Alex D'Angelo - Dialing In My Way: The Final Week Preparation

[webmaster]

Are you getting tired of looking and looking for information on pre-contest dieting? Look no furthur, learn the secrets of Alex to win your next show!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/angelo2.htm

HOW TO REVIEW: Post Your Review Of This Article - CLICK ON POST REPLY BELOW! You do NOT need to be a registered member to post a reply in this section!

[EricS]

Most people don't sodium load long enough, thats why it doesn't work. Sodium loading should actually start a few months before your show. and remain high untlil about 3 days before.

when you start your carb load, you sodium levels will go up as well just because you will have more food to salt. this clears up you "you need sodium to carb laod problem". them like 2-3 days before, you drop sodium and start potassium. That is the on thing most people skin and is probably why they look bad. Your Na+/K+ pump is working very hard in on direction, you need to quickly alter the concentration gradient to take advantage of it.

However, I havn't seen anyone who looked bloated or washed out at 4 or 5% BF at this point we are talking about splitting hairs in terms of sharpness and at lower levels is hardly noticable.

[~jAmeZ~]

Sodium loading/depleting DOES look good on paper, doesn't it?

In reality, the sodium loading theory doesn't work because it ignores the role of the hormone aldosterone. Aldosterone is pumped out by the adrenal glands and acts to maintain normal blood pressure by conserving sodium and eliminating potassium and hydrogen through the kidneys. Not surprisingly, the aldosterone level in ur body is regulated by ur sodium/potassium ratio.

As Eric explained before, the sodium loading/depleting method involves cutting sodium and taking in potassium a few days away from a show. So what does this have to do with aldosterone? Well, when you decrease ur sodium levels and increase ur potassium levels, ur body produces more aldosterone...which consequently causes ur body to RETAIN water.

I'm sure many of u are thinking "but elite natural bodybuilders use sodium loading/depleting and always look hard as diamonds on stage!"

Well, the sodium loading theory is especially popular among the elite "natural" bodybuilders simply because it allows them to hide the side effects of two things they say they don't use: steroids and diuretics.

1) Steroids cause sodium and fluid retention. A "natural" bodybuilder can explain months of puffiness to their fans as "being bloated due to my salt loading". SIDE NOTE: it only takes a healthy body a few days to adjust water levels in response to sodium loading, meaning everything will be back to normal in 3 or 4 days.....so it won't cause bloating for "months"

2) Elite "natural" bodybuilders say they get the "waterless look" by taking heaps of potassium, which supposedly sucks water into their cells and away from their skin. FALSE...elite bodybuilders take bucketloads of potassium because they are using large amounts of diuretics, which depletes potassium from the body very quickly.

If u actually ARE a natural bodybuilder, chances are u'll find urself looking bloated if you use the traditional method of cut-sodium-load-potassium because of its effect on aldosterone secretion.

[EricS]

My skin is always paper thin when I do it and I don't use diuretics or steroids.