Sodium loading bodybuilding. Relieve psychological stress. What Athletes Experience When Carbohydrate Unloading and Loading

Eyeliner schemes are surrounded by a halo of magic and secrecy. Every top bodybuilding coach has his own “special technique” for the final week, which he sells only to a select few and only for very big money, so that they don’t even think of sharing it with someone and criticizing it.

And often these schemes bring athletes to the hospital. That is why bodybuilding has such a bad reputation. Normal person just can not understand why it is worth bringing yourself to such a state. For an iron goblet and a can of protein? Seriously?

All this crazy manipulation of salt and water is extremely dangerous, but it is also incredibly popular in the competitive bodybuilding environment.
That is why I want to shed light on the truth about the rationale for dehydration to achieve extreme dryness by race day. From a scientific point of view, of course.

It should be said right away that many pharmacological preparations that bodybuilders use can cause some fluid retention in the body. And the illiterate use of these drugs can lead to severe edema, which will seriously affect appearance athlete's musculature.

There are actually two main eyeliner strategies.

1. No manipulations with salt and water in the last week
2. Certain restrictions on salt and water intake during the final week

Let's look at this issue from a scientific point of view. Take an average person weighing 70 kg. The total amount of fluid in the body is 42 liters (about 60% of body weight). Of these 42 liters:

• Intracellular fluid - 28 liters (40% of body weight)
• Extracellular fluid - 14 liters (20% of body weight)

Extracellular fluid is also divided into:

• Tissue (intercellular) fluid (about 11 l)
• Blood plasma (about 3 liters)

So the only liquid that should bother us somehow is the water under the skin.

Skin structure

The skin is made up of:

• epidermis (thickness - 0.07-0.12 mm, this is the thickness of a plastic film, or a sheet of paper)
• dermis (thickness - 0.5-5 mm)
• subcutaneous fat (hypoderm)

What is all this for? And to the fact that there is no separate “layer of water” under the skin, although it is often depicted in advertisements for “miracle supplements”.

The dermis is on average only 3 mm thick. 70-75% of the dermis is water. It turns out that water gives about 2 mm of skin thickness.

Ask yourself the question - is it possible to significantly reduce the amount of water under the skin, while retaining water in the intracellular space, especially in the muscles?

Leading up to the competition, bodybuilders manipulate with two main ingredients - salt and water.

Salt

Many athletes try to remove salt from their diet in the final week in the hope of showing a really dry form. But the most interesting thing is that cutting salt in the diet does not, in fact, significantly reduce the concentration of sodium.

Decreased sodium also reduces the body's ability to utilize glucose, which is important for carbohydrate loading. In any case, eliminating salt from the diet in the final week is a bad idea.

Well, what about the "salt load"?

When we consume large amounts of salt at once, there is a sharp jump in pressure, but then quickly returns to normal, so this can be used for a short-term increase in “vascularity” and muscle pumps.

Many bodybuilders have long noticed that they look much better 1-2 days after the competition, when they have already eaten sushi, pizza, hamburgers and drunk plenty of water.

Water

Usually bodybuilders simply stop drinking water immediately before competitions, in the hope of making their skin thinner and their muscles more prominent.
Understand - if you stop drinking water, then you will start losing water from everywhere!

On the this moment there is no way to reduce the amount of fluid only directly in the skin.

Giving up water, especially when combined with giving up salt, is a surefire way to go on stage incredibly flat and without a single wreath.

There is another interesting technique - “dry carbohydrate loading”.

The idea: loading up on carbs just before the competition, glycogen builds up in the muscles, but requires a lot of water. We do not drink water, which means that the body will begin to take “extra” water from under the skin, from the extracellular space to the intracellular one. By at least, it is intended that everything will happen in this way.

Moisture evaporation

Put your hand on the mirror - and you will clearly see the process of evaporation of moisture from the surface of the skin. Is there any way to use this to improve the form?

Surely you have noticed that in the summer, when you spend a lot of time in the sun, the skin becomes thinner, and the muscles become more venous. And I think you have noticed that in the morning you always look drier than when you go to bed, especially if you sleep in a warm room under a warm blanket.

