Many archers arrive at training already dehydrated and drink less than they need
4 studies · 45 archers measured
The summary today
The measurements on ordinary archers rather than national squads arrive in 2026 from Indonesia, and only one of them measures hydration status. In twenty university archers in Surabaya the median urine specific gravity before the session is 1.025, inside the dehydration range, and their daily fluid intake is about 1.9 litres against the 2.35 to 2.5 recommended in that country; even drinking 150 millilitres every ten minutes, just over a litre across an hour and a half of shooting, the median only falls to 1.020 and does not get back under the threshold. In eleven archers from a Jakarta university club an outdoor qualification round costs about 390 grams of body mass on average, between 200 and 700, and nobody finishes heavier than they started; without the fluid drunk or the starting body mass, though, that drop does not say whether they drank less than they needed. The only other archers measured point the opposite way: the Turkish national team, which eats and drinks to a nutritionist's plan and was followed at two international events, keeps specific gravity below 1.020 and only just crosses that threshold on waking, and only at the first of the two. The limits are plain: a single descriptive measurement of hydration, on twenty people, with reagent strips, in a regional journal and a tropical climate. What can be said today is that among Indonesian university archers turning up already dehydrated is common, while a national squad guided by a nutritionist does not; the two populations are very different, and for European club archers, and for an outdoor competition in summer, the figure does not exist yet.
Also phrased as: "archers drink too little"; "hydration at training"; "turning up to training dehydrated"; "how much to drink during archery practice"; "urine specific gravity in archers"
In practice
The usual line is that archers, who do not run and sweat less than in other sports, forget to drink, and that thirst only arrives once concentration has already started to slip.
Evidence
-
2024
Against Archers Published later
6 recurve archers from the Turkish national team followed over the four days of a European Grand Prix, at 14.5 degrees on the field and with meals set by a nutritionist: 24-hour mean specific gravity stays below 1.020, the range of adequate hydration; on waking values are higher than before competition (p = 0.004), just above the threshold, and are back in range before shooting. For these archers the picture is the opposite of the claim, although this is a national squad guided by a nutritionist and measured at competition, not at training.
Energy intake, hydration status, and sleep of world-class male archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Ian Walshe, Stuart Goodall
-
2025
Against Archers Published later
8 archers from the same national team, four men and four women, at a World Cup stage at 23.7 degrees: 0.66 litres of fluid an hour during competition, an average body-mass loss of 0.58% over the day, specific gravity below 1.020 on every day, with the usual rise on waking. Even in warmer conditions these archers stay hydrated, and the result runs against the claim, with the same population limits as the 2024 study.
Sex differences in energy intake, sweat rate, and electrolyte loss among world-class archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Stuart Goodall
-
2026
For Archers Published later
20 Indonesian university archers measured before two sessions: median urine specific gravity is 1.025 on both occasions, in the range of significant dehydration. The reading is taken before shooting, so it describes how the archers turn up.
Comparison Of Isotonic Beverage And Mineral Water Consumption On Archery Score And Hydration Status Of Archery UKM Athletes At State University Of Surabaya · Syifa' Itmi'nanil Qolbi, Satwika Arya Pratama, Cleonara Yanuar Dini, Ratna Candra Dewi
-
2026
For Archers Published later
From the same group, with a seven-day questionnaire: fluid intake is 1,917.8 ± 525.8 millilitres a day, ranging from 1,268 to 3,225, against the 2,350 to 2,500 recommended in Indonesia for that age group.
Comparison Of Isotonic Beverage And Mineral Water Consumption On Archery Score And Hydration Status Of Archery UKM Athletes At State University Of Surabaya · Syifa' Itmi'nanil Qolbi, Satwika Arya Pratama, Cleonara Yanuar Dini, Ratna Candra Dewi
-
2026
For Archers Published later
During the session the archers drink 150 millilitres every ten minutes, 1,050 in about ninety minutes, mineral water on one day and an isotonic drink on the other: median specific gravity falls from 1.025 to 1.020 in both conditions and does not get back under the 1.020 threshold; with mineral water the fall is not significant (p = 0.088), with the isotonic drink it is (p = 0.001).
