The Muscle Couple is about to go anal and technical on “yo asses”.  ;)

For those readers who have competed or ones contemplating doing so in the future, the next 3-4 days of posts will be something to “save/bookmark”.

Lots of thought and preparation have gone into these plans.  And we must credit all of the folks who have gone before us for their inspiration and attention to detail in crafting and detailing their strategies across the World Wide Interweb.

Unfortunately due to genetics, and multiple other parameters based on people’s biochemical individuality, there is never a “one step solution/plan” for everybody.

All of this takes experimentation and the meticulous recording of your results so you can have a reasonable expectation of what will happen once applying this before your show/contest.

We’re going to go over the “De-Carb Diet Phase” in this post.

Please don’t hesitate to ask questions or inquire about any of this.  And please, hit us up if you see a flaw or error in our logic.  Still time for us to vary and improve if necessary.

Sunday thru Tuesday

We’re making a slight change to the protein content in our diet.  Instead of clean white chicken, egg whites and fish, we’re going to be adding Lean Red Meat due to it’s higher fat content and ability to cause satiety through richness, creatine and b-vitamins. We’ll also be adding some natural fats to keep the calories the same to make up for the lack of carbs in our diet.

This is the most difficult 3 Day Phase of the entire contest.  You’ve been eating very clean carbohydrates every 2-3 hours for the last 8 weeks and now you’re essentially going “cold turkey” and only eating salad or green beans.  And in very small quantities.

The body can sometimes freak out due to the brain desiring/needing/wanting/screaming for GLUCOSE!  GIVE ME MY SUGAR-BIOTCH!

This phase will take enormous will power and intestinal fortitude but it’s what separates the winners from the losers.   And the puffy from the peeled!

During this phase will be drastically reducing our bodies muscle glycogen content to prime our muscles to “re-glycogenate/refill” (during the “Carb Up Phase”to follow)to give the appearance of full/hard/dense muscles under stage lighting.

The trick is not depleting too much as you can create a nasty cortisol increase which will make your body start retaining water and also causing you to feel LIKE SHITE!

• Protein-will come from Lean Red Meat/Salmon. (We will increase protein amount to make up for lost carbs)

• Fat-Ours will come from the EFA’s in the meat, and potentially the following: Flax Oil, Udo’s Oil, Fish Oil Capsules, Almonds, Sunflower Seeds (We also increase here  to also make up for lost carbs)

• Carbs-The lower you can go, the better.    Green beans or salad are optimal.  The brain will always demand glucose so the willpower necessary to see this through is incredible.  Don’t mess with Markus, Kini or Anh during these 3 days.  I’m not liable nor responsible for anything they might do.  ;)

• Salt-It’s actually important to salt our food at each meal/feeding - like 1-2g with every meal. This will help our body to let go of water. It will shut down our endogenous Aldosterone production and make it easier to let go of water.   (This is an interesting yet complex subject fully needing a detailed post of it’s own)

• Water-1.5-2 gallons daily.  Need to keep water and salt high so the body is “confused” and limits if not ceases production of aldosterone priming your skin to look thin and dry with minimal to zero sub-q water retention.

• Herbal Diuretic*(This is optional) For people who are sensitive to carbs and retain water easily, the OTC diuretic is a nice adjunct to throw into the end of the De-Carb Phase and carry it through your “Carb Up Phase”

It’s very important to keep kcals consistent from what you’ve been eating previously.

As listed in the previous posts about our diets, our kcals have been consistently around 9.5 to 12 per pound of bodyweight.   So once you take the carb kcals out, you’re going to have an obvious increase in protein and fat.

<NOTES>

• Cardio is only necessary if you still have fat to lose.  Unfortunately if you aren’t fully conditioned at this point, doing cardio while depleting muscle glycogen can suck beyond sucking. Jay is ready and Anh is 98% there. (Hopeful to be all the way there by early Sunday AM)
• Same supplementation and Thermogenic Usage here.  You’ll definitely be in need of appetite reduction or being dulled when not eating carbs.
• When you get hungry, ravenous or just want to binge (before you jump out of a window or kick your dog/scream at your children) drink ice cold water.  As much as possible.  It helps to also have your Distilled Water Jugs loaded with the clear Fiber Powder from Metamucil to increase feelings of satiety and to also keep bowels regular from lack of carbs.
• Weigh yourself before going to bed and upon waking in the morning Sun thru Tues.  This will give you an idea how much water weight you’re working with and what will be optimal “peak condition weight” once you re-glycogenate during the Carb Up to follow. (more on that later)
• Chew Teeth Whitening, Sugarless Gum in between meals.  We love Mentos.  It also helps to reduce hunger cravings.

Check out some photos from last night’s training session at Anytime Fitness in Las Vegas with MR.  (Forgive some of the images, but we’re practicing select “poses” and “looks” necessary for our categories.

We’re very close.  Just need to deplete, rid sub-Q water and re-glycogenate and PRESTO!

The photo below is currently being featured on the home page of My Best Health Portal for an article on HIT Interval Training.

Please go to the site and comment on the article as it’s incredibly well written and detailed.

Up next will be discussion of the “Depletion Workout”.

This also occurs at the same time as the “De-Carb Phase” making it even harder.   (We’ll discuss why in the next post)

Until then, we wish all of you wonderful weekends!

Thanks for being a part of TMC!

MIHWCS