Well, we’ve just finished another big show, the WBFF World Championships, and I’m already getting inboxed from girls about how to handle their post show nutrition and training. It’s a tough time for most competitors, and I’ll be blunt here: if your coach hasn’t already prepared a post-show training program with a serious diet protocol for you to follow, with photograph and phone/skype check-ins, you could be in for some serious trouble. Post-show burnout is so common it’s considered a “normal” part of the competitive experience, and I’ve heard of girls gaining over 20 lbs in one week alone due to binge eating and water retention from the sudden high intake of sugar and salt. Don’t be caught in this trap!
I’ve completed 8 shows now in just a little over a year, (my first show was last July, the IDFA International Championships held in Toronto), and luckily I was part of a great team, the Cathy Savage Fitness group, which really underlines the importance of post-show follow-up. I now make sure that I book a photo shoot a few days after my show, and I carefully reintroduce my starchier carbs and fruits the same way that I took them out of my diet. This way my body secrets the right enzymes in the right quantities and my glands have a chance to adjust so that I’m able to metabolize those carbs efficiently without gaining any unwanted fat. That being said, you do have to let go of the “stage body” you might have fallen in love with. It’s healthy and normal to gain a pound or more within a week of competing, but it will be mostly muscle glycogen and water, a lot of water. I usually gain about 3 or 4 pounds in the first week after a show, and then I lose a couple as my body adjusts to the change in diet, training and water intake.
If you can’t afford to book a shoot, then schedule some photograph check-ins with your coach for the following Sunday, so that you have some sort of accountability in place, anything to help you make good decisions about training and nutrition during this crucial week. Most of you will be tempted to over-indulge in all the sweets and breads and pastas that you’ve been denying yourself for weeks, and when you suddenly hit your body with high sugar-high salt-high carb meals, there is a profound effect on your endocrine system. You will probably retain fat from the carbs, and you will most likely feel lousy and bloated, keeping you from your gym workouts, which will only compound the problem. I like to keep my carb meals to post-yoga and post-workout meals. Just adding a banana/peanut butter milk shake to my post workout meal, and some fruit and yogurt and granola to my post yoga meal is good enough for me. Then, in the second week, I introduce some starchier carbs to my first meal of the day. This primes my digestion that carbs are coming in, and I’m able to handle them throughout the day without disruption insulin and anabolic hormone levels.
I also take that first week off to just mess around in the gym. I take a break from following my trainer’s program, and just do whatever I want for about 50 – 60 minutes. Usually I begin with an 8 minute warm up on the rower or bike just to get things going, then I follow with some agility exercises, and then it’s play time: chin-ups, isolations, squats…whatever I feel up to. Once I start going, I often get carried away, but I really try to stick to a 60 minute limit. After weeks of intense training and dieting, the body really needs a bit of a break.
Right now, I’m in the middle of my season, and have 3 more big shows and 3 photoshoots lined up, so I have to get right back to work. I already finished day 1 of my new program that will carry me through to my Fitness America Pageant show down in Boston Sept 25th, and my upcoming SeriousAboutFitness photoshoot with Paul Buceta on Oct 2nd. All very exciting events to look forward to, and I want to make sure that I’m in top condition! My last event will be Nov 5th, the WBFF New England Fitness Weekend down in Rhode Island, and after that show I will do a 2 week deloading program, and a 3 week nutrition protocol to bring my carbs back up, flush out my system, and lower my protein intake so that I can absorb more carbs without excessive weight gain. I want to put on a little more mass this winter, 2 – 3 lbs if possible, and to do that I will have to really rely on careful nutrition to get my body into the most favorable hormonal state possible. Because I’m 40 and a woman, and I stay pretty lean all year, it’s hard for me to gain weight without paying attention to these kinds of details….
For more information on post-show burnout, you can check out: Scott Abel. I also highly recommend Cathy Savage and my own coach, Jean-Jacques Barret of Active Performance Training Facility.
I hope this helps some of you, and feel free to send me questions, I’m more than happy to help out! Write to: [email protected]
Hey really nice article. I also have a competition on 25sept where i need to look as lean as possible with good muscle definition. Can you suggest a good diet plan for this? I hit gym in the morning and do one body part a day with alternate days abs. Let me know good surlinents as well. Please note that i an vegie with eggs exception:-)Hey really nice article. I also have a competition on 25sept where i need to look as lean as possible with good muscle definition. Can you suggest a good diet plan for this? I hit gym in the morning and do one body part a day with alternate days abs. Let me know good surlinents as well. Please note that i an vegie with eggs exception:-)25sept where i need to look as lean as possible with good muscle definition. Can you suggest a good diet plan for this? I hit gym in the morning and do one body part a day with alternate days abs. Let me know good surlinents as well. Please note that i an vegie with eggs exception:-)Hey really nice article. I also have a competition on 25sept where i need to look as lean as possible with good muscle definition. Can you suggest a good diet plan for this? I hit gym in the morning and do one body part a day with alternate days abs. Let me know good surlinents as well. Please note that i an vegie with eggs exception:-)
So sorry Prateek, I just found this article now. How did your show go? There are quite a few lacto-ovo vegetarians who compete in bodybuilding. Like any other competitive dieter, you have to keep emptying your muscle and liver glycogen stores and get into the fat-burning phase. That means carefully planning your meals around your workouts, and cutting out the grains and sweet fruits in the latter part of the day.
How did you end up doing?