First Show in 8 Weeks!!

[bossman_1986]

Got lots of questions for you guys!

I'm planning on following this guideline for peak week, what do you guys think?

musclemagfitness.com/bodybuilding/contest-preparation/preparing-for-your-first-bodybuilding-contest.html

What would you change, if anything and why?

Thanks.

[Praetorian]

Its a cookie cutter program with some misinformation that I would not take a chance doing. It may work well or it may backfire on you its a crap shoot. Potassium 4 times daily ? why? that makes no sense. Dropping sodium for too long will cause an aldosterone increase which equals water retention not drying out. If you want a generic program with much more chance of success google Chris Aceto last wek contest prep.

P

[bossman_1986]

Its a cookie cutter program with some misinformation that I would not take a chance doing. It may work well or it may backfire on you its a crap shoot. Potassium 4 times daily ? why? that makes no sense. Dropping sodium for too long will cause an aldosterone increase which equals water retention not drying out. If you want a generic program with much more chance of success google Chris Aceto last wek contest prep.

P

do you recommend taking a multivitamin during "peak week"?

[bossman_1986]

What do you guys do during peak week?

What works for you? What didn't work for you?

[bossman_1986]

http://muscle-insider.com/features/fat-loading

what do you guys think of a "fat load"?

has anybody ever tried this before?

[natenator]

first show? do what got you to the stage in the first place - nothing drastic. If you are having to do drastic things in the final week its because you screwed up the previous 8 weeks

Keep sodium and water semi high for the entire prep. Cut sodium and water around 12pm day before the show (depending on condition of course) and reintroduce some sodium with morning meal day of show

the "tricks" only work when you are in superior condition in the first place. They take put a polish on an already great physique IF you know how your body will respond (tested 3-4 weeks out).

first show KISS and and learn about your body. Or hire someone instead.

[bossman_1986]

first show? do what got you to the stage in the first place - nothing drastic. If you are having to do drastic things in the final week its because you screwed up the previous 8 weeks

Keep sodium and water semi high for the entire prep. Cut sodium and water around 12pm day before the show (depending on condition of course) and reintroduce some sodium with morning meal day of show

the "tricks" only work when you are in superior condition in the first place. They take put a polish on an already great physique IF you know how your body will respond (tested 3-4 weeks out).

first show KISS and and learn about your body. Or hire someone instead.

thanks for the advice

so you're saying the diet shouldn't change at all for peak week? I'm basically doing the keto diet, but I have one cup of rice with my post workout meal. Do you think I should keep it the same the last week or would carbing up benefit me? my body looks pretty full with this diet, so i was thinking maybe to carb up on Saturday-Monday and then from then on go back to my keto diet until show day.

[bossman_1986]

36744

7.5 weeks out

[bossman_1986]

36745

7.5 weeks out

[Praetorian]

do you recommend taking a multivitamin during "peak week"?


You can yes, wont make any difference one way or another.

P

[Praetorian]

thanks for the advice

so you're saying the diet shouldn't change at all for peak week? I'm basically doing the keto diet, but I have one cup of rice with my post workout meal. Do you think I should keep it the same the last week or would carbing up benefit me? my body looks pretty full with this diet, so i was thinking maybe to carb up on Saturday-Monday and then from then on go back to my keto diet until show day.

If you are doing keto and having a cup of rice post workout you are NOT doing keto and you are not in ketosis. Drop the rice and get into ketosis and you will lose fat much more efficiently. From the pics it is difficult to tell your true condition...take some close up front and back and I will be able to tell you how far out your are. The last week you will need to add carbs but how much will be dependent on how sensitive you are.
If you stop carbs Monday youll be back to ketosis by Thursday at the latest and the carb up was a waste.

P

[bossman_1986]

If you are doing keto and having a cup of rice post workout you are NOT doing keto and you are not in ketosis. Drop the rice and get into ketosis and you will lose fat much more efficiently. From the pics it is difficult to tell your true condition...take some close up front and back and I will be able to tell you how far out your are. The last week you will need to add carbs but how much will be dependent on how sensitive you are.
If you stop carbs Monday youll be back to ketosis by Thursday at the latest and the carb up was a waste.

