JUNE 2017 MUSCLE & FITNESS 91body; Day 3: upper body. Do sets
of 12 to 30 reps with very short rest
periods. Aim for up to 50 sets with
30-45 seconds between each. The
first half of each of these training
sessions should be using “compound
movements” (exercises which
use multiple muscle groups
simultaneously — squat, leg press,
deadlifts, rows, pull-downs, chest
and shoulder presses, etc) then you
can move to the isolation exercises.
This depletion workout is brutal and
exhausting when carb-depleted but
has excellent effects.
Depletion diet
From day 7 to day 4 — if the
competition is on a Saturday — cut
your carbs to 50 grams or fewer on
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday...
Congrats, you’ll now be in ketosis!
Repletion (“carb up”)
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
progressively increase your carbs.
A good place to start is by eating
your normal, average dieting amount
of carbs on Wednesday, 50% more
on Thursday and then add another
50% more carbs on Friday. However,
this depends very much on how
lean you are, if you were eating an
appropriate amount of carbs during
your diet, how much muscle you
carry and most importantly, your
genetic carb sensitivity — some
people can eat double this amount
and many need less. Then eat a level
of carbs on contest day, every 2-3
hours, that is appropriate depending
upon whether you look/feel flat or
feel full. Of course, you should have
a good idea of the ideal amount
of “repletion” carbs based upon
your practice runs.
CARB REQUIREMENTS
SHOULD NOT BE
BASED ON BODY TYPE
Some coaches wrongly oversimplify
who can handle carbs and who can’t.
Many state that ectomorphs (prone
to being skinny) and mesomorphs
Ifyouhavea normal
or high tolerance
for alcohol, drink
one to two glasses
the night before and
drink a glass or two
in the two to four
hours pre-contest.
This will remove
excess water and
further improve
vascularity.
(prone to being muscular) can handle
more carbs than endomorphs
(prone to carry more fat). This is not
correct. An ectomorph who has lived
an unhealthy lifestyle or who has an
unfortunate genetic profile can have
poorer insulin function than an
endomorph. As such, you have to
undergo a lot of trial and error and
careful observation (or get a gene
test — I suggest FitnessGenes but
I’m biased as I am a co-owner) to
determine your ideal carb intake.FAT, YES FAT!
Also, eat at least 0.6 grams of fat
per kilo of your body weight on
Wednesday, at least 0.8 grams per kg
on Thursday and at least 1 gram per
kilo on Friday (assuming the show/
shoot is on Saturday) evening. Most
coaches don’t consider the acute
effects of fat on muscle but you
can carry a substantial amount
of fat in muscles (as “intramuscular
triglycerides”) and this (like the extracarbs) makes them bigger and fuller.
Additionally (and no one else seems to
have figured this out yet), fat (which is
mainly consumed as triglycerides)
contains glycerol, which is notorious
for drawing water into the blood
— and more blood volume in a lean
individual means vascularity! Also,
more water in the circulation probably
means less under the skin, where it
blurs definition. Good sources of fat
are coconut oil, peanut butter, olive oil
and milk chocolate... And don’t worry,
if your diet and training has been
solid, that fat will go straight into the
muscle and not under the skin. In fact,
this is one reason why most guys say
that they look better on the Sunday
after 24 hours of pizzas, burgers
and cheesecake!PROTEIN
Don’t decrease protein intake at any
time. Protein helps hold water within
the bloodstream, thus preventing it
from going where you don’t want it!RED WINE
CONTEST PREP