The well-kept secret of every athlete preparing for bodybuilding competitions is the planning of the last week before the stage performance. In the scene, this week is known as peak week.
During my active time as a coach and also as an athlete, I've come across a wide variety of approaches and have been able to try some of them out myself.
Some turned out to be a load of nonsense, others were "what you've always done and therefore never change" and then there were approaches based on the current state of science.
A "best of all" is what I practice with my athletes today!
It is important to emphasize at this point that every athlete needs individual planning for the week of preparation immediately before a competition. No blueprint or all-inclusive plan can be issued with a clear conscience.
So anyone expecting to have a ready-made, generally valid peak week plan in their hands at the end of this 2-part article will be disappointed - it won't exist!
However, if you want to get an impression of common and less common methods for carrying out the Peak Week and their background, you should definitely read on.
The purpose of a peak week in competitive bodybuilding
Competitive bodybuilding is about the aesthetic comparison of athletes with each other.
For this purpose, they are divided into different weight and/or size classes depending on the association. In the months leading up to the competition, competitors undergo special preparation consisting of strict dietary and training requirements. The aim is to maximize the loss of body fat while minimizing the loss of lean mass (3 - 5).
A kind of fine-tuning for perfect aesthetics then takes place again in the last week before the competition.
This phase is known as the peak week and is a targeted manipulation of macronutrients, electrolytes, fluids and training (6 - 8).
Goals of a peak week:
- Maximum muscle fullness by maximizing the glycogen content of the muscles
- Achieve a dry, hard look by minimizing subcutaneous water retention
- Achieve a V-look by avoiding abdominal bloating
Scientific literature on peak week strategies is scarce. For example, only one study (9) to date has looked at the effects of carbohydrate loading on muscle size, albeit on non-bodybuilders and under isocaloric (calorie intake according to need) conditions.
The study found no significant effect, while other studies (also not on bodybuilders) have reported increased muscle circumference as a result of targeted unloading and reloading of the muscles with carbohydrates (52).
Despite the unclear data situation, the method enjoys great popularity among bodybuilders in practice, despite the fact that in a number of practical examples, a loading strategy that is not designed for the athlete completely ruins the athlete's appearance on competition day (8).
Science attributes such "fails" to non-individual planning on the one hand, but also to the fact that, according to studies, only 14.1% of self-proclaimed bodybuilding coaches are actually qualified as nutritionists (1, 14).
Even athletes report a lack of qualifications and scientific knowledge among trainers and coaches (8).
For this reason, articles like this one are important. On the one hand, to provide coaches with a well-founded background as far as possible, but also to give athletes the opportunity to identify unqualified offers on the scene and not to get involved with them and their methods.
Conclusion
With Peak Week, coaches aim to get their protégés in top form on competition day. In addition to bulging muscles and a dry look with thin skin, the aim is also to achieve the narrowest possible waist for the bodybuilding-typical V or, in the best case, X look.
Peak Week planning put to the test
Study design and test subjects
Chappell et al (53) collected data from 81 male (59) and female (22) athletes, all of whom underwent a doping test in accordance with WADA criteria (15, 16).
In addition to questions on general nutrition and training during preparation, details on the implementation of the Peak Week were asked.
The group of male participants consisted of:
- 4 juniors under the age of 23
- 10 newcomers
- 20 athletes in the open classes
- 13 master athletes
- 5 professionals
Among the female participants, the test group consisted of
- 15 female figure athletes
- 5 female athletes in the athletics classes
- 3 female bodybuilders
- 9 female athletes in open classes
- 4 master athletes
- 2 professionals
On average, the athletes had several years of training and competition experience. Over a diet period of 22.68 to 23.65 weeks, they lost an average of 11.73 kg (men) and 8.62 kg (women) of body weight.
Of all the athletes involved in the study, only 5 (6.2%) continued their regular diet in the last week before the competition. Often, several common peak week strategies were used simultaneously.
