Do YOU Need More Salt If You Sweat During Exercise?

A new Q/A is here from our March 2022 seminar in Philadelphia, PA at Warhorse Barbell Club.
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[@BarbellMedicine]

Sodium intake before, during, and after exercise is a hot (and controversial) topic in many circles. Water intake is important to performance in order to maintain water balance. Dehydration is the process of losing water from the body, whereas rehydration is the process of gaining water. Similarly, “hyperhydration” and “hypohydration” refer to too much and too little body water, respectively. Endurance and resistance training performance tends to decrease when body water losses exceed ~2% of body weight. This is due to difficulty regulating body temperature, altered cardiovascular responses, psychological and cognitive effects, dizziness or lightheadedness. Additionally, higher levels of hypohydration (>3%) increase the risk of exertional heat stress. In practice, we recommend monitoring changes in body mass during exercise to determine losses, adequacy of current fluid intake, and needs for recovery post-workout. Fluid should be made available before, during, and after physical activity to more or less maintain body weight. When recovery time is greater than 12 hours, routine food and fluid consumption are likely to result in normal hydration. When recovery time is limited to < 4 hours, fluids should be replaced with 100-150% of body weight lost during exercise. Individuals should drink based on preferences and thirst, unless significant changes in body weight water are noted. There is little evidence to support taking sodium or electrolyte tablets or increasing dietary sodium before or during routine exercise.

[@tuckerdean6298]

Why then is there 300 mg of sodium in your periworkout to be taken before and after exercise for electrolyte balance?

[@VanMacIan]

What if someone was e.g. planning to do a water cut for a competition? In an older article I think I saw Jordan recommend increasing sodium intake in the weeks leading up, would you still recommend that? What about after weigh-in?

[@BarbellMedicine]

@@tuckerdean6298 the majority of our users are not anywhere close to the sodium rec's for the day so we're not really in danger of going over. The added sodium is for stability, taste, and a number of the ingredients included were studied with added sodium. Probably a coin toss either way.

[@BarbellMedicine]

@@VanMacIan that is a separate topic and the particulars are specific to the individual and the logistics of the weigh-in. May be a good topic for a future article.

[@tuckerdean6298]

@@BarbellMedicine I appreciate the response. I can understand if people may be under their total daily recommended intake that adding some there is fine. I also agree with the taste. Hope you could see where I was coming from with the question

[@mommasea]

Love your content! Hyponatremia is no joke! I had it during the labor and delivery of my 2020 baby. I drank too much water and two hours post delivery had a seizure and was unresponsive in ICU for two days. Worst postpartum recovery but God is good and so is my brain. 😄👍🏼

[@cutecatmeowmeowmeoww]

I'm glad you are okay

[@justingirard7476]

I eat mostly whole foods, and my sodium levels are always low. If I dont have salt water (1 tbsp of salt) in the AM, within 48 hours I suffer from crushing headaches. Until I learned that I just need salt, I had a terrible time eating whole foods. In fact, I used to get INSANE cravings for junk food, and it took a long time to realize I was likely craving the salt. I also learned that the body will take MG and turn it into salt if you are low on salt. So another issue that used to happen, is that I needed super high MG to just not get muscle spasms constantly. All of that went away just taking salt everyday. I think MOST people dont have to worry about salt, but I know many people who are like me, that just need salt everyday

[@tuitaco]

Seen alot of my fellow endurance cyclist mates get heavily caught up in electrolyte supplements to gain an edge over just eating/drinking water, but I noticed that all of us feel like death after 12+ hour efforts no matter what we take 🤣

[@yoeyyoey8937]

I didn’t realize how important it was until I went to the Caribbean (hot and humid) and was very active every day for a week and by the last day I became stricken with a migraine, nausea and weakness and thought I was getting severely ill until my bro (who is from there) recognized the symptoms and hooked me up with an electrolyte thing (like knockoff pedialyte) and within like 30 minutes I was almost back to normal.

[@mariomolnar3184]

I used to have muscle cramps on the regular during longer workouts, especially when benching. I train early in the morning and just pop an electrolyte pill from MyProtein before heading out to the gym and hever had this issue before

[@preshx18]

How much mg sodium does 1 pill have

[@mariomolnar3184]

@@preshx18 depends on the pill. Check the label as they all differ in my experience

[@riflemanm16a2]

I am the kind of person who has visible (and tastible [sp?]) salt on his face and clothes after bicycling in the summer. I also start getting very bad mscle cramps in my legs after about 40 miles. During the last tour I did, I took salt packets with me and ate one every 20 miles or so. It didn't prevent the cramps, but it staved them off for a while and made them less severe. More experimentation needed to determine the correct dose.

