Water Is The Single Most Important Anabolic Element

Really trying to be mindful to drink enough water... this is a reminder of reasons to stay on top of water consumption.

Water power! : water is the single most important anabolic element, yet most bodybuilders don't get enough - Ignore this Feature at Your Body Building Peril
Jim Wright

Water is the ultimate, the pivotal, the most powerful bodybuilding nutrient. It can't be overhyped. If there is a nutritional magic bullet for bodybuilders, it's water. Most bodybuilders don't drink all they need, which is why we at FLEX always push water intake. We also promote protein consumption and the use of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other supplements, in conjunction with a whole-foods high-fiber diet. But water consumption supersedes everything else in importance.

Sure, supplements have roles -- potentially very significant ones -- in supporting and enhancing changes in body composition. But mastery of the basics -- the basic muscle-building diet, the basic free-weight movements -- determines your ultimate success and enjoyment of the iron game. And water is the foundation of every bodybuilder's nutritional pyramid. Water intake has effects on all aspects of recovery and on optimizing adaptations to workouts (whether they're geared toward maximizing mass gains or maximizing fat loss). Once you feel and see those effects, you'll come to understand the importance of water.

CELLS AND WATER Our bodies are composed of roughly 60 trillion individual parts called cells. Because immunity is so important, about a third of those are immune cells; other than bone and connective-tissue cells, all the rest can be thought of as little water balloons. They're full of fluid. They float in an ocean of "extracellular" fluid, and they each have a barrier, the cell membrane, which keeps them intact.

The membrane is the ultimate gate guard; in one form or another, this structure underlies all living systems on earth. The membrane around a cell controls everything -- nutrients, oxygen, hormones, toxins and electrolytes -- that enters or leaves it. It also provides a safe environment for all the activities that take place inside the cell, including calcium regulation (enabling muscles to contract and relax), protein synthesis and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) formation.

Water is the ultimate muscle and whole-body "flushing" tool. Water flushes and helps stabilize membranes, thanks to its effects on electrolyte levels and cell charge, thus enhancing the capacity of cells to expeditiously process the quantities of nutrients and waste products required to support muscle growth. Water dilutes, dissolves and helps eliminate toxins and trash that could otherwise inhibit immune function, muscle recovery and growth. DETOX YOUR BODY Many bodybuilders are so focused on taking in nutrients (when, what kind, how much, etc.) that they sometimes forget that the other side of the coin (the elimination of all the waste products and garbage) is every bit as important. That's why we at FLEX are so enthusiastic about antioxidants and substances such as Calcium-D-Glucarate (a patented form of glucaric acid) and glutamine that support immune function or reduce the load of toxins and tissue damage. These are essential parts of the "standard issue" supplement combination for serious bodybuilders.

The immune system is the key to tissue repair. As nature would have it, when the immune system is damaged by toxins and is fighting primarily to eliminate them, repairing muscle tissue is a minor issue. Pollution stretches the limits of our internal detox systems, so detoxing becomes a much higher priority. When you're pushing the physical envelope, eating and training like there's no tomorrow, you need to direct as much of your body's energy as possible to musculoskeletal repair and growth.

FLEX continues to stress the importance of "feeding" the immune system because it's your Departments of Defense and Waste Management combined. And, although many substances can enhance immune function, water is known as the single most powerful immune "nutrient," detox agent and anabolic augmenter.

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED? More specifically, how much do you need to support killer workouts and your passion for growth? We suggest the round figure of one fluid ounce for each kilogram of bodyweight daily. For a 220-pound (100-kilogram) guy, that amounts to just over three quarts a day. And, of course, that means water (or dilute teas) and not juices or high-caffeine beverages.

Although that round figure is OK as a general guideline, your water intake should depend on your bodyweight and composition, how much water you lose through perspiration, the amounts and ratios of protein, carbs and fats in your diet, and even the types of carbs (wet versus dry). Since a person's water requirements vary from day to day, FLEX suggests focusing on consistently drinking more water, rather than on how much.

If you follow the larger concept of drinking more water, there's no need to impose a strict regimen. Nonetheless, we understand that bodybuilders like to have clear guidelines (see "Water Rx"). The practices that are most important for bumping up intake are to consume additional water first thing in the morning (before breakfast), between meals, and before and during workouts.

Remember that nothing in bodybuilding is an all-or-none proposition. Something is better than nothing. Better to put a little effort into modest but realistic goals -- drink an extra quart, or even half-quart a day -- than to put no effort into goals that turn out to be incompatible with your lifestyle. Bodybuilding is about enjoying life.

The process of upping water intake itself, rather than any specific consumption endpoint, should be your goal. Fit waterlogging into your life, but don't force it. It should be a natural process that becomes easier, more enjoyable and eventually habitual, the way a really good diet and an exercise program become addictive because they bring energy and joy to your life.

USE YOUR BODYWEIGHT TO GAUGE WATER CONSUMPTION

You might have moved away from using a scale as a way of measuring your bodybuilding improvements for any number of good reasons. However, it is an absolutely invaluable instrument to help gauge your state of recovery from a previous training day and to tailor today's goals accordingly.

