Dehydrering og carb-loading for dummies


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Nu er vores lille Body Challenge konkurrence snart slut og det er tid til at tage slut-billeder.

Og så var det jeg tænkte om der var nogen ide i at lave lidt af de samme trick som konkurrence BB'ere laver i dagene op til et show for at få så gode billeder som muligt?

Jeg ved det i grove træk går ud på at få drænet væske af kroppen (selvfølgelig ikke det hele ;) ) og få fyldt kulhydrat-depoterne godt op, men hvordan gør man sådan i praksis, hvor lang tid før skal man gøre det, og kan det overhovedet betale sig, hvis fedtprocenten er over 10?

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Kan sgu ikke lige huske hvor jeg har det fra, og aner ikke om det er rigtigt eller virker!?!

Keep it steady, try to limit salt within reason for the last week. If you cut it way down, too soon your body will overreact and begin holding all salt. Plus, salt is essential to keeping fluids in your body, it's only excess salt that we do not want. Then, with two days to go (say you're shooting Sat. start this Thurs.) in the morning, begin drinking about 2x your normal intake. Drink water all day, and until 12 noon Firday. After that, you only drink what you need to keep your mouth wet. Sat. morning drink what you lose to keep stable. You will "lose" a lot of water and salt but come through full and feeling tight!
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Important criteria for the final week

It is important for you to realize that the final week of contest preparation cannot be entered into unless a few very important criteria or conditions, if you like, are adhered to:

1. Mentally you must be ready. The final week of preparation is arguable the most taxing in terms of diet, training and motivation. It is extreme and is not easy; you will have to make sacrifices and be prepared to suffer, but don’t feel sorry for yourself, after all, you have chosen to take this step…finish what you’ve started.

2. Your body fat level must be sufficiently low; if it is not and you try the techniques that follow, you will look smooth and flat.

3. You must have gained all the muscle that you need. By this I mean that you will not

be able to gain extra muscle mass in the final week, so all the mass that you want for

your show must be gained before you enter the final week.

4. You will need to add a lot of sodium to your diet 1 week prior to the final week. Loading with sodium (Salt) upsets your body’s natural balance, when this happens your

body works overtime to get rid of the excess sodium. You will eventually cut out all

sodium, tricking your body into achieving a stone dry look!

5. Cardio should be avoided the last seven days before the show, this is because excess

cardio can promote a flat and smooth physique and will also interfere with your body’s ability to release glycogen forming enzymes, to much cardio can also break down muscle. You are already in a calorie deficit by being on a contest dieting, doing more cardio will just burn more calories and this can result in an imbalance.

6. You must have a winner’s attitude! This goes without saying for any champion, if you think like a winner and dedicate yourself like a winner, you will be a winner. Your brain makes connections with positive and negative thinking, the more positive thinking, the better the connection; these connections stimulate the immune system and boost your serotonin level. This is based on sound scientific research.

A step by step nutritional guideline for the final week

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to final week dieting, each person and each

physique reacts differently to different techniques. The only way to dial it in perfectly is

by experience and learning from subsequent shows. The technique outlined below is one that has worked well for me and others I have worked with.

NB: the final week of dieting is ONLY for preparation for a contest, it is not a balanced

lifestyle approach. The final week of dieting has 2 main goals:

1. The total depletion and replenishment of glycogen stores. This is done by depleting

carbs for 3 days and then carb-loading for 3 days.

2. Manipulation of sodium intake to dry out the physique, ie loss of water. Before I outline a plan for each day leading up to the contest, I will first try to explain how and

why the above processes work. Glycogen is glucose that is stored in skeletal muscle or the liver. Its main purpose is to serve as fuel for energy. Under normal circumstances

your muscle contains 15 to 20 grams per kilogram of skeletal muscle tissue. Now, when

you deplete your body of carbohydrates for 3 days, your skeletal muscle glycogen deposits fall to around 6 grams per kilogram, thus putting your body into a ‘glycogen hungry’ state. After these 3 days of depletion you will ‘supercompensate’ by loading your body with carbohydrates for 3 days, allowing your skeletal muscle to hold from 35 to 40 grams per kilogram! This is what makes your muscles look full and hard. This sounds wonderful and exciting and simple, but the fact is that you need to eat the right

