I am curious- if I made a post laying out a super easy peak week for people to follow that struggle with what to do the final week, would anyone be interested? I am getting a lot of messages from people the last few months and their peaks are way off, setting them up to look super flat, stringy and in some cases even soft. I have had people propose loading a TON of carbs then cut their water, take a diuretic, and no water day of show. I have had people talk about how to cut water back drastically wed thurs fri and none day of show, I have had people talk about how to cut sodium and water but try and carb up day of show without either (not gonna work peeps) and they cant get a pump to save their life.......Basically I have tried about every single type of peak out there, and I have seen them backfire big time more times than not. The biggest misconception with peaking IMO is when someone is shredded, totally peeled, and they do a peak week that involves one of the 3 things I dont recommend- cutting water, cutting sodium, or using a diuretic. They still end up winning or doing extremely well but not because of their peak, because they are shredded and they think their peak works, and others think their peak works when actually they could have likely looked much MUCH better. Yet because they are shredded they trust their peak. Lets look at a couple examples- assisted folks first. You ever see pics of someone shredded, peeled, post pics a few days before show at the gym, veins EVERYWHERE, full in the muscles and looking like a straight freak show? Then they do their show, you see stage pics and they dont pop, no veins, and look just a tad off maybe even smooth. Its because they are stage ready then they try and alter things like water (which the muscle being full is made up most of water) and sodium (again, super fast way to flatten out and not be able to get a pump, cut sodium) and then the big kicker, maybe a diuretic all the while trying to load carbs. They get so flat that they start to look a bit soft because the muscle wont push against the skin, no veins because no water or sodium. Then you see them post pics the next day or two days later up 10-15 lbs and looking straight up beast. If you are stage ready, why would you want to pull water off the physique when there really isnt much to pull off the tiny bit of sub q that may come off isnt worth the TONS of water inside the muscle that is going to leave. The same example can be used for natural competitors, except most wont use a diuretic unless its OTC and something mild like dandelion root. They are still notorious for cutting water leading up to a show. With most natural competitors they dont have the size an assisted competitor has so they really run the risk of looking flat, stringy, and overdieted. I have seen a ton of natural competitors on stage who are big, yet muscles flat as pancakes and dont pop then you see them go up against a competitor who is also shredded but has water, salt and carbs in their systems and they lose. Most noteable that come to mind, you always see good coaches with clients drinking water, having salt, carbs etc and not doing anything drastic. Look at Layne Nortons clients, look at Cliff Wilsons clients look at Brian Ahlstroms clients. Dont just take my word for it, their clients do extremely well and look great and dont cut water, use diuretics, cut salt, etc etc. Even on the pro level where being flat will knock you down some placings, you wont see their clients look overdieted and flat. YET, with all the clients that good coaches are putting on stage, it is still rampant in our sport. It takes one good pro to tell a few people they peaked using these old school methods and they also pass that along to their clients who pass it on to friends........its still an uphill battle to get people to see there is a better way. Another misconception for most normal sized competitors or even smaller competitors is that they see that bigger, thicker physiques can pull water off their bodies extremely hard with water cutting and diuretics and achieve a very hard look, think of a guy 220 lbs on stage they are so thick and round that when they do pull water yes it pulls it out of the muscle but also from everywhere on the body including sub-q but they are so thick they still appear big and very lean. There is also the fact of extra supps and water retention from those so this is a normal practice for assisted athletes but for about 99% of competitors that are going to read this its not needed and you will end up frail, thin, and super flat on stage and if you arent 100% shredded you will actually look soft due to the muscle not pushing against the skin from being full. I am serious about putting together a bulletproof/easy approach peak week to share with everyone, I may just sit and write it tonight so people have something who just dont know what to do. It doesnt matter if you are natural or assisted, our folks on both sides of the fence look their best day of the show and dont do any water cutting, sodium cutting, diuretcs (I have prolly had 3 people in 4-5 years use a natural diuretic in certain situations, mostly bigger thicker physiques and also getting in a weight class etc etc I will go over that and its only used in extreme situations and one that I really never employ) I think this will help a lot of folks out, no matter which side of the sport you compete on. Let me know if this is something you all want to see and I will put it together asap.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 16:01:54 +0000
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