From this we can conclude - keep your body warm until the very competition. This is especially important if you're waiting a long time to get on stage and it's chilly backstage. Wear a bathrobe, keep your muscles warm. If you are competing in warm time years is a good option to spend some time in the sun just before going on stage.

Hormones

And a few more words about hormones that regulate the amount of fluid in the body. The two main hormones are:

• Aldosterone
• ADG ( antidiuretic hormone or arginine vasopressin)

These hormones change their concentration very quickly. So if you cut back on some water short period- you will lose water without causing a response from the body. But prolonged failure from water uniquely stimulates the production of these hormones, which will calmly cause swelling.

That is why I advise you to consume water evenly throughout the final week, and only limit your water intake to some extent just before the competition in order to become a little drier.
It is important to understand that you can eat salty foods closer to the competition - sushi, pizza, burgers - this can also improve your shape. But! If you have been on a “clean diet” for many months, have not eaten such food, and then you suddenly overeat hamburgers, the result is unpredictable. And it’s not a fact that you can keep yourself within the limits and eat exactly as much as necessary.

In general, it is better to test all these manipulations with water and salt on yourself in the off-season. Playing "Russian roulette" directly in the last week is a bad idea. If you do not know how your body reacts to such manipulations, it is better not to do anything. Otherwise, you just risk worsening the shape.

In fact, a week before the competition, you should already be low in body fat, dry and free from swelling. If you are still fat a week before the performances, then you miscalculated the timing and started the diet too late. In this case, it is still too early for you to speak, you do not have enough experience. If you have swelling a week before the competition, then you made a mistake somewhere - either in taking drugs, or in diet, or in training. I repeat - at competent training there should be no edema for performances.

Correcting preparation errors with diuretics is not the most reasonable option. Remember - no significant improvements in shape for such short term(week) you will not receive. It is possible to have a really dry form without using diuretics. And to take the conscious risk of hospitalization for the sake of reducing the thickness of the skin by 1 mm is an incredibly stupid idea.

See how the American athletes are being let down. They already have an incredibly low percentage of fat in a few weeks. Someone manipulates salt and water, and someone does nothing. There is no particular difference in the quality of the muscles.

Remember, there are three main parameters by which the appearance of a bodybuilder on stage is judged:

1. Fat Percentage
2. Muscle volumes
3. Muscle "fullness".

We reduce the percentage of fat by diet . It is advisable to have the desired relief a few weeks before the performances. If you do not have time to burn enough fat by the day of the competition, then you have calculated the timing incorrectly, or initially started training with too much a high percentage body fat.

Muscle volumes do not gain on drying, but it is important at least not to lose what was gained earlier. If you significantly lose muscle mass during training, it means that you either do not know how to use drugs correctly, or do not know how to make a diet correctly. In any case, this means that it is too early for you to speak.

The "fullness" of the muscles is, first of all, high content glycogen and water in the muscles themselves. To do this, you must approach the competition with a competent carbohydrate load and not become dehydrated.

conclusions

If you do not have time to make the desired percentage of fat - do not perform.
If you don’t have the necessary muscle volumes at the time you start training, don’t perform.
If you don’t fit into the right weight and take the risk of using diuretics to “shrink” and climb into your category, you risk losing all the “fullness” of the muscles and create serious health risks. If you don't fit into a category, it's better not to speak at all. Exercise, eat right and be healthy!

It is a universal source of energy for human body, and this is no coincidence. Getting into gastrointestinal tract, they quickly undergo enzymatic processing, and are absorbed into the blood.

Further, with the direct participation of the pancreatic hormone -, they are supplied to all tissues and organs. In the cells of our body, saccharides are oxidized, releasing energy that is used for life support needs.

This is a very simplified algorithm for saturating our body with energy. In fact, everything looks much more complicated, but to understand the essence of what is happening, this is quite enough. About what is the source life force, perhaps everyone knows, but few people know how it can be used to increase training potential.

We are talking about a procedure called carbohydrate loading - unloading. I note that this technique should be used mainly by athletes, in the period before the competition. Those who simply want to lose some weight by exercising themselves can also use this technique.

Fundamentals of carbohydrate loading - unloading

This technique is based on the principle of stimulating the body to certain metabolic rearrangements, forcing it to use internal reserves, and increase production, primarily from adipose tissue.

