Hello All,

Has anyone every tried carb depleting the entire week before the show and start loading friday AM. just wondering I plan on using white rice around 500 grams. any tips would be greatly appricated.

What the heck in addition to that, do you mind sharing what you do the entire week before the show?.....

This was my approach for the final week for the natural northern. Two things: first, i dont know if this will work for everyone or anyone else. Second, with five meals per day, i ate every 3.5 hours. I ate my livers 15 minutes before meals and ate the meals over 15 minutes. I tell you this so you'll understand why i have meal 1 at 0930 and meal 5 at 0100 that night. Lastly, i changed my powder meal of 2 scoops MP/1 scoop Egg to ostrich only because the ostrich held my appetite a little better over the 3.5 hours until the next meal. That's the only reason. Ok, here's the menu.

Sun-#1 6 oz turkey, 6 egg whites, 1 grapfruit, 1 tsp EFA oil
#2 10 oz ostrich
#3 8 oz turkey, 2 cups asparagus, 1 tsp EFA oil
#4 10 oz ostrich
#5 8 oz tilapia, 2 cups asparagus

Mon/Tues- everything's the same, but eliminate the oil

Wed- everything's the same, but eliminate egg whites from meal #1 and replace with 3 oz turkey, so #1 is 9 oz turkey, 1 grapefruit

Thurs- #1 9 oz turkey, 1 grapefruit (gf)
#2 10 oz ostrich, 1/2 grapefruit
#3 8 oz turkey, 1/2 grapefruit
#4 10 ostrich, 1/2 grapefruit
#5 8 oz tilapia, 1/2 grapefruit

Frid- #1 9 oz turkey, 1/2 gf
#2 9 oz ostrich, 1/2 gf
#3 8 oz turkey, 1/2 gf
#4 9 oz ostrich, 1/2 gf
#5 8 oz ostrich, 1/2 gf

Sat- (prejudging set for 1130, i planned to hit stage around 1400 or so)
#1 at 0900- 6 oz ostrich, 1/2 gf
#2 (3 hours before planned stage appearance)-
1.5 cups cooked white rice, 6 oz banana, 10 oz sweet po, 1 TBS sunflower oil
#3 if 3 hours elapsed before i got on stage, plan was to eat 1-2 TBS goo every 30 min until stage time
#4 between prejudging and finals- 6 oz turkey, 4 oz yam

Thats it.

In all thy getting, get understanding

Fitdoc--

How did you do in the NN??

jason

Jason Theobald

www.geocities.com/chezburger10/JASONTHEOBALDBIO.html

Hey J,

There were 17 guys in my middleweight class, 17 in the LH, 4 in heavy, maybe 14 or so in lightweight and another 6 i believe in bantams. There were 12 or more masters and several teens and jrs. It was a HUGE show.

Anyway, i won my class and won the overall. The official NPC photographer was there as well as the videographer who taped the Team Universe. I think at least 5 different publications are going to have photos and/or a report from the show (including Flex, Muscle and Fitness, NPC News, Ironman, and maybe others).

Thanks for asking.

In all thy getting, get understanding

Oh, Rainer and I went 1,2 in the middles! It was a great day for Beverly.

In all thy getting, get understanding

Wow! I tell you what that is awesome. Im very glad to hear that and look forward to seeing some pics. Great job,

Jason--

Jason Theobald

www.geocities.com/chezburger10/JASONTHEOBALDBIO.html

Fitdoc,

I attended the show per your recommendation Sat. night and saw you "clean up." Congratulations! You had some competition out there... a lot of guys in great condition.

You say the show was huge, what's typical for this show? and is the level of competition always that high?

J- thanks man. When the photos become available online, i'll let you know.

Tom- that was my first time competing in the natural northern, but from what i understand, that show is always very large and competitive. I was very impressed with the whole operation. Excellent contest.

Also, wanna congratulate Dwayne who did very well in the LHW. There were other bev competitors, but i dont know where they placed.

In all thy getting, get understanding

Fitdoc,

You're right, Dwayne looked great. If I recall, Dwayne took fourth in LHW, but the top four were clearly heads above the rest, and Dwayne was right in there, in my opinion. Good job Dwayne!

Regarding other Beverly competitors, Julie Lohre (I hope I didn't butcher her last name) took her height class in the figure, and placed a close second in the all-around. (very close).

I believe Dave Meyer who appeared in the No Nonsense Newsletter was there in LHW. He looked great in the evening posing, but I'm not sure whether he placed. If not, that was a shame because he looked great.

Tom

Fitdoc,

Just curious, what is the purpose of the grapefruit with each meal?

Congratulations FitDoc, That is impressive. I can't wait to see the pics. What is your schedule of shows for the upcoming year?
Chris

shorty,

Seems we forgot all about my question but thats cool... to answer yours...
Grapefruit is a very low-glycemic fruit, it prolongs the effects of thermogenics (namely caffeine), and contains a compound that helps in suppressing appetite....