P

Yea I know it's not really a keto but my other meals are all protein/fat/veggies

I've experimented and found that with 40-50g of complex carbs post workout, I actually lose fat faster than a keto diet

I'll post close up pics soon

[Praetorian]

You wont lose fat faster trust me...you may perceive that but what you are doing is kicking yourself out of ketosis which will slow fat loss. If you want a carb meal to assist with fat loss then use a refeed meal once per week which will improve thyroid function by increasing T4 to T3 conversion.

P

[bossman_1986]

You wont lose fat faster trust me...you may perceive that but what you are doing is kicking yourself out of ketosis which will slow fat loss. If you want a carb meal to assist with fat loss then use a refeed meal once per week which will improve thyroid function by increasing T4 to T3 conversion.

P

I still have a meal once a week where i eat a massive amount of carbs haha

what do you usually do the last week of the show?

[TT Eric]

Looking good boss!!

Eric

[bossman_1986]

Looking good boss!!

Eric

Thanks man, pretty excited, first show, I got calipers so I'm gonna test my body fat soon, I think I'm on track for 7.5 weeks out

[bossman_1986]

36746

this is the closest I have that's recent at the moment.

[steve_d]

yes - you are on track. It also depends how fast or slow you like to lose weight. Some people look great 10 weeks out, but hardly change. How far have you come since you started the diet? I'd say there is still a decent amount of body fat to lose to get that mind blowing conditioning. However, for a first show - you don't necessarily need perfection. It takes years to learn your body inside out, and it constantly changes as well. Striving for perfection the first time out will likely do more harm then good in the long run. Think long term if you want to truly succeed. It's still a hobby though, and if this is just a one time thing, then by all means, get crazy shredded for the fun of it. Many people don't stop at 1 show though.

I'm ok with dieting non-keto or keto. Whatever works for you and is easier mentally. You seem to be doing great so far. As for final week - as nate said, first show - KISS. It is your first show, and it is a relatively good time to experiment so to speak, but I think the best way is to start with something simple and not over the top and work from there. Keep diet the same. 95% of the competitors will double water intake all week, cut sodium on thursday, drop water too early, and look flat on saturday. As long as you're in shape, then nothing you do monday tuesday wedensday and even thursday should be any different than what you did before. Those tricks are generally with the hope that somehow you'll be able to trick your body into super compensating the muscle with glycogen. This concept is what marathon runners used to hold more energy in the muscle for race day. It's more of a fad than anything.

What you really need to be striving for is not holding water in the skin on stage. If you are ripped enough, you wont be holding water in the morning on any day no matter what you ate the previous day. That is when you are ready. At that point all you need to do is make sure you don't flatten out. Those tricks people do with sodium and diuretics are more likely to hurt then help a physique. It's rare someone is truly holding water and NEED drastic measures to fix the problem. But it is a reality for some. But for every 1 person it helps, 9 others will be hurt by it. In the end, just keep everything the same assuming you are already drinking 5-6 litres a day, keeping sodium relatively high already, and diet similar to anyone who is shredded. By friday you should look great. You'd be surprised at what even just cutting your water mid afternoon will do to you're phsyique as opposed to non-stop drinking that you are currently used to. Friday just don't add salt. By doing this, you are likely cutting salt quite a bit anyway. As for carbs, either up them a little bit all week, or just have them all throughout Friday. Either way will likely work for you. There is also the issue of weigh in if you're really close. Although first show, just go whereever the scale makes you fall. Don't worry about placing because the heavier class is sometimes the easier class. You never know who shows up.

I know it doesn't really sound like a 'plan' - but honestly you shouldn't need one. The more you search on this, the more opinions and methods you'll find. There isn't 1 that is guaranteed to work, and 1 that is guaranteed not to fail. It's all about experimenting. One thing for sure, if you feel ready a week out, then you're better off just stepping on stage with that look then ruining it. Conservative is best. Cutting water on friday afternoon and doing everything else exactly the same pretty much would be fool proof.

