Do Not restrict your sodium too tightly

[Curious II]

If you are training and not preparing for a contest that requires shedding water you should not restrict your sodium too much. It is important. Let me explain. Your body's thirst mechanism is regulated by two things. Lack of fluid and sodium inbalance. If you sweat you lose water. When you lose water, your body becomes thirsty due to the fact that your sodium level is now at a greater percentage than your water level. You are now thirsty and you drink more water to replace what was lost. Your water level and sodium are soon in harmony again and you are no longer thirsty. Here's the downside to drinking just water. When you sweat you also lose a small amount of sodium. Now your water level is low and so is sodium. You drink your water and soon water level is balanced with sodium and you are no longer thirsty. The problem is that your sodium levels are semi-low so even though you are no longer thirsty your technically dehydrated. This is why sports drinks such as powerade and such are very beneficial. They also have some sodium in them which brings that back up to par along with your fluid intake. This will keep you properly hydrated. Muscles are 70% water so...if you don't have enough fluid, your not going to function properly. So as I said before don't cut sodium out too much while you are training because it can be detrimental to you. If you drink plenty of water and eat right this isn't a problem. If you don't drink enough water then you may want to try sports drinks because they will help to keep you thirstier and increase fluids better.

Most of you probably already know this but I was thinking about it today and thought I would throw it out there in case anyone didn't. Have a good day.

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"That Which Does Not Kill You Makes You Stronger"

"Faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death."
Hunter S. Thompson

 

[Badkins21]

Point taken...good info, very true!! Also, if you ARE preparing for a show, don't restrict sodium until about 2-3 days before 'cause your body is smart and will start to hold onto extra to make up for what you aren't getting in your diet--Ive also read that you should INCREASE your sodium intake a few weeks before the show so that the change/drop is more dramatic to your body, giving you that dry/hard/tight look...just my 2 cents on the topic...

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[Pyroman]

Great info...

 

[George Spellwin]

Does anyone else use Sea Salt or Kosher Salt, both are pure salt without flow agents. Morton and the like have flow agents -- I personally can tell a big difference.

 

[The Iron Game]

I use sea salt quite a bit when I am on clen

Thanks for the info