Hello mr thibaudeau
Im entering my first physique competition and I came across your article “shredded in 6 days”
My question is, the measurements you used in the article, (water and carbohydrate) how can it be adjusted for someone who weights just less than 70kg before contest.
I would really appreciate your respond.
Thanks a lot
I need to start preping this coming tuesday as my competition is on sunday 25th
Thanks anyways. …
I weighed about 75kg for my contest and did the protocol as outlined, you will Be fine
CT travels a lot man. He can’t answer every question. Relax. Also I think he stated each person reacts differently to so you have to know your body. I don’t know what more he could give you that the article didn’t state. It’s a guideline not an actual diet
Ok, thanks for the input guys, i started it today
Yes I gave 5 seminars in 5 different countries in 6 weeks then only had one day home before travelling to another country. On top of that I wrote two articles. I’m doing the best I can.
Honestly people stress too much about the last week. If you are in truely good condition you do not need to do anything drastic. 6 days to shredded is simple and fool proof. Marc Dugdale himself used it for an Olympic prep.
As for the quantity of carbs I find it’s best to be a bit more conservative than aggressive… I value condition over mass. And if you find yourself flat the day of the contest you can always add some more carbs and salt to solve the issue, but if you spilled over there is little you can do.
Thanks for your comment mr thibaudeau.
since its my first competition you cant really blame me for being a little stressed.
For the day before the contest im going to consume 3-4g of carb per pound of bodyweight which comes to about the quantity you mentioned in the article.
Thanks again, it helped a lot
One VERY IMPORTANT THING.
The MAIN reason why people miss their peak is stress.
First you need to understand the role of cortisol in the body. Cortisol is released under stressful (physical or psychological0 situations. It’s main function is to make energy available if you need it.
When the stress is physical (training), that’s fine because you do need the fuel. But when you are peaking for a contest, cortisol is your worst enemy.
Why?
Because it mobilizes energy. Basically cortisol will force the body to release stored energy. That energy is either stored in the muscle (as muscle glycogen), adipocytes (body fat) or liver (liver glycogen).
When you are trying to peak for a contest you want to store more glycogen in the muscles.
Bu cortisol pulls glycogen OUT of the muscles! The opposite of what you are trying to accomplish.
If cortisol is high because you are stressing too much, you will not be able to store the carbs you eat. So you will stay flat no matter what.\
Worse than that, carbs attracts water. So by eating carbs and not storing them in the muscles efficiently… and by mobilizing stored glycogen and pulling it out of the muscles you are attracting water outside of the muscles… which makes the muscles look flat and make you look less defined.
That’s why a lot of competitors get better at peaking as they get more experienced. Not because they use better methods, but because they are less and less stressed by the competition.
My best advice is to try to avoid getting stressed the day before the show. Don’t look at yourself every 5minutes to see if you still got it… don’t pinch the skin on your abs to see if you are still lean… do something fun…go to the movies for example… try NOT to think about the contest. If you obsess over it the night before you WILL miss your peak. And take it easy the day of the show… that’s why having a coach is important the day of the contest: he handles all the details so you don’t have to worry about anything.
If you don’t have a coach your biggest challenge, and the key to looking good, is being able to stay relaxed and stress free.
Thank you so much, I needed to hear that.
Edit: would having sex the night before affect my cortisol levels? Out of curiosity
It would help… the only issue is not getting the tan over your partner
Haha true
Thanks a lot for the answers, really appreciated.
I am on day 5 of the six day shred. My photo shoot got delayed one day so I don’t know what I should do? HELP! @Christian_Thibaudeau or anyone!!!
Don;t stress, that is not a bad situation… Drink normally tonight. Go low carbs on day 6 from morning to about 6pm. Cut water at 6pm and do a small carb load… something like 1 potato at around 6pm and one at 9pm (with a small amount of chicken), take an Epsom salt bath (400g in the hottest water you can stand for 30 min) right before bed. Then go to bed in a hoodie and sweat pants and turn up the heat a bit.
Thank you!
I’ll assume from your alias that you are a girl (mandy) … unless you are named andy. Anyway, if you are a girl don’t stress out, you don’t need to be “full” to look good. In fact with many of my figure competitors we don’t do much of a carb load. We only use carbs to pull water away from subcutaneous and into the muscle. I always prefer to go with drier with women. Anyway in photo we will not notice at all if you are a bit fuller or flatter, but we will notice if you are holding more water.
This is a picture from a recent photoshoot. I was actually flat and did not pump at all… but because I was dry it still looks good and I don’t look flat even though I felt like I was 125lbs lol
lol this is your flat and unpumped form? do you look like this all day? incredible…
Its even worse than that. I over depleted, under carbed and dehydrated too much. It literally felt like I couldn’t even flex a muscle.
Well I’m not lean like that year round. I would like that but I’m roughly 4 weeks of dieting away to look like that
are you still eating reduced meal frequencies (intermittent fasting? a few meals + plazma/fini bars?)
from your podcasts, sounds like your diet is about lower freq, more natural stuff…great for leaness/aesthetics
I haven’t done intermittent fasting in years and only used it when I was recovering from heart failure because I wanted to avoid gaining weight. While I don’t like frequent eating, I never gained any muscle using intermittent fasting. But it did get me lean.
