Nutritional Peak Week and Competition Day Strategies of Competitive Natural Bodybuilders

Andrew Chappell,Trevor Simper

doi:10.3390/sports6040126

Abstract

Bodybuilders utilize peaking strategies in a bid to fine-tune their aesthetics for competition day. The most prevalent peaking strategies utilized by natural bodybuilders are unreported in the current literature. Eighty-one (M-59, F-22) natural bodybuilders were recruited from competitions during the 2016 and 2017 British Natural Bodybuilder Federation seasons. Competitors completed a 34-item questionnaire designed to investigate peaking and contest day strategies. The questionnaire listed commonly utilized peaking strategies and provided additional space for qualitative information. Analysis of the data indicated that carbohydrate (CHO), water, and sodium manipulation were the most commonly utilized peaking strategies. The consumption of high glycemic index CHO was the most common competition day strategy. Only 6.2% of competitors reported following their regular diet the week prior to competition. The CHO manipulation strategies followed were similar to classical CHO loading, whereby bodybuilders attempt to maximize muscle glycogen concentrations. Furthermore, bodybuilders attempted to remove superfluous water by exploiting the diuretic/polyuria effect associated with water loading/restriction. The potentially deleterious effects of peaking on bodybuilders’ health is considered and the efficacy of these strategies to enhance appearance is discussed. The findings of the present investigation are likely to be of interest to bodybuilders and their coaches.

Highlights

In competitive bodybuilding, athletes are judged on muscle size, conditioning, and symmetry [1]
Of the 81 competitors surveyed, only 5 (6.2%) reported following their ‘regular diet’ in the week prior to competition
This study aimed to identify peaking strategies utilised by competitive natural bodybuilders

Summary

Introduction

Athletes are judged on muscle size, conditioning (appearance of low body fat), and symmetry (muscular proportions) [1]. To obtain the desired physique, bodybuilders employ strict dietary and training regimes, in the months prior to competition [2,3,4,5]. In the week prior to competition, bodybuilders employ tapering strategies for “fine-tuning the body” in an attempt to maximize their contest day aesthetics [6,7,8]. The main goals of peaking are: (1) To increase “muscle fullness”, by maximizing muscle glycogen content; (2) to obtain a “dry” or “hard” look, by minimizing subcutaneous water; and, (3) maximizing the “V-taper”, by minimizing abdominal bloating [6,8,10,11,12]. This study replicated the popular “Aceto/Addison” peaking method, it was performed on a non-bodybuilding population under isocalorfic conditions [9,11]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion