So what exactly do you do with salt/sodium and should you control it, with regards to water retention?
With salt, I'd recommend simply not doing anything about it. By this, I mean don't attempt to reduce it and vise versa don't try to increase it either.
What causes water retention is shifts in sodium intake, rather then the specific intake itself.
Example being, if you went higher on your average sodium intake then usual, you can expect to have some water retention. If you did the opposite and dropped sodium intake a little more than your usual intake, you may lose a little water weight. However, this is largely short term, and your body will eventually 'adapt' to this new level and make adjustments to balance it accordingly. This relates back to aldosterone, vasopressin as well as other hormones that affect water retention.
A standard 2-week bodybuilding comp-prep suggest gradually reducing sodium until you are left with minimal to 0 in your daily intake leading up to the comp. This is largely completely inefficient, as you can achieve exactly the same (or better) results within a time-frame of a few days when done right. No guesswork involved, just science as usual.
With salt, I'd recommend simply not doing anything about it. By this, I mean don't attempt to reduce it and vise versa don't try to increase it either.
What causes water retention is shifts in sodium intake, rather then the specific intake itself.
Example being, if you went higher on your average sodium intake then usual, you can expect to have some water retention. If you did the opposite and dropped sodium intake a little more than your usual intake, you may lose a little water weight. However, this is largely short term, and your body will eventually 'adapt' to this new level and make adjustments to balance it accordingly. This relates back to aldosterone, vasopressin as well as other hormones that affect water retention.
A standard 2-week bodybuilding comp-prep suggest gradually reducing sodium until you are left with minimal to 0 in your daily intake leading up to the comp. This is largely completely inefficient, as you can achieve exactly the same (or better) results within a time-frame of a few days when done right. No guesswork involved, just science as usual.
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