[bossman_1986]

yes - you are on track. It also depends how fast or slow you like to lose weight. Some people look great 10 weeks out, but hardly change. How far have you come since you started the diet? I'd say there is still a decent amount of body fat to lose to get that mind blowing conditioning. However, for a first show - you don't necessarily need perfection. It takes years to learn your body inside out, and it constantly changes as well. Striving for perfection the first time out will likely do more harm then good in the long run. Think long term if you want to truly succeed. It's still a hobby though, and if this is just a one time thing, then by all means, get crazy shredded for the fun of it. Many people don't stop at 1 show though.

I'm ok with dieting non-keto or keto. Whatever works for you and is easier mentally. You seem to be doing great so far. As for final week - as nate said, first show - KISS. It is your first show, and it is a relatively good time to experiment so to speak, but I think the best way is to start with something simple and not over the top and work from there. Keep diet the same. 95% of the competitors will double water intake all week, cut sodium on thursday, drop water too early, and look flat on saturday. As long as you're in shape, then nothing you do monday tuesday wedensday and even thursday should be any different than what you did before. Those tricks are generally with the hope that somehow you'll be able to trick your body into super compensating the muscle with glycogen. This concept is what marathon runners used to hold more energy in the muscle for race day. It's more of a fad than anything.

What you really need to be striving for is not holding water in the skin on stage. If you are ripped enough, you wont be holding water in the morning on any day no matter what you ate the previous day. That is when you are ready. At that point all you need to do is make sure you don't flatten out. Those tricks people do with sodium and diuretics are more likely to hurt then help a physique. It's rare someone is truly holding water and NEED drastic measures to fix the problem. But it is a reality for some. But for every 1 person it helps, 9 others will be hurt by it. In the end, just keep everything the same assuming you are already drinking 5-6 litres a day, keeping sodium relatively high already, and diet similar to anyone who is shredded. By friday you should look great. You'd be surprised at what even just cutting your water mid afternoon will do to you're phsyique as opposed to non-stop drinking that you are currently used to. Friday just don't add salt. By doing this, you are likely cutting salt quite a bit anyway. As for carbs, either up them a little bit all week, or just have them all throughout Friday. Either way will likely work for you. There is also the issue of weigh in if you're really close. Although first show, just go whereever the scale makes you fall. Don't worry about placing because the heavier class is sometimes the easier class. You never know who shows up.

I know it doesn't really sound like a 'plan' - but honestly you shouldn't need one. The more you search on this, the more opinions and methods you'll find. There isn't 1 that is guaranteed to work, and 1 that is guaranteed not to fail. It's all about experimenting. One thing for sure, if you feel ready a week out, then you're better off just stepping on stage with that look then ruining it. Conservative is best. Cutting water on friday afternoon and doing everything else exactly the same pretty much would be fool proof.

Thanks for the advice, yea I'm just trying to get ideas on what others do, I'll have to experiment. I'll most likely keep my diet the same but I might start adding some high fibre carbs starting Saturday a week before and see how I react.

What do you eat on show day?

[Praetorian]

I still have a meal once a week where i eat a massive amount of carbs haha

what do you usually do the last week of the show?


The last week of the show is where most people screw up because they make drastic changes. I would continue to drink plenty of water keep sodium the same and dont drop water until friday....timing there depends on how much you tend to hold through the day. If you are 5lbs heavier at night then in the morning that means you hold more...if you are only a few pounds out then you hold less. If you are natural then stopping water usually at 5-7pm is fine...if enhanced you may need to drop it earlier ie 1-2pm...that is an individual thing. Also on the friday cut any additional sodium which means eating foods with sodium naturally present is fine ie eggs just dont add salt or sodium laden condiments like mustard or hot sauce to your food. The easiest thing to do is to use Mrs Dash for seasoning on Friday and you have no worries. Now the most critical part where everybody screws up is carbs. Too much and you spill over and you will have to fight to pull off the water. Too little and when you do drop water you will be flat. The key is if you are lean you can get away with more carbs so do what is necessary now to get as shredded as possible. Also most guys tend to look much better a little flat as opposed to over carbed.
My suggestion is to have carbs only Wed and Thursday and leave them out Friday...that allows you to fine tune things Friday and if you did slightly spill you have plenty of time to remove excess water on Friday.