The first period in this case is carbohydrate unloading, during which the intake of saccharides with food should be excluded or at least very strongly limited. What will happen in our body?

Carbohydrate unloading

Lack of carbohydrate intake leads to a negative energy balance. The body begins to mobilize internal reserves, trying to rectify the situation. In our body, the processes of gluconeogenesis are triggered or, to put it plain language, neoplasms of glucose mainly from adipose tissue, as well as from those coming from food.

The body begins to deal with the lack of energy, getting used to this state. At the beginning of carbohydrate unloading, an athlete may feel very unimportant. This is due to a deep restructuring of all metabolic processes.

Perhaps the manifestation of an unmotivated feeling - this is quite normal, you should not beware of this. Later, when the processes of gluconeogenesis pick up the desired pace, these negative manifestations disappear gradually. You will be able to enter the usual rhythm of training.

The duration of this period can vary over a fairly wide range. On average, carbohydrate unloading should not exceed two weeks. Even if you feel strong in yourself, it is worth stopping at 14 days.

Remember, you are still playing with fire, which, as you know, can warm or burn. To be immoderate, then problems from the liver, pancreas, central nervous system- guaranteed.

Such experiments should not be carried out without involving specialists in the training process. It is necessary to constantly take, and at the slightest pathological changes stop carbohydrate unloading immediately.

What should be the diet in this period? It is clear that all products containing carbohydrates should be excluded, namely:, bakery products, dairy, and much more. You will have to eat mainly at the expense of products of animal origin. Preference should be given low-calorie varieties and meat. Avoid pork and chicken thighs as they are very high in fat.

Don't forget about enough liquid, as it is necessary for normal excretion products of protein metabolism. A very serious burden will be placed on the kidneys during this period.

After the body is fully tuned to produce its own glucose, you should smoothly move into the second phase of the technique - the period of carbohydrate loading. The essence of this is that our body will receive additional source energy and will begin to function with a vengeance.

Both endogenous saccharide and those obtained with food will undergo oxidation. Roughly, this can be compared to the process of adding additives to automotive fuel, when the engine starts to produce significantly more power. This is precisely the essence of the methodology, which means that an athlete can enter competitions and win medals.

If you are not an athlete, but simply rid yourself of extra pounds, exercising in the fitness center, you will be able to give all the best with maximum efficiency, and, consequently, lose large quantity fat.

So that the body is not subjected to a terrible carbohydrate "hit", this should be done gradually. On average, the duration of both periods should be the same, and the amount of saccharides should be increased gradually in equal proportions.

For example, if before the start of the method you consumed, say, 300 grams of carbohydrates, and the duration of the first period was 10 days, then in the second phase, 30 grams should be added every day. As you can see, the arithmetic is very simple.

Contraindications

Of course, it would be foolish to assume that this technique is devoid of contraindications. Below I will list the conditions in which you should not adhere to carbohydrate loading - unloading:

Diseases of cardio-vascular system;
Liver disease with insufficiency this body;
Diseases excretory system on the background kidney failure;
Diabetes any type;
Mental disorders;
Pregnancy;
breastfeeding period.

I remind you of the need to seek specialist advice. Do not put rash experiments on your body.

Conclusion

This technique is a way to increase physical activity. At the same time, you will be able to play sports with a double return. But, you should be careful and moderate. Remember the main postulate of medicine - do no harm.

Carb loading, or refeed, is sharp increase the amount of carbohydrates eaten over several hours or days. Unlike cheating (increasing the number of calories eaten), refeeding is useful not only psychologically, but also physically. Every athlete or dieter needs to load up on carbohydrates at least once in a while.

In the article we will talk about the features of the refeed.

The role of carbohydrates in the human body

Carbohydrates are considered the most important source of energy for humans.

• Complex. This group includes legumes, starchy vegetables(peas, potatoes, corn), beets, carrots and cereals.
• simple carbohydrates. They can be found in milk, dairy products, fruits, and sweets (cakes, candies, and so on).

What is the benefit of a refeed?

