A Tragedy and a Lesson:
It was October of 1992 and we had all been shocked to hear about the death of a top bodybuilding pro the very night he had won a major competition. It was even more surreal months later reading the detailed account of that evening in one of the industry’s major magazines. That the sport we loved to practice and follow could have this type of implication didn’t seem real. The contest preparation of the fated pro had caused him to dehydrate himself to such extremes that his body could not survive. Ironically, he achieved the look he had desired. But the cost was one I’m sure he had not expected to pay.
The following year I had the opportunity to speak with someone who was there. He was also a top pro and firefighter by profession. He had used all of his emergency training and did everything in his power to save his follow competitor, his fellow man. When I told him how much myself and my friends had appreciated hearing about what he had done, he remained humble. “I know someone would have done the same for me in that situation,” he said. A year later, and you could still see in the tears he fought back what a horrible night it had been.
For several years the city I lived in was fortunate enough to host an encore competition the week following one of the sport’s most prestigious shows. The Gold’s Gym I managed at the time sold tickets, allowed photoshoots, and enjoyed having the best in the world inspire our meager training efforts. But one particular year was a bit more somber. Another of the sport’s most popular stars had been hospitalized shortly after pre-judging with severe dehydration. He spent several days on life support before his body finally normalized and he was able to walk out of the ER. We had so admired his power and strength and passion for being on stage. We felt bad for him that he had not been able to complete this important show he had worked so hard and risked so much for. We become even more impressed by his humility and the perspective that he shared with us following his near-death experience. He removed the pedestal we had placed him on and became one of us. He made sure that we understood exactly what had happened and how it had taught him what was really important. He talked about the good things he had in his life and how they were too important to justify the risks he had taken. He vowed to never take those risks again.
Addressing the Issue:
There is a problem in physique sports. That problem is the practice of athletes reducing and/or eliminating a dangerous amount of water from their bodies in an attempt to improve their appearance. It has cost the lives of a number of top competitors within days of their being on stage. It has sent dozens to the hospital, minutes away from fatality. To this point, the majority of those affected have been male. But now the same practices that have created so many problems are being passed on to and adopted by females. And while it should not be acceptable to risk your life to excel in bodybuilding, it should be considered insane to do so for fitness, figure, and bikini competitions.
As a former competitor, former judge, and current coach, I can understand the passion and commitment that goes into getting up on stage. But as a journalist, fan, and friend of the sport, I cannot help but be concerned when I continually see and hear of practices that may cause newcomers to repeat a dark history they know little about.
Last spring I saw a young figure competitor on her hands and knees fighting for consciousness. The concerned “coach” standing over her, phone in hand, was obviously trying to get her some assistance. When I hear from some of the girls I know about what they see going on and being passed around backstage, it is troubling. Some people choose to do whatever they can to try and get an edge. But others are led to believe that they must do certain things to keep up with those they are assured are doing those same things and more. Before we blindly follow where we think the crowd is going, it might be helpful to recall a few facts about where this all started and how it got to this point.
The “Holding Water” Myth
A lot of people don’t really understand the concept and meaning of the term “holding water”. Since muscles are made of 70-75% water, you actually want as much water in the body as possible when you compete. You just want it in the muscles and not in between the muscle and the skin as extracellular or subcutaneous water (which is greatly determined by sodium/potassium balance). Water depleting or dehydrating yourself will in many cases leave you looking flat and without detail since it will be your muscles that lose the greatest amount of water.
The practice of water depletion was developed to eliminate the problem of water retention. This water retention problem came into being as a side effect of some of the methods used for contest preparation by some competitors (initially in men’s bodybuilding).
Non-chemically enhanced athletes do not ever need to do this.
If you don’t have a water retention problem then there is no need to attempt to fix a problem that doesn’t exist with water depletion or dehydration. If someone has you doing this (drinking little or no water for 3 days or some equally extreme approach) then they do not know what they are talking about and are not giving your health and your life proper consideration and respect.
