Step No. 7
Days 5-7: reduce sodium


The day before adding carbs back, drop the additional salt you’ve been putting on your food. When sodium levels decline, you’ll experience changes in aldosterone that favor water excretion and a tighter look. You needn’t zero out your sodium intake. Cutting all the extra sodium should be enough of a drop.


Step No. 8
Days 6-7: carb up

Now the fun begins. After five days of depleting carbs, along with performing volume work, your muscles will be tremendously lowin fuel, screaming to be replenished. When you switch to a high-carb intake, much of what you consume will be directly stored in your muscles. I suggest eating 3 g of carbs per pound of bodyweight daily, minimum, and up to 5 g per pound for those with a faster metabolism or those who weigh more than 220 pounds. Avoid using fruit and sucrose (table sugar) or high-fructose corn syrup. Starchy complex-carb sources are ideal, and good choices include potatoes, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, pasta, white rice and brown rice.


Step No. 9
Days 6-7: reduce protein consumption


When you’re carbing up, you can drop the added protein of step 4. This follows the simple edict that carbs and protein work like a seesaw. When carbs drop, you have to eat more protein; when carbs dramatically increase, you don’t need the added protein. Take in just a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight on each of these days.


Step No. 10
Days 6-7: reduce water intake


In step 2, you increased water intake. Now, reduce it to 50% what you would normally have on any given day prior to step 2. If, for example, you would usually drink a gallon of water, reduce that to half a gallon. Since carbohydrates require water to make new muscle glycogen, many people assume that they have to drink like a thirsty camel to make glycogen. Not so, because in the face of restricted water and increased carbs, muscles make up for the water shortfall by dragging some from under the skin into the muscles. The result is less subcutaneous water retention and a harder-looking physique.


Step No. 11
Days 6-7: take it easy and don’t train


As a rule of thumb, when carbing up, it’s best not to train, as that siphons off some of the incoming carbohydrates, preventing an optimal carb-up and fuller muscles. This might be why many bodybuilders appear fuller a few days after a competition. The days off allow for optimal compensation of carbohydrates. In fact, avoid energy expenditure as much as possible to allow your muscles to fill up.


Step No. 12
Day 7: pump up and take pictures


Pump up your muscles a bit right before you step onstage, do a photo shoot or strip off your shirt to impress people. Use light weights (or isometric movements) and go through a full range of motion, feeling the stretch, contraction and pump. Keep reps low — you don’t want to burn up carbs.


On this day, you may be in the best condition of your life. Have someone take pictures of you to capture the moment and to use as a record of comparison for the next time you carb deplete and carb load. Photographically documenting your condition and muscle mass is a great way to determine that you are continuing to progress as a bodybuilder. - FLEX

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FREEDOM IS SOMETHING TAKEN