During a carb-load, you can take a break from your diet and eat well. But these are not all the benefits of a refeed. This nutritional system provides some physiological benefits. Below are the benefits of carbohydrate loading:

1. Restore muscle glycogen stores. Almost all diets are based on the rejection of food that contains carbohydrates. During such a diet, a person feels constant weakness and, as a result, training becomes unproductive. Refeed will help you stick to your diet long time. In addition, training will become more effective.
2. Temporary suspension of catabolism. Risk of loss muscle mass increases if the body fat percentage is too low. Carbohydrate loading can protect muscles from breakdown.
3. Improvement hormonal background. The most important advantage of refeed is the maintenance of the level of leptin, ghrelin and insulin in normal condition. These hormones are responsible for adaptation to hunger, weight regulation and metabolic rate.

Who needs a download?

Let's find out who and when really needs a refeed:

1. Carbohydrate loading on drying. It is recommended to do in the middle of the cycle. Refeed helps to reduce the load on the body.
2. Athletes before performances. Carbohydrate loading in this case helps increase volume muscle tissue approximately two centimeters.
3. Athletes who need endurance during training. Carb loading before a marathon allows you to get extra energy. Sometimes marathon runners continue to refeed while running the distance.
4. Athletes involved in strength sports. Crossfitters and bodybuilders often practice carbohydrate loading. It helps increase strength endurance.
5. Carbohydrate loading on a keto diet. This diet is complete failure from carbohydrate foods. Very often, people on this diet just need a break. After a refeed, you can safely continue the diet without fear of losing a large amount of muscle tissue. In addition, after a carbohydrate load, the person will regain strength and desire to continue the process of losing weight.

Refeeding before a competition or during a diet is a temporary panacea. Remember that carbohydrate loading only works when the body is depleted. The body can only respond to stressful situation. If you have always consumed a lot of carbohydrates and decide to load, then the result of the refeed will not be significant.

The basic rule of carbohydrate loading

Refeeding is not a way to figure out how many carbs to eat in a few days or hours. Don't take loading as an opportunity to eat your fill. A refeed is just an increase in carbohydrates in your diet. The level of fat and protein should remain the same.

It is acceptable to eat foods such as marshmallows, sherbet, marmalade and marshmallow. These sweets contain only carbohydrates. Cake, ice cream, cookies, donuts are prohibited. These foods are high in fat.

Remember that a refeed requires strict observance recommendations proper nutrition. Your diet should still include optimal amount proteins and fats. Only carbohydrates should be an order of magnitude more than on a normal day. Please note that within one week you can either refeed or cheat.

What carbohydrates are there?

While loading it is better to use:

• low-fat pastries;
• bread;
• cereals (buckwheat, oatmeal, rice and others);
• paste;
• marmalade;
• grape;
• carrot;
• marshmallow;
• beets;
• bananas;
• marshmallow.

Sweets, as mentioned above, should be eaten in small quantities so as not to provoke an increase in body fat. Focus on foods that you usually do not eat during drying or dieting (bananas, grapes, bread).

If you feel bad on the refeed

There are people who do not tolerate carbohydrate loading. These include those who have poor insulin sensitivity and those who often follow a low-carbohydrate diet. These people may experience sharp drops blood sugar. How to avoid it? Here are the solutions:

• do not exclude proteins, fats and fiber from your diet;
• eat whole grains;
• eliminate from the diet

How long does a refeed last?

Let's consider three options:

• One day. Refeed lasting one day lasts from breakfast to dinner. Do not go to extremes and do not eat everything. Eat in moderation, just add some carbs to every meal.
• Two days. Refeed lasting two days lasts from breakfast to dinner during the days allotted for loading. It is recommended to eat a moderate amount of carbohydrates on both days to avoid spikes in blood sugar and energy.
• Five hours. If you decide to do a five-hour carbohydrate load, then start it in the afternoon. For example, from 15.00 to 20.00. Finish your refeed just before bed. In the morning next day continue your diet.

During a carbohydrate load, it is worth eating every three hours. If your work schedule does not allow you to this mode, then it is better to transfer the refeed to a day off.