Again, a number of competitors have DIED from the practice of water depletion (especially when diuretics are added to the mix)! An even greater number have been hospitalized near death. I have yet to see the trophy big enough or the paycheck large enough to take that chance. There are a number of top competitors who drink water all the way through their show with great success. There may be a time to cut back on water a little but never to the point where your health is at risk. Water depletion and dehydration are unsafe, unnecessary, and unacceptable.
The Experts Agree:
Elaine Goodlad-IFBB Figure Pro: “I will drink a gallon a day up to the day before the show and then sip the day of. I will use distilled water to help pull out excess sodium (which she still consumes up until a few days before the show) if I feel I need to be tighter and will even cook in it. Some of the girls I do make-up for on show days are so out of it that they can’t sit upright and I have to finish their make-up with them lying on the ground! That’s just crazy!”
Although a number of people use distilled water, as a coach I’m fine with having my clients use sodium-free drinking water or, if someone needs to be “drier”, Smart Water which is distilled water that has had the other electrolyte minerals re-introduced so it’s healthier than drinking straight distilled water and won’t pull the potassium out of your body as well so that you shouldn’t have any problems with cramping (which can happen with distilled water).
But basically Elaine and I both believe in consuming water all the way through the show and even had this conversation with IFBB Pro Monique Minton a few days later who agreed. Without that water, you can be flat, soft, and not nearly as impressive. Sometimes people have done well dehydrating and other times they really lose their best look. But if there is a safer and healthier way that is just as effective (if not more so) and definitely more consistent, why not choose it?
David Sandler – Exercise Scientist: “You store water both in the cells (intracellular) and out of the cells (extracellular). Since your muscles (your muscle fibers) are cells, they store water and when they do it the right way, you look tight, huge, etc. The water stored outside the cells when in excess makes you look flat and so forth. Fluid transfer back and forth across the cells has to do with pressures and concentrations. And if either is out of whack, the body will re-compensate. Fluid moves across the cell membranes in response to the concentration of sodium and potassium and positive and negative charges those elements possess (actually it explains how and why muscles fire to begin with, but that is another story for another time).
Normal fluid levels mean nice muscles and adequate water within cells. As you begin to lean out, your body needs less water than it did before. If you lean out slowly and slowly decrease the water you take in, your body will slowly re-compensate making you need less water overall. When you deplete extracellular water very quickly, the body over the next 24-48 hours will try to re-compensate. That is a large window of time in terms of trying to time stage appearance. Since you are not replenishing those liquids, it has only one placed to pull water from–your muscles. Thus, if your timing is off, not only do you look flat, you look small and soft. If you can time this perfectly, you will look awesome, but it is so hard to determine when and how for each individual person. Also, before you get to the point where your body steals the water back from your muscles, your blood volume is decreased, becomes much thicker and less capable of binding oxygen and other needed constituents. This puts a person in danger as these shifts cause muscle firing problems (sodium/potassium issues). Since you have been leaning on the diet, cutting all the important electrolytes and liquid, your body is doing everything it can to normalize making retention the number one thing to prevent problems.
One of the big problems with taking diuretics is the fact that they pull the sodium and potassium along with them. Why? To retain proper fluid balance and normalization of pressure and concentration. This is why diuretics for heart patients are either potassium-sparing or additional potassium is ingested. So, when you are looking at yourself in the mirror, although you are doing everything correctly in your mind, your body is saying otherwise and you continue to look flat or bloated or soft or whatever. And of course, this tells you to try even harder. Which means that you think you need to continue to cut more water. In reality, your body is trying to retain everything it can and keep a normal fluid balance between intracellular and extracellular. Again, this is another reason why you continue to lose muscle mass as you get closer competition.”
