Help is needed from anyone who has placed well in a bodybuilding show. My friend is just getting back into lifting and argues that the Beverly precontest diet is way too low in carbs. He will only listen to me to an extent. Can anyone help me out with some solid reasons why Beverly's high protein precontest diet works so I can print them out and share with him. He argues that it is just 1 of many ways to lose fat. He's somewhat versed in exercise physiology and nutrition so do not be afraid to get too technical. Thanks for the help and with your guys/gals help hopefully I can change his stubburn ways. We both have shows coming up this April. Train hard and scientifically everyone.

Jesse - Your friend is correct in saying that there are a lot of different approaches. The BI approach which controls carb amount, type and timing has been proven to work for hundereds of thier clients to include many of us here on this board. During a cutting phase diet you simply do not need an excess of carbs. Only enough to keep your thyroid from shutting down and thus slowing down your BMR, and to keep yopur brain functions satisfied - lol. Some carbs, especially low GI carbs that are slow to be converted can help with overall nutrient transport into the muscles. Fat loss or body weight gain is more a function of total k/cal requirements and either being above or below your maintenace level. From what I have read and observed, there is somewhat more risk in not being able to control how your body uses the food you consume when you are eating a higher level of carbs or the wrong type of carbs. Excess carbs will be converted to storage (bf) much easier than either fats (unsaturated/good fats) or protein. The wrong kind of carbs such as high GI carbs, especially later in the day cause an insulin spike, are not used for energy and will likely be converted to bf.

Are all carbs bad? Certainly not, but when you limit them and control type and timing of carb intake you will have a better shot at manipulating the manner in which your body uses and stores it's energy sources (food you consume/body fat/using muscle for energy). Perhaps our friend is one of those lucky folks who can have a diet plan that is more liberal and still make great progress towards his goals. For most people, limiting carbs as described above is the path to success. Hope this helps a little. There is a ton of info out there regarding this and related topics. We have only scratched the surface.

VA MadDog

VA mad dog makes some good points. Let me ask a question. Your friend thinks beverly's precontest diet is too low in carbs for what? To win? To place highly in competition? If that's his/her yardstick, then he/she fails miserably. I think the best way to convince your friend that beverly's approach is valid and successful is simply to look at its athletes in competition. I dont think it's useful to argue beverly's approach is THE best because there are many successful approaches to bodyfat loss during the precontest period. To my knowledge, there does not exist data to demonstrate a particular diet is better than another for fat loss in precontest bb competition. There is data emerging that show low carb diets are better for fat loss in the general population.

Undeniably, there are proponents for mod-high carb intake and supports of low carb intake during precontest. The former group includes Chris Aceto and AST sports science. Both have several athelets who have won high level bb contests. In the latter group are folks like Dave "jumbo" Palumbo and Beverly. Again, highly successful athletes use Dave and beverly's approach.

Rather than argue the merits of beverly international's very successful approach to precontest dieting, i suggest you let your body do the talking. Since both of you have contests approaching, let beverly make its own statement on contest day.

"Recipe for Success: Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing."

Thank you both for your time and input. Hopefully my physique will prove to be a great testament ti BI and he will see the light. Train Hard.