Sodium plays a pivotal role in performance in and out of the gym, as well
as achieving a certain level of conditioning/vascularity. Sodium is an extracellular
cation (the primary positively charged ion outside of the cell), responsible
for regulating blood volume and blood pressure.
Higher levels of sodium are directly associated with higher blood volume.
Lower levels of sodium are therefore directly associated with lower blood
volume.
Here’s how blood volume can affect performance: When you are lifting
weights, blood pressure rises in direct proportion to the magnitude of work
being performed. Higher blood volume, as a result of adequate sodium intake,
translates into better delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the working muscles,
as well as better removal of fatigue toxins/metabolic waste.
If you have lower blood volume, due to less than adequate sodium intake, then
performance will be negatively affected as a result of less oxygen and
nutrients being delivered to the working muscles, as well as allowing
accumulation of fatigue toxins/metabolic waste. The end result is sub-optimal
recovery and increased weakness.
No conversation about sodium and its performance enhancing effects would
be complete without mentioning potassium. Potassium is an intracellular cation
(the primary positively charged ion inside of the cell) responsible for
regulation and control of skeletal and cardiac muscle.
Potassium is dependent on sodium to get into the cell (via the
sodium-potassium pump) and maintain cell integrity. Potassium cannot get into
the cell to do its job without sodium. Therefore low sodium intake results in
lower amounts of potassium getting into the cell.
There is a delicate balance of certain vitamins and minerals within the
body required for it to function optimally. If this balance is disrupted, then
the body will instinctively compensate by making the necessary adjustments to
continue functioning. As it relates to the scope of this article, the body will
compensate for low blood sodium (which can happen from either restricting
sodium through diet, or sweating out more sodium than you’re taking in, or both),
by having the cells release the positively charged potassium out of the cell,
where the positively charged sodium would normally be, to establish the
delicate balance needed between the two, in and out of the cell, ultimately resulting
in weakness, cramping, and tiredness.
The primary hormone responsible for regulating this delicate balance
between sodium and potassium is a mineralcorticoid produced by the adrenal
glands called aldosterone. Aldosterone’s main purpose in the body is to
conserve/retain (hold onto) sodium, and secrete (get rid of) potassium based on
current needs of the body.
If you are providing your body with adequate amounts of sodium and water,
there is no need for aldosterone to be upregulated and released into the blood,
since its main purpose is to regulate blood pressure and blood volume (sodium
does that for you). It’s when sodium levels become low, relative to water and
potassium, that the body senses the need to hold onto whatever sodium it has,
and it upregulates aldosterone to do this. This is detrimental to a physique
competitor because sodium is the primary extracellular cation as mentioned
earlier, which means outside the cell, and is exactly where you do NOT want to
be holding water.
A side effect of aldosterone being upregulated is that potassium is
shuttled out of the body from the cells to maintain the balance between
extracellular and intracellular cations. Since potassium is responsible for
regulation and control of skeletal and cardiac muscle, a reduction of potassium
levels inside the cell will result in weakness and cramping, as well as less
water being held INSIDE the cell, which is exactly where you want water to be.
Understanding how sodium, potassium, and aldosterone work together is critical
if performing at your absolute best is important to you. For those who train
for aesthetics and want to attain a certain level of vascularity, much like a pre-contest
bodybuilder or physique competitor would, than understanding this information
is even more crucial.
Sodium, potassium, and aldosterone play a huge role in one’s conditioning
come show time. If these minerals/electrolytes are not in perfect balance
within the body, the end result for a pre-contest bodybuilder or physique
competitor could be catastrophic by the promotion of water retention.
Typically a physique athlete will manipulate, or at least attempt to
manipulate, sodium and water intake in an attempt to display a polished
finished product when they get on the big stage. To do this they will crank up
sodium and water intake, which will downregulate aldosterone as well as
anti-diuretic hormone, and put the body into flushing mode.
Anti-diuretic hormone is a water retention hormone that also plays a
critical role in a physique athlete showing up in the absolute best condition
possible. When water levels/hydration are low relative to sodium and potassium,
or if blood volume may is low, anti-diuretic hormone is upregulated, prompting
the body to hold onto water.
When extra blood volume is detected within the chambers of the heart, due
to increased sodium and water intake, atrial natriuretic hormone is released,
which is a water and sodium flushing hormone.
Not only does atrial natriuretic hormone promote the flushing of sodium
and water from the body, it also has a downregulating effect on aldosterone and
anti-diuretic hormone.
Therefore the greater sodium and water intake, the greater atrial
natriuretic hormone upregulation (sodium and water flushing hormone), as well
as greater downregulation of aldosterone and anti-diuretic hormone (sodium and
water retaining hormones).
Here is a brief rundown of how to manipulate aldosterone, anti-diuretic
hormone, and atrial natriuretic hormone through diet/lifestyle:
High Sodium Intake = Downregulation of Aldosterone
High Water Intake = Downregulation of Anti-Diuretic Hormone
High Blood Volume = Upregulation of Atrial Natriuretic Hormone (which also
downregulates Aldosterone and Anti-Diuretic Hormone)
Low Sodium Intake = Upregulation of Aldosterone
Low Water Intake = Upregulation of Anti-Diuretic Hormone
Low Blood Volume = Downregulation of Atrial Natriuretic Hormone (which also
upregulates Aldosterone and Anti-Diuretic Hormone
Increased STRESS = Upregulation of Aldosterone
By providing your body with adequate amounts of sodium (2 grams per liter
per day should suffice) and water every day, you provide the body with what is
needed to perform at its best, and look as lean as possible.
