Water and liquid intake

flick161

How does your water and liquid intake change, say, a week or two before a competition?

Is it an increase in water or dehydration that brings the muscle definition out?

I get the idea of cutting and diet, but can't recognize how you go from having muscles underneath layers of skin, to having muscles so well-defined on comp day.

Will someone please help me on this, I feel a little lost :? :?:

LeeB

basically... you have so little bodyfat that there is only really water in your skin which blurrs muscle definition...

HOWEVER.. and this is where ALOT of people slip up... it does not blurr to a massive degree.. it only improves the "look" of the muscle when you dry yuor skin out.... it doesnt really show any more muscle... lots of people think that once they cut their water they will see more of what is underneath the skin.. in reality the difference you see is tiny...... it just makes you look better and harder on stage!

basically you manipulate your water so that your body does not hold any beneath the skin... this involves consuming large amounts of water for teh days leading up to the show... then cutting this back drastically 12-24 hours before going on stage... because your body has been getting large amounts it has a need to expell lots through the urine... because of this once your water consumptin goes down drastically your body is still expelling so as your not taking any in.. it takes it from under the skin.......

there are lots of ways to do this and which way you choose and the specifics of this is different for everyone!

flick161

So when we talk about drastic water consumption, ten days before how much are we talking here?

And ditto for the last 12-24 hours of decreasing water?

Thankyou for the snippet you gave though, most useful. I'm starting to get it now. Just found a useful article on carb-depletion and loading too which I previously knew nothing about... It's all starting to fit together.

My trouble is, I have an exceptionally weak bladder and consuming huge amounts of liquid is always problematic!

LeeB

10 litres a day!

when you cut your water you would usually just sip... yuo shuold keep urinating.. then once you get to the point where very little is coming out when you urinate... sip a little more... however usually just sipping should take you all through the show..

again... this is all dependant on each individual and the particular approach they have taken for their last week before a show....

...if your thinking of doing a show and need advice for this.. the best person to listen to is whoever has sorted out your diet for you as they know your body best right now... other than that if you have nobody doing your diet youd be best of posting a specific question in the comp forum... also you would need to list what foods you would be planning on eating the last week etc.

scottswald

were you pissed when writing this Lee

scottswald

sorry to bring up such an old thread, but want to know more, what visual effect will drinking such large amounts of water have on your appearance (not when preparing for a comp)?

Zav

I'd also be interested in scotts question as I've been told to drink at least 4 - 6 litres a day, and I'm not competing, just building. However whey protein is a diruetic which seems to simply pee it all out again!

Bodyworks

none. think of it like this:

subcutaneous water retension is a thin film of water holding between the muscle and skin. bodyfat also sits in this same place. which is less transparent, a tissue thin film of water or an inch thick film of fat. basically, if your bodyfat isn't practically none existant, sub q water retention won't make a bit of diffence to your appearance. so many people blame water retension for their dissapointing stage condition when in truth, they're just fat. everyone competing thinks they should be massively concerned with this issue but in reality it's only relavant for the already shredded. why toned figure girls use diuretics of any kind, shows a misunderstanding of this phenomenon as their bodyfat levels are far too high for this to be an issue.