Peak Week Carbing

[Ruben777]

For those of you who have competed in a bodybuilding competition, for your peak week (Final week before competition):

(1) How long did you carb up for, leading up to the competition?
(2) How effective was your carbing up method, in arriving in shape at the competition?
(3) What type of foods did you eat, in carbing up?
(4) Did you monitor your sodium during carbing up, and if so, by how much?

Thank you.

[Jestbrah]

I have played around with carbing a lot, especially this year and finally found what works best for ME The thing is carbs, sodium, water, fats, all work different for everyone during peak week and until you know what works best for you I advise taking a reserved and not overly strict approach.

For carb loading, I like to keep carbs at 100g during the week, cutting to 50g wednesday and none until thursday night, then get a heavy amount thursday night, like 250g, and then friday another 200g pre check ins, followed by a normal sized meal "cheat" meal like burger and frys or steak and potatoe, something with sodium, saturated fat, and carbs, Keeping water pretty low the whole time, about the same as you pee, you drink. AFTER that meal, I switch to rice cakes and rice chex cereal DRY plain, and just eat them as needed until I reach the point I know my body is filled out but not to the point of spilling over. Usually this happens late in the night like 11 or midnight. Then I keep eating rice cakes and rice chex as needed. I have a good breakfast at about 5 or 6 am, I like to have french toast as it causes less bloat than pancakes or waffles, and some fruit(pinapple preferred lowers inflamation) and a good 5-6 pieces of bacon and a couple pieces of sausage. Once again the sodium, saturated fasts, and carbs will keep cortisol low, keep your body fueled, and add volume to your muscles. After that, back to rice cakes SPARINGLY until you go on stage. Some people sit backstage and eat 2 sleeves of rice cakes, dont do this unless you really are still flat, which you should not be. Avoidats, eggs, processed foods, complex carbs, spicy foods, high volume foods, nuts, beans, veggies, raw leafy greens, dairy during the carb up phase. These all are high on the food intollerence chart and can cause bloating and indigestion.

I keep sodium low but still in the diet the week of, then obviously ramp it up friday night and saturday morning

[TrainBeastMode]

^^^^ What he said (to a point) ^^^^

Essentially, everyone's peak week is going to be different. There's no cookie cutter example of "Oh eat this, this and this." Well, everyone reacts to foods differently. I've been on a meal plan myself for the last 10 weeks for a show. I went out last week for a steak and it went straight through me. So my body becomes very sensitive to changes in my diet. I certainly wouldn't have a steak the night before a show knowing what it does to me. Your peak week will be your own. I would suggest you read how others have done their peak weeks, and take bits and pieces from each of them that you think would work for you based on how your meal plan has gone since you started. Jestbrah does give good advice on avoiding certain foods during peak week that do cause bloating and indigestion, but again, not everyone reacts the same to the same foods.

My first peak week, I took a very conservative approach. I kept my carbs low the entire week until the night before the show (50g or less.) I didn't go out and have a crazy meal the night before the show. I kept it simple with chicken and some carbs. I completely stopped drinking water after 12pm except for sips the day prior. In the morning, I got up, had a good 12oz of water or so and some protein and sweet potato. I kept eating small meals throughout the day instead of one big meal like Jestbrah. This method works better for me because it's what my body was already used to throughout my meal plan, so I didn't want to change it up. I haven't competed in a few years, so I'm going to play with my peak week and see what happens. I'm going to reduce my carb intake slightly each day (I'm in the 200-300g range) through the week and then bump it up to around 50g more than the previous day range on Friday. At the same time, I will increase my protein slightly each day to counter the less carbs, but then on Friday instead of dropping the protein for carbs, just add the extra carbs.

You will certainly not get it 100% right the first time. It's going to be a learning process and finding out what works best for you. Good luck!

[Ruben777]

Thank you guys. I appreciate your information and advice.