Competition Preparations

[jimmybro1]

Just curious what others approaches are to pre-competition preparations.

I'm talking peak week. Last competition I did I water depleted reducing water intake from 4 L to 800 ml one day out then nothing the day of the show. But I have read conflicting information saying that if you are non-enhanced you don't need to water deplete, apparently water retention is only a problem with people on performance enhances (or as flex wheeler calls it sports technology ).

As well as this how beneficial do you think sodium and carbohydrate loading are? I like to keep things simple but I respond well to a low carbohydrate diet so get reasonable flat throughout the diet, so I think carbohydrate loading is important for my physique just don't want to spill out! Last competition I carb loaded the day of the show by eating 2 meals of 100g of white rice.

Any advice or suggestions would be helpful I am a rookie at the whole competition preparations and don't want to waste months of dieting by making mistakes in peak week or worst the day of the show!

[genetic freek]

My question to you would be did the method you used give you the results you were after?

[Riccardo]

I would avoid sodium/water manipulation.

Try google for layne's contest prep guide on bodybuilding.com. It has heaps of good info.

[Mcmass]

If you haven't yet its a good idea to practice a few different ways of loading carbs, like drip feeding them, or just having a few carb meals the day before...

A good time to do this is the day or one of the days you eat more carbs in your diet, look for changes, take photos.

I have found for me personally I don't hold much water at all, and if I stop drinking or drink very little my kidneys just shut down within hours. So I prefer to drink plenty of water right up until the day of comp and then just drink small amounts through the morning of comp.

With salt everybody has different opinions on the best thing to do, this year Im trying the sodium loading approach. Having salt on all my meals 7-10 days out then stopping adding the salt on the Friday. On paper this is to increase the bodies production of aldosterone by high sodium levels, when you stop 24hrs before the comp the body still releases the hormone for 48+ hrs.

As far as dehydration goes I think that the 3-5% better it may make you look isn't worth the chance of looking flat or bloated and feeling like shit at the show.

[jimmybro1]

I just think the more simple the better, simple things become complicated enough when your dieting.

I will check out Layne Norton's contest prep he is the guru of natural bodybuilding after all.

I will start playing with carbohydrates 4 weeks out to see the influence it has, I know i'm extremely sodium sensitive. One serving of naco's inflates me like a balloon it's incredible creatine doesn't have the same effect though.

[shane]

Man this guy has some good information take a few days to digest it all

I will check out Layne Norton's contest prep he is the guru of natural bodybuilding after all

[damosaurus-rex]

Layne Norton! you realise he the joke of most bbing forums. Hes as natural as plastic. :roll:

[trainlikeafreak]

i WOULD manipulate water and carb up...if your unsure about water just talk to an experienced bodybuilder who actually looks like he knows what hes talking about..its simple enough. with carbs people usually add them in 3ish days out from the show. as for amounts well that depends on your condition if your really flat you might wana add some high fat meals in the night before/morning of the show

[Riccardo]

Layne Norton! you realise he the joke of most bbing forums. Hes as natural as plastic. :roll:

Lol whats so unbelievable about 5'10" 200lbs? when you say bodybuilding forums do you mean bb.com? You realize that forum is the joke of most other forums right? But if some 70kg virgins think he's lying then it's your choice to jump on their wagon. Regardless of his drug status he has some good info on contest prep. Some guys on here have followed and logged his advice as well. I suggest doing a search for Loochi's (a member here) posts on contest prep.

[damosaurus-rex]

[jimmybro1]

Well he's consistently drug tested, so would make drug test difficult. I believe 200lbs at 5% is completely achievable by a natural athlete. I'm currently 86kg at 5-6% and have only been training for 2 years this guy's been training for years and most likely much more gifted than I am.

[damosaurus-rex]

Well he's consistently drug tested, so would make drug test difficult. I believe 200lbs at 5% is completely achievable by a natural athlete. I'm currently 86kg at 5-6% and have only been training for 2 years this guy's been training for years and most likely much more gifted than I am.

Once you get a few more years under your belt you might realise how silly it was to argue tha Laynes natural. Bodybuilding drug testing isnt exactly WADA.

Im sorry sir but he is not natural you are wrong.

[MOD EDIT: No memes, please.]

[Riccardo]

You know about as much as we do, unless you're privy to some sort of inside information? Then your opinion is no more right/wrong than ours.

Thats besides the point though, his contest prep article has some awesome advice especially for first time competitors.

[karm015]

Well he's consistently drug tested, so would make drug test difficult. I believe 200lbs at 5% is completely achievable by a natural athlete. I'm currently 86kg at 5-6% and have only been training for 2 years this guy's been training for years and most likely much more gifted than I am.

Once you get a few more years under your belt you might realise how silly it was to argue tha Laynes natural. Bodybuilding drug testing isnt exactly WADA.

Im sorry sir but he is not natural you are wrong.

(lamememe)

gee, i love reading your posts, you seem like a really swell guy

ps way to derail the thread

[jimmybro1]

Thanks for the advice.

Checked out Layne Norton's approach to competition prep. I'm going to try front load my carbohydrate intake by reducing protein 20%, and fat by 20g and increase carbohydrates to account for that then gradually increase protein 5% a day and equally reduce carbohydrates.