Reverse refeed

Here are the main postulates that characterize this method reverse carbohydrate loading:

• In the morning you need to eat little.
• By the evening, the caloric content of the diet should be significantly increased.
• Do not eat carbohydrates before the evening workout.
• After training, you need to eat a large amount of carbohydrates. Moreover, use carbohydrate food stands before going to bed.

Bodybuilders always want more - to grow more muscle, burned more fat, and the result pleased more and more. In this constant pursuit of results, many sabotage their efforts.

Let's take an example to show what I mean. Let's say you're running a marathon. You've been training for years for the race, you're in the front row with a couple of miles to go and it looks like your efforts will be rewarded. You assess your chances as high, but would like to get an additional advantage. What if we reduce the weight of the equipment? And you take off your socks and sneakers and run the last miles barefoot.

But instead of joyfully and easily running ahead of everyone, you wince and dance in pain, stepping on sharp stones, and lose the race with a mile to go.

You must be thinking, “This is the dumbest idea I've ever heard of! The right way kill all chances of winning. My example may sound completely idiotic, but it's the equivalent of what most bodybuilders do the week before a competition. At the very end of hard training, they sabotage their efforts and reduce their chances of winning. There are many myths about pre-competition training. But there are certain general principles, which would be worth knowing and observing, so as not to cross out your efforts.

My prep method has become almost legendary because of the amount of carbs I recommend the days before a show. Although my ideas may seem rather controversial and contrary to all notions of the norm, they are based on scientific research and the results speak for themselves. This method has led to the fact that since 2010 when I started using it and I had only a few clients, now in 2011 I have many clients all over the country, including professionals, and many clients compete in Yorton Pro World Championships in 2011. Of course, there are a lot of details in the preparation process, but the main components are carbohydrates, water and salt (sodium).

Self-sabotage in the last week before the competition is associated with the standard practice of peaking. I called it standard because many "experts" already long years stick to it. Although many generally accepted ideas are incorrect and have no scientific basis at all.

A typical pre-competition week looks like this. At the start of the week, you deplete your glycogen stores for three days, then carb-load for three days before going on stage. And finally, some take extra potassium and limit sodium.

Look familiar? Surely, because that's what most people do when preparing for a competition. And then, on the day of the show, they wonder what went wrong. Understanding how your body reacts to carbs, water, sodium and potassium will allow you to get through the pre-competition week and come to show day lean, lean and full of muscle.

Carbohydrates
Depletion and subsequent carbohydrate loading will cause the body to store more carbohydrates than usual. This is called glycogen supercompensation, and this is perhaps one of the few common stereotypes that is completely true. When glycogen stores are depleted in the body, it begins to take measures to eliminate the imbalance. First of all, it increases the amount of glycogen that can be stored in the muscles.

So after a few days of exhaustion, the body is ready to store much more glycogen than usual at the first opportunity. That's what the download is for. Muscles filled with glycogen look bigger, skin is pulled tighter, and you look more defined and muscular. Which is the goal of any bodybuilder before the competition.

A longer front load has its advantages, because if you get flooded, you will have enough time to deal with the problem. Although I have always used this loading method in the past and it has worked reasonably well, I am not interested in what works well enough, but in what works best. Search best method led me to a protocol that seemed somewhat controversial. I called it the fastboot method.

A few years ago, I stopped using persistent loading and switched to a new method. The main difference between the standard fast loading method and my method is that you take almost all the required amount of carbohydrates on the day or a day and a half before the competition. This means that in one day you need to get enough carbohydrates to fill the glycogen stores in the muscles.

In addition, you must know exactly how much carbohydrate you need. If you go over the coals, you will be flooded and the relief will be blurry. If there is not enough coal, the muscles will remain flat, and the coals that you eat a couple of hours before going on stage will not have time to stock up in the muscles like glycogen. So you need to feel your metabolism and body very well. If you know exactly what it does, then the risk of error is low. When I work with clients, I have months to figure out their metabolism so I know exactly how much carbs they need by the time they load.

Maybe you still don't understand why I went from pretty safe method boot to another, riskier one. The answer is simple - RESULT. main reason why the fast, one-day upload method works better than the standard three-day upload method is an adaptation. Every time you change your diet, your body tries to adapt, to adapt.

