H
Harvey Balboner
Guest
Pre-Contest preparation is the very final phase before a bodybuilding contest. It is where a competitive bodybuilder prepares himself to look the best that he can on stage. The final pre-contest phase is a period of about 10 days prior to the show… 10 days to make those little adjustments that if done correctly are able to change you in a big way! You can change either for the worse or for the better and in this article I'm going to write about the hidden scientific physiological reasons behind it.
Before I start I want to make sure that nobody misunderstands what I just wrote. Ten days worth of preparation can't perform miracles. In this short amount of time you won't get any more ripped in terms of subcutaneous body-fat nor any bigger in terms of lean body mass; these 2 morphological adaptations need a sufficiently longer period of time to help the body make its adjustments (muscle growth, fat loss) according to the right stimulus. These adjustments belong in a completely different article!
The content of this article is merely about how to bring out one's muscular hardness and avoid the smooth look that shows up under the powerful lights of a big show.
This article is about how to get rid of subcutaneous body water and have fuller muscles during the show.
Truthfully speaking, writing an article about this is a hard task to be accomplished by anybody, including me. This is because it involves a lot of scientific knowledge from an endocrine point of view and it also includes your personal adjustments too. I'll try to be the most comprehensive possible in giving you the tools to understand how to achieve that goal and I will also write about my personal pre-contest schedule.
This article contains five parts:
Total Depletion and Replenishment of Glycogen
Sodium Intake
Getting Plenty Of Water
How To Put It All Together For Contest Prep
An Example - My Current Contest Prep!
This won't be the easiest article you have ever read, but TRUST ME, you will be glad you read the whole thing! Let's get started!
This is the very first step bodybuilders commonly use during the pre-contest period. Glycogen (as you already know from previous articles) is the glucose polymer stored either in the skeletal muscles or liver. It serves as fuel for energy, but its release from the skeletal muscles occurs under different stimulus compared to its release from the liver depots.
Liver glycogenolysis (the glycogen breakdown process) occurs in order to maintain an adequate blood level of glucose to satisfy brain requirements; instead muscle glycogenolysis occurs only during emotional and/or physical efforts in order to satisfy the need for energy.
Glucose is a molecule that consists of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen... in fact its chemical structure is: C6 H12 O6. It contains water!
Let's see why that is so important!
In normal conditions the skeletal muscle glycogen concentration ranges from 1.5 grams to 2 grams per 100 grams of skeletal muscle tissue. A Swedish researcher BERGSTROM (1969) has shown that after a low carbohydrate diet that lasts for a period of 3 days accompanied with prolonged physical exercises/efforts one's skeletal muscle glycogen depots fall to a concentration of about 0.6 grams! After this limited 3 day period of carbohydrate depletion, a carbohydrate-rich diet was followed causing a new higher level of muscle glycogen content.
Before I start I want to make sure that nobody misunderstands what I just wrote. Ten days worth of preparation can't perform miracles. In this short amount of time you won't get any more ripped in terms of subcutaneous body-fat nor any bigger in terms of lean body mass; these 2 morphological adaptations need a sufficiently longer period of time to help the body make its adjustments (muscle growth, fat loss) according to the right stimulus. These adjustments belong in a completely different article!
The content of this article is merely about how to bring out one's muscular hardness and avoid the smooth look that shows up under the powerful lights of a big show.
This article is about how to get rid of subcutaneous body water and have fuller muscles during the show.
Truthfully speaking, writing an article about this is a hard task to be accomplished by anybody, including me. This is because it involves a lot of scientific knowledge from an endocrine point of view and it also includes your personal adjustments too. I'll try to be the most comprehensive possible in giving you the tools to understand how to achieve that goal and I will also write about my personal pre-contest schedule.
This article contains five parts:
Total Depletion and Replenishment of Glycogen
Sodium Intake
Getting Plenty Of Water
How To Put It All Together For Contest Prep
An Example - My Current Contest Prep!
This won't be the easiest article you have ever read, but TRUST ME, you will be glad you read the whole thing! Let's get started!
This is the very first step bodybuilders commonly use during the pre-contest period. Glycogen (as you already know from previous articles) is the glucose polymer stored either in the skeletal muscles or liver. It serves as fuel for energy, but its release from the skeletal muscles occurs under different stimulus compared to its release from the liver depots.
Liver glycogenolysis (the glycogen breakdown process) occurs in order to maintain an adequate blood level of glucose to satisfy brain requirements; instead muscle glycogenolysis occurs only during emotional and/or physical efforts in order to satisfy the need for energy.
Glucose is a molecule that consists of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen... in fact its chemical structure is: C6 H12 O6. It contains water!
Let's see why that is so important!
In normal conditions the skeletal muscle glycogen concentration ranges from 1.5 grams to 2 grams per 100 grams of skeletal muscle tissue. A Swedish researcher BERGSTROM (1969) has shown that after a low carbohydrate diet that lasts for a period of 3 days accompanied with prolonged physical exercises/efforts one's skeletal muscle glycogen depots fall to a concentration of about 0.6 grams! After this limited 3 day period of carbohydrate depletion, a carbohydrate-rich diet was followed causing a new higher level of muscle glycogen content.