amount of carbs for your body during the loading phase, because if you overeat, the

surplus calories can be converted to subcutaneous bodyfat, due to the excess stimulation of insulin. If you do not eat enough carbs, your muscles will not fill up properly and

will appear flat and stringy. Finding your right amount of carbs is a personal thing, but is

usually around 400 to 600 grams of carbs. You will continue loading sodium right up until 2 days out from the show. Loading with sodium upsets your body’s natural balance, when this happens your body works overtime to get rid of the excess sodium. When you cut sodium intake 2 days out, your body will continue to excrete sodium as well as water, this excretion will continue until your body’s natural sodium balance is restored (usually about 2 days). Without much further ado, lets outline the diet plan for the final week (we will assume your show is on a Saturday)

Sunday

Carbohydrate depletion starts today. You will deplete your carbs progressively over the next 3 days. If you were eating 300g of carbs before the final week, you will drop your carbs by half to 150 grams today. Depleting carbs causes a loss of muscle glycogen, which is our goal for the depletion phase. It is important to try to keep your energy intake approximately the same while depleting; in other words since you are decreasing carbs, you will need to increase protein and fat to ‘replace’ the calories you would have lost by dropping carbs. As an example, assume you were eating 3000 calories before the final week, 1200 were from carbs, 1200 from protein and 600 from fat. Your calorie shift would now be 600 calories from carbs (taking carb calories as 4 calories per gram) and the remaining 2400 calories would be slit between fat and protein. This must be done properly, as reducing calories too much may cause your body to use muscle tissue for energy.

Your water should also be doubled today; this will allow your body to eliminate extra sodium through dilution and urination. So, if you were drinking 4 litres of water before the final week, you will be drinking 8 litres of water today. You should also be supplementing your diet with 1000 – 2000mg of potassium to promote greater

sodium excretion and to allow the muscle cells to suck up more carbs during your loading phase.

Salt intake should be high.

Monday

Halve your carbohydrate intake again. This means that if you were taking in 300 grams of carbs before the final week and 150 grams on Sunday, you will be taking in 75 grams of carbs today.

Continue with your water and salt loading as above.

Continue with your potassium supplementation as above.

Tuesday

Halve your carbohydrate intake again. So, if you were taking in 75 grams of carbs on Monday, you will take in 37.5 grams of carbs today. You should be feeling very flat and your energy levels should be very low.

Continue with your water and salt loading.

Continue with your potassium supplementation.

Wednesday

Today will be your first ‘carb up’ day, finally some energy! Carb loading tricks the body into temporarily holding more fluid in the muscles and thus gives the illusion of greater muscle size. This is how you will calculate how many carbs to take in:

Find the amount of carbs you were eating before the final week, multiply that figure by

1.75 to arrive at the amount of carbs you should be taking in over the next 3 days. As an

example, if you were eating 300 grams of carbs before the final week, then you should take in 525 grams of carbs during this phase. During the first 24 hours of carb loading, your carbohydrate sources should consist of high glycemic index foods such as rice cakes, glucose, ripe bananas.

Continue with water loading.

Cut out salt completely, this will trick your body into a temporary state of sodium loss, which will help you to look dry and hard.

Continue with your potassium supplementation.

Thursday

Carb Loading continues. Opt for carbohydrate sources that are of a low glycemic index, this will help you to avoid blood glucose peaks that cause carbs to be diverted to fat tissue.

Cut your water in half. If you were taking in 4 litres of water per day before the final week, you will now take in 2 litres for Thursday and Friday.

Keep salt out completely and continue with your potassium supplementation. Take 400mcg of Chromium, 300mg of Alpha Lipoic Acid, 2000mg of essential fatty acids and 700mg of Hydroxycitric acid. These supplements are known as ‘Glucose disposal agents’ and they divert carbs towards muscle tissue, rather than fat cells.

Start loading with 20 grams of Creatine, this will help to pull water into your muscle cells.

