06 May Water should be key part of your fit lifestyle

When you’re in your newly built home gym — that part of the basement that used to be for stacking boxes of old memories, before you turned it into the perfect spot to make the new you — your gameplan for life changes.
The treadmill is giving you a 30-minute start on the way to good health, as well as the perfect beginning to the day.
Morning used to be grabbing a cup of coffee before running out the door. Now, your new commitment involves water, and lots of it.
We take it for granted, but water is almost the perfect drink. Zero calories and a giant promoter of overall health, water keeps the body hydrated for those in-home fitness sessions. It also helps your digestion, as well as acting like a flushing agent to rid your body of harmful wastes.
That’s fine when you are at home and reaching into your own well-stocked refrigerator, but sometimes, when you’re on the road on a business trip or making a fast-food stop to feed a hungry group of youngsters after a Little League game, a cold glass of water might not be an available option. If this is the case, don’t make the mistake of thinking a diet soft drink is a suitable replacement.
Many times, getting fit means losing weight, and diet drinks contain less sugar and calories. That doesn’t mean, however, that they are the right substitute for sugar-sweetened drinks. Studies have shown that, in fact, diet drinks may even increase the user’s risk for cardiovascular disease.
Fortunately, plain, old water has been added to most menus as a beverage option. As you go about your fitness regimen, you can achieve your goals without compromising on your health by reaching for, or ordering, a glass of H2O. Getting into shape may be a difficult task for some, but making water your beverage of choice is easy — and smart.

At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen’s blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people’s lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com