PRECONTEST WATER ELIMINATION

Question: I understand you are in the process of dieting for a show, I hope you place well...Would you mind answering a competition question for me? I need to know a bit about pre-contest water preparation. What exactly does a "water coach" do? I want to use diuretics as I have lasix injectables but I know it can be risky. Any advice?

Answer: The last week before a show is of monumental importance to any competitive bodybuilder. During that week, a competitor will typically take the necessary steps to achieve glycogen supercompensation and also rid themselves of any extra water they might be retaining. Typically, almost every competitive bodybuilder, sans the naturals of course, will use some kind of diuretic before the show. This process is perhaps one of the most misunderstood in bodybuilding, and it's rare to find an athlete that hits the mark. While the use of diuretics is generally accepted as a necessary evil given the stringent competitive standards in the sport, there seems to be a dearth of those that are knowledgeable in their use.

Perhaps the most important steps that need to be taken are those that occur before diuretics become a factor. All too often, competitors will overuse diuretics before a show because they failed to diet properly, failed to restrict sodium properly, or failed to carb load properly. Nothing is more pathetic than a bodybuilder holding entirely too much fat before a contest who tries to convince himself that the causative factor in his horrible definition is not the fact that he's fat, but rather that he's holding too much water. Obviously, all the diuretics in the world aren't going to help this poor soul.

Proper carb loading is of paramount importance when it comes to drying out for a show, as the intake of too many carbs will result in the "spilling over" of glycogen from muscle cells, causing a great deal of water retention. Remember, glycogen is hydrophilic, and one of the reason why we carb load is to make muscle cells store not only super levels of glycogen, but water as well. In fact, every gram of stored glycogen will result in 3 grams of stored water. However, that water quickly becomes our enemy when it spills out into the extracellular fluid. Carb loading is a complicated subject, and a thorough discussion would take far more space than this Q&A will allow, but there are some basic principals that can be covered here.

Start carb depleting six days out from your show. Typically, I tell athletes to shoot for .5 g of carbs per kilogram of bodyweight during their 3 day depletion phase. On this system, a 220 lb bodybuilder would only be allowed 50 grams of carbs each day for three days. During this three day period, the body should be trained in a fashion to deplete glycogen stores as much as possible, now is not the time to go in and train one body part per day in a Heavy Duty type system. The entire body should be trained in an exhaustive fashion each of these days in order to deplete glycogen stores as thoroughly as possible. Workouts should consist of large volume high repetition sets using light weights as lifting heavy has been proven to interfere with glycogen synthesis. After the three day depletion period, carb up using a schedule of 1 g carb/kg/2 hours. In case that's confusing, that means that the same 220 lb bodybuilder will need to consume 100 grams of carbs every 2 hours he's awake for the three day loading period. This means that he'll consume approximately 800 grams of carbs/day for three days (calculated using 8 hours of sleep/night as standard). Contrary to popular belief, it's best to load on simple carbohydrates, as has been demonstrated in several studies. Fruit is not an option, as fructose will only raise liver glycogen stores significantly, not that of muscle.

It's common knowledge that sodium needs to be restricted prior to a bodybuilding competition in order to appear "dry" on stage. However, what isn't common knowledge is that sodium should only be restricted at most for 72 hours prior to the contest! It's not unusual to see bodybuilders restricting sodium intake for weeks prior to their actual contest, carrying around jugs of sodium free water while they train. Not only is this unnecessary, it's actually counterproductive to their goal of eliminating as much subcutaneous fluid as possible come the day of the show. Restricting sodium will cause an increase in aldosterone secretions, which in turn will decrease the rate at which sodium is excreted from the body. Restricting water intake for long period of time will also cause an increase in aldosterone secretions, so water should not be restricted for more than 48 hours. It's a good rule of thumb to drink enough water to satisfy your thirst the day before the show, then take small sips when necessary the day of the show.

Bodybuilders who properly diet, carb load, and sodium deplete will generally need very little in the way of diuretics to get the job done. Injectable lasix is actually a very good choice for a diuretic, as it has a very short life in the body and is much easier to use EXACTLY the right amount rather than taking a handful of pills and hoping you used the proper dose. Because an IV injection of lasix will have an immediate effect and will be completely eliminated from the body within 3 hours, it's fairly easy to use small 20 mg IV injections the night before the show every three hours until the desired level of dryness is achieved. Again, if you've prepared properly for you show in advance, very little diuretic will be necessary and it would be rare for a competitor to need more than two 20 mg IV injections to lasix to dry out at this point.


WHAT'S THE REAL STORY ON
THE WEIGHT OF ESTERS?

Question: I hear people saying that one reason an ester of testosterone (or any drug) is more effective is that the faster acting esters (like propionate) weigh less thus in a given weight of oil there is more active steroid and less ester. This makes no sense to me because wouldn't real pharmaceutical manufacturers (not some guy in his bathroom) take this into account? Am I really to believe that American testosterone cypionate that is labeled 200mg per ml is not in fact 200mg but 180 (or whatever based on ester weight)...wouldn't the company adjust for that? I am sure that there are manufacturing guidelines that require large pharmaceutical companies to properly dose their product. This "explanation" is certainly scientifically possible but in reality do you think that this occurs?

Answers: Again, this is an example concerning yourself with irrelevant minutiae. As hard as it may be for you to believe, a bottle of 200 mg/ml testosterone enanthate would ultimately result in a slightly smaller amount of testosterone than a 200 mg/ml bottle of propionate, given that the propionate ester weighs less. There's nothing dishonest about the labeling of these products, which clearly state that the product contains 200 mg/ml of a given testosterone ester, not testosterone itself. While such knowledge may impress your buddies at the gym, it has absolutely no application to bodybuilding, as isn't something you should worry about.

CAN I TAKE WINSTROL ORALLY?

Question: I have a friend who is trying to get me to take IP Winstrol tablets in lieu of injectable Winstrol (the vet stuff out of Mexico). He claims that the structure of Winstrol is such that orals are just as good as injectables. Is this correct? Secondly, even if orals are just as effective, wouldn't the oral dosage have to be higher because it may not all be absorbed?

Answer: Sometime in the future I'm going to create a permanent fixture to AE called the questions that would not die. For the record, both stanazolol (Winstrol) and methandrostenolone (Dianabol) can be taken orally and via IM injection as both of them have the same c17 methylation. And it's perfectly acceptable to take the injectable version of each of these products and use them orally.

Generally the injectable version of Winstrol is considered to be more effective than the oral. Quite frankly, neither is more effective than the other, it's simply a case where the injectable form of Winstrol is a 50 mg/ml preperation, and oral stanazolol tablets are 2 mg each. Since it's common for a male bodybuilder to use 1 ml of stanazol per day, but uncommon for them to use 25 Winstrol tabs a day, the difference in effectiveness is entirely due to the fact that injectable users consume more drug the oral users.

The only other difference between the two routes of administration is the injection will avoid the first pass through the liver. Consequently, oral use of stanazolol is slightly more hepatotoxic than injectable use. However, even 17-AA steroids like stanazolol rarely raise liver enzymes to levels that might cause concern, even after prolonged use, and the convenience of daily oral use should outweigh any concern you have over liver health. Personally, if I were using stanazolol, I'd use an injectable formulation orally every day, and simply have blood work periodically to ensure that my liver wasn't experiencing an inordinate amount of stress.

Questions can be submitted to Jason Meuller via his email address, Jason@anabolicextreme.com.