Friday

Same as Thursday.

From about 8pm cut out all water until after the show, this will force your body to dry out and expel any excess water from under your skin and leave your muscles looking tight and hard. Another technique that is used by many top bodybuilding competitors the night before the show is to eat a meal that is rich in fat and salt, such as a pizza or a steak. They claim it fills them out and increases their vascularity, as well as gives them more energy for the competition the next day. The trick here is not to drink any liquid with the meal or after it. This technique works for some and may not for others, I have

personally tried it and it worked like a bomb for me!

Training

There are a million different theories regarding the final week of training for a show, I will outline my personal training schedule, but feel free to try whatever works for you.

The first important thing you need to remember about training for the final week is that your last leg workout should be about 7 to 10 days before the show, this is because the leg muscles are very large and complex and require at least a week to recover completely from the last workout and to bring out separation and cuts.

The second point is to remember to stop doing all cardio 10 days out from the show. Cardio too close to the show will promote a flat and stringy physique. Cardio also tends to shift the muscle into using fat for fuel and interferes with the body’s glycogen processes.

During the carb depletion phase your main goal with respect to training, should be to deplete skeletal muscle glycogen, you should train on every one of the depletion days.

It is important to remember that you will not be training to increase strength or muscle mass, just to deplete glycogen. Training too heavy might put you at the risk of injury and it thus not the best idea. I prefer to select one exercise per body part and do the whole upper body in the form of a circuit. Keep doing this circuit until you do not have the

energy to do any more.

Here is an example of a single circuit:

Incline Bench Press: 15 reps

Side Laterals: 15 reps

Chins: 15 reps

Barbell Curls: 15 reps

Dips: 15 reps

Crunches 15 reps

Don’t train on your carb loading days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday). Your work

with respect to training is now done, give your body time to rest and recuperate from the

depletion phase. Training may also interfere with your body’s ability to expel excess water. Posing practice is an integral part of your final weeks training; this should be done every day, as much as possible. Posing will help to bring out deep cuts and give you muscle control that you will need on the day of the show. Nothing is worse that a perfectly sculptured body that is posed incorrectly, with bad posture, this will affect your chances of doing well in the contest.

As a summary:

(Assuming the show is on a Saturday)

Sunday · Drop Carbs by 50%

· Double water intake

· 1000 – 2000mg of potassium

· High Salt

· Train

Monday · Drop Carbs again by 50%

· Keep water same as yesterday

· 1000 – 2000mg of potassium

· High Salt

· Train

Tuesday · Drop Carbs again by 50%

· Keep water same as yesterday

· 1000 – 2000mg of potassium

· High Salt

· Train

Wednesday · Increase Carbs by 1.75 times last Saturday’s amount

· Keep water same as yesterday

· 1000 – 2000mg of potassium

· High Salt

· No Training

Thursday · Keep carbs same as Wednesday

· Halve Water

· 1000 – 2000mg of potassium

· Cut Salt

· 20g Creatine

· No Training

Friday · Keep Carbs same as yesterday

· Cut water from about 6pm

· 1000 – 2000mg of potassium

· Cut Salt

· 20g Creatine

· No Training

Saturday · Snack on dry oats

· No water

· Cut Salt

· 20g Creatine

The day of the show

The big day has finally arrived; this is the day you get to strut your stuff and show off all the hard work you have put in over the past few months. You will probably be nervous when you wake up (if you slept much at all!), try to relax and remember that stress can cause your body to retain subcutaneous water. Your work is done now, so sit back and enjoy the day you have worked so hard for.

Have a light breakfast (no dairy), just enough to satisfy your hunger, but not enough to fill your stomach up and bloat it. REMEMBER NOT TO DRINK ANY LIQUID. Snack on dry oats throughout the day as you feel hungry. It may be difficult to get the dry

oats down when your mouth is so dry, but I have found that oats do not bloat your stomach and tend to suck more water from under your skin.

Pumping up before going onstage is an important part of your stage preparation. Get

somebody you trust to help you out if you can. You will not need to do very much, just enough to pump blood into your muscles. Do not do any pumping up on your legs, this will take away your separation.