Terry Goodlad – Top Industry Writer and Photographer/Former Pro Prep Coach: “There are still a lot of competitors out there that think they need to dehydrate to compete in Fitness and Figure so that they look sharper. It’s not the case. Very few top-level IFBB pro’s drop their water, at least the smart ones don’t. Your muscle tissue is made up primarily of water so when you drop water you flatten out, your stomach doesn’t digest food as well so you are not absorbing many of the nutrients you are eating. If you look flat and your stomach is bloated it’s because you need to drink more water.
Last year at a national level show I was visiting with an athlete and her husband in her room. She was flat and smooth so she called her trainer and he told her to take diuretics and cut more water. I explained why that was the opposite of what she should do and that soon she would be sick and most likely in the hospital if she did that. I told her to drink a half-liter of water and wait 5 minutes and she would look great. So, feeling as crappy as she did she took the leap and drank down the bottle of water in less than a minute and about 5 minutes later she looked tighter, her veins came back out and her muscles filled out.
If you are in shape then you are in shape. You only need to get on stage. All this garbage about carb depleting, carbing up, dropping water…if you are in shape, and you look ready then why mess with your body at a time when it is stressed from the anticipation of competing. Just drink as you normally do, eat as you normally do and you will look just as ready as you did when you were at home and saw that you were ready.
If you are carrying too much body-fat then dehydrating will not make you leaner. You just need to be better prepared next time. Prepare for your show so that you are ready to walk on stage two weeks before the show, increase your calories slightly, your metabolism will speed up, you will get leaner on more food, stay hydrated and you will look as good as you are going to look. The night before a show there is nothing you can do that will make you look leaner outside of being leaner. Keeping your muscles filled with water will make you look much better than being dehydrated. Being dehydrated will make you look smaller and smooth.”
Dr. Sandi Stuart-IFBB Fitness Pro: “I always sort of chuckle to myself when people say they are going to ‘cut water’. When the water intake is cut off, ADH (ANTI-DIURETIC HORMONE) is secreted, which makes the body cling to every water molecule. Completely counterproductive.”
Dr. David Ryan: “Several times a year, while covering contest, I have to deal with individuals who have pushed themselves too far. They have dehydrated themselves to the point of light-headedness and even passing out. The athlete will start to feel a sense of light-headedness and may even stumble and fall. The situation can become critical quickly if the proper steps are not taken immediately.
The effects of dehydration are more devastating then most people realize. The use of “over and/or under the counter” supplementation/pharmacological diuretics is widespread in the world of bodybuilding and their effects are the most devastating to those particular athletes. In some cases, diuretics have led to death. Recently, the interest in the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) has led to similar problems being noted in that sport.
The problem is the effects of salt and the crossing of the blood-brain barrier. You actually will change the pressures inside of your brain when you dehydrate to extreme levels. In short, it makes your brain swell and that can kill you. Most of the time, you will die of other problems associated with neurological brain dysfunction, such as a heart attack or stroke.”
Symptoms of Dehydration:
Early to Moderate
Extreme thirst, headache, fatigue, irritability, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, muscle cramps, decreased urination, dark-colored urine with a strong odor, rapid heartbeat.
Advanced to Severe
Difficulty swallowing, sunken eyes, inability to urinate, inability to stand or walk, rapid breathing, weak pulse, rapid pulse, delirium, loss of consciousness, heatstroke, cardiac arrest.
Conclusion:
Most athletes by nature are competitive. They challenge themselves to constantly improve and they look forward to the opportunity to test their status against others and against their own personal best. But there is a line that should not be crossed. That line starts at the point where their health and even their lives are being put at risk. It is your responsibility as an athlete to learn all you can about what you are doing and weigh the possible benefits against any and all consequences. Surround yourself with people that you trust who will tell you what’s best for you and will always have your best interest at heart. Life can be filled with both successes and failures. Making mistakes can often lead to greater achievement. But not all mistakes are beneficial. Some can have consequences far beyond imagination. It is up to you to make sure that the tragedies of the past are not repeated in the future.
Photo by Terry Goodlad, all rights reserved.
This article excerpted from The Contest Prep Coaches Course © 2025 Kevin Myles and Bodysport University, all rights reserved.
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