Competition Preparation

I enjoyed reading Katie's competition diary and it got me thinking about the different methods I've used to prepare for competitions (with a couple of different trainers). Since I will be getting into competition mode myself in a wee while, I thought I'd do a summary to help me reflect on what has and hasn't worked for me. (Please bear in mind that everyone is different, so what has and hasn't worked for me may not be the same for you.)

Competition date 24 June 2006
Dieting period 13 weeks
Start weight 58.3kg

Show weight 52.9kg


Cardio 30-60 minute walk before breakfast 6 days a week

Weights Bodypart splits throughout. Legs increased to three days a week from three weeks out after I watched another show and started worrying about having a wobbly bum (I still had a wobbly bum).

Supplements Protein powder, glutamine, creatine, BCAAs, ZMA, multivitamin, vitamin B, vitamin C

Diet 1800-2300 cals (2 day low cal, 1 day high cal for last 4 weeks), no fruit from 8 weeks out, no dairy/protein powder from 2 weeks out, 1 cheat meal about 10 weeks out

Contest week diet
Mon-Wed sodium deplete, water load
Thu & Fri water deplete, carb load (Thurs 500g cooked sweet potato, Fri 300g) and fat load (meat)
Dinner the night before: salmon & veges
Breakfast the morning of: steak & sweet potato
Before prejudging: large snake (made me feel sick), salted cashews
Before evening show: 1/2 large snake, salted cashews, few banana chips

Impressions Upper body looked full but lower body soft. I looked harder at the night show.

Feedback Need to work on getting legs down and increasing upper-body size


Competition date 6 October 2006
Dieting period 10 weeks
Start weight 57kg

Show weight 50kg


Cardio mixture of intervals and steady state cardio, starting at 30 minutes 4 days per week and finishing at 60 minutes 7 days per week.

Weights Full body workouts, splits, circuits.

Supplements protein powder, multivitamin, vitamin C

Diet 1500-1200 cals (rotating carbohydrate plan: 1, 2, 3, then 0, 1, 0, 2, then increased to 1, 1, 2 to stop me losing any more weight); fruit once per day from 6 weeks out; no processed food, dairy or cheat meals from 4 weeks out; no protein powder from 2 weeks out.

Contest week diet
Mon-Wed Protein & veges only (no starch or good fats), water load
Thurs & Fri Decrease water, carb load (Thurs = pp, cream of rice & berries for breakfast then 340g cooked sweet potato, Fri = 340g cooked sweet potato). Very lean protein on Thurs and Fri (white fish, venison), diuretic fruit and veges (grapefruit, asparagus)
Dinner the night before: venison, asparagus
Breakfast the morning of: protein powder in water, sweet potato
Before prejudging: chalky lollies, salted almonds
Before evening show: chalky lollies

Impressions Loved how my legs looked but lost muscle from upper body. Had to increase carbs two weeks out from show to hold my condition.

Feedback Condition was very good. Good separation and leaness without too much vascularity. Need to spend more time training and working on increasing muscle size.


Competition date 6 October 2007
Dieting period 10 weeks
Start weight 58kg

Show weight 51.3kg


Cardio mixture of intervals and steady state cardio, starting at 30 minutes 4 days per week and finishing at 60 minutes 7 days per week plus another 30 minutes 4 days per week.

Weights splits, circuits.

Supplements protein powder, gatorade (until 4 weeks out), multivitamin, vitamin C

Diet 1500-1200 cals (rotating carbohydrate plan: 1, 2, 3, then 2, 1, 0; fruit once per day from 6 weeks out; no processed food, dairy or cheat meals from 4 weeks out; no protein powder from 2 weeks out.

Contest week diet
Mon-Wed Protein and sodium only (no starch, veges or good fats), water load
Thurs & Fri Decrease water, carb load (Thurs = pp, cream of rice & berries for breakfast then 225g cooked sweet potato, Fri = 225g). Very lean protein on Thurs and Fri (white fish, kangaroo), diuretic veges (asparagus) and dandelion root
Dinner the night before: steak with steamed veges, glass red wine
Breakfast the morning of: chicken & veges, then steak and eggs
Before prejudging: chalky lollies, salted almonds
Before evening show: chalky lollies

Impressions Started heavier than previous preparation, but had more carbs to retain muscle mass, then had to increase the cardio a lot towards the end to get bodyfat down. Looked good on the Friday but smooth when I got up on Saturday (from the steak?). Lower body not as lean as I was for the previous comp, but upper body bigger.

Feedback need to work on glute-hamstring tie-ins and developing more size.

(2008 update)
Competition date 4 October 2008
Dieting period 11 weeks
Start weight 57.6 (pic below at 10 weeks, 56.5)

Comparison Pics





Summary:
Low intensity cardio is not enough to get the fat off my butt.
Fatty meat (salmon, steak) when I'm carb loading smoothes me out.
Drop both cals and carbs too low and I drop muscle mass, even when protein is high (50% of daily macros).