and know what to expect. You won’t be doing anything different than you’ve done in the
preceding months.
PREJUDGING
You’ll want that exact hour when you look your best to coincide with prejudging. This is
where most decisions are made, and this is where you’ll want to look your absolute best.
But the body is not a perfectly predictable instrument. That’s why, to make sure you don’t
smooth out, you’ll want to give yourself 4 hours of extra time as a kind of “fail-safe” mechanism
for prejudging.
So, if you find you’re at your best 48 hours after carb loading, and prejudging will take place
at 2:00 on Saturday, count back 48 hours. This will put you at 2:00 Thursday. Give yourself
the extra four hours mentioned above, and you’ll find yourself completing carb loading at 6:00
P.M. on Thursday.
You’ll also want to look good at the evening show, especially if judging is close and will be
ultimately decided in the evening. Fortunately, you’ve usually got a window, of several hours,
where you look good, and that will carry over to the evening session.
Still, you’ve got to be careful. Some competitors will look great for prejudging and then go out
and eat thinking it’s all over. They’ll come in bloated and retaining water for the evening show
and, in a close competition, lose out because of it. You’ve got to stay tight all day. Keep diet minimal
and in the high fat mode. Even having food in your stomach will create a slight bulge. You want
to keep everything nice and flat, so keep your regimen going through the evening contest.
The above is, of course, just an example. You’ll have to work with the diet to find the best
approach for you. We’ll also give you some other pre-contest modifications you can perform in
our “Special Modifications” chapter. But the big difference between this diet and whatever you’ve
been on before is the precision with which you can plan your contest regimen. Not only does
the Anabolic Diet build muscle and burn fat, it also gives you a weekly opportunity to practice
and prepare for a contest so you can manipulate your diet to the very best effect.
No more uncertainty or panic. The Anabolic Diet lets you to know exactly what you need to
do to look your best well before the actual competition takes place.
THE ANABOLIC DIET — HOW AND WHY IT WORKS 47