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Dry out - Diuretics, part 2
Gadi Taroni
A diuretic is any substance that increases the production of urine.
It is extremely common in bodybuilding area and has a very wide usage.
As an important parameter along with mass, condition, proportion and more – drying out has become more and more important because of its complexity – you can fairly say it’s easier to cut to a very low fat percentage rather than dry out correctly.
The fear of water retention pushed many towards diuretic drugs usage – unfortunately with lack of information.
Athletes believe that you swallow one pill to lose X amount of water and that is basically the guideline to get drier. The truth is as far as east and west.
Yes, diuretics will help you to lose excess water, no doubt, but in most cases you will also lose water out of your muscles (see part 1). Remember that the body has its own mechanism to keep the right ratio of intracellular and extracellular fluids.
Why, then, bodybuilders use diuretics?
This is the right question. The answer is very simple:
Some are professionals whom aware the adverse effects and appropriate dosage while others have no idea how to dry out alternatively.
In many cases instead of achieving the best condition you’ve dreamed of many bodybuilders are seem to get the opposite such as:
- Muscle weakness (low tone)
- Lack of vascularity
- Muscles cramps
- Low blood pressure
- Water retention
- Thirst and general weakness
And why is that?
Some of these effects are adverse effects of diuretic
drugs while others are result of imbalance water ratio and electrolytes.
Chemically, diuretics are a diverse group of compounds that either stimulate or inhibit various hormones that naturally occur in the body to regulate urine production by the kidneys.
Hormones such as Aldosterone and vasopressin (ADH) playing a major role in preventing the body to dry out.
One is triggered when sodium blood levels are low while the other secrete when plasma osmolality rises, though significant reductions in arterial blood pressure and blood volume can also stimulate vasopressin secretion, by unloading of arterial baroreceptors.
I created a table of the 4 most common diuretics families used by athletes.
To conclude the second chapter I’d say that we are not recommending the usage of diuretics in any sports, however professional bodybuilders normally know what they are doing if or when they use it.
Want to know more about drying out? How to do it correctly?
Read the next part – natural diuretics.
