We all know the importance, life can’t be sustained without it. But to open up a discussion…
How important is it when building muscle
How important is the quality of water (tap water vs bottled)
How much do you drink?
I never tracked the amount of water I drank. I just took a sip or gulp whenever I felt thirsty. I felt that eating large amount of food supplies you with a fair amount of water that is within the food.
I try to avoid plastics. I refuse to buy bottled water.
I am against drinking softened water. NaCl water softeners replace calcium and magnesium with sodium. This is a poor trade off.
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I’ve heard a recently expressed idea that athletes are overDRINKING and underhydrating. Specifically, we’re not focusing enough of proper electrolyte balance, and just flushing our systems out by focusing too much on just pounding water and trying to achieve “hydration goals”.
I think it’s important to be properly hydrated when building muscle. Muscles are full of water. A dry muscle is going to be a hurt muscle.
I think water quality is important. I would avoid bottled, because I would want to minimize contact with plastics.
I don’t have a set amount that I aim to drink per day, but I end up at around 120-160oz, depending on thirst, availability and schedule.
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5 L. I have 5 glass bottles that I fill at night, refrigerate, and then drink over the next day.
Water quality matters much less than just avoiding plastic bottled, which is the leading source of microplastic ingestion in Americans
Agreed! This is why I think the electrolytes in Surge and Mag-10 are underrated but integral to the offerall effectives of each.
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Being in south florida…well water is alligator piss, therefore i drink a gallon of ice water a day and its zephyrhills bottled water
when i visit my nephew in summerfield florida, his tap water is delicious
How do you determine correct electrolyte balance? I’ll use a generic off the shelf electrolyte for warmer days without paying too much attention to its ingredients (within reason!). What does a “premium” electrolyte product offer over a cheaper one?
Reason I ask, I’ve had some long, sweaty ensure sessions and found myself in a spot of bother, a couple of electrolytes just don’t quite cut it.
Most need more potassium and magnesium, but salt is cheap and fits the definition.
Prime actually has a good ratio of electrolytes.
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So if it’s best to avoid bottled water, but quality of water is important am I right in assuming you’d recommend filtering water??
Also am I right in assuming you can’t get a full pump if you’re not properly hydrated?! Is this including not having efficient amounts of electrolytes?
It is difficult to believe that I was fully hydrated when I pumped up backstage for a bodybuilding show. Most all tried pumping their biceps, pecs, and delts. When everything just seemed to fall in place I felt myself getting fuller on stage doing the compulsory poses.
When judging a national show, I watched a guy swell from just being another ordinary guy on stage to being a contender for first.
Maybe “full pump” isn’t possible, as I could pump my biceps to a “fullness ache” on arm day.
I don’t ever recommend anything, as I’m not a coach, nor do I have any qualifications, and to make recommendations would be incredibly irresponsible of me. But on the topic of water quality: I grew up in San Diego. 20 minutes down south, water quality was NOT good. It was a quick lesson in the value of water quality. With our waterways subject to a significant degree of pollution, with concerns of heavy metal toxicity, medical waste, plastics, etc etc, I believe it’s best to minimize contact with these things when possible.
I would assume attempting to get a pump in a dehydrated state would be a very bad idea. I know I tore my hamstring in a significant way when I was doing Super Squats while dehydrated.
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Were you guys employing the strategy of loading up on carbs pre-show after significant depletion back then? I know that’s en vogue these days.
Many did carbo depletion followed by carb loading for the show. I tried it once, but it was too unpredictable for me.
The closest thing I did to that was a “sodium load” weekend two weeks out, so that my body was not in a “life saving” sodium sparring mode. I felt could get the last bit of water out from under my skin by show time when dropping my sodium again.
I stumbled onto this accidently. I did a show in Atlanta in 1977 and won the overall. I ate like a pig that night and all day Sunday. When I got back home, I saw a show coming two weeks later in Savannah. I was loaded with edema. I just got back on my contest diet and it turned out I looked sharper in Savannah than I did two weeks earlier. I used that strategy going forward, and often did a “tune up” contest two weeks out, when possible, trying to duplicate my Atlanta/Savannah results.
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Its just crappy and doesn’t work. I tried it a few times after taking my diuretic, but before rehydrating. Useless.
A quart of sugary water with some electrolytes though, and woosh! Big difference.
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I think the biggest difference is going to be the actual forms of electrolytes used.
Surge, for example, uses multiple forms of sodium and potassium, along with calcium citrate and magnesium citrate tribasic.
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