What people think
I drank water my whole workout. I'm hydrated.
What's actually happening:
Only Water is not hydration. At least Not during a hard session..
Every Indian gym goer sips water between sets and wonders why they're still exhausted by the end. Legs heavy. Head foggy. Nothing left.
Water doesn't replace what you lose in a hard session.
Sodium, potassium, magnesium - you lose it with every set, every drop of sweat. Plain water doesn't put that back. It just fills your stomach.
And those hydration products in the market?
Either a glorified ORS your mom gave you when you had loose motions. Or some foreign formula copy pasted by a brand that changed the flavour name and called it sports nutrition.
Both sodium heavy. Nothing else.
Made for marathon runners. Not for someone doing heavy sets in a 35 degree gym.