Your diet, your routine, your genetics, and everything else you do to your body’s mechanics affects how your frame looks and feels. Nothing moreso than how well you keep it hydrated. The body is, in essence, an electrical and biochemical system that is comprised largely of water, at about 73% of your overall mass. All of that wetness is partly responsible for how big and fast your musculature grows, how quickly you lose weight, how much energy you have, and thus how effective you can make your workout. Go with a cheap hydration system, and you’re wasting time on the bench and the treadmill.
Anything with a cap can hold water, so that’s fairly easy, but not everything out there carries as much water as you need, prevents it from spilling while it gets knocked around a gym bag, is easy and comfortable to tote along to the spa or out on hikes, will keep your water clean, and is insulated should you want something kept hot or cold. Only a quality water bottle can do that, while also amping up your leg and chest day by keeping you lubed up for that extra set.
Nalgene All-Terrain
If you don’t already have a Nalgene bottle, it must be because you were just released from prison, or have been frozen in a block of ice since the Cambrian era. Welcome back! Now get this and be happy with its BPA-free design and big mouth (or sport top) drinking. Purchase: $9+
Vapur Anti-Bottle
A reusable watering pouch that can be folded up, rolled, and tucked away just about anywhere, you can’t get more minimalistic than this. Purchase: $9+
Thermos Intak
An extremely nice plastic choice, the Intak with its spring-loaded lid and on-board hydration monitoring system help you manage your H2O intake while giving you a grippable choice that is just as comfortable at your desk as spending time on the elliptical. Slender and textured, grabbing it when wet with sweat or condensation never leads to a slippery situation, which prevents mishaps. Purchase: $11
CamelBak Chute
An angled spout allows you to drink and move at the same time, without requiring that you squeeze the life out of it to get a good flow. The flip-top cap offers easy filling, a supreme seal against leaks, and a smarter design for refreshing while on the move. Purchase: $13+
Nike Sport
Though it looks a little more traditional, the Nike Sport is a surprisingly smart contender, using a leak-proof cap that can be laid down, a body that fits in your hand easily, and a design that is intended to fit into a cycling bottle holder for fast drinking action on the trail or pavement. Purchase: $14
Clean Bottle Tritan Square
Both ends open for easy cleaning and flushing, but they also lock down tight to prevent leaks when being lugged around in a bag. The square build prevents rolling, and allows you to keep the BPA-free flavor on hand even if you’re clumsy.
Hydrapak Stash 750
When every inch and ounce count, the collapsible Stash bottle from Hydrapack gives you a drinking choice that has all the lovable features of a regular water bottle in a body that folds down when not in use, reducing your carry-on or hiking backpack size to the barest minimum. Purchase: $18
Contigo AutoSpout Addison
Press a button and the spout springs into action, ready to provide the life-giving nectar directly to your lips. A built-in guard keeps waste, detritus, and adulterants from slipping in from the outside, helping provide a fresh drinking experience each time, all in a convenient cylinder. Purchase: $20
Nomader Collapsible
The best of the collapsible bottles, you’ll get the positive experience of drinking out of a hard-sided bottle, all with the squishy capabilities of a collapsible. It’s the best of both worlds, for those who need that sort of thing. Purchase: $20
Lifefactory Glass Bottle
Though glass can be a tough sell for a water bottle meant to take a beating, the silicone sleeve that protects it keeps breaking to a minimum, and you’ll never get strange tastes in your water the way you can with plastic or metal. Good for gripping and sipping with an arrangement of smart caps, it’s worth being a little extra careful for a more refreshing way to drink. Purchase: $22
REI Nathan Speedview Handheld Flask
Small and dishwasher safe, the Flask is meant to give you everything you need for a quick run, with its media sleeve for packing along your “Eye of the Tiger” inspiration music, and quick, feather-light construction. Adding almost nothing to your load, it won’t wear you down, but still carries the essentials. Purchase: $24
CamelBak Podium Ice
The cyclist’s friend, the Podium Ice has an easily squeezable build along with self-sealing features that prevents spills, and allows you to get water out faster. Made of medical-grade silicone, all you’ll taste is your water, and whatever energy powder you mixed in for that last 15 miles. Purchase: $25
Avex Bottles
Silicone, glass, and stainless steel, Avex bottles are glorious inventions that use all the best water bottle materials to give a germ-free experience that is easy to clean, fun to use, and enjoyable from the word go. Purchase: $26
Hydro Flask Wide Mouth
Preferred for the outdoors due to its durable stainless steel body intended to survive where others falter, it’s a bruiser capable of taking years of beatings without ever losing its vacuum seal. Gulp straight from the massive mouth, or snap on one of the aftermarket lids for straw sipping or snap open, Hydro Flask accommodates your lifestyle, not the other way around. Purchase: $30+
Klean Kanteen Classic
The consummate bottle for the mountaineer, the Classic is stainless steel, keeping funky smells and tastes to a minimum. Easy to fill, easy to drink from, and simple to strap to your pack or slip into your gym bag, you’re not going to find many features or accessories, just clean, safe, sturdy goodness. Purchase: $34
YETI Rambler Bottle
YETI – the minds behind some of the best coolers in the world – have brought their genius onto the water bottle landscape. They look like kettlebells, insulate like travel mugs, won’t sweat, won’t break, and seal up like the ISS airlock. Pricey, but you’re getting the best bottle on the market.
Buy nowS’Well Titanium
Double-walled stainless steel intended to keep hot or cold items at temperature for 24-hours, these are far and away the most stylish water bottle choice you can make. Not only is that slender body a looker that’s easy to use, but S’Well also works with UNICEF to bring clean water to children who don’t have it. Can’t lose there. Purchase: $42
Pryme Vessyl
The workout water bottle that knows more about you than you do, this is a smart drinking system that tells you how much water you need based on your age, weight, activity, gender, height, and overall state of being. It can work in tandem with many fitness trackers to prevent you from ever missing a slurp, though that can make it kind of a nag.
