The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Cover
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
About Us
About Us
Jacob Schepis (Lead Author)
Jacob Schepis is the Director of one of Australia’s leading personal training facilities
and education providers, JPS Health and Fitness. Jacob is a national level bodybuilder
& powerlifter with over 10 years of in the trenches experience coaching athletes at elite
levels in both disciplines. With a keen interest in science, he aims to bridge the gap
between the realms of sports and nutritional sciences and the real world by teaching
coaches and athletes how to apply the best available research through a pragmatic lens
when planning, designing and executing training and diet interventions. His mission is
simple - produce consistent, reliable and impressive results, and his coaching systems aim
to provide coaches and athletes the tools and knowledge necessary to implement strategies that yield sustainable but optimal outcomes.
Lyndon Purcell (Lead Author)
Lyndon Purcell is the Coach & Education Manager at JPS Health and Fitness; he also has
a Bachelors of Exercise & Sport Science and is currently completing his Masters of High
Performance Sport at the University of Canberra. Lyndon’s role at JPS involves staying
up to date with the relevant scientific literature and working closely with all the other JPS
coaches, helping them to develop methods for practically implementing the latest research
findings in a safe and effective manner. When he is not assisting the JPS coaches, Lyndon also coaches a variety of athletes and general population clients, as well as creates and
presents educational content for other coaches and fitness-enthusiasts within the industry.
Lyndon’s ambition is to raise the standard of personal training globally, and he believes this
will be best achieved through a combination of theoretical and practical insights as well as
an ability to think both critically and creatively.
Steve Hall (Lead Author)
Steve Hall is the founder of Revive Stronger, a competitive natural bodybuilder and
physique coach who has worked with hundreds of clients. Steve appreciates that it can
be difficult to navigate fitness information that is available online. He understands how
confusing it can be and how there is really such a mixed bag out there which is why
he and the Revive Stronger team dedicate so much work into spreading high-quality
information from academics with lots of practical experience.
Pascal Flor (Editor & Design)
Pascal Flor is a head coach and co-owner of Revive Stronger a competitive bodybuilder
and has paved his way to becoming one of the leading physique coaches in the natural
bodybuilding community. Pascal is also the head of digital and graphic design at Revive
Stronger his talents in this domain were central to bringing this book to life and ensuring
the contents of this book were displayed and communicated in an easy to read and digestible manner. Without Pascal, this book would be nothing but the ramblings of a bunch of
bodybuilding enthusiasts.
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
TOC
Contents
FOREWORD...................................................................................... 1
What are you getting yourself in for? ................................................................. 4
How to use this book........................................................................................... 6
Chapter 1: Understanding the Sport of Bodybuilding.................. 7
What not to do................................................................................. 11
Chapter 2: Phase 1 - Primer & low diet fatigue.......................... 13
Picking your coach...........................................................................14
What are you letting yourself in for?................................................15
What does a natural bodybuilding prep entail then?....................................... 15
Starting from a place of strength......................................................17
The importance of maintenance....................................................... 19
A very simple maintenance calculation............................................................. 19
A more accurate maintenance calculation ........................................................ 19
Training recommendations................................................................................ 21
The psychological benefits of homeostasis........................................................ 22
Show planning................................................................................ 24
Picking your category........................................................................................ 24
Show dates ...................................................................................................................... 25
Chapter 3: Phase 2 - Out of the gates fast................................. 26
You are now entering Phase 2........................................................................... 27
Bodyweight Changes......................................................................................... 28
A rate of loss that’s too slow at the start......................................................................... 28
A rate of loss thats too fast at the start........................................................................... 28
The Goldilocks Zone......................................................................................................... 28
Rapid weight loss (>1.5%)................................................................................. 29
Minimal weight loss (<0.5%).............................................................................. 30
The Goldilocks Zone (0.5-1.5%)......................................................................... 31
Food Intake........................................................................................................ 32
Appropriate Targets........................................................................................... 33
Training Volume................................................................................................. 35
Cardio................................................................................................................. 37
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TOC
Chapter 4: Digging - Welcome to the digging phase.................. 41
Digging for gold: A useful analogy................................................................... 42
Fat Loss 101........................................................................................................43
Embrace the suck................................................................................................44
Primer on Body Fat Settling Point Theory..........................................................46
Measurements & Assessments..........................................................51
Understanding Measurement Techniques...................................................................... 53
Types of data................................................................................................................... 54
Assessing Changes in Body Composition....................................................................... 55
Visuals................................................................................................................ 56
How to take visuals.......................................................................................................... 57
When................................................................................................................................. 57
How................................................................................................................................... 57
What to look for............................................................................................................... 58
Important considerations for visuals.............................................................................. 58
Scale Weight...................................................................................................... 58
Why the scale is less important....................................................................................... 58
How much weight should a competitor lose in this phase?.......................................... 58
How to use scale weight to assess changes in body composition:............................... 59
How to use scales appropriately.................................................................................... 59
Girth Measurements .........................................................................................60
Developing a critical eye................................................................................................. 61
Measuring Energy Balance................................................................................ 61
The dimmer switch analogy............................................................................................. 61
Controlling Energy Intake................................................................................................ 62
Controlling Energy Expenditure...................................................................................... 63
An Important Case Study: Martin Refalo....................................................................... 63
So why did Martins progress stall?................................................................................. 64
How NEAT is Affected During Contest Prep................................................................... 64
How to Best Monitor NEAT.............................................................................................. 64
Additional Tips To Thrive In the Digging Phase.................................................. 65
Create a Daily/Weekly Routine - Choice Architecture ................................................ 65
Practical Tips For Daily/Weekly Planning..................................................................... 67
Planning your daily routine............................................................................... 67
Execute the plan - Rely on habits.................................................................................... 67
Decision Making ............................................................................. 69
Consistency........................................................................................................ 69
Choice & Decision Making................................................................................. 69
Is being spoiled for choice a good thing?...................................................................... 70
Choosing consistency more and variety less ................................................................ 70
Adjustments........................................................................................................ 74
What is a hasty adjustment?........................................................................................... 75
What happens when making hasty adjustments?......................................................... 75
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
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Diet Adjustments................................................................................................ 76
Overview.......................................................................................................................... 76
Rate of loss........................................................................................................................ 79
How large should the deficit be?.................................................................................... 79
Where to reduce calorie intake from?............................................................................ 79
Dieting Strategies During A Digging Phase....................................................... 80
Low Days (Digging):........................................................................................................ 80
How many days should you be at a deficit?.................................................................. 81
High Days (Resting):........................................................................................................ 82
Why include high days?.................................................................................................. 82
How much should calories be increased?...................................................................... 82
Refeeds............................................................................................................... 83
A) Satiation....................................................................................................................... 84
B) Performance & Anabolic Signalling........................................................................... 84
Diet Breaks......................................................................................................... 85
How to structure a diet break:......................................................................................... 86
Mindset of refeeds and diet breaks................................................................................ 86
Dynamic Dieting............................................................................................................... 86
Cardio................................................................................................................. 87
What type of cardio?....................................................................................................... 89
Option 1: Tracking Daily Step Count.............................................................................. 89
Option 2: Formal Cardio Workouts................................................................................ 90
What time of day should I perform cardio?.................................................................. 91
Should I perform cardio fasted?..................................................................................... 91
Will cardio interfere with my training and size?............................................................ 92
Additional Cardio Considerations.................................................................................. 92
Cardio Adjustments.......................................................................................................... 93
Program Design & Training Adjustments.......................................... 95
Stress, Recovery, Adaptation & Allostatic Load............................................................ 95
The physiological objective of resistance training for hypertrophy.............................. 98
Keeping the Muscle.......................................................................................... 101
Priority #1 - Enjoyment.................................................................................................. 101
Priority #2 - The Acute Training Variables.................................................................... 102
Volume - MEV, MAV & MRV............................................................................. 103
When to Reduce Volume?............................................................................................. 105
Intensity............................................................................................................ 106
A case for Low Load/High Rep Training...................................................................... 106
How does the stimulus vary across loading zones and rep ranges?......................... 106
Frequency......................................................................................................... 107
Exercise selection ............................................................................................ 109
When to change exercises?........................................................................................... 109
Exercise Order.................................................................................................. 110
Workout Exercise Order.................................................................................................110
Weekly Exercise Order................................................................................................... 111
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
TOC
Overload........................................................................................................... 111
How to overload your training...................................................................................... 112
Progression Models........................................................................................................ 113
Fatigue Management........................................................................................114
Autoregulation - Flexible training & Deloads............................................................... 114
Training Strategies......................................................................... 116
Time Efficient Strategies................................................................................... 116
Myoreps/Rest-Pause...................................................................................................... 116
Drop Sets......................................................................................................................... 117
Super Sets........................................................................................................................ 118
Giant Sets......................................................................................................................... 118
Performance/Autoregulation Strategies.........................................................119
Top Sets/Back Off Sets................................................................................................... 119
Two-A-Day Training...................................................................................................... 120
It is not............................................................................................................................. 120
It is................................................................................................................................... 120
What does it look like?.................................................................................................. 120
How long between sessions?........................................................................................ 121
Additional considerations.............................................................................................. 122
Stress Management & Sleep...........................................................123
Stress Management......................................................................................... 123
Monitor........................................................................................................................... 125
Manage.......................................................................................................................... 125
Act................................................................................................................................... 125
Sleep & Stress................................................................................................... 125
Champion Mindset........................................................................................... 127
Chapter 5: Peaking - The bodybuilding taper.......................... 128
Defining Peak Week.......................................................................129
Filling the Bucket............................................................................................................. 130
Nutritional Variables......................................................................130
Electrolytes...................................................................................................................... 130
Water.............................................................................................................................. 131
Supplementation............................................................................................................ 131
Macros ........................................................................................................................... 131
Sweeteners..................................................................................................................... 131
Meal timing..................................................................................................................... 131
Food selection................................................................................................................. 131
Training Variables..........................................................................133
Volume ........................................................................................................................... 133
Intensity.......................................................................................................................... 133
Muscle damage.............................................................................................................. 133
Cardio............................................................................................................................. 133
Steps ............................................................................................................................... 133
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TOC
The Role of Stress...........................................................................134
How can we reduce stress................................................................................ 134
Peaking Methods...........................................................................135
Bodybuilding taper ......................................................................................... 135
Linear progressive load .................................................................................. 136
Front-load......................................................................................................... 136
Back-load......................................................................................................... 136
Monitoring..................................................................................... 137
Show day......................................................................................138
Morning.......................................................................................................................... 138
Time before stage........................................................................................................... 138
Pump up ......................................................................................................................... 138
Chapter 6: Transition - Post Show Period................................ 140
Returning to a place of Strength.....................................................142
Regaining Physical Health & Strength............................................................. 142
How To Recover:............................................................................................................ 142
The 3DMJ Recovery Diet:............................................................................................... 142
Days 1-14........................................................................................................................ 143
Weeks 2-6....................................................................................................................... 143
Gaining Back Size & Strength - Shifting the Focus....................................................... 144
Case Study Joey Zinghini.............................................................................................. 145
Recovering psychological health and well being............................................ 145
Unhealthy Relationship with food................................................................................ 145
Unhealthy relationship with body ................................................................................ 146
Return to normalcy........................................................................ 147
Relationships.................................................................................................................. 147
Social Life........................................................................................................................ 148
Shifting lifestyle priorities.............................................................................................. 149
Chapter 7: Offseason - Setting up the Offseason..................... 150
Offseason length.............................................................................................. 151
Realistic rates of muscle gain........................................................................... 152
Weight/Rep Counts......................................................................................... 153
Scale & Visual assessments.............................................................................. 154
Body Size Measurements................................................................................. 154
Building on weaknesses.................................................................................. 154
Having balance as a bodybuilder................................................................... 155
THANK YOU................................................................................... 157
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Foreword
FOREWORD
I can’t tell you how encouraging it is, as someone who has dedicated the last 15 years of his life to
helping competitive physique athletes find a pathway to sustainable performance, to see the next
generation of professionals step forward so powerfully and lead, guide, and safeguard with top quality
information. Revive Stronger and JPS Health and Fitness honestly help me sleep better at night. Their
humility and desire to learn, infectious positivity, nuanced opinions and recommendations, and their
rapid growth in skill and knowledge that is paired with their growing reach, is a sign that the sport
will continue to have voices of reason and compassion. Underlying it all, you can truly see that Steve,
Pascal, Lyndon and Jacob are good humans who are primarily motivated by a desire to help others.
As a bodybuilder, I can’t tell you how important that is. I’ve experienced the ups and downs, highs
and lows, and the draw and push of physique competition. Very few things in life require such asceticism, commitment, solitary focus, and detailed attentiveness, while also being perceived by outsiders
as superficial. Bodybuilding can enhance or harm your life. I’ve watched it transform individuals for
the better who take the confidence and focus it develops out into the world, and I’ve also watched it
become a downward spiral into a dark chasm of isolation for those who eschew a life in a misguided
attempt to go “all in”.
One aspect that can heavily influence which fork in the road you take, is how you approach the most
gruelling aspect of the endeavour: contest preparation. Make no mistake, contest prep is a purposeful
progression towards poorer hormonal status, sleep quality, worsening mood state, gym room performance, increasing hunger and food focus and dwindling day to day energy levels, all in pursuit of extreme leanness that is unsustainable, but dangerously alluring. With innapropriate guidance, a competition prep can leave you worse for wear than if you’d never pursued it. Fortunately, the Ultimate Guide
To Contest Prep is here to help athletes and coaches alike achieve excellence in bodybuilding from
start to finish through the entire journey. From making it through the most gruelling fat loss phases, to
peaking and recovery and transition, the authors have you covered.
Through a combination of the latest research and the combined experience of the authors who have
walked the walk themselves and coached hundreds through the process, you’ll finish the book with
the necessary tools to not only survive, and perhaps succeed competitively depending on what other
freaks don the stage at your sides, but most importantly, to meet the challenges of prep with grace, and
eventually grow from the experience.
It is my pleasure to welcome you to one of the most potentially transformative experiences a bodybuilder can go through, trust me, you’re in good hands!
- Eric Helms, PhD
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Foreword
Bodybuilding - it’s an extreme sport. Stepping on stage requires taking your body and mind to some of
the most unpleasant places anyone can imagine - and some are even worse than what you can imagine if you’ve never competed before. However, the process of bodybuilding requires such high levels
of sacrifice, commitment and delayed gratification, that ultimately it is one of the most rewarding
endeavours that anyone can embark on - provided you survive it (more on that later). Without a doubt
though, bodybuilding is one of the most transformative, both physically and mentally, activities anyone
can dedicate time to. The sport of bodybuilding holds a special place in all our hearts, and each of us
has it to thank for many of the positive elements within ourselves and our lives today.
You may ask: What sets bodybuilding apart from other sports? Why is it so special? Almost any sport
requires sacrifice and acceptance of pain - bodybuilding is not unique in that regard.
Our answer: You’re right, bodybuilding is not special in (most of ) its categorical requirements. What
makes it unique though is the magnitude and the duration to which you must sacrifice and suffer.
Sure, winning a 400m race is going to require a high pain tolerance, we won’t disagree with that. In a
400m race, you will suffer intense cardiovascular and metabolic stress and every cell in your body will
scream at you to stop. It hurts and you think; “this is what death feels like”. But no matter how bad it
is, in a matter of minutes, it will all be over and you can return to a state that is void of suffering. Or
alternatively, we can consider even longer events, like the marathon for example. If you want to be successful in the marathon, you will inevitably become extremely acquainted with the state of fatigue and
the feeling of pretty much all your physiological systems operating outside of their respected homeostatic ranges. An unpleasant sensation to say the least. However, even the marathon, an event in which
competitors are revered for their endurance and ability to ignore discomfort, is still over in a matter of
hours. Not bodybuilding though.
A successful contest prep can require you to live in a world of pain for weeks, maybe even months. You
don’t just get to stare discomfort in the face for a number of minutes or hours like in other sports, you
must learn to live beside it. Getting stage lean requires you to accept suffering and sacrifice on a daily
basis. You must accept them and integrate them into your life, not letting them weaken you or derail
your progress. That is what makes bodybuilding special. And anyone who is willing to compete in such
as sport, whether it be once or over a competitive career, has our respect. Which brings us to you. The
fact you’re reading this book means that you’ve likely already competed, or you are considering doing so. Either way, know that you have our respect. However, with the niceties out of the way, we can
be almost certain you aren’t competing for the purpose of acquiring our respect. Or at least, we hope
not anyway. Embarking on a contest prep can be one of the most difficult, stressful and yet ultimately
rewarding things that anyone can do. Put simply, undertaking a prep for the wrong reasons can severely skew the cost-benefit ratio in a massively unfavourable direction. So don’t take the decision lightly.
However, if you’ve come this far, we expect you’ve already made up your mind - and more power to
you. We don’t write this book for the purpose of convincing you whether you should or shouldn’t compete, only you can make the decision for yourself. If you have made that decision though, and you have
your heart and mind set on stepping on stage, then the job is to go about it in the right manner. That is
why we have written this book.
We write this book for the individual who lives, eats, breathes and thinks bodybuilding. That ‘thinking’
part is a very important one and it’s something we wish to bring your attention to. No matter how you
frame it, dedicated is not an excuse to be dumb! Dedication requires intelligence, planning and calm,
unemotional assessment of what is required.
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Foreword
It is not freedom from diet fatigue, stress management, injury or just other responsibilities in general.
Bodybuilding (and the dedication it requires) should add net-benefit to your life, not detract from it.
And in order to add net-benefit to your life, you must be careful in how you go about it. You have a
responsibility to take care of your physical and mental health. So be warned, this book is not for those
who want to undertake bodybuilding in an overtly masochistic way. We are not interested in using
pain to deal with psychological issues, or those who ignore all warning signs along the way and develop pathological relationships with food, or sacrifice all social connections in their quest for bodybuilding success. Quite simply, success takes a long time, so don’t think you get ahead by sacrificing
anything and everything in the short term. Use today to set yourself up for tomorrow, so you don’t
have to use tomorrow to deal with the problems you created today. Champions are built over years and
decades. Remember that.
We don’t say this in order to extinguish your passion, not at all. Our aim is to be the fan to your flame,
promoting it to expand and burn more brightly. Bodybuilding requires a serious amount of grit and
fire in the belly in order to do it well. We are simply offering a word of caution; the larger the flame,
the more responsible you must be if you want to avoid getting burned! As coaches and athletes ourselves, we have been exposed to almost every mistake that can be made in regards to a contest prep,
and the “dedication as an excuse for dumbness” is one of the most prevalent ones we’ve ever encountered.
Bodybuilding is bursting at the seams with athletes who claim they will “do what it takes”. So don’t
think that makes you special, just for expressing such a throwaway line. A claim of that nature is so
easy to make, yet much more difficult to execute in reality. It is all too common for athletes who make
that claim to have an extremely narrow comprehension of what is ACTUALLY required for the most
paramount of success. Typically the “do what it takes” mentality is only applied to the dimension of
relishing in the difficulty of their training, dietary and cardio practices. However, these are the tasks
that ultimately come the easiest and most natural for the majority of bodybuilders. “Doing what it
takes” is NOT doing more of what is difficult for most people, but easy for you. You aren’t a totem of
motivation for doing extra cardio, skipping your deload or eating even less than your diet calls for. That
doesn’t make you a champion, that makes you careless.
In reality, doing what it takes is so much harder than how it sounds prima facie (we know, we have
tried to write a book on the topic). In our eyes, success requires educating yourself on the effectiveness
of your current or planned interventions, being objective and not attaching your identity to certain
methodologies, then living in a state of constant plan execution and subtle refinement. Sometimes life
will throw you a curve-ball, and you will need to make adjustments. However, your aim should be to
make them objective, informed adjustments. Less isn’t always more, and more isn’t always better - except when it is. So you need to know which situations call for different approaches. Ultimately, better
is better, and our aim throughout this book is to give you an idea of how to go about finding ‘better’,
from both a procedural and a measurement perspective. With all this said though, this book is not an
objection to hard work, but simply a recognition that sometimes the best thing for you to do, is to do
less. That may, in fact, be a harder reality to face than the alternative, but don’t lie to yourself, or others, and try to convince yourself you’re willing to do what it takes if you’re not willing to do the actual
hard stuff. As frustrating and as difficult as it may be, resting when your plan calls for it, irrespective of
whether you have insecurities about doing so, that is the hard stuff. That is what separates champions
from children, the ability to be rational in times of stress and delay gratification when you know you
have the appropriate systems in place. For the ultimate bodybuilding success, we are of the opinion
that you must have the work ethic and ferocity of a wild animal, but also the calm and precise demeanour of a neurosurgeon.
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Foreword
That is what will yield the best results and that is why this book is for the individual who is dedicated,
but also emotionally stable and intellectually diligent. Because even though that’s a hard balance to
find, we know you aren’t afraid of a little hard work.
What are you getting yourself in for?
Perhaps you have competed before, but the experience left you unsatisfied or you want to take your
physique journey to the next level. Alternatively, you may be someone who lifts recreationally, but after
years of blood, sweat and tears in the gym, you yearn for more out of your lifting journey and feel that
competing is the next challenge you wish to tackle.
If bodybuilding truly is your passion, then there is no doubt that you have done your research (or we
hope so at least). Unfortunately, a lot of the information that is widely available, especially since the
rise of the internet and social media, can be vague, confusing, conflicting, or even just completely false.
If you have found yourself to be frustrated by the variance of information online, or the inconsistent
advice given by the athletes, then you have come to the right place. To use an analogy to contrast the
difference between a regular fat loss diet and contest prep, think of a contest prep as being akin to a
solo, non-stop voyage around the world on a small boat. It requires a significant degree of planning,
sacrifice, commitment, risk and uncertainty. A striking difference when compared to messing around
in an idle yacht, floating in the bay (recreational training and dieting). While we aren’t trying to make
the case that one is better than the other, what we are trying to say is that one can very easily leave you
drowning in the middle of the ocean, miles from land, if you aren’t careful. You’re often best served by
having an experienced helmsman to guide you and steer the ship, at least for your first voyage or two.
With that said, we wish to acknowledge the abundance of high-quality information regarding training and nutrition for a physique contest preparation, that has been communicated by experienced and
qualified coaches such as 3D Muscle Journey, Renaissance Periodisation, Paul Revelia, Evan Godbee,
Cliff Wilson, Brian Minor and Layne Norton (among many more). All of these companies and individuals have furthered the knowledge and practices of contest preparation, they have influenced all the
writers of this book and we wish to thank them for their contributions over the years.
While the aforementioned have done a tremendous job of expanding the knowledge base in bodybuilding, the authors of this book felt it was still necessary to put the metaphorical pen to the metaphorical paper, due to the sheer abundance of misinformation being produced currently. For every
quality piece of information that is created, it seems like 10 pieces of misinformation are created, and
thus, this is our attempt to shift that ratio back in the right direction. The safer and more effective
direction. In addition this, bodybuilding is an extremely unique endeavour, and the experiences of
each individual can be vastly different. So while a lot of the information presented here will abide by
the principles of exercise science, sports nutrition and the psychology of adherence and therefore we
cannot claim for it to be revolutionary, we do believe we have many unique and novel insights to offer.
To illustrate this point; this book is a collaborative effort by many different individuals, working for
multiple coaching companies, located in a variety of countries, who specialise in differing forms of
coaching, and who have a diverse range of experience and education backgrounds. This alone provides
an indication of the diversity of experiences we have all had - an attribute that we hope will allow us to
speak to a broader audience, while still maintaining focus on the important and essential principles of
what is being discussed.
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Foreword
Throughout this book, not only will we outline the best known theoretical information for body
composition enhancement, but also provide practical insight into how to best navigate that rigour of
contest preparation, combining our years of experience as competitors and coaches.
Our goal is to provide you with the most comprehensive description of what a contest prep entails,
from the glory to the distress, to ensure you are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to
help you excel in your physique endeavours.
Firstly, in the introductory chapters, we will be covering each phase of a contest prep in a sequential
manner, providing valuable insight as to the key considerations that athletes must keep in mind when
trying to adopt an optimal, yet practical, bodybuilding strategy. Our aim has been to make this book
more than just an informative guide, but also one that includes pragmatic advice as to how to manage
and overcome many of the challenges that natural bodybuilding will throw your way.
This book will help you:
»» Understand the sport of bodybuilding as well as the requisite consequences and trade-offs of contest preparation
»» Develop a framework to plan your contest preparation from start to finish
»» Set up and optimise diet and training in various phases of the contest prep
»» Navigate the physical and psychological challenges associated with extreme dieting and
the resultant pressures
»» Avoid the common mistakes many athletes make during a contest prep
»» Implement pragmatic strategies to help maximize adherence and thus physique outcomes during the deep stages of the prep
»» Mitigate undesirable physiological and psychological consequences associated with poor
contest prep practices
»» Peak for a show(s)
»» Recover from the contest prep
»» Manage the post competition blues
»» Successfully transition into the off season
The objective of this book is to help athletes and coaches better understand the sport of natural bodybuilding, design and execute a contest preparations in alignment with best available practices and mitigate/manage the very real physiological and psychosocial ramifications athletes face when enduring
prolonged periods of energy restriction.
Now that you know what this book is, it is important we outline what this book was not designed to
do:
»» Replace a coach
»» Give specific, individualized nutrition and training advice
»» Provide scientific research in support of ‘best practice’ for bodybuilding
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Foreword
This book was designed for coaches and athletes who want to adopt an evidence-based approach to
contest preparation. Evidence-based practice is NOT the same as science-based practice, and instead
emphasises three equal components of the decision making process: scientific research, real world
coach/athlete experience & individual needs, preferences and context.
Our mission is to further support the natural bodybuilding community by providing an evidence based
model for physique sports to help both athletes and coaches reach their potential in bodybuilding.
How to use this book
The phases we have laid out here are all dependant on one another. You don’t want to jumble their order or skip any. Why? Because they’re periodised and structured in a fashion so that each phase builds
on the previous and towards the next, enhancing and compounding your progress. In this sense, you
can refer to their sequencing as being ‘phase potentiated’ with the initial phases allowing for superior
results in the later phases. For example, the Primer phase sets you up for easy initial dieting, while the
Digging phase will help prepare your body to reveal its best condition, which is then followed by a
physique specific taper which then leads nicely into the final phases of peaking and transitioning out
of your show. Structuring your training and nutrition in this way is superior to any alternative, such as
if you just went ahead and dieted for your entire prep, with no phasic considerations. Could you get
shredded and do your show? Maybe, but the result wouldn’t be as favourable. Not only will you have
more chance of getting the stage conditioning you’re after, but you will retain more muscle and will
be far more likely to enjoy the entire process, while also being able to then begin your off-season with
minimal difficulties.
Each phase also has a decay rate, the Primer phase sets the scene for the entire prep. However, as you
move along each phase, fatigue sets in and we see a decay in our previous adaptations. We must, therefore, endeavour to combat this by revisiting this phase to a degree, hence the inclusion of refeeds and
diet breaks. This is like how having evenings and weekends off can help with the ‘fatigue’ of work, but
eventually, a holiday is needed, and then after the holiday the ‘recovery’ it produces decays again. These
short allow us to keep moving forward, towards our final goal, without being completely derailed by
fatigue.
What we want to leave you with herewith is a clear picture and understanding of the phases we have
outlined. They weren’t pulled out of thin air, they are theoretically sound, well-constructed and experience-supported. All for the purpose of giving you the best chance of both enjoyment and success.
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The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Chapter 1
7
The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep
Chapter 1
Most enthusiasts know the fundamental tenets and goals of ‘bodybuilding’ - display impeccable conditioning, size and symmetry in competition whilst presenting a well balanced physique that meets the
requirements of a specific division. What many individuals fail to realise though when signing up to
participate, is the inherent risks and tradeoffs associated with being a competitive athlete in this sport,
and what this entails from a biopsychosocial standpoint. While bodybuilding in general is a commitment to self development that anyone can participate in and practice, make no mistake, there is a
significant difference between recreational bodybuilding and competitive bodybuilding. Both pursue
goals with the aim of developing the body and with it, the mind, but there are vastly different conditions and constraints beyond that.
Competitive bodybuilding is a domain for bodybuilders to display their show-ready physique and
compete against other athletes. It requires rare levels of commitment and discipline, due to the rigours
of what preparation entails. Come competition time, athletes present their best efforts in front of a
number of judges, who then score and critique them on their physique. The judges evaluate different
criteria that contribute to the overall quality of the competitors physical development.
These categories include:
»» Mass: the perception of muscular size;
»» Definition: the degree of muscularity brought about by the absence of subcutaneous
body fat;
»» Proportion: implies an even balance of muscular development in comparison to each
muscle group;
»» Symmetry: denotes equal development of muscularity on both right and left sides of the
physique;
»» Stage presence: includes posing performance and other factors influencing general appearances such as skin tone, grooming, charisma and poise. Effective stage presentation
is essential to display the physique to its maximum potential.
All of these factors are equally important for success as a competitive bodybuilder. Separating bodybuilding and physique sports from most, are two factors. The first is that bodybuilding (and other
physique sports) are subjective. Unlike basketball, where you either make the shot or you don’t, and
there is a clear winner and loser, as determined by the objective score of each team at the final buzzer,
bodybuilding outcomes are left to the opinions of the judging panel.
For those who are unaware, the participants in a bodybuilding contest are evaluated by a panel of
judges, which includes one head judge and a number of regular judges. All judges scores are weighted
equally, yet the head judge, which is usually the most qualified and experienced person on the judging
panel, is also responsible for driving the prejudging, by calling out the different poses and changes
of position. In addition, he/she can consider additional comparisons or poses resulting from requests
of the regular judges. Typically, contests are evaluated by nine judges (one head and eight regular) –
sometimes seven or five judges. Each judge provides a list per weight/height class ranking of each
competitor. This list orders the competitors according to the judge’s opinion on the position the competitor should place. The competitors position in the list determines the number of points that they
receive.
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For example, a competitor placed in the second position obtains two points from that judge. Following this procedure, at the end of scoring, each competitor obtains a series including his scores from all
the judges. A competitor may obtain a series such as the following: 3, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 2 (assuming 9
judges).
According to this, a perfect score in bodybuilding is to receive all 1s. After this scoring, the two highest and two lowest scores are removed in order to obtain a more unbiased score and the competitor
with the lowest score wins. Using the previous example, two 3s and two 1s will be thrown out, resulting in the following series for that competitor: 1, 2, 2, 2, 2. By adding up these values, the final score
for that participant is obtained. In the example, this final score will be 9. This process is repeated for all
the competitors, and the competitor with the lowest score wins. As you can see, bodybuilding contests
are quite unique and unlike most other sports due to the subjective component of determining success.
This alone can make many athletes leave a show feeling hard done by, as the months and years of hard
work may appear to go unnoticed and there is often no clear indication as to why one athlete placed
ahead of the next. This can leave many athletes and coaches scratching their heads and disheartened
by what seems to be unfair judging. Nonetheless, competitors must respect and appreciate that bodybuilding is inherently a subjective sport, and their efforts will not always be rewarded. The reward and
satisfaction, however, should be derived from the act of competing and for the love of stepping on
stage, besting your previous efforts. If competitors compete purely for pro cards, titles and placings
alone, bodybuilding can be an extremely unrewarding, disheartening and short-lived experience.
The second factor that makes bodybuilding unique, is the rather “extreme” procedural requirements
and health implications. While ACL injuries are an exaggerated risk for field sport athletes, bodybuilding carries its own variety of potential harms and hazards, which are by-products of pushing
the mind and body to their respective limits. As we know, preparation for bodybuilding competition
involves drastic reductions in body-fat, while striving to maintain (or increase) muscle mass, goals that
are simplistic in theory, but not in practice. One of the complications that arises is that these goals can
be achieved through a large variety of strategies and potential methodologies, which results in objectively different outcomes. However, not only do these different strategies produce differing final physiques, but they also have varying impacts on physical and psychological health. In many cases, competitors implement training, dietary and supplementation protocols that force their physiology and
psychology to dangerously unhealthy places, which can have long lasting consequences. This isn’t to say
that there is no reward in doing so, success requires trade-offs - but at a certain point, health must be
considered. Obviously we are advocates of competitive bodybuilding, that is undertaken in a safe and
sustainable manner. If we weren’t, we wouldn‘t be writing this book. But it must still be recognised,
that even a “perfect prep” still will come with many physical and mental difficulties.
Don’t get too disheartened though, bodybuilding can be a life changing and enriching experience specifically because of the difficulties you must overcome. We have all experienced the benefits afforded in pursuing a stage winning physique, and are extremely grateful for the experiences and lessons
that we have obtained through the sport. Like many competitors, reaching peak levels of physical
condition was the catalyst for our careers, irrespective of pro cards, trophies or placings. Like many
sports, bodybuilding can also be an exceptional teacher of the traits, characteristics and attributes that
are required for success, not just in this sport, but all facets of life. This sport will teach you how to be
disciplined, dedicated and delay gratification. You will realise the importance of planning, measuring,
paying attention to details and how critical execution of a plan and behaviour formation are to achieving a goal. Something that we advocate with all the people we work with, is taking the lessons that you
gain from bodybuilding, and transferring the dedication, commitment and discipline to improve your
relationships, your values, your community and ultimately your life.
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Whilst the aforementioned redeeming aspects of bodybuilding are apparent when viewing the sport
through a rose coloured lens, many of the common side effects of the sport still remain taboo and aren’t given the time of day they require in order for first-time competitor’s to be truly informed. Fortunately, many coaches and athletes have become more vocal about these issues and recognise the stark
reality of natural physique contest preparation. Natural Figure Athlete and Physique Coach Andrea
Valdez has succinctly stated that bodybuilding is the product of:
“One’s ability to drift in and out of mental healthiness in attempts to maximize their physique in
terms of their division’s criteria on a single day.”
By no means are we trying to dampen the spirits of up and coming physique competitors, nor do we
want you or your athletes to become fearful of the journey ahead. Instead, we wish to highlight the
very real and dire side-effects of a contest prep. Before beginning any contest prep, it is essential that
you take full consideration of the risks involved in the process. With a critical analysis of the imminent
risks and an understanding and acceptance of the challenges they bring, we are confident that stepping
on stage will be a fulfilling, worthwhile and rewarding endeavour.
As you will know already, a contest prep requires effort that extends far beyond the four walls of the
gym. Unlike other sports, bodybuilding requires a 24/7 commitment, for months on end. Often the
final stages of a prep require the most extreme and drastic methods, as show day nears and you must
ensure you are ready. During the final stages of the contest prep diet, you might have to undertake
seemingly crazy protocols, that would challenge you at your best, let alone while you’re already tired
and fatigued from dieting from the months of prior dieting. For some athletes, getting on stage leaves
only minor wounds that heal quickly. But for the unprepared and misinformed athlete, the arduous
process can test the utmost limits of their mental fortitude, often leaving them psychologically disoriented and unsatisfied or months and years following their final show. For those of you who are deeply
engrossed in the sport, no doubt you already know what it takes to get competition ready. However,
some things cannot be said enough and we just want to remind you that peeling back those final layers
of body fat in order to reveal striated glutes, can very easily bring about a myriad of complications to
an athlete’s psychological health and wellbeing. Tread carefully. Therefore, when deciding to compete,
it is highly recommended that athletes and coaches perform an evaluation of the risks outlined in the
forthcoming chapters and ensure that the sacrifice and suffering to come will be worth it. If competing is a means to an end or a leap of faith for the disgruntled physique enthusiast to finally commit to
their diet, we urge you to reconsider your decision.
The proceeding chapter will outline how to pick a coach, as well as describe the negative effects associated with physique sports. This should function as a forewarning of what athletes can expect to experience during a contest prep, and help them understand whether what they are experiencing is normal
and within reason, or whether they are potentially being coached poorly and experiencing symptoms
that could be avoided (as does commonly happen).
We also advise that you or your athletes perform a life inventory - assessing factors that are both
,directly and indirectly, related to an athletes ability to endure a contest prep. This might include:
general psychology, psychology surrounding diet/exercise, personal relationships, work status, dieting
and training history and key events that could interrupt the contest prep. It is pivotal to obtain an
awareness of an athletes current position to ensure a stable foundation is set before committing to the
journey to the stage. Having the necessary structures and support systems, as well as the capacity to
temporarily give up many previously enjoyed things can be the difference between making it to the
stage or falling short.
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Furthermore, it is imperative that not just your life, but you as an athlete are ready to commit to what
is undoubtedly one of the most physically and mentally demanding processes you may ever face. In
addition to this, we must note that not all athletes experience the negative side effects incumbent to
bodybuilding, to the same magnitude. Thus, it is our hope that this book will make your journey to the
stage as enjoyable as possible, without imposing any unnecessary discomfort or hardship. With adequate planning, guidance from an experienced coach as well as the care, support and love from friends
and family, competing truly can be a fruitful and enriching endeavour.
The bodybuilding process should only be as intrusive as it needs to, and this book will show you how
you can prevent (or at least delay) some of the drawbacks of a contest prep. However, in order to make
this process a gratifying experience, you must be willing and able to give up certain things you have
previously taken for granted, and accept the risks that come with being a competitive physique athlete.
What are you choosing to give up or detriment:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Relationships
Social events and outings
Healthy body image
Perception of self
Healthy relationship with food
Physical health
Physical performance
Mental wellbeing
So the questions you must now answer before continuing your journey to the stage are:
Are you willing?
and
Are you able?
What not to do
Fortunately for you, but unfortunately for them, many before you have been subjected to poor coaching and advice. This has lead to many lessons being learned over the years and provides a good outline
of various things that should be avoided. Our goal here is to illustrate to you very clearly what a contest prep should not consist of:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Excessively restrictive diets from start to finish, such as fish and greens only
Extreme amounts of cardio
Ridiculously high volume training sessions
Eliminating water, or entire food groups in peak week
Linear and rapid fat loss;
Reliance on supplement regimes such as fat burners and diuretics
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Here is a short list of the things we have seen happen to competitors over the years due to the aforementioned approaches:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Competitors passing out on stage.
Athletes being rushed to hospital due to dehydration.
Mental health and well-being is destroyed beyond repair.
The development of eating disorders.
A tormenting and dire loss of athletes perception of self.
The creation of a destructive relationship with exercise.
A very short tenure in the sport.
Injuries preventing a competitive season.
Loss of friends or even partners due to unnecessarily strict approaches.
Irreversible physiological health implications
All for what? A plastic trophy and social media fame?
And what is even more upsetting, is that none of the above is necessary to achieve a stage winning
physique. Contest prep for physique athletes is indeed an extremely challenging and difficult process,
we are not going to tell you otherwise. But making the process harder than it needs to be by adopting unscientific and downright dangerous methodologies is something we will not stand for. We are
completely serious and not trying to sell you bullsh*t when we say; it does not need to be that way! We
have spent the better part of 10 years refining our practice to ensure our athletes are not faced with the
same heartache and dreadful experiences that many past competitors have endured.
We hope to show you that there should be no secrecy or mystery surrounding how to design a safe
and effective contest prep. Athletes must understand what they can expect, what they can do about it
and how to maximize their longevity in the sport. The bodybuilding and physique community is ever
evolving and it’s time that we address the taboo topics of contest prep so that we as a community, can’t
learn how to maximise outcomes in the most advantageous manner possible and not succumb to the
easy, yet often detrimental route that many take when looking to step on stage.
We hope you thoroughly enjoy what we have to offer in this book and that it increases your confidence
and ability to reach your bodybuilding potential.
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Picking your coach
First and foremost this book is not a replacement for a coach. But we would like to help inform you
on how you should go about picking a coach. Below we will go over some key considerations for when
you pick your coach. If that’s not enough, we will also give you some actual coaches we recommend,
all of whom satisfy the following criteria. They all go about the coaching process in a slightly different
manner, but ultimately they all follow the same principles and have continuously proceeded that they
can produce show winning physiques, in safe and sustainable ways. When it comes to picking your
coach, Eric Helms has identified the top 5 qualities that he belives you should keep in mind.
1.
Passion
-- Desire to help others – If the primary goal is to help people, and this supersedes your
ego, you’ll be set.
-- Work ethic – Nothing comes without hard work, you must be able to grind when needed.
-- Overcoming fear – Fear short circuits your work ethic, no point in grinding if you are
convinced you’ll fail.
2.
Emotional Intelligence
-- Empathy – You must be able to put yourself in your clients shoes to understand, respect
and help them.
-- Integrity – Follow your principles. When you screw up, admit it, learn from it and
make it right.
-- Communication – Set expectations, ask for feedback, listen, ask questions, create an
environment of trust.
3.
Critical Thinking
-- Resourcefulness – Use the tools and information around you, think outside the box,
find creative solutions.
-- Patience – Problem solving takes thought, developing critical thinking is a lifelong
practice.
-- Logic – Spot fallacies, identify the language of dogma and hyperbole, identify gurus
(i.e., people who never admit lack of knowledge or errors).
4.
Experience
-- Deliberate – You don’t learn if you don’t pay attention, see each situation and client as
an opportunity to learn.
-- Experimental – Change one variable at a time when possible, track variables in a systematic, controlled manner.
-- Specific – Target your niche, there are plenty of clients out there, specializing is faster
than generalizing.
5.
Knowledge
-- Up to date – Knowledge evolves, have a method of staying current, research review,
journal access etc.
-- Conceptual – Understand the concepts behind information, don’t create “rules”, know
the hierarchy of evidence.
-- Integrated – Research should go from Mechanistic -> Applied -> Practice, focus on
applied research.
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This would be a great 5 component system to rate a coach on, helping you come to a more objective
way to select your chosen coach. We would like to add that when seeking to hire a coach, it would
be imperative to have a consultation, so you can get a chance to chat before you commit to anything
further. Here you will be able to talk over your goals, question their approaches and style and get a real
feel for one another. It’s important you are on a level with your chosen coach because absolute honesty
and trust is necessary.
What are you letting yourself in for?
This chapter just like this phase. It is going to set you up for what’s to come (a successful contest prep).
It might not be as sexy as later phases (peaking for example) but it’s certainly equally, if not more
important - thus we call this phase the ‘Primer’ phase. It is laying the groundwork and literally priming
you for the entire prep. Think of this phase as the base layer of concrete, which you will be building a
successful contest prep upon.
