know your salt! (sodium for performance)

For years salt or sodium in general has been looked down upon. Most people believe that salt will induce high cholesterol with water retention and even chances of stroke, but this is false in all actuality you must consume salt to maintain proper hydration and electrolyte balance. For athletes this is a vital source of recovery and performace, especially when sweating during activity. Sodium helps drive water into the muscle to help rehydrate the tissue preventing cramping and aid in recovery from intense training. I hear all the time about athletes trying to cut their salt and water to make a weight class, this can be disastress to performance when time to compete. When you fully cut out the sodium you are draining the muscle of hydration. When you go to cut out water your body and power output will be completely flat, resulting in weakness and lethargy. I have been cutting weight and helping athletes cut weight for almost a decade, when I see these men and women cut there sodium out completely their performance suffers and their recovery is relatively slower. Water and sodium work hand and hand to fully expand and hydrate the muscle making it more explosive and powerful. I usually tell my athletes to take in about a 4-8g per gallon of water a day.

 150lb> = 1 Gallon of water = 8G of Sea Salt or Iodized Salt

 150-200lb = 1.5 Gallon of water = 12G of Sea Salt or Iodized Salt

 200< = 2 Gallon of water = 16G of Sea Salt or Iodized Salt 

Salt in my opinion is better then creatine, and caffeine combined for maximum performance and recovery this is a must. As long as your drinking enough water and you are training on a consistent basis get your salt in.  

​Here are some videos that help reinerate my argument!

youtu.be/fnkUj-kc1qk