Some commonly used tricks - Almost every competitor has a series of his own ‘tricks’, some work, some don’t. I will try to introduce you to some of them, and you can

decide for yourself which ones will work for you. Some guys take 100mg of Nicotinic Acid (vitamin B3) every 20 minutes from 1 hour before going onstage. Nicotinic acid is used to treat blood circulation problems and will help to bring out vascularity. NB: Nicotinic acid may cause intense hot flushes and may make your skin itch. If you decide to use this technique, consult with your doctor before doing so. Another trick is to take 25ml of Glycerol 20 minutes before you go onstage. Glycerol prevents dehydration by clinging on to water. It pulls water from under the skin and forces it into the muscle cells.

Snack on a chocolate while pumping up. This really works; I have tried it many a time. It helps to bring out your vascularity and thicken your veins, as well as gives you energy while on stage. I am not sure of any scientific reason for this trick, it just works! Sip on Old Brown Sherry while pumping up. This also serves to increase vascularity, it also helps to calm nerves and takes the edge off. Which of these tricks, and how many of them, you use are up to you.

Other important factors in the final week

There are many other smaller factors to the final week that have not yet been mentioned. These are the extra things, if done properly that can enhance your look. I will not go into much detail about these factors, but will bring them to your attention.

Tanning and synthetic tanning lotions - Under harsh stage lights your skin tone and

colour will be lightened by a few shades. This means that a natural sun or sunbed tan will not be sufficient to show off your hard earned, ripped muscle.

The sun and sunbeds will give a good base tan, this should be done in the weeks leading up to the final week. To complete the tanning process you will need to use some kind of synthetic tanning lotion. There are many products on the market that will help you to achieve this contest ready tan, my personal favourite being Dreamtan by ASN. This product is nothing short of miraculous. It only needs to be applied 30 minutes before going onstage, rubs on like a normal moisturizing lotion, does not run when you sweat and washes off under water!

Shaving. Another overlooked, but important area in contest preparation is shaving. Hair blurs muscle definition, so the less of it you have on your skin; the more your muscle will show. Even the ‘bumfluff’ that you have on your back or shoulders will show under the strong stage lights. Shaving may cause your skin to retain water, so remember to shave a couple of days before the show.

Posing. I have mentioned the importance of this before, but have decided to remind you again of its importance. Posing is what separates a good physique from the physique of a champion. If you know what you are doing, posing can help you to hide weak points and accentuate strong ones. Get help from someone who knows, if you can.

Kilde: In the trenches

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Synes ikke det virker så besværligt, ihvertfald ikke hvis man i forvejen går meget op i sin kost. Synes snarere det ville være spændende, at eksperimentere med for at se hvordan kroppen reagere.

Men det er da, en smule besvær for et par billeder. Ved heller ikke hvor stor en effekt det vil have, når man ikke er under 10%. Om ikke andet, er man da en erfaring rigere bagefter. :)

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Men kan det overhovedet betale sig når fedtprocenten er over 10???

Og hvad hvis man kun har to dage? :lol:

Jeg tror godt man vil kunne få effekt af at få smidt lidt væske, men at carbe op tror jeg er tidsspilde, da det ikke vil kunne ses alligevel.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hvad med at drikke noget vin eller sprut nogle timer inden? Alkool er jo vanddrivende, så det kan måske hjælpe. Derudover er det måske en ide at skære ned på saltindtagelsen.

Jeg har hørt at dette er noget som mange bb'ere har brugt ihvertfald (dem fra mit center, når de taler om storhedstiden) - så nappede de lige noget sprut inden de sprang ind i kampen.

Hvorlangt skal man egentlig være nede i fedtprocent, før at carbload har en virking ?

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Hvad med at drikke noget vin eller sprut nogle timer inden? Alkool er jo vanddrivende, så det kan måske hjælpe. Derudover er det måske en ide at skære ned på saltindtagelsen.

Onkel Jørgen brugte såvidt jeg husker rødvin, salt og glycerin :unsure:

Edited by ronnie99
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