Before we delve into what this phase specifically entails it’s important to first have a think about what
a contest prep actually entails. Too often you get guys or gals who have seen or heard about preps via
social media and get a very limited picture of what is really involved. This chapter aims to give you an
understanding as to why the Primer phase is important, and with this understanding, you will gain
much more from everything that follows.
You’ve no doubt heard of the ‘highlight reel’ of social media. On Instagram or Youtube, someone can
show you their shredded glutes, their trophies or post show feeds. But what they cannot show you, is
the emotional impact of what it took to acquire all these things. Many actively try to hide these ‘downsides’ as it detracts from their highlights. Becoming a natural pro is a lot less commendable when it
cost you a marriage... Thus, we think sources of information such as this book are vitally important, in
order to fill this gaping hole between what is depicted (and believed to be true) and actual reality.
What does a natural bodybuilding prep entail then?
You will be eating in an energy deficit for extended periods of time.
2. You will be taking your body to places it doesn’t want to go.
3. You will experience quite large fluctuations in certain hormones and bodily systems, of
which you might not have ever gone through before and will likely find very hard to deal
with.
4. You will also experience a huge variety of emotions including; anxiety, self-doubt, stress,
elation, extreme gratitude and much more.
1.
In particular, points 3 and 4 are very important to understand. Most of us aware readily aware of
points 1 and 2, they kind of go without saying as they are physiologically necessary. However, points
3 and 4 are equally important, because of their impact psychologically. And that’s where the magic (or
the tragic) happens.
If you have never actually gone through such a contest prep, it can very difficult to imagine. This is why
we think it’s difficult (and not recommended) to coach athletes to the stage without having done it
yourself first. We know what's going through the above 4 things really feels like and we’ve been there
for our clients when they went through it.
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We’ve felt and witnessed the effects first-hand (as well as spoken to innumerable other coaches who
have done the same). And although each of us experiences a contest prep slightly differently, there is
always common themes. Whether you have a coach or not, this book is going to delve deep into every
aspect of contest prep. You’ll not only understand what to expect but also be given ways to handle each
element. Expect that there will be highs and lows, but also aim to have an understanding of why each
of these happen. Hopefully, this book will help give you that, as well as how to deal with them in the
best way possible.
For example: expect yourself to be hungry. But the further you go into a prep, the more this hunger
turns into extreme food focus. People literally develop short (and sometimes long) term eating disorders. Without a doubt, you’ll find yourself doing some weird stuff with your food and eating habits.
As you will now be aware, there are a number of side effects that come with energy deprivation and
loss of body fat. But as a reminder (we are going to drum this into you), here is a list of what to expect:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Insatiable hunger.
Brain fog.
Lethargy.
Low libido.
High food focus.
Mood swings.
Extreme cold.
Lightheadedness (low blood pressure).
Self-doubt (you’ll think you’re too skinny & too fat)
You’ll need to lose more than you think.
The list above is quite negative. This isn’t to say you should expect the experience to be a negative one,
but you have to realise you’ll be testing yourself and you are putting yourself through something rather
extreme. Something that most cannot do. But we want to reinforce the fact that, if you’re smart, the
overall experience will be good. And because you’re reading this, we can safely assume that you’re relatively clued up and will be endeavouring to go about things in an intelligent manner.
Many of the above issues can be kept under wraps for the large majority of your season, with their
severity being only minor. To give a graphic example, think of it like this: a contest prep is like having
a tooth-pulled. It can hurt! But, with the appropriate painkillers (ie. the guidance of this book, and
hopefully a good coach) the process is almost pain free.
Action Point
Stop reading and either record yourself or grab a pen and paper and note down how you
currently feel. You’re full of energy, you’re strong, you’re happy and in a really good place.
This is where you will spend the majority of your competitive career, know this and anytime you’re struggling look back at this and remember what you’re doing now is short term
in nature. Also be sure to re-watch this during your phase after your show, it’s where you
want to get back to.
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This is vitally important because along with the expectations above, you can also expect never to look
at your body, others bodies and maybe even food the same way again. Especially if this is your first
contest prep. Why? Well you’re going to take yourself into an extreme position in which you’re underfed and ultra lean. To get there you will develop some unwanted habits, such as extreme focus on your
physique, food, scale weight, how you feel etc. etc.
Checking the scale and looking in the mirror daily, hitting macros within very tight boundaries, making meals as high volume as possible, not eating out, weighing every morsel of food etc. These are all
actually good habits during a contest prep, they are the ones that will help you get into the best condition you can. However, they gradually become less good as time goes on after your prep. It will be
hard to break them and almost impossible to forget them, and with that comes never looking at your
physique or food the same way ever again. No matter what anyone else says, you’ve been there, done
that and have the experience cemented in your mind. Thus, food and meals will look more like macros,
numbers, and thoughts of “that looks nice” will be replaced with “can I make it fit?”. These are not terrible things, you may already have some of them, and so long as they’re moderated, they can be productive. However, don’t expect to look at food the same way again after a contest prep. You’ll also think
you’re fatter than you are and may get a little body dysmorphia. The good thing is though, you now can
expect it, and your ability to be controlled by these thoughts is greatly diminished. You’ll start thinking
these ‘disordered’ thoughts and be able to recognise it and check yourself. It will also get easier over
time, as you venture further from your contest conditioning and recover.
This will be covered in greater detail later in this book, but it’s important to realise from the get go and
take it into consideration as you complete the above action point
Starting from a place of strength
Before we discuss what starting from a place of strength looks like we want to show you what starting
from a place of weakness looks like. This will make it more obvious why we need to take care about our
starting position and how to best set ourselves up for success.
Case Study: Jordan Rodgers
Jordan was 3 months into dieting, experiencing high levels of hunger, lethargy, food focus and
general diet fatigue. Unfortunately he was still a good 10% above his stage weight. Despite all
this Jordan still trialled digging further, pushing calories lower, adding in cardio and his body
was just not responding.
Jordan then got injured and this finally forced him to drop out of prep. Thing is Jordan wouldn’t
have been able to get where he needed to go anyway. Why?
Jordan came from a background of dieting
2. Jordan had a lot of fat to lose
1.
These were the two biggest forces acting against Jordan. Whenever we do anything to the body,
there are consequences and adaptations that occur, and dieting is no different. With extreme
dieting, these adaptations can build up and hang around for a long time. This makes dieting
progressively more and more difficult.
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A ‘refeed’ doesn’t wipe out many weeks worth of diet fatigue, and a ‘diet-break’ doesn’t drop all
the consequences from the months of prior hard work either. They are simply useful strategies
to employ, and we will touch more on that later.
Here we have identified two key criteria in getting this phase set up right:
You need to come from a background of little cutting.
2. You need to be sufficiently lean.
1.
These are difficult and paradoxical requirements, but they are like prerequisites for getting a job. If you
want to be a candidate for contest prep, you must satisfy these criteria. Just like if you start a job without the requisite qualities, you’d likely end up getting fired, by starting a contest prep having just dieted
or being over-fat, you’ll also be unlikely to see it out till the end. Low diet fatigue (little background
of cutting) will ensure that you have lots of time before your body adapts to a point of no return. By
being sufficiently lean you shorten the required time of dieting and allow for more periods of not
dieting (diet breaks etc.). This combination will lead to the best outcome; most muscle retained with
maximal conditioning. The point we want to make here is that it can be difficult to even get yourself
in a position where you’re ready to start a contest prep, and that’s how it should be. Far too many start
and far too few finish. By taking care of these things, you greatly enhance your chances of surviving,
and thriving, during your contest prep.
Specific Practical Recommendations
First; be lean. Ideally, this means that you are the lower end of your body-fat settling point (e.g. abs
present, some striations apparent, 5 to 10% over stage weight).
What is your settling point?
Our bodies generally like to stick within a fairly tight range of body-fat. Think of this like a
temperature you set on your thermostat, when things get hotter the air con comes on, when
things get colder, the heating goes up. Your body has similar mechanisms, but by being at
the low end of this you ensure you’re as lean as you can be before your body puts up a fight
to get you back in range.
Secondly, a background of little cutting - ideally at least 1 to 2 months without any sort of diet or even
mini cut and an offseason of a ratio of at least 4:1 non-cutting to cutting periods. This will allow for
minimal dietary fatigue and maximum food intake (women may want to lean to the side of even less
dieting time, due to gender-specific physiological reasons).
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The importance of maintenance
We highly recommend you actually go through a period of maintenance before starting your prep.
That means you’re not pushing any physiological changes, which can be a complete spin-out for a
bodybuilder. Yes, that means you’re not trying to lose fat or grow muscle. You are simply aiming for
homeostasis. Ultimately, your goals here are to train enough to keep your muscle mass, but no more
than that. As well as eat sufficient calories to maintain your current body composition.
*Note: We said body composition and not body weight. Your actual weight might fluctuate up or down
(depending on a multitude of factors), but if you can stay within a 1-2% range, then you’re pretty much
set.
For example, if you’re coming from a period of dieting, you’re likely going to be quite glycogen depleted. This means that when you start eating more, you will start storing more glycogen and with that
more water, meaning you’ll likely see your weight increase. Conversely, if you previously came from
a massing phase, you are likely going to be lowering your carbs, storing less glycogen and having less
total food in your stomach, thus your weight may drop. Any changes should settle after the first week
or so though, and after that, you can work on maintaining a relatively stable range.
A very simple maintenance calculation
Step 1.] BW (lbs) x 14 to 16 (lower end for less active, less lean individuals &
females)
Step 2.] Monitor your body weight and adjust as necessary.
A more accurate maintenance calculation
Step 1.] Take your total Calorie intake over the past month & divide by 4 to give
an average.
Step 2.] Take your total weight loss or gain over the past month & divide by 4 to
give an average.
Step 3.] Take your total weight loss or gain over the past month in pounds & di-
vide by 7 to give a daily average.
Step 4.] Take your average from step 3 & multiply that by 500.
Step 5.] Take your Calorie average from step 2 and add (if weight loss) or subtract
(if weight gain) it to step 4’s answer.
Step 6.] Monitor your body weight and adjust as necessary.
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Example
Total calories over the month 91140, divided by 4 gives you 22,785, and we divide this by
7 to give a daily average intake of 3255. You have been gaining and over the last month
gained 1.5lbs, multiply this by 500 to give 750. Now we take 750 away from 3255 to give us
an estimated maintenance of 2505. This gives a starting point to then monitor and assess
from.
Remember due to the dynamic nature of the human body maintenance is a moving target, however,
we can do our best to give a ‘best guess’. This is why the final step is important, so you can assess and
make appropriate adjustments if necessary. In reality, because this phase may only be a month in length
you’re unlikely to get a great deal of data to make adjustments from, so there is going to be an element
of trusting the process required.
The key is remembering you’re maintaining. If you’re following a good diet based on mostly wholesome foods, then you shouldn’t be very hungry or overly full, on average. This could even be a time in
which you choose to eat intuitively (eating to hunger, rather than a calorie target). Realise though that
this is only advised if you have very good habits in place already. Furthermore, recognise that eating intuitively may not be suitable if you’re coming into this phase after a fat-loss diet, as hunger hormones
(and other factors) will be elevated more than usual.
Now you might be asking “why maintain?” It sounds like a waste of time right? That couldn’t be further from the truth and we are going to make it very clear as to why. There are three main reasons:
It’s what your body wants to do, your body loves maintaining
2. It acts as a nice transition into the next phase in which you strip body-fat
3. It works in concordance with your training
1.
This last point is important and often overlooked by bodybuilders. When we train to grow muscle
and lose fat, our training is always best directed towards hypertrophy; progressively overloading with
higher volumes. This is appropriate for both muscle-gaining phases and fat-loss phases as, what best
built the muscle, best keeps the muscle. However, the longer we push this style of training, the harder
our body fights against such training; we see increased fatigue, altered anabolic signalling, higher levels
of injury risk and many other undesirable side-effects.
Remember; every single biological system has a similar response and this all comes back to General
Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) developed by Hans Selye. We create stress (such as with training or
dieting) and we get an adaptation, but eventually, this can lead to exhaustion if the stress isn’t removed
periodically.
A great term for this is ‘adaptive resistance’. The more we present a signal to the body, the more it resists adapting to it. We know this is true with fat loss, as it gets harder as the diet goes on, but it is also
true for many biological systems, including muscle gain. Just like you can’t lose fat forever, you cannot
expect to just push muscle growth forever.
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In order to reduce this adaptive resistance, we must stop trying to grow muscle (or retain it while dieting). However, we run into issues if we stop trying to grow or even maintain muscle. So we must find
something that will let the biological system relax, but not leave altogether. We can do this by bringing
down fatigue and adaptive resistance with lower volumes and using higher absolute intensities (weight
on the bar/rep range used). Just like we can have a diet break to reduce dietary fatigue, we can have
a training block that is designed to reduce training-related fatigue. Furthermore, it makes sense to
try and maintain our body composition during this time also, as our volume of training is too low for
stimulating much muscle growth and therefore cutting or massing makes no sense, as we’d just gain a
ton of fat or lose a heap of muscle in the process.
Dr. Mike Israetel explains further:
“From a training perspective, in the longer massing intervals you can run into the problem of becoming pretty resistant to volume while at the same time not in the position to increase volume.
For example, if your MEV (minimum effective volume) is about 10 sets per bodypart per week
and your MRV (maximum recoverable volume) is about 20 sets, you might do a month of training
between 10 and 17 sets. Then you might do a month between 13 and 20 sets. Then you might do a
month of metabolite training. So what the hell do you do in month 4? After the 3rd month of high
volume AND metabolites, you’re not going to be very sensitive to hypertrophy of any kind, and the
best move is to reduce your training loads to around your MV (maintenance volume) for a month
or so so you can become sensitive to volume again and start ramping back up in the progression.”
Therefore, the reason this phase proceeds the next is because we want to be in the best position to drop
fat and retain lean tissue. By taking a period of low volume training and eating at maintenance we are
set up for success (‘primed’). We won’t need an awful lot of volume to provide a stimulus for , because
we’ll have re-sensitized to hypertrophy training and we are not in a position where our body or mind
is fatigued from dieting and restraint. We are in a very happy state physiologically and therefore we are
‘primed’ for future fat loss.
Training recommendations
»» Rep range: Mostly 6 to 10, with some as low as 3 and up to 12
»» Sets per muscle group: Maintenance Volumes (0 to 10 sets/per week, 6 sets/per week on
average)
»» Progression: 2.5 to 5% increases in load week to week
»» Frequency: same as hypertrophy mesocycles or slightly lower (2 to 4 times/per week)
Say for example you were following an upper / lower split with 4 training days and worked up to 20 to
25 sets per muscle group. Now you’re in need of going through a Primer Phase, you can keep this same
split and simply either drop some exercises (like isolation work that cannot be done with heavy loads
(such as chest fly) or some sets to bring your sets per muscle group to around 6 to 10 for the first week
of your mesocycle.
Think about that we are doing this so that when we start dieting we can secure as much lean tissue as
possible. We’re now very sensitive to higher volume training, our fatigue is low and our ability to grow
tissue is increased. This is important because whilst cutting, the training volume we need to do in order
to keep our muscle mass is actually higher than the amount needed to grow muscle when hypercaloric.
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Repeat that. The amount of volume we need to maintain our muscle is higher when cutting than when
massing. By its very nature a caloric surplus is anabolic (building up), and a deficit is catabolic (breaking down). Training is another tool to promote anabolism in muscle tissue, thus because we don’t have
the extra calories there when cutting, we need our training to fill the gap and help resist muscle loss.
By implementing a primer phase we bring this volume requirement down to as low as it can be, which
buys us plenty of time to overload with volume. This allows us to train productively for as long as possible, leading to the most muscle retention we can hope for, while we become increasingly leaner and
leaner throughout a prep.
The psychological benefits of homeostasis
Something we have not yet discussed is the psychological benefits of homeostasis (the goal ‘state’
during a Primer Phase). We have already mentioned the physiological reasons for why this phase is
designed the way it is, but there are psychological considerations also. As bodybuilders/physique competitors we are very good at pushing ourselves, sometimes (read: often) to our own detriment. This can
be seen in relation to both training and dieting. Whether we fail to use enough fatigue management
in our training and we short change our progress, maybe even acquiring overuse injuries, or we run
ourselves into the ground with our diet, slashing calories too much because we are willing to ‘do what
it takes’. We’ve all been there before. And really, there is something admirable about it, we have all
been willing to suffer in order to maximise our progress. Unfortunately, though, suffering is not always
a good metric to determine how effective your current regime is.
Herein lies the real beauty of this phase. By relieving ourselves of the burden of trying to maximise everything, we remove a considerable psychological burden - one that people typically become so used to
living with, that they forget it is even there. And while striving for maximal progress and not settling
for anything less is definitely a great trait to have, we need to recognise that by periodically taking time
away from pushing hard, our hunger to push even harder is enhanced over the long-term. Just like the
CEO of Nike needs to take a holiday every now and then, we all need to take a break too. Sure having
evenings and weekends off can help us get through another week of work, but after weeks of the same
thing, our productivity isn’t what it once was. This is where holidays come in.
Over time, we work so hard that the best thing we can do to enhance our productivity is to stop trying
to be productive and chill out for a bit. Currently, you might feel like that would never happen to you
regarding training and nutrition - but trust us, it does. Even if training and nutrition are your passion,
and the primary focus of your day, that passion can still fade. Especially when it is required to burn too
brightly, for too long. When you’ve spent months nailing your nutrition to the gram, in conjunction
with continuously pushing your training volumes and maybe having to do some cardio as well, it can
get a bit much. This isn’t a sign of weakness though, this is just the reality of being human. Even for us,
people whose lives depend on their physiques and their interest in fitness, people who chose to make a
career out of it because they are so passionate about it - we too feel the same strain at times.
Once we recognise that EVERYONE is susceptible to burnout, we can now see the rationale in
having periods of homeostasis for both physiological and psychological reasons. During this phase,
you should take comfort in knowing that everything matters that much less. This is simply because
maintenance is such a comfortable thing for your body, it doesn’t fight it, it relishes in it and gravitates
towards it. Basically what this means is that as long as you eat sufficient protein by the end of the day,
don’t eat like a pig and get your training sessions done throughout the week, you’re doing everything
you need to do.
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There’s no need to obsessively time meals, or track things to the gram, or ensure you have the optimal
training frequency - your body will regulate all those minor details for you, thanks to homeostatic
drive.
Throughout this phase, the number of boxes you’re required to tick is greatly reduced and this gives
you one hell of a mental break. It frees up time and mental capacity for other things in life, things you
may have to give up shortly, so enjoy them. Realise though, that this is a short phase and not something you want to do for extended periods of time. It’s designed to be a freshen up and nothing more.
Whilst it serves a purpose, and a great one at that, it isn’t what builds your physique, it facilitates it.
Thus we can see there are two major benefits here:
Direct release from daily tasks: allowing you to detach from the usual demands of training and nutrition.
2. Recovery opportunities: more time to spend doing other things you enjoy outside the
realm of structured lifting and eating.
1.
After this phase, you won’t just be physically ready to start cutting for your show, you will be mentally ready also. You’ll be champing at the bit to start peeling off layers, and this is a great spot to be in
psychologically before a diet. When you’re literally craving structure and consistency in your training
and diet, that’s when the Primer Phase has done its job. The phrase ‘distance makes the heart grow
fonder’ is extremely appropriate in this instance. You’ve just gone and prepared your mind and body for
months upon months of cutting, and this is what successful contest preps are reliant upon.
Sum
Now we understand what’s involved, why it’s so important to start from a position of strength and how
to do so, we can continue with the rest of our plan. In addition to this we want you to ensure you’re
not just strong in yourself, but have a strong support network around. Sure it’s great to be hardcore and
just rely on yourself, but your surrounding friends and family can really pick you up when you need it,
and you’ll likely rely on them throughout your prep more than you know. By having them by your side
you’ll find the entire process easier and more enjoyable too. So definitely involve them, particularly in
these early phases.
Action Point
Stop reading and make a list of all loved ones, then when your prep is due to start tell
them all about it, and importantly why and what they can expect. Including that you’re
going to do your best to not let it impact your relationship but could do with their support.
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Show planning
First, why?
Before we get into planning everything out we want you to go through an important step; identity
your why. This is super important. With a strong enough “why” you can bear almost any “how”. And
when we say, choose your “why”, we don’t mean something like; ‘I wanna get shredded’. To survive this
process you’ll need something a lot more grounded and stable than that, so attach some real emotion
to it if you can.
For example:
Steve Hall’s why was to prove he was fully recovered from his accident, which was really him
wanting more confidence in his health. Steve’s why was that he wanted to be confident and
everytime he doubted himself he went back to his why: “I want to be confident”. He wanted it
so badly that even at the toughest times, he could push on.
Without a strong “why” you’ll break at the first hurdle, and who could blame you? You don’t really have
a good reason for doing such a thing!
Once you’ve addressed your why, you are ready for the remainder of this phase, and your entire prep.
This is one of the key elements in ensuring you’ll make it through till the end. While many fail to plan,
this won’t be you and there’s no way you’re planning to fail.
We know our goal; to bring our leanest and most muscular physique to stage. Hopefully, we have some
sort of idea of what weight that might be and our show dates. Using these two pieces of information
we can begin to plan backwards. Planning backwards in preparation for your show(s) is absolutely vital
for bring- ing your best to the stage.
Picking your category
Bodybuilding
Mens Physique
Bikini
Figure
Garment
Posing trunks
Board shorts
Bikini & heels
Bikini
Posing
Mandatory
Mandatory
Mandatory
Mandatory
60sec posing routine
T-Walk
T-Walk
T-Walk
Symmetry, size & a
high level of conditioning
Hip/Shoulder ratio,
Athletic/fit look with
fit, athletic physique/ less muscle and tone
aesthetically pleasing. than figure
Individual
Key Criteria
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Overall symmetry,
tone, some level of
muscular development
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Show dates
These don’t need to be exact, just an estimated stage weight. From here we can work backwards using
the following rules of thumb;
We want to be losing on average 0.5% of our body-weight per week
2. We want to build in a week of buffer for every 4-6 weeks of dieting (for eventual stalls/
mishaps & strategic diet breaks)
1.
Example
Show date: 25th September
Est. stage weight: 170lbs
Currently weighing 185lbs, and so we have around 15lbs to lose, if we’re losing on average
0.5% this is just under 1lb per week and so we can work in 16 weeks, now we need to add
in a week of buffer for every 4-6 weeks planned, which could bring us to a 20 week total.
The above provides you with an approximation for your contest prep length. From here you can get
into further detail, such as aligning your training with your nutrition (nutraceutical concordance),
planning in your posing timeline and then the finer details like finalising your tan and posing trunks.
Once you consider your prep length and address all the components of a successful prep, you just need
to execute. If you’ve followed us along so far, you’re now in a prime position to start your contest prep you have low diet fatigue, you’re lean, you’re mentally ready to rock, you know what to expect and you
have a plan that will take you there…
Now onto phase 2!
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You are now entering Phase 2
Phase 2 is where most competitors actually start their contest prep. Eagerness to push themselves, a
desire to be shredded yesterday and often a lack of knowledge/awareness can often lead to many a
competitor skipping Phase 1. Many athletes also fall into the trap of constantly letting people know
they are prepping, but unfortunately, they fail to prepare for their actual contest prep. As was outlined
in the first chapter, we Do Not recommend this. Skipping Phase 1 is like skipping the Tutorial on a
new video game. Sure, it seems like a waste of time and you can probably figure most of the stuff as
you go - so why not just skip the boring details and get into the good stuff straight away? You’d be
silly to do anything other than start beating-up bad-guys or shrinking fat-cells immediately, right?
Initially, this seems like the obvious best choice - you begin progressing instantly. But how long this
progress lasts and at what cost is the more pertinent question. This method very often ends up biting
you in the backside, at least from what we have seen in our collective experience. Yes, you can probably press (mash) enough buttons on the controller, to do whatever you need to do to pass the first few
levels. They are easy and don’t take much tactical planning, effort or skill. This then continues for a
little while, you’re now a few levels in and you’re starting to figure out which buttons do what, how to
perform some basic combos and what to do in certain situations... Then BANG! You come up against
some mean, nasty and challenging boss. You find yourself out of your depth - you can’t duck, run, hide
or avoid his attacks in any way. You simply can’t react fast enough and no matter how hard you try, you
just can’t execute what is required of you in the flawless way that is needed to beat him. Frustration
then begins to boil over and you either start googling cheat codes or quit playing the game. Metaphorically, this is exactly what happens to contest preppers time and time again. When athletes don’t know
what they are getting themselves into and don’t do the helpful stuff initially, like read the instruction
manual (this handbook), sometimes the first hurdle they face can be insurmountable, simply because
they didn’t even know to prepare for it.
An integral part of bodybuilding success relates to setting up strategies, then solidifying the skills
needed to execute them, well before they are actually required. Because once you find yourself backed
into a corner, you must be armed with the requisite knowledge and skills in order to come out swinging - successfully. Whether it be against some boss in a video game, or you’re scheduled to have your
lowest calorie day of the week and are then required to attend a work dinner last minute, you need to
have ingrained habits and skills necessary to successfully manoeuvre yourself through the situation,
while taking on as little damage as possible. At the beginning it is frustrating to go through a slow, unexciting tutorial level that doesn’t actually feel like it’s progressing you, especially when you can likely
figure out most of the skills on your own. But ask yourself; at what cost? What are you missing out
on while you figure out those skills? If you do actually complete the tutorial level, you are taught what
buttons do what and how to execute basic functions. Then as you move into the early levels, because
you already have a basic understanding of what buttons do what, the game simply acts as a way of enforcing those skills, the timing and combinations so that they become instinctive whilst you make ‘easy’
initial progress.
In addition to this, because you did the tutorial and haven’t been so focused on working out how to
punch, kick or pick up weapons for the first few levels, you’ve been able to pay more attention to what
else is going on around you in the game and the subtle hints in the storyline that then help you understand how to beat the boss. Hints that would have evaded you had you not been paying close attention.
If you didn’t do the tutorial and thus missed all the hints along the way, you are setting yourself up for
failure, not success. Don’t think this is just a simple analogy, for the sake of analogy. If unprepared, a
contest prep can leave you high and dry, up sh*t creek without a paddle… And that’s before you get
home and realise your girlfriend is leaving you because you’ve become a hyper-moody, self-absorbed
a-hole. So do your primer phase kids!
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You’ve done, or will do your Primer Phase? Excellent! Now it is time to get out of the gates fast then,
relatively speaking anyway. However, this does not mean that you sprint as hard as you can from the
get-go, a prep is still much more similar to a marathon than a sprint - you need to save yourself for
when the going gets really tough. But if you have done your Primer Phase (tied your shoes, rested the
days before the race and had some good food beforehand) then you’re in a position to push the pace
just enough initially, to set yourself up for success down the road. Because ultimately, there’s no point
in finishing the race having “saved yourself ” so much that you came in last or fat.
How do we come out of the gates at just the right pace? In order to progress at the rate we want, but
still allow for adjustments down the road, we must concern ourselves with 4 primary factors that need
to be set at the appropriate levels so as not to short change our results or conversely, burn ourselves out
before comp day.
These factors are the following:
»»
»»
»»
»»
Bodyweight changes
Food (targets and flexibility)
Training volume
Cardio
Bodyweight Changes
The primary concern in this phase is setting an appropriate rate of loss, as this essentially encompasses
all the other factors. Not to say that scale weight is the be-all, end-all in a contest prep (especially in
the later stages when it becomes less useful and visual progress increases in importance and reliability),
but it is of extreme use as it is an indicator of the magnitude of energy imbalance we are creating and
thus the stress we are imposing on ourselves both physically and psychologically.
A rate of loss that’s too slow at the start
You risk not being ready in time or having to diet harder at the end when things are already very hard
and risk of muscle mass is greatly increased. Anxiety caused by lack of initial progress can begin to
manifest also, leading to drastic and irresponsible decision-making and behaviours.
A rate of loss thats too fast at the start
Most importantly, you risk not surviving the diet long enough to get sufficiently lean for stage, but
beyond this, you also greatly exacerbate every single negative outcome of dieting (disordered eating,
increased lethargy, lowered libido etc). However, even if you are a #warrior who #grinds and does what
it takes, you also massively increase your risk of muscle loss, which is something that just happens as a
necessary response and isn’t something you can out-work. So don’t try to be a hero. Take your time.
The Goldilocks Zone
The acceptable rate of body weight change in this initial dieting phase is somewhere in the range of
0.5-1.5% of body weight lost per week. Why such a large range? Because of the individual response to
dietary and training changes.
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At the beginning of a diet, post primer phase, there are a lot of moving parts. Ideally not too many, but
more moving parts than what the previous phase had, where the goal was to let the body and mind
rest. A number of factors influence body weight changes on a short term basis and the beginning of a
prep means a number of modifications that can make accurate bodyweight predictions and tracking
difficult initially.
Some factors that influence scale weight on a daily basis:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Calories
Macronutrients
Food mass
Food intolerances
Fibre
Bathroom use
Hormones (including menstrual cycle)
Water intake
Salt intake
Physiological stress
Psychological stress
As you can see, there‘s plenty (and there’s likely many more). And although these things alter scale
weight, they don’t impact fat-loss to any meaningful degree (except calories and macronutrients),
which is why we’re taking averages and we understand the purpose behind weighing yourself. Because
there are so many factors influencing scale weight, and a discussion of all of them here will be more
laborious than useful for you, we will just outline some of the more general outcomes and why they
may be occurring.
Rapid weight loss (>1.5%)
This is the most typical response to beginning a diet. It is primarily caused by reduced food mass in
the GI tract and reduced glycogen storage within the body. Although both these factors contribute to
body weight losses independently, it is their impact on body-water levels that predominantly creates
the appearance of large amounts of weight loss (not to be confused with fat-loss).
The substantial changes in body-water are due to carbohydrates being hydrophilic in nature (water
attracting). Research shows that for every gram of glycogen we store in our body, we store about 3-4
grams of water along with it. This why low carb diets typically see larger initial body-weight loss, as
they cause the body to rid itself of more water. Sounds good right?
Well, not exactly. We want to rid our body of fat, not water, and carbs actually really help with that
process. More on that later. Although the above can contribute to initial rapid weight loss, this should
slow and then steady within 1-2 weeks. If after 2 weeks your weight is still dropping by 1.5% per week
or more, then it’s almost certain that your calorie deficit is too large (in the specific context of physique preparation, there are circumstances where rapid dieting is beneficial, however, it is not here). As
mentioned previously, this increases your risk of muscle loss exponentially (you lose anabolic signalling
properties from food, as well as have a reduced capacity to train hard - that’s a bad recipe).
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Admittedly, being of a higher body fat percentage means that you can liberate enough fat from your
fat cells to satisfy a very large energy deficit, however as we have outlined already if you’re embarking
on a contest prep, then we are presuming you are at least relatively lean. If this is, in fact, the case, excessive energy imbalances will greatly enhance the risk of muscle loss. And you’ve worked too hard to
sacrifice that now.
Minimal weight loss (<0.5%)
An interesting, counterintuitive, often frustrating response to dieting is barely any detectable bodyweight lost. While this isn’t a common response, it certainly does happen and it can be due to a number of factors. The primary reason why some individuals don‘t see any scale weight changes when
beginning a diet is due to the increased water-retention caused by the physiological stress of dieting
(and potentially exacerbated by training).
Basically, your body recognises the lack of food/increased activity and perceives that it’s going through
a stressful period, which causes an elevation in the hormone cortisol, resulting in greater amounts of
water retention. So even if you have lost actual body-mass, your body might have held onto an equal
amount of weight via water and this then masks the scale weight change. You could lose half a kilo of
fat, but hold an extra half a litre of water due to stress and you’ll still read the same on the scales.
Stress, in this case, isn’t always limited to dieting or psychological stress either. During this phase, you
will be doing higher volume training than when you were in your Primer Phase. High volume training
leads to a large (relatively speaking) inflammation response, as inflammation is an integral signalling
process for the purpose of repair, remodelling and growth. This exercise-induced inflammation causes
swelling and fluid retention within your muscles and entire body, similar to a swollen ankle when you
land on it awkwardly. This fluid retention also can contribute to masking weight loss.
Finally, as the training volume in your first dieting phase will be higher than that of your previous
training phase, you may actually find that you actually (initially) hold slightly more glycogen, and
the accompanying water, than when you were in your low-volume Primer Phase, as muscle glycogen
is a “flexible fuel-tank” and has the ability to increase or decrease in size depending on the supply of
carbohydrates in the diet and the style of training performed. As you can see by now, the initial rapid
changes in body weight are extremely dependent on water retention/excretion. Whether you initially
lose a lot of weight or a little, it will very likely be due to changes in body-water.
What you must do is understand this and consider whether what you are seeing on the scale, is inline with the changes you made. If you reduced your calorie target by 300-500 per day, but opted for
a high-carbohydrate intake and greatly increased training volume after your Primer Phase (leading to
more damage and inflammation within the muscle), then you can be relatively confident that fat-loss is
happening, it is just being masked by the water retention.
Alternatively, to all this, the low rate of loss may not be due to “masking factors” at all. If you opted for
a smaller deficit, with fewer carbohydrates and didn’t increase training volume very much, then there’s
less chance you are holding onto a lot of water and you may actually just be in a calorie deficit that is
too small for optimal results. There are some benefits to a small deficit during certain times, but it’s the
opinion of the authors of the book, this is not the time.
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For completeness, a small deficit greatly reduces the “suck” of dieting, the risk of muscle loss caused by
dieting and even has the potential for allowing some growth to occur while fat is lost (recomposition).
Although these all seem like great benefits, the trade-offs must be weighed up in their entirety. Although some growth can occur in a small deficit, it is by no means maximised. As we all know, muscle growth occurs slowly even at the best of times (i.e. surplus), and if you are concerned about your
current level of muscularity and think you need to grow more before you step on stage, then a small
deficit during a comp prep is not the way to do this, you need to extend your “off-season”.
In regards to reducing the “suck” of dieting, this is something that can be considered valuable, but at
slightly higher body-fat percentages, dieting shouldn’t be excessively difficult anyway and it will no
doubt have to get harder, so if you are trying to avoid all of the sucks in a contest prep already, then
you are likely entering into something that you are mentally unprepared for.
The Goldilocks Zone (0.5-1.5%)
This is the middle zone between the two previously mentioned outcomes. You may fall straight into
this category or it may take a few weeks of adjustments to find your groove, but either way, you want
to spend most of your time losing weight at this pace while in the first half of your prep. Losing scale
weight at a weekly average of between 0.5-1.5% seems to maximise fat-loss while minimising negative
outcomes from both theoretical and practical standpoints.
Provided you are starting from a point of sufficient leanness, losing weight at this pace will likely reveal
noticeable visual progress on a weekly to fortnightly basis, while allowing still moderately high calories
and thus flexibility with food, minimal cardio and negligible risk of muscle loss (albeit all those factors
are subject to individual variance).
As touched on previously, although body weight changes are reflectant of all the other components of
our diet, training and cardio manipulations, we would be committing the fallacy of division if we were
to assume that just because the whole or the outcome is ideal, then all the components or parts that
create that whole, can also be considered ideal.
If we were to think about the body weight change we want to occur each week was a specific number, lets say 6 for example and at the end of the week we do in fact get 6 as an answer, the assumption
cannot be made that we have used the most ideal equation (in the given context) to get that answer. At
the start of a contest prep, you must position yourself not only so that you get the correct answer, but
also so that all variables have “wiggle room” and the ability to be adjusted in the future.
We could imagine this as the equation of 2+2+2=6, but we cannot be completely confident that just
because we got the answer of 6, that 2+2+2 was the equation used. It may have been 3+2+1 or maybe
4+3-1 or just about any number of potential examples. All of which would create an imbalance in the
equation, which leaves less room for future adjustments if certain variables are already “backed into a
corner”. With this in mind, the following sections will address how we can try and logically balance
the equation variables that make up the scale-weight outcome.
Think of it like the next graphic on the other page.
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Food Intake
Determining an appropriate intake of food is paramount to a successful contest prep. Although adjustments can always be made along the way, it’s paramount that this will be taken seriously from the
outset.
As we’ve discussed, overshooting initial food intake can slow down progress during the typically
easiest time to make it, as well as put you behind the 8-ball in regards to time frame, creating unnecessary pressure. Undershooting the target is also a bad idea, as even if you do make excellent progress
fat-loss wise, it must be asked: at what cost? Being on a too lower intake initially likely induces harsher
physiological and psychological kickback from the diet than is required, or desired. Far too often we
see people take this too lightly, thinking they can out-run or out-work a harsh deficit, or that the more
suffering they can tolerate, the better the outcome will be. Not only is this overly masochistic, it’s also
plain wrong. A recklessly large calorie deficit and harsh restriction is not something you can just “patch
up” with a few refeeds or diet breaks. Yes, diet breaks and refeeds help to mitigate some of the negative
consequences of dieting, but they aren’t a fix-all solution (they are no Senzu Bean).
A comp prep is like a championship boxing match. Don’t be reckless and drop your guard in the first
round, only to get clobbered and then think that the break between rounds will be enough to completely heal you.
Sure, you get a little rest along the way, a breather, a drink of water and your corner will help you do
some damage control on the cuts and bruises you take, but you can’t fix it all. If you cop a broken nose
in round one, then you’ll have to endure that the entire fight. The only way to truly heal is to pull-out
of the fight and rest and repair for months. The exact same thing applies to a comp prep. If you crash
diet, acquire all kinds of diet-fatigue, send your NEAT through the floor and develop a mini eating
disorder, then a diet break or a refeed won’t fix that, not a chance!
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Developing issues of those magnitudes require months away from restrictive eating. The contest season
will have come and gone well and truly before you’ve managed to get yourself into a healthy enough
position physically and mentally to even think about dieting again. Don’t be reckless. Any dieting injuries you occur during a prep, you have to tolerate until it’s over to minimise the damage and keep your
guard up. How do you keep your guard up? In regards to your food intake, two ways: Setting appropriate targets and managing food choice flexibility.
Appropriate Targets
This concerns determining appropriate levels of calories, protein, carbohydrates and fats. This is a concern for a multitude of reasons. Calorie intake affects your rate of fat-loss, which in turn determines
how stressful the diet is physiologically and feels subjective - and our calories come from our macronutrients. Additionally, set protein too low and you risk muscle loss and satiety issues. What about too
high? Well then something else must be lowered, there’s always a trade-off. So you decide to lower
carbs, but then your workout performance will suffer, lethargy will prevail and muscle loss will also
ensue. Ok, we drop fat… Drop fat too much and you risk some nutrient deficiencies, a sex drive that’s
through the floor and just generally feeling rubbish.
What do we do? It seems like we can’t have anything too low! Unfortunately, we have to have (relatively) low targets though. If we set everything too high, we simply just eat too much, which won‘t
allow us to lose significant amounts of fat-mass. What’s the key here? Moderation!
Now, a bodybuilding contest prep is inherently unbalanced and very few noteworthy achievements
allow for, let alone require “moderation”, however, we will use the term for the sake of simplicity. And,
what constitutes moderation? Essentially, a non-extreme distribution of calories among the 3 macronutrients. Firstly, there needs to be an appropriate distribution among the 3 macronutrients so that
baseline thresholds are met for the purpose of adequate health before we even consider performance as
a factor. In no bodybuilding context whatsoever, does an optimal diet require essential nutrient deficiencies or so few carbohydrates that even smiling at your partner seems like too much hard work.Secondly, moderate distribution of macronutrients allows for “wiggle room” when adjustments and calorie
cuts are required in the later stages of prep. If you already started one or multiple of your macronutrients targets at the lowest adequate intake possible, then obviously you can’t reduce that macronutrient
intake any further without running into trouble. So what happens when fat-loss stalls and a change
needs to be made? Obviously, you need to reduce something, and you don’t want to have to make macronutrient reductions that also greatly impact your food choices. At certain stages throughout a prep
you are going to need to alter your food choices, but you want to minimise how often or drastically
this occurs. Eventually swapping from brown rice to cauliflower rice, or from potatoes to pumpkin is
totally understandable from a volumetrics and satiety perspective. However, what you want to avoid is
starting with a macronutrient distribution that is so skewed, that you have to constantly reassess what
foods you can and can’t make work - as opposed to slightly reducing portion size or altering ratios. For
example, you might originally adopt an extreme high-carb, low-fat approach.
After a month of dieting, while still enjoying copious amounts of carbs, while all you need to do is
avoid nuts, full-cream dairy and eggs, it becomes time to make a calorie reduction. Because fat was
already set at minimal requirements, calorie reductions cannot come from there. Protein still needs to
remain high, so carbohydrates it is. Because carbohydrates aren’t as energetically dense as fats, you need
a larger drop to create an equivalent calorie reduction. This may mean that you lose 15, 30, maybe 45
grams of carbohydrates…
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This can be a drastic change when you’ve been relying on carb-dense meals such as cereal for breakfast, fruit for a snack and sandwiches for lunch - how are you going to structure your meals now? A
more moderate approach will allow you to stick to a more consistent style of eating for longer. Portion
control and serving size manipulations are much more sound options when trying to prepare for a
bodybuilding contest. Introducing new or removing foods can be a problematic endeavour during prep
as the digestive system can become temperamental during this time, and small changes in food consumption can have many trickle down impacts on digestive health. By slowly lowering macronutrients
somewhat proportionately, this allows for a more flexible diet without needless restriction of certain
foods, which allows for a broad spectrum of nutrients, fibre sources and phytochemicals to be consumed. The aim is reduction, not removal.
Finally, as mentioned above, moderation between macronutrient targets also allows for flexibility
within a diet. However, this is not only a necessity for physical but also psychological health during a
contest prep. Having an abundance of any of the macronutrients comes with the reduction of the others, in an isocaloric (energy matched) scenario. So if you jack your carbs up so high that you can’t even
have 1 whole egg and a little bit of light-cheese without going over your fats, then you’re likely going
to run into issues regarding flexibility with food. This is something we must avoid, especially in the
earlier stages of prep when we have more control over these things. As calories will inevitably have to
come down in order to reach stage condition, if you are already craving whole eggs and a slice of toast
when you’re 3 weeks into your 20-week prep, then you’re going to have a bad time. You only have so
much willpower. You shouldn’t be draining your willpower every day just to hold off from eating a heap
of the foods you’re craving. A diet should work with you, not against you. A diet that relies heavily on
willpower is destined to fail. That’s also how binge eating can arise when you finally “snap”. Moderation of targets allows for the ability to manipulate food choices throughout the day and week in order
to satisfy cravings while staying on track to the long term goal.
