Five Days Out!
I see contestants posting about starting Peak Week!
Peak week is 7 days out from a show when people make any adjustments in their meal plans.
Many people cut out some carbohydrates from Sunday to Wednesday and they add some carbs back Wednesday night leading to the show while cutting out any foods with sodium.
They may also drink distilled water and tweak things so they look more ripped.
Main thing is if you did your homework and you are ready there isn't much to do now.
Many people stop lifting three days before the event and just coast in.
Not much you can do if your not ready - what's done is done.
Nothing you could do about it so don't stress.
Nerves are the worst. Being nervous can bloat you so stay calm and relax.
What to know how I screwed up my Peak Week?
Many years ago (1998) I did a Worlds show out in California and four weeks out I was the best I ever looked. I was 200lbs and had veins and I was on a diet for 6 months only going off a little on weekends. I felt great and was eating so much food and little cardio.
Then I got nervous and people were telling me I couldn't hold the shape I was in for 4 more weeks. In October I was asked to do a guest posing event and I had 4 more weeks to the California show. I made the huge mistake of taking everyone's advice and I screwed up my diet really bad on purpose too. I was in way better shape 4 weeks earlier and I should have just stayed the course. Thing was.. I was so nervous and I wanted an advantage. I took some advice and
decided to carb deplete and sodium load Sunday to Wednesday and made the worst decision and all I did was make myself flat and bloated. I was putting soy sauce on all my foods and 5 grams of salt a day (a salt shaker) and drank 5 gallons of water (it was so dumb).
I got off the plane in California so bloated and started cutting back my water and taking potassium (whole thing was counter-productive if you ask me now.) One of the judges was Bob Gormely who was the MC 4 weeks earlier at the show I posed at and after prelims I saw him and he tells me, "What did you do? You wouldn't have won but you would have been at second place." I was so lucky to even place 5th out of 22.
I remember asking this amazing contestant who had won if he messed with his sodium and water and he said, "No." That was it just a plain "No". That guy went on and won that night.
I met a lot of good friends at that show and the stage photos I had from that show really made a difference in all of the marketing I put out back then. In 1999 was the first year of Fitness Atlantic and I used many of the photos from that event on the four-fold flyer mailer for the show. It made all the difference because I wanted to run a show just like a national one.
Someone asked me the other day, "Weren't you Mr Connecticut or something?" I told him nope, I ran the AAU Mr CT for a few years before Fitness Atlantic but I had never won. I was the guy that did worse each show in placings yet I was way better each show I did. First show 2nd, next show 3rd, next show 3rd, and Worlds 5th. Each show was bigger then the last show.
I think people can learn that entering these shows can be about getting better every time. Comparing yourself to the condition you were in the last event more than how you place.
The reason I love the "Transformation" event is for this reason.
Put up a past photo and show people what you did...
Everyone in the show improves themselves and has so much good to take away from the experience.
We are in an industry were people think bodybuilding is unhealthy and very little people believe it is about "self-improvement." I don't believe in that and try so hard to prove it.
That is the key right there and many people don't understand why we do this. Every person on stage has achieved RESULTS a "Before & After" explains while a trophy or placing doesn't.
People always ask, "How did you place?"
Answer: "Nobody places - they show the Giant Before photo and you walk out as the After."
Everybody always answers: "Oh, That's cool."
That's what it's about!
