Should Bodybuilders Dehydrate Before Stepping on Stage?

If you follow any competitive body builder on social media, you will likely see them talking about a ‘peak week’ in the final week before a competition. The purpose of the peak week is to make manipulations to their current regime in order to get their body looking its absolute best before stepping on stage. One of the manipulations that is often made relates to the amount of water they drink.

For the final week, competitors dramatically increase their water intake to anywhere between 10-12 litres a day. During the final 12-24 hours before competitors step on stage, they dramatically cut water in-take in order to dehydrate the body. This is often said to be one of the hardest aspects of stepping on stage. But does this give them the best chance of winning? Let’s have a closer look.

Why Dehydrate?

When competing in a competition, body builders are judged on the mass, definition, proportion and symmetry of their muscular appearance. It is thought by many body builders that dehydration of the body helps with the visibility of all of these components and also increases vascularity. Vascularity helps demonstrate the competitor’s extremely low level of body fat and increases their ‘ripped’ appearance. One common theme with a lot of competitors is that on show day they look flat, small and less pumped compared to the days before and immediately after a show. So why is this?

Does Severe Dehydration Optimally Reveal a Physique?

First of all, the body is made up of 50-60% water. Our muscles are made up of even more than that (around 75%). Water is stored both inside and outside of the muscle cells. Water inside muscle cells is great as it makes muscles appear big and full. However, water outside of the cells (interstitial fluid) can mimic a small layer of body fat and decrease the appearance of the competitor’s musculature. So should the aim be to completely dehydrate the body or to get as much water inside the muscles as possible?

If a complete dehydration approach is taken, this means the 75% of a muscle that is water will also be significantly depleted. This results in smaller and flatter looking muscles. This is obviously not good for a competitor. Keeping water intake normal but ensuring the majority of it is stored in the muscle and not under the skin is key to looking full, hard and dry on show day.