Many studies tell us that the most accurate and reliable way to identify the first visual or measurable signals of overtraining is morning bodyweight. It is one of the best indicators of hydration status. Assuming that your primary goal is to add muscle mass, the workout you will do today might not be as successful if you weigh even one-half of one percent less than you did yesterday morning. For a 200-pound bodybuilder, that equates to a difference of only one pound. Strive to get your weight back up by the time of your workout. Watch your weight and use it as an indicator that you need to keep your fluids topped off. There's nothing better you can do to amplify the synergy of quality training and nutrition.

HYDRATE BEFORE YOUR WORKOUTS A word of advice about preworkout water: Drink all you think you'll need to pump massively and sweat as if you're in a steam bath for the entire period. In other words, hyperhydrate before working out. This will help preclude fluid deficit in the critical periods during and after training. During the 30 minutes prior to your workout, take in 20-36 ounces of water. Such temporary fluid forcing helps deliver bigger muscle pumps (fluid shifts from the bloodstream into the interstitial spaces around muscle cells). It facilitates detoxification via sweating (our skin is our largest organ of elimination), which is an important avenue for optimizing health and body chemistry -- elements underlying peak physical achievement. Preworkout hydration also helps you jumpstart recovery by minimizing the catabolic chemical changes associated with the neuro-cardiac response to dehydration during hard exercise.

BORING IT DOWN You might think what we're advising -- drink more water -- is pretty simplistic. In reality, there are specific and fairly complex biochemical reasons for doing so. And if you follow our suggestion, you'll notice some not-so-simplistic effects: better pumps from your workouts, better recovery, and less catabolic and sluggish feelings after periods of intense training. In addition, you'll enhance your immune system, reducing your susceptibility to illness.

Water is cheap and effective. It's one of the most basic elements of life and of bodybuilding. You must drink as much water as possible! It truly is the most important anabolic, and it truly will help accelerate your bodybuilding progress.

RELATED ARTICLE: ARE YOU DEHYDRATED?

You know that you can't live long without water, but how do you know if you're dehydrated? We list some symptoms here. If you're a serioush hardtrainer though, you should never allow yourself to approach even a moderate fluid deficit. If you do, you should drink up big time, and either shorten or forgo your workout that day.

Symptoms of dehydration include dry mouth; chalky or other unpleasant taste in the mouth; dry scratchy throat-chapped lips; darkening, "hollowing" or other changes in appearance of the evelids and/or skin below and around the eyes, fatigue; dizziness; lightheadedness; headaches; irritability; lack of appetite' and of course thirst.

Various dietary practices and items sometimes consumed by bodybuilders promote loss of body fluid and require higher water intakes to maintain or enhance condition. Those include high-protein diets, low-carbohydrate and especially low-fiber diets high-fat diets, most drugs and all stimulants. Diets are a major culprit, and although it's much less common for someone bulking up to get dehydrated, water is still the easiest, cheapest and most effective single nutrient you can add to any eating plan.

"HYPERHYDRATION": A COMMON DENOMINATOR OF ANABOLICS?

Like the proverbial power broker who works behind the scenes, optimal hydration is one of the physical conditions most colosely associated with all aspects of anabolism. Creatine and glutamine, for example, are two of the most dose-effective supplements sold. Although they promote recovery and growth in different ways, the increase in the energy state (and thus stability and recovery capacity) of the cell from both is directly related to the increases in intracellular water (within cells/fibers) they induce in muscle. Increased intracellular water promotes enhanced endurance and stress resistance. That translates into a pro-anabolic state that aids recovery and favors protein synthesis, glycogen sparing, enhanced fat metabolism and muscle growth.

NUTRITIONAL SYNERGY

What's the most important nutrient -- the one that's missing or in short suppy -- at any given time or in any situation? There is no single nutrient that will generically make reaching your physical potential easier. Optimizing health, appearance or performance requires nutritional synergy.

Synergy means that two or more, things, when added together, produce and effect that is larger than if you simply added together the effects that you'd expect to get from each alone. In other words, synergy means 1 + 1 = 3, 4, 5 or even 100. It's certainly more than two. You hear about this most of the time with regard to various drugs and toxins (e.g. combining alcohol with other sedatives or depressants) because they typically amplify each other's toxicities.

Your body needs the 50 currently recognized essential nutrients plus -- no doubt -- a few hundred other substances not yet known or adequately studied that can be found only in a quality diet that's also supplemented with the "right stuff." Your body needs them at the right times and in the right amounts and ratios to optimize nutritional synergy. Water is the substance that makes this possible, and optimal hydration is the key to nutritional synergy.

WATER: Rx

Here's a general guideline for how much water to drink and when. Although this is highly prescriptive, keep in mind that it's more important to follow the principle of simply consuming more water in general than to obsess over the timing and amounts of your water consumption.

Before Breakfast: 12 ounces (oz)

Preworkout: 20-36 oz during the half-hour before training

During Workout: 24-36 oz

Between Meals: Carry a bottle of water with you and drink from it liberally throughout the day.

Great post Marx! I currently consume 3 liters a day and a little more on training days. Hydration and detoxification are essential to keep our organs flushed given the training and supplementation we are on.

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MIND+POWER=GROWTH