Well guys, I am in the process of planning out my peak week, which is coming right up and starting in just a few days. There are a lot of conflicting information out there on what competitors think is the "proper" wy to peak for a show, but I have researched and researched and think I've finally came up with a plan I intend to follow for the most part.
I've already started loading sodium starting yesterday, and increased water dramatically. I've added salt to all my meals and I'm now drinking 2-2.5 gallons of water per day. This is a pretty big change for me since I've pretty much been at a lower sodium level and at just around a gallon per day of water. I really expected adding all the water and sodium to bloat me up quite a bit, but to my surprise I woke this morning looking better in the AM than I have in a ong time. I did have about 4 trips to the bathroom last night, so the water was pouring out of me. This flushing of my system may be just what I needed. The introduction of sodium has seemed to make me fuller and harder too, and visibly more vascular.
So my plan for peak week is basically going to start with depleting carbs for 3 days with high water intake, then start carb loading at 3 days out and I will keep the water high but reduced over the 3 days. Sodium I really would like to not change unless I feel I have to, but at the most I will just slightly reduce it on Thursdy and Friday before the show. I will add in a herbal diuretic (dandelion root) on Thursday as well to help dry out. Here is the plan for now...
Sunday: start depleting carbs (carbs to only trace amounts), water at 2-2.5 gallons, sodium high (salt all meals) LISS cardio
Monday: carbs, water and sodium the same as Sunday, depletion weight training
Tuesday: everything same as Monday
Wednesday: start carb loading with mostly fast acting simple carbs at around 500g (things like fat free candy, cookies, pop tarts, pasta, rice cakes with peanut butter) protein reduced to 1g/lb bodyweight. No protein shakes and no green veggies. Sodium kept high, water kept high 2-2.5 gallons
Thursday: continue carb load at 400g (more complex carbs than simple carbs like sweet potatoes, brown rice, oats, rice cakes). Water at 1.5-2 gallons, sodium moderate to high, strt herbal diuretic (dandelion root)
Friday: at one day out carbs continue loading at 300g primarily coming from complex clean sources (sweet potatoes, brown rice, oats, rice cakes, etc) sodium will be low to moderate until the last meal. Water will be at around a gallon-1.5 gallons and get cut off completely around 5 or 6 PM. I will then have a final meal after that that will contain a decent amount of fat, moderate protein, high carbs, and about 2,000mg sodium. After that I will have a glass or two of wine before heading to bed before show day.
Saturday: SHOW TIME!! First meal (around 6 AM) I plan to have some pancakes with maple syrup and maybe a donut or two. I will judge what I eat based on how full I think I am and how much more I need to fill out. Prejudging is at 11 AM so I don't have a lot of time to carb up if need be. I will have fat free candy, rice cakes with peanut butter, chocolate bars, Reese's. cups, pop tarts, and other goodies to snack on throughout the day and fill out when I need to. Water will be at sips only as needed all throughout the day. I will probably do 40-50g of carbs every couple hours up to the evening show.
Tomorrow I am planning a BIG carb up to see how I respond to it. I'm eating similar to how I plan to eat on Wednesday carb up to see if I spill over any and assess my carb sensitivity better. I won't be adjusting water or sodium really, but I obviously won't have water from the time I go to bed until the time I wake up on Saturday, so hopefully it will fill me out well without spilling over and I then plan to pump up a little and take some pics. This will help me decide if I need to change anything those final days. I'd really like to keep water in as long as possible, and sodium unchanged before show day so hopefully this plan will show me that I don't need to do anything other than carbup with what I had planned, and cut off water t the right time with the diuretic. I'm looking forward to eating a bunch of good stuff tomorrow, and it will be a nice treat before the dreaded carb depletion to come. I know cals will be through the roof, but I'm in the condition I need to be so I'm not worried about it. Just need to peak right, and I will be happy with how I ended up....win or lose. T least I will have known I went in as good as I could have.
Any comments, critique, or questions, feel free to ask!
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