[@justingirard7476]

MG can help a lot

[@bigmac3006]

Interesting take on the subject. Personally I use salt in my long hard bike rides and it noticeably helps and helps a lot. Lots of different opinions on this so everyone should do what works for them.

[@giannisaivatzidis7845]

laughed so hard at the end

[@Clay1337]

As usual, graet content, but THE ITNRO MUSIC IS WAY TOO LOUD COMPARED TO THE VOCALS.

[@gischalav]

I used to cramp up something thst solves it 100% is gatorade w a pinch of salt intra workout

[@slick_anonymous1126]

You might think its nice that if you sweat more you get to indulge in more sodium, its really not. I sweat so much no matter what I do no matter how much I jog or retain from drinking water nothing works. I had to take a tsp of pink himalayan sea salt and put it in my water to sip throughout my workout to keep myself energized. Otherwise my energy just drops. Fun fact if I go and eat a very high sodium meal like from chick fil a, my energy levels shoot up like I had an energy drink.

[@jakebarnett8837]

Stan Efferding punching the air rn

[@soonahero]

China pagoda recommendation is 6000 mg a day what’s up with that

[@blakespivey8621]

I’m so confused I train muay thia and after sessions I lose like 3 pounds of sweat and I drink electrolytes so do they work or no?

[@privatejr2702]

I wrestle and sweat like crazy. I’d I don’t take electrolytes I feel terrible for a few days after

[@Jared-Kreate]

“We just lie to people “ 😂 you’re saying we can just eat and drink like normal and still be athletic and still make gains?? How are you gonna sell that?! 😂

[@fr0g.the.french]

💪🐸👍 damn 4 sure salt is not good 😁

[@Dj-ri8kf]

1st

[@PauljMarta]

Doesn't fail, watching how the puddles of sweat just dried up within 48 hours was so satisfying, I used what I read about the other day. Although it actually took about 72 hours for my sweating to normalize, I went ahead and go'ogled the latest by Cynthia Yulesin and I don’t have to change clothes 2 times a day.

[@MrTheomighty1]

I’ve just changed jobs and because I am walking between 12-18 miles per day and I’m getting cramping in my calves. Another thing is my work colleague have said they’ve never known anybody to sweat as much as I do, even in the winter I sweat and steam pours off me. When I get nervous I sweat and it’s noticeable under my arm pits. Making love is a problem too because I perspire loads. I am around 14 stone in weight so I’m Not obese. I’m not saying I have low electrolytes but could this be a possibility

[@MrMaazMuhammad]

Sooo correcting hyponatremia too quickly doesn't cause brain swelling. It causes osmotic demyelination syndrome. Correcting hypernatremia too quickly causes cerebral edema.

[@thefabregas101]

I thought so too

[@BarbellMedicine]

The instances referred to in the video had the individuals consuming LARGE amounts of free water or low-solute containing beverages that actually did not correct the hyponatremia, but rather exacerbating the problem. These behaviors are the issue, not the acute post-workout hyponatremia. Sorry if I wasn't clear!

[@deanemberley2333]

@@BarbellMedicineyou guys should do some more research and another video 😂

[@createachanneltopost]

For cardio workouts under 1 hour I will use straight water, or sometimes no water. But over that there is a definite benefit to salt and sugar replacement. And refueling soon after exercise really improves my recovery. Some people sweat out a lot of salt which needs to be replaced as they are exercising or they will get cramps. This is some very strange information you've put out here.

[@alexwright5954]

Information that is based on scientific evidence is sometimes not what you may think. I believe the evidence for cramps resulting from a lack of sodium is only a hypothesis at this time. And carbohydrate was not part of the question here. They have mentioned the benefit of CHO intake during exercise previously

[@CCSABCD]

n = 1

[@BarbellMedicine]

Correct. The existing evidence does not show a benefit to sodium ingestion above normal (or supplementation) on cramps, which seem to be fatigue/workload related rather than electrolytes per se'. Carbohydrate ingestion during or immediately after a workout are separate topics. Post workout, it does not matter timing wise for ingestion based on the existing data unless there's another workout/competition in a few hours...maybe. Intraworkout, some evidence showing benefit with carbohydrate supplementation if workouts are > 90-minutes, though the data isn't rock-solid. That's the data at this time.

[@alexwright5954]

@Exeunt Omnes lol so science is subjective? What you mean to say is “science doesn’t speak, scientists do”

[@jacklauren9359]

@@alexwright5954 you do realise that studies are way behind rifht? Its because its peer reviewed doesnt mean you will follow that stuff as blck and white without questioning and using critical thinking skills. At the end of the day, find what works for you regardless of what the studies says.

[@travisthetrainer]

Yea so let’s just negate the importance of proper hydration and electrolyte balance… i can’t believe I’m hearing this from “experts” lmfao