sodium overloading

[OmarJackson]

i was talking to my friend the other day who is an amatuer bodybuilder, ranked powerlifter, and wrestles D1 for penn state (they're like a top 5 national team). anyway, just to say he's one fucking hell of an athlete. anyway, he was telling me that when he diets down for a show he'll do this thing, were for 3-4 days he'll go really low carb like 50g-80g total, but on those days he'll also take in a ridicolous amount of sodium, water, and creatine throughout the day. then for 2-3 days after that, he cuts out his water, cuts out sodium, and eats carbs like a madman (around 500-600g per day), and supplements with pottasium. he's says this leans him out, keeps his muscles full all the time and thus helping him keep strength while even low carbed.

so to summerize:

3 days of:
low carb
high sodium
high water
about 15g creatine throughout the day

then...

2 days of:
high carb
low water
low sodium
about 1000mg pottassium throughout the day

yesterday, i tried eating like one of his low carb days, 1 had two cans of chicken noodle soup and salted my meals as well, other than that no carbs except for veggies. I mixed in about 6g of CEE with crystal light and about 1.5 gallons of water and drank that with my meals throughout the day. By nighttime, my skin was tight, muscles were full, i was vascular, i wasn't bloated either. but the downside was that i could actually FEEL my bloodpressure being too high, I had a lot of pressure in my head and a bad headache, my heart was beating too fast, and i was really hot, had difficulty falling asleep. but all in all i think there some interesting things going on that can be done with sodium/water/creatine manipulation.

 

[Twin Peak]

Sodium retains water. The amount of water your body retains varies, but it goes back to the norm after a while of sodium loading (think homeostatis).

Conversely if you always eat low sodium, you will drop water at first, and then your body will get used to this, and begin to hold more water.

Salting for 3-5 days causes your body to have too much water. Then, eliminating sodium completely will cause your body to overcompensate and drop a ton of water (for a few days).

If you aren't peaking for a show, or a photoshoot, its rather pointless.

 

[glenihan]

your buddy is right on the money if you have a show ... otherwise don't bother doing that its hell on the body for no reason

 

[OmarJackson]

your buddy is right on the money if you have a show ... otherwise don't bother doing that its hell on the body for no reason

yea, it was rough on me.

the thing is though, he does this at least 3-4 times before a show, not just the last week. its kind of like a hi/lo carb cycling diet, except that he also cycles high and low days of sodium and water.