With a three-day load, the body will notice on the first day that coals have appeared. As a result, he will immediately begin to take action and dismantle the supercompensation mechanism that was created during the period of exhaustion. On the third day, the ability of the muscles to store additional glycogen is significantly reduced.

With a one-day load, the body does not have time to get used to the intake of coal. Consequently, much more glycogen is stored in the muscles. New method gives a much better result because it takes advantage of the super compensation created during the exhaustion phase.

So how many carbs do you need to load? Unfortunately, finding the answer to this question is not so easy. I can say that definitely more is needed, much more than you think. So many that you might think I'm crazy. In the 24-36 hours leading up to the preliminary judging, some of my clients consume up to 1600 grams. Yes, yes, up to 1600 grams in one single day!

If you have done the exhaustion phase correctly, it will work. But you need to know exactly the individual needs. 1600 is perhaps the maximum possible. Most of my clients consume in the range of 900-1300 grams.

When developing recommendations, it is necessary to take into account the gender of the individual, body type, weight, metabolism, activity level, and all possible combinations of the above factors. It's not easy, but if I have enough time to work with the client, I can figure out the exact amount of carbs to load. As a rule, the greater the dry weight and the faster the exchange, the greater this volume will be.

I want to emphasize again that the amount of coals must be CORRECT, otherwise the result may be far from ideal. If there aren't enough embers, your muscles will look flat on stage and you'll look as skinny as a deflated balloon. If you overdo it with coals, the muscles will fill up, but you can get flooded, and you will look smooth, not embossed. Carbohydrates retain water because they are stored in the body in a “wet” form. (carbohydrates → surge of insulin in a weaned body → insulin retains sodium → sodium retains water in the intercellular space)

When the glycogen depots in the muscles are filled, water will go there along with carbohydrates. But after they are filled, excess carbohydrates will go to other tissues. And, accordingly, they will attract water with them, including under the skin, into the tissues that cover your muscles, smoothing out the entire relief that you have so diligently achieved.

There are other factors as well, such as the time of day, the type of carbohydrates, the amount of potassium in the diet, and the time of day when this potassium is supplied. All these little details play important role but the main problem is total coals needed 24-36 hours before the competition. In general, there is some risk in using the fastboot method, but with correct application the results are just amazing.

Water
Another time-honored pre-competition tradition is water restriction. My clients drink liters of water before the show.

Common sense tells us that if you do not drink water, then there will be nothing to delay. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work that way. You have to drink water, or the whole point of carb-loading will be lost. As I said before, carbs bind water, this also applies to carbohydrates in the muscles. In the absence of water, carbohydrates are more likely to be stored as fat than as glycogen. (you need to eat a bag of potatoes, so that at least something from the coals is deposited like fat, ) . Because glycogen can ONLY be stored in the presence of water. (2)

When carbohydrates are stored in the muscles, they bind 2.7 grams of water for every gram of glycogen. This means that when you load up on charcoal and your muscles get filled and sculpted, 75% of that volume is water. So, if you do not drink water, you can say goodbye to the dream of big beautiful muscles and get small and saggy ones. And filled muscles stretch the skin and allow you to better see the relief.

When I talk about the need for water to achieve best form, many do not believe me and are afraid that excess amount water will lead to swelling. But the cause of water retention is carbohydrates, not water. Muscles are like a bath with the cork removed. No matter how much water you pour into the bathroom, it will still drain. In order for the water to stay in the bathtub, you need something to keep it there.

The same thing happens when you drink water. Everything that you drink will leave the body if something does not stop this water. Imagine that I start throwing sponges into the bath. Sponges will absorb water and prevent it from flowing out. This is exactly what happens with carbohydrates. They bind water wherever they go. And when you eat carbs and drink water, the first thing your body does is replenish muscle stores.
The problem with fluid retention will arise if you throw too many sponges into the bath. If they overflow the bath, they will inevitably begin to fall out onto the floor. The same will happen if you sort out carbohydrates. They will begin to fill other tissues, bringing water with them. That is why it is important to know exactly the correct amount of carbohydrates at the time of loading. If you do not sort out carbohydrates, water will not linger in other tissues of the body and will not flood you.

