Re-feeds

I thought I would follow along a little from a previous write up on flat vs full (if you didn’t see it click back on here and read that first) So what is a Re-feed when would you have one and what would it do to the physique and how has my stance changed on them over the years.

Re-feeds are essentially used in a prep or diet setting to help wash away built up fatigue, and fill out what will probably be some very flat muscles. Different coaches may have different ways to Re-feed but I am going to share what works for my clients (females).

Now firstly what I think is important to state here is I do believe everyone who is in a contest prep should get multiple Re-feeds within their prep no matter on the class and criteria. The amount someone may have in a Refeed and how regular they need one will depend on the individual but preps without re- feeds land flat, watery and often not conditioned physiques on stage and also take a large amount of predictability out of the peak.

When to re-feed, this will be down to the individual you can not put a time saying e.g you will have your first re-feed at 10 weeks out because they might not need one then or they may need one before, re-feeds are about working with the body, they should be calculated and informed divisions not random timings. spotting when someone needs a re-feed gets easier the more clients you prep and the more you know that individual and their body, this is why I give such detailed check in sheets to get as much feedback as possible about the body each day. But things you are looking out for is an unusually flat look (you will be flat in prep but when there is zero life to the physique it’s different) perhaps some water retention on females, a big and sudden weight drop or potentially weight stalling, inability to get a pump in the gym, drop in strength, and feeling fatigued essentially the body has had enough of your dieting BS and is rebelling against you. Now sometimes the right option is to just push harder especially at the beginning of prep but towards the second half often you need to pull back to move forwards (you know the whole bow and arrow thing).

What to re-feed someone is entirely based on them as an individual and this digestive needs, some people will re-feed on “dirty” foods e.g burger and chips and that works for them, I find this more common in males though or the very muscular female classes but personally I don’t like the unpredictability of eating food you don’t know what is exactly in it. I find the best results come from clean sources and foods the individual is already eating e.g say they currently have 30g rice on their meal plan you may up this to 70g rice.

The whole re-feed wants to be focused around the training window as we want to really get that glycogen pushed into the muscles. We also want to ensure we are re-feeding on both carbs and fats, the fats will help stabilise the spikes in blood glucose and help avoid crashing as well as help the body utilise the carbs better.

once we start putting re-feeds in (normally anywhere between 12- 7 weeks out) we will find we keep putting them in again every time the body starts to display any of the above mentioned issues, again we can not predict this to begin with and we should react according to what we see in front of us not just “re-feed every Saturday bro” after a few weeks though we will see patterns emerge and can guess re-feeds to be weekly, biweekly etc.

3 examples of first re-feeds I have given this week or know I will give possibly next week;

Person A - 8.5 weeks out -big drop in scale weight, felt fatigue, looked very flat, strength was dropping slightly - re-feed carbs and fats up over one day, cardio out, steps reduced significantly.

Person B - 7 weeks out -no drop in scale weight for a week, water retention, feeling tired - re-feed carbs and fats cardio out, steps reduced.

Person C - 11 weeks out - weight dropping like crazy, will become too conditioned for the class if we continue this trajectory - re-feed and reducing cardio will slow things down.

Although there is some predictability in when a re-feed will be due like I say I like to work with what presents itself to me on the daily.

Re-feeds also play a vital role in peaking as you have used carbs and fats in a physique and closely monitored after, you then know how much carb a person takes to fill but also how much to spill so you can use this as a guide in peak week.

My stance on re-feeds has changed it used to be very rare I would give a re-feed I think as a young coach in the game I was scared re-feeding with this much carb would ruin the look and put us backwards but the longer i’ve been doing this I see this really is not the case, my clients now have multiple re-feeds and the results my athletes achieve as a result of this change in approach speak for themselves.

Want to work with a coach who understands how to work with the body? click the link I would love to have you on the team.