Contest season is also in full swing now and my clients are keeping me quite busy, which is the way I like it. So far it’s been very successful with a few overall titles already in the books for a few of them. Since I’m not competing for a few years I have to live vicariously through my clients, but I really enjoy it. I even find myself getting nervous on Saturdays when I have clients competing because it still feels like ‘game day’ for me.
One thing I always fine funny is the looks my clients get at their shows. None of my clients water deplete, and most of them drink 1-2 gallons of water on show day. They always get strange looks and people asking them if they are concerned about ‘retaining water.’
In our natural state we actually have MORE water inside our cells than outside our cells (subcutaneous water). It is when you screw with things that you start getting problems. People seem to have this notion that if they cut water, they will lose all their subcutaneous water. There are a few problems with this: 1) You won’t just lose water from the subcutaneous area, you will also lose it out of the muscle tissue, and you will most likely lose MORE from the muscle than from the subcutaneous layer as the body will attempt to maintain the water balance between the inside & outside of the cell. 2) You will flatten yourself out big time. The only reason a carb load works is because the increased glycogen causes your cells to store more water. All you have really done is flatten yourself out, you haven’t changed the ratio of intracellular/extracellular water at all.
I know what you are thinking “but Layne, at my last show a judge said I needed to be drier” or “everyone tells me I just need to lose the water.” Well I’m not here to make you feel better about yourself, I’m here to help you do better at your next show. And the truth is that people are telling you that you are ‘holding water’ because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. The fact of the matter is that you weren’t ‘holding water’ you just weren’t lean enough. Period.
Look at people like Francisco Montealegre and Brian Whitacre at 3 weeks before a show. They are ‘drier’ than 99.99% of people who compete ever will be. No water manipulation, no sodium manipulation, nothing. How can they look so dry when they haven’t changed a thing from their normal diet? What is their secret. Well listen very closely because I’m only going to tell you the secret once. The big secret is THEY ARE EXTREMELY LEAN! They gave themselves long enough to diet and they were honest with themselves about how much fat they needed to lose. That’s the secret. Get shredded and very little of that final week stuff is needed.
Most people don’t realize that the big reason all these complex final week protocols came about was simply marketing from pre-contest prep ‘gurus’. If it was as simple as just getting shredded, how would these guys stay in business? They make their clients feel like they ‘need’ them because these guys have their clients manipulating fifteen hundred variables in the last week. How could they possibly do that on their own? And thus, they feel like they need their ‘guru’. You would be surprised at how many clients I probably lose because my approach is so simple, but I’m not in this to make money dishonestly. The secret is simple, give yourself enough time to diet, be honest with yourself about how much bodyfat you have to lose, and GET SHREDDED! Period.
