Contest preparation has to be carefully planed and precisely executed!
First you want to reduce your percentage of body fat while maintaining (or better yet -increasing) your muscle mass. That can be accomplished with strict diet regimen and combination of weight training and cardiovascular (aerobic) exercises.
Depending on your present condition (how much body fat you need to loose) you should leave ample amount of time, usually 12 - 20 weeks. You should realistically get down to 3-5% bodyfat to be competitive nowadays.
As far as "carb" depletion/loading goes -I would recommend it as I always use it myself. Reason why? If you manage to completely deplete your glycogen storage your body would be able to "supercompensate" and therefore store MORE glycogen than normally. That would give you "full" look. Extra glycogen would fill out your muscles to the point that your skin would be tight - creating more muscular look with enhanced definition.
Once you feel that your glycogen storage is filled - last task is to get rid of excess extracellular water. That's when you have to be careful with your sodium intake - and I would usually recommend drastically reducing sodium intake about 72 hours before the contest. You should drink as much (sodium free) water as possible - at least 10 liters a day all the way until the night before the show. Remember WATER (excessive intake of water) is the best diuretic - and safest one.
Finally - creatine loading in the days before the show is not common practice among the pro's - as many believe that creatine would cause water retention and affect their condition (definition). I have used creatine loading for every show I have competed since 1995. Also majority of competitors that I advise for their show are using it as well. As you know creatine monohydrate is "cell volumizer" and has an important role in ATP production. Now let me ask you the question: "where does our body store ATP - intra or extracellulary?" Yes -inside our muscle cells - exactly where we want extra volume and water. I can honestly tell you that in 1996 after competing in Toronto (Canada pro cup) in two weeks - until Night of Champions I managed to put 17 pounds and I contribute that to creatine loading (I was using up to 40 grams of creatine a day!). Assuming that contest is on Saturday -I would start my glycogen depletion on Sunday. I would reduce my carbohydrate intake to about half (in my case from 250 grams a day to 125g), replace them with some extra protein and have 2 strenuous workout sessions. I would repeat that on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I would also train twice, but I
would schedule my second workout in the early afternoon - so I could have enough time to start my "glycogen loading".
As our depleted muscles are in desperate need for glucose (to be stored as glycogen) I would suggest mostly simple carbohydrates on Wednesday. Many bodybuilders are afraid to eat "sugars" as they believe that excess sugar would be converted to fat. Trust me- your muscles have been so depleted that there is plenty of room available for hundreds of grams of carbohydrates. On my first loading day I would consume about 800 grams of carbs (as I mentioned - mostly simple sugars and some starchy complex carbs). As I start process of "carb loading" I drastically reduce my protein intake (about 20% of my total calories would come from protein sources). Also be careful to choose proteins with low sodium content. Thursday I would continue with "loading phase" by ingesting another 1000 -1200 grams of (this time) mostly starchy complex carbs. Friday is the day when you have to access if and when your glycogen storage is completely filled. If you feel that you are "fully loaded" - back off from carbs. Extra carbs at this point would make you "spill over". Hopefully this would occur at the middle of the day - so you would have half day to dehydrate yourself with few pure protein meals. Taking exclusively protein would create diuresis (i.e. abnormal secretion of urine). However some people need more time to replenish their glycogen storage and they might have to use whole Friday to "load". Creatine should be started on Sunday. I would use 20 grams a day with exception on Wednesday and Thursday (heavy carb loading days) when I would double the amount to 40 grams per each day. It is proven that insulin (secreted due to high carbohydrate intake) can store creatine more efficiently. On Friday I would not take any.There you have it. On Saturday you can have some small breakfast - just remember DO NOT DRINK. Half an hour before prejudging you can have some sweets to get that extra sugar to pump up...
Good luck... and one more thing - don't forget to bring your posing trunks (like I did at my first show.)
...Alsjeblieft he