Where those striving to look their absolute best for a given event go
wrong, is that they either consciously or unconsciously adjust their sodium,
potassium, or water intake, which negatively affects the regulation of hormones
like aldosterone, anti-diuretic hormone, and atrial natriuretic hormone.
The last few days/hours before a physique athlete competes can be very stressful
for anyone, and this in itself can cause the body to upregulate aldosterone production
which causes the body to hold onto sodium and remove potassium. As you can
imagine, this means more water is stored outside of the cells, and less water
is stored inside the cells, leaving your muscles looking flat, and definition
blurred.
Because potassium is the primary intracellular cation, potassium sparing
diuretics that downregulate aldosterone to assist in eliminating sodium are
often used. The theory is that if the body can eliminate sodium, excess
extracellular water will go with it, which in theory makes sense. But (there’s
always a ‘but’) as sodium levels drop, so do water levels and blood volume. If
you recall, it’s when blood volume is low, or water levels are low relative to
sodium and/or potassium, that the body upregulates anti-diuretic hormone, which
causes the body to hold onto water.
If the timing of a potassium sparing diuretic isn’t extremely precise, the
result of using such tactics could lead to essentially wasting all the months
of training and dieting come show time, therefore making it very high risk for
a possibly, slightly better reward.
Here’s how to take this information and apply it in a practical way. If
the goal is to be able to train at the highest level possible, then it is of
the utmost importance to provide your body with optimal amounts of sodium and
water. The size of the individual obviously determines the quantity of water
and sodium needed per day, but a good rule to go by is to take in 2 grams of
sodium per litre of water.
If the goal is to look your absolute best on a given day, for a given
event, then you can attempt to manipulate your sodium and water intake (along
with carbohydrates) to do so. Here’s a blueprint of how to do that:
First off, muscle glycogen ranges from 1.5-2% under normal conditions.
That’s equivalent to 1.5-2 grams per every 100 grams of muscle. If you deprive
yourself of carbohydrates, and deplete your stored carbohydrates through
training, muscle glycogen can drop as low as 0.6%, or 0.6 grams per 100 grams
of muscle.
Depleting muscle glycogen content results in a super compensative effect
in which the body will actually allow itself to store more glycogen (between
3.5-4% or 3.5-4 grams per 100 grams of muscle) than it would under normal
conditions.
Also worth noting is that 1 gram of muscle glycogen pulls 2.7 grams of
water with it into the muscle cell.
Here’s how to calculate how much weight can be gained by simply depleting
and reloading carbohydrates:
Before you get into any sort of calculation, you need to know all of the
numbers associated with each of the variables involved in the equation.
First you need to know exactly how much muscle you have on your body. For
simplicity we’ll use round numbers, and in this case we’ll say there is 100
lbs. of muscle to work with.
So here’s how you calculate all of these numbers:
1 kg = 2.2 lbs
100 lbs. of muscle divided by 2.2 = 45.45 kg
Since we use grams to quantify the amount of food we eat, and not
kilograms, we need to break down 45.45 kg of muscle, into hectograms.
45.45 multiplied by 10 = 454.5 hectograms
454.5 hg multiplied by 4 (the maximum amount of grams of glycogen that can
be stored into depleted muscles) = 1,818 grams of glycogen that can be stored.
1,818 grams of glycogen that can be stored multiplied by 2.7 (the amount
of water pulled into the muscles per gram of glycogen) = 4,908.6 grams of
weight that can be added from carb loading.
4,908.6 grams divided by 1,000 = 4.9086 kg
4.9086 multiplied by 2.2 = 10.8 lbs
This means that you are capable of adding up to 10.8 lbs. during a carb
load and deplete. To do this you’d have to take in 1,818 grams of carbs, spread
over however many days you decided to carb up for (which would be based on
however many days you decided to deplete for).
Because the body’s glycogen storing enzymes will be upregulated, high
glycemic carbs are ideal as soon as you begin to load back up. Shortly after
you begin carb loading, the glycogen storing enzymes will start to
downregulate, therefore making lower glycemic carbs ideal after the first day
or so of beginning the carb load.
If you are taking the appropriate amounts of sodium needed for optimal
performance prior to the carb deplete/load, then your body should have
downregulated aldosterone naturally, while upregulating atrial natriuretic
hormone. It takes roughly 2-2 ½ days for your body to recognize that the
pattern of high amounts of sodium has deceased, so you should try and minimize
sodium intake as much as possible roughly 2 days before the competition. This should
keep your body flushing out sodium, along with extracellular water.
Water intake should be reduced in proportion with sodium, roughly two days
before the event, to allow the body to keep flushing it out along with sodium, before
being completely eliminated roughly 10-12 hours before getting on stage,
leaving enough time for the last bit of carbs to soak up whatever water may be
left over.
If you have any questions about sodium, potassium, and their effect on
hormones, performance, and appearance, feel free to contact me at ben@paramounttraining.ca. I'm available
for online consulting and personalized program design, as well as one on one
training if you are located in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Awesome Article I loved reading it. Provided me with tons of valuable information!!!!
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