Kelsey HigginsonSports Nutrition Coach and Founder at Clutch Day Coaching

Football hydration strategy

10 Sept 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:00

In this instructional video, the speaker outlines a practical hydration plan for football players training and competing in hot weather while wearing full pads. The guidance emphasizes that athletes must stay hydrated daily, not just on game day. The core recommendation is to consume fluid equal to half of one's body weight in ounces each day (e.g., a 200‑lb player should aim for at least 100 oz). During workouts, players should replace 16–40 oz of fluid per hour depending on sweat rate, gear, and temperature, listening to their bodies for cues. For extremely hot, sweaty sessions, the speaker advises adding an electrolyte powder to the water to improve fluid retention and prevent dehydration. The overall message is that proactive, weight‑based daily intake combined with situational in‑session drinking and electrolyte supplementation is essential for optimal performance and safety.

Chapters

Football players, this is what your hydration needs to look like when it's hot outside, you're sweaty, you're full pads, you're losing a lot of water. And if you're waiting till game day to start hydrating for the game, you're screwed. It's just not going to work. All right. So let's start with your base. Every single day, you got to make sure that you're drinking outside of practice. Okay? You want to go in fully hydrated for practices and for games. What that's going to look like is you're going to take your body weight and you're going to chop it in half. If you're 200 pounds, chop it in half. You need at least 100 ounces. If you're 180, chop it in half. You need about 90 ounces of fluids. Next, we'd have our workout. Some of you are gonna need about 16 ounces per hour. Some of you guys are gonna need about 40 ounces per hour. It's totally about listening to your body and giving it what it's asking for. If you're full pads, it's a hot day, you're drenched in sweat, your body's going to need more water. That leads me to electrolytes. On those super hot, sweaty, losing a lot of fluids day, you need to make sure that you're having an electrolyte powder in those extreme conditions. This is going to make sure that your body's able to use and retain the water that you are consuming and keep you hydrated.