Reggie- see above post for final week nutrition utilizing a carb-up the morning of a contest.

Shorty- I used grapefruit with each meal to keep my insulin levels low and steady throughout the day. As Reggie said, gf is a very low glycemic food which will elicit a small insulin response. That in itself helped keep my appetite in check until the next meal. Since i dont use thermogenics, I'm not sure about gf augmenting its effects.

I contemplated eating 1 whole gf with meals 1,3, and 5, but decided to have gf with each meal instead which worked better.

In all thy getting, get understanding

i was checking that out fitdoc, very interesting, you load the day of the contest.
just looking for different ways in effort to come in sharper. I just started competing this past spring still learn the ropes and how my body responds. Thanks!

OK fitdoc - hope that you are in the mood to share more because you have just caused a bunch of questions to pop into my head regarding your last week prep.

I also tried the last day carb up for my last contest and it worked well for me, but I started on Friday night with the heavy loading and then kept eating carbs (and fats) on Sat morning but at a slightly lower level so as not to create bloating. The carbs that you list don't seem like they would be enough to load with plus you really did not use any fast acting (high GI) carbs, but obviously it worked well for you. Was this a new approach for you compared to past carb up schemes?

Looks like you went low/no sodium from Wednesday on is that right?

What did you do with water intake the last week?

Did you add in potassium and/or any other electrolyte stabilizers the last few days? (I saw the banana)

Thanks for sharing!

VA MadDog

For the last week, i followed bev's usual potassium (K+) loading scheme starting on tues and continuing through saturday. I made sure to taper my K+ on sunday and monday.

Water was 2.5 gal spring from sunday-wed. I dropped to 2 gallons on thurs, and 1 gallon till 1800 friday. Thurs and frid was distilled water. Frid evening and sat were sip as needed. Saturday resumed spring water.

I started heavily salting my meals 6 weeks out (salt plus salty spices plus hot sauce). On wed, i halved my Na+ intake by dropping eggs and pure salt. I salty spices to the 1st meal on thurs and stopped the Na+ after that meal until sunday.

My carb up meal did have a high GI food included. Plain white rice has a very high GI. Also, very ripe bananas have a high GI. The other foods and oil will lower the GI of the rice somewhat, but it will still be high. This approach was totally different than anything i've done in the past (only competed in 2 previous contests).

In all thy getting, get understanding

Fitdoc - Very interesting. I thought that you were going to tell me that you kept drinking water all the way through. My concern with the approach that you followed this time would be that I would still be carb depleted and combined with the water drop that I would come in flat (not full). I'm sure that you did not spill over from too many carbs but do you feel that you filled out decently and hardened up with this approach?

I know, I know you won - so you must have - but I'm just trying to relate this to my own experiences. For my last contest I did the Friday night/Sat AM carb loading and the water and Na+ in a similar fashion. One of the things that I found out was that I needed to add water back in before pre-judging in order to fill out and look hard and vascular. Shortly after I drank about 12 oz of water I really filled out and did not smooth over, unfortunately I did not do this until after I got off stage so I really ended up looking my best two hours after pre-judging - live and learn.

Can you tell me how you think this method affected you differently than your previous strategies? What lead you to try it this way?

VA MadDog

Congratulations Fitdoc! I have seen you compete and/or seen pictures of you over the last year or two. This was your best ever! You looked amazing. Enjoy your victory - you deserve it!
Rachel

Rachel- thank you very much. That's the whole idea in bodybuilding, fitness, and figure- keep improving!

VA- i think this method worked well for me. Like i said, this was only my third competition, with the second being just 8 wks before the Natural Northern. I'm still learning how my body responds to different final week strategies. This approach was based on a similar approach used by new IFBB pro David Henry who is a devoted Beverly user.

I wanted to try something different for the natural northern. I'm familiar with the approach you used, as i read many of skip's posts on other websites (including his journal from his june competition). I guess my approach was somewhat similar except i didnt use much fat and definitely not as many carbs.

Initially, i was going to have a full carb-up meal friday night and saturday, but decided just to do it on saturday. Seems to have worked out for the best.

In all thy getting, get understanding

Very interesting approach. It won't work for me. The glycogen doesn't replenish fast enough. I get on stage flat. What has worked was the gradual carb loading, coming from the 2 carb up Bev type meals. The best that worked for me was adding a sweet potato and fish to one meal beginning 2 weeks out.

The vascularity and fullness can be attributed to many other factors and not just the carb up. There's a completely different approach, and that's fat loading. Something else to consider.

Most of all, it will be the type of diet you are currently on, condition and build.

All approaches will work, but there's just the matter of timing and which one is better for you.

Frank