10 days to my primitive survival course. Because of an injury that inhibited training for the last month Im going to diet cheat a little. I know it will only help for the first day or so but the first day is always a bitch and every little bit helps.
I plan on carbo-loading and I have that plan down, but is there a way to water load in a way other than just salt induced bloating? I figure it doesn’t help to do this because your body just needs that water to get rid of the salt. What about creatine? I know that forces you to retain water. Is it a beneficial gain?
Yes, creatine does draw in more water. More noticable? Well, not really.
Water loading is hard because your body will flush out the extra water and you could deplete your sodium levels…and other nutrients Some runners have become ill or died as a result.
The benefits are almost nothing while the risk is high.
If you are stuck or plateaued and need help for that, let me know.
Carb loading is fine and creatine does show some signs when it is loaded, but the hydration advice would be: drink what you need and don’t dabble with water loading.
You muscles won’t get stronger or even look bigger. Muscles look bigger when you are NOT bloated or retaining water, and if you take creatine, your muscles are getting a slight extra load of water anyway, so stop there.
Philster - remember I’m not trying to look bigger or have more power. Im only trying to retain as much useable water to start the trip with.
BTW, it is my understanding that water retained via creatine actually does make you look bigger (ie more muscular) because the water is stored in the muscle cells themselves rather than however it is stored via excess salt. Im not sure on this but a fitness site that I respect says this is the case.
I drifted from the original goal of storing water like a camel.
For starters, you’d want to avoid eating some natural diurettics like asparagus. There are a ton of them. Search on ‘natural diurretics’ and read up on them.
Red meats help you retain water, and red meats also contain creatine.
Whole wheats and very insoluable fibers require lots of water for digestion, forcing water into the bowels, so you want to avoid whole grains and whole wheats…BUT, then again these are keys to carb loading!
What kind of carbs are you going to carb load with? If you load with whole grains and wheats, it’ll be hard to retain water.
And of course I’m only interested in water that can be retained to stave off dehydration. If I eat something that retains water for the purpose of eliminating the waste products of that food it’s probably not going to help my purpose.
My thinking is that creatine may be my best bet (emphasis on bet). I’ve heard that someone can expect to gain 5 lb. of water after the loading phase.
Go to a store that sells sports nutrition stuff and look for glycerol. Several studies of cyclists show that it helps the body store extra water and that performance is improved in hot conditions. The article I have here recommends 1.2g glycerol per kg of body weight. Plug glycerol and hyperhydration into google for loads of data.