Looking too flat

[runhard1990]

I'm currently 5 days out and it seems (with any of my competitions) no matter what I do I end up looking flat!! Does anyone have any advice on why this happens? I've tried multiple things, water depleting, not water depleting, sodium manipulation, carb manipulation, no matter what I do I flatten out. (I would also like to add I don't change my plan mid peak week or anything, its just a trend I am noticing and I am very frustrated!) I compete in the bikini division and I have my first NPC show this weekend and I'm really nervous I'm going to do badly with how flat I look...will anything help fill out my muscles? I'm not water depleting for this particular show as I don't find it necessary for bikini.

[demonwareltd]

I'm currently 5 days out and it seems (with any of my competitions) no matter what I do I end up looking flat!! Does anyone have any advice on why this happens? I've tried multiple things, water depleting, not water depleting, sodium manipulation, carb manipulation, no matter what I do I flatten out. (I would also like to add I don't change my plan mid peak week or anything, its just a trend I am noticing and I am very frustrated!) I compete in the bikini division and I have my first NPC show this weekend and I'm really nervous I'm going to do badly with how flat I look...will anything help fill out my muscles? I'm not water depleting for this particular show as I don't find it necessary for bikini.

Muscles required sodium, carbs AND water to fill out - the very reason why you have so many competitors lament how GREAT they looked the day after the show, because they give their body what it needs to fill up. Where the tricky part comes in is determining how much carbs, sodium water to incorporate the week leading up to the show and this is something that you really need to determine in the weeks leading up to your show by paying special attention to when your body looks the best and what combination of things works for you.

In my experience, cutting out water, sodium in any way almost always leads to looking flat on stage.

[happydude101]

Muscles required sodium, carbs AND water to fill out - the very reason why you have so many competitors lament how GREAT they looked the day after the show, because they give their body what it needs to fill up. Where the tricky part comes in is determining how much carbs, sodium water to incorporate the week leading up to the show and this is something that you really need to determine in the weeks leading up to your show by paying special attention to when your body looks the best and what combination of things works for you.

In my experience, cutting out water, sodium in any way almost always leads to looking flat on stage.

Great advice here.

I just finished a competition this past weekend. For the couple weeks leading up to the show there were times when I thought I looked flat and absolutely terrible, while other times I couldn't have been more satisfied.

Your mind can really play tricks on you and do some wonky things when you've been working/cutting hard for a decent amount of time and are getting down to those last few days. That's when it's most important to listen to your coach and/or follow the peak week plan you've hopefully laid out ahead of time, as Demon noted above.

[bigheinz]

You got already 2 great advices from demonwareltd and happydude 101.
I am sure you are looking very good today, so just stay doing the same everyday until the day of the show.
I have done this to a lot of my athletes and the only thing we change is stopping training 2 days before the show, off cardio and training means for some people keeping those nutrients inside their bodies and they fill up just from resting.
Most of the athletes should be at 90% 10 to 15 days before the show so keeping a moderated carb diet and maybe increasing the carbs a little bit will help to boost your metabolism and get rid of that water and fat you have left right before the show avoiding drastic changes and guessing what the end result would be.
Good luck and please post pictures soon.!!!

[cannonhand7]

Definitely would not deplete water in peek week.
If anything you should be increasing water intake up until around a day out, then cut water back to just sipping, as demon said, a muscle NEEDS water to transport carbs into the muscle cell, as well as needing sodium, at this point you shouldn't make any drastic changes, manipulating sodium is usually a poor choice as sodium is best taken care of by keeping it consistently the same (preferably high, consistently which will lead to a fuller muscle).
Go hour by hour day by day for now, you could try front loading your carbs now at 5 days out which will give you plenty of time if you eat too many and spill over a bit to lose that water and then dial it in carefully with a smaller amount of carbs before you hit the stage.