Not going to pay with sodium intake or water consumption approaching the show. Will only have enough water to satisfy my thirst on the day.

Will eat a rather sodium rich meal 2 hours before pre-jugding and jelly 30 minutes before to try get some vasculation. Not sure of the science be hide it but it supposedly works.

Thoughts?

[Riccardo]

You pretty much got it on the mark bro.

Wouldn't bother with the sodium load. Keep water intake high the entire time and just sip it on the day of the show. Your body tightly regulates water reabsorption and you can't "trick" your body into flushing water out without diuretics and even if you could it's not gonna grab interstitial water specifically. Water follows solutes so the only way to really manipulate interstitial water is to manipulate sodium/potassium or glucose.

Sodium is tricky, the window in which you will look good from changing sodium intake is very small and the benefit is minimal if there is any at all. It can also be dangerous when you start playing round with potassium. So just keep sodium low/steady the entire time. Therefore the main thing you should be changing is carbs. Do the front load and progressively cut them throughout the week to deplete. Start your carb up with a piece of fruit as it contains fructose and will fill liver glycogen first. That way, after that you are storing glycogen purely in muscle and your carb up will be more effective and you have less chance of spilling over.

[Daz69]

I was of the opinion to keep Carbs low the week of the show, whilst keeping water high, until dropping all water the day before the show (sipping on the day).... With a gentle Carb load day before.... No Carbs on show day, except for a shot of something sugary 40 mins prior to stage.....? :roll:

[HarryB]

Ummmm if you are in shape and looking great why would you do something to jeapordise that. Just drop your water on show day and eat light so you don't have a bloat.

[Riccardo]

I was of the opinion to keep Carbs low the week of the show, whilst keeping water high, until dropping all water the day before the show (sipping on the day).... With a gentle Carb load day before.... No Carbs on show day, except for a shot of something sugary 40 mins prior to stage.....? :roll:

You can do it that way, It's all pretty much the same shit. People will respond differently if they have different tolerances to carbs. but the general formula is the same.

Ummmm if you are in shape and looking great why would you do something to jeapordise that. Just drop your water on show day and eat light so you don't have a bloat.

Good advice. peaking techniques will make you maybe 2% better on stage or you could mess it up and look 100% worse. If you are lean you are lean. How many people say "I was holding water"? When in reality they were just not lean enough

[tomsammce]

takes Lasix night before show when 10% bodyfat...

[MOD EDIT: No memes, please.]

[HumanPerformance]

Its hard to say how someone should peak for a show as its so individualistic its all just guessing. I used to do the traditional carb loading techniques with all my clients years ago.But quickly learned that although it can lead to an incredible transformation in just a few days for some people,it does absolutely nothing for others and for some completely destroys thier preparations. Females in particular are notoriously hard to carb load over more than 24 hours, but even with this rule there are exceptions. Most females will only load the morning of the show or perhaps the night before as well and come in looking spot on. But I have prepared women who need to be loaded all the way from the wednsday in order to come in at thier best.

I have a male client whom ive had competing for ten years (came 3rd at world champs) for whom I have learnt through trial aqnd error is best loaded for 14 full days before show! And that is at 700g of carbs per day for 14 straight days. And I have another client (world champion) for whom loading for more than half a day will result in disaster.Some people respond extremley well to sodium depletion and then loading whilst others only the opposite protocol will give the desired result.Some competitors for whose biochemical sensitivity is extremely fragile it is best to do absolutely nothing at all.

I have prepared dozens of people for competition. All the way from beginners who have just done a 12 week challenge and want to get up on stage to show off thier results, to world champions. And I can tell you what might work incredibly well for you or your mate mike does not work for everyone.And even what you think may have worked well for you in the past may be nothing compared to what a different approach may do.

Through experience and exposure to numerous and vastly differing body types, trainers like myself that are used to preparing people get an idea or a "sense" of what to do with a particular individual once we have evaluated them.It all comes down to things like age, sex, weight, hormonal profile (which can be visually assessed to a certain extent or at least with calipers i.e- test or oestrogen dominant) past and current dietary practices, current training load, personality type, (a person that is more highly stressed on the day will hold more water because of the stress hormones that will be released) current body fat percentage and how long it took to get there, their off season eating regieme, any AAS they are currently using. All these things will factor into what is the best approach for them.

[HarryB]

Absolutely agreed HP, it is extremely individual. First time competitors I usually find simple is best. Unless they are some kind of freak or have been training for 20 years before deciding to compete and are loaded with muscle already it is negligible what diff loading and drying out will make.

[jimmybro1]

I might just keep it as simple as possible if I feel extremely flat the night before will load carbs a little. I'm pretty keen to try the approach I mentioned early, as you said it's trail and error and you don't know what works for you if you don't try!

I will come it as lean as possible anyway, target 3-4%.

[Riccardo]

2 weeks of carb up!? Jesus was that person diabetic or something?

[HumanPerformance]

2 weeks of carb up!? Jesus was that person diabetic or something?

No not diabetic, was discussing it with Jamie Cameron at a show the guy won and Jamie seemed to think it was because he was an older athlete? But I still haven't come up with a satisfactory explantation, heard allot of interesting theories though.