Water: it’s not just for ice cubes

In this series of posts we will be looking at the simple stuff. Why? It’s the simple stuff that gives us most of our results. If you dont believe me look up the Pareto principle. Whether it be training, nutrition or relationships, the stronger the foundation the higher you can build. In other words you’re not as advanced as you think you are (don’t worry; neither am I).

In my first post, we’ll we turn our heads to the very simple, utterly essential molecule of water.

While everybody knows we’re supposed to drink a substantial quantity of water, few of us do. Perhaps some facts are in order:

1) Water takes up space, if you take up enough space there less room for other stuff. This may seem obvious enough, but here’s a study that illustrates why that may be such a good idea: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18787524

2) Dehydration has been found to be the number-one cause of daytime fatigue in people who are free of serious sleep disorders. If you’re tired the chances of you deciding to skip that workout skyrocket.

3) We all know that lifting heavy stuff, combined with smart nutrition is great for body composition, but a loss of 4-5% of body weight in fluid decreases the capacity for hard muscular work by 20-30%., So if you’re still using purple dumbells maybe your water intake is to blame.

4) Back pain in many cases is caused by or exacerbated by dehydration. The structure of the human vertebrae makes them vulnerable to dehydration, with resulting pain and swelling. In fact preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. These numbers are pretty significant when you consider that 80% of North Americans will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives.

Here are other some interesting facts for you to pull out at the party:

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (This likely applies to half the world population)

2. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 3%.

3. One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters in a University of Washington study.

4. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

Water, it seems, is kind of a big deal. Do yourself a favour though and try to use a glass or stainless steel water bottle. As you may know, the xeno-estrogens in plastic bottles have been found to cause moob’s in both fish and human males.

I leave you with a quote from the man himself Dr. Batmanghelidj, the author of Your Body’s Many Cries for Water.

“In my professional and scientific view, it is dehydration that is the biggest killer, more than any other condition you could imagine. The different aspects and ‘chemical idiosyncrasies’ of each individual’s body reaction to the same pattern of dehydration have received different professional labels and have been treated differently and ineffectively.”

Andy

The recent media focus on South African sprinter Caster Semenya has forced people to reexamine the issue of sex and gender in sport. While a documented argument on this topic goes back decades, we seem no closer to clearly defining what makes an athlete male or female.

Looking at the first Olympics, gender testing was automatic, as (male only) athletes participated in the nude. The Games were rekindled in 1896, but the issue of testing and athlete intersexuality did not emerge until the Cold War era, with anecdotal reports of female athletes displaying male sexual characteristics. One such was Polish sprinter Stella Walsh who was, long after her career, identified as having a pair of XX and XY (genetic female and genetic male) chromosomes.

The first cases of gender testing involved women parading nude before a panel of female physicians and then, later, direct gynecologic exams. A buccal smear, which can differentiate between XX and XY chromosomes was first used in 1968 and remained the standard (despite its documented unreliability) until 1991 when it was soon thereafter replaced with a more accurate way to examine DNA sequences. However, the most recent iteration was abandoned shortly before the 2000 games in Sydney, largely due to social pressures and the lack of clarity behind what ultimately defines sex.

Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling, writing in “The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough,” says that western culture is defying nature by maintaining a “two-party sexual system,” for “biologically speaking, there are many gradations running from female to male; and depending on how one calls the shots, one can argue that along the spectrum lie at least five sexes – and perhaps even more.”

It’s clear that “private parts” alone are not enough to determine an athlete’s gender. Androgen (male hormone) insensitivity, hermaphrodism (the condition that sprinter Caster Semenya is purported to have) and even those who have transitioned genders with external assistance render this appearance-based argument (and testing) void.

Since 2003, both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) have incorporated a series of policies on transgendered athletes. Sex reassignment before puberty is accepted uncategorically whereas sex reassignment after puberty must conform to a number of guidelines, including hormonal therapy appropriate to the assigned sex. This is consistent with the idea that it is ultimately hormone levels that determine sex and limit certain dimensions of performance.

It was argued in a recent New York times article that high natural androgen levels in females are comparable to other advantages, such as being very tall. This implies that women with these advantages should not be barred from competing against other women. However, it’s not height that determines sex, it’s hormones. This is not because men and women are different creatures — at least not at birth. It is because any differences that exist beyond the environmental sphere are created by hormones. All things being (genetically) equal, even height.

If we step back for a moment, though, we can think about why we have any divisions at all. In theory, at least, our goal is to level the playing field. By some accounts of the Platonic ideal for sports, every competitor would have precisely the same abilities. How hard they work and how well they train would make up the remainder. Like stock cars, the externals would be identical and the internal “driver” would make all the difference in the world.

For others, this scenario would be as boring as it is unlikely. I, as much as anyone, enjoy seeing an uncommon athlete set new boundaries for human achievement. It’s wonderful to have assumptions about our own limitations blown away. And I – like many – am somewhat conflicted when it comes to the issues of illegal supplementation. We want to see amazing things, but we (deep inside) know better than to expect them consistently on a level playing field. When nature delivers an unusual advantage to a competitor, dissent is to be expected. This is especially true when it is within the realm of sex; the only universal divide within the world of elite competition.

Differences in hormone levels – both in-utero and post-puberty – translate into differences in performance. Women typically have smaller skeletons, less muscle mass, lower hemoglobin levels, and a higher proportion of body fat than men. Normal male testosterone levels are anywhere between 2.5 and 50 times that of females. The differences that these levels create – from a higher ratio of powerful fast twitch muscles to significantly more strength at a given bodyweight – make their athletic advantages clear. Indeed, women’s world records are 7–10% lower than those of men.

Since it is hormone levels, not external appearances that dictate performance, it is also within the realm of hormones that an athlete’s parameters must be set. Public awareness that external appearance does not necessarily dictate sex grows with every athlete like Caster Semenya and Santhi Soundarajan (the Indian sprinter diagnosed with androgen insensitivity). While athletes like these are likely wise to be proactive about determining their eligibility, clearer guidelines by the IOC and IAAF on hormonal parameters would help avoid much of the terrible social fallout that has affected these women.

Geoff