If you want to look the best way on the day of the show, drink water. It is important to take measures so that the water fills the muscles, and does not linger under the skin. But if there were as many carbohydrates as needed, then no amount of water will harm the result, but will only help.

Salt (Sodium)
The final term in the fast loading equation is sodium. As with water, many bodybuilders recommend avoiding sodium before competition for fear that sodium intake will lead to water retention. But sodium plays an important role in maintaining fluid balance and in carbohydrate metabolism. As with other essential micronutrients, if sodium is severely restricted, the body can react very violently. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of reaction you could expect.

There are many reasons why you shouldn't cut sodium from your diet right up to the day of the show. Sodium controls blood volume. If sodium levels fall, blood volume decreases (3). Consequently, veins will not be visible, and you can forget about pumping muscles before the stage.

Let's check my arguments - remember last time, when you ate something salty as a cheat-meal on drying. Surely in an hour your veins appeared and blood throbbed in your muscles, although you did not do anything harder than sitting on the couch. Maybe you thought it was from carbohydrates, but in fact, the reason is the excess sodium, which is usually a lot in the food that we choose for cheat meals.

But, in addition to increasing blood volume, there is another reason to leave sodium in the diet during peak performance. When sodium levels drop in the body, water leaves the body with it. We have already found that dehydration is not particularly beneficial. As dehydration and sodium levels fall, so does blood volume.

The decrease in blood volume causes the body to produce the hormone arginine vasopressin, or AVP (4). WUA performs several functions in the body, one of which is fluid retention. Water, which is retained due to the release of AVP, fills the intercellular space - that is, it is retained under the skin. Before going on stage, this is very unpleasant. In addition, AVP causes vasoconstriction, which has an even worse effect on vascularity.

Many people are unaware of the role of sodium in carbohydrate absorption. Carbohydrates and sodium are both absorbed by the SGLT-1 transporter protein, which has receptors that are sensitive to both glucose and sodium ion. The transport of both substances into the cell is carried out if both receptors are excited simultaneously. The energy that causes the movement of sodium ions and glucose molecules with outer surface membrane inside, is the difference in sodium concentrations between the inside and outer surface cells. Although it has been suggested that exogenous sodium is not required for transporter activation, replacing sodium with magnesium in a glucose-containing drink resulted in a decrease in glucose concentration (it was less absorbed) (5). That is, you will still absorb carbohydrates if you cut back on sodium, but absorption improves in the presence of sodium.

Finally, sodium works in tandem with potassium to regulate the distribution of fluid in and out of cells. Without going too deep into cellular metabolic processes, sodium and potassium get into and out of the cell using a mechanism such as the potassium-sodium pump. This mechanism regulates cell volume by removing sodium ions from the cells and replacing them with potassium ions (which is accompanied by the removal of fluid from the body).

When sodium levels rise, potassium levels should also rise. If the potassium level exceeds the sodium level, the balance will be disturbed and water will begin to leave the muscle cells, entering the surrounding tissues. Therefore, it is not necessary to increase the level of potassium before the show. It is necessary to ensure the balance of both electrolytes.

If you limit the intake of sodium - the muscles will look flat, you will not be able to achieve pumping, venousness, water will leave the body and at the same time linger under the skin. Keep this in mind the next time someone tells you to remove salt from your diet before a competition.

That's why I never limit salt. And I can even increase its amount a day or two before going on stage. In the last week of preparation, sodium intake should be kept at 3000-5000 milligrams per day.

Let's summarize:
These are the main aspects of my fast loading method: do not limit water and salt, consume a lot of carbohydrates on the day before the competition. Of course, there are other details, but they are more individual.

And there's one more important note, which must be taken into account in order to obtain best results from loading. Before the final week of preparation, you should be as dry as possible. You should not start the preparatory week when the hips, buttocks and Bottom part belly covered with fat and think that in the last week you magically get rid of everything. It may sound harsh, but I'm going to say that 95% of those who said they were holding water on race day were simply not dry enough.

Make sure you burn before the final week maximum amount fat. My method of loading uses only the natural adaptation mechanisms of the body to emphasize the relief and achieve vascularity. It will not help you make up for dietary and training deficiencies.