Comparison Of Isotonic Beverage And Mineral Water Consumption On Archery Score And Hydration Status Of Archery UKM Athletes At State University Of Surabaya · Syifa' Itmi'nanil Qolbi, Satwika Arya Pratama, Cleonara Yanuar Dini, Ratna Candra Dewi
-
2026
Context Archers Published later
In the introduction the authors report a preliminary observation on the same sports group: about 750 millilitres drunk in two hours of training and between 1,500 and 2,000 in a competition of more than five hours, against the recommended 150 to 250 millilitres every ten to twenty minutes. It is not a figure measured in the study.
Comparison Of Isotonic Beverage And Mineral Water Consumption On Archery Score And Hydration Status Of Archery UKM Athletes At State University Of Surabaya · Syifa' Itmi'nanil Qolbi, Satwika Arya Pratama, Cleonara Yanuar Dini, Ratna Candra Dewi
-
2026
Context Archers Published later
Away from the field all twenty drink water, 70% drink milk, 65% tea, 45% coffee and 35% fruit juice; only 15% regularly use isotonic drinks.
Comparison Of Isotonic Beverage And Mineral Water Consumption On Archery Score And Hydration Status Of Archery UKM Athletes At State University Of Surabaya · Syifa' Itmi'nanil Qolbi, Satwika Arya Pratama, Cleonara Yanuar Dini, Ratna Candra Dewi
-
2026
Context Archers Published later
11 archers from a Jakarta university club weighed before and after an outdoor qualification round: estimated average loss of 390.9 millilitres, median 400, ranging from 200 to 700; six archers between 201 and 400, two between 401 and 600, one above 600, and nobody gained weight. Fluid intake and temperature were not recorded, so this is the net drop in body mass, not the total loss, and without the starting body mass its share of body weight is unknown: it shows that less is drunk than is lost during the round, not that archers arrive dehydrated or drink less than they need.
The Effect of a One-Session Archery Qualification Round on Body Fluid Loss among University Archery Athletes · Nurikhwan Aziz Arifin, Ikroom Pranajaya, Masyita Siregar
Status history
- 2024 Contradicted The first measurement of archers' hydration in the field concerns six recurve archers from the Turkish national team at a European Grand Prix, and it runs against the claim: over 24 hours urine specific gravity stays below 1.020, only just crosses it on waking and is back in range before competition. But it is a squad whose meals were set by a nutritionist, measured at competition at 14.5 degrees rather than at training, and a study this small cannot show that the ordinary archer turns up hydrated: contradicted.
- 2025 Contradicted The same Turkish national team, eight archers at a World Cup stage at 23.7 degrees, drinks 0.66 litres an hour during competition, loses 0.58% of body mass over the day and keeps specific gravity below 1.020 on every day. There are now two studies against the claim, but they come from the same squad, guided by a nutritionist and measured only at competition, and nobody has yet looked at club archers at training: the status stays contradicted.
- 2026 Contested Two Indonesian studies look at club archers for the first time. In twenty university archers in Surabaya urine specific gravity before the session is 1.025, daily fluid intake is about 1.9 litres against the 2.35 to 2.5 recommended, and a litre drunk across ninety minutes of shooting is not enough to bring them back under the threshold. In eleven archers in Jakarta an outdoor qualification round costs 390 grams of body mass on average, up to 700, but without the fluid drunk or the starting body mass there is no telling whether that is a deficit. On one side, then, a descriptive study of twenty people in a regional journal finds archers dehydrated; on the other, two measurements of the Turkish national team find them hydrated: the studies on archers point in opposite directions, contested.
Related
Related articles
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). Many archers arrive at training already dehydrated and drink less than they need (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/archers-dehydrated-at-training
@misc{campagna2026_arcieridisidratatiallenamento,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Many archers arrive at training already dehydrated and drink less than they need},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/archers-dehydrated-at-training},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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