The 3Carb Experiment (part 2)

In part 1 of this series, we covered what it means to be hydrated, and why simply dumping tons of water (or sugary sports drinks) down your throat isn’t effective. If you missed that part (and aren’t going back to read it – which you should), the general theme was that intracellular hydration is what’s needed when we are trying to rehydrate. This is especially important for intra-competition, but also has implications for weight class athletes who need to put back fluid and body weight after weigh-ins.
To test 3Carb’s ability to promote intracellular hydration, here’s what went down:

Cody (check out his bio here) went 72 hrs with nothing but water.  When 72 hrs was up (evening), he took a single 20 gram serving of 3Carb. The next morning at 7:30-8:00, he had another 20 grams. Finally, during his workout at 11:30am, he ingested another 20g. He kept a log of water intake, and each day post-workout, electronic measurements were taken for intercellular and extracellular water (as was blood pressure and heart rate).  

He trained each day in differing modalities and durations each day. Here’s what happened (followed by a translation):

As you can see, his water-only fast netted him a 12.2lb loss in body weight (he was also training nightly). He lost two pounds of intracellular water and 1.2 of extracellular water (62.5% of the water loss was intracellular). Remember, your body takes the intracellular water out (as sweat) first, but when you rehydrate, it has to pass through the stomach, avoid going to the bladder, etc…to eventually make it into the cells (where we want it). Typically, much of the water we ingest doesnt make it directly to the cell, it spills into extracellular stores, or is eliminated before it can get to the muscle.

Before we go too much farther, let’s remember the important thing here: none of these numbers are subjective. Body weight, extra/intra-cellular hydration, etc…none of those things are subjective. All of these measurements are objective and were taken mechanically, with little room for human error.

However, when he consumed 3Carb, the water he ingested went almost entirely into the cells – 82% of the total additional water was sucked up immediately – instant cellular hydration – while a mere 18% went extracellular. To put this into perspective, imagine drinking a gallon of liquid, and only 24 ounces (two standard cans) don’t make it directly into the muscle. Even more impressive is that the rate of intracellular fluid replacement (82% of the fluid consumed) was higher than the rate lost (62.5%).

What’s going on here? Stay tuned for part 3…