Without refeeding days, drastically reducing calories in the pre-competition phase may does not guarantee a better reduction in bodybuilder's body fat percentage

Abstract

Background & AimsThe caloric restrictions are necessary during the bodybuilder athlete preparation, especially when approaching the pre-contest phase. Although the refeed strategies for bodybuilders are current recent in the scientific literature, drastically reducing calories in the pre-competition phase linearly without periodization may does not guarantee a greater reduction in body fat and still being able harm the athlete's physical on-stage readiness.MethodsTwo cross-sectional studies (n = 42) and three case studies (n = 3) recent involved bodybuilder athletes aged between 21 and 32 years old who had 14–32 weeks, time involved the preparation phase and the pre-contest phase, to prepare himself and did not contain any refeeding strategy in their dietary protocol prescribed at work. These articles followed participants diets regarding the number of calories and macronutrients, where data collected were separated by the author himself and recorded in Excel spreadsheets for be mathematically calculated and subjectively evaluated.ResultsOf the five studies that were read and organized it's noted apparently that a greater caloric deficit does not influence a greater substantial loss of fat percentage or body weight neither looks to show any numerical visual relationship with maintenance of fat-free mass.ConclusionsObservationally, a severe caloric deficit without refeed strategies applied in pre-contest phase may not guarantee a greater the weight loss neither a greater reduction in the body fat percentage. The caloric restrictions are necessary during the bodybuilder athlete preparation, especially when approaching the pre-contest phase. Although the refeed strategies for bodybuilders are current recent in the scientific literature, drastically reducing calories in the pre-competition phase linearly without periodization may does not guarantee a greater reduction in body fat and still being able harm the athlete's physical on-stage readiness. Two cross-sectional studies (n = 42) and three case studies (n = 3) recent involved bodybuilder athletes aged between 21 and 32 years old who had 14–32 weeks, time involved the preparation phase and the pre-contest phase, to prepare himself and did not contain any refeeding strategy in their dietary protocol prescribed at work. These articles followed participants diets regarding the number of calories and macronutrients, where data collected were separated by the author himself and recorded in Excel spreadsheets for be mathematically calculated and subjectively evaluated. Of the five studies that were read and organized it's noted apparently that a greater caloric deficit does not influence a greater substantial loss of fat percentage or body weight neither looks to show any numerical visual relationship with maintenance of fat-free mass. Observationally, a severe caloric deficit without refeed strategies applied in pre-contest phase may not guarantee a greater the weight loss neither a greater reduction in the body fat percentage.