Even non-lifters assume that getting shredded on show day is about cutting water. I literally get this from everyone when I tell them I compete; "Oh you stop drinking water and shit?". No I don't. I used to, but I haven't for my last 4 shows and 2 modeling gigs.
Here's a comparison AT SIMILAR BODYFAT % (slightly leaner on left):
Left: VERY DEHYDRATED - DIDN'T DRINK ANY WATER AT ALL
Right: HYDRATED - STAYED HYDRATED
My experience summarized:
Water weight is not a problem when you're lean
Cutting water makes you lose significant fullness
Bonus
Cutting water cannot make up for not being shredded enough.
Note: I was actually about 1% bodyfat leaner on the DEHYDRATED picture sets. It doesn't show much on the pics, but I had triceps striations, which I didn't have on the HYDRATED pictures. This has nothing to do with water; it's simply because I decided to show up a little fuller to match up with Musclemania's bigger kind of bodybuilders.
@akadouble Big downsides for rather small benefits. Maybe if I weighted 243lbs I wouldn't mind giving up a few pounds of size for extra shredz, but this isn't my world.
@paparazi257 It's very sneaky, because you don't necessarily see yourself getting smaller during those 24 hours, but you are. Then you look at pictures and.. Dammit!
@christian70 Hey, i think that the water and sodium intake should be stable and same as on the diet. Your body stores 70% of the total water in the Muscle and 30% in the skin. Supplements like Creatine add the water to the muscle and carbs too (Thats why we do carb loading). I dont think that you can switch the Ratio of 70% to 30% in any kind of legal form. As far as i know you should do water, keep track of your pictures during the peek weak and compare them on contest day. There are methods for peek weak where you do like lyan norton front loading with carbs or like Cliff wilson back loading. There are pros and cons of both mehtods. I suggest you should focus more on the maximum carbs and maybe sodium intake than on the water itself like the other guys are mentioning here already. What do you think?
@christian70 Yeah i mean i think it maybe depends on multiple factors if you mess with sodium around like:
Front / Back loading timing
Category & Weight class your Competing, i think that for physique Athletes the "hard, cut & vascular" look is not as much important as in the Bodybuilding Category
Individual Preferences, as a Coach i would look over the photos and the foods you ate and the sodium / Water intake over the last weeks to find the sweet spot where you have been the best in shape. From this point i would just repeat the eating process, and take a good Carbload Method.
I think its usually depends on the genetics and the athlete him/herself because there could be a lot more factors that we didn't quite catch here like: stress (work, fiance, kids, school, ...) , travel distances, sleep and all these brutal things that happen in our live that affects us...
@christian70 Not to be rude or judgey but you look like you weight about 135lb does it really matter to that point, I figured I was gonna see a 200lb natty guy
@yanoca This is a little bit of a technical post, my goal was not to display myself full or at my best, but to compare the effect of water during depletion. If you want to see bigger picture just go on my Instagram, but that won't be relevant to this topic.
