Women's Physique

What’s the best way to ensure you have a peeled, full, vascular, and dry physique onstage for show day? Well, start by burning off every morsel of body fat that’s covering your hard-earned muscle. Then you can look at how fluid manipulation fits into the dial-in process for a seriously shredded stage look.

Everyone is unique … sort of. Every competitor should be looked at as unique, with certain fundamental laws that apply because they are human beings.

I am not about reinventing the wheel. I follow human physiology and direct biofeedback. A strategy really needs to factor in the competitor’s biochemical individuality, metabolism, and conditioning as show day approaches. This should also include lifestyle factors.

Certain factors can worsen subcutaneous (under the skin) fluid retention, such as the following:

• Inflammation
• Illness
• Stress.
• Lack of sleep
• Anti-inflammatory, birth control, antibiotics, and other medications
• Sodium and potassium
• Hot weather
• Poor dietary practices

In the weeks leading up to a show, drinking 5 to 7 liters of water per day is essential to hydrate the body. The faster your metabolism and the more muscle you have, the more water you need. I would be so thirsty two weeks before a show that my water intake would be as high as 8 to 9 liters. Input versus output is a flush effect, and you want this effect as you move through peak week towards show day. One additional essential is a good daily multivitamin/mineral supplement so your water intake doesn’t flush out important micronutrients that could impair the whole “getting cut” process. This is also where I make sure “fast burners” have sea salt in their diet too.

If you’re well hydrated leading up to the show, then you can marginally reduce water the day before and elicit a massive loss. This can often be done by cutting water to a third of the original intake the day before, and then stopping or sipping only 12 to 15 hours before the show. The body will continue to flush, and you will get drier and drier. Cutting excessively means that your body will boost its aldosterone hormone and start holding onto every bit of water it can.

Another reason you will keep getting drier is that you will have only cut sodium over the two days before the show and not weeks before. Do not cut weeks beforehand! Your training and energy will suffer, and so will your physique on show day. I have my clients use sea salt (if they need it), and then we cut it two days before the show.

            The next important part is timing carbohydrate ingestion to move the body from a carb-depleted state. This increases glycogen stores so muscle bellies fill out. One gram of carbs pulls 3 grams of water into the muscle cell. So without carbs, the competitor gets tighter and drier. This is a tightly monitored process, and how much is done depends on the category the competitor is in—i.e., bikini is different than bodybuilding. This is usually done 48 to 72 hours before the show.

I consider carbohydrate and water manipulation to be 95 percent of the way to bring a lean body to full, dry, contest-ready condition naturally.

I do utilize natural diuretics, such as dandelion root, if needed, along with vitamins such as vitamin C and B6. Other factors such as training timing, tanning, sauna, and posing can fit in here too.