When you eat your once per week cheat meal...do you spill over or do you just look tighter? That is a good gauge to see how you react. My suggestion is to not go crazy with carbs on Wed and Thur and keep them to say 250g per day so 500g for two days...which isn't a lot so you shouldn't spill on that and again you have Friday to fine tune. See how you look Friday morning and if you are very dry you can probably go till the afternoon before dropping water.

The main thing you should do is document what you do and how you look so you can go over it after and learn from it. Take pictures each morning to gauge your progress the last few weeks and youll get an idea of what you need to do.

From the pic I would estimate you have 12-15lbs to go yet so dont waste time and push it hard to get down as much as you can...the leaner you are the less worry come the last week and the less you need to do.

P

[bossman_1986]

The last week of the show is where most people screw up because they make drastic changes. I would continue to drink plenty of water keep sodium the same and dont drop water until friday....timing there depends on how much you tend to hold through the day. If you are 5lbs heavier at night then in the morning that means you hold more...if you are only a few pounds out then you hold less. If you are natural then stopping water usually at 5-7pm is fine...if enhanced you may need to drop it earlier ie 1-2pm...that is an individual thing. Also on the friday cut any additional sodium which means eating foods with sodium naturally present is fine ie eggs just dont add salt or sodium laden condiments like mustard or hot sauce to your food. The easiest thing to do is to use Mrs Dash for seasoning on Friday and you have no worries. Now the most critical part where everybody screws up is carbs. Too much and you spill over and you will have to fight to pull off the water. Too little and when you do drop water you will be flat. The key is if you are lean you can get away with more carbs so do what is necessary now to get as shredded as possible. Also most guys tend to look much better a little flat as opposed to over carbed.
My suggestion is to have carbs only Wed and Thursday and leave them out Friday...that allows you to fine tune things Friday and if you did slightly spill you have plenty of time to remove excess water on Friday.

When you eat your once per week cheat meal...do you spill over or do you just look tighter? That is a good gauge to see how you react. My suggestion is to not go crazy with carbs on Wed and Thur and keep them to say 250g per day so 500g for two days...which isn't a lot so you shouldn't spill on that and again you have Friday to fine tune. See how you look Friday morning and if you are very dry you can probably go till the afternoon before dropping water.

The main thing you should do is document what you do and how you look so you can go over it after and learn from it. Take pictures each morning to gauge your progress the last few weeks and youll get an idea of what you need to do.

From the pic I would estimate you have 12-15lbs to go yet so dont waste time and push it hard to get down as much as you can...the leaner you are the less worry come the last week and the less you need to do.

P

good advice, thanks.

when I have my cheats, I usually do look softer then next day and feel really bloated so I'm pretty sure I'm carb sensitive, but sometimes I eat too much. I think if I eat a moderate amount and eat high fibrous carbs then I should be fine but i'll have to see. I have a cup of rice a day and look full and tight near the end of the week before my cheat, that's usually when I look my best tightness wise, but a couple days after my cheat is when I look my fullest.

[bossman_1986]

what should be eaten on show day?

pre-judging starts at 10a.m., so when do you recommend waking up and how many meals should I get in before? night show is at 5p.m.

[Praetorian]

Get up early....6am, if you are dry and you should be come saturday morning you can eat a high carb moderate protein meal..i usually have pancakes with bacon and 3 eggs. I add salt to my eggs and i use ketchup and syrup with butter on my pancakes. After that i will switch back to clean eating ie 4 oz chicken with 1 cup rice and tablespoon peanut butter. You wont retain water as long as you are dry in the morning. Also the only fluid i have in the morning is half a cup of coffee to help with digestion. After that no fluid until lunch time.

Make sure you take in adequate fiber daily or you will get constipated and thats not good day before or day of the show.

P

[bossman_1986]

Get up early....6am, if you are dry and you should be come saturday morning you can eat a high carb moderate protein meal..i usually have pancakes with bacon and 3 eggs. I add salt to my eggs and i use ketchup and syrup with butter on my pancakes. After that i will switch back to clean eating ie 4 oz chicken with 1 cup rice and tablespoon peanut butter. You wont retain water as long as you are dry in the morning. Also the only fluid i have in the morning is half a cup of coffee to help with digestion. After that no fluid until lunch time.

Make sure you take in adequate fiber daily or you will get constipated and thats not good day before or day of the show.

P

so cut out condiments with high sodium on friday and then have high sodium on show day?

should you have a sugar source with every meal on show day?

so no water until after pre-judging? or should i sip on a little bit of water with every meal?

[St]

What is the date of your show.

[bossman_1986]

What is the date of your show.

November 1

[Praetorian]

Cut out any added sodium on friday add some saturday.

P

[bossman_1986]

should you have something that's high in sugar about 30 mins before going on stage?

[Praetorian]

No not necessary...as i said vascularity is a combination of 1. Being in shape...ie shredded and 2. Blood pressure...which is directly related to sodium.

P

[bossman_1986]

Makes sense

First meal on show day you eat high carbs, sugar and sodium, should you have another one of those meals after pre judging for the night show?

[bossman_1986]

6.5 weeks out!!

3675736758

[bossman_1986]

Makes sense

First meal on show day you eat high carbs, sugar and sodium, should you have another one of those meals after pre judging for the night show?

bump

[Praetorian]

That depends on conditioning. Again a good program is not cookie cutter it is developed according to the clients body and conditioning and how it reacts. We could tell you to do many things and that may not work out because its a bit of a gamble. Without working wit someone to see how they react etc its difficult to know.

I wouldnt worry so much about the last week I would worry about dropping another 15lbs...you have significant weight to lose yet.



P

[bossman_1986]

That depends on conditioning. Again a good program is not cookie cutter it is developed according to the clients body and conditioning and how it reacts. We could tell you to do many things and that may not work out because its a bit of a gamble. Without working wit someone to see how they react etc its difficult to know.

I wouldnt worry so much about the last week I would worry about dropping another 15lbs...you have significant weight to lose yet.


P

yea that's what I'm focused on right now, just asking questions.

I checked my bodyfat percentage with calipiers the other day, measured the side of the chest, abdomen and thigh. I got 6% bodyfat, but I'm not sure if that's right. From looking at pics, what do you think my bodyfat is at??

Should you use an anti-e the last few weeks of the contest prep even though I'm planning on cutting out test a week out?

[steve_d]

yea that's what I'm focused on right now, just asking questions.

I checked my bodyfat percentage with calipiers the other day, measured the side of the chest, abdomen and thigh. I got 6% bodyfat, but I'm not sure if that's right. From looking at pics, what do you think my bodyfat is at??

Should you use an anti-e the last few weeks of the contest prep even though I'm planning on cutting out test a week out?

Pics can be deceiving. You may or may not be in the single digits. I'd say you look pretty lean, in the 8-10% range. The numbers don't matter - you need to lose some bodyfat, it may not be as much as some might think but it might be more. It all depends how you lose. I also wouldn't worry about how many pounds you need to lose on the scale. Say you're 210 now, don't target 198 or 195 or whatever. You could lose 10 pounds and look the same. Or you could lose 3 and look peeled. Some people are just like that. Better method is flexing the glutes, are there striations in them? Not yet - so keep going, lol. Eventually it won't matter where you pinch, the skin will feel the same everywhere - there won't be any thickness to it, just skin.

[bossman_1986]

Pics can be deceiving. You may or may not be in the single digits. I'd say you look pretty lean, in the 8-10% range. The numbers don't matter - you need to lose some bodyfat, it may not be as much as some might think but it might be more. It all depends how you lose. I also wouldn't worry about how many pounds you need to lose on the scale. Say you're 210 now, don't target 198 or 195 or whatever. You could lose 10 pounds and look the same. Or you could lose 3 and look peeled. Some people are just like that. Better method is flexing the glutes, are there striations in them? Not yet - so keep going, lol. Eventually it won't matter where you pinch, the skin will feel the same everywhere - there won't be any thickness to it, just skin.