If you use my method, then on the day of the competition you will see a result that you have never seen before. This method will not only help you keep your shoes to the end, but also give you a second wind that will allow you to win the race.

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And also about carbohydrate loading, calculating the amount of coal, water and more

According to the method of carbohydrate loading, the body is deprived of food containing carbohydrates for some time. After that, carbohydrate food is again included in the athlete's diet. This happens at a time when the body is already accustomed to do without this type of macronutrients, which contributes to a significant increase in strength and accelerate the growth of muscle mass. This is important in all strength sports, and bodybuilding is no exception.

It is known that mainly energy is obtained by the body from carbohydrates, which are oxidized in cellular mitochondria. This reaction is accompanied by the release of energy stored in the form of ATP. The main mechanism that the body uses to adapt to changing conditions is the synthesis of glucose, called gluconeogenesis. It is on the speed of this synthesis that the endurance of the organism before physical activity. This indicator is directly affected by the experience of the athlete.

1st phase: carbohydrate unloading

This stage involves the exclusion of any carbohydrates from the nutrition program. Therefore, during this period, you can not eat herbal products. The entire diet at this moment is filled exclusively with products with great content protein compounds of animal origin. At the same time, it is desirable that they contain rapidly digestible proteins.

As you know, the leader in this group is egg white and that should be the priority. This product is very diverse in its composition. Almost all the necessary amino acid compounds are present in it. In this regard, the World Health Organization even adopted a resolution according to which egg white is the standard in determining the amino acid balance of all products.

It is also important that egg white is one large cell, and has no tissue, which means that there is no need to digest cell walls. Eggs should only be consumed boiled. In this form, the product is absorbed by the body as quickly as possible, unlike raw. At the same time, the yolks are processed much longer by the body, and thus, at the time of carbohydrate unloading, only egg white should be eaten. Of course, athletes are no strangers to different diets, tested by them on various courses, for example, on drying.

The next in terms of absorption rate are dairy products. Very valuable property of this type of products is the ability to allocate specific antibiotics that prevent the processes of putrefaction in the intestines. All these facts have been proven during clinical research, and there is no reason to doubt their validity.

Of the three macronutrients, it remains to resolve the issue with fats. It all depends on the goal that the athlete faces. If you need to reset excess weight, then, of course, about any fatty foods speech cannot be made. It is important to remember that the body cannot begin to be deficient in fat. Any product contains a certain amount of these substances.

Of course, many people have weaknesses that are very difficult to give up - for example, sweets. However, this can help modern substitutes Sahara. So, saccharin is a derivative of benzoic acid, and in sweetness this substance exceeds sugar by almost 500 times. He does not have side effects, only when in large numbers starts to rage. But you can quickly get used to the dosages of saccharin, find the optimal one for yourself.

2nd phase: carbohydrate loading

This stage of the program is no less important than the previous one. Carbohydrates have the ability to bind water molecules. So 1 gram of this trace element is able to retain about 4 grams of water in the body. Thus, a sharp supply of carbohydrates to the body is excluded. Otherwise, an overload of the body with water may occur. This, in turn, will cause headaches, swelling and insomnia.

The first days should be very careful to take carbohydrate food, and do it in small portions, gradually increasing them. The duration of the second phase directly depends on the duration of the first. Or unloading continued for a month, then the same amount of time will be required for loading.

In this period Special attention it is worth paying attention to the quality of the products, more precisely, the quality of the carbohydrates they contain. So, glucose is well absorbed by the body, but fructose tends to be deposited in the body in the form of glycogen. For this reason, instead of regular sugar, it is better to use honey. It is also worth paying attention to dried fruits, which are not only a storehouse of carbohydrates, but also a source of vitamins and minerals. Moreover, some dried fruits have greater value than in cheese.

When it comes to how often to use this technique, then it is worth turning to practice for an answer. Previously, it was used once a year, and its duration was two weeks. Gradually to carbohydrate loading-unloading began to resort more and more often. As a result, many professional athletes now use it throughout the year, and not just before the competition. Each cycle and break duration is one month. It will also be interesting to note that the development of protein unloading-loading is currently underway. Experts predict in the future the merger of the two methods into one.

Video about carbohydrate loading before the competition: