This post was written to help a few girls that train at HIT Center Austin who needs to get lean and dry for their upcoming bikini contest at the NPC Texas Shredder Classics.
1 Week Out From Contest
From the diet setup I explained previously, you can still lose 1 to 1.5 more pounds of body fat if you keep up with your diet/cardio this last week but as we all know, you can probably come in looking more lean and dry if you lose some of the subcutaneous water under the skin. So here are a few things you can do to avoid going on stage looking smooth.
Depending on what kind of event and how you’ve been trained, the judge will most likely want to see the striation of your hip and the definition of your abs. If you’re a figure, they will focus more on the size of your shoulder and upper back. For the waist and hip, these areas are where the female will store the last bit of fat and is the hardest to lose (due to the alpha/beta receptors ratio on your fat tissues that get signaled how and where the fat contents are stored, released, and burned). For men, it's the lower abs and lower back. Since you will not be using drugs to get rid of water, here are a couple things to manipulate water level.
Again, it does not always work for everyone. You should already have tried this a couple cycles before your contest so you know how your body responds to the protocols. If this is your first time, do it at your own risk. At least you know what to do for your next show.
Sodium Loading
Maintain or increase your sodium and water intake up until 2 days from your event. Then drop sodium completely (or reduce it as much as possible) and take a couple grams of potassium (on top of eating a potassium rich diet) the day before contest.
Potassium is an intracellular electrolyte ion which holds water inside the cell and not outside like sodium does. Also, adding potassium (K) will help you stay hydrating as well as assist in pulling out sodium. This is to create a rebound effect. To find out sodium rich foods options to stay away from 2 days out, do a search on google (egg whites, tuna for the protein sources).
Some coaches recommend reducing water intake well before contest time (2-3 weeks out), which is totally unnecessary and I see it in a lot of wrestling coaches too. Water restriction can help prevent water retention in case the body is in a state of dehydration, and is only appropriate for the night before and/or the day of contest.
If the body has very little water due to lowered sodium intake, any water you drink will be urinated. So, restrict water only the day before and the day of the event. Drink lots of water at the beginning of the week (try to hit 8 liters or 5x/day crystal clear urination). Then lower water on Friday night (around 4 liters that day) and stop drinking water 2-4 hours before the show.
Do not drop sodium at the beginning of the week, this is important! Drop it only the night before from your comp! If your show is Saturday, drop sodium rich food thurs night. Most canned and pre-package foods are high in sodium. Aim to eat similar to a Paleo diet. Also when cooking, reduce salt and spices.
Creatine Cycling
Individual responses vary too much and probably not going to make that much of a difference for female bikinis. If you’re not squatting or deadlifting 2x your body weight (1RM), you need to train heavier and not worry about creatine.
Xpel
Try this
http://reviews.bodybuilding.com/MHP/Xpel/
Caffeine
Caffeine-rich beverages are often said to have a diuretic effect as well, but this is actually a myth.
Alcohol
A natural diuretic. Allow a couple glasses of wine or straight up hard liquor, have them the night before. Other types of alcoholic beverages may contain too many calories (beer/mix drinks) in general but you can still have them if your caloric budget allows it. Have another glass 20-30mins before you step on stage as you're getting your pre-pump in. This can help you look more veiney and possibly get rid of the last bit of water. Just make sure you don't drink so much that you need to pee while on stage.
Cosmetics & Poses
Local diuretic like wraps, coffee grounds, and preparation H are a waste of time. Trust me, I've tried it all. Prep H: the Canadian brand might work but too much hassle at this stage. You should already practice a couple times yourself or with a friend on how to apply the spray or bronzer. Just remember to shave and exfoliate the night before. Perhaps exfoliate daily from a week out. You should work with a coach or an experienced poser (someone who has won something or an ex-judge) and don’t forget to smile!
Pre-pump
With a 15-20lb dumbbell, focus on working your shoulder/arm/calf 2-3mins before posing. This is to simply make you look fuller temporarily. Modified push will work too, get 10-15reps in. You don't want too many core/hip movements that takes away the blood you need to appear veiney everywhere else. If you're not lean and dry enough (or just still too fat for your event), your butt and abs definitions will not show no matter how many crunches or squats you do before stepping on stage. Focus on the arms, upper back, and calves.
Carb loading
This is the most important part for all natural competitors to know and will have the most effect compared to any other voodoo methods out there for coming in dry and pumped at the same time. Again, it depends on the individual and you won't know how it may work for you until you've tried it. you will most likely need a calender/notepad for what you'll do this week in terms of training, diet, and everything else (cosmetics).
A week out (assuming your show is sat) - reduce carbs to 0-40g/day until 2 days before contest. During this time, you would want to perform a depletion workout like HIIT/Circuit/Conditioning stuff Monday or Tuesday for about 1-1.5hr depending on your fitness level and how intense the training. A full-body session consisting of 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps per movement.
Eample: pick 2 pull (rows or chins), 2 push (press/dip), and 2 leg movements (sumo, squat). Then follow some circuit and higher intensity cardio for 20-30mins - sled pulls, intermittent all out sprints (40-50yds, 10x), tabata anything, or burpees or MB throws. Or just more lighter weight of the lifts at high rep.
Then Thurs have a high volume upper body day that focus on your arms. Plus another high volume cardio work afterwards if you can get one in for 20mins (cardio or just more sets of the upper body stuff at way lighter load). rowers, swimming, push up, or more upperbody lifting/pump exercises.
Then starting Thursday, start your carbs loads right after the workout. This is to shuttle more nutrient/glucose into your muscles while they are most deprived of it. Muscle glycogen (stored glucose) will attract/pull water into your muscle cells from under your skin). This carb load will make your muscle "pop" and get rid of any water retention you may have. This refeed will take care of your liver too and the stress of dieting should go away. Your cortisol will drop too and let go of even more water.
Carb should be starches like potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. Keep fiber, fructose, and sodium low and potassium high. Don’t go too much over your carbs intake. 3g of carbs per lb of lean body mass should be good enough. if you have a bigger frame and has been a very good girl throughout the low carb phase (less than 40g of carbs/day) mon-thurs, get up to 4g/lb of lean mass. Try to get the most of this carbs source post workout (thurs night).
You should wake up Friday morning feeling full and muscular. if you workout late thursday nite and can only get one big meal in, then keep the refeed/cardload up friday morning. Then from there on, it’s about doing nothing! Just Rest, cut sodium, drink your water, finish the carb load and the rest of your normal calories (accounted for the carbs) all the way til your show.
When you are carb loading, remember that this is the same time you'll want to keep sodium low, so do a search on google on low sodium proteins and carbs (chicken breast, turkey breast). The day of the contest, you should stay fasted, eat an apple if you get hungry and avoid stress and sip on water when you feel thirsty. If you could fast up until the event, that's even better. If you experience hunger, drink some coffee to get by. have a normal meal after prejudge just not high in sodium, 400-500kcal should be enough and give yourself 2-3hrs to digest before the night show.
Need to prep for a bikini/figure contest from 12 weeks out?? article coming up soon.