My glutes are starting to show some striations, guess it's going good then :D apparently other competitors are saying I'm ahead of schedule for conditioning so I guess I look soft in pics, I'm going to keep track of my body fat every week from now until the show. I'm not worried about weight too much, just body fat.

[Praetorian]

Numbers make no difference and i never measure body fat...its a waste of time. You always go by what you look like and as Steve says look at your worst body part and when there are striations there you are ready.
What you weigh also doesnt matter...drop fat until you are shredded just use the scale to make sure you are dropping weight consistently each week. Do not drop test prior to the show...big mistake! You want to keep things very consistent and steady right to the day of the show. You should be running an AI at least 8 weeks out if not 12-16...a week out will do nothing because your body is already flooded with estrogen and an AI wont remove it...it just prevents more from being created. If anything at this point run nolvadex the last 4-6 weeks and you will at least block most of the estrogen from doing its nasty deeds.

P

[bossman_1986]

Numbers make no difference and i never measure body fat...its a waste of time. You always go by what you look like and as Steve says look at your worst body part and when there are striations there you are ready.
What you weigh also doesnt matter...drop fat until you are shredded just use the scale to make sure you are dropping weight consistently each week. Do not drop test prior to the show...big mistake! You want to keep things very consistent and steady right to the day of the show. You should be running an AI at least 8 weeks out if not 12-16...a week out will do nothing because your body is already flooded with estrogen and an AI wont remove it...it just prevents more from being created. If anything at this point run nolvadex the last 4-6 weeks and you will at least block most of the estrogen from doing its nasty deeds.

P

I'm running tren though, nolva would increase progesterone if used together, am I correct?

The reason why I was going to drop test the last week is because test makes me hold onto water, I'm running prop, tren, anavar at the moment, I was thinking just the last week to have tren and anavar, is that a mistake?

[natenator]

I'm running tren though, nolva would increase progesterone if used together, am I correct?

The reason why I was going to drop test the last week is because test makes me hold onto water, I'm running prop, tren, anavar at the moment, I was thinking just the last week to have tren and anavar, is that a mistake?
If you're lean and running an AI you won't hold water, especially if running tren.

I'd ditch anvar for winny if were me.

You seem WAY to preoccupied with the last week when it's what you did the first 15 or 19 that matters the most.

[bossman_1986]

If you're lean and running an AI you won't hold water, especially if running tren.

I'd ditch anvar for winny if were me.

You seem WAY to preoccupied with the last week when it's what you did the first 15 or 19 that matters the most.

Thanks for the input.

Yes obviously I'm focused on losing fat, just asking questions since it's my first comp and people do things differently the last week. No I'm not planning on slacking off during the prep and try some crazy diet trick to "make me look better" on stage, just asking questions about it.

From what I hear, I'm ahead of schedule for fat loss, but my goal is still to lose a lot more fat, want to come in my best.

[Praetorian]

I'm running tren though, nolva would increase progesterone if used together, am I correct?

The reason why I was going to drop test the last week is because test makes me hold onto water, I'm running prop, tren, anavar at the moment, I was thinking just the last week to have tren and anavar, is that a mistake?

Nolva does NOT increase progesterone it is a SERM. Tren can increase progesterone in the presence of estrogen but it will not a be a problem in precontest mode cosmetically. Ideally the last 8 weeks should be tren, test, and winstrol or masteron. Anavar is redundant if running tren as it is a very weak non aromatizing androgen....tren is a very strong non aromatizing androgen thus any effects from the anavar are far overshadowed by the tren...save it and save your money. If your diet is tight prop will not make you hold water and stopping it a week out will do squat except maybe flatten you out. You should be running a long ester test along with an AI for contest prep. If you run nolva along with test, tren, and winny you will be dry and hard that is if you get lean enough. Nolva blocks estrogen from doing its job which right now is the only thing you can do at this point...an AI will not take effect fast enough..it needs to run concurrently with test.



P

[kindofabigdeal8]

sick back dude, what show was it