Extreme water usage myth

[shaolin]

Every fitness magazine and most people here ascribe to the notion that drinking 1-2 gallons of water per day is more healthy than drinking a nominal amount. The way that this is bantied about smacks of myth passed from one to another. The common logic is that one needs to "stay hydrated" and to "flush the system of toxins".

Despite the popularity of this myth, I have never heard of or seen one scientific report showing any health benefits from over-drinking, i.e. drinking more than you need to meet basic needs.

Sure when I play two hours of high-level racquetball, I chug like there is no tomorrow. That is not hype, that is my body talking to me. When not doing an activity that promotes profuse sweating, I see no need to drink to gallons per day.

I do not use steroids so that is not a consideration.

As to the flushing of toxins, I don't think so. Urine is pretty clear on high water diets precisely because most of the toxins have already been flushed through normal water intake.

Tried the mega-water diet, and found it irritated my urinary tract and gave no added health benefits that I could detect. The only possible reasons I can see are

1. The stomach fullness from water may suppress appetite.

2. The typical western diet has from 10 to 100 times the necessary sodium intake. The easiest way to rid the excess (after not taking in so much!) is to flush with water. However, sodium is not a bodily toxin.

Can anyone point me to a real study concerning this issue?

As a footnote, I have read of several "primitive" aboriginal tribes that can run all day long and take in very little water.

 

[blood_drinker]

Water is of prime importance in the building of muscle and burning adipose tissue.
It is of prime importance in metabolizing fat because it because your liver is overloaded when your kidneys don't get enough water. Your liver metabolizes fat, and it can't do that 100% if it is doing the kidneys job. Now, these are some other water benefits:

- Suppresses appetite and aids in proper digestion

- Relieves fluid retention problems. If you don't give your body water, it will hold it so as not to lose it.
That's how important your body water is. Your body will stock up on it and youll look even fatter. Again, water is of prime importance.

-Reduces sodium buildup in the body

-Helps to maintain proper muscle tone.

-Rids the body of waste and toxins

-Relieves constipation

As you can see you cannot overlook the importance of water. I drink 3L minimum per day regardless of the phase (bulk or cut).

As bodybuilders we have higher demands than the avg 5 cups a day. Trust me , anyone will back me up here. Water is at the base of what is important to a bodybuilder - regardless of the phase or whether he is a natural.

 

[blood_drinker]

You mentioned "basic needs." As bodybuilders we are not basic in that all we hope out of life is to survive. You talk about this as if there is no need to drink more than what is needed to survive. We are bodybuilders, we build muscle and lose fat. To be successful at that, water is a key component in the equation. Remember, we are bodybuilders / powerlifters, NOT aboriginals !

 

[blood_drinker]

bump for any bros wanting to reply here..

 

[Enock]

think of it this way,

water = bandwitdh

Now picture your liver/kidney as a router.

sure the router can manage to send all the users data at 10mbit/sec. Some of the data may come into fast and fill the routers overfull buffer and the router dumps the packet. In which case it needs to be resent so the router has to handle the information again.

Now eventually all that information will get through and it does get the job done its just not very efficient.

Now if that same router had 100mbit/sec transfer speeds, it would have been able to send all the information w/o bottlenecking so the packets arn't lost and they don't need to be retransimitted by the sender and reprocessed by the router. You just took some load off of the router.

The point is, yes you can manage w/ the reccomended 8 glasses of water and even less. But your putting more stress on your body because it has to make valuable use of that water.

picture trying to seperate rocks from sand. Imagine only having a cup of water in which you need to constantly resuse inorder to flush the sand out, after flushing through you would need to slowly recollect the water, and try flushing some more sand out, eventually you get to a point where you say its just not worth trying to get the last bit of sand out from the rocks because w/ so little water its not worth the energy that could be better spent else where. Now imagine if you had buckets of water and you didn't need to collect the water imagine how much easier it is to just keep flushing the sand untill its all clear. Much less work and done much better.

 

[mlomker]

Can anyone point me to a real study concerning this issue?

As a footnote, I have read of several "primitive" aboriginal tribes that can run all day long and take in very little water.

Nope, don't know of any clinical studies. I know from personal experience that it works. I used a lot of weird diets in my youth...most were low cal/high aerobics/improper lifting. I always managed to slim down in 6-9 months but my bodyfat was still relatively high.

I now 6+ meals per day/drink tons of water/work out with a good routine and I've lost 3 inches from my waist in 5 weeks. I think I'll stick with it.

 

[Love Bone]

water needs

You got to have plent of water for cutting or bulking. Five glasses a day just won't cut it. I have five glasses before 9:00 am. I was even able to keep water gain to a minimum during a cycle of dbol by drinking 1 1/2 gallons per day.

 

[twinturbo]

I'm a water junkie- ive done my own tests of driking at least 20 oz. of water b4 any workout then see how i feel and some days just about 8 oz.....the days with 20oz. I always get a better pump and am more focused...

 

[decadon]

one point....i know this instance is rare but if you are a very dedicated body builder or on a very low sodium diet...large amounts of water can induce diluted hyponatremia(low serum Na+)... and this can rapidly progress into a tragic situation...all bodies are different and 1-2 gallons maybe need for someone that uses eca, does hours of intense cardio, and puts anyother toxin into their body...some may not need as much..but too much of a good thing can also be harmful

good luck