Strategy number 1 - unloading and loading with carbohydrates
The most common approach was to unload and load up with carbohydrates before the competition. Unloading was done between 1 and even 4 days with a carbohydrate intake of 0 to 100 g per day. Loading was also done over several days (up to 4 including the competition day) with peak amounts of over 2500 g (m) or 833 g (w) per day for bodybuilders (833 g equals 11.1 g per kilogram of body weight for a 75 kg athlete). Carbohydrate sources on loading days were mainly potatoes, oats, rice, grapes and bananas.
Strategy number 2 - Manipulation of the water balance
The second most popular strategy after carbohydrate manipulation was to play with the water balance and thus also alternating phases from loading up with fluids to complete dehydration over a certain period of time shortly before the competition.
In the recharging phase, the athletes consumed between 4 and 12 liters of fluid per day (the amount corresponds to 53.3 ml to 160 ml per kilogram of body weight for a 75 kg athlete).
The closer the competition approached, the more fluid intake was reduced or even suspended. The duration of this fluid deprivation ranges from 10 to 24 hours before the competition.
Strategy number 3 - Manipulation of the electrolyte balance
Loading and unloading with sodium is also one of the practices sometimes used. However, athletes do not report a uniform approach here. Salt intake was often greatly reduced or even stopped 3 to 7 days before the competition. Other participants report loading up on salt in the 4 days before the competition or explicitly on the day of the competition, taking into account the simultaneous intake of water and carbohydrates.
Other strategies
A not insignificant number of athletes reported taking larger doses of 1 to 8 g of vitamin C per day in the days before the competition. Less frequently, athletes practiced so-called "fat loading" or used natural diuretic supplements such as dandelion tea.
Conclusion
The classic peak week is about the targeted manipulation of the carbohydrate balance, fluid balance and electrolyte balance. Vitamin C or other diuretic supplements are rarely used to further promote subcutaneous water loss.
A peak week could look like this
The following diagram provides an overview of the most frequently practiced course with average quantities using the example of an 80 kg bodybuilder.
Explanation:
The athlete consumes 350 g of carbohydrates per day (4.4 g per kilogram of body weight). Three days with a reduced intake of 40 g of carbohydrates per day are followed by two days of loading. During the unloading phase, additional high-volume strength training and high-intensity cardio training are used to unload the muscles in the best possible way. During the loading phase, three times the original intake is added (in this case 350 x 3, i.e. 1050 g or 13.2 g per kilogram of body weight).
The following day, the athlete consumes 750 g (9.4 g per kilogram of body weight) before returning to the original daily amount the day before the competition. Carbohydrate intake is directly related to fluid intake, which also peaks on day 4 and declines thereafter. 12 to 16 hours before the competition, fluid intake is reduced to a minimum. On the day of the competition itself, a large proportion of the carbohydrates presented are consumed directly before the stage performance. Sodium and vitamin C are consumed on days 5 and 6.
Conclusion
The classic Peak Week plan provides for a coordinated sequence of changing intake levels of carbohydrates, fluids and sodium. In addition to purely nutritional measures, there is intensive training in the unloading phase, while no more intensive training is planned on the loading days.
Strategies on race day
A significant proportion of athletes (21 men - 35.6 % / 4 women - 18.2 %) do not change their usual diet on the day of the competition itself.
The targeted intake of carbohydrates before the stage performance is very popular. What exactly is eaten on this day can be seen in the following diagram. In some cases, low-fiber sources were used to avoid filling the digestive tract unnecessarily. Water deprivation also continued in some cases on the day of the competition. It is not unusual, but also not regular, for alcohol and sodium to be consumed on the day of the competition, often via salty snacks.
Relatively rarely did athletes eat a combination of high protein and fat on the day of the competition. Others" included the use of vitamin B supplements or arginine close to the stage performance as well as the targeted avoidance of large amounts of food on the day of the competition to prevent bloated stomachs.
Conclusion
Competition days are often high in carbohydrates and low in fluids and fiber. In some cases, alcohol or NO-promoting substances such as arginine and B vitamins are used.
Summary
A study with a good cross-section of bodybuilders from the athletic squad provides an overview of common strategies and the time schedule used during Peak Week. Unloading and recharging with carbohydrates is very popular, as is playing with fluids and sodium.
In Part 2, these measures are put to the test of science to find out which measures have a sound background and which do not.
Sporting greetings
Holger Gugg
www.body-coaches.de
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