Why You Should Know All About Sodium Before Doing A Bodybuilding Competition

Sodium–a.k.a. salt–is a confusing subject for bodybuilders. I usually encounter two major questions in regards to this and competition.

1. Do I need to load with sodium?
2. Should I avoid sodium?

Before I answer those two questions, what is sodium?

Sodium is a mineral and one of three major electrolytes in the body. Chloride and potassium are the other two. These three work together to keep the body in balance and to allow organs and cells to function properly.

Sodium is important for fluid regulation, nerve conduction and muscle contraction. It helps the body maintain proper blood pressure and is also important for digestion.

Sodium can help keep the muscles looking full and allow for good muscle pumps in training. It’s important for nerve transmission and can, therefore, serve a role in muscle contraction. A balance between all three electrolytes is critical to good health and good training results. Athletic results can suffer seriously if electrolytes become too diluted from over hydration or too concentrated from under hydration.

Thanks to modern day diets, especially ones that include processed foods, most people are getting too much sodium rather than not enough. Many people have also fallen into the habit of adding salt to their foods.

Here’s the problem: excessive sodium in the diet can increase blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attack, stroke or kidney damage. Sodium also causes the body to retain water.

I recommend that adults keep their daily intake around 1,500 mg to for the best health benefits.

Sodium and Bodybuilding

Sodium and bodybuilding is a different domain as bodybuilders typically eat very healthy and are looking to learn more about sodium as it pertains to their training, physique and final contest preparation.

Now, back to the previous questions…

1. Do I need to load with sodium?

Yes, you should keep sodium in your diet in the weeks prior to a show. But no, you shouldn’t add excessive amounts of sodium. Just use spices and a little sea salt for flavour. Use condiments such as mustard with your foods. There’s also a lot of naturally occurring sodium in some of the foods we eat on a bodybuilding diet. That said, the amounts in clean foods can be quite low, so you may need to use those spices and condiments to help you out (i.e. a 3 oz chicken breast has only 45 mg of sodium and a half cup of sweet potatoes may only provide 43 mg).  If you follow the above methods then you will be well within adequate sodium ranges.

I’ve had great experience getting individuals ripped for stage using modest amounts of sodium in their diet before cutting it out. The point to emphasize is that I want them to be getting 1,500 – 2,000 mg sodium every day. I have never employed “sodium loading.”

Traditional sodium-loading methods can command high amounts a week out from a show to as early as 15 days before a show and may be as high a 3,000 – 5,000 mg per day. I don’t agree with having people ingest daily sodium amounts that are that high.

As I mentioned before, too much sodium increases blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attack, stroke or kidney damage. It also causes the body to retain water; not exactly the affect you’re going for in competition!  If there are other underlying issues then you could be setting yourself up for disaster.

Bottom line: It’s a big gamble when you can get seriously shredded without having to ingest so much.

2. Should I avoid sodium?

No. Unless you are in the final week of show prep you should make sure you include adequate healthy levels of sodium in your diet.

Sometimes bodybuilders go the other way and become so afraid of sodium that they eliminate it from their diet weeks before a show. This will have a major backfire effect. We want to keep adequate sodium levels day-to-day so the body will respond to a reduction in sodium in the days before a show and cause the body to shed excess water. If sodium is cut out too early, the body will simply adapt to a lower level of sodium and be quite comfortable to hold water at the lower sodium level. This will make it next to impossible to get a more ripped physique through further reductions in sodium. Your body will hold onto water just like a sponge.

If you want to be cut on show day keep sodium in your diet until the week of the show and even until 2 – 3 days before the show. I prefer to cut 2 days before the show.

If you cut sodium out for too long your body will secrete more Aldosterone, which signals the kidneys to begin water conservation. Bye, Bye shredded physique!

For more information, read this great article from Bodybuilding.com called “The Skinny on Salt.”

The important thing to remember is that getting that final detail needed for a stage physique on the day of a show is accomplished through a balance of training, food, sodium, fluid and sometimes potassium manipulation. The formula has to be exact. Practice makes perfects, so it doesn’t hurt to experiment with various strategies if you are lean enough four weeks out to see how your body responds.

Just an FYI: if you’re not a competitor, but you’ve been dieting and training your body hard to reach those ultra-low body fat levels, consider employing the above information to help get that extra lean look for a photo shoot, the beach or that hot date you have next week.

Be sure to check in on Tuesday for the next Team T & E post. E’s show is coming up in a couple of weeks and she will be ready to roll.

Yours in health,

Tammy