Note
Towards the tail-end of a prep, when physiological hunger is high i.e. semi-starvation
(comparative to emotional and psychological hunger, which are induced by feelings of
boredom, deprivation etc) it may be more useful to limit food intake with variation and
more bland, less flavourful foods. Studies have shown that too much food variation can
trigger hunger and blunt satiation. Knowing when to “pull the trigger” on using bland,
unappealing food during a prep can be a tricky decision. If you do however feel like you are
putting too much thought into what you’re going to eat and your spending every waking
moment thinking about food, it may be time to utilise the Food-Palatability Reward-Hypothesis to your advantage and minimise how much of a focal point food is in your life. If
you stop flavouring your oats and start eating them cold and with water, that’s going to go
a long way in helping you reduce the amount of time you fantasize about eating oats every
day. Play to your strengths, don’t burn through your willpower unnecessarily. This is a
method of short term dissatisfaction, that helps achieve long term satisfaction.
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Training Volume
Just as it’s not a good idea to start your prep with your calories at rock bottom, it’s equally not a good
idea to start with your training volume at peak heights. In order to bring your best physique to the
stage, not only must the diet component progress but so too must the training component.
Fortunately or unfortunately, life isn’t a Rocky montage. You can’t just work exponentially harder and
harder, pushing yourself more and more, yelling “ADRIAN!” louder and louder, and get linearly better
until your competition day.
Gym Lore is bountiful with sayings such as:
“winners never quit” or “while you’re resting your competition is training”
However, the intelligent trainer will quickly realise that these are worthy of nothing more than a #MotivationMonday post if that.
There are a few schools of thought when it comes to how you should approach training during contest
prep, and we will explore each of them now. Some suggest moving to lighter weights and “etching in
the details” by doing more pump-style work. Others know that with dieting, comes reduced recovery,
so they suggest doing the most training you can at the start and then taper off towards the end when
food is lower and fatigue is higher. Conversely, some will suggest the complete opposite, aligning their
strategy with the Philadelphian puncher, training more as motivation rises closer to competition and
making claims such as “growing into a show”.
To address these points briefly:
»» Lighter weights can be used as a tool during a contest prep when fatigue and joint soreness is high, however, they should not be used instantaneously just because you are
dieting. Lightweights can provide a good stimulus to preserve muscle, however, the
predominance of your prep should be spent using weights that are comparable to your
off-season - what grew the muscle, will keep the muscle. The use of moderate intensity
loads (approx 5-15 reps) is likely your best bet for the majority of your prep. Lighter
loads (higher rep ranges) certainly can be utilized, but they require training very close to
failure in order to be effective and this is extremely fatiguing. It is the opinion of the authors that high-rep training is best reserved until needed when joint soreness is high and
load reductions are required.
»» Fatigue is lower at the beginning of a contest prep in comparison to the end, but using
this as the reasoning to train more at the beginning of a prep, in comparison to the end
is fundamentally flawed. Training-induced fatigue occurs prospectively and proportionally to the amount of training completed retrospectively (whilst factoring in recovery
modalities). By training more at the beginning of a prep, you actually increase the magnitude of fatigue you will feel at later stages of a prep, when you are already going to
be experiencing extreme levels of fatigue regardless. This method, although theoretically
sound on first observation, has major limitations upon more critical inspection.
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»» Growing into a show requires one or more of four things, none of which we recommend
as justification for entering a natural bodybuilding competition. Without labouring this
point too much, growing into a show basically requires you to be 1) a rank beginner 2)
returning from an extended training lay-off 3) not lean enough to realistically compete
or 4) utilising what is now commonly referred to as “special sports supplements”. Muscle
growth as a natural trainee is hard at the best of times, when all factors are aligned, let
alone the tail-end of a prep. Yes, you may appear larger and yes training quality can still
remain high and yes, muscle growth can occur in a calorie deficit. However, realistically speaking, to get lean enough, keeping all your muscle is the best possible result and
you’ll likely have to sacrifice at least a little to get truly peeled.
Well, we now know what’s wrong with some of the common methodologies when approaching training during a contest prep, but what can you actually do? Telling you what to avoid isn’t as helpful as
telling you can do.
To continue the boxing match analogy, a contest prep really is like a 12-round championship fight pace is integral. Pacing yourself incorrectly may have you gassed after 2 rounds if you do too much too
soon, or miles behind on the card and fighting a losing battle if you chilled out until round 10. Much
the same can be said about your training volume. You can’t gas yourself out too early, you must leave
room to do more towards the end, but you have to do enough that you don’t fall behind.
How do you achieve this? You keep training the same, for the most part. Smart training during a diet
is very similar to smart training during the off-season. We will say it again: what built the muscle, will
keep the muscle! Yep, that means deloads, progressive overload, volume/frequency/intensity considerations, easier weeks, harder weeks, the whole lot! Don’t lose sight of the basics. At the start of a prep
you are eating more food than compared to the end of a prep. This doesn’t mean you should train more,
it actually means you can, and maybe should train less. Not stop altogether, just a bit less. Training still
must be hard, heavy and progressive enough to keep all the hard-earned muscle so that you can step on
stage looking peeled, not skinny.
Why would you do less training at the start? Because you don’t need to do more. Just because you can,
doesn’t mean you should. Because you have just finished an off-season, you’re carrying at least a moderate level of body-fat. You’ve also just finished completing a low-volume Primer-Phase, which lets
your newly earned muscle “settle into” your body and increase your sensitivity to high-volume training.
Combine this with very little cardio and still a moderate amount of food, you’re at very little risk of
muscle loss in these early stages. So you cash in on that. Towards the end of a prep you’ll have very
little body-fat, have been doing high volume training for an extended period of time, you’ll be fatigued,
eating very little food and likely be doing a ton of cardio, and you know what that means? That’s a very
catabolic state for your beloved muscle. In order to preserve it and give it every possible reason to stick
around and stay, we must do high-volumes of training during that time. Muscle is a luxury, we don’t
get to keep it for free, it has a cost. During a surplus, when you have plenty of body fat, lower physiological stress and you’re doing very little aerobic exercise (cardio), you can keep muscle quite easily
with just a few moderately hard sets per week for each body part. However, the end of a contest prep
is a very different kettle of fish. Therefore, we essentially must be training as much as we can possibly
sustain and recover from in the last weeks if we want to have any chance of keeping our myofibrillar tissue. We know that we have a ceiling we are working towards; and we know that training must
progress (due to the law of accommodation/diminishing returns) so we need to leave enough room to
progressively overload without reaching our ceiling and burning out too early.
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Thus, the logical reason is to start at the floor. Not in the basement, that would be too little training
and you’d end up losing muscle - you still must be in the right area.
What are indications that your training is in the right area? Slight soreness when you squeeze a muscle
that lasts 1-2 days, RPE’s of around 7-9 on average, training that is challenging but has room to progress across the weeks and months as well as just generally not leaving you feeling too beat up. Now,
let us be clear, you must train hard… But you shouldn’t be overreached and have aching joints within
a month. This is the benefit of a Primer Phase before you start your actual pre-competition diet and
training; you’ve reduced the amount of training you need to do in order to have a beneficial impact. A
slight increase in training volume from your Primer Phase (which then continues to slowly increase
over the following micro and mesocycles) will be enough to keep your muscle and make sure body-fat
is what is being oxidised for fuel.
Cardio
Yep, unfortunately, the time has come… The dreaded C-word.
Cardio is the bane of most gym-goer’s existence. While runner’s get addicted to the “high” of endorphins and the elation that follows hard aerobic training, odds are if you’re considering a bodybuilding
contest prep, then you much prefer the anaerobic (size, strength, speed, power) side of the metabolic
equation, and thus, cardio is more-or-less a “drainer”.
In keeping with the theme of this section, where the goal has been making fast progress and maximising our profit for minimal investment, cardio is no different. As with the training and nutrition
aspects, we must foresee what is to come and program for the current moment accordingly. Now,
many a coach considers this but doesn’t understand it in its entirety. In the beginning stages of a prep,
although you can make good fat-loss without cardio, it is our recommendation that you start implementing some, even in the beginning stages.
Why? Well, even though many like to consider cardio as an “ace up their sleeve”, it is our experience
that beginning to implement cardio towards the earlier stages of a prep has the greatest net-benefit, in
comparison to only using it later on. The reason that we recommend implementing cardio before it is
“necessary” is to 1) start creating the habit of performing cardio consistently, and 2) get an idea about
how concurrent resistance training and cardio impacts on your performance and recovery. (There is
also some other mechanistic rationale for performing more cardio at the start, such as higher levels
of aerobic fitness helping the body to oxidise fat as energy, as opposed to carbs, but that is beyond the
scope of this discussion. What we need to concern ourselves with athletes and coaches is how cardio
fits in the overall scheme of things. Save the metabolic-signalling, fuel-oxidation percentages and interference-effect implications to the first year sport-science students.)
To address point one first, as stated earlier, it is important to lay the foundation for habits that will be
integral for having a successful prep, prior to the habit actually being needed. For example, if you reach
a stage in your prep where you were required to increase cardio because you had stalled in losing bodyfat, then it’s much easier to get used to the idea of increasing cardio from some to more, than the idea
of going from none to some. Habits require less willpower to uphold than they do to create, so taking
advantage of this during the early stages of prep is paramount. You do not want to find yourself in a
position towards the later stages of your prep when will-power is low, energy is low, food is low but
your weight has stalled and you have to amp yourself up just to do incline walking on a treadmill for
30 minutes.
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Remember; motivation is fleeting and nothing of importance should use motivation as a foundational
factor to success. Dedication on the other hand, that’s something you can rely on. Dedication is what
comes after motivation has faded, it the upholding of a habit based on whether you feel like it or not.
Dedication is the slow but steady cousin of motivation. It takes a little while longer to get to know,
you don’t just hit it off as you do with motivation, but it sticks around when the going gets tough and
keeps you accountable. Unlike motivation who is a real push-over when it comes down to the crunch.
So building the habit and being dedicated to your cardio from the beginning can make it much easier
to continue upholding cardio requirements towards the end of your prep. The key is just doing enough
to create the habit and allow weight-loss to progress at the right pace. Don’t do ALL the cardio just
for the sake of it. Again, why you ask? Because of the second point. Regardless of how you view it,
cardio is physically tiring. Not always to the point where you just want to crawl up into a ball and sleep
afterwards, but tiring nonetheless. The degree to which cardio physically tires you is intensity and duration dependent (among other factors). Whichever way you slice it though, cardio is physical activity
and activity requires energy and creates fatigue by-products. This is a useful thing when trying to burn
body-fat, however, we can quickly run into recovery problems if it is used unwisely.
Why is recovery such a concern when discussing cardio? Because as stated above, cardio requires
energy and energy fuels recovery (and pretty much everything else). Ok fine, so what if we replaced
some of the energy we burned during cardio by eating some more food? It would reduce the size of
our calorie deficit and thus result in less fat burned, but it would improve our recovery, right? Maybe to
a degree, but although we can replace calories, we can’t replace time.
Time, what has that got to do with it you ask? Time is also a component of recovery, not just nutritional substrates. For example, let’s say you workout for an hour at 8 am each morning. This gives you
essentially 23 hours of recovery time. Now let’s say you do an hour of cardio that afternoon and burn
300 calories. Even if you eat an additional 300 calories, you still lost an hour of your recovery time.
What this boils down to, is even you trained upper-body that morning and for cardio, you’re walking
and using your legs, the cardio is still pulling glucose and amino acids away from the recovering musculature that needs them and diverts them to where they are currently needed. The body will always
prioritise the immediate stress over recovery/adaptation to a previous one. This effectively puts a pause
on the recovery for your upper-body workout. Once the cardio is over, the body can get back to helping to promote recovery and adaptation wherever it is required in the body, but it simply won’t prioritise recovery and adaptation while activity is being performed.
You could think of it like this:
Back in evolutionary times, if you had got into a fight with a warrior from a neighbouring tribe in the
morning, while you had been out foraging for berries, and this fight had resulted in lots of mechanical
and metabolic stress to your musculature (because you literally had to wrestle for your life), this would
result in a large recovery-adaptation process within your muscles. Our biology is mostly concerned
with keeping us alive, so it will help generate adaptations to make you bigger and stronger, in order to
help better fight off threats in the future. Now, if that afternoon you were out trying to catch some fish
to feed yourself with (because your berry-foraging got interrupted), and out of nowhere a bear snuck
up on you and started attacking, meaning you had to now run for your life from this bear. In this instance, the body is going to divert all it’s resources it can to fuel the current physical activity and ensure
you escape the threat of the attacking bear. It will not prioritise growing bigger and stronger muscles
so you can fight off threats tomorrow or next week because that won’t even matter if you don’t survive
the current bear attack. This is essentially how our biology/body works. It deals with “threats” in a very
short-term manner.
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You might want your biceps to recover and grow, but if you keep doing too many other activities then
the body will prioritise them, and you won’t maximise recovery.
The second reason that cardio can interfere with recovery and adaptation from previous stimuli is
that they require differing pathways on a very fundamental level. Recovery, adaptation and growth are
anabolic processes. This essentially means that they build something complex, from simpler ingredients
and this process requires energy. In the case of muscle recovery and growth, the anabolic process is
taking amino acids from the bloodstream and using them to construct complex muscle proteins (myosin and actin), or taking glucose from the bloodstream and using it to create glycogen.
On the other hand, physical activity requires energy, and the body finds energy through catabolic processes. As you’d imagine, catabolic processes are the complete opposite of their anabolic counterparts.
Catabolic processes are ones that break apart something complex into simpler units, and this results in
the release of energy.
In gym-lore, catabolism is thought of as the devil’s work and must be avoided at all costs, because
breaking down muscle proteins in order to release amino acids for energy is the opposite of what most
gym-goers wish to achieve. However, anabolism and catabolism cannot be thought of in such a binary
manner. Not everything that promotes anabolism is good and not everything that causes catabolism
is bad. Yes, cardio promotes catabolism, but fat-burning is a catabolic process, just as fat-storage is an
anabolic process. Understanding this can help prevent falling victim to silly supplements that claim to
increase anabolism by 200% when in reality they are just loaded with calories and fat.
Now that you have a solid understanding of the ways in which activity and adaptation have conflicting
interests, we can start to consider their implications to a contest prep. By implementing cardio towards
the beginning of the prep, not only do we tap into the psychological benefits of maintaining a habit as
described above, we also can mitigate some of the negative physiological implications that cardio can
have also. The conflicting processes and “pause” that cardio can put on recovery may seem like a small
consideration in isolation, but their significance can add up to substantial impacts. Consider a typical
contest prep athlete who is weight-training hard 4-6 times a week and likely performing a similar
number of cardio sessions, all while eating in a calorie deficit. Even if we took cardio out of the equation, a contest prep inherently means that you are using more than what you’re taking in, which makes
recovery a fine line to walk. Then you add cardio into the equation, which puts a halt on recovery for
multiple occasions a week, and now you are running out of resources and time in order to recover from
your leg session on Monday before you have to train legs again on Thursday! This is why it requires
forethought and planning.
Time and time again, we have seen athletes/coaches who have held off using cardio until the last few
weeks/months of a prep when it is “needed”. However, when cardio is implemented at this point when
the athlete is in a very fragile and depleted state, it can completely exceed recovery capacities, training
performance then plummeting and resulting in muscle loss. This is NOT what you want! By utilizing
cardio earlier in your contest prep, you build the habit, allow the body time to adjust physiologically,
understand how it affects your recovery, find where it fits best into your schedule and commitments as
well as avoid the traps of leaving it too late, getting behind on leanness and then needing to increase it
drastically, in the end, resulting in the feeling of panic and muscle loss.
Contest prep is not something to be trifled with and it can go haywire very quickly without the appropriate planning. A contest prep should be considered much in the same way that a pilot must take
their job very seriously when landing a plane. Otherwise, the consequences can be dire.
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Up until this point, you’ve learned how to set yourself up for a smooth ride and give yourself a great
chance of landing the plane. This is what we consider getting out of the gates fast. Essentially, you
shouldn’t encounter too many difficulties during this phase, if you’re smart about it. Provided you get
your rate of loss taken care of, start building habits and have a good “balance” with your intake, macros,
training volume and cardio, then you’ll be all sweet! Read on though, as this is when the going really
gets tough. It makes or break now. Will it be a smooth landing or are you going to divebomb, crash
and burn? Of course, you won‘t, because you’ve got this book to guide you!
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Welcome to the digging phase!
After coming out of the gates fast and building momentum through initial phases of the contest prep,
you are no doubt well and truly on your way to being ready for the stage. By this point, you will be
feeling and looking more and more like a bodybuilder each day. However, as you enter the ‘Digging
Phase’, the real work is about to begin - so get ready.
If fitting into your off-season clothing is now a thing of the past, your underwear annoyingly sliding
down your waist and you look as though you don’t even lift, it’s highly likely you are already digging or reaching for that shovel at least.
Before we dive into this chapter, we need to first recognise that for most divisions (excluding bikini or
beach model divisions), the standard of conditioning (leanness) required to be competitive at all levels
of competition (novice, open, pro) has risen significantly over the past decade. For example, 10 years
ago, a line or two in your butt and some feathering in the quads and victory at the pro level would be
all but a guarantee. Fast forward to 2019 and even if your butt resembles a walnut and your striations
have striations, there is no guarantee of winning as nearly all competitors are displaying a physique of
similar quality.
What this means is that competitors are required to get leaner than ever before. The implications of
this are that if you wish not only compete, but excel on show day, you must take your body to unforgiving places to achieve such low body fat percentages. Peeling back the final few layers of body fat when
you’ve removed the ‘fluff ’ is what we call digging.
In essence, digging has 2 metaphorical derivatives:
You are digging through the final layers of body fat, searching for gold (your target physique and look on stage); and
2. You are digging deep mentally, otherwise known as the grind or embracing the suck.
This is the overwhelming feeling of being physically and psychologically worn down.
1.
Put simply, the ‘digging’ phase begins when athletes endure a combination of extreme relative weight
loss and long periods of energy restriction. What many of you will now (or soon) experience are the
adverse side effects of getting peeled and will thus need to dig.
As we mentioned in the foreword and early chapters of this book, contest prep is physically and mentally demanding and these challenges manifest themselves more than ever in the digging phase, which
is why we have allocated an entire chapter to address the unique obstacles and situations you may face
when nearing stage levels of conditioning.
Digging for gold: A useful analogy
As we mentioned, this phase is akin to digging for gold. The soil (fat) near the surface is soft and easy
to break down, requiring nothing more than a shovel and some effort (diet & training). As you dig
deeper and deeper towards the gold, the soil becomes firmer, more difficult to remove and the risk of
the walls and structures around you collapsing only increases the deeper you dig. The longer you dig,
the more fatigued you become and the greater the likelihood of burning out or giving up.
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That is not to say that you can’t dig to find gold and reveal your best condition on stage, it just takes a
little more know-how and as you already know, some serious mental toughness. How to know if you
are digging? Hunger, lethargy, low motivation, decreased strength and irritability are by-products of
energy restriction and weight loss. However, the severity of these side effects increases dramatically
when you are digging. So much so that for many mere mortals, they are unbearable and often compromise the individual’s health, well-being and ability to adhere and execute their plan.
The exact time frame at which competitors experience the onset of and heightened severity of these
side-effects is highly variable and relative to each athlete. For example, some individuals experience
extreme hunger after just a few weeks of dieting or when losing only a few kilograms, whereas others
may not experience any hunger until they have been dieting for months and are nearly stage ready. The
point we want to illustrate here is that when assessing whether or not you are digging is highly individual.
That being said, we have pieced together some criteria you can use to assess whether or not you are
truly digging. See below:
>5% of body weight lost
2. >10 weeks of energy restriction
3. >20% reduction in calories since the start of prep
4. >20% increase in daily energy expenditure (or cardio) since the start of prep
1.
If you met ¾ of the above criteria, the likelihood that you are experiencing the side-effects of contest
prep are quite high and thus you will typically be within or encroaching on the digging phase. If you
are regularly receiving praise and comments on your new found conditioning at the gym, struggling to
get a full night sleep without running to the toilet to pee and your emaciated frame is leading friends
and family to think you have picked up a drug habit, then these are also great indications you’re digging.
The reason that this phase requires additional attention and consideration is due to the implications
that getting leaner and leaner has on metabolic and hormonal adaptations. The body is quite a thrifty
organism and has a number of inbuilt defence mechanisms to prevent further weight loss and promote
fat gain. Consequently, these adaptations pose a number of challenges for athletes when seeking to
lose further fat-tissue. Thus this phase of the prep requires a little more nuance in the diet and training strategies used. Failing to recognise and understand the physiological and psychological changes
that occur in this phase could be the difference between athletes excelling on stage or burning out and
compromising their stage day physique.
Fat Loss 101
Before we go any further, it’s important to note that there are many misconceptions about what it
takes to reach extremely low levels of body-fat and lose the final few layers of adipose tissue. Firstly,
there is no ‘advanced’, ‘magical’ or ‘ entirely scientific’ diet or training approach required to lose fat. Energy balance is still the number one factor in determining changes in fat tissue and resistance training
the most potent stimulus for muscle retention. Take care of this and you’re off to a great start.
The key to continually liberating and removing fat tissue is sustaining an energy deficit (Energy IN <
Energy OUT) through diet and cardio.
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With this in mind, it is no surprise that athletes and coaches search for miracles during the deep stages
of prep in a bid to accelerate fat loss. The leaner an athlete becomes and the longer they diet, creating
an energy deficit becomes all the more difficult. Calorie requirements will be lower than ever before
and cardio/activity levels only climbing higher. Therefore, to achieve further fat loss in this phase, the
same, boring principles of thermodynamics and energy balance apply. The difficulty now is sustaining
that energy deficit - but more on that shortly.
This is hardly comforting news, but that is the harsh reality of digging and losing body fat. This phase
requires hard work and plenty of it. Mental fortitude, being able to fight of cravings, ignore hunger,
drag your tired and depleted butt to the gym when motivation hits rock bottom and drown out that
little voice in your head that is telling you to give up, are all necessary if you wish to defy the evolutionary odds and dig your way towards a stage-winning physique.
Consider this your warning - this phase isn’t for the or the uncommitted. However, if you’ve come
this far, you’ve very likely got the commitment it takes. The reward this phase presents, if it’s successfully overcome, is like none other - and the comforting news is that it really can be done, it won’t last
forever (even if it feels like it will). If being the best version of yourself on stage and achieving head
turning conditioning is your goal, now is the time to dig deep and prepare for battle. Unless of course,
you prefer to be just another body covered in tan under bright lights...
Embrace the suck
Before we get into decision making, measurements and adjusting calorie and activity, it is imperative
we address mindset. As you are likely aware, this phase doesn’t sound all that great. This is where the
beast of suffering lurks, and he’s hungry, just like you. But you’re not entirely unprepared - you’ve done
the groundwork in previous dieting phases and hopefully built a foundation of habits and systems to
manage your diet, cardio and training. Whilst having structure and systems will help automate the
execution of your plan, now is the time when your internal dialogue and external feelings will threaten
your adherence and ability to action the plan. It’s now time to batten down the hatches and get ready
for what is potentially going to be the most challenging period of your adult life and without a doubt
the hardest phase of your contest prep journey.
We will say it again: It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.
Sure, it would be nice if there was an easy route to getting in contest shape - but if there was, everyone
would be a competitive bodybuilder, right? The difficult requirements is what makes something worthy
of respect, and what separates those on stage and those who don’t make it is typically what lies between the ears. And whilst your mindset will be key during this phase, it’s important to remember that
further fat loss will require you to spend more time at an energy deficit, period. There are no special
foods you need to eat, cardio protocols or strategies you need to employ like drinking alkaline water,
fat loss pills or high rep training to etch in the details. Whilst your diet may get more and more bland
to make the most of your lowered calorie intake and cardio will certainly be higher than previous
phases, what will allow you to continually dial in your conditioning is eliciting a high degree of restraint. Learning to deal with increasing levels of hunger and fatigue is a must, and thus you must put
on your big boy/girl pants and demonstrate a high degree of grit. More than you have exerted in any
other dieting phase.
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To summarise, let’s quickly outline what you need to do in order to continually lose body fat, bring in
new striations and cuts, and to reach the level of conditioning required for your division, and why we
called this section embracing the suck.
You must:
»» Create a calorie deficit when your calorie intake is already low and activity levels high which sucks; and
»» Sustain the calorie deficit when hunger and fatigue are highest and when your rate of fat
loss becomes progressively slower and more difficult - which also sucks.
The easy route is to complain and whine about your situation, pursue short term pleasures or seek
refuge in comfort and convenience. Giving in to what is ‘easy’ will only make things harder, and we
guarantee that it won’t help you achieve your goals. So, save the little energy you have left and use it
to embrace the suck. You have to be a little twisted to get in true contest condition, which is why you
must welcome all of the unpleasantries during this phase, such as eating less food, performing more
cardio, posing when tired, training when fatigued etc. Greatness in bodybuilding doesn’t look or feel
normal and is best obtained with a little crazy.
If you wish not only to survive this phase but thrive and give yourself every opportunity possible to
reach your potential come show day, then you must first shift your perspective and reframe your mindset.
Be comfortable feeling uncomfortable and accept all that lies ahead.
Learning to rephrase your words and keep your emotions in check will go a long way in helping you
manage your mindset through this phase and will enable you to minimise and overcome negativity,
self-doubt and the physical pain you experience. This negative description and framing of an athletes
language, as benign as it may seem on the surface, can in many cases minimise the desire to behave
and make choices in accordance with the actions required to create an energy deficit. Instead, deliberately phrasing choices with a positive or at least neutral connotation can yield a significantly improved
desire and motivation to pursue a certain action or reduce the perceived unpleasantness of a behaviour.
For example
»» “I can’t eat this now, I’m sick of X food” >>> “I’m choosing to eat X food now as it better aligns with my goals”,
»» “I can’t be bothered with cardio” >>> “Cardio is a great opportunity to have some time
alone, reflect and listen to my favourite song, podcast or audiobook”
»» “I can’t be bothered with cardio” >>> “My calories have been lowered as this is what is
required for me to achieve my goal”
Remember that bodybuilding is a choice and when we choose to compete we not only choose to
radically transform our physical appearance but the incumbent trade-offs and side-effects. The suck
of prep is a choice and is something you must take full responsibility and ownership of. It is not your
friends, partner, family members or training partners choice, it is yours.
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Whilst awareness of the challenges ahead is one thing, preparation and execution are another. We
cannot stress enough the importance of preparing yourself for this period of physical and mental
discomfort. Resilience to negativity and the endurance of pain or hardship without overtly displaying
feelings and without complaint (stoicism) are characteristics that you must embody during this leg of
your dieting phase. This is the epitome of embracing the suck. It is not only the recognition and acceptance of your choice to compete and but the willingness to endure everything that comes with contest
prep such as giving up food, energy, performance, sleep, socialising and many other aspects of ‘normalcy’ within your life. Keeping the goal the goal is critical during this phase, and it is likely that you
will need to exert a tremendous amount of effort to say no. Not just to eating out or having a piece of
cake, but to all of the internal cues your body signals to reduce your activity levels and increase energy
intake. This mental and cognitive effort should not only be practised when others are watching but also
in private. Although this phase will elicit a number of less than desirable feelings, keep in mind that
discomfort is a sign of stress, and with stress comes change. The further you take your body far away
from its happy place and the more you feel the suck, the greater the likelihood that fat loss is occurring
and you are getting closer to your goals. This is what digging is all about - digging your way through
the suck to reach new levels of leanness come show day.
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of this phase, we must remind you again that the suffering won’t
last forever. There will only be a few weeks, potentially months that this phase will last before it’s an all
too distant memory. The remainder of this chapter will provide you with a better understanding of why
you are experiencing these particular sensations of discomfort, how this impacts your diet and training and what you can do about it. The strategies we outline will hopefully arm you with the weapons
necessary to combat the enemy ahead - the beast of suffering. If you stand tall, puff your chest out and
willingly grapple with the beast that lurks before you, we assure you that elation, pride and gratitude
awaits you on the other side.
Are you ready?
Primer on Body Fat Settling Point Theory
Before we outline the sexy stuff (optimal training and dieting strategies) let’s quickly run through
some foundational human physiology first that is highly relevant to this phase - body-fat settling-point theory.
This section will give you a basic understanding of the body-fat settling-point theory and the metabolic/hormonal adaptations that arise when we stray too far from home. The aforementioned will hopefully help you better understand:
»»
»»
»»
»»
Why the rate of fat loss slows and stalls arise
How to optimise diet and training strategies when body fat %s are low
Why this phase is much harder when compared to previous dieting phases
What to expect when digging and how to manage the challenges ahead.
The human body is one of the most responsive and adaptive organisms on the planet. No matter what
stressors you place on the body - whether it be induced via diet, training or cardio, the body has inbuilt
defence mechanisms to preserve itself and uphold its biological goal - homeostasis, which prolongs
survival.
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Relevant to a contest prep, when calorie-intake and body-fat percentages decrease over the course of
months, the total energy available within the body (calorie intake and stored energy) is below what the
body requires to maintain a state of equilibrium (homeostasis).
Any stimuli that alters physiology beyond homeostatic ranges is perceived as a threat to survival. In
response to such threatening conditions, the body will undergo a cascade of adaptations and alter its
biochemistry to prevent further stress or at least cope with prior stressors. For physique competitors,
this means fat loss beyond a certain point feels like a direct threat to survival and the body adapts to
make further fat loss difficult by ramping up hunger, decreasing expenditure and utilising consumed
energy more efficiently.
A simple way to understand how the body responds and adapts in response to stress is sun exposure.
Upon first exposure to the sun’s UV rays for too long, the magnitude of the stimulus is new and the
skin not yet adapted to deal with the amount of UV radiation placed on the skin. If exposure exceeds
adapted levels, the skin cells become damaged and burnt. However with rest and recovery, the skin
alters its pigmentation in order to cope with the stress of the UV rays it was previously exposed to, and
you get a nice tan. Here, your skin has gone through the adaptation process, altering its biochemical
makeup in response to a stress in order to prevent further harm. This adaptation process occurs in all
physiological functions of the structures within the body, such as fat cells. The body responds in a similar nature when we create an energy imbalance and eat less than our body needs to maintain itself. The
stress of energy restriction leads to a loss in body mass, resulting in a number of physiological changes
that aim to prevent further weight-loss. The body will the production of certain energy costly systems
such as reproductive hormones and alter your calorie expenditure in your daily activities to preserve
energy. Similarly, the body will upregulate other systems that will increase the likelihood of energy
being consumed, such as heightened senses and increased feelings of hunger and decreasing satiation.
This is the bodies way of preserving itself in response to a fat-loss diet and the body is very crafty when
it comes to energy-balance and rather frugal in its attempts to conserve energy - remember the thermostat analogy in chapter 1?
Why do you need to know this?
The human body engages in all of these adaptation processes to preserve itself and maintain survival, and aims to keep your body fat within a range that allows for adequate function, preservation of
the system and future procreation of the human race. Therefore, understanding this concept and how
human physiology responds to prolonged periods of energy restriction can provide a framework for
strategies athletes and coaches can use to defy physiology, temporarily.
Dr Eric Helms states that:
“It is important to understand that there will be a point in which prep gets harder in a disproportionate way compared to previous „phases“, and that this likely has to do with pushing well below
your „settling range“.
With this in mind, the body-fat settling-point theory not only illustrates why fat-loss becomes
increasingly more difficult the leaner an individual becomes, but also why staying below your ‘settling-point’ range for long durations post contest is not advisable. Body-fat settling theory also explains how all athletes have a weight ‘range’ their body tends to want to stay at and maintain – i.e.
body-fat happy-land.
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As you would expect, there is an inherently large degree of individual variation as it relates to the
body-fat settling-point range and the resulting body fat percentage that is maintainable within this
range. This is why some athletes can maintain considerably lean physiques year round without any
negative effects and why other athletes struggle to maintain visible abs without excessive hunger or
lethargy. An individuals settling-point range can be easily identified as the range of body fat that can
be maintained without experiencing any extreme or dire metabolic or cognitive ‘pushback’ - no hunger,
no lethargy, no loss in libido, a stable mood etc.
This theory is relevant to this phase as ‘digging’ simply means an athlete must continue to create a calorie deficit and lose fat below their settling point range and encounter the ‘pushback’ that comes with
threatening homeostasis. As an athlete digs deeper and deeper in pursuit of paper-thin skin, continually lowering calories and increasing energy expenditure no longer yields the same magnitude of effect.
This is due to the aforementioned defence mechanisms within the body as it aims to prevent further
loss of fat-mass and begins to fight harder and harder to maintain its preferred state of equilibrium.
Unfortunately for physique athletes, the body isn’t too interested in improving aesthetics or how many
fibres within the triceps you can see. Rather, the body is only concerned with surviving, reproducing
and passing on your genetic material.
Let’s reiterate that point one more time.
In terms of evolutionary biological priorities, the list goes something like this:
Preservation of self & current genetic material (food, water, shelter, warmth, rest)
2. Continuation of genetic material (reproduction)
1.
Striated glutes, pro cards, first place trophies and social media glory… Not on the list. As we mentioned in chapter one, there are a number of very real and common ‘side effects’ when below one’s
settling point. In this chapter we will tackle how you can ‘dig’ your way to the required level of leanness
for your division and navigate the suck and as Natural Pro bodybuilder Alberto Nunez says:
“the goal is to lose it, without ‘losing’ it”
See the next table for an outline of what to expect in the digging phase and what to do about it...
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Symptoms
Chapter 4
Cause
Action Points
Insatiable Hunger
Production of the hunger
hormone Ghrelin increases
»» Create a consistent meal structure and schedule
»» Reduce consumption of hyperpalatable (‘tasty’) foods
»» Opt for high volume, energy sparse foods such as massive
salads.
»» Increase protein intake to upper limit (~2.5-3g per kg)
»» Increase fiber intake
»» Increase water intake
»» Consume caffeine between meals
Brain Fog, Lack
of concentration,
comprehension and
judgment capabilities
Decreased cognitive function due to lower energy
intake/availability
»» Identify the periods of the day you feel most ‘energetic’.
»» Plan tasks that require the most amount of mental effort and
focus to be undertaken during these times.
»» Consume a meal around tasks/times that you require cognitive function without compromising adherence or performance.
Lethargy
Lower energy levels during
times of fasting due to low
energy intake/availability
»» Rest and nap when possible to improve energy levels.
»» Wear a fitbit or activity tracking device to monitor daily step
count to ensure NEAT isn‘t reduced and TDEE remains as
constant as possible.
Extreme Cold
Reductions in body fat
lead to decreases in body
temperature
»»
»»
»»
»»
Low Libido
Reductions in sex hormone
secretion due to lowered
body fat and energy availability
»» Open communication with partners or those affected by your
sex life about the potential loss of libido.
»» Make it up to them before/after the contest prep.
»» Plan date nights and dedicate time and effort towards your
partner.
High Food Focus
A survival mechanism to
increase energy intake
»» Stay occupied and keep yourself busy during the day.
»» Implement stress management strategies to minimise fatigue
that could lead to poor decision making (see stress management strategies below)
»» Engage in extracurricular activities that don’t involve exposure
to food.
Mood Disturbance &
Altered Personality
Semi starvation can lead
to irritability and changes
in personality.
»» Recognise the type of changes you experience in your mood
e.g. frustration, short temper, anti-social behaviour etc.
»» Explain to your friends/family what you are experiencing and
that it won’t last forever.
»» Try your best to address any mood alterations and stay calm.
»» Start a daily gratitude journal
Constipation
A potential side effect of
low calorie, high fiber/
volume diets
»» Ensure water intake is high, approx 0.5-1L per 10kg
»» Monitor fiber intake.
Loss Of Menstrual
Cycle
During chronic periods
of energy restriction, low
body fat and high activity,
females can experience
ammonheria
»» Consult an endocrinologist and communicate with your
coach as to how you this impacts you.
»» Include periods at maintenance calories e.g. refeeds and diet
breaks
Wear multiple layers of clothing
Drink warm/hot fluids such as tea and coffee
Keep the home environment heated.
Spend extra time warming up before training
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Self Doubt
As body image focus
increases, insecurities
may arise e.g. feeling too
small/skinny or too fat/
not lean enough
»»
»»
»»
»»
Light-Headedness
(Hypotension)
Lower blood pressure is
experienced during long
periods of energy restriction
»» Avoid standing up too quickly.
»» Drink more water
Joint Soreness
Loss of fat tissue can
reduce joint lubrication,
leading to ‘stiffness’ and
‘soreness’ in joints during
training.
»» Ensure fatigue management strategies are in place - deloads,
rest days, days off.
»» Spend more time warming up prior to training to increase
body temperature
»» Increase number of warm up/feel sets
»» Prioritise rehab/recovery strategies such as stretching/SMR/
massage/active recovery
»» Potentially select exercises that are more ‘joint’ friendly.
»» Supplement with fish oil, to equal 2-3g combined EPA/DHA
Poor Sleep Quality
Survival mechanism to
increase energy intake
»» Prioritise sleep hygiene (everything related to your nighttime
routine and sleeping conditions)
»» Aim for 8-9 hours per night
»» Nap if necessary, provided it doesn’t hinder night time sleep
quality
»» Avoid exposure to electronics or bright lights 30 minutes prior
to sleep.
»» Avoid consuming liquids 1-2 hours before going to bed.
»» Create a pre-sleep ritual, aiming to get into bed at the same
time each night.
»» Ensure your bedroom is cool, dark and comfortable.
»» Only use your bedroom for sleep and sex (if at all).
»» Bias carbohydrates towards evening (if macronutrient targets
permit).
»» Supplement with 500mcg-1mg of melatonin
»» Wear UV blocking goggles prior to sleep.
Decreased Performance
Lower mechanical force
production due to changes in glycogen stores,
body weight & ATP
»» Adjust expectations of strength abilities (temporarily)
»» Prioritise training effort and session quality
»» Alter exercise selection (machines/isolation work) to ensure
sufficient training volume/intensity is upheld.
»» If time permits, split training sessions into AM/PM workouts.
»» Consume 3-5mg caffeine pre workout
»» Consume 25% of carbohydrates 1-2 hours pre workout
»» Supplement with Creatine Monohydrate 3g/day or 5g/
workout
»» Supplement with Beta alanine 4g/day
»» Supplement with Citrulline Malate 6-8g/day
Don’t panic.
Stay objective and listen to your coach or support network.
·Avoid comparisons and excessive social media use.
Record positive affirmation journal
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Action Point
Stop reading and record which symptoms you are experiencing. Aim to implement just one
‘What To Do’ strategy for each over the coming week and check back to see whether or not
it helped. Remember, these some or all of these symptoms may present themselves at various stages during this phase. Embrace them as they come, and realise that what you are
feeling now is only temporary.
Advice From Luke Thornton Physique Pro:
“Welcome the digging phase, folks.
The lights will be on, but nobody will be home. This phase is designed to ‘empty the bucket’ and
trust me, you will at some point look like a dementor from Harry Potter. Your movement will resemble that of a zombie from the walking dead and as you endure this phase, your physical, emotional and cognitive functions will decline. Do you notice the constant movie references? Well that’s
because its all you’ll want to do by the time you reach the end of this phase.
With this in mind, prepare for the worst, but aim to be your best and embrace the suck. Ensure you
start to implement strategies and structures to help you through and become a creature of routine,
ticking the necessary boxes in a manner that is as regular as breathing.”
Many of the above ‘symptoms’ of prep may present themselves and make holding the calorie deficit
harder, and thus digging to your goal show day physique all the more arduous. However, incorporating
the proposed solutions to each of these challenges will hopefully assist you through this phase. Beyond
managing the side effects of being below your body-fat settling-point range, there are 7 key factors
that will be discussed in this chapter that will largely influence your success not only in this phase but
also on stage
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Measurements & Assessments;
Decision Making - making the right call
Dietary adherence & reporting
Diet sustainability tools;
Developing structure & routine;
Training for muscle retention
Psychological fatigue - stress and sleep management
Lets ‘dig’ into things…
Measurements & Assessments
What gets measured, gets managed. There isn’t a time in a bodybuilding journey when measuring is as
crucial as it is now in the digging phase. However, measuring progress and changes in body composition during the digging phase isn’t as easy as the early phases of a prep. In fact, it is a lot more nuanced.
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There are a multitude of factors that contribute to changes in body composition, all of which need to
be tightly controlled and assessed. These factors include energy intake and expenditure, training performance, stress, mood, energy levels, sleep and health biomarkers to name a few. A handy concept
used in scientific domains to improve the accuracy of assessments is triangulation. This means that instead of using a single measurement tool, a number of testing methods are combined to bear upon the
assessment process and the outcomes it produces. This is how we recommend measuring contest prep.
We should adopt a multidimensional measurement approach to monitor athlete biofeedback rather
than using a single tool to assess progress.
The Physique Triad (see below) is a model that helps simplify the primary areas relevant to an athletes
contest prep - body composition, psychological/physical health/lifestyle as well as recovery and performance. Each of these facets are inextricably related - they all influence one another to varying degrees.
Prioritising one over another will come at the cost of improvement in another. For example, pursuing
extreme levels of leanness will impair psychological and physical health, lifestyle, recovery and performance. Conversely, emphasising recovery and performance may detriment body composition improvements - in the short term at least.
Each component of the triad will measure different things, those which are more directly influencing
changes in that domain. Therefore, we can incorporate this model to provide a holistic view of measuring an athlete’s progress and the relationship between each measurement method and their outcomes.
As you can see, the blue arrow is pointing towards body composition, as this is what we must prioritise
in a contest prep. Therefore, the variables that directly assess body composition and determine progress
in that regard, are the number one priority now. This is not to say that we ignore recovery/performance
or psychological/physiological health or lifestyle. Rather, it is time to bias our focus towards measuring fat loss, muscle retention and the overall look of a competitor as this is the primary domain we are
interested in for physique competitors in contest prep.
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Understanding Measurement Techniques
It is pivotal to be aware of the intended use, utility and inherent limitations of any measurement technique and the data it provides. The purpose of all measurement techniques is to obtain data, which can,
therefore, be analyzed to information and trends, thus we must be cognizant of the precision, accuracy
and degree of certainty of the tool we have chosen to utilise or our decision-making will be based on
erroneous evidence.
Take for example scale weight. Whilst a set of calibrated scales can indeed offer a reliable assessment
of total body mass, failing to control variables such as the time of weighing, calorie/fluid consumption,
voiding before weigh in or in the case of females, the menstrual cycle, can all significantly alter the
value obtained from a weigh in. Whilst ‘noise’ cannot be completely eliminated from a measurement
technique, controlling as many variables as possible to reduce output variation or confounding variables can increase the certainty and accuracy of a measurement technique. Although one data point
in isolation is indeed an outcome for assessment, the utility of a single data point is limited. To ensure
that the data you obtain via measurements is managed appropriately, you must understand the relationship between data, information, knowledge and wisdom. This is otherwise known as the DIKW
hierarchy.
A single piece of data is raw and exists alone. Data represents a fact, but in isolation has no connection
or relationship to anything else and very little meaning. Collecting data such as calorie intake specifies
nothing more than how much someone ate. Again, knowing this is useful, but is not useful without the
addition of a connection or link to another variable that has a relationship or causal effects - such as
carbohydrate intake and body weight.
The inclusion of another variable provides information. For example, if you eat fewer calories, the following day scale-weight will decrease. This highlights the relationship between calorie intake and body
weight.
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When information is collected over time, a pattern may arise. Multiple data points obtained between
two interrelated variables together can point in a certain direction, which enhances our understanding
of what is happening. This is knowledge. Understanding the relationship between variables and the
trends that occur when changing another allows us to know what will generally happen next with a
higher level of predictability. For example, eating fewer carbohydrates decreases total calorie intake and
eating fewer calories may lead to weight loss.
Wisdom embodies more than knowledge. It is an understanding of fundamental principles within the
body of knowledge that pertains to a certain thing. It is the basis for the knowledge being what it is,
why and how it came to be. Wisdom is all encompassing - it demonstrates an in-depth understanding
of the interactions of the mechanisms and factors that relate to why things happen the way they do.
For example, carbohydrates are a macronutrient that contributes 4 calories (a unit of energy) per gram
and also store ~3g water per gram. Reducing carbohydrate intake may lead to decreases in scale-weight
due to water loss, but not necessary fat-loss if energy intake exceeds energy expenditure. If decreasing
carbohydrate leads to a state of negative energy balance (daily calorie intake is less than total daily
energy expenditure) a calorie deficit is created. To bridge the calorie deficit, stored energy (in the form
of glycogen, fat or protein) can be utilised to bridge the energy gap. When a calorie deficit is sustained
over time combined with resistance training, it is highly likely fat mass will decrease and visual appearance improves. It is pertinent as a coach, or athlete, to climb towards wisdom and improve our management of knowledge.
Types of data
Whilst we have a number of tools to measure progress, not all tools provide the same type of data
which means that the same level of confidence and certainty in observing an outcome is dependent on
the type of data obtained.
These include:
»» Objective: observable and measurable data obtained through observation or testing methods.
»» Subjective: information from the athletes point of view (“symptoms” or other feelings)
»» Quantitative: relies primarily on numbers as the main unit of analysis.
»» Qualitative: relies primarily on words as its unit of analysis and its means of understanding
For example, when using visuals otherwise known as progress photos are objective and qualitative
measures whereas the scale is an objective and quantitative measure. As taking a photo to assess body
composition is unquantifiable and relies on the interpretation and description of observed changes,
the level of confidence and certainty that change has or has not occurred is low. This means that whilst
visuals are a useful tool for bodybuilders, the accuracy, certainty and potential error in observing such
measurements is significantly high and must be considered.
Nonetheless, we can counteract the inherent limitations in each measurement tool by adopting a multidimensional assessment of athletes biofeedback.
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Assessing Changes in Body Composition
Changes in body composition, primarily changes in fat-mass and lean-mass, are crucial in a contest
prep. Whilst DEXA is considered the gold standard of body composition assessments, it is not without its flaws and it should be known that the only true way to measure body-fat is through carcass
analysis. This means you would have to be dead so that all fat-tissue can be removed and weighed.
Therefore, we cannot directly measure body-fat in live humans and have to find a way to predict it.
Common measurement techniques include skinfolds, DEXA scan, bioelectric impedance analyzer,
scale weight, visuals and girth measurements. All of which, in isolation, are not necessarily the most
useful tool for physique competitors during this phase for reasons that are both obvious and not so
obvious. Let us explain why.
When electing to use any measurement tool, coaches and athletes must not only strive for optimal but
what is practical and pragmatic. What this means is that we should use measurement tools that the
athlete can afford, use regularly, are convenient, easy to use and also require little knowledge or skill
on the users behalf. Keep in mind that physique athletes are scored by judges based solely on their
aesthetics. It is imperative now to regularly assess the variables relevant in competitive bodybuilding
- the athletes visual appearance. Therefore, we need tools that allow us to detect changes in athletes
conditioning, that is their body fat, muscle mass, muscle fullness and overall ‘look’ to make certain that
competitors are making improvements in the key areas (primarily losing fat and maintaining muscle
mass) that will be critiqued by the judges on show day.
Although it’s nice to see a DEXA report with favourable changes in fat mass and lean mass or for
scale weight to drop, not only will this hold little weight in influencing outcomes in a show, but may
not provide an accurate representation of changes in body composition. The same can be said for all
measurement techniques that do not directly assess visual appearance.
Despite this being true, the subjective nature of visual assessments means that they too are limited in
the accuracy and certainty of changes in body composition and using visuals alone is risky business.
We do NOT advise to use or rely on visual assessments alone. Measurement tools such as the scales
(which should be used throughout the contest prep) as well as girth measurements are a good option,
as both methods are viable, objective and quantitative. These tools can reinforce visual assessments and
are also cheap and easy to use. Scale weight and girth measurements are also good proxies for changes
in body-mass when used correctly.
To labour the importance of getting your assessments prioritised correctly, remember that any measurement that is not directly how the competitor looks is secondary to visual assessments and a data
point in isolation will generally provide an arbitrary value that is of little relevance in the context of
bodybuilding.
At the end of the day, the result on stage is not predicated by a body-fat reading, total fat lost, the girth
of your waist or how much you lift. Oh, and vascularity holds a negligible degree of importance in
bodybuilding - even if it may earn you significant social media glory!
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It is important to keep the goal in mind. What matters most now is how you look aesthetically;
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Conditioning
Muscularity
Symmetry
Proportion
Stage presence
Therefore, during this phase, your number one priority is to make sure you’re continually making
strides in how you look. Avoid getting too caught up on the daily or weekly fluctuations in scale
weight, what matters most are the visuals - period. See below for the order of priorities in measurement tools during the digging phase.
Measurements Order of Importance:
Visuals
2. Scale Weight
3. Girth Measurements
1.
Visuals
Visual assessments either in person or via photos/videos are now the most important and relevant
measure of progress. When trying to lose fat, noticeable changes in appearance should be detectable
every 1-2 weeks, depending on the leanness of the individual. Deeper cuts, more visible muscle tissue,
new ‘lines’ and striations are evidence that the protocol is inducing an energy deficit and fat cells are in
fact reducing in size.
Whilst competitors will often become hyper-focused on their aesthetics during this phase, with regular body checking being commonplace, this does not qualify as a formal assessment. Formal visual
assessments are conducted in the same conditions and aim to provide an accurate representation of the
competitors physique.
Visuals require a full and complete evaluation of changes in body composition to help the coach ascertain whether or not the desired changes are occurring and at the appropriate rate. Formal assessments
should be conducted more regularly in this phase and we recommend formally assessing visuals 1-3x
per week with competitors and reported to the coach in athlete check-ins or updates.
Importantly though, the greater emphasis placed on visuals does not come without a cost. Athletes
can very easily become obsessive about their body, placing the utmost importance on it, evaluating
their appearance at an unhealthy frequency. This is, in fact, a key diagnostic criteria for eating disorders
and is not to be taken lightly. To a point, this is natural and necessary, however, the increased focus on
cosmetic appearance may lead competitors to assign their self-worth and success to their physique, all
of which can cause many adverse outcomes to not only the contest prep, but the athletes’ mental well
being and psychological health. It is necessary for physique athletes to adopt unhealthy dietary behaviours during a contest prep, but many ignore the implications that an extremely cosmetic orientated
sport has on body image.
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Although this phase requires an increase in both the emphasis and frequency placed on how a competitor looks, coaches are advised to explain to competitors the rationale behind this visual, ensuring that
the approach always considers the psychological state of the competitor and the potential for increased
risk of eating pathologies and body dysmorphia.
Finally, during the digging phase, when enduring prolonged periods of lower calorie/carbohydrate intake, it is inevitable that athletes will feel flat and depleted. Muscle bellies will be depleted of glycogen
(and the accompanying water), no longer ‘popping’, influencing how a competitor looks visually. This,
combined with the increased stress placed on the body via lower calorie intakes, increased activity and
stress as well as poor sleep or digestion may lead to water retention or oedema. These factors combined
may impair visual assessments and should be considered when using visuals to make decisions related
to diet/activity adjustments and providing athlete feedback.
How to take visuals
Gym selfies, using filters or finding incredible downlighting may help you improve your online following and boost your ego, but has very little use in detecting changes in one’s physique. Being structured
and systematic in visual assessments is critical to being able to accurately and reliably detect changes in
your body composition.
If your physique update photos are always taken at different times of the day, with different angles,
lighting or drastic changes in poses, it can make measuring progress very difficult. Given that visuals
are the number one priority in assessments during this phase, inconsistent and unreliable visuals can
cause serious complications.
Here is how to take honest and useful progress photos.
When
How
»» Take your progress pictures first thing in the morning before meals and after voiding.
»» As frequently as requested by your coach, typically 1-3x per week, with increased frequencies the closer you are to the stage.
Step 1.] Find a room in your house that has natural lighting.
Step 2.] Position the camera between you and the window.
Step 3.] Set the camera to hip height (not too low or too high)
Step 4.] Set the self-timer
Step 5.] Shoot - Capture photos of your front/side/back relaxed and take photos in your symmetry and mandatory poses.
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What to look for
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Pick specific sites on the athletes physique (typically stubborn areas)
Compare visuals against prior assessments
Assess changes in specific sites
Pay attention to muscle definition - look for new lines, cuts and striations as well as general changes in appearance.
Important considerations for visuals
»» Athletes will feel flat and depleted ( due to decreased muscle glycogen)
»» The increased stress + poor sleep may lead to water retention or oedema altering appearance and conditioning.
»» Keep this in mind when assessing visuals
»» Although these may confound measurements, they are byproducts of an energy deficit
and weight loss.
»» There will be a period of feeling/looking worse, but this is generally where the magic
happens.
Scale Weight
Why the scale is less important
Whilst the aforementioned points are reason enough to de-emphasise scale weight measurements,
there are other reasons that contribute to why scale weight changes must take a back seat to visual
assessments.
When a competitor has dieted for several months, losing a significant amount of body-fat and is relatively lean, there is less available energy stored in fat-cells. This not only makes extracting the energy
from fat cells will be harder, but there is also less fat that can be called upon to bridge the energy deficit meaning fat loss will be slower and the reductions in fat mass smaller. You now have less fat, so you
will lose less and lose it less frequently.
How much weight should a competitor lose in this phase?
A slower rate of loss is advisable for lean or extremely lean competitors due to the fact that there is
less available energy stored in fat-cells and to also minimise the likelihood of losing muscle tissue or
experiencing extreme hunger.
Lean individuals are at a greater risk of losing muscle-tissue as skeletal muscle is both energetically
costly to maintain compared to other tissue (such as fat) and is more preferable when fat mass reaches
extremely low levels, as occurs in this phase. Low body-fat levels trigger survival alarm bells, and thus
the body will prioritise preservation of fat to a greater degree. Therefore, dieting with aggressive calorie deficits (>15% below maintenance) will result in faster weight-loss, primarily from muscle-tissue,
which isn’t advisable - not to mention the accompanying metabolic pushback also.
Recommended scale weight loss: ~0.25-0.5% of body weight loss per week.
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How to use scale weight to assess changes in body composition:
Although scale weight measures total body mass and NOT the composition of weight, it is still a
useful tool for measuring changes in body composition when used correctly, and in combination with
visuals and girths. Whilst scale weight is less important than visual changes at this stage, it is still a
pivotal metric as it provides objective data, which is less susceptible to interpretation biases and thus
very useful to help inform the decision making process.
How to use scales appropriately
Scale weight measurements, like visuals, should be taken under the same conditions each day to minimise the potential for confounding variables to influence the readings. Competitors should use the
scales as follows in this phase:
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Weigh in daily;
In a fasted state;
After voiding (if possible);
Use the same scales;
Assess averages across the week/month to determine changes
In this phase, more so than previous ones, we recommend determining scale weight changes by comparing weekly averages. The reason changes in weekly averages are emphasised more in this phase is
because after losing significant amounts of weight, being relatively lean and enduring extreme levels
of physiological and psychological stress, there will be wild fluctuations in daily scale weight and more
data is required to detect actual trends.
In addition to the extreme conditions imposed on athletes during this phase, there are also a number
of variables that can influence scale weight readings which may mask or distort the accuracy and reliability of a single data point. While we have already outlined some of these variables in a prior section,
it is worth highlighting again the multitude of factors that can influence scale weight.
Factors that may impact daily scale weight readings are:
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Sodium intake;
Carbohydrate intake;
Fibre intake (including sugar alcohols)
Fluid intake
Calorie intake
Meal timing
Food volume and energy density
Sleep
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Stress
Activity type, duration and intensity
Energy expenditure
Menstrual cycle
Hormones
Medical conditions
Medication (such as birth control)
It is not unusual for competitors to see drastic increases/decreases from one day to the next during this
phase. This is normal and to be expected. Therefore, determining the weekly average of body weight
and comparing that value against previous weeks can cancel out the noise of the oscillations in weight
gain and loss that occurred during the week. This can be achieved by adding up the value for each day,
taking the sum of all daily weighs and dividing that value by seven.
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Example: In week 19, Competitor Tom had an average weight of 75.4kg
WEEK 20
• Monday: 75.2 (kg)
• Tuesday: 75.4 (kg)
• Wednesday: 75.0 (kg)
• Thursday: 75.2 (kg)
• Friday: 75.1 (kg)
• Saturday: 74.9 (kg)
• Sunday: 75.1 (kg)
75.2 + 75.4 + 75.0 + 75.2 +75.1 + 74.9 + 75.1 = 75.12kg (net change = -280g)
Using this method and comparing weekly averages to assess changes is very useful in this phase. Although a small absolute amount of scale weight loss, such as in the example above, may seem insignificant, remember that any decrease in body weight is, in fact, a relatively large change when considered
relative to total body mass and fat mass. For example, a competitor who weighs 90kg and loses 1kg
in a 7 day period has lost 1.1% of their body weight. If a competitor loses 1kg in a 7 day period and
weighs 60kg has lost 1.6% of their body weight. This is a significantly larger relative loss (50%) and
is why smaller reductions in body weight are still a great sign of progress as all changes are relative to
total body weight. Remember, a few hundred grams of scale weight loss can mean glute striations or a
soft butt and these small changes add up in a big way in lean individuals.
Girth Measurements
Girth measurements assess the circumference at standard anatomical sites around the body using a
tape measure. Although they can be a useful proxy for detecting changes in the size of a particular
area/site, they too are not scoring criteria in competition, so they must be considered accordingly.
Additionally, given that athletes may be experiencing changes in muscle glycogen stores when dieting
on low carbohydrate intakes and then re-feeding with high carbohydrate intakes, the size of muscle
may change enough to impact assessments. Frequent changes in glycogen stores via diet combined
with changes in activity levels may make the accuracy of girth measurements problematic.
*Note to competitors
We highly recommend hiring a coach to provide an objective and experienced assessment of changes in body composition during this phase. A coach (or at least a consultation) not only provides an
experienced eye to detect if progress is being made, but they will also have the ability to remain more
objective and critical, during a time when your own personal decision-making skills and rationality are
compromised. You can easily be fooled by what you think you see during a contest prep, which is why
knowledge of what to look for is not the only part of the equation. You must also possess the ability to
remove emotion and cognitive biases from altering the lense in which you perceive measurements and
make objective decisions which are informed by those measurements.
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Developing a critical eye
The ‘coaching eye’ is the intuitive ability to measure, assess and understand progress as a result of
knowledge and experience. It requires an above average ability to detect factors contributing to or preventing progress and making informed/appropriate decision(s) for the context.
Experience develops your ability to:
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Know which measurements are most relevant
Know the inherent flaws of each measurement tool
Know what to look for and how to detect changes
Know what the data means and how it affects decision-making
We recommend paying attention to assessments with a very critical eye and aiming to sharpen your
ability to detect and assess your own or your athlete’s physiques over time, to ensure you are better
informed when making-decisions.
Measuring Energy Balance
To successfully reach your target weight, body-fat percentage and look on stage, it is now, more than
ever, imperative to precisely measure, manage and control calorie intake and energy expenditure.
When doing this, we first look to the diet side of the energy balance equation, as it has the most precise control and affords us the highest degree of certainty in altering energy balance favourably in our
quest to lose fat tissue. Whilst a greater level of flexibility can be beneficial and indeed necessary in the
early phases of a contest prep to uphold adherence and ensure an athlete can stay the course of longer
contest prep diets, as body-fat is lost and you dig well below your settling point, we see more metabolic/hormonal pushback and creating a calorie deficit becomes all the more difficult. Therefore, to
ensure you are progressing and losing fat tissue at the desired rate, you must ramp up adherence to the
plan and exhibit a higher degree of control and accuracy in quantifying energy intake, irrespective of
the dietary method used. This is extremely necessary during the digging phase if you wish to progress,
control the rate of loss and ensure that you successfully remove the final few layers of fat tissue. Even
the smallest margin of error in calorie intake can all but negate the energy deficit and that’s certainly
not ideal for fat loss.
The less control you have over the many variables impacting energy balance and body composition,
such as diet, training, cardio, daily activity levels, sleep, stress etc, the more difficult it will be to assess
your response to the protocol, make informed decisions and manoeuvre your way to a stage-winning
physique. If progress is what you desire, then creating structure, implementing the plan consistently
and quantifying necessary variables is a must! You cannot manage what you do not measure, and being
too liberal with tracking key metrics in this phase will often lead to plateaus or regression.
The dimmer switch analogy
Imagine you are deep in a cave and you are searching for gold. You have just reached a crossroad and
are uncertain which passage to venture down. You are now so far deep into the cave that there is no
turning back. It’s pitch black, you can’t see a thing and you have no idea which path to choose. You are
carrying a lantern and a pocket knife.
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What do you do?
Option 1 - Grab the pocket knife.
You randomly pick a passage, flip out the blade of your pocket knife and scream YOLO at the
top of your lungs. You run full speed into the cave waving your 5cm blade with the hopes of
slashing and dashing your way to safety...
Option 2 - Reach for the flashlight.
You pull out your lantern and turn it on. Before entering either passage you increase the brightness of the lantern so that you can assess what lies ahead. You can see that the left passage looks
far too dangerous and choose the right tunnel. You walk carefully, shining the light directly in
front of you and manoeuvre your way towards the most efficient and safest route.
Well, we hope you selected option 2 as this is how we should assess and progress a fat loss diet. By
increasing the brightness of the room to illuminate your surroundings is akin to quantifying as many
variables as necessary and measuring more frequently. This ensures that as you move forward you are
minimising guess work. Option 1, the less calculated alternative is less likely to steer you or your athletes towards the goal. By running straight into the darkness (not illuminating the variables), you are
opting for a more chaotic, irrational and reckless path. In a contest prep, this type of approach can lead
to countless problems making navigating towards your desired physique nearly impossible or at best,
guesswork.
To steer your way through the most challenging phase of fat loss, the clarity at which you can discern all of the variables that affect your progress will significantly impact your progress. It is during
the digging phase that all key variables such as calorie and macronutrient intake, daily steps, sleep,
mood, hunger etc must be monitored with a high degree of visibility (brightness) so that they can be
measured precisely and managed accordingly. For example, if you are not accurately measuring food
portions (and are, consequently misreporting your energy intake), how do you know you are creating a
calorie deficit?
If you are not quantifying your energy intake and meeting your targets, it is extremely difficult to control energy balance and thus ensure consistent and reliable progress occurs, compromising your results
come show day.
Controlling Energy Intake
Eyeballing portion sizes, eating out, and those bites licks and tastes can be a bodybuilders demise and
are best left to the off season. In the digging phase, we highly recommend tightly controlling your calorie intake. Eating out, guesstimating portion sizes or eating anything that cannot be readily measured
and quantified should be avoided unless directed by your coach.
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If you are using a calorie tracking application such as myfitnesspal, you must be wary of the inherent
flaws of the app. The food items within MFP are created by users of the app. Due to this, there are
often discrepancies between the calories and macros listed for a food option, leading to skewed intakes
at the end of the day. Moreover, when athletes are hungry, they are more prone to cognitive errors and
subconsciously eating more calories. For example, athletes have been known to start choosing lower-calorie items in tracking apps when hungry, resulting in discrepancies between reported and actual
intake.
To avoid this issue, we recommend tracking macros only (ignoring calories) and ensuring all food
items you track include the accurate macro listing and are the same from day to day, week to week
and month to month. Better yet, use your calorie/macro tracking app to create your own meal plan
that meets your targets for the week. Instead of tracking day by day or meal by meal, you simply eat
the meals outlined on your self created plan. This way, you not only avoid the potential errors in MFP
but can save time and energy by minimizing the number of decisions you make relating to your food
choices.
Key takeaways
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Self created meal plan using calorie king to meet calorie/macro requirements;
Use digital food scales to measure all food portions in grams, ml or oz.
Weigh all foods raw for consistency in tracking.
No eating out, unless advised by your coach.
No BLTs (bites, licks and tastes)
Keep daily/weekly food choices consistent (fortnightly rotation)
Be consistent in meal composition, meal timing and frequency
Controlling Energy Expenditure
As with the energy IN side of the fat loss equation, if you are not closely monitoring your energy expenditure during this phase, creating a calorie deficit becomes even more challenging. Not only should
formal activity such as cardio be controlled as much as possible, but so too informal activity levels
(Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis).
As you now know, dieting and weight-loss cause pushback from the body and many adaptations take
place that aims to preserve energy and decrease your daily expenditure. If you have noticed you are
more lethargic, sitting frequently, fidgeting less and constantly tired, then it’s highly likely that your
daily expenditure is less than you would predict using a formula. For this reason, during this phase, it
becomes equally important to monitor your activity levels around the clock and one of the easiest and
most effective ways to do that is to monitor your daily step count.
An Important Case Study: Martin Refalo
During Martin’s 2017 contest prep, in the final leg of his digging phase, his scale weight and
condition (as measured by photos) stalled. We addressed his calorie/macronutrient intake and
any other variables that could affect scale weight, such as meal timing, sodium consumption,
fluid intake, sleep duration and quality, external and internal stressors, and bowel regularity.
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There was no indication of any of these variables altering the accuracy of his scale weight and
he was performing his prescribed cardio.
So why did Martins progress stall?
Upon further discussions, it became apparent that Martin’s daily steps had reduced from his prescribed
13-15,000 per day to just 6,000 steps for several days. Fortunately, Martin was wearing a tracking device to monitor his steps. After advising him to stand more, walk around, and meet his target steps per
day, his weight continued to drop without any adjustments to his diet. In the weeks following, Martin’s
progress was consistent and quite predictable with his visuals improving and scale weight continuing
to drop. How NEAT is that?!
Moral of the story: Track and control all variables, especially NEAT and daily activity when in the
digging phase.
As you will now be aware, diet is the primary driver of fat loss, and digging away at those final few
hundred grams of fat is the game we are now playing. Again reinforcing that closely monitoring and
measuring all variables that affect your daily calorie balance is vital.
How NEAT is Affected During Contest Prep
»» NEAT tends to decrease during contest prep
»» The larger your deficit, the larger the decrease in NEAT
»» The leaner you get, the more your NEAT will tend to decrease
How to Best Monitor NEAT
»» Any activity monitor or pedometer can be used to track NEAT. It won’t capture upper
body movements (unless it’s a wrist band), but can still be a reasonable tool
»» Use the activity monitor or pedometer outside of your formal exercise sessions; don’t use
them during your sessions. You want to use the monitors solely as a NEAT tracking
tool.
See below for an overview of how to best measure your diet, training and other important variables
along with recommended degrees of accuracy for each:
NUTRITION
Calories
Hit calories within +/- 50kcal
Protein
Hit protein within +/- 5g
Carbohydrates
Hit carbohydrates within +/- 5g
Fat
Hit fat within +/- 3g
Water
Monitor total daily fluid consumption 0.5L per 10kg of BW
Sodium
Note any irregular or high intakes of sodium
Meal timing
Note any changes in timing of meals i.e. late/early end to daily intake
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TRAINING/CARDIO/NEAT
Daily Steps
Wear an activity tracking device and keep steps constant and avoid large reductions.
Formal Cardio
Monitor modality, duration, intensity, kcal burn and time of day performed.
Training
Log sessions, monitor training volume, recovery and performance.
OTHER
Sleep
Quality
Record number of times sleep is broken, duration of sleep and quality of sleep on a
scale of 1-3 (1 = Poor, 2 = Moderate, 3 = Great)
Sleep Duration
Record total number of hours slept.
Bowel Regularity
Closely monitor number of times voiding per day
Stress
Closely monitor any perceived stressors that you are experiencing, either external or
internal
Additional Tips To Thrive In the Digging Phase
Once you have hit full stride in your contest prep, are experiencing many of the symptoms of prolonged energy restriction, and are now closely monitoring and tracking all variables affecting your
progress, there are a few additional tips we want to offer you. These strategies will hopefully enhance
your compliance, minimise decision-fatigue and increase the control you have over your diet, training
and mindset. All of which will only serve to help you thrive during this phase and improve outcomes
on show day.
So what are these mystical tips we are talking about?
Create a Daily/Weekly Routine
2. Execute the Plan
3. Consistency > Variation
1.
Anti-climax over!
Create a Daily/Weekly Routine - Choice Architecture
Don’t get us wrong, we are the first to advocate living in the moment and being spontaneous. Being a
little more liberal, flexible and including the spice of life, known as the variety, can be highly rewarding
and enjoyable. However, such a varied lifestyle and attitude during the latter stages of a contest prep
won’t end well. In fact, it may create more problems than it solves.
Having structure and pre-planning your diet, training and daily/weekly routine ahead of time can
allow athletes to act in a more automatic manner, which is exactly what is needed during this phase.
Whilst more choices and flexibility in diet and training can be beneficial, the benefits are often associated with phases that are less physically and mentally demanding. Quite simply, now isn’t the time.
When we have more flexibility, we have fewer constraints and thus are afforded more choices. The
more choices you need to make each day the greater the demands in time and consideration to evaluate the options you have, diminishing cognitive resources.
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This is otherwise known as decision-fatigue.When athletes are hungry, tired and lethargic, they experience more fatigue and are thus more likely to make poor choices irrespective of how many choices
they have. More choices than necessary can be detrimental in the digging phase and minimising the
number of choices an athlete has via a routine or predetermined plan can help ensure athletes stay on
track and limit the amount of decision fatigue associated with more choices and high levels of stress.
For example, instead of tracking macros on the fly and having to choose the type of foods and portion
sizes at each meal, creating a meal plan to follow and cooking/preparing foods in bulk well in advance
can limit the chance of error and the possibility for an athlete to make a poor choice.
It’s worth pointing out that behavioural science has found that in some cases, presenting people with
too many choices can lower motivation to make a choice and decrease the satisfaction with the choices they make. If competitors are given too many choices in their diet when choosing foods that are
extremely satiating instead of highly palatable options they may experience decreased motivation to
continue to eat satiating meals and lower the satisfaction of such meals. Additionally, this will only
lead to further cravings for hyperpalatable foods and open the floodgates for poor choices down the
track. Everything must be considered at this stage.
Remember, as you dig deeper for your gold, the likelihood your surroundings collapsing only in- creases. With fatigue rising, caloric intake decreasing, interrupted sleep and an overall state of exhaustion
that you just can’t seem to shake, your capacity to make choices align with your plan will be tested.
That little voice in your head will often tempt you and with emotions running high, your overall cognitive function is limited and impaired. The fewer decisions a competitors has to make, the better. Too
many decisions will lead to decision-fatigue resulting in poor choices. More decisions may also increase psychological stress which can lead to impaired cognitive function, poor sleep, decreased mental
well-being, increased hunger and appetite as well as detriments to performance and body composition.
This is why organisation, planning and establishing a daily routine is important. By pre-planning decisions, you will inherently improve time management, making it easier to act out your plan, as well as
reducing the number of decisions you need to make on the fly. A structured routine will allow for the
stable foundations needed to facilitate progress whilst minimising the likelihood of adverse outcomes.
Structure and routine are the shields against the effects of digging, ensuring that your adherence, and
progress, remain safe and steadfast.
To summarise, a daily routine can:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Provide a framework for behaviour and consistency in diet and training;
Improve athlete’s execution of the plan;
Increase control/manipulation of key variables
Improve the accuracy, reliability and predictability of measurements/assessments
Increase efficiency in day-to-day tasks;
Minimise decision fatigue, stress and other psychological setbacks;
Negate the need to rely on motivation or willpower;
Build and maintain momentum in subsequent days/weeks/months
Enhance the rate and consistency of progress
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A well structured and refined daily/weekly routine, implemented consistently will not only improve
your ability to act out the daily tasks necessary to continually lose fat but also aid the prevention and
management of non-training/diet related fatigue/stress. This is critical during the digging phase as too
much variation within your routine will make this phase more difficult than it needs to be.
Practical Tips For Daily/Weekly Planning
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Determine wake time and morning ritual - journal, affirmations, goal setting, posing.
Schedule training sessions for the week - Plan exact day/time/locations/sessions
Plan in cardio sessions for the week - Find a cardio bunny to tag along
Create a meal plan for low/high days - Minimise variation in food choices
Schedule grocery shopping - Plan exact day/time/location/items
Meal preparation (1-3 days worth of food)
Determine bedtime and pre-sleep routine - meditation, bath, reflection.
Schedule work/study hours - include travel time
Plan in down time for relaxation
Plan in time with loved ones
Planning your daily routine
Execute the plan - Rely on habits
Once your plan is set in place for the day or week ahead, your job as an athlete is to execute the plan.
Sounds rather simple, doesn’t it?
Most people recognize that execution is a critical skill and strive to perform it well, but they either;
Underestimate how important it is to their contest prep; or
b) Do not realise that if they improve their execution, they can not only improve their results but save time and energy
a)
Unfortunately, during this phase, even things that are simple in theory, such as executing the plan,
can become surprisingly complex and extremely challenging. It’s the price we pay when depriving our
bodies of an adequate supply of energy. When you are energy deficient for long durations, cognitive
function is hardly a priority. Brain fog and a whirlwind of emotions supersede our rational, objective
and logical self. The result? Our assessment of a situation, reasoning and objectivity are compromised
leading to undesirable decision making based upon impulse and emotion. Not so great for executing
your plan!
During the digging phase, it is not uncommon for athletes to be paralysed by analysis, tamper with
variables when they shouldn’t, obsess over details or become crippled with self-doubt and negativity.
All of which, in combination with minimal glucose to the brain, hamper the athletes ability to act out
their plan and thus compromising their outcomes both in the short and long term.
The mind can be a tricky thing to master - science is yet to fully comprehend the intricate workings of
the human brain and consciousness, so how on earth are we to control the complex mechanisms and
functions that occur within our cranium?
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Good question, and to be honest, we aren’t quite sure - yet! But we do have some good guiding principles. At this point of the contest prep, it’s probably a wise idea to try to shut off an athlete’s mind as
much as possible. This may sound absurd, but let us explain.
We know that during the digging phase, athletes experience:
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A high degree of physical and psychological stress
Extreme push back in response to diet/training-induced stress;
Fatigue, hunger, poor sleep/recovery and irritability;
Cognitive impairment due to prolonged restriction of energy
Natural athletes at extremely low levels of body fat cannot escape the aforementioned neurobiological
adaptations, which lead to a concoction of physical and mental challenges, all of which suppress an
athlete’s focus, attention, mental alertness and reasoning skills. Therefore, it is in your best interests
to minimise the number of decisions you are responsible for and make on a day-to-day basis. Instead
of trying to ‘think your way through’ the digging phase, it’s likely best to let the habits acquired over
months and years take over - if autopilot were an option for humans, now would be the time to use it.
Adopting the mindset and practice of ‘less thinking, more doing’ can certainly minimise the likelihood
of your not so sharp mind interfering with things. The mantra of being action focused and simply
‘ticking boxes’ during the digging phase is common practice for highly successful bodybuilders, for
good reason. Your psychology during this phase is not equipped to make objective, rational and logical assessments of a situation or cope with complex decision making processes. When you are hungry,
tired, irritable and nearing the brink of burn-out, your body and mind are not primed for high-level
cognitive function and are only interested in acquiring, consuming and preserving energy
This is why there is no time for excessive thinking, pondering or mulling over the nuances of your plan.
That is what a coach is for, and if you are self-coached, then you must hold yourself accountable to
predetermined boundaries as to when you will wear the “coach” vs “athlete” hat.
Key takeaways
»»
»»
»»
»»
Consistency and structure is necessary in the digging phase;
Too much variation can impair control of variables;
Some athletes will desire more variety than others;
Introducing ‘change’ in any diet/training related variable should consider athlete’s
needs;
»» Decisions to vary the plan must ensure it does not yield an unfavourable outcome
that compromises the overall plan;
»» If variation is highly likely to lead to a favourable outcome with minimal interruption to the overall plan, go for it.
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Decision Making
We apologise for the semantics, but we hope this exercise serves a powerful purpose - definitions matter. They help explain what we mean and improve the interpretation of the language we use. So we are
going to define and elaborate on various definitions of things required in a contest prep, because we are
all guilty of saying things like “yeah consistency matters”, without really considering what it actually
truly means.
Consistency
It should be blatantly apparent why consistency in the broad sense is a beneficial characteristic for
physique competitors during a contest prep diet. Consistency, by definition is the steadfast adherence
to the same principles, course or form and the compatibility, and uniformity, among the parts within a
complex thing. Basically this translates to: things mostly stay the same, as well as share properties with
other components of something larger.
Consistency for physique athletes would constitute unwavering compliance to an established plan, that
is directed towards a desirable end-product. Specifically, consistency would refer to those behaviours
which influence or contribute to the development of the physical and mental qualities necessary to
achieve success in this sport. For example, a consistent approach would be to eat according to prescribed macro/calorie targets, or performing cardio to meet a target step count. Quite simply, consistency is the eradication of choices that are not coherent with the end goal. So, how can we ensure that
the choices a coach or athlete make are consistent with the goal?
Choice & Decision Making
Every moment of every day we are faced with choices and must make a decision, opting for one alternative over another. The choices that competitors and coaches make during a contest prep will influence the prep itself and the resultant outcome come show day - thus choices, and being able to determine the correct option is central to success in bodybuilding. Especially in the digging phase.
The decision making process can be autonomous, delegated or a collaborative effort. Autonomous
decisions are made by the competitor, free of intervention. On the other hand, delegated decisions are
made by the coach who is hired to call the shots. Delegation can also be imparted by the coach to the
athlete, whereby the coach hands over partial control of the decision making process to the athlete,
such as providing macro targets. When given macro targets, athletes are then able to choose which
foods they will eat to meet those macros. In this example, the coach makes a choice, provides the targets and constraints, and the athlete can then make a variety of choices within that framework. Collaborative decision making occurs when both the athlete and coach join forces to assess the situation
equally and work together to decide upon which choice is best.
The decision to choose one thing over another can vary markedly in its complexity or significance.
Some choices are simple (the correct option is easily discernible) and/or less significant in nature (low
impact on important outcomes), and while all decision-making has an influence, we want to ensure we
are choosing the correct option when given significant choices, regardless of complexity. An example
of how difficult this can become though is an athlete might suffer extensive confusion over whether to
have chicken breast or steak for dinner, even though this is of minimal significance to their end outcome. Contest prep tends to make many athletes miss the forest for the trees.
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Conversely, some choices we make are extremely significant, and often with increasing significance
comes increasing complexity, which makes these important decisions all the more difficult to make.
When a decision is influenced by a multitude of inextricable factors such as cognition, mood, past experience or cultural factors, decisions can result in larger implications and consequences for an individual and their life. Examples of a significant and complex choice during a contest prep would be something like determining how much to reduce calorie intake, and from which macronutrient, when a stall
is encountered and show day loom large. Maybe it isn’t, in fact, a stall - maybe only a small adjustment
is needed - or maybe a small change wouldn’t produce the required results and would just waste more
time... It’s tough to know what is correct, and the wrong choice could be costly. This is the hallmark of
a complex and significant decision. Complexity and significance are not just related to diet however,
and often can be found in many of the choices we make during a prep, if we investigate things deeply
enough. It’s not that we are looking to make decisions more complex than needed, it is simply that we
do not wish to presume a decision is simple, and find out later that there were underlying factors we
did not consider. This is not the way to produce optimal outcomes. Choices and the decision making
process are the genesis of the events that follow. Hence, as competitors near the stage, their choices
become all the more crucial to how their contest prep plays out.
Is being spoiled for choice a good thing?
It is often believed that more choice options is a good thing. And initially, having more choices is satisfying and empowering. However, there are often occasions when having too many options may not
be as nice, or advantageous, as it seems on the surface.
Firstly, the duration of time required to gain adequate information about all of the options available
impedes the decision making process, as to make the right decision, it helps to be informed.
Secondly, research has found that having more choices can escalate expectations of outcomes. When
there are more options to choose from, the standard for what is an acceptable outcome rise, and thus it
becomes easier to be displeased with the result.
Third, with so many options available, blame for an unacceptable outcome becomes the onus of the
chooser. When presented with more choices, the chooser has a greater degree of control over the outcome, and thus if they didn’t select the choice with the most optimal outcome, then they must shoulder a greater amount of the blame. Conversely, if only one choice is available, and it turns out to be an
average one, you are not responsible in any major way, as you had no other option.
Choosing consistency more and variety less
We have now discussed what it means to be consistent and highlighted some important aspects of
choice. It is now time to piece it all together and understand why constructing a model for decision
making can enhance consistency, and is a wise idea if we desire excellence in bodybuilding. The more
consistent an athlete is in complying to their plan, the better able the coach is to monitor and assess
their response to the protocol, and thus make informed decisions. Alternatively, inconsistency and low
compliance exponentially increase the difficulty of the coaches job - especially for a coach without a
high degree of experience and education. Similarly, if a coach is not consistent themselves and employs
a methodology that is highly varied, decision making becomes nothing more than a best guess at that
point.
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Let’s zoom in for a moment and look to the isolated event of an athlete preparing and tracking their
food for a meal. They weigh and measure all foods to the gram on digital food scales. The meal consists
of foods that are very satiating (high protein, high fibre, minimally processed, voluminous and bland)
and the meal itself is on plan and helps them reach their daily calorie and macronutrient targets for the
day.
A reasonable conclusion to reach would be that this meal was indeed a wise choice and is consistent
with the athletes goals. But an isolated event such as one meal does not automatically equate to consistency. Consistency requires that on average, over time, choices are in alignment with the goal more
times than not. Basically, choices that are consistent with the athlete’s goals, have been made consistently. However, athletes are not machines, and important factors must be considered to both generate
and preserve consistency.
Hypothetically speaking, what if after months and months of consistent choices such as the example
above, out of the blue a competitor selects an inconsistent choice, such as exceeding their calorie targets or not tracking at all, despite knowing full well it contradicts their progress and goals.
Sound familiar? It does to us at least...
It is not uncommon after months of hard dieting for a competitor to ‘snap’ and go off plan. Perhaps
that choice (whether consciously made or not) was the consequence of consistency. This example
demonstrates why selecting consistent choices comes at a cost and how limited choices, selected repeatedly for long periods may diminish a competitor’s choice making ability.
Let’s review some of the choices that competitors are likely to make during a contest prep, as influenced by a variety of internal and external factors:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Increased rigidity in dietary restraint;
Increased restriction of calories/macronutrients
Increased reliance on quantitative data;
Increased time preparing and cooking food
Increased activity levels (aerobic + resistance training)
Increased frequency of assessments
Increased frequency and duration of time alone
Decreased flexibility in dietary restraint (hitting macros with 10grams, then hitting
them within 5)
»» Decreased variety in foods consumed
»» Decreased ‘spare time’
»» Decreased frequency of social interactions
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that for the average competitor, the above are consistent choices.
This is simply a result of what is required to survive, and thrive, in a contest prep. As with all generalisations though, they are general and almost certainly do not apply to all individuals, outliers exist. All
competitors will likely follow a similar theme, but some competitors may not make the same magnitude or frequency of a particular choice (some may withdraw more socially, but not become obsessive
about body-checking).
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Greater consistency in environment and routine can narrow the bandwidth of choices, helping to determine more predictable, and thus controllable outcomes, which is of major importance for not only
maximising success but helping to ameliorate the negative effects of contest prep. For these reasons,
consistency in a competitors life, routine, diet and training protocol is essential. But you’ve heard us say
this a thousand times by now. However, the need for little variation and more repetition in an athlete’s
life warrants further attention. Although consistency should be a by-product of a daily/weekly routine
and an increased reliance on habits, after months of hard training and dieting, monotony, boredom and
the itch for variation and change gradually creep into an athlete’s psyche. Pertinent to this discussion is
the phenomena of food-eating, an example of where even if we don’t change something, a change still
occurs nonetheless. The longer we eat in a calorie deficit and consume the same old foods (often avoiding highly palatable foods) the more pleasurable the mere act of food-eating becomes. Fundamentally,
we begin deriving more pleasure from the act of eating, rather than actually the food consumed (as
little pleasure is to be gained in little amounts of bland food). This is an example of how many moving
parts there are in a contest prep, even consistency can produce change.
An example of how food modulation during a contest prep should seek to decrease palatability and reflect a diet constitutes more consistent food selection and minimal decision making during the digging
phase can be seen at the beginning of the next page.
Additionally, given that food choices can play a large role in adherence, we highly recommend consuming foods that are highly satiating and minimise food focus or trigger over consumption. There is
research and our anecdote to suggest that a diet during the digging phase should consist of foods that
are high in fiber and protein and low glycemic index and low energy density. Essentially, you want to
consume a large amount of food, for as few calories as possible and tick the aforementioned boxes.
These types of decisions around food choice may not be as exciting, but are highly consistent with the
demands of this phase.
The type of change and variety we are suggesting to minimise would be anything that is novel and that
the athlete is not accustomed to. This may include things such as new foods, higher than normal calorie intakes, changes in meal frequency, new training split etc. Essentially, variation includes anything
that is significantly altering their plan/routine and has the potential to harm the athletes adherence,
focus or progress.
We need to be wary of the above, as the effects of such a regimented life, combined with the unpleasurable nature of eating fewer calories and consuming the same, bland foods over and over can in
many cases lead to a more pronounced and persistent desire to ‘mix things up’. This may not be the
case for all athletes, but it can be especially true for individuals whose personality traits score lower in
neuroticism and conscientiousness and higher in openness.
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Athlete’s who are higher in trait openness are more predisposed (but not necessarily predetermined)
to seek novelty, variety and just generally new experiences. This can make sticking to a rigid, repetitive
and overly structured diet protocol or training regime a difficult and mundane endeavour - as it is for
everyone, but particularly those of the aforementioned personality types. Because of this, it is often a
wise idea to include some deliberate and planned variation in diet/routine for most athletes, especially
those who crave ‘change’. Balance here must be found however. It would be detrimental for the athlete if the planned variation is such a significant change from what they are used to that it opens up
the potential for non-compliance in the future, derails focus, creates unwanted behaviours or exacerbates psychological tension. Finding the sweet spot between consistency and slight deviations from
consistent choices in the digging phase is indeed challenging. Too much consistency and it may cause
an athlete to snap. Too little consistency in choices and progress will be hindered. Neither extreme is
ideal.
The role of the coach is to recognise and understand the interplay between restraint (constraining
choices to a narrow range of options that are consistent with the goal) and flexibility (broadening the
range of options to include more choices that are consistent with the goal to varying degrees). Both
have merits. More restraint is desirable as it affords more consistency and thus progress, while flexibility can offer mental and physical reprieve, as well as enhance autonomy. Both aspects must be considered, specifically because we are working with humans and their innate limits.
Will-power is not endless. However, it is worth considering that although higher amounts of flexibility provide more options, which is a good thing on average, it is not necessarily ideal in this specific
context, for reasons already outlined. So while some variety of choice should be preserved, it is knowing which choice types should have more flexibility and which should be constrained that is the more
difficult question to answer. Keep in mind though, irrespective of an individual’s natural tendency to
prefer variety over routine, in this phase athletes are highly susceptible to deviating from their plan,
even without the instruction of a coach. If you give an athlete an inch, they will likely take a mile - so
forget optimality and recognise we are all human. Then work on what will produce the best outcome
based on that premise.
A high degree of forethought and consideration must be given to when and how much variety and
flexibility in diet, training or routine can be introduced. Be sure to critically evaluate the current context, know the athlete like the back of your hand and use your wisdom to ensure that any decisions
made related to making decisions has a high probability of leading to favourable outcomes. For the
most part, more consistency and less flexibility in this phase will be needed and is the foundation for
pushing the body to its limits.
When making decisions to enhance progress or keep an athlete progressing as they are, it is critical to
think along a time continuum as per the conceptual model above. First, consider the historical information as well as the data obtained through objective and subjective athlete assessments. This will help
form your foundation for better understanding of the current context. When assessing the situation at
hand, be sure to think about the projected outcomes that are desirable (positive outcomes) and those
which are not (negative outcomes) as well as what factors could influence the probability of those outcomes occurring. This is called making a projection and will lead to a number of possible choices for
you to make.
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For example, if you are deep into the digging phase and an athletes weight loss and visuals have stalled
for 2 weeks or more, the options you have available to you when making an adjustment are:
Decrease calories
2. Increase activity levels
3. Decrease calories + increase activity levels
Keep calories constant
5. Increase calories (diet break or refeed)
1.
4.
This is a very basic decision - if the only factor were energy balance. Thinking could go along the lines
of; simply create a calorie deficit and progress shall continue. However, this example does not provide
you with other critical information such as hunger levels, current calorie intakes, when the last adjustment was made, stress levels, sleep and so on. These additional factors will influence both the immediate and delayed outcomes and must be accounted for when making decisions. So while we cannot give
you the correct answer to the choices presented above, we can at least try to highlight the complexity
of these decisions. In order to select the correct option and thus produce the most desirable outcome,
you must gather information from many sources, recognise which factors of the contest prep are closer
to the breaking point than others, and ensure that whatever choice you make is one that moves you in
a better direction and not one that brings the prep close to a point of no-return.
Adjustments
During the digging phase, you are closer than ever to your competition physique, but the biggest hurdles are still ahead of you. Effectively, you can see the finish-line, you just need to cross a minefield to
get there.
Now that you’ve turned up the dimmer switch, are tightly measuring and controlling all important
variables, have set in place structures and routines, as well as understand the choice and decision making process a little more, you should now be in a better position to make the necessary adjustments
during this phase and successfully manoeuvre your way through said minefield.
The goal is still relatively simple; sustain a calorie deficit over time and a stage ready physique will follow. However, adopting a path that sees you laboriously and recklessly racing for that finish-line won’t
end well. Your goal is to lose the fat, not a leg - keep your cool and be methodical.
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To create the deficit we desire, we have three options:
Decrease calorie intake;
2. Increase energy expenditure via cardio; or
3. Both of the above combined
1.
It is important to keep in mind that often during this phase, adjustments to further increase or maintain the deficit can have many unintended consequences, and often unconventional adjustments that
see an increase in calories may be required. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of things, we must first
discuss ‘hasty adjustments’ and why these need to be avoided during this phase.
What is a hasty adjustment?
What often occurs as the stage draws near, are hasty, unnecessary and anxiety-driven adjustments. As
a result of a slower reduction in scale weight, diminishing time until show day and increased pressure,
many competitors make overly assertive reductions in calories, increases in cardio or large changes to
their training protocols.
This is often a knee jerk reaction in the final leg of a contest prep and can be the downfall for many
competitors, leading to less than ideal outcomes with minimal, if any, improvements to their physique.
As you now know, the rate of loss during the digging phase MUST be significantly slower than previous phases, and thus, delicate and well thought out adjustments will minimise any adverse outcomes.
Making too large of an adjustment in calorie intake, overhauling your training program or adding in
stupendous amounts of cardio to shift that stubborn fat won’t end well. Too many moving parts makes
quantifying and accurately assessing progress all the more difficult, and may simply exacerbate the
stress response in the body, which further compounds the problem.
What happens when making hasty adjustments?
Well, everything outlined in Figure above, but just to reiterate the point:
»» Hunger continues to increase;
»» NEAT plummets
»» Strength and training performance
declines even further
»»
»»
»»
»»
Food focus elevates;
Sleep quality is impacted;
Lethargy ensues;
Stress is increased
Remaining poised, objective and patient is vital in a digging phase. Be sure to adjust your expec- tations, listen to your coach and avoid comparing yourself to other competitors so that you don’t jump
the gun and make a silly move that will detriment your show-day physique. The fear of looking out of
place on stage can be the greatest cause of competitors making decisions that make them look out of
place on stage. Let calm, rational thoughts prevail.
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Diet Adjustments
Overview
Adjusting diet variables, such as calorie intake or macronutrients, is the first place you should be looking at as bodybuilders and coaches when progress stalls. Controlling energy intake is the most potent
and reliable means of creating a calorie deficit and furthering fat loss when plateaus arise. That being
said, diet adjustments should not be made willy nilly or resemble a linear decrease in calorie intake.
Diet adjustments in a contest prep, especially during the digging phase, will often necessitate periods
of increased calorie intake, where the athlete is eating to or slightly above maintenance requirements.
This is where most inexperienced coaches and athletes go wrong. They linearly decrease calorie intake
and increase expenditure, cutting calories harder and harder as they near the stage with more and more
cardio. Although this strategy may ‘work’, it is probably not the best way to approach diet adjustments
in the final pre-stage phase. Drastic reductions in energy intake coupled with increased activity levels
is not ideal - especially when athletes are lean.
As outlined previously in this chapter, the body down-regulates a number of systems to reduce energy
expenditure when body fat percentage drops well below an individual’s settling range. These adaptations, such as increased hunger and food focus as well as adaptive thermogenesis, not only make eating
fewer calories more difficult, but also make achieving and predicting the size of the calorie deficit a lot
harder. This is why the digging phase requires a much more delicate approach to your diet.
Before decreasing calorie intake to bust through a stall, it is important to note is that there is a maximum amount of energy that can be liberated from fat on a gram-to-gram basis, per unit of time. What
this means is, the more body fat you have, the more you can use to bridge the energy deficit. However,
when you are leaner, your fat stores are lower, and this means that there is less fat available to provide
energy. Thus, maximal fat loss will occur at a slower rate, and anything beyond this maximal rate will
only result in greater amounts of muscle loss, as amino acids will be required to bridge the remaining
energy-gap. Even though maximal fat loss may seem ideal, it is not without risk. Given that athlete’s
experience, significant metabolic pushback and are experiencing high degrees of diet fatigue, pursuing
maximal rates of loss may result in dire outcomes.
Therefore, not only is a slower rate of loss expected but often a smaller deficit is necessary to minimise adverse outcomes and ensure athlete’s can adhere consistently and thus sustain an energy deficit.
Maintaining a smaller deficit is a lot more complex than many realise. At the start of a contest prep,
there is inherently a much larger margin of error. Maintaining a deficit during this time is akin to
walking a tightrope - a very fine balancing act.
Even though a smaller deficit is desirable in this phase, a small energy deficit over long durations in
lean individuals can still cause a number of problems. This is why we recommend the inclusion of
periods at maintenance calories, whether it be within the week or the month. This dietary strategy is
otherwise known as intermittent calorie restriction (ICR), or nonlinear dieting and can potentially be
used to off-set some of the physiological adaptations that occur when creating an energy deficit in very
lean individuals and provide a powerful means of improving psychological states and thus adherence to
the diet. Although eating more food is counter-intuitive, the benefits of eating at maintenance calorie
levels cannot be overstated and is a dietary adjustment that should be considered during this phase.
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Anecdotal reports from contest athletes and coaches, along with new research, have shown that by
temporarily raising calorie intake to maintenance levels for 24 hours or more, adherence, mood and
performance can be improved, with many competitors also reporting the benefits of non-linear dieting strategies on their energy levels, sleep quality and appetite. We must warn you though, much of
the research pertaining to the physiological benefits of higher calorie intakes during prolonged diets
is speculative at this stage and very little research has been conducted on bodybuilding populations or
extremely lean and dieted down individuals. Nonetheless, the countless empirical reports of the psychological benefits that this strategy can impart do, in fact, support the use of intermittent periods of
calorie maintenance and demonstrate that at times, removing an energy deficit acutely can provide a
robust means of sustaining the diet long term.
A common issue and concern many athletes face when increasing calorie and carbohydrate intake
are the acute fluctuations in scale weight measurement, which can often lead an athlete to think that
they are regressing and cause further psychological stress. This is not necessarily (or even likely) indicative of fat gain. Provided the increase in intake is not creating too large a surplus, fat storage (on the
net-balance) is near impossible and at worst very insignificant - especially if it allows for future deficits
to be achieved. Weight gain after eating at maintenance is generally a result of increases in glycogen
storage, water retention and gut residue. Although scale weight may fluctuate more in this phase due
to non-linear calorie intakes, we can’t reiterate enough that sustaining the deficit is critical and provided the net-time spent at a deficit exceeds that of maintenance periods, fat loss and progress will occur.
Additionally, keep in mind that scale weight is a secondary priority for assessments, and it is changes
in physical appearance that are the primary concern, particularly during this time when the stage is
near and detectable changes in body weight are rare.
In some cases, especially when athletes are experiencing high amounts of stress, intermittent periods
of maintenance can, in fact, lead to rapid weight loss. Given that high levels of stress and oedema can
lead to weight gain, short term reductions in diet-induced stress (removing the energy deficit) can
yield some form of therapeutic effect on stress-related mechanisms that leads to rapid reductions in
water weight.
The theoretical mechanisms behind this likely occur due to an increase in energy availability and thus
hormones. The increased energy intake, typically via carbohydrates synergistically combat against
stress-related mechanisms and through various pathways and actions decrease ‘stress’ signals and thus
water retention dissipates.
The decision tree helps depict the process for making a decision related to diet as well as cardio and
will hopefully help you assess and determine an appropriate decision when making adjustments.
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Rate of loss
In the early phases of the contest prep diet, a faster rate of loss is possible via larger calorie deficits and
longer periods of energy restriction (less time at maintenance). During the digging phase, the size of
the deficit is smaller and the relative duration of time spent at a calorie deficit should also reduced,
with more time being spent at caloric maintenance via refeeds and diet breaks. The back and forth
between digging (deficit) and resting (maintenance) will mean that scale weight progress will be painstakingly slow, and often hard to detect, despite the high amount of effort exerted towards diet, training
and cardio.
Whilst the weight will have fallen off in the early stages of the contest diet, changes in your scale
weight during the digging phase will slow to anywhere between 0.25-0.5% of body weight per week,
on average. You need to be fully aware that some weeks may show no loss though and you may need
to look at the monthly trend instead (did you lose between 1-2% across the month). Just be concerned
with the average and you should be on the right track. As we have alluded to, the structure of your
daily/weekly/monthly calorie intakes will vary a little more and adjustments made more frequently
to manage the consequences of being lean. There are a number of strategies you can use in this phase
that can bolster the sustainability of lower calorie intakes. We will elaborate more on that shortly, but
ultimately it is the size of the deficit across any substantial period of time that will determine how you
respond to the diet (both positively and negatively) - so getting this right is paramount.
How large should the deficit be?
As mentioned, the size of the deficit during this phase should be between 5-15% below maintenance
calories in order to achieve a rate of loss between 0.25-0.1% of body weight per week. For the most
part, the size of the deficit should be scaled with body-fat and time until the show. For example, an
individual with a more fat to lose and who is behind schedule may require the upper end of the deficit range, having low days set to 10-15% below maintenance and aim to lose ~1% of bodyweight per
week. On the other hand, if an individual has very little fat to lose and is ahead of schedule, then the
lower end of the deficit range should likely be used. If the athlete is only a few hundred grams away
from stage condition, with weeks until their first show, low days may be set to ~5-8% below maintenance with the aim to lose only 0.25-0.5% of bodyweight per week.
Other situations that may require a smaller deficit are when an athlete (irrespective of their body fat
levels or time until the show) is experiencing uncontrollable hunger or reporting serious mood, energy,
sleep or performance issues. In this situation, often it is best to reduce the size of the deficit and try to
address other factors that may be causing this hindrance, such as lifestyle stress, with the aim of returning to a larger deficit in the future, when it is more readily achievable.
Where to reduce calorie intake from?
If you have followed this book closely then you will have noticed that carbohydrate intake is kept
relatively high for as long as possible - unless the athlete has adherence issues on higher carbohydrate
diets, or simply prefers lower carb approaches. In the digging phase, by necessity carbohydrate intake
will be lower than baseline requirements and so too fat intake. If you have used the decision tree above
and the decision you need to make is a calorie adjustment, the next step is to determine which macronutrient that calorie decrease should come from.
Use the process on the next page to assess which macronutrient should be reduced.
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Note
If the athlete has preferences or has demonstrated better adherence or lower hunger with
higher fat diets, be sure to factor in this information - you should not only be guided by
what is outlined here. Exercising care and caution for the impact a calorie/macro cut can
have on adherence is pivotal. This model is just an example and aims to keep protein and
carbohydrate intakes as high as possible for as long as possible, individual adjustments and
context will be required.
Dieting Strategies During A Digging Phase
The deeper and deeper you dig, the more important regular rest intervals become. Remember; the soil
(fat) becomes near impenetrable the further you get below your settling point and to continue making
progress, greater amounts of forethought, planning and structure is required. This, in part, means deliberate periods of resting, so that you can sustain your efforts at a higher intensity over the long-haul. As
such, the appropriate and calculated inclusion of high-days (eating at maintenance) via as re-feeds and
diet breaks combined with low-days (energy deficit) is vital now, more so than ever.
Low Days (Digging):
These are the days where fat loss is the goal and the suck that comes with restriction and low energy
intake must be embraced. Calorie intakes should be ~5-15% below maintenance requirements.
To create a deficit, it is pertinent to know an athlete‘s maintenance requirements. Determining maintenance calories can be difficult at the best of times, and even more challenging in contest prep and the
use of formulas and calculators to determine maintenance calorie levels is best left to the start of prep.
Instead, the data you have collected over previous weeks should serve as a guide to estimate a ballpark
calorie range that would achieve maintenance.
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»» 1-2% weight loss p/w = 15-25% below maintenance calories
»» 0.5-1% weight loss per week = 8-15% below maintenance calories
»» 0.25-0.5% weight loss per week = 4-8% below maintenance calories
For example, if an athlete is consuming 1600kcal and their scale weight measurements over a 7 day
period indicate an average loss of 1% of body weight, this would indicate that the size of the deficit
was ~15% below maintenance (400kcal).
How many days should you be at a deficit?
It may sound enticing to go balls to the ball and dig harder when you can see the finish line, however,
the limits of physiology will have something to say about that. Homeostatic mechanisms are designed
to ensure you survive, and digging harder will be sensed as a greater threat to survival. This will ultimately force the body to fight back more aggressively, and mitigate the energy deficit by decreasing
expenditure and utilising energy more efficiently, as well as set off a cascade of signals that drive you to
consume more food despite your best efforts to eat less. Therefore, it is probably not wise to be digging every day of every week, for weeks or months on end. Be sure that when you do dig, you consider
the implications of how hard you dig (size of the deficit) and for how long (the duration of low days
in succession), as these should be inversely related. Go hard for short periods, or go easier for a little
longer - but don’t try and do it all.
When determining the number of low days you should take the following into consideration:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
The duration of time spent digging previously;
The size of the deficit;
Current body fat percentage & time until show;
Hunger & energy levels;
Mood, stress and sleep; and
Performance.
Even the most masochistic of competitors can be broken by long periods of digging without resting. In
this phase, given the heightened risks associated with energy restriction, it is a good idea to reduce the
number of low days, and in particular, those experienced in a row. See below for our recommendations:
»» If behind schedule OR smaller deficit with no contraindications or red flags: 7-10 low
days before including high day(s)
»» If on schedule OR small-moderate deficits with no contraindications or red flags: 5-7
low days before including high day(s)
»» If ahead of schedule OR moderate-large deficits OR contraindications and red flags
present: 3-4 low days before including high day(s)
These are just guidelines and there are many ways to structure a dieting phase. The objective is to create
a NET energy deficit, so ensuring that the time spent digging > resting over the course of the week is
the fundamental goal.
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High Days (Resting):
A high day, otherwise known as a refeed, is a short-period at calorie maintenance. Most high-days/
refeeds will tend to last between 1-3 days. If a period of higher intakes is used for more than 3 days,
this is typically called a diet-break - more on that later though. When increasing calories for highdays, the increase in calorie intake should come predominantly via carbohydrates with modest to small
increases in fat intake, due to greater advantages coming from increased carbohydrate consumption
comparatively.
The reported benefits of high days are:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Improved adherence;
Improved mood;
Improved energy;
Improved sleep;
Decreased likelihood of eating disorders;
Decrease hunger
»» Improved training performance
»» Improved muscle retention; and
»» Temporal reversal or delayed onset of some
of the metabolic adaptations that result from
prolonged energy restriction; and
»» Improved sustainability of long-term energy
deficit.
As Natural Pro Bodybuilder Evan Godbee states:
“As you dig below your body fat settling point, you will need to tighten the control of all variables
and most importantly use sustainability tools to ensure you don’t deviate from a calorie deficit in
order to maximise your conditioning come show day”.
Why include high days?
Periodically shifting from ‘digging’ (low days) to ‘resting’ (high days) will mean that despite the inevitable adaptations in response to dieting and getting lean, sustaining the deficit becomes somewhat
more manageable (even if it is just psychologically easier). Although many competitors really do
embrace the suck and tell themselves they are willing to do whatever it takes, adherence issues are still
more than common during this phase. Just like a weatherboard house, exposure to the elements over
long periods without ‘maintenance’ will result in a gradual decline in quality and condition of the human body and mind. The longer that you, or the house, are exposed to uncompromising conditions, the
more likely it is that cracks will surface and things will start falling apart.
Although high days provide a number of benefits, it is necessary to keep in mind that every time you
rest, you are not digging. This means that time at maintenance will temporarily negate fat loss. However, giving up fat loss for a short period of time to ensure an athlete doesn’t crack, burn-out or binge
uncontrollably is typically a worthy trade-off and often pays big dividends over the long haul.
How much should calories be increased?
The best (practical) method for determining maintenance requirements in this situation, is through
retrospective analysis of athlete data, such as changes in body weight on certain calorie intakes. This
will provide feedback that can help you ascertain how large the deficit is and thus the number of
calories required to achieve maintenance levels.
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As a rule of thumb, if the assigned calorie intake aims to achieve a 5-15% calorie deficit, calorie intake should be increased proportionate to the size of the deficit, only if the desired rate of weight loss
is achieved and any potential confounding variables that may impact scale weight readings such as
stress, sleep, digestion, meal timing etc considered. For example, if an athlete‘s calories are ~15% below
maintenance and they lose an average of 0.5% of body weight over a 7 day period, it is relatively safe to
assume that their maintenance requirements are ~15% above their current intake.
In the case that an individual does not see any scale weight change, despite their assigned calorie
targets aiming to achieve a deficit, this does not automatically mean they are at maintenance levels. As
you know, there are many physiological processes that are affected by energy restriction. This makes
identifying a true deficit or plateau all the more difficult and is why multiple factors and variables
should be combined to determine whether or not a deficit has been created and thus where maintenance calories lie.
The duration of eating at maintenance will depend on a few things. As mentioned briefly above, shorter periods at maintenance are called re-feeds, whereas longer periods are known as diet breaks. Each
are beneficial but offer slightly different benefits.
Refeeds
Refeeds, by definition, are an increase in calorie intake to, or slightly above your new maintenance
calorie requirements for a period of 24-72 hours / 1-3 days. Refeeds are a dietary practice commonly
adopted by physique athletes during contest prep to aid in fat loss, hunger, and adherence. The potency
of refeeds is scaled with duration (24 hours < 48 hours < 72 hours) when it comes to extracting their
beneficial effects. The exact duration of refeeding should consider the specific needs of the athlete.
Incorporating a refeed is NOT limited to use only in a digging phase, and we recommend using refeeds throughout your entire contest prep, if for nothing more than the benefit of developing a routine.
However, their importance and benefit only increases during this phase and we recommend implementing refeeds weekly if time constraints permit it.
See below for how the benefits of refeeds differ across different time scales and important considerations for their implementation:
DURATION
PSYCHOLOGICAL
PHYSIOLOGICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
24 hours48 hours
»» Improved Mood
»» A ‘break from restriction/’dieting’.
»» Modest increases in TDEE
»» May improve workout performance
»» Opportunity to find the ‘sweet
spot’ for ‘peaking’
»» Reduced hunger
»» Increased potential to
binge if not controlled/
structured.
»» Expect potential scale
weight fluctuations.
72 hours +
»» Improved Mood
»» A ‘break from restriction/’dieting’.
»» Increased TDEE
»» Glycogen replenishment
»» Reduced hunger
»» Increased potential to
binge if not controlled/
structured.
»» May slow down rate of
loss due to less time in a
deficit.
»» Expect scale weight fluctuations
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How to structure a refeed:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Increase calories to new estimated maintenance or slightly above;
Increase in calories via carbohydrates
Maintain or potentially reduce fat intake to allocate further calories to carbohydrates
Maintain or potentially reduce protein intake to allocate further calories to carbohydrates
Keep the majority of your food choices the same
Limit the inclusion of new foods
Avoid drastic changes to meal timing, structure and frequency.
Adhere! Don’t throw tracking out the window and make it a free-for-all.
Which macronutrient should be increased?
As mentioned previously, increasing calorie intake when refeeding should be achieved via an increase
in carbohydrates. There will come a point during the digging phase where your carbohydrate intake,
and calories for that matter, will become exceedingly low, relative to your starting intake. Although
many competitors often fear carbohydrates due to low-carb propaganda and misinformation disseminated online, carbohydrates play a vital role in the final leg of your contest prep and should be embraced when the time calls for their inclusion.
Reasons for increasing carbohydrate:
A) Satiation
Carbohydrates, especially starches are extremely satiating (filling). As periods at maintenance
are, by design, included to minimise hunger and improve adherence to subsequent ‘digging’
periods, refeeds should see an increase in carbohydrate intake to maximise fullness.
Another key reason why the increased calories during a refeed should be from carbohydrates is
due to the role carbohydrates play in leptin regulation. Leptin is a key hormone when it comes
to energy regulation, and scientific research suggests that carbohydrates may be more influential
when it comes to increasing leptin levels than the other macronutrients. When leptin levels increase, a signalling cascade is initiated that increases both satiety and energy expenditure - very
helpful for when it comes time to begin dieting again.
B) Performance & Anabolic Signalling
The body is in a constant state of flux, continuously storing and breaking down energy throughout the day in response to calorie intake and activity. This is fundamentally what our metabolism is. Over the course of a dieting phase, the amount of glucose (carbohydrates) stored within
muscles decreases, due to higher amounts of use than of replenishment. This becomes an issue
for maintaining training performance, as up to 80% of the energy required for resistance training comes from ATP which is derived through a process called glycolysis - the breakdown of
glycogen. Providing energy for hard training becomes a lot more difficult when there is reduced
glycogen availability. This results in fatigue setting in sooner, less weight lifted and fewer reps
and sets achieved - a surefire way to risk muscle loss over the long-run.
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As you become more depleted, temporarily increasing carbohydrates through re-feeds can top
up glycogen stores and help sustain high force outputs and multiple set training performance.
This is paramount for retaining lean muscle mass.
Another important factor in why refeeds should see an increase in carbohydrate intake is the
regulatory effect carbohydrates have on intracellular regulators of anabolic pathways such as
AMPK and mTOR, which can improve the anabolic:catabolic ratio with the same total energy intake. Whilst this is highly theoretical and may only contribute to a very minor benefit in
muscle retention if optimality is what you desire then it’s best to leave to stone unturned.
Diet Breaks
Whilst refeeds are traditionally implemented over shorter time frames, eating at maintenance for
longer than 72 hours is typically classified as a diet break. A diet break is simply a longer duration of
calorie maintenance, nothing more, nothing less. However, as the benefits associated with periods of
maintenance are scaled with duration, diet breaks are even more powerful than re-feeds.
Therefore a diet break is a period of maintenance for 3 days, up until ~ 2 weeks (at which point it
becomes a Maintenance/Primer Phase). The primary purpose of a diet break is to reduce diet fatigue
that has been accumulating over the course of previous digging phases and freshen up enough to get
through what is to come.
Diet breaks are not only useful in buffering the adverse side effects of dieting but can break up the monotony of a contest prep. By planning into the prep clearly defined periods of maintenance, athletes are
able to identify when they are required to push and work hard, knowing that at the end of a digging
phase they can rest up and take the foot off the gas for a bit. In essence, a diet-break can act as a carrot
which you dangle in front of the competitor, serving as a reward for their efforts during a digging
phase. This can have a profound impact on motivation and work ethic.
Additionally, if a diet break has successfully reduced diet fatigue, athletes should feel modest improvements in energy levels, sleep and lower hunger levels and are more prepared to endure further periods
of energy restriction. Thus, the weeks following a diet break are more productive than if you had continued to push further below optimal functioning.
When incorporating diet breaks into a contest prep, it is paramount that your plan accounts for the
decreased time at an energy deficit. Therefore, if including a diet break in your approach, be sure that it
does not come at the cost of fat loss or compromise the time in which you have to achieve your target
stage weight/condition.
Including a diet break, every 4-8 weeks can be a useful strategy for physique competitors if:
»» It is planned into your contest prep by allowing for increased dieting time and total prep
duration
»» Physiological stalls occur for more than 2 weeks; or
»» Psychological burnout and diet fatigue begin to cause adherence issues.
Whether or not you are able to have a full diet break of 10-14 days will largely be dictated by whether
your time-frame allows for it.
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If you are not in condition and have a lot of work to do, then unfortunately, there is no time to take an
extended diet break. However, if you are ahead of schedule, taking a full week, or more, for a diet break
is more than fine, and may actually be beneficial in the end.
How to structure a diet break:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Increase calories to new estimated maintenance or slightly above;
Increase carbohydrate intake
Maintain or slightly increase fat intake
Maintain protein intake
Potentially reduce the number of variables controlled - e.g. semi track.
Allow for 1-2 untracked meals provided compliance to calorie intake is not compromised in a meaningful way.
Plan diet breaks in alignment with deloads to further reduce systemic fatigue.
Mindset of refeeds and diet breaks
An all too common issue many athletes face when implementing a diet break is an increased susceptibility to binge eat. This should be carefully monitored when implementing a diet break, as the insatiable hunger and increased intake during a diet break may induce overeating.
Another issue that is often encountered is that many competitors fear refeeds and diet-breaks because
they think that taking any time off from dieting will cause them to instantaneously get fat. Again, if
this is planned into the contest prep, at appropriate intakes and frequencies for the appropriate duration, this will not be an issue. It’s not the concept that causes fat-gain, it is its misapplication
Trust in the process is key - and you must continue to follow the process closely. Far too often competitors will go for the extremes. They will massively overeat on their refeed days, or as also occurs
quite often, they undereat, thinking this will lead to enhanced progress, but then typically results in the
burning themselves out and binging on unplanned occasions. You must learn to embrace the additional food in a calm and rationalistic manner. The additional food is serving a purpose - not to satisfy
all your cravings or food fantasies, but to simply refuel and replenish you enough so that you can dig
harder and strip more body-fat off in the near future. Restraint will still be required during these times,
so avoid overhauling the structure of your diet, food choices and your behaviours/habits.
Dynamic Dieting
Many athletes (and coaches) view nutrition in an acute or one-dimensional sense. The common approach is to simply eat the same amount of calories day-in, day-out and linearly reduce intake over
time in order to drive fat-loss. However, as you are now aware, fat loss occurs due to an imbalance of
energy over long durations, not acute 24-48 hour periods. This means that there are a number of ways
to create a weekly/monthly energy deficit in order to promote fat-loss, while still allowing you to take
advantage of the physiological/ psychological benefits of high calorie and carbohydrate intakes in the
form of refeeds and diet breaks.
See below microcycle and mesocycle diet design templates to allow you to continue creating the ever
important deficit whilst incorporating calorie therapy via re-feeds/diet breaks.
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RE-FEEDS - Microcycle Diet Options (7-Days) **USE SAMPLE KCAL INTAKES**
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Monday
Low Day
Low Day
Low Day
Tuesday
Low Day
Low Day
Low Day
Wednesday
Low Day
Low Day
Low Day
Thursday
Low Day
Low Day
High Day
Friday
Low Day
High Day
High Day
Saturday
High Day
High Day
High Day
Sunday
High Day
High Day
High Day
DIET BREAKS - Mesocyle Diet Options (4-8 Weeks)
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Week 1
Digging
Digging
Digging
Week 2
Digging
Digging
Digging
Week 3
Digging
Digging
Digging
Week 4
Digging
3-5 Day Diet Break
Digging
Week 5
Digging
Digging
Diet Break/Maintenance
Week 6
Digging
Digging
Diet Break/Maintenance
Week 7
Digging
Digging
Diet Break/Maintenance
Week 8
7-10 Day Diet Break
3-5 Day Diet Break
Diet Break/Maintenance
Cardio
Cardio is often an overhyped and over relied upon tool for fat loss. Like all movement, cardio is merely
an opportunity to expend energy (for bodybuilding purposes anyway, ignoring the multitude of health
benefits). In a contest prep, cardio can be a very useful tool to increase total daily energy expenditure,
helping to sustain a calorie deficit, in particular when calorie intakes are low and further decreases in
food are much less feasible.
As should be understood, the main objective of cardio is nothing more than to increase energy expenditure - there are no inherent fat-burning benefits. So while calorie expenditure during a bout of
cardio is important, it is only important insofar as it leads to a great total expenditure across the day.
An issue that can arise, however, is very difficult bouts of cardio, that expend a lot of energy, can create
compensatory behaviours that downregulate energy expenditure in the time-period that follows. This
is part of the reason why we recommend tracking daily step count alongside your formal cardio. The
caloric expenditure in a cardio workout is merely a snapshot of total energy expenditure, whereas daily
step count gives a much longer assessment of how much movement is being undertaken throughout
the day - it is a better proxy for gauging total energy expenditure.
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Therefore, when implementing cardio, it should be done alongside maintaining a daily-step count
above a certain threshold. For example, if over the course of a prep you increase your cardio from 3 x
20 minute sessions a week, to 5 x 30 minute sessions, then this increase in cardio will only result in
a net-benefit if your step count stays between a relatively stable range, something like 6,000 - 8,000
steps per day. However, if your step count halves when you increase your volume of cardio, then you’ve
likely not created any more energy expenditure than what you were previously - you must monitor
more than just the cardio itself.
If we take care of the above, then we can start to look at how we might optimise our cardio for getting
stage-ready. How many calories are expended through cardio will depend primarily upon three factors:
»» Duration;
»» Intensity; and
»» Body weight
Something additional to be wary of though, is that even if we are doing our best to quantify the
amount of energy that is being expended through activity, determining the exact influence that activity
is having on energy balance is far less predictable than changes made to diet and calorie intake, which
can be standardised more easily. Although cardio is a less accurate means of manipulating energy
balance than alterations in energy intake, it doesn’t necessarily imply that has reduced effectiveness,
however, we still do need to consider the fine-line we are trying to walk at the tail-end of a contest
prep, and reduced accuracy could cost us time and progress.
The two primary concepts that explain the inaccuracy in quantifying energy expenditure through cardio are substitution and compensation.
Substitution is the replacement of energy that would have otherwise been expended (at rest or during
leisure), with a period of increased energy expenditure while cardio was performed. Many individuals
think that if they burn 300 calories on the treadmill, then they are 300 calories ahead. However, the
concept of substitution explains that it is less than that. If you just sat around instead of doing cardio,
you still may have burned 100 calories during that same time period, so you must substitute 100 for
300. This only leaves you 200 calories ahead, not 300. So while you still have increased your TDEE,
it is not to the same degree as what you may think - and could even be less than that based on the
following concept.
Compensation is the metabolic adjustment to increases in energy expenditure. When performing
cardio, despite your energy expenditure increasing in an acute sense, it may not result in a net-increase
in chronic expenditure, as it may be followed by large and subconscious reductions in energy expensive
activities. This is the concept of compensation - your body senses that it burned more than it wanted to
(such as through cardio), so it stops you from burning as much in the period that follows. Think about
the hardest workout you have ever done, afterwards you likely just wanted to go home, lay on the
couch and sleep - this is compensation at play. During a contest prep, even what were once considered
easy activities, such as taking the dog for a 15-minute walk, become increasingly more difficult and
the body will look to rest more and more after you complete them. We need to be wary of this, as it
is mostly subconscious, so without care, all your cardio attempts may just be matched by more resting
and you don’t get ahead in regards to your energy expenditure.
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You definitely need to be aware of the impact that Substitution & Compensation can have on your
total daily energy expenditure if you wish to use cardio to it maximal capacity. With these things said,
cardio still has a time and place and can be an invaluable tool in the tool belt to further the calorie
deficit. So let’s explore some cardio options further.
What type of cardio?
The two most common cardio modalities for bodybuilders are High-Intensity Interval Training
(HIIT) and Low-Intensity Steady State (LISS). Whilst high-intensity aerobic exercise can increase
the rate of energy production in a shorter duration, it isn’t without its consequences such as increasing the risk of injury, greater fatigue, higher mental efforts and potential interference with resistance
training performance due to the higher recovery cost. Conversely, whilst lower intensity exercise
may negate all of the aforementioned to some degree, it takes a considerable amount of time to yield
significant calorie burn. Seeing as each have their merits and demerits, the type of cardio you perform
should be largely based on:
»» Preference;
»» Orthopedic profile;
»» Recoverability
Firstly, whilst very few bodybuilders enjoy cardio, especially during the digging phase, the type of cardio you perform should in large be dictated by preference and what you enjoy the most. If you hate it,
chances are you’re not going to do it - especially when you’re fatigued and underfed.
Secondly, when selecting a cardio modality, consideration of orthopaedic profile should be taken into
account. If you have injuries, niggles or have had previous injuries or issues that may impact your
ability to perform a certain type of exercise, you must consider this. For example, if you have ankle
issues, running may not be a wise move, and you should potentially opt for something less load-bearing. Similarly, not everyone is put together the same way. Some folk are more likely to excel at sprinting due to their individual structures, whereas others may not be so fortunate and be better suited to
swimming or cycling. It doesn’t matter what you do, just ensure that it’s something you can do relative
large amounts of, without it beating up your joints.
Finally, when implementing cardio be sure to think about your training recovery and performance.
Being lean and eating at a calorie deficit for long durations will increase your risk of losing muscle and
also impair your recovery, even at the best of times. If cardio is highly stressful and damaging (such as
running downhill), the fatigue accrued in a cardio workout can significantly delay recovery and hinder
your strength and performance in the gym, ultimately increasing the amount of muscle tissue that you
risk losing.
Option 1: Tracking Daily Step Count
The most holistic and accurate way to monitor total daily energy expenditure is to monitor and
track the daily step count. From a behavioural standpoint, it is really easy to increase step count.
You can walk more than you take transport, take the stairs instead of elevators and lifts and
simply move around with a lot less effort, such as walking whilst listening to podcasts or music,
which can be extremely therapeutic.
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Additionally, daily step count is far less intensive than other forms of cardio, meaning there is
minimal interference with recovery and performance and can attenuate some of the adaptations
that occur with expenditure in other cardio methods.
By having a minimal daily step goal, you can not only increase the amount of exercise expenditure you are doing but also effectively account for the downregulation in non-exercise activity
thermogenesis, which can increase as the diet progresses. Traditionally, competitors have set a
calorie goal for a cardio session, but fail to account for the fact that it may impact total daily
expenditure. There isn’t much point in burning a bucket load of calories in a cardio workout and
then sitting on your bum for the remainder of the day.
Although tracking daily step count and hitting daily step targets is our preferred method for
controlling the energy out side of the equation, implementing any form of cardio should take
into account the athletes behavioural preferences, their training regime and how deep they are
in the diet.
Option 2: Formal Cardio Workouts
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) VS Low Intensity Steady State (LISS)
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a form of interval training that uses short periods
of highly intense (anaerobic) exercise alternating with less intense recovery periods (aerobic).
HIIT sessions will require very close to maximal efforts, which can’t be sustained for lengthy
durations of time. HIIT sessions generally last no longer than 15-25 minutes - when performed correctly.
HIIT is often purported to be the most effective cardio modality for fat loss, due to two primary reasons. The first is that HIIT is time efficient. While this is true, it is important to
remember that the most important factor related to fat loss is total daily energy expenditure,
and thus how cardio impacts this - not calories burned per unit of cardio time. So while HIIT
has a higher RATE of energy expenditure compared to lower intensity cardio - the duration
of expenditure is typically less and the total magnitude of energy burned can easily be less also
when performing vigorous cardio. We need to be concerned with the total magnitude of energy burned, not how fast we burned X amount of energy. This means that HIIT can be a useful
cardio strategy for those who are time-poor, but it does not mean that it is the superior strategy
across the board - at least as it refers to this specific benefit.
The second reason that many perceive HIIT to be superior to lower intensity cardio, is due to
the increase in energy expenditure in the period after the workout - something that is often
referred to as the “after-burn effect”. In the scientific literature, this effect is known as Excess
Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), and as it sounds, is an elevated rate of oxygen
consumption that occurs after exercise that creates an oxygen-debt. This process requires energy and thus it is believed that EPOC increases energy expenditure after HIIT. Whilst this is a
logical rationale, both aerobic and anaerobic exercise lead to EPOC, however, HIITdoes produce the more profound EPOC response. For cardio sessions of comparable difficulty - whether it a shorter but higher intensity session, or a longer but less intense session - we tend to see
relatively equal total calorie expenditures.
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HIIT typically results in a slightly greater increase in EPOC, while longer duration work tends
to produce greater calorie expenditure within the session. This all but negates the hallowed
benefit of EPOC, and we again return to an understanding of cardio simply being a method of
energy expenditure, and one that can mostly be determined by preference and what is tolerated
well.
With a greater similarity between higher and lower intensity cardio modalities than most like
to admit, this isn’t to say that it doesn’t matter AT ALL which you use. HIIT is quite often not
the wisest choice for many physique competitors during the digging phase, with a more delicate approach to expenditure being the better alternative. Whilst LISS may seem boring and a
non-desirable means to increase their TDEE, it is the safer, lower-impact alternative and has
little interference with recovery and the adaptations generated by resistance training.
What time of day should I perform cardio?
The time of day you perform your cardio has minimal impact on fat loss or energy expenditure. The
best time to perform cardio is when it best fits your schedule and preferences. Whether you perform
your cardio in the morning or evening really isn’t important, so long as you are reaching your target
expenditure, as well as any other requirements, such as total daily step count. That being said, performing cardio too close to a resistance training session, especially lower body, may impact your energy
levels and thus your performance, or the recovery and adaptation process. We recommend separating
your cardio from resistance training by at least 4-6 hours if and when possible. Additionally, in many
cases, splitting your cardio up into smaller, more manageable, durations can be of huge benefit if cardio
requirements are extremely high. For example, if you need to perform a 60 minute or longer cardio
workout, splitting the session up into 2x30 minute workouts can not only be mentally easier but also
ensure that your effort can be sustained for the entire time.
Should I perform cardio fasted?
Many bodybuilders have claimed that fasted cardio is superior to performing cardio in a fed state
due to fat being the primary substrate utilised in fasted conditions. However, research has found that
provided total energy expenditure is equated, whether cardio is performed fed or fasted has no impact
on net fat loss. Therefore, whether you perform cardio before eating or after eating is really a matter of
preference, provided the total energy expenditure is the same - which is a product of the intensity and
duration of the session, not whether you are fasted or fed. Remember, TDEE and net energy balance
over days, weeks and months will determine changes in weight/body fat, not the substrate used in a
single bout of exercise.
Although preference should be the primary factor behind performing cardio fed or fasted, it is worth
considering the potential increase in performance and thus expenditure when performing cardio in a
fed state, especially in a contest prep. We have seen many athletes drag their feet and barely break a
sweat when performing cardio on an empty stomach. If you notice that your vigour during your cardio
is hampered when fasted, try performing your cardio 30-60 minutes after a meal and see if that enhances your efforts. These small details may be in isolation, but over the long haul can add up in a big
way. However, the opposite could also be said to be valuable. If you are able to get your cardio out of
the way before eating, this means that you have already ticked that box, and can consume an extra meal
between your cardio and your resistance training.
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This likely helps direct more energy towards your resistance training and supports performance with
that to a greater degree, which may also have its advantages come stage-time. Assess & adjust, there’s
no hard and fast answer.
Will cardio interfere with my training and size?
What is critical to note here, is that it’s not only the type of cardio you perform but also how much
and when you perform it that determines the degree to which it may interfere with your training. To
maximise your training performance and ability to maintain your size, you must be adequately recovered and have at least ‘some’ energy when stepping under the bar. Due to the fact that any activity will
elicit fatigue, the question is simply a matter of magnitude, it is critical to be cautious when performing cardio in close proximity to your resistance training. Therefore, we do urge you to prioritise your
resistance training over your cardio when possible, in order to ensure the additional activity does not
cause you to be extra fatigued when training. By strategically incorporating your cardio to minimise
the potential interference it has with your weights sessions, you should be able to sustain a higher
quality of training, which is vital for retaining your muscle mass. If scheduling permits, performing
your cardio as far away from your resistance training sessions is ideal - however, if you are limited by
time constraints, your best bet is probably to hit the iron first and the treadmill second.
Additional Cardio Considerations
Despite the limitations in quantifying energy expenditure via cardio, there are many contexts in which
cardio is both a necessary and viable means of contributing to TDEE. The following is an overview of
some contexts where cardio is typically a net-positive.
a) Female competitors
Female athletes tend to weigh less than males, and this results in a lower TDEE. However, even
when weight-matched, females still have lower TDEE than males, typically a result of having
less muscle mass and other hormonal factors that influence metabolic rate. What this means is,
women will often require more cardio than men, especially smaller females whose calorie intakes will need to drop to the 1000kcal/day mark, and potentially even lower at times. Through
the strategic use of cardio, a good coach can help ensure that even small females still have at
least a moderate amount of food to consume throughout the day.
b) Sedentary individuals
If you have an inactive job or simply a sedentary lifestyle, your total daily energy expenditure
will be less than those who are active or work laborious jobs (all other things being equal). The
amount of cardio that you will require will be largely dictated by how active you are habitual.
Competitors who are relatively sedentary will likely have to resort to very low-calorie intakes,
unless their TDEE is enhanced through some additional planned activity, such as formal cardio.
Almost all competitors reach a point during prep where they would rather move more than eat
less, it is just that this point typically arrives a little sooner in more sedentary individuals, than
their more active counterparts.
c) Individuals who experience large reductions in NEAT
There is a large inter-individual variance in non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) in
response to energy restriction. NEAT is subconscious energy expenditure that occurs outside
of formal training or cardio sessions, such as fidgeting, cleaning the house, sitting and standing.
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During periods of energy restriction and weight loss, some individuals see rapid decreases in
their NEAT levels whereas others do not. Individuals who do see a large reduction in NEAT
will often require more cardio or a greater emphasis on remaining active, in order to prevent the
need for severely low-calorie intakes.
Individuals who have a long history of dieting for weight loss, or have already lost a significant
amount of body weight before starting their contest prep, can expect to see greater reductions
in NEAT, and therefore typically require more cardio to off-set the downregulation of subconscious activity levels.
Furthermore, large reductions in NEAT are often the cause of weight loss plateaus, and the
reason why many individuals claim they are in “starvation mode” - the phenomena of consuming very low-calorie intakes and failing to lose weight. NEAT is the major reason why
energy expenditure can fall beyond predicted maintenance requirements. Yes, bodybuilding is
semi-starvation and sure, the body adapts and fights harder to preserve itself when dieting for
long periods. However, thermodynamics and energy balance still holds true - you just need to
be cognisant of how expenditure is impacted and what you need to do to ensure you create a
calorie deficit. In most cases, NEAT is the answer!
Note
If you have a low body weight, are female, have recently dieted or just have sloth-like genetics and are now noticing that you aren’t moving as much as you used to and your calorie level already seems offensively low, then it’s likely you may require more cardio just to
keep TDEE as high as possible. If you fit some or all of these descriptors, don’t be surprised
if your cardio is high, even for a competitor - just be sure to keep that NEAT in check too.
Cardio Adjustments
Over the course of a contest prep, just as the body adapts to progressively lower calorie intakes, the
body will also adapt to rising levels of activity/cardio - they are two sides of the same coin. The more
cardio you perform, the more efficient your movement becomes, resulting in less energy being expended per session. This increase in efficiency of the body is one reason why expenditure can diminish from
the same cardio workout over time, but so too is the fact that you are now a smaller person. As you lose
weight, you simply burn calories during exercise because you weigh less and don’t require the same
magnitude of energy production to move your body-mass.
Whilst some smarty-pants folk try to outsmart the body’s adaptive mechanisms by varying cardio on
a frequent basis, this brings about a number of other issues that may be of greater consequence than
the potential reduction in expenditure due to increased efficiency. Sure, altering the type of cardio you
perform may potentially prevent some efficiency induced a reduction in expenditure - however, constantly varying the type of cardio you perform can cause greater amounts of stress on the body’s system
as a whole, as well as more muscle damage, fatigue and soreness. None of which are overly useful for
optimal body-composition. This is less of a concern when employing lower intensity cardio, as the impact and intensity involved is greatly reduced. Conversely though, any moderate-high intensity cardio
should not be altered carelessly without serious deliberation about how it may impact recovery.
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The major objective when adjusting cardio is to increase total daily energy expenditure, not efficiency.
Therefore, adjustments to in cardio should be achieved via an increase total daily energy expenditure to
uphold a calorie deficit through total daily step count.
This can be achieved by:
»» Increasing the duration of a cardio bout, keeping intensity and frequency constant; OR
»» Increasing the intensity of the cardio bout, keeping the duration and frequency constant;
or
»» Increasing the frequency of the cardio bout, keeping the duration and intensity constant.
The aforementioned adjustments will serve to increase overall daily energy expenditure, but as discussed, caution should be used when increasing intensity to any significant degree. As frustrating as it
may be, and again something that has been discussed already, the necessary adjustments to continually
hold the energy deficit should likely come from reductions in energy intake predominantly. Simply because they are much easier to predict and quantify. Aiming to achieve the deficit through cardio alone
is not advisable, but it certainly can be used as a means to support a diet-induced deficit.
If cardio is used, here is how you can ‘best’ estimate and track energy expenditure as a means of quantifying adjustments in energy balance: Shapense Calorie Expenditure Calculator
Key takeaways Cardio
»» The primary objective of cardio is to increase total daily energy expenditure and
uphold a calorie deficit.
»» Use cardio modalities that cause minimal interference with resistance training,
such as LISS or MISS.
»» Preference and ability levels should dictate the type of cardio performed.
»» Perform cardio when it fits your schedule. Whether fasted or fed is not important.
»» When incorporating cardio, aim to schedule cardio sessions 4-6 hours away from
resistance training sessions. If cardio and resistance training must be performed
within the same session, cardio should likely be performed second to minimise
potential performance impairments in resistance training.
»» High-intensity interval training may not be ideal for those with low fitness abilities, unfavourable biomechanics, injuries or pain/discomfort.
»» High-intensity interval training can be used for individuals with time constraints
or who prefer this type of cardio over lower intensity aerobic exercise.
»» Cardio adjustments will be required to off-set reductions in NEAT and raise
TDEE to uphold a calorie deficit, especially in smaller, more sedentary individuals and females.
»» To elevate TDEE, increase the duration, intensity or frequency of cardio workouts. Altering two or more of these variables is not advised unless absolutely
necessary.
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Program Design & Training Adjustments
Why is training last on the list during the digging phase you ask? Given that the primary driver of fat
loss is diet - not training - making progress and getting leaner means that we must pay more attention
to nutrition and energy expenditure first and foremost. This doesn’t mean that resistance training is not
important, because it certainly is - it is just a secondary factor for fat loss. The variables which most directly impact energy balance should be the focus point during a digging phase and resistance training
has a minor impact on this. That is not to say you can throw caution to the wind and ignore the role
of resistance training though. We’ve seen many contest preps unravel due to poor programming and
asinine training regimes that aren’t founded on the principles or adhere to the needs of a physique athlete who is already extremely lean. In order to retain as much muscle as possible and manage fatigue
appropriately, a sound approach to resistance training is required.
Stress, Recovery, Adaptation & Allostatic Load
Physiological concepts such as stress, recovery, adaptation and allostatic load are important to understand when it comes to program design in a contest prep.
Stress is any stimuli that is sensed as a threat, challenge or disruption to physical and/or psychological
homeostasis. Factors such as diet, training and psychological tension can alter the body’s internal environment leading to a myriad of responses and adaptations in multiple systems, not just your muscles! Stress can be classified in a number of ways, and it’s important to have a comprehension of these
different terms if we are going to have informed discussion regarding stress. The various classifications
of stress are as follows:
Acute time-limited stressors: A short-term challenge.
Brief naturalistic stressors: a brief natural stressor involves an event that is normal but nevertheless challenging.
Stressful event sequences: a stressor that occurs, and then continues to yield stress into the
immediate future.
Chronic stress: involves exposure to a long-term stressor.
Distant stress: a stressor that is not immediate.
Importantly, the body cannot differentiate stress and all the various stressors that contribute to it. It
simply detects stress, no matter what form, whether it arises from environmental, internal or external
causes. Homeostasis is a central concept related to stress, and as you know contest prep imposes a
plethora of challenges to homeostatic regulation.
An individual’s ability to tolerate a stressor is impacted by a number of things, such as genetics, personality type, lifestyle, environment, health, body composition and energy availability. Recovery from
a stressor will depend primarily upon the magnitude of the stress, the body’s biological condition
and adaptive resources, as well as the type of system being stressed. An important biological concept
known as general adaptation syndrome (GAS) can help explain the body’s response to stress, whether
it be physical or emotional. Although the GAS model does not explain all the different responses to
stress, it does offer a useful model for understanding the adaptive response to a training related stressor.
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When a training stress is introduced, the initial response, or alarm phase, reduces performance capacity
as a result of accumulated fatigue, soreness, stiffness, and a reduction in energy stores. The alarm phase
initiates the adaptive responses that are central to the resistance phase of the GAS model. This is when
the body fights back.
If the training stressor is not excessive and is planned appropriately, the adaptive responses will occur
during the resistance phase and performance will return to baseline or even better, be elevated to new
higher levels (adaptation/supercompensation). Conversely, if the training stress is excessive, performance will be further reduced in response to the athlete’s inability to sufficiently adapt to the stress,
resulting in what is considered to be overtraining. From the standpoint of training response, it is important to realize that all stressors are additive and that factors external to the training program (such
as lifestyle, sleep, sleep, nutrition, psychology, relationships, nutrition, and career stress) can affect an
athlete’s ability to adapt to the stressors introduced by the training program.
For example, in healthy individuals with sufficient energy intake and adaptive resources, a single resistance training session may cause a minor disturbance to homeostasis and the musculoskeletal system
can repair any damage induced via that session in a relatively short period of time. Moreover, if given
the individual also has adaptive resources available, they will positively adapt and internal changes to
the musculoskeletal system will take place to ensure they can tolerate the same stressor with less disruption in the future.
Under normal conditions, the magnitude of a stressor is far less than what it is when in hypocaloric
conditions. An important concept and principle of resistance training is the stimulus, recovery, adaptation model. This demonstrates how in order to adapt to a stress, we must recover.
As you diet, get leaner and perform more cardio, you are summating fatigue in areas outside of the
gym. Diet and non-training related stress will not only cause a greater amount of homeostatic disruption but will also lead to a greater duration spent recovering as well as smaller adaptations and quicker
decay of these adaptations.
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See the image below for how homeostatic mechanisms attempt to cope with chronic exposure to a
stress diminishing the magnitude of adaptation over time and when stressed in an under recovered
state, maladaptation and regression occur.
Inherent to being contest lean, you will become more fatigued and fragile in the gym. As mentioned
already, the body does not differentiate stress. In the digging phase, there is stress being placed on the
body left, right and centre. As we seek to induce a calorie deficit through diet and cardio to decrease
fat mass, there is a net shift towards catabolism (tissue breakdown). This means that the body does not
have the resources available to recover it’s systems and is, in essence, experiencing a constant state of
stress, fatigue and tissue loss. See the below graphic demonstrating the increase in allostatic load (total
body stress) in response to chronic stress.
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Although at first glance this may seem an unfavourable and unwanted outcome, wear and tear is a
by-product of stress and adaptation. Accumulating more stress than desired is a necessary trade-off
we must make in order to burn through fat tissue. The first step is to be aware of the consequences of
energy deprivation and the impact it has on the bodies ability to tolerate and recover from stress. The
second, equally important, step is to manage the fatigue accrued via stressors more diligently. During
this phase, it is paramount to ensure that you don’t induce stress so far beyond your systems tolerance
threshold. The objective is to make it to the stage without experiencing more stress than necessary.
The physiological objective of resistance training for hypertrophy
The physiological objective in resistance training is to initiate a growth signal and increase muscle
protein synthesis. In order to achieve this, the magnitude and the duration of mechanical loading but
be sufficient.
The desired adaptations for muscle growth (or retention) occur on a cellular level, but in order to drive
these adaptations, we must manipulate practical variables such as volume and intensity/load.
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In order for a muscle fibre to experience mechanical tension, the motor unit that governs (innervates)
it must be recruited. High threshold motor units (HTMU) govern a disproportionately large amount
of muscle fibres, so recruiting them is essential when trying to generate tension in the maximum
amount of muscle fibres. In order to activate HTMU, a set must be very challenging and close to
failure. When using heavy loads, HTMU are recruited almost immediately - as a 3 rep max is already
close to failure even after doing just 1 rep. Similarly, when low-moderate loads are taken close to failure, low threshold motor units become fatigued in the process and HTMU are called upon to maintain the work output. So whether you’re using heavy or light loads, provided you’re relatively close to
failure, you’ll be recruiting HTMU’s and helping to maximise your muscle growth/retention.
Another important factor of maximising mechanical loading is the force-velocity relationship (FVR).
While HTMU recruitment maximises the number of fibres that experience tension, the FVR determines the magnitude of tension that all the recruited fibres experience. For maximal mechanical
loading, we obviously need to produce a lot of tension in a large number of fibres. When muscles are
required to produce high amounts of force, and therefore contractions occur at slow velocities, mechanical tension is highest. Conversely, a fast contraction speed means that force isn’t a limiting factor
and therefore tension isn’t maximised. This means that eliciting tension is not solely dependent on the
load used, but fatigue also plays a role. As fatigue accumulates, contraction velocities decrease and this
allows for more myosin & actin binding to occur, resulting in more tension. This means that tension
can be achieved with both light and heavy loads, provided movement velocity slows as a result of fatigue accumulation.
Now that we have maximised the degree of tension, through HTMU recruitment and slow contraction velocities, we can focus on the second component: tension duration. A significant body of research
has shown that volume plays a large role in hypertrophy - the more we expose our muscles to adequate
tension, the better. These findings have found that there is a dose-response relationship between volume and hypertrophy; more volume, up to a point, leads to more growth. So tension exposure is kind
of a big deal.
In summary, when muscle experiences sufficient magnitudes and durations of tension, a mechanically
induced cellular signalling cascade occurs that drives an increase in muscle protein synthesis. Getting
this right is the key to holding on all your hard earned myofibrillar tissue as you make the journey to
the stage.
If you’d prefer a more detailed explanation of muscle protein regulation, try the following:
The role of resistance training in contest prep is to counteract the catabolic signalling of hypocaloric
dieting and upregulate anabolic (tissue synthesis) pathways that will help preserve muscle mass. The
anabolic or catabolic actions and outcomes of any cell is dependent upon net protein balance (NPB)
and muscle cells (fibres) are no different. NPB is the outcome of two factors; the processes of muscle
protein synthesis and muscle protein breakdown. The difference between both processes (MPS minus
MPB) results in NPB. For example, when MPS is elevated, MPB is still present but on the net balance a greater amount of MPS is occurring – positive NPB. Both of these processes are sensitive and
will respond to aminoacidemia (a high level of amino acids in the blood) which occurs after a protein
containing meal is ingested, as well as high levels of muscular tension, which we impose through the
means of resistance training. Both these factors increase the anabolic activity within a muscle cell and
down-regulate the catabolic activity. The result is a shift in NPB towards a positive state; resulting in
growth of the muscle cells over time.
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As we now know, mechanical loading can be achieved with heavy loads and/or sets that are taken close
to failure. As the goal of this digging-phase is to lose fat, a net-catabolic process in adipose tissue, in
can be difficult to achieve sufficient anabolism in muscle tissue in order to actually grow muscle. Often
in this phase, the best resistance training can only achieve a net balance between the rate of MPS
and MPB, resulting in muscle maintenance. Towards the very end of a prep, often the best outcome
is to simply minimise the amount of muscle tissue that is lost per unit of fat-lost - but hey, this is the
price of getting truly shredded. Another of the consequences of enduring a net catabolic state for a
long period of time is that you will be constantly fatigued, you won’t be able to train as hard, lift as
much or recover from the same workload, which makes achieving the same magnitude and duration
of mechanical loading difficult. Even if the same magnitude and duration of mechanical loading could
be placed on a muscle, it wouldn’t necessarily be advisable, as you no longer have the ability to recover
from stress or adapt at the same rate as you previously did. This helps to illustrate the fine-line you
must walk with your training in the digging-phase; too little and you lose muscle rapidly, too much
and you can’t recover and adapt, which also results in muscle-loss. Again, assess and adjust over time.
To summarise, the following factors play a large role in the appropriate dosing of training stress:
»» » The size of the calorie deficit;
»» » The duration of the dieting phase; and
»» » How far below your settling point you are
Whilst the size of the deficit will be small during the digging phase, the length of the diet and total
changes in body weight/fat are beyond what would normally be seen in other dieting phases. These
extreme conditions warrant a slightly different approach to resistance training protocols. It calls for a
more methodical and careful approach than any other.
Key takeaways
»» Continue to train with sufficient training volume/intensities to retain lean muscle
mass;
»» Minimise excessive or unplanned fatigue accumulation - junk volume;
»» Avoid injury and burn out
»» Some other important points to note, that may require addressing during the digging phase are:
»» Changes in leverages can affect mechanics and technique in big lifts such as squats
and bench press;
»» Less fat tissue exposes the joints to more stress;
‘Vigour’ and enthusiasm to train hard can diminish due to feeling depleted and
lethargic.
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Keeping the Muscle
It is not uncommon for athletes to adopt a blanket ‘more is better’ mentality once they get deep into
their contest prep. As progress slows, many competitors fall victim in trying to force changes to their
physique through hard training and even more restrictive dieting. This is a huge mistake.
Stress accumulates in many forms and must be managed accordingly - training is no exception. As you
know, the overall state of the body is now geared towards losing tissue (preferably fat), but the fatigue
accrued from losing bodily tissue, eating less, training hard and the mental stress that comes with the
process of restriction, as well as a looming competition, may also exacerbate muscle loss. This can make
programming a very delicate balance between doing enough to retain muscle tissue but not doing so
much that you dig a recovery hole you cannot climb out of. Although this contradicts the notion that
you must ‘grind’ and turn on ‘beast mode’, more is not always better, and we’ll show you why.
Priority #1 - Enjoyment
Of primary concern during the digging phase is that your program is enjoyable. As much as possible
anyway. As every other aspect of the contest prep starts becoming more ‘serious’ and detail oriented,
the way you setup your training program should first and foremost be designed, to at the very least,
motivate and entice you to get to the gym. Making your program as enjoyable as possible during this
phase will improve your adherence to training and likely result in more productive training. If your
training program makes you resent your workouts and decreases your motivation to train after the first
10 minutes, then you are going to be in for a rough few weeks and months. Even if you are the most
hardcore athlete known to bodybuilding, if you find your workouts excessively laborious chances are
your effort will be less than what it would be if you enjoyed things a little more. As muscle growth is
far less specific than other fitness qualities, you have a lot more flexibility in how you piece together a
program, provided that it satisfies three things:
You train with an appropriate amount of volume;
2. You train sufficiently hard; and
3. You train each muscle group every 3-5 days
1.
This gives rise to the possibility of making your training routine more pragmatic and pleasant. Be sure
to think about the following factors when putting together a program:
»» Time efficiency - biasing your volume around machines and exercises that require little
time to set up as well as including strategies such as supersets, drop sets, myoreps etc;
»» Exercise preferences - Selecting exercises that you find enjoyable, have a strong
mind-muscle connection with and are excited to perform;
»» Injuries/niggles - avoiding any exercises that cause significantly more fatigue of the
joints or cause aches, pain or discomfort
All of the above will in one way shape or another allow for more enjoyable training if your program
takes them into account.
A prime example of how some athletes fail to account for the consequences of semi-starvation in program design is by incorporating highly fatiguing exercises such as deadlifts or low-bar squats.
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Although these movements recruit a large amount of muscle tissue, these movements require such
heavy loads, they not only stress muscle tissue but also tax multiple other systems that we would prefer
to not “waste” recovery resources, such as the nervous system and connective tissue. Additional to the
higher fatigue cost of such lifts, they also take a really long time to set up when using high absolute
loads. Putting 4 plates on each side of the barbell is quite an arduous task when you’re extremely tired.
A similar stimulus could be achieved with a barbell good morning, or high-bar squat, both of which
are more joint friendly and time-efficient exercises. The aforementioned exercises require much less
mental effort and time to set up and get into working sets. This could be of huge benefit not only for
making training more enjoyable, but also mitigate the risk associated with more technical and heavy
lifts.
Remember, the more you enjoy your training during this difficult time and minimises the risk of injury
is a good thing and will mean you are more likely to train hard - and that is a huge part of retaining
muscle.
Priority #2 - The Acute Training Variables
The training variables are the tools in which we use to apply mechanical tension and stimulate muscle
protein synthesis. In the early phases of your contest prep, you won’t need to make as many adjustments to your program. It is highly likely that you will be able to train with the same efforts and work
loads that you would have used in pre-contest phases or the off season. However, due to the sheer
amount of stress-induced via diet, exercise and weight loss, small and incremental modifications to the
acute training variables in program design will be required in order to sufficiently stimulate muscle
protein synthesis to keep your muscle mass and ensure you don’t over cook yourself.
Adjusting the acute training variables can achieve the objective of the digging phase - preserve lean
tissue and minimise unnecessary fatigue. The acute training variables are outlined below as well as our
recommendations for each.
1.
Volume - The amount of total work performed.
-- Load; (Reps X Sets X Load X Distance Travelled)
-- Total Number of Hard Sets; (Per muscle group, per week)
2.
Intensity - The degree of effort applied.
-- % of 1RM or Relative to body-weight; and
-- Effort (Proximity to failure as measured by Reps In Reserve/ Rated Perceived Effort)
3.
Frequency - How you distribute your volume and intensity.
-- How often you train a muscle group per week
-- Frequencies of 2-4x per week per muscle group
4.
Exercise Selection - The exercises used to apply stimulus
-- Machine multi joint lifts - 50% of volume
-- Free weight multi joint lifts - 25% of volume
-- Single joint lifts - 25% of volume
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Exercise Order - The order of exercises within a workout and week
-- Compound → Isolation for beginners/intermediates
-- Isolation → compound for advanced athletes
6.
Rest - The duration between sets
-- Rest long enough to preserve performance across each set and exercise.
-- 2-3 minutes for multi joint lifts
-- 60-120 seconds for single joint lifts
7.
Tempo - The speed of contraction
-- Fast and explosive concentrics
-- Deliberate and controlled eccentrics (not excessively slow)
Measuring ‘performance’ becomes all the more difficult now though and you should continue to keep a
close eye on your numbers in the gym (but not lose sight of the overall goal, looking your best). More
importantly, due to being in a state of fatigue, a number of important concepts become ever more
important to be understood and implemented, helping to ensure your training is serving its primary
purpose.
Volume - MEV, MAV & MRV
High-quality scientific research has shown that training volume is the key variable that drives muscle
growth (or retention during severe dieting). As previously mentioned, training volume is the amount
of physical work performed in the gym, as measured by either volume load or number of hard working
sets.
As expected, there will come a point in the digging phase where you simply cannot perform and
continue to recover from the same amount of training as you could previously. Due to reduced resources, your recovery ceiling slowly falls as you diet more and harder. However, just because our recovery
ceiling is falling, we cannot just slash our training in half, as this would most obviously lead to muscle
loss. We still need to perform as much beneficial training as we can, just minding that we don’t push it
too far and crash into our recovery ceiling. Attempting to uphold training volume in the digging phase
requires greater care and consideration than program design/adjustments in any other phase.
Using The Volume Landmarks created by Dr Mike Israetel and colleagues, the following concepts
outline a number of ways to better understand the amount of work athletes can perform, recover and
adapt from during deep stages of contest prep.
Maintenance Volume
The amount of training that maintains current adaptations.
Minimum Effective Volume
The minimum amount of volume required to generate adaptations is higher due to the shift towards
catabolism during dieting phases.
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Maximum Adaptive Volume
The amount of training between MEV and MRV is reduced due to the bordering landmarks becoming closer together, requiring either smaller progressions in training, or more frequent deloads as MRV
will be reached sooner. Adaptive outcomes during this phase are also reduced even with equivalent volume being performed when compared to other phases of iso/hypercaloric conditions and less systemic
fatigue.
Maximum Recoverable Volume
The highest volume of training an athlete can do in a particular situation and still recover to present
a full overload in the next training timescale is lower and can be exceeded more easily, resulting in
non-beneficial outcomes.
During the digging phase, as discussed above the amount of volume you can perform in a session and
week without overreaching decreases. Additionally, the amount of volume required to maintain your
current level of muscle mass increases. This conundrum poses a number of issues - in essence, you are
walking a much finer line between doing enough to ensure you don’t lose tissue, but not doing too
much that you over cook yourself.
See below for how the optimal volume range (MEV to MRV) shifts with varying states of energy balance. As you can see, maintenance volume requirements increase in hypocaloric conditions and MRV
requirements decrease. This means that on average, you can recover from less, but must do slightly
more in order to preserve tissue and avoid looking like a skinned rabbit on stage.
To further understand how training stress impacts volume requirements, see the graphic on the next
page for how non-training related stressors, such as hypocaloric diets, poor sleep, high activity levels
and psychological stress can alter recovery.
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Volume Recommendations In The Digging Phase
Importantly, you should not be making large and drastic reductions in your training volume unless.
Although volume has the largest effect on growth signalling, it also induces the greatest amount of
fatigue and as both fatigue and our risk of muscle loss increases much more in hypocaloric conditions,
we must be cautious with tampering with training volume.
As a general rule of thumb:
»» Your weekly training volume should be around 12-20 sets per muscle group per week.
»» Your weekly training volume should be split into per session training volumes of around
4-8 sets per muscle group per session.
When to Reduce Volume?
There may come a point when you cannot perform the same amount of volume and need to reduce
your volume, especially if you are feeling under-recovered or highly fatigued in the first week or two of
a mesocycle. If you are experiencing the following symptoms, it might be time to lower your training
volume slightly:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
High perceived level of fatigue
Short term performance decrement
Disturbed sleep
Lower motivation to train
Regular aches/pains
The amount you need to reduce your volume will depend on the severity of each symptom and when.
If in the early weeks of a mesocycle you are experiencing high amounts of fatigue, performance has
dropped off significantly, sleep is highly disturbed and your motivation to train is in the toilet with
your joint health, then it’s likely that you need to drop your volume by 2-4 sets per muscle group or
potentially take a few lighter sessions or extra days off.
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If however, you are experiencing mild symptoms and it’s later in your mesocycle, you may not need to
reduce volume much, if at all. If your final week of a mesocycle you notice some of the above cropping
up, then hang tight and wait until your deload does its job and helps dissipate the fatigue accrued
through your overloading weeks.
Note - Training Level of Advancement
Training level of advancement largely influences the magnitude of change that occurs to the volume
landmarks. In essence, athletes who are advanced will have a smaller window between their MEV and
MRV and fatigue management is of paramount importance. Con- versely, beginners will have a larger
window between their MEV and MRV and can prog- ress more easily, theoretically.
In practice, this means that if you are advanced, you will need to:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Train for total body maintenance, conserving your gains;
Expect to see your MV exceed your MRV (lose muscle to get completely shredded).
Be intelligent in how you structure your training;
Be very careful and conservative in how hard you push for progression;
Be realistic in your approach to training and adjust your expectations;
Prioritise keeping volume within the window of MV-MRV at all times to ensure no tissue is lost.
In practice, this means that if you are advanced, you will need to:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Train for total body maintenance, conserving your gains;
Expect to see your MV exceed your MRV (lose muscle to get completely shredded).
Be intelligent in how you structure your training;
Be very careful and conservative in how hard you push for progression;
Be realistic in you approach to training and adjust your expectations;
Prioritise keeping volume within the window of MV-MRV at all times to ensure no tissue is lost.
Intensity
A case for Low Load/High Rep Training
Although traditionally, coaches and athletes thought the best proxy for muscle retention was to uphold
strength i.e. the load on the bar on key compounds, due to research demonstrating that muscle growth
can occur through a broad spectrum of rep ranges and intensities, there appears to be a case for lighter
load training not only for muscle growth, but so too maintaining your gains during the digging phase.
How does the stimulus vary across loading zones and rep ranges?
Low rep ranges with high absolute loads (>75% of 1RM) are strongly hypertrophic out of the gates
due to the recruitment of HTMU. Similarly, even higher rep ranges with low absolute loads (<75% of
1RM) are equally as hypertrophic, provided sets are taken closer to failure due to the fatigue accrued
forcing HTMU to be called upon.
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Why does this matter?
Unless using the extreme low-end rep ranges where hypertrophy is imminent in nearly every rep,
relative intensity and effort via the RPE/RIR scale can provide a potent stimulus for hypertrophy and
preserving lean body mass.
Prioritising strength or excessive training in the low-end rep ranges with heavy loading whilst theoretically plausible is a mistake many competitors make when it comes to load selection and intensities
during a contest prep. This is especially true on free weight, compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts,
bench press, bent over rows etc. The focal point of training for muscle retention should be to achieve a
sufficient number of strongly hypertrophic reps each set, workout and week. Given that this can occur
through a broad spectrum of rep ranges and loading zones, we have a lot more flexibility in achieving
this objective.
As you lose fat tissue and are digging well below your settling point, your ability to lift near maximal
loads is compromised for multiple reasons, some more obvious than others, and trying to achieve a
moderate-high volume of training (enough to provide sufficient exposure for growth) with such heavy
loads can increase injury risk and lead to more fatigue. Not a great idea, especially when a similar stimulus could be achieved with lighter loads in the moderate-high rep ranges.
An important factor when using light-moderate loads, however, is that you must gauge your effort via
the RPE/RIR scales accurately. If not, you could be getting very little stimulus and thus lose muscle
tissue. As such, you must ensure that when training with low loads and higher reps, staying a little
closer to failure is necessary and an extremely useful means by which you can continue to train hard
during the dig- ging phase without seeing large reductions in training stimulus, whilst also minimising
injury risk and the overall fatigue cost in eliciting a growth stimulus.
For example, if you performed 3 sets of 5 reps for an RPE of 7 or RIR of 3 on deadlifts will be very
taxing and risky if using high absolute loads. This would only elicit a total ~8 strongly hypertrophic
reps. Conversely, if you were to perform 4 sets of 8 reps on a good morning for the same relative intensity (RPE 7 - RIR 3), this would equate to ~10 strongly hypertrophic reps. Although there are obvious
differences between the two exercises as well as the sets and total work performed, the good morning
would be much lower in absolute load and thus cause far less systemic fatigue and lower risk of injury.
This example demonstrates how although the deadlift is deemed the holy grail of strength exercises, it
may not be as stimulative of growth as other exercises which allow for higher volumes and efforts.
Training effort will need to be upheld and if utilising low load/high rep training, it will mean that your
training effort as measured by RPE/RIR will likely need to increase to ensure you maximally recruit
motor units and elicit sufficient training stimulus. Failure to continue to perform hard training sessions will result in a loss of lean mass, especially if total training volume is reduced below a minimum
threshold necessary to retain muscle.
Frequency
Frequency is not an independent training stimulus. Frequency is simply the means by which volume
and intensity are organised. However, this doesn’t mean it is less important when compared to the
other variables, especially in the digging phase.
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Firstly, there is evidence to suggest that the protein synthetic response to resistance training is lesser in
hypocaloric conditions and therefore the elevation of MPS is short-lived, resulting in quicker adaptive
dissipation. Thus, to minimise muscle protein breakdown, more frequent injections of stimulus can
lessen the muscle wasting consequences of dieting.
Secondly, this phase, like all others, requires sufficient volumes in order to preserve muscle mass. As
you know, you need more volume in order to maintain your gains and cannot recover from as much.
Due to recoverable volumes decreasing both within a week and in an individual workout, it makes
sense to spread volume over a higher frequency to allow for recovery, minimise muscle breakdown and
hopefully uphold a higher quality of training per session and week.
A great way to spread volume and efforts across a higher frequency is to incorporate daily undulating
periodisation (DUP). DUP simply refers to manipulating training variables throughout a microcycle,
having heavy, fatiguing or high volume/intensity sessions, moderate load, modest fatigue and volume
sessions and lighter, less fatiguing and lower volume sessions. This weekly set up allows for the inclusion of both heavier days with lower volumes (lower rep sessions) and so too days with moderate loads
(moderate rep ranges) and lighter loads (high rep ranges). Not only can this keep training interesting
and enjoyable through differing training targets and focuses within a session and week, but ensure that
you are maximising your recovery/performance.
We recommend spreading your total volume across 2-4 sessions within a week. With progressive higher volumes, split over higher frequencies as the prep unfolds.
This higher frequency and lower per session volume can ensure that recovery curves are optimised and
the stimulus isn’t so large per workout that it impedes your ability for future overloading stimulus.
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Exercise selection
As we know, muscle growth is a tension-dependent process, not an exercise dependent process. Again,
this doesn’t discount the importance of picking the right movements to achieve that stimulus, but
there are many exercises in our toolbox that we can use to retain your hard earned muscle.
In the digging phase, your joints will start taking a hit and your overall ability to tolerate physical stress
is hampered, so small modifications in exercise selection can minimise joint soreness and whilst allowing for sufficiently hard training. Our objective now is to maximise the amount of stimulus within a
given exercise and minimise the amount of fatigue accrued. This is otherwise known as the stimulus:fatigue ratio.
During this phase, it is now pivotal to select exercises that provide the most stimulus with the least
amount of systemic fatigue. Local muscular fatigue is a great sign of stimulus, and muscle soreness,
pumps (albeit a rarity now) are excellent proxies for a highly stimulating movement. Joint pain, aches
and pains or soreness in muscle groups that are not being directly targeted can be more problematic
in this phase. Remember, the body is pulling from the same resources to repair damage and recover/
adapt. Therefore, any indirect or unnecessary fatigue can hinder the potency of a stimulus in retaining
lean body mass.
When to change exercises?
Although varying exercise selection may be necessary now more than ever, it shouldn’t be done so
without due diligence. When varying an exercise, there can be a significant amount of decrease in the
acute stimulus it provides due to the neural adaptations and motor learning required before sufficient
loads and volumes can be used. Similarly, with variation comes novelty. Novelty in the stimulus can
increase the amount of muscle damage and more muscle damage detracts from net muscle protein
synthesis.
In many cases, especially when nearing the final weeks before a show, variation can be a costly endeavour and cause more interruption and regression in your physique than working through some small
aches or pains. That being said, if you are in dire need of variation because your joints are truly destroyed, then health and pain-free, purposeful lifting should be prioritised.
If you are making progress, feeling good, recovering and still getting some direct pumps and ‘tension’
on a target muscle or muscle group, then you should keep your exercises the same and avoid switching
them out. Conversely, if you have stagnated on a lift or even started to notice obvious regressions in
your performance, are getting aches and pains and feel stale, bored and unmotivated to train then it
might be time to swap out an exercise.
When altering exercises, be sure to make small, incremental adjustments for a particular movement
pattern or muscle group. For example, it would be daft to swap barbell squats, leg press and leg extensions out for completely new exercises all at once. Instead, swapping barbell squats for hack squats,
whilst keeping the other movements the same is probably a more intelligent approach.
Your program should include 2-4 exercises per muscle group, and each of those exercises should aim to
maximise the stimulus achieved and minimise fatigue.
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As a rule of thumb, in this phase it is highly likely that transitioning away from multi joint, free weight
movements to a greater percentage of your volume coming from machines and single joint, isolation,
exercises will be required. This can go a long way in reducing the potential risk of injury that accompanies technically demanding lifts with high force outputs and ensuring you can elicit a sufficient muscle
retention stimulus. For example, shifting from high bar squats to hack squats and conventional deadlifts to Romanian deadlifts. As you can see here, the alterations in exercise selection are minor but can
be a potent means of ensuring your training is effective and not detrimental.
Whilst these adjustments are definitely justified during the digging phase, this is not a get out of jail
free card to skimp out on hard work or make large overhauls to your training protocol. The number of
adjustments you will need to make to your program should be viewed with an extremely objective eye
as any decisions made based on emotion.
Exercise Order
The order of exercises within a session and week can be integral to how effective or ineffective the
stimulus is on muscle protein synthesis, especially in the digging phase. Given that performance and
recovery are diminished across the board, it is imperative that the training session and microcycle are
designed to uphold high-quality training and manage fatigue.
Workout Exercise Order
Within a workout, it is likely a good idea to begin workouts with the most taxing and demanding exercises. Typically, these exercises will provide a more potent stimulus than other exercises and therefore
you should prioritise these movements. Thus, beginning your sessions with multi-joint lifts and then
having single joint exercises later in the workout to fill in the gaps is a great way to order your exercises
if you are a beginner or intermediate, and in some cases even if you are advanced.
When it comes to the order of training muscle groups within a workout there are generally two ways
you can pair exercises. First is what is known as agonist pairing. This is when the same muscle group/
groups (agonist ordering) are trained one after the other. This can be effective as there is greater local
fatigue and thus more stimulus as you move from one exercise to another. For example, push, push,
push, pull, pull, pull, etc would be agonist pairing within a workout.
A problem that may arise here is that due to the depleted nature of athletes after prolonged diets, rapid
performance drop-offs may be experienced due to the rapid onset of local muscular fatigue and thus
the stimulus becomes less and less potent as the session unfolds. Thus ordering exercises in a fashion
that trains opposing muscle groups one after the other can also be a great strategy in the digging phase
if your experiencing significant decrements in performance with agonist pairing of exercises. For example, push, pull, push, pull, etc.
We recommend prioritising performance and thus using an exercise order that allows you to uphold
the best possible quality of training through this phase.
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Weekly Exercise Order
As per our training frequency recommendations, you should be aiming to train each muscle group 2-4
times per week with undulations in intensity, volume and overall fatigue. Exercise selection plays a
big role in the time course for recovery, and thus minimising the transfer of residual fatigue from one
workout to the next can allow for enhanced performance and thus a more robust stimulus in future
sessions. For example, if one workout is highly damaging and fatiguing due to both volume, intensity
and exercise selection, the following workout must account for this. Thus ordering exercises within a
week should seek to provide for not only a robust stimulus within the session, but allow for training to
be sufficiently stimulative in the next workout. For example, if you are training legs three times within
a week, performing quad focused sessions back to back could lead to many performance and recovery
issues. Instead, altering between antagonist focused sessions, as per our workout guidelines, can off-set
the potential recovery issues that can be seen when cramming a bucket load of volume in a shorter
duration. A better structure of exercise order within the week when training legs three times would be
to have a quad focused session followed by a hamstring focused session and then another quad focused
session.
Overload
Progressive overload is a fundamental training principle that has been supported by research and anecdote for decades. Firstly, it allows us to maintain the same stimulus on the muscle fibres of the trained
muscle from one workout to the next which is integral for adaptation. Secondly, it allows us to determine whether the training program is working and achieving the desired outcome, which is a very
necessary component of programming.
Traditionally, progressive overload has been applied purely in the form of adding weight to the bar.
This misunderstanding of the principle and subsequent misapplication has seen many physique athletes spin their wheels both in contest prep and the off season and could seriously detriment your
training in the digging phase. Thus, a thorough understanding of overload and progression is needed in
order to maximise muscle retention and your physique on stage.
Progressive overload can be defined as:
“The logical and sequential increase in the training stimulus as necessitated by prior adaptations. Overload must be within the tolerance and adaptive potential of a biological system and
aim to induce enough homeostatic disruption to maintain and enhance subsequent adaptations”
Based on this definition, progressive overload must satisfy two conditions:
It provides a robust stimulus acutely within the session; and
2. It allows for a robust stimulus to be applied in the future in subsequent sessions
1.
Hopefully, you can now see that overload cannot be forced. For adaptation to occur, recovery must
first take place and your ability to overload is a result of prior adaptations, not a requirement for future
adaptations. This means that if the program is working, overload should occur organically and does not
need to be forced. You must keep in mind that during this phase, your recovery and strength will be
drastically impaired, meaning that any increase in the stimulus that exceeds your current adapted state
will only heighten your risk of overtraining and burn out.
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In the deep stages of a contest prep, you simply cannot overload your training by the same magnitude
or at the same rate as you would in normal conditions and any form of overload be calculated and be
the result of the adaptations caused in previous sessions, not because the program said so.
Nonetheless, your objective should still be to progress the stimulus as much as necessary to ensure you
minimise the chances of losing muscle tissue, and now we will share with you how to do so.
How to overload your training
There are many ways the stimulus can be overloaded for muscle growth, such as adding load, reps, sets,
range of motion, tempo and workout density. Although the aforementioned can indeed be overloading, there are specific means by which overload can be best applied for muscle retention.
Despite the unfortunate and disheartening reality that during this phase you won’t get stronger and in
fact may very well see regression in your strength, the key focus for overload in a contest prep should
be to maintain and increase relative intensity across a mesocycle - aka prioritising effort via the RPE/
RIR scale. As outlined previously, high relative intensities are strongly associated with muscle growth,
and thus we highly recommend that you avoid trying to beat the log book, and focus your energy on
training hard - even if that means taking some load of the bar.
While your strength will plummet in this phase, that doesn’t mean you can or should reduce load,
especially if it violates your relative intensity targets and decreases your effort within a set. Within a
mesocycle, small-modest increases in set volume and increases in relative intensity can be made to
ensure you provide enough of a stimulus to preserve muscle tissue. Ensuring that the stimulus within a
set remains within your adaptive potential and meets relative intensity thresholds will provide a protein synthetic response, even if the load on the bar is reduced or performance drops off. Remember the
graphic of optimal ranges from MV-MRV? When you look back at the graphic you can see that the
entire block becomes smaller. This is how the optimal stimulus range changes during a contest prep,
and why even if performance drops off, stimulus can still be effective.
Before we explain these overloading schemes, you must first understand that not all forms of overload impart the same stimulus, nor the same magnitude of fatigue and that every unit of overload
brings about a degree of fatigue. For example, adding sets is an extremely robust means of providing a
growth stimulus, yet it may carry significantly more fatigue than other means of overload, depending
on the relative increase in the stimulus. The relative increase in the stimulus is important to consider
because overload can vary depending on how large the increase in the stimulus is. For example, if you
are adding a rep to a set, hitting 5 reps in one week and 6 reps the next, the magnitude of overload is
quite large (a 16% increase), where as adding a rep from 15 to 16 is a much smaller increase in overload (a 6% increase). The latter form of overload brings about much less risk of overreaching which is
why understanding the implications of overload in this phase become exceedingly more nuanced and
critical. These considerations are not exclusive to adding reps, but also any other form of overload such
as weight or sets.
The most important thing to remember is that any form of overload can be even more disruptive in
this phase, so we recommend treading carefully when increasing the stimulus to ensure that you do not
exceed your recovery abilities. As Natural Pro Bodybuilder Alberto Nunez says “one rep won’t make
you, but one rep could break you”. Being overly assertive with progression in the digging phase may
break you, and thus we advise that you err on the side of caution and think critically about how and
when you overload your training.
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Progression Models
The primary way we recommend overloading your training throughout a mesocycle is via load, rep and
set progression - not all at once, but using the progression models outlined below. We have ordered
them from most beneficial to least beneficial in this phase.
1. Single Progression - changing one variable while holding others constant.
• Adding reps, whilst keeping load and sets constant.
• Adding sets, whilst keeping reps and load constant.
• Adding load, whilst keeping sets and reps constant.
2. Double Progression - changing two variables, one at a time.
Standard Double Progression
• Adding reps first to meet the top end of a rep range, then adding load starting
back at the bottom end of the rep range.
Dynamic Double Progression
• Adding reps first, then load, but on a set to set basis while maintaining a target
RPE/RIR
3. Triple Progression - changing three variables, one at a time.
• Adding reps first, then sets, then load.
We advise that you use the dynamic double progression on most exercises, progressing your RPE/RIR
over the course of a mesocycle whilst modulating set volume dependent on recovery/fatigue.
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In terms of what mesocycle progression will look like in a contest prep, check out an example training
cycle below and the application of progressive overload in each week.
Fatigue Management
Autoregulation - Flexible training & Deloads
Although training hard and eliciting sufficient training stimulus via overload is the goal when trying
to hold on to muscle tissue, managing fatigue becomes an ever important principle of training in the
digging phase. The longer you diet and the more shredded you become, the greater the need to tightly
monitor recovery from training. Remember, without recovery, there is no adaptation and managing
training stress to ensure that you aren’t digging a recovery hole and impairing your bodies ability to
cope with, tolerate and respond to training.
As we have alluded to, in this phase performance becomes extremely unpredictable, mostly due to the
totality of stress placed on the body outside of training. This is where planning into your programs
proactive fatigue management strategies such as deloads, light sessions and de-loads becomes all the
more necessary.
Decreasing fatigue can be achieved in many ways and will depend on the magnitude of fatigue within
a certain system:
1. Light sessions – Lower volume & intensity within workout(s)
-- Recovery of muscle and substrates
2. Days off – Taking extra rest days
-- Recovery of muscle and substrates
-- Recovery of the nervous system
-- Potential recovery of motivation
3. Deloads – Full week of lower volume and intensity
-- Recovery of muscle, substrate, nervous system and potentially joints
-- Heightened recovery of motivation
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Additional to proactive fatigue management strategies, another useful fatigue management tool that
allows for a more reactive adjustment in training stress is ‘autoregulation’. This can be a useful strategy
in this phase as workload can be adjusted according to your current levels of readiness and preparedness to train. The most simplest and easily understood method of autoregulation of training is to use
the RPE/RIR scale to select load. However, this can also apply to other variables, such as how many
sets are performed, the type of exercises used and the overall objective and workload within a given
session.
Fundamentally, autoregulation is the appreciation the intersection between individualisation and
fatigue management, that will allow you to adjust your own training based on a number of subjective
factors such as:
»»
»»
»»
»»
Readiness to train;
Recovery status, and
Sleep;
Mood state;
»» Prior training;
»» Hormonal status (females)
»» Emotional stressors
Whilst many individuals, especially those of you who are more advanced, may indeed be in tune with
your fatigue and readiness to train, as you get deeper into your prep, you will become a less reliable
source of information regarding your readiness to train. This is where having a coach or using objective
metrics to assess trends over weeks and months is necessary to minimise wimping out or over doing
things.
There will days and weeks where your training performance declines rapidly...
There will also be days and weeks where training performance holds constant…
And there may even be days or weeks where your performance improves from the prior week.
We highly recommend that your training plan be more flexible in this phase and heavily prioritise fatigue management strategies and autoregulation principles to ensure sessions are within your abilities,
stimulative of a growth response, but do not lead to injury or burn out.
One weird trick Eric Helms recommends to determine load selection and performance for a given session is to assess performance on a compound lift at ~75-85% of 1RM and assess bar speed and RPE.
Use the bar speed via filming and RPE via your own subjective rating to compare against the prior session and determine how ready you are for training and where your performance may lie for that given
day. If your performance for this ‘test’ is within the ballpark of how it felt and looked previously, or it
was faster and felt easier, go ahead with the planned session. If however it felt heavy and moved slower
than usual, it may be wise to adjust the plan and opt for a lighter, less intensive session.
In this phase, it is inherent that you will more often than not feel tired and sore. There will also be a
higher degree of variability in your performance due to the fluctuation in energy levels, mood, sleep,
energy intake and overall stress, which will make gauging performance quite challenging.
Although we advocate autoregulation in this phase, remember that it is a tool to help you customise
your plan and perform an appropriate amount of training. It is not a licence to ‘train by feel’. As you
are in a highly fatigued state your ability to think rationally and objectively is seriously limited.
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Therefore, caution must be had when autoregulating your training due to this phase as it could lead to:
»» Training too hard and digging a large recovery hole; or
»» Wussing out and losing muscle tissue
Like all tools, its effectiveness to get the job done is dependent upon how well you understand the purpose of the tool, how and when best to use it and recognise your own individual biases and behavioural
tendencies that may impact how it is implemented.
Key takeaways
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Don’t be afraid to reduce load or volumes if necessary;
Don’t fear taking a lighter session or day off;
Determine load/volume parameters, keep them in mind and work within a range
Incorporate both subjective and objective metrics to determine work loads.
Avoid relying solely on feel, because you will feel like a dog’s breakfast more times
than not
Training Strategies
Time Efficient Strategies
Time availability can play a large role in accruing a sufficient amount of training stimulus, and often
becomes a rate-limiting factor for many athletes. If you are finding yourself pressed for time in the
gym or unable to complete a desired amount of work within your allocated time for a session, the following strategies can be very effective means of achieving a stimulus without the time cost.
Myoreps/Rest-Pause
Myoreps or rest pause techniques involve performing one activation set, followed by additional sets
with minimal rest using the same load throughout all sets. The number of myorep sets you perform can
be anywhere from 3-6, and we recommend starting with the low end of the set range and adding additional myorep sets as a means of overload throughout a mesocycle. Myoreps should only be included on exercises that require little skill and have a low risk of injuries, such as machines and isolation
exercises. Rest periods should start at the low end of the rest period range and gradually increase rest
on subsequent myorep sets to maintain performance and ensure a sufficient number of reps in each
myorep set, aiming for a minimum of 5 reps per myorep set.
Step 1.] Activation Set - Pick a load you can perform 10-20 reps with to an RPE of 8-9
Step 2.] Rest 5-15 seconds
Step 3.] Myorep Set #1 - Use the same load as the activation set, and perform as many reps as
possible to meet an RPE of 9.Take your average from step 3 & multiply that by 500
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Step 4.] Rest 5-15 secondsMonitor your body weight and adjust as necessary
Step 5.] Myorep Set #2 - Use the same load as the previous myorep set, and perform as many
reps as possible to meet an RPE of 9
Step 6.] Rest 5-15 seconds
Step 7.]
Myorep Set #2 - Use the same load as the previous myorep set, and perform as many
reps as possible to meet an RPE of 9
Example: Bicep Curl
Set 1.]
Set 2.]
Set 3.]
Set 4.]
Activation Set - 10kg x 15 reps @ RPE 9
Rest 5 seconds
Myorep Set #1 - 10kg x 8 reps @ RPE 9
Rest 10 seconds
Myorep Set #2 - 10kg x 6 reps @ RPE 9
Rest 15 seconds
Myorep Set #3 - 10kg x 4 reps @ RPE 9
Drop Sets
A drop set (DS) are another intensity technique that can be used if time availability is an issue. A drop
set involves performing one traditional set followed by 3-4 drop sets where the load is reduced by
~20-25% in each subsequent set and performed to failure with no rest between each DS. Just like the
aforementioned intensity techniques, DS are best used on machines or isolation exercises given that
they are taken to failure and risk of injury as you fatigue is high. DS are best used on isolation exercises
for this reason.
Example: Tricep Extension - 1x Traditional Set + 3x Drop Sets
Set 1.]
Traditional Set - 20kg x 15 reps @ RPE 9
Set 2.]
DS #1 - 16kg to failure
Set 3.]
DS #2 - 13kg to failure
Set 4.]
DS #3 - 10kg to failure
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Super Sets
Supersets (SS) are another way to increase training economy by pairing two exercises together and alternating between each exercise with little to no rest. We recommend performing antagonist supersets,
pairing opposing muscle groups/actions to minimise performance decrements and uphold training
quality. Additionally, supersets should only be used on movements with a smaller technical requirement such as machines or isolation exercises. For example, you may wish to pair a back movement with
a chest movement (Cable Row SS Pec Fly) or biceps with triceps (Curl Variation SS Tricep Extension
Variation). Although typically a superset involves no rest between two exercises, we suggest you rest for
30-60 seconds between paired exercises to ensure central fatigue does not impair your ability to elicit
sufficient stimulus on a target muscle(s). After both exercises are completed, rest for 90-120 seconds
and repeat the superset pair for the desired number of sets.
Example: (A) Bicep Curl SS, (B) Tricep Extension - 3x10-15 @ RPE 9
Set 1.]
Set 1.]
Set 2.]
Set 2.]
Set 3.]
Set 3.]
(A) Cable Curl - 10kg x 15 reps @ RPE 9
Rest 30 seconds
(B) Tricep Extension 20kg x 15 reps @RPE 9
Rest 90 seconds
(A) Cable Curl - 10kg x 12reps @ RPE 9
Rest 45 seconds
(B) Tricep Extension 20kg x 12 reps @RPE 9
Rest 120 seconds
(A) Cable Curl - 10kg x 10reps @ RPE 9
Rest 60 seconds
(B) Tricep Extension 20kg x 10 reps @RPE 9
Giant Sets
Similar to supersets, a giant set is pairing multiple exercises (3 or more) together and performing them
back to back, just like a circuit. As with supersets, it is best to alternate between antagonist muscle
groups/actions and include machine or isolation exercises in a giant set to minimise injury risk and
performance decrements. We recommend taking short rest periods between each exercise (30-60 seconds) to uphold performance and technique, with a longer rest taken at the end of the giant set (90120 seconds).
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Example: (A) Face Pull, (B) Bicep Curl, (C) Tricep Ext, (D) Cable Crunch 3x10-15 @ RPE 9
Set 1.] (A) Facepull- 25kg x 15 Set 2.] (A) Facepull- 25kg x 13 Set 3.] (A) Facepull- 25kg x 10
reps @ RPE 9
reps @ RPE 9
reps @ RPE 9
- Rest 30 seconds
- Rest 30 seconds
- Rest 45 seconds
Set 1.] (B) Bicep Curl 10kg x
15 reps @ RPE 9
Set 2.] (B) Bicep Curl 10kg x
13 reps @ RPE 9
Set 3.] (B) Bicep Curl 10kg x
10 reps @ RPE 9
- Rest 30 seconds
- Rest 30 seconds
- Rest 45 seconds
Set 1.] (C) Tricep Ext 20kg x
15 reps @ RPE 9
Set 2.] (C) Tricep Ext 20kg x
13 reps @ RPE 9
Set 3.] (C) Tricep Ext 20kg x
10 reps @ RPE 9
- Rest 30 seconds
- Rest 30 seconds
- Rest 45 seconds
Set 1.] (D) Cable Crunch 30kg Set 2.] (D) Cable Crunch 30kg Set 3.] (D) Cable Crunch 30kg
x 15 reps @ RPE 9
x 13 reps @ RPE 9
x 10 reps @ RPE 9
- Rest 90 seconds
- Rest 90 seconds
Performance/Autoregulation Strategies
Top Sets/Back Off Sets
Another useful strategy that can allow for the preservation of mechanical tension/high force outputs
without compromising total training volume is the inclusion of top sets and back off sets.
Top sets - Working sets performed with heavy loads
Example, 2x6 @ 80% of 1RM - RPE 8
Back off sets - Further working sets with a reduction in load
Example 2x8 @ 70% of 1RM - RPE 9
The primary benefit of top/back off sets is that it allows for the preservation of the two primary factors
of muscle growth - mechanical tension and training volume.
A secondary benefit of including top/back off sets during the digging phase is to uphold skill and
technique with heavier loads in compound lifts. Additionally, working up to one or two top sets can
potentiate the nervous system and allow for better quality lifting when returning back to lighter loads.
Not only do top/back off sets allow for the aforementioned benefits of preserving muscle/skill, but also
mitigate the potential of accruing greater amounts of systemic fatigue seen when performing multiple
sets with heavy loads.
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Two-A-Day Training
The first thing to consider whether or not you should do two-a-day training is whether or not you can
actually adhere to it - is it realistic for you? If there is any question here, then bin it. Just like the best
diet is the one you can stick to, the same goes for training, you need to actually be able to consistently
nail it.
With that out the way, let’s discuss what two-a-daily is and is not.
It is not
»» A magical solution to retain lean tissue
»» A necessity for any bodybuilder
»» An excuse to double your training volume
It is
»» Helpful for increasing training quality
»» Helpful for reducing session length
Two-a-day training for the purpose of building muscle has not been very well studied, which is not
very surprising. To date there has been one single short term study that found no significant difference when volume was equated. Therefore we must use anecdote and inference to give us the ability to
assess its use and provide recommendations.
What does it look like?
As already discussed it is not an excuse to double your training volume, and as already talked about, we
all have an MRV. And if you are to go ahead with double-sessions, this doesn’t really change that by
much. Thus we’re not able to just go ahead and do our upper-body in the AM and lower-body in the
PM, that wouldn’t be sustainable - unless you were already the type of person that could typically recover from once-a-day full body sessions already. Just because you’re splitting up your sessions, doesn’t
mean your daily recovery resources are greatly increased. However, splitting up your main muscle
groups worked and your assistance work can be beneficial for maintaining a high level stimulus.
For most individuals, training twice-a-day has a positive impact on their MRV (by increasing it). For
one, your training quality is better, which means you’ll be able to perform more reps, sets and or load
within a given workout.
This can be thought of as your ‘intra-session’ MRV - the amount of work your muscles can do before they become so fatigued that they can’t produce an overloading force anymore. Going past this
intra-session MRV would be considered junk volume, in which the loads are not heavy enough to
contribute to quality volume for promoting further adaptations or muscle retention.
After you’ve done a bunch of heavy pressing how much energy and motivation do you have for your
triceps and delts? In your off-season, maybe plenty, but during your contest prep this can be particularly demanding. By splitting up your main work and your assistance work you can come back and hit
your triceps and delts fresh.
Less potential rushing on the main compounds.
2. Muscle groups feeling much fresher after some extra recovery time.
3. Reduced potential to get bored.
1.
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Basically because you’re in the gym for less time each time, you always give yourself ample rest. Of
course we should always be taking care to give ourselves plenty of rest, but sometimes we have other
commitments or just want to get a workout done in a certain amount of time. By having your workouts split you don’t have the same urgency, which is actually good, because you can then perform
better.
As you can see, you have cut your exercises to just three, allowing you time to recover between your
AM and PM workouts. Now you can hit your triceps and delts harder than normal, for hypertrophy
this is a really good thing, because currently evidence supports a dose response relationship with the
amount of purposeful volume we do.
How long between sessions?
A key consideration is how long to have between sessions, this really comes down to having enough
time to replenish glycogen and somewhat recover. Also there is a practical consideration, if you finish your workout only to go back an hour later, you may as well just do it all in one. Nutrition here is
important, both from a timing and composition perspective. We know we want to promote recovery as
quickly as possible, so that the somewhat taxed assistance muscles are ready to perform in their focused session later on.
Ideally we want at least two meals between sessions, with a post workout meal coming as soon as possible after and then an additional meal around 2-3 hours later. Realistically this means you will want at
least 4 hours between the first and second workout.
Both meals should contain sufficient protein to maximise the muscle protein synthetic response, as this
will promote recovery and muscle growth. For most this will mean a serving of 20-40g of high quality
protein. “High quality” refers to protein sources that contain all the amino acids in decent proportions,
where there is enough of the amino acid leucine to initiate the muscle growth process, with enough of
all the others in order to continue the construction of muscle proteins. While foods like bread may actually contain protein, this isn’t of the high quality variety and therefore has minimal impact on muscle growth/retention. In addition you of course want to be sure to consume carbohydrates with both
meals, these are what will help to replenish your muscle and liver glycogen stores. It will also increase
circulating insulin levels which again will promote the most rapid recovery.
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How many carbohydrates isn’t an easy answer, this is because at this point you’re likely not on high
amounts and may find you have a personal preference that differs from what might be optimal, which
is key to your adherence. However, having said that, we believe it is good practice to prioritise carbohydrates around your workouts, having somewhere between 60-80% of your entire intake between your
pre, post and post-post workout meals.
For someone on 200g of carbs this might look like:
Pre workout- 30g Protein, 40g Carbohydrates
2. Post workout- 40g Protein, 60g Carbohydrates
3. Post-post workout- 30g Protein, 40g Carbohydrates
1.
You might notice fats have not been touched on, that is because they want to be kept to a minimum
around this time. Reason being is they greatly reduce your digestion, think about washing fat down
your sink, a sure fire way to need to call out your plumber. So try and keep these to around 5g per
meal, likely being trace sources. This is particularly important for the post workout feedings between
the two meals and less important if your pre workout meal is 1 hour or more before the main workout.
Next to touch on is composition, do you want to eat a massive salad with your post workout carbs and
protein? Probably not. So lets touch on what sort of foods would be appropriate for these meals. We
want to avoid large amounts of fibre, this is because fibre like fat will slow digestion speeds. This isn’t
a major concern, but additionally foods higher in fibre are also lower on the glycemic index. They are
ideal for meals away from our workouts, and even not a problem to have if your pre-workout meal is
hours before you workout or if you’re training only once per day. If it hasn’t become clear already speed
is vital, we need to consume things that can be digested and assimilated asap to promote recovery. Thus
we want to avoid casein based proteins and opt for lean meats, egg whites or whey and we want to opt
for lower fibre, likely more processed carbs such as cereals, white breads and rice.
What this might look like:
Pre workout (2 hours prior)- Oats with protein mixed in topped with berries
2. Post workout- Whey protein shake poured over puffed rice
3. Post-post workout- Chicken breast with a leaf salad and a side of white potatoes
1.
Additional considerations
1.]
NEAT: Due to the fact you have to get to your gym twice a day you actually end up
doing a larger number of steps, and this could increase your Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT), helping aid fat loss.
2.]
Productivity: In addition to this it splits up your day quite nicely, for me someone who
works from home I can be quite flexible with my working hours. Or if you’re a student
or don’t have strict working hours this may also work. In that rather than spending longer periods of time working and then working out, you can split these up, which might
allow you to be more effective with both.
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Hunger: As you might have noticed, some of these recommendations fall counter to
those for dietary adherence; low fibre, high processed foods are going to provide less satiety. This is where two-a-day sessions can become practically difficult to optimise. This
is where you will have to weigh up the pro’s vs. the con’s of such an approach.
Important final reminder: It certainly isn’t necessary to undertake two-a-day training to have a successful contest prep. This is simply one strategy for upholding a high-stimulus throughout this time,
however, at a certain point, recovery needs will likely be of greater importance that stimulus needs. So
keep that in mind, assess and use the appropriate tool at your disposal.
Stress Management & Sleep
Stress is a central concept for understanding both life and evolution. Small amounts of psychological
stress such as the feeling of strain, pressure are often desirable, beneficial and have positive effects on
our health. Every day we face threats to homeostasis, which must be met with adaptive responses. Our
mental health in large depends on our ability to tolerate and adapt to potent stressors, and during this
phase, your internal environment coupled with the external pressures to compete can become overwhelming and see maladaptation in not just physical health, but also psychological health and well
being.
Psychological stress by definition, is any uncomfortable emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological and behavioral changes. During this phase of your contest prep, there is
a lot of discomfort and subsequently, a myriad of both physical and psychological stress, which requires
tending to.
The imposed physiological stressors caused during chronic periods of energy deprivation serve to only
exacerbate the level of perceived stress experienced during a contest prep due to increases in objective
measures of stress such as cortisol. Preservation of ‘life’ is at the forefront of your biological systems
now that energy availability is at an all time low. Although every athlete is experienced in dealing with
the stress summated as a result of the early phases of dieting and hard training, during the deepest
phases of the contest prep, the circumstances you are now facing may feel like they are more demanding than what you are capable of coping with, magnifying the level of stress you are feeling.
Whilst there are large inter-individual variations responses to stress, chronically elevated stress levels
can not only lead to a decline in your mental and physical health, but ultimately jeopardise your contest prep, when not managed appropriately.
As is the case with many first time competitors, they are often unequipped or poorly prepared to ‘cope’,
manage and deal with the stressors that summate as a result of the physical alterations that occur
during a contest prep.
Stress Management
To better understand psychological stress, let’s take a look at physical induced stress from training.
Resistance training imposes stress on the your neuro-biological system, stimulating adaptation and
promoting an adaptation to improve your resilience to similar forms of stress in the future. If the
stressors imposed by training continually exceed your capacity to recover, the lingering stress continues
to amount leading to injury and burn out.
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The end biological goal of the body is to adapt to imposed stressors and maintain its internal environment and health state. Although very different to physical stress, psychological stress can be seen to
accumulate in the same manner. Acute stressors can manifest and summate leading to chronically elevated stress levels. And if not recovered from or managed appropriately, can have serious implications
to your health, well being and success on stage day. During this phase, stress will arise in a number of
ways and the feeling of being ‘stressed’ will now be higher than ever before, both physically and mentally.
Factors that increase stress:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Environmental constraints
Energy & dietary restriction
Body image and body dissatisfaction
Pressure of competing
Negative emotions & critical internal dialogue
Stress from work, life responsibilities and other commitments outside of your bodybuilding endeavours will now be much harder to manage than ever before. Whilst in normal dieting conditions, your
capacity to tolerate and manage stress will be much higher, bearable and pose no issues to health or
well being.
Due to your reduced capacity to tolerate and recover from all forms of stress, close attention must be
paid to the management of the above factors to ensure your mental health doesn’t decline anymore
than necessary and opress your ability to train, diet and tick the boxes required to nail the final few
weeks/months of your prep.
Therefore, any strategies or means by which stress can be reduced are highly beneficial and worthy of
mentioning. Not only to ensure that you are adequately prepared to formulate a plan but to minimise
and manage the damage that could likely occur during the deep, and dark phases of your bodybuilding
journey.
Setting up your contest prep protocols with an evidence based approach makes the most sense in
regards to attaining optimal results with a contest prep run. Keep in mind however, if science creates too much friction in regards to your ability to execute in a real world setting (prep and life)
then no doubt your stress levels will be amplified. As I’ve coached hundreds of athletes to the stage,
I can attest that stress is the number one killer of progress. Yes science is important, but so is an
approach that focuses on practicality, sustainability, flexibility and enjoyment. Often times having
an approach that puts those aspects ahead of the science can fit quite well when you’re trying to
balance out the demands of prep and life. I can go into great detail about the many prep stressors
you may face and ways to overcome them, but in short…If you keep life priorities in order you’ll
no doubt create the least amount of resistance on your way to the stage. Success can be defined by
your end product, but true success in my opinion, is more so in how you got there. How you not
only improved as a bodybuilder, but more importantly as a human. One last side note to point out
which is true to my heart…remember it’s just bodybuilding, so take it serious, but not so serious
that you forget about those closest to your heart! Bodybuilding shows are a dime a dozen, but life is
priceless.
All the best,
3DMJ Coach – Jeff “The Godfather” Alberts
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It’s important to note that not all athletes will experience the same subjective stressors nor to the same
degree. Whilst outside the scope of our expertise, our advice is simple:
»» Monitor
»» Manage; and
»» Act
Monitor
Monitor your thoughts, feelings, emotions and internal dialogue. Whether it is writing these elements
of your response to the diet down into a diary, talking to a loved one or your coach about what you’re
experiencing, externalising changes in your psychological state is the first step in appro- priately managing the onset of stress.
Manage
Acutely managing stress levels can minimise chronic stress, which is where most mental health issues
such as anxiety, depression and intolerable levels of stress begin to arise. You can manage mindset
factors by having a simple means by which to mitigate their onset or by implementing techniques to
circumvent them as best you can, or at least reduce the severity of their impact.
The inclusion of daily ‘mindset therapy’ techniques such as meditation, listening to music, journalling,
reading or simply taking yourself outside for some fresh hear to clear your head can be of great benefit
to you now. Anything that elicits a ‘feel good’ response is not only useful but will ensure you don’t let
stress compromise the success of your prep - provided it does not hinder your adherence or natural
status, of course.
Act
Act promptly on any unusual or overwhelming stressors that emerge, don’t let stress build up to the
point where it is unmanageable. As mentioned, chronic levels of stress, without appropriate process
of control, is what will damage your mental well being. Taking action immediately by executing the
aforementioned strategies and techniques is vital, and remember to that your ability to think rationally
and objectively is compromised now, more so than ever.
Sleep & Stress
It should come as no surprise that sleep is a vital physiological process and is crucial for maximising
body composition. Sleep and stress management go hand in hand, as sleep is highly correlated with
perceived stress, symptoms of stress and mood states. Increased stress whether it is diet related or not
can increase arousal, disturbing the balance between sleep and wakefulness. As you diet down to low
body fat percentages, there is an inevitable increase in arousal, as a result of energy restriction. This is a
survival mechanism, as your biology detects the reduction in available energy and wakes more to seek
out food.
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This in large underpins why sleep deprivation is consistently associated with weight gain as less sleep
can lead to disturbances in glucose metabolism and other endogenous/exogenous factors that influence
food consumption. Not only can a lack of sleep can be detrimental to your ability to lose fat and lead
to water retention, but also limit your capacity to cope with stress and ability to make objective, rational decisions.
Whilst you cannot avoid the physical stressors imposed by dieting, and to a large degree must be accepting of the fact that your sleep will take a hit, your focus is to ensure that you manage your sleep as
best you can to minimise adverse outcomes such as:
Increased food intake and cravings;
2. Increased fatigue/lower recovery; and
3. Reduced NEAT;
4. Lowered motivation;
Increased water retention;
6. Lowered mood states;
7. Increased symptoms of stress
8. Increased perceived stress.
1.
5.
Due to a higher state of arousal, both sleep duration and quality will be seriously impacted. It is commonly reported amongst many competitive bodybuilders and definitely our experience that adequate
sleep and rest becomes extremely difficult to attain during this phase. Regular trips to the toilet during
the night and hunger pangs that have you wide awake hours before meal 1 become the norm. When
the quality of your sleep is reduced, you must now endeavour to make up for it with higher quantities,
but this isn’t the easiest of tasks given the conditions you are experiencing. As you reach the final leg of
the contest diet, sleep must be prioritized not just for maximal fat loss, but stress management. What
is more pressing is how sleep deprivation can increase your perceived levels stress and result in more
fatigue, which is a stress in and of itself and high levels of fatigue can impair your decision making.
Sleeplessness can prevent you from making the right decisions. Eating off plan, making irrational
choices and unnecessarily working yourself up over the smallest of ‘issues’, whether they are directly or
indirectly related to your contest prep can all be a result of being sleep deprived.
Errors in judgement are not common amongst bodybuilders deep into their contest prep, with many
reporting making large, life changing decisions out of the blue.
Recognising that the stress and lack of sleep you are experiencing now could have consequences that
impact your life long after the contest prep is vital.
Our advice is simple: Don’t make any decisions that will affect your life long term during the digging
phase. If you’re sleeping more, you inherently limiting the number of decisions you have to make each
day. Not only will you make less decisions, but the fatigue associated with decision making will be less,
which will likely improve outcomes in both your contest prep and in your life. Strategies that promote
improvements in sleep quality and duration are all the more vital now, so be sure to pay close attention
to your sleep hygiene.
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»» Prioritise sleep hygiene (everything related to your nighttime routine and sleeping conditions)
»» Aim for 8-9 hours per night
»» Nap if necessary, provided it doesn’t hinder night time sleep quality
»» Avoid exposure to electronics or bright lights 30 minutes prior to sleep.
»» Avoid consuming liquids 1-2 hours before going to bed.
»» Create a pre-sleep ritual, aiming to get into bed at the same time each night.
»» Ensure your bedroom is cool, dark and comfortable.
»» Only use your bedroom for sleep and sex (if at all).
»» Bias carbohydrates towards evening (if macronutrient targets permit).
»» Supplement with 500mcg-1mg of melatonin
»» Wear UV blocking goggles prior to sleep.
If you are about to make a decision related to your relationship, work or other important aspect of your
life, take a breathe, step outside, think it through and wait 24-48 hours before re-visiting that idea.
Champion Mindset
You won’t stumble across any bodybuilder or physique pro who isn’t a masochist or afraid of getting
their hands dirty in and out of the gym. The success of your prep is fundamentally dictated by your
drive, passion and willingness to delay glory whilst you embrace discomfort.
Focus hard on why you started, utilise your support network and keep your goals at the forefront of
your mind, especially during those periods where giving up seems all but necessary. Ticking the requisite boxes (diet, training, cardio, sleep, stress management) daily with poise and purpose. Believing you
can is the first step, and execution of the plan is how you will achieve your goals.
A contest prep is a marathon, not a sprint. So focus and continue to put one foot in front of the other
and simply win each moment, day and week.
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Now comes the fun; peaking for your bodybuilding show.
Most likely, as you read this, you aren’t actually in this phase. So while it may seem like the most exciting and fun part of a prep; you’re lean, food is up, training and cardio are down and you’re looking better by the day - however, the reality is, this phase is often one of the hardest and most stressful phases.
Why? Think about it; you’ve spent months preparing for the show - years in fact if you count all the
time you spent just lifting and growing muscle. That could easily be counted as part of your preparation. Money, time, blood, sweat & tears have all gone into what will amount to about 30 minutes
of time on stage, you’ll be showcasing your physique to a judging panel and potentially hundreds of
others. How do you make the most of this experience? You’ve prepared for so long, for something that
will be over so quickly… No wonder people begin to lose their mind during this time.
Let’s just say it’s very common or you to be a little anxious, nervous and stressed during this time.
However, now you know this, hopefully, you will be a lot less negatively impacted by the approaching
deadline. In addition to the looming deadline, many soon-to-be competitors have their anxiety amplified when their coach tells them to start eating more, the week before they are supposed to stand on
stage looking their leanest. So as you can imagine, it can be a tumultuous time for the uninformed and
underprepared.
Unfortunately, the term ‘peak week’ is cemented in bodybuilding lore and is one of the first things
anyone hears about when they learn about stepping on stage wearing nothing more than fake tan and
posing trunks. Peak-week is highly, but not always justifiably, revered. Peak-week is almost considered
to be magical - a period of time where physiques evolve and you can go from sloppy to shredded in a
matter of days, all with a few carbs and water adjustments. Or so it is thought. With all the mystery
and rumour, and an anxious competitor looking for any variable to enhance their chances on show day,
this leaves a lot of opportunity for googling and researching things that often won’t be in the best interests of the competitor. If you want to be crippled by confusion, go and google peak-week protocols.
We know and understand this, because we have been in that position, and not only is it stressful, but
almost scary. The doubt creeps in - What is best? What are the risks? What if I don’t do something,
but another competitor does? If I don’t pick the best peaking approach will all my hard work be
wasted? In addition to Google, it’s also very likely that you have social media, so you’ll potentially be
exposed to other competitors, and see glimpses of their peaking strategies. Again, the doubt and confusion is magnified - are you doing the right thing?
This chapter is going to ensure you know the methods and mechanisms of peaking, how to manage
stress, and most importantly, what will allow you to bring your best package to stage.
Defining Peak Week
With that out the way first, let’s define peak week.
The easiest way to define it is as the final week before your show. This really is your last opportunity
to bring about your best look, and that’s why it can cause a lot of uncertainty. For bodybuilding, your
‘best look’ is going to be a full and hard physique, while for bikini, the judges are looking for tone and
definition. What this means is, the requirements of the division, and thus the goals of the competitor
does have some implications for peak-week - so keep that in mind.
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In regards to the importance of peak-week, we’ve already discussed how many overvalue it. In reality,
your offseason is going to have the biggest degree of influence on your end result - muscle matters.
Following this, all the weeks of dieting leading into peak week will have the next largest impact on
your success. Finally, we come to peak-week. This is because everything before peak-week is setting
you up for success if you don’t have that in check, no peak will allow you to look the way you desire.
Peak-week is not a magic period where you can dramatically change your physique, it simply helps
to reveal the work that has been done previously. It is better to view it as the final touches to a wellplanned and executed contest prep.
Filling the Bucket
A great analogy that gets the point across is of a bucket of water. Here the bucket represents your muscles and the water represents glycogen. In the weeks leading into peak-week, you’re generally draining
the bucket, so you’re not very full (however this is how you also empty another bucket you have; fat
storage).
Peak-week is then an opportunity to fill the bucket, but you want to avoid spilling over the sides. We
do this by manipulating training and your nutrition variables, with the aim being to:
Increase muscular fullness by maximising glycogen content in the muscles
2. Obtaining a hard look by minimising subcutaneous water
3. Maximise your V-Taper by minimising any abdominal bloating
1.
Nutritional Variables
When it comes to our nutrition during peak-week we do need to be quite careful. Everyone has been
there when they’ve eaten too much cauliflower or protein fluff and have a balloon for a belly - in fact,
this is a good strategy for minimising hunger during dieting periods, but not for showing off all the
progress that was made during that time. We also know that other factors, such as a day of consuming
high amounts of water and sodium, can wreak havoc on our scale-weight - so we must be wary of all
these things.
So what elements do we need to be aware of:
»»
»»
»»
»»
Electrolytes
Fibre
Water
Supplementation
»»
»»
»»
»»
Electrolytes
Macros
Sweeteners
Meal timing
Food selection
For peak week we’re looking at sodium and potassium. They play a role in glycogen storage and water
concentrations inside and outside of cells and thus can be really important in the peaking process.
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Fibre
When it comes to dieting, this is usually something we typically love, it keeps us full and slows digestion. However, one of the ways it does this is to pull water into your GI tract, causing you to become
bloated. Thus this needs to be controlled during your peak week.
Water
Seeing that our muscles are over 70% water we know this is important to look our best. Storing glycogen, one of the main goals of peak week, is heavily reliant on sufficient fluid intake also. Each gram of
glycogen stored requires ~3-4g of water.
Supplementation
This is just something to be aware of because some supplements impact how we look. For example,
caffeine is a diuretic and creatine is held with water in our muscles. Many supplements also contain
high amounts of sodium, so we must be informed about what goes into our body. For the most part,
though, we just don’t want to change anything too much here.
Macros
Protein and fat requirements are set by our body mass, which won’t change (much). Carbs, however, play one of the biggest roles in peak-week. The amount we want and can store is very individual
dependent, and we are looking to store as much as we can, without spilling over. Additionally, carb
loading generally takes 24 to 48 hours to fully occur, so this wants to be done with enough time before
show day!
Sweeteners
It is individual but some sweeteners can cause gas/bloating. This is just how the body deals with them,
so you may want to taper them, or even remove completely during peak week.
Meal timing
Going to extremes is generally something to avoid, you should already have a decent nutrient timing set up from prep, so don’t go massively changing this during peak-week. You really want to avoid
hoarding all your extra carbs for certain meals, spreading them more so throughout the day. Prioritising them around your workouts will likely lead to a superior result also.
Food selection
As you have already been made aware of, there are many things, like sweeteners and fibre, that you’ll
want to moderate during peak-week. In addition to this, you don’t want to add any new variables to
the mix either. Don’t go adding in a bunch of new foods during peak-week just because you can - you
risk gastric distress, gas/bloating and simply ruining your look. Furthermore, if you add in new foods,
they also come with different electrolyte and fibre profiles, which further complicates the issue.
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As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts. Many nutritional variables are dependent on one another and can impact our physique in positive and negative ways. We need sodium and water to store
the carbs we load, but these carbs contain varying degrees of fibre, potassium, sodium and water, this
impacts how we look and feel on an acute basis, and therefore we also need some structure with our
nutrient timing.
General Recommendations
»» Keep an almost rigid meal plan from 4 weeks out
»» This anecdotally saves a lot of stress and hassle in monitoring all the aforementioned variables. For example, some foods say salt, some say sodium others don’t have it listed. By keeping your food choices static, you
remove this concern.
»» Also by sticking to a meal plan, you can stick to foods that do not cause
GI distress and make the final weeks less stressful, no macro Tetris going
on to see what you can fit in.
»» Track any added salt from 4 weeks out also. If this is low, you can taper it up somewhat due to the importance of sodium in peak week. Track the salt/condiments/
seasoning you add to your meals in grams, find an average and hover there.
»» Track your fluid intake from 4 weeks out, drink to thirst but keep a rough baseline.
Water is very important during peak week, this will help ensure you’re not dehydrated and able to store carbs effectively in the muscles.
»» From 3 days out taper/remove sweeteners and keep to a low residue diet (low fibre) to avoid any bloating, distention or additional food remaining in your digestive
tract.
In addition to the above, for incorrect and illogical reasons, some physique athletes love to cut sodium
and water during peak-week... Please don’t do this! The body loves homeostasis, it’s near impossible to
control where you hold water, and you’ll very likely make the issue worse if you mess with it.
We could describe multiple scenarios were messing with homeostasis too much can wreak havoc, but
simply being aware that we cannot control everything within the body should be sufficient. What
we are trying to represent here is the difficulty (or impossibility) or being completely precise and in
control of everything within a biological system. However, what we want to show you is that if you
keep things within a reasonably controlled environment, you don’t need to be super precise in order to
achieve outstanding results.
In short; people think they can outsmart the body - those people are wrong.
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Training Variables
As you know, nutrition and training go hand in hand. Both, of course, coming together to play a big
role in how you look. Most often, when someone looks their best, it is after getting a good pump in
the gym, typically after eating a higher carbohydrate and sodium meal. However, there are also times
when you can so beat up, that you actually look worse - so we do need to control our training too.
So what elements do we need to be aware of:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Volume
Intensity
Muscle damage
Cardio
Steps
Volume
This is how much we’re training. When considering your volume landmarks this doesn’t mean MEV
or more, it means enough to up-regulate Glut4 to aid glucose partitioning but nothing more. We may
also use our volume to help further deplete our muscle glycogen depending on the peaking method
used. In fact, when we start pushing volume too high we can create excess fatigue and blunt glycogen
replenishment.
Intensity
This is how hard we’re training, again as per above our training this week isn’t about pushing hard to
provide an overload. This week is about ensuring we look our best. If we push too close to failure, eliciting too much muscle damage, we will actually prevent glycogen storage and create unwanted inflammation and fluid retention in places we don’t want it.
Muscle damage
As mentioned above, we want to mostly avoid this due to it impeding glycogen replenishment and
causing inflammation. Furthermore, it will make posing on stage harder and can thus dramatically
impact our presentation.
Cardio
More than likely you are doing some cardio, depending on how lean you are and how much you’re
doing, this may need to be tapered down in order to facilitate recovery. Cardio can also cause further
depletion, hinder replenishment and cause stress, so needs to be managed effectively.
Steps
Similar to cardio, but deserves a mention because it plays a role in energy balance, which will impact
peak week. Again may be tapered down or kept level, it depending on the person.
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General Recommendations
»» Lower your training volume and intensity, especially towards the latter half of
peak week to avoid any unnecessary fatigue. Dropping up to 50% of your volume
and intensity will promote recovery and not risk muscle damage.
»» Avoid exercises with heavy weighted stretch components (eccentrics such as RDLs)
in the final week, this will help prevent any unwanted muscle damage.
»» Utilise full body circuits that are well away from failure but aid in depletion but
also upregulate Glut4 for the loading of carbohydrates. Use movements you have
been using in your training, avoid novelty, sets of 3 to 4 for 10 to 20 reps.
»» If you need to lose more fat during your peak week steps and cardio can be kept
up. However, a general recommendation is to taper them down to lower any stress
to the legs and avoid pooling of water.
The most important thing this week is to avoid anything new, fancy or extreme. Novel movements will
create new and unwanted muscle damage, doing extreme volume or intensity will do the same. We’re
just training enough to help with nutrient partitioning and some depletion but not enough to add fatigue or stress. If unsure, just follow a deload, this will do almost everything you want during this week.
The Role of Stress
As alluded to at the start of this chapter, stress is a big deal during peak-week. Going on stage and
standing there in very little clothing, is pretty damn daunting - plus you’ve been building up to this for
months - it’s a big deal, it’s stressful. By having lots of moving parts during a peak-week, we can make
things even more stressful. This can lead to higher levels of cortisol, which can result in unwanted water retention. Thus stress has implications for how well a peak goes.
How can we reduce stress
You can view the entire contest prep almost as a stressor, we then want to reveal a response and finally
the adaptation on a large scale. This is your physique, water retention can mask muscle definition, it
can ruin a physique, so needs to be managed.
»» Plan your peak week ahead of time
»» Book your show tan/hotel and everything you might need ahead of time (I recommend
a checklist e.g. show tan, black sheets for hotel, money, food, posing music, bikini etc.)
»» Reduce training fatigue
»» Reduce the deficit
»» Increase carbs
»» Prioritise sleep (7 hours plus a night)*
»» Have some chill time
*Sleep is particularly important because typically it goes to sh*t during prep. Having sufficient quality
sleep will reduce subcutaneous water storage, helping that crisp look.
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Peaking Methods
Now we’ve covered some pretty big principles of peak-week in regards to training, nutrition and stress.
Of less importance are the methods. Each of them works, and the one you choose to use may depend
on the situation. Something that is important to do, is actually practice peaking - not just posing, but
everything, all the variables mentioned. A lot of coaches emphasise how important this is, and for
good reason. However, we want to highlight the fact that whilst practice makes perfect, we cannot
practice perfectly.
The problem is there are so many variables at play, and these variables are changing over time. For
example, if you ran a practice peak week 4 weeks ago, but have been dieting since then, you’re now a
different, probably lighter and leaner person. Your physiology is now not the same, so we cannot expect
the same peaking result. However, the very general lessons learned will likely still be valuable. One
thing you must remember though is that true peak-week is unique. That week there will be a show at
the end and often travel is involved, maybe celebrations planned etc. All of this will play a role in how
successfully the entire week goes. This is why we think monitoring, as opposed to specific practice, is
probably more optimal for most.
The act of monitoring also highlights the importance of keeping constants, keeping what we can in
a vacuum, so the variables we do change, we can actually be sure are the ones having an impact. This
is why we recommend following a meal plan several weeks out and not rotating in new exercises for
example. Keep things as similar as you possibly can, from how you’re cooking foods to your caffeine
intake.
Variables that impact your look (many impacting one another):
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Sleep
Stress
Environmental temperature
Fluid intake
Food intake
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Carbs
Electrolyte balance
Training
Cardio
Step count
Ok, so with that out the way, let’s go over the most popular peaking methods.
Bodybuilding taper
This would be where you’re essentially ‘filling the bucket’ weeks out from the show. In the case where
you’ve been able to be show ready weeks out, you can now slowly add carbs into your diet to fill out.
»» Ready multiple weeks out (approx. 4)
»» Reverse the deficit into the show by adding carbs incrementally and assessing visuals.
10-20g of carbs every 4-6 days is a good start. Or you can also look to reduce cardio/
steps (protein and fat should be kept level with either approach).
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Linear progressive load
This would likely begin 1 week out, where you start slowly adding in carbohydrates each day up to
show day.
»» 1 week out
»» Add carbs incrementally each day, depending on visual feedback (carbs up 10 to 20%
whilst maintaining protein/fat intake
Front-load
Starting approximately 1-week out you would increase carbohydrate intake to refeed/maintenance
levels, or even slightly above for a number of days. Essentially you are looking to slightly spill, then
taper down during the week to deplete and then a small bump in carbs just before show day to cap off
the bucket.
»» 7 to 10 days out
»» Load to spill (keeping protein/fat steady, bring carbs to ensure calories come to 100 to
120% above maintenance or ~4-6g/kg), deplete (close to pre-load intake) and top off
(depending on look 60 to 100% of previous load)
Back-load
This could be anywhere from 3 to 1 day out - 1 day out being a ‘rapid backload’. You would keep dieting/depleting throughout the week before taking in large amounts of carbohydrates right before the
show in order to fill out and super-compensate.
»» 3 to 1 day out
»» Deplete in hope to then super-compensate (depletion could bring carbs down to almost
none or could taper down each day by 20% or so. The load would then be 6-15g/kg of
carbs with protein/fats level kept mostly constant the entire time)
»» Carb sources would likely want to include some high potassium based foods e.g. white
or sweet potato (this is due to the aggressiveness of load, especially if using a single day)
These are just 4 different methods widely used in the bodybuilding circuit. It is not clear one is better
than any other, but they all work on the principle that:
Our body is depleted
2. We want to load our body to fill out
3. We do not want to spill over
1.
All the methods achieve these things, to varying degrees, they just do this at different speeds and with
differing risks. Each method has their own pros and cons. For example, a back-load approach allows
for more time to strip off fat and the possibility of super-compensating (filling up with more carbs that
can be achieved through typical conditions), but also has more risk involved (no time for adjustments)
and may be more stressful (which we know isn’t ideal). The method you end up choosing will likely
depend on the look you’re going for and which you feel most comfortable using.
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From our collective coaching perspective, we often view peak week as not how much you can gain, but
how much you can lose. You may find a way to get that extra 10%, but there’s a very big risk that you
may cause a spill and look 50% worse than before you even peaked.
To quote natural pro Jeff Alberts:
‘peak week should be named, the week not to fuck up’
Monitoring
So as previously stated, monitoring is very important. It might suddenly get super hot and you may
need to drink more, maybe your best friend broke up with their partner and kept you up on the phone
for hours, making miss sleep - you get it, things can change. Also even if you have practised your peak
before, your body has changed somewhat since then. Additionally, doing your first practice peak-week
protocol was off the back of not doing any, but now you’re doing a peak-week off the back of a practice
peak-week - this does have implications.
Anecdotally, when using more extreme deplete and load methods, every time you use them, they
become less effective - less super compensation occurs, and a flatter physique happens. Slower, less-extreme approaches may not get that extra 5-10%, but they’re more consistent and predictable. This is a
big benefit if you have back to back shows, or don’t need an extreme look, like with the bikini division.
Anyway, you get the idea that monitoring is important, so how do we go about this.
General Recommendations
»» Pictures/Photos am and pm
»» Personal anecdote (are you getting a pump easily? How do you feel in yourself?)
»» Scale (help identify depletion and super compensation or repletion)
It’s very important that these things are kept consistent, this should have been the case throughout
your prep too. That means the same lighting, camera position and timing etc. Some changes in the
physique are very subtle and thus require this super standardised set up to be identified.
How you feel also plays into things, for example, if you’re working with someone online they can’t see
you in-person. Pictures say a lot, but don’t give the entire story. There is something to be said for the
feeling of being depleted; the contractions feel gritty and slow. Likewise, when you’re full, it is something you can feel, pumps are easy to come by and you can see it clearly in the mirror or photos. In
combination with all your monitoring tools, this can only help.
Now the scale. It doesn’t always play ball, but if things work as you expect, you should weigh more at
the end of your loading period than at the end of your depletion. Especially if you’re aiming to super
compensate. By monitoring these elements you can adjust carbohydrates up and down. Remember; we
recommend keeping your other elements consistent so that we don’t have lots of things that could be
impacting your look.
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We are aiming to find the right level of carbohydrate intake, and we can’t do this if other variables are
changing. This is why the back-loading approaches are riskier, you have less room to manoeuvre. Rapid
backloads are the golden gun of peaking methods (you’ve only got one shot, but if you hit the target,
you kill it).
Show day
It’s important to talk about show day, but in reality, I don’t see it as a big part of peak week. And in
fact, if your peak revolves around show day, you’re in for quite a shock.
Peak week should set you up for an easy show day, just like a taper for a powerlifter. On the day they’re
peaked, they just need to perform their lifts, same can be said for a physique competitor.
You’ve loaded your glycogen, you’ve managed your stress, you’re not bloated and you’re ready to pump
up and show off your hard work.
Morning
If possible, some posing, a little cardio or a circuit of sorts to get some blood moving, maybe a small
sweat (if OK with tanning products) before your first meal. This tends to ensure your look is more
consistent through the day, it also helps raise and keep body temperature up during the day. This will
promote vasodilation and thus lead to a superior look with blood going into the muscles. Breakfast can
be a typical dieting breakfast for you, minus any fibrous fruits/veggies.
Time before stage
This could be a few hours from morning, or it could be all the way into the evening, it really depends
on your category and show set up. Thus we recommend you pack ‘repeat meals’. These are essentially
meals you would eat whilst dieting - normally fairly low fat, with some protein and carbs, again low in
fibre and with your usual salt added (if you add that is). These are really just to keep you ticking over
on the day. These can be consumed every 3 to 4 hours and during that time make sure to chill out,
don’t go trying to get a bunch of steps in. You’ll likely see many competitors lying back with their feet
up, and this isn’t a bad strategy as it can actually help to prevent fluid pooling in the legs. So you can
try this in the lead up to your time on stage, but no need to be doing it hours before you’re due on - it’s
an acute effect.
Pump up
The way you choose to pump up will depend on your category, for example, a bikini competitor may
not do any or just her delts. Whereas a bodybuilder would want to do a full body pump up. These are
controlled reps, feeling out the contraction with light dumbbells or bands. You don’t want to exhaust
yourself, take your time. At this time you can also use sodium if a pump/vascularity is desired, having
between 1-2g of sodium (half-to-a-teaspoon of salt) along with any pre-workouts you have been using.
Essentially this can be viewed as the warm-up before your workout, but your workout is the time on
stage - so don’t tire yourself. Only do this 10-20 minutes before you’re due on.
Remember on show day you shouldn’t need to do much - you’re peaked. After muscle glycogen is
stored it can persist for days if minimal activity is done. So chill out, don’t do anything silly, pump up
and you’re golden.
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Putting it together
As you can see peak week isn’t a big deal but there are a lot of things to be aware of.
In very simple terms we’re looking to:
Max out glycogen stores, while minimising any spill
2. Reduce stress & get plenty of sleep
3. Keep water, sodium and potassium normal - don’t shake homeostasis too much
1.
Provided you’re lean enough, this should lead to the best looking physique on stage - but there are
many methods for how to go about this.
Remember though, there is no secret and if you’re looking great ahead of time, you’re onto a winner!
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Congratulations, you made it through the most difficult of human experiences, but the work is not
over, just yet. Whilst many unassuming competitors perceive the digging phase, peaking process and
show day to be the cornerstone of bodybuilding, it is the post-competition phase and the transition
from contest prep, into the off season, that can make or break many bodybuilding careers.
Transitioning from contest prep into the off season can be one of the most agonizing of periods, often
leading to perverse behaviours that leave many athletes, lost, confused and distraught. Once you depart
with the stage and laboriously remove your tan, the true demands of bodybuilding become all the more
imminent and often dire if you are ill-prepared.
This chapter is equally as important as those which precede it and will cover what physique athletes
must prioritize post-show. We implore you to treat this phase of your prep with as much dedication
and commitment as each of the phases before it, and you will thank us down the track!
»»
»»
»»
»»
Remember, in choosing to compete, you also chose to;
Exhibit a high degree of restraint and sacrifice;
Alter your physiology (body fat, muscle, metabolism, hormones, energy)
Alter your psychology (mood, anxiety, stress, goals, thoughts, perception of self & feelings)
»» Give up your health and well being; and
»» Engage in antisocial behaviour that likely jeopardised your relationships and career.
As such, now that your competitive season has come to an end, you are about to face a new set of challenges otherwise known as the post comp blues:
A Lack of Direction
2. Binge Eating/Yo-Yo Dieting
3. Weight Gain
4. Returning to Normalcy
1.
The post competition blues are a result of being in a place of weakness and and where you end up post
show is far from a place of physical and mental strength. Let’s review… Where are you now?
»» Sleep disruption
»» Mood disturbance
»» Decreased levels of testosterone (men)
»» Ammonheria (Loss of
menstrual cycle) (women)
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Thyroid output
Strength/performance loss
Lean body mass losses
Increased food focus
Increased likelihood of ea-
ting disorders
»» Hunger, irritability, low
energy
»» Mood disturbance
»» Lack of direction/goals
These are all very real consequences of competing and once your season is over and these side effects
of bodybuilding will continue to manifest and interfere with your long term development and wellbeing, if not addressed appropriately. Of course, if you have followed each of the phases we have laid out
appropriately the degree of each of the above will be much less. However, there is no avoiding some of
the negatives associated with physique prep.
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This chapter will address many of the common occurrences post-show and outline how to return to a
position of strength by recovering physical and mental health/well-being, returning to normalcy and
setting yourself up for a fruitful offseason.
Returning to a place of Strength
The goal of this phase is to return to a place of strength, both physically and mentally. In prioritising
the factors outlined in this chapter you will increase the rate at which recover from the demands imposed during the contest prep diet and regain your health, life and self.
Returning to a place of strength encompasses three primary factors which are all inextricably related
but will be covered individually. The factors that need to be prioritised to return to a place of strength
include:
Regaining physical health/strength
2. Recovering psychological health/well-being
3. Returning to normalcy
1.
Regaining Physical Health & Strength.
The objective during the weeks following your final show are to recover from the stress and fatigue
imposed during the contest prep and begin regaining the health and strength of your physical systems.
Regaining physical strength will have the fastest and most direct impact on a number of physiological
and psychological consequences that occur with contest prep, which it is the first priority post-show.
How To Recover:
Recovery from the physical side effects and metabolic adaptations seen during a contest prep will come
from:
Increasing calorie intake
2. Regaining body weight and body fat
3. Reducing energy expenditure via cardio
1.
The only time you need to being peak condition with shredded glutes is on stage. The quicker you
get back to an appropriate body weight and body fat percentage (low end of your settling range), the
better. Not just for health, but for your long term bodybuilding and physique development. This is why,
now, the most pressing objective is to address regain physical health and strength. This means parting
ways with your stage physique and kicking off the recovery diet.
The 3DMJ Recovery Diet:
Reverse Diet VS Recovery Diet?
Many competitors try to reverse diet post show, that is slowly increase calories in a stepwise approach
toward maintenance in a bid to minimize fat gain and maximise caloric consumption.
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Whilst this method has theoretical plausibility, a reverse diet post show only serves to perpetuate the
above outcomes and as outlined, is best left for the peaking process or if you have shows coming up in
the coming weeks or months.
The primary limitation of a reverse diet post show is that it may take many weeks before you return to
maintenance or see a calorie surplus. This means that the reversal of the aforementioned adaptations
only takes longer, and physical and psychological health is compromised. The goal now is to recover,
not maintain your stage physique/conditioning. Striated glutes have no place in the real world...
Remember, you are not a robot and even the most assiduous and hardcore bodybuilders battle with
controlling energy intake after a contest prep, and without a goal or deadline, many athletes end up
developing eating disorders and body image issues.
Days 1-14
Once you finish your show, it’s time to shift your focus to ‘health’ and recovery. In saying that, the first
step is to work with your coach on devising a 14 day post show plan that allows you to enjoy some ‘off
plan’ meals, and the finer things in life whilst minimising binge eating and excessive weight rebound.
Whilst catching up on lost time with friends and family during the post show period is inevitable, letting go of all routine and structure in training and diet can lead to yo-yo dieting and binge-purge type
behaviours. Implementing the recovery diet is your next phase, which should last anywhere between
4-8 weeks.
An important note
Avoid an ON/OFF mentality. Just because your season is complete, it doesn’t mean that
you can turn OFF complete. Simply turning the dimmer switch down during this next
phase can allow for both improved physical health and some much needed time away from
restrictive dieting.
Weeks 2-6
See below for recommendations post show which are excerpts from the 3DMJ recovery diet which is a
free resource available online.
»» Aim to gain 5 to 10 percent of your bodyweight
»» Get rid of all excess cardio (back to where you were before starting prep)
»» Initiate a caloric surplus of 400 - 1000kcals above maintenance until 4 weeks is over and you have
reach 5-10% above stage weight.
»» When you reach a recovery weight, you can then slow down and creep calories up over time.
»» Continue to weigh and measure all foods, except vegetables and energy sparse foods.
»» Introduce 1-2 new foods in your diet each week, provided they don’t trigger binge eating.
»» Reduce reliance and intake of stimulants.
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Gaining Back Size & Strength - Shifting the Focus
Once you have settled into a new routine and the dust has settled, its time to reflect on your journey
and set new goals as you transition into the off season. Unsurprisingly, your training performance and
strength suffered during the final stage of your contest prep. Whilst many competitors experience immediate improvements in strength and training performance shortly after their final show when they
begin eating more, your strength will likely take much longer to return to its off season best.
There is a wide misconception amongst the bodybuilding community that post show, there is anabolic period that potentiates muscle gain beyond what is normally seen in regular dieting conditions.
Although this period is highly ‘anabolic’, muscle gain will proceed with fat gain and any hypertrophy
that occurs during the recovery phase will simply be the tissue lost during the contest prep diet. After
many months of training in a highly fatigued state with moderate-high volumes and obsessing over
your cosmetics a break from the pump work and gym selfies is all the more necessary now. This is why
shift- ing we recommend you shift your focus to performance with low-moderate volumes and an emphasis on strength progression. Your self-esteem may take a hit with the rapid rebound of body fat and
weight, but you will now be in a much healthier state physically to train hard and enjoy lifting again.
It’s time to truly let go of your ‘aesthetic’ ideals and accept the reality that maintaining your condition
is no longer a priority. The number on the scale is of far less important now than the numbers in the
gym.
Remember, the goal of the off season is to build muscle, which is a function of training, not diet. Setting new goals is paramount, and selecting several key lifts for the major muscle groups and hit some
new PRs is a great way to take your attention away from your cosmetics and alleviate the stress and
pressure associated with being a physique competitor.
Lower Body
Upper Body
Quad Dominant
Hip Dominant
Press
Horizontal Pull
Vertical Pull
Squat variants
Deadlift variants
Flat/Incline BB Press
Pendlay Rows
Pull-Ups
Leg Press
Good Mornings
Flat/Incline DB Press Bent Over BB Row
Pulldowns
Lunges
Hip Thrusts
-
SA/Prone DB Row
-
Leg Extensions
Hamstring Curls
-
Seated Machine
-
Pick 1-2 movements from each of the above categories and aim to progress your strength on these
compound lifts over the coming months by adding load and reps. Assessing progress should now come
in the form of video assessment of your lifting technique and performance and monitoring improvements in repetition strength across multiple exercises in your program is the focus. This will not only
help you regain any lost muscle but will help initiate the process of adding new tissue and improve
upon prior level of muscularity.
During the contest prep you will have no doubt lost some enjoyment for your training. Although
much of this is related to a lack of food, energy and sleep, not the training itself, your off season will
only be fruitful if you are madly in love with your training and the process of progression itself. As they
say, love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life. Which is why we highly recommend
ensuring that in your pursuit of strength and progress, you devise a program that is both enjoyable and
rewarding!
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Case Study Joey Zinghini
When I first competed in Bodybuilding (BB), I had no goal post comp set in mind. I became
depressed, unmotivated and had zero intrinsic motivation to do anything gym related. I was a
mess! I sporadically trained, ate anything with terrible intuition, and was in severe potato mode.
It took me a good three months to get moving again into some sort of routine.
Then I met Powerlifting (PL)! I did some PL style training between my first and second BB
comp, and I was hooked! Although aesthetics was in mind when prepping for my second BB
comp, a focus was to maintain as much strength as possible. Given my new love for lifting
heavy AF weights, I had already planned my post comp program and macrocycle!
Having a strength oriented goal in mind after the show really helped me minimise the onset of
the post comp blues which is often experienced with beginner BBers. It helped take the focus
off only looking good, towards a more performance driven approach. What I started to notice is
that with this new motivation and goal in mind, aesthetics went along with it! This is where my
approach for programming of PowerBuilding was born.
So by having this performance goal in mind post comp, it went hand in hand with not only
looking good (which used to be the main focus and completely disheartened at the site of
any fat gain), but also getting strong AF! The improvements that were and are made mentally,
drives the physicality aspect, therefore resulting in a totally new outlook of the stages of training and goal setting!
Recovering psychological health and well being
At the end of a competitive season, not only is stress and fatigue at its highest, but so too the disturbances seen in mood, emotions and overall mental well being related to body image and food. With a
high degree of restriction comes with it unusual and unhealthy habits.To reach the limits of conditioning, competitors often engage in obsessive compulsive behaviours and create systems by which they
can maximise adherence in order to restrain from consumption. Slowly eliminating unhealthy tendencies is critical to psychological well-being and longevity in the sport. Well being includes the presence
of positive emotions and mood states such as contentment, happiness etc and the absence of negative
emotions such as depression and anxiety. Put simply, well being can be seen as viewing the world as
more positive than negative and feeling ‘good’ about your life. Although the recovery diet will address
a key component to psychological well being - physiological health, there are some key areas to address
after your final show:
Unhealthy Relationship with food
A healthy relationship with food can be broken down into two parts - physical and psychological. A
healthy physical relationship with food can be defined as being satiated, satisfied and full of energy
while maintaining a healthy body weight and health markers. Evidently, a contest prep sees the decline of the aforementioned. A healthy psychological relationship with food will encompass eating for
health and enjoyment pur- poses without overly neurotic/hedonistic tendencies and being mindful
whilst eating without too much social interference.
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Many of the neurotic tendencies and habits developed during your contest prep must slowly be eliminated, such as:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Weighing food meticulously to the gram
Using smaller cutlery
Overly restrictive diet
Avoidance of social outings
Strict eating schedules
These are just a few of the mannerisms athletes adopt during their prep to uphold adherence in a time
where food focus is high. Being aware of these habits and slowly reframing your perception of food
and dieting to minimise obsessive and unhealthy behaviours is critical. It will take time, energy and
effort and may be uncomfortable and daunting initially. However, rest assured that things will settle
down and before you know it, your relationship with food will improve.
Tips for improving your relationship with food
»» Less exact weighing and tracking of food (weigh 70-80% of food)
»» Eating at regular time intervals (plan meal times ahead)
»» Eating for both enjoyment and function (80% minimally processed and refined foods
and 20% of preference)
»» Inclusion of a variety of foods in your diet (nutrient dense, wider variety of food choices)
»» Being mindful and present when eating, free from distraction (chewing food slowly, cutlery down between bites etc)
»» Decrease concerns about weight/shape/appearance (decrease evaluation of body image,
weight and shape and prioritise other aspects of your life such as character, morals, relationships, skills, education etc)
Note
If you are experiencing frequent and severe binge eating or anything that is detrimenting
your mental health and well being, seek out assistance from a professional such as a registered dietician or psychologist.
Unhealthy relationship with body
A healthy body image can be defined as a clear, true perception of your shape and you see the various parts of your body as they really are and you celebrate and appreciate your natural body shape.
A healthy body image means that you understand that a person’s physical appearance says very little
about their character and value as a person and you feel proud and accepting of your unique body, refusing to spend an unreasonable amount of time worrying about food, weight, and calories. In essence,
you feel comfortable and confident in your body, which is extremely difficult when so many changes in
your appearance are occurring on a regular basis post-show.
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An overemphasis on cosmetics over the past few months will no doubt leave you with many cracks
in your psychological health as it relates to your perception of your physique, but now it’s time to
begin the process of ‘self love’ and appreciation, irrespective of how you look. Down regulating your
self-monitoring in the form of body checking, progress photos and scale weight can be the first step to
improving your relationship with your body. Only take measurements or assessments as often as necessary to detect progress or ensure you are not gaining weight at too fast a rate. You must now accept and
embrace that weight and body fat gain is a vital part of the process. Bodybuilding, by definition requires you to ‘build’ your body, and with gaining muscle in the off season, comes the addition of more
fat.
Developing the skill of gaining weight is difficult, and often neglected. As you transition into the off
season, direct your efforts towards learning how to gain weight not just on a physical level, but also by
adjusting your mindset toward this new goal. Your body will change, and so it should and remem- ber,
you are not your bodybuilding physique. Attaching your identity and self-worth to your show day physique is a dangerous game to play. Not only will this cause mental angst and torment due to the fear
of being a fraud by no longer looking how you once did, but will hinder your ability to feel content,
comfortable and confident when not in contest shape.
Tips for improving your relationship with body
»» Reduce frequencies of self-monitoring (scale weight 2-3x p/w and visuals bi-weekly or
monthly)
»» Regular positive affirmations (3-5 positive statements about self )
»» Prioritise improving other characteristics of who you are (work, relationships etc)
»» Improve your relationship with food (mindful eating based on satiety/fullness and behaviours from early/pre prep phases)
Return to normalcy
Contest prep is much like a game of jenga. During the prep diet, we are slowly taking away the piecContest prep is much like a game of jenga. During the prep diet, we are slowly taking away the pieces - normalcy being one of those pieces. By the time it’s all said and done, there are minimal pieces
remaining and your alterations in personality have likely caused a few of the pieces in your relationships and social life to come undone. Now, it is time to repair and rebuild the framework that provides
for structure and strength in what are also very important constitutes of the off season and life. If you
have followed the guidelines in this book, we hope that you have kept as many of the pieces intact as
possible, but there will no doubt be a few that need amending.
Relationships
If you are in a committed relationship, it is time to repay your partner for the weeks/months selfish behaviour, and give a little more time and attention to the relationship. Date nights, flowers, long walks
on the beach and plenty of bedroom romance will no doubt be more than welcomed given the likely
absence of ‘love’ of late. Spending time with loved ones is not only going to fill the void of no longer
competing, but also bring much satisfaction and happiness to your life.
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Social Life
At the end of your prep and your no longer confined by the constraints of the anti-social nature of
bodybuilding, those who have missed your presence will be yearning to hear from you. With socialising comes to an inherent increase in food exposure, which can bring with it a lot of discomfort and
potential overeating.
Many competitors fall into one of two categories (most in between):
Fear of eating outside of regular routine/environment; or
2. Uncontrollable eating when the environment changes.
1.
If you are someone who is a little nervy about stepping away from the comfort that comes with
pre-planning and diligently tracking your food, this is ok. Reliance and dependence on ‘control’ is
what has made you an excellent athlete, but it’s time to slowly wean off the food scale and Tupperware
contain- ers. Social outings are a great opportunity to reverse the abnormal exclusion you have forced
upon yourself during your contest prep and are another step closer to recovering and returning to
normalcy.
Here are our key tips for re-introducing your social life post-show if you are struggling to control your
food intake:
»» Plan your socialising in advance
»» Base social outings around activities that don’t involve food such as walking, bowling, a
game of pool, a movie etc.
»» Focus on the people, not the food
»» Eating out to 1-2x per week and aim to adjust calorie intake to allow for these meals
Whilst this is still ‘abnormal’ behaviour, slowly reintroducing your social life in a more ‘controlled’
manner can help minimise exposure to food during a period where you will have high amounts of food
focus. This can help prevent binge eating and give you some ‘freedom’ without causing further psychological torment that comes with frequent binge eating or overeating. As they say, time heals all wounds
and there will come a point where going out to socialise, even around food, won’t and shouldn’t cause
you anxiety or increase potential binge eating. For those of you who do not fear a pizza or three, be
wary that excessive socialising around food could lead to rapid weight rebound if not monitored and
controlled during the initial phases post-show. If you have an insatiable appetite at the end of your
prep and are finding it difficult to control the amount of food you eat when your environment changes,
here is our advice:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Plan your socialising in advance
Research the restaurants you attend and pre-select your meal for the day/evening
Opt for items that are lean and green (high protein with a hefty serve of vegetables)
Drink lots of water or diet soft drinks with meals
Base social outings around activities that don’t involve food such as walking, bowling, a
game of pool, a movie etc.
»» Focus on the people, not the food
»» Eating out to 1-2x per week and aim to adjust calorie intake to allow for these meals
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Shifting lifestyle priorities
As you slowly begin reversing your bodybuilding mindset and behaviour to transition towards your
definition of normalcy, it is important to remember that your focus is to:
»»
»»
»»
»»
Exhibit less exact control of nutritional variables
Increased food flexibility, slowly introduce new foods into your diet
Increased food intake in alignment with recovery diet recommendations
Reduce cardio in alignment with recovery diet recommendations
Whilst the reversal of the neurotic and unhealthy behaviours/tendencies that arise during a contest
prep is the focus, and increased energy intake provides for more flexibility in your food choices it is
important to continue to structure your diet and ensure the foundational habits and behaviours of a
healthy lifestyle are maintained to allow for some level of control over your diet and training.
Therefore we recommend that despite the ‘freedom’ that comes with post-show, you must continue to
focus on implementing the following habits whilst you slowly transition into the off season:
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
»»
Tracking calories and protein intake (Semi Track)
Aim to consume 4-5 serves of protein per day
Aim to consume 2-3 servings of fruit and vegetables each day
Drink 0.5-1L per 10kg of BW
Eat predominantly high volume foods to maximise satiation and fullness
Plan and prepare your food intake in advance.
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Finally, you are ready to enter your offseason, or how we like to put it your ‘improvement season’. This
is because as a physique competitor this is the time for you to improve such as growing new muscle
tissue. This point is important, as many do not respect their time away from the stage, they get lazy,
they lose focus and structure. If more people approached their offseason like their contest prep phase
we’d probably see better competitors. For sure, we don’t want you to be a shredded, neurotic mess, but
we do want you to train hard and have some purpose with what you’re consuming.
Hopefully, it’s become apparent throughout reading this ebook how important having a plan is, your
offseason, therefore, should be no different. By making a long term plan you have a goal, you have vision, you have steps to follow to give you direction.
When making this plan we have to consider a few things:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Offseason length
Realistic muscle gain
Building on weaknesses
Maximising food (relationship & amount)
Being a well rounded bodybuilder
There is probably a few things listed right there that you’ve never even considered, that’s OK, that’s
why you bought this book. Let’s break this down, step by step, to give you an idea of what your offseason might look like.
Offseason length
Have you seen competitors who compete year to year? Do they look very different? More often that
not, they don’t, and in some unfortunate cases, they look worse. Why would that happen? Well as
pointed out earlier in this book our body adapts to what we give it, and takes time to recover back to
full health. Thus, just like we see crash dieters yo yo between trying to lose weight and quickly putting
it all back on, the same can happen to competitors. Let’s briefly look at why you likely wouldn’t want
to compete yearly:
Muscle gain takes time
2. Recovering from a contest season takes time
1.
In fact, you cannot even achieve 1 without first achieving 2, which can take many months. You can
quite easily end up just recovering from the last years prep, before then you need to start a new prep.
That’s if you’re even fully recovered by this time, but one thing is for sure, you had no chance to build
and work on your physique.
The ones who can compete year to year are those with lots of experience under their belt. Either they
are close or at their genetic ceiling, so they don’t have much to gain from extended off-seasons or they
know how to lose fat & retain muscle, due to doing so many successful preps.
How many people fit this category? Not many, most competitors probably should not attempt competing each year and would greatly benefit from taking several years off. As already explained, the
offseason is your time to improve.
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A general recommendation could be as follows:
Intermediates - compete every 2+ years
2. Advanced - compete every 1+ years
1.
You’ll notice there is no recommendation for novices, this is because during this time you’d be growing at your maximal rate. Novices really have no good reason to compete and would be served better
focussing on growing. Also, there is no upper limit, remember the stage will always be there and there
is more to life than competing. Unless you have to compete to keep a professional status or even a
sponsorship deal, you have no need to compete regularly. Take as much time you need to present a new
and improved pack- age that you’re proud of on stage.
Realistic rates of muscle gain
If your goal is to maximise muscle growth, you need to gain weight. This means being in a caloric surplus, seeing the scale go up overtime. There are a select few who can gain muscle without doing this.
New trainees, trainees new to proper training or dieting &/or trainees coming back from a lay-off.
The likelihood is you don’t fit in anyone of these camps, and so, you will want to put yourself into a
state of overeating. The question then becomes; how much of a surplus? How fast you should look to
gain depends on your capacity to grow muscle. This is because as you advance in the weights room
your rate of progress slows down, this is because you’re edging closer and closer to your genetic potential.
The body can only grow muscle at a certain rate, and as discussed above this rate slows down the
longer we train. Therefore, it makes good sense to set our rate of muscle gain in accordance with our
training experience. Various experts in the field have come up with recommendations for rates of gain,
these are a great place to start, but not necessarily the be all and end all. For example, Alan Aragon has
come up with the following:
»» Novice - 1.5 to 2lbs lean tissue per month
»» Intermediate - 0.8 to 1.5lbs lean tissue per month
»» Advanced - 0.4 to 0.8lbs lean tissue per month
This goes in line with what has been said above, the longer you have been training, the slower the rate
of muscle growth. Further to this Eric Helms has made the following recommendations:
»» Novice - 1 to 1.5% additional bodyweight per month
»» Intermediate - 0.5 to 1% additional bodyweight per month
»» Advanced - 0.5% additional bodyweight per month
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If you were a novice lifter looking to gain muscle and weighed 180lbs you would look to gain 1.8 to
2.7lbs per month. Which isn’t very quick, and if that same 180lb person was advanced this would be at
most 0.9lbs a month. It is also important to define these different levels of training experience:
»» Novice - making week to week progress
»» Intermediate - making month to month progress
»» Advanced - making progress over multiple months
Whilst the above is a certainly a great way to go about your offseason, it might not be the best and certainly isn’t the only way to do things. There is a good argument for taking things an edge faster:
Slow gaining is hard to track effectively
2. Slow gaining might leave some gains on the table
1.
Mike Israetel takes a slightly different approach, he prefers to see a slightly faster rate of weight gain.
»» 0.25% to 0.5% additional bodyweight per week
What is clear is that weight needs to be gained, the pace you decide to do this is very much up to you.
Both provide results. One thing to remember is that to be growing muscle you need to be seeing improves in performance, if you’re adding weight but not hitting any new volume or load personal bests,
you might just be getting fatter. Thus, monitoring your offseason performance is an absolute must,
training is the match for muscle growth, without it, it doesn’t matter how much fuel you have (surplus)
you aren’t going to be getting anywhere.
How might you identify if you’re building muscle? We put a tonne of time and effort into trying to
gain it and estimating how much we can gain, but often lack the tools to identify if anything is happening. The first thing to realise is that muscle growth is slow, much, much slower than fat loss. Whilst
looking at weekly photos during contest prep can tell you quite a lot, the same cannot be said when
you’re in your offseason. No one is gaining significant muscle in a week and anyone fairly well trained
will at most only see changes each month.
The following methods are those found most successful and are very much influenced by Mike Israetel:
Weight/Rep Counts
By logging your training overtime you will be able to assess whether you are moving more weight for
more reps. If you can say I went from squatting 150kg for 5 to then doing it for 8 months later, it’s
likely you have grown. It appears it is even more likely if say you could do 150kg for 3 sets of 5 and
now you can do it for 3 sets of 8 or even 5 sets of 5. This is because a larger muscle should also be able
to endure more work, and hitting these more obvious volume PRs are a good way to indicate growth.
Finally, it appears that the best predictor of growth is hitting higher reps across multiple sets on isolation movements. This is because it really reduces the chance of neurological efficiencies, seeing as you
cannot really get much more efficient at an isolation movement.
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If you can do more load for more reps and sets on a leg extension, you’re even more likely to have added lean tissue.
Again these all come back to tracking and monitoring your gym performance.
Scale & Visual assessments
Obviously we have already touched on the scale, ideally, you will be keeping an eye on this. However,
as said previously the scale on its own isn’t enough, how you look is actually more important. Maybe
you gained weight a little fast according to what you ideally wanted, but if your performance is great
and you’re looking good, does it really matter? This is why taking photos and looking in the mirror are
also important.
When taking photos you want to keep these just like you did in contest prep, consistent and honest.
This is to allow comparisons to be made so you can clearly monitor progress. Taking these very months
or so is probably plenty.
Body Size Measurements
Taking girth measurements is another piece of data that can help make everything more objective. Not
only can you monitor your thighs, calves, biceps etc. to see if they’re bigger, but you can see how fast
your waist is growing. Don’t expect to see large increases here very often and do take these numbers
with a pinch of salt. Thing is, human error is very likely when these are taken by oneself, so remember
to take that into account. Also just like your photos, make the measurement consistent; same place,
same place in your mesocycle (for example, in a deload).
These three are the methods that can be used most easily by most people, and thus shouldn’t be too
much hassle to do. They key as already mentioned is to take the data as a whole, and not base decisions
off one data point. To do so is like cherry picking a study to ‘prove’ your point, that is not evidence
based. So monitor performance, scale weight, visuals and girth measurements and take the data as a
whole and see which things are trending. If one is saying ‘you might have gained muscle’ but all others
don’t show much, then maybe you need to change something, but if most are indicating growth, then
you’ve probably grown!
Building on weaknesses
Since you have gotten super lean you’re now in the perfect place to identify weak points. Also, you’re
in the most specific state for your ultimate goal i.e. competition state. So you can use images to clearly
identify which areas on your physique are comparatively weak to the others. In addition to the use of
photos, you also would be well served to ask for feedback from the judges. To be honest whilst you
may think you have small arms and thus they’re a weak point if the judges think they’re just fine and
it’s your upper pecs that need work, their word holds. This is because when it comes to doing your best
at the competition, it is their opinion that matters, not your own.
Good advice would be to take the judges feedback in combination with your own views and ideally
your coaches too. Your coach and the judge should be able to be more objective when looking at your
own physique. Once your weaknesses have been identified you can start developing a plan of attack to
make them much stronger.
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It must be stated however that we’re now assuming your whole body is not weak i.e. you’re just not
very well developed overall. If you’ve not been training very long and are just under muscled, then your
whole body is weak and you just need to focus on bringing it all up.
However, assuming you have some true weak points there are a number of strategies you can explore:
1.
Quality check: first things first, is your form of a good standard? It doesn’t need to be
perfect, but it does need to tick the basic fundamental principles. You want it to be controlled, utilising a full range of motion and kept consistent overtime. Also particularly for
isolation movements you want to establish a strong mind muscle connection. If you’re
doing bicep curls and feeling all front delt, you probably need to assess what you’re
doing.
2.
Find your fit: being a physique athlete you are not constrained by exercise selection, you
have a huge list of movements you can use. If you’re very tall, squats might not be a great
quad buildier for you, but leg press might be. Find movements that feel good, you can
overload and progress well with.
3.
Split it up: if you’re doing a low frequency for a body-part you want to bring up it might
be worth trying a higher one. If currently you’re hitting your delts once a week, don’t
jump to 5, but you can try 2, and maybe transition up from there depending on recovery
and progress. By splitting your total volume in more sessions you can often find the quality of work done is greater, which can produce more hypertrophy.
4.
Do it first: it might sound simple, but often simple is best. Say you want to bring up
your side delts, and you always do them after your presses and pulls, you’re in a fatigued
state. Now what if you were to do them first in your workout, you would be able to give
them your best, you’d get again a higher quality of work done.
5.
Put them on the front burner: another method to help weaknesses grow is to put them
on the front burner. This means you may well reduce the total volume done elsewhere to
give more recovery capacity to your weakness. For example if you have massive legs, you
could put these to maintenance and focus on your upper volume more so. By freeing up
systemic fatigue you can truly push and progress your weak points.
6.
Pre-Fatigue and/or activate: some of our weak points are stubborn, they’re hard to feel.
In this case making sure to warm them up with some acrivation movements can help a
lot. For example if you struggle to feel your lats when pulling it can be a good idea to do
some light single arm lat pull ins, and really squeeze and feel them out. This is a sense
turns that muscle on more so when you come to your main lifts you can better feel it
working. You can also take this one step further by pre-fatiguing said muscle, that way
when you come to do your bigger compound movements it has to work even harder.
7.
Avoid these: no log booking, bad form, all the volume, no volume, all the exercises.
Having balance as a bodybuilder
Importantly as a bodybuilder, you have other things in your life, or so you should. Now this isn’t to say
you can’t love bodybuilding, or truly dedicate a large chunk of your life to it, you can. But you are also
likely, a son/daughter, brother/sister, boyfriend/girlfriend, wife/husband, colleague/employee etc. etc.
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You’re not just a physique athlete, there is more to you, right? During contest prep you do however
lose a lot of balance, to be competitive you have to be hyper-focussed on the goal at hand. This is not
the time for balance, you might have to say no to social occasions, your job may have to go on the
back burner, this is just what the demands of the sport brings. However, during your offseason you
don’t need to be this way, in fact, I’d argue being this way will make you less successful. This is the
time to be so- cial, to work on the relationships that may have taken a hit during prep and to really
be a well-rounded individual. You can have a family and be a champion, you can eat meals out and
still progress, you don’t have to dedicate every moment of your life to this sport. I truly believe that it
should complement your life and not be your life. So make non-physique related goals, such as travelling, business objectives and the like. This will help keep you focused, it will bring you a lot of joy and
they’re important aspects of life. Don’t feel like you’re any less of an athlete for doing so.
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THANK YOU
This now brings us to the conclusion of this book. After completing a full cycle of the bodybuilding season, starting from the offseason and then getting back there again. We hope you have learned
something, and that this book can provide value for you over extended periods of time, which are
needed in order to maximise bodybuilding success. We really enjoyed bringing this book to life and
hope that it was at least somewhat enjoyable to read.
We thank you for putting your trust in all of us.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for purchasing and reading our ebook. We truly appreciate
your support and hope that the contents of this book have equipped you with the knowledge and tools
necessary to reach your potential and enhanced your journey in bodybuilding.
A special mention to all members and athletes of the JPS and Revive Stronger communities who have
in many ways contributed to the development of this book. Additionally, we must pay tribute to the
individuals who have taught, inspired and motivated us over the years and who have each played a
pivotal role in our practice and understanding of bodybuilding.
Eric Helms, Mike Israetel, James Krieger, Brian Minor, Menno Henselmens, Layne Norton, Lyle McDonald, Greg Nuckols, Cliff Wilson, Alberto Nunez, Jeff Alberts, Brad Loomis, Andrea Valdez, Jared
Feather, words cannot express who grateful we are for your wisdom and knowledge!
Happy shredding!
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