Tom Brady isn’t the only Patriot great with evangelical beliefs about hydration. Bill Belichick is obsessed with drinking water, too.
Patriots wideout Kendrick Bourne spoke about Belichick’s attention to hydration during a recent interview on Fubo Sports Network’s talk show with Terrell Owens. Owens asked Bourne what he does differently now that he’s played under Belichick.
Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.
“He taught me really how to hydrate,” Bourne said. “He sat me out of practice because I failed the hydration test.”
While that admittance invited laughter from Owens and his co-host, Bourne defended Belichick’s focus on water
“Over time, I just learned how to drink water in the morning, drinking it all until practice, and I just found myself getting better,” he said. “Like, now my body’s feeling better. I could make it through practice easy. I could go longer after practice, throw extra and things like that. I put on 10 pounds of muscle.”
The health benefits of drinking water are myriad. Proper hydration maximizes physical performance, significantly alters brain function and helps digestion.
Brady claims it prevents sunburn, though that’s up for debate.
“It was just a shift, man,” Bourne said. “I bought into everything, and that was one of the smallest details of buying in. It’s a small detail, but people don’t think about it. They don’t drink water. I just [did that] every day, and everything got better after that, off that little detail, adding it to my routine. It was huge.”
Bourne’s increased water consumption paid off. The veteran receiver put up career numbers last season, coming down with 55 catches for 800 yards.
While Belichick doesn’t preach the TB12 Method, his apparent focus on hydration indicates how seriously he takes his players’ conditioning. Staying in football shape is about a lot more than deadlifts and squats.
“Bill Belichick changed my life,” Bourne said. “He is the best coach in the world. Shoutout to you, Bill Belichick.”
