really just swallow a small portion of it, to ensure you don't collapse from dehydration. Here are the symptoms of dehydration: feeling thirsty and lightheaded a dry mouth having dark coloured, strong-smelling urine tiredness passing urine less often than usual Ensures you avoid puking or bubbling The last benefit of spitting out water—is to help boxers avoid puking or feelings of bubbling. We all felt that, after an intense session, the feeling of wanting to puke. Think of how intense a 12 round boxing match is. You fight for 3 minutes straight and then rest for 1. Moreover, you do so 12 times! That's one of the most intense moments for boxers. Do you think they want to ruin their chances by puking or feeling heavy (bubbly)? Of course not. So, they spit out most of the water they drink. Essentially, they drink little amounts of water, until they believe is enough to sustain them for the next round. Then, they spit the rest. That ensures they don't get the urge to puke. Cleans mouth from blood Boxing is all about fighting. Now, if you get a few solid punches to your face, you might start bleeding from the inside of your mouth. Likewise, blood may enter your mouth, even if its source is on the outside. You likely know how blood tastes. So, you can imagine how distracting it can be; this metal taste in your mouth isn't the most effective way of focusing. Therefore, boxers drink some water and then wash their mouths. Then, they spit everything, usually in a bucket. That ensures they don't have blood in their mouths when they start the following round. So, their performance is at peak level. Ever get punched in the stomach full of water? It sucks. Drink a lot of water during or pre fight is a bad idea. But on the other hand, fighting is very exhausting, you sweat a lot and dehydrated. The thirst is unbearable. You need to 'drink' without really swallow it, in other words, to cheat the thirst. That's why you see boxers or fighters spit. But they do swallow a little, just barely enough to sustain the dehydration. Martin Sebastian, Amateur Boxer Do all boxers spit out water? In a real, live boxing match, all boxers spit out water to ensure they perform at their peak performance. That's because it helps them avoid the urge to puke, it cleans their mouth from all the blood that's left over from the last round, and it removes symptoms of dehydration. These will all help you keep your performance at your peak level. You don't want to get punched in a stomach full of water. Honestly, it can be the difference between winning or losing the fight. So, ensure you spit out water whenever you need. Final words A boxing match can be one of the most intense experiences a boxer has. 12 rounds of boxing—is crazy difficult. As a result, you must always ensure your performance is at peak level. As such, you want to avoid symptoms of over-drinking, which can cause you to puke. If you want to ensure optimized performance while avoiding symptoms of dehydration, it'll be best to spit most of the water you drink. Of course, in long periods of fighting, you must ensure you drink some water, to return what you sweat, so your body will be able to function appropriately. If you enjoyed reading this article, you'll also enjoy reading about why boxers put Vaseline on their faces.