TJ & Lily Peaks
I thought it would be really interesting to take a little deep dive into some of the methods I am using to peak both these ladies for the same show as they are very very different and you can see how it is important to train each athlete as an individual and don't do copy and paste protocols. TJ is a Wellness athlete so therefore carries more muscle, she has also competed previously however this is the first time I have coached her. Lily is entering her first ever competitive season and struggles with water retention so there are some things here we will do very differently.
Lily - We are pulling back slightly earlier than just the peak week to give her body more rest heading into the show, reducing inflammation on her body. We have cut cardio down and steps to reduce stress on the body as well as having a small bump up in fats. We will also be reducing training intensity to keeping 3-5 RIR again just to reduce any inflammation and water retention from heavy training. We will continue to drop cardio and steps throughout the week and trickle more food in. check ins will also go twice daily both morning fasted and post workout.
TJ - With TJ we can push a little longer as although her legs are tired (she trains them 4x a week) her recovery is also very good and doesn't tend to hold as much water. Our plan is to continue to push til Wednesday and pull off a little more then back off from there removing things like weighted vests and keeping a few in the tank while training I don’t have the exact protocol for you this morning as although I have a plan and a lot of info from previous refeeds we do need see how the body responds day by day, and today no changes were made, I will update you fully next week. but this is our rough plan. Again with TJ we will be doing check ins twice daily to really see the body's response.
As you can see both ladies take a fairly different response and her the next 2 weeks I will update further on some of what we have done to create the looks you will see on stage on the 10th aug so read along for the ride and any questions please feel free to fire them over.
2 weeks out and it was simply about reducing fatigue and inflammation caused from high cardio and heavy training. Here is a breakdown of what we changed day by day last week for each of the ladies based on bio feedback and look.
TJ
Mon - training day - no changes continued to dig, check ins moved to 2x daily
Tues - rest day - started to pull back weighted vest removed from cardio and step count
Wed- training day - cardio and steps reduced, fats increased. I noticed some water holding on the legs post training note all TJs training days are leg days.
thurs - rest day, look was tighter, same cardio and steps we fats also upped.
Fri- training day - look tighter again, cardio reduced further and more fats added.
sat - training day - no changes needed looking tighter and pump better post training
sun - rest day - cardio and steps the same small increase in carbs
Today - training day - no changes to food, cardio reduced to a short walk post training to keep blood moving, steps reduced and training with 2-3 RIR
We will run our standard refeed on wednesday this is a tried and tested measurement of food so we know it works and we know when the look is best after it, we will also have Wednesday as our last training day. We can then use small bumps in carbs and fats to keep that full look as and when needed. Diuretics will also go on Thursday ready for the Sunday show.
Lily
Mon - lower 2 - cardio reduced steps reduced, fats added in
Tues- upper 2 - training 3 RIR cardio, steps, food remains the same
Wed - rest day - cardio and steps reduced food the same
thurs - glutes and delts - no changes needed coming in tighter
Fri - lower 1 - cardio reduced further, look is very good post training
Sat - upper 1 - no changes needed look on wake was tighter and midsection tighter
Sun - rest day - cardio pulled completely, food and steps remain the same
Today - lower 2 - steps reduced further and re-feed, again this is our normal re-feed food as I said before Lily does hold water due to her auto immune condition so we are re-feeding early to wash away any fatigue but giving time for any water retention to come off too we will then just keep her topped up on carbs and fats dependant on look, we will use more quick releasing carbs on show day to get a pump rather than filling her with food the night before. Again we have tested this re-feed and perfected it so we know exactly how her body will respond.
Both ladies we are front loading and if I am honest this is my preferred method for most clients, however I do also reverse some ladies in and I have back loaded too its really dependant on the individual and as you can see with both TJ and Lily although the approach is similar in what we are trying to achieve they way we are going about it is different and the food, cardio and steps is completely different for each of them, you can not cookie cutter or use the exact same method with every person it wont produce the best results. again if you would like more detail into why we have run things the way we have or for more info drop me a dm and I am more than happy to have a chat with you about it.
Peak week leading up to show day, detail here the final week and day before show and manipulations we made to showcase the physiques to the standard they were, one thing is for sure I do not like putting people on stage flat! This is bodybuilding we want nice round full muscles!
TJ
Mon - cardio was dropped further as were steps both to a minimal amount legs trained but with a RIR approach, food remains the same
Tues - complete rest day all cardio out food remains the same
Wed - Re-feed as per practiced and final leg session (looking back I do think we will actually re-feed thursday next peak week as the look did start to flatten off quicker than expected) no cardio minimal steps
thurs- back to baseline food with a light glute pump session
Fri - rest day again on baseline food
Sat - complete rest, we did plan to run low but the look was a little flat so we added an extra meal of 5 rice cakes and 3 squares dark chocolate as a final meal and this was enough to bring her back to life
Sun - show day we ran meals of rice cakes whey and dark chocolate and kept topping up to keep full where needed and we also kept fluid and salt in! TJ had drunk around 3L prior to stepping on stage around 3.30 that day… cutting water flattens you out.
Lily
Mon - Refeed and leg session cardio is still out and steps were dropped too.
Tues - Training day and back to baseline cals
wed - rest day and rest day food
Thurs - glute pump session and baseline training day food
Fri - upper pump and slightly more carbs and fats to just keep fullness topped up
Sat - complete rest day lots of check ins and feet up drying out ready for show day.
Sun - show day Lily ate a mix of cream of rice and vegan whey, peanut butter and rice cakes. We also kept water and salt flowing throughout the day before class one. She had 1.5L and by her second class Lily had consumed 2.5L as well as a good amount of salt.
note: I have said this so many times and I will continue to as every show I still witness athletes cutting water, do not cut water and salt! this leads to - cramping on stage, headaches, dry mouth, the physique becoming flat, a layer of film sitting under the skin, and potentially worse when we add in diarrhetic to the mix glycogen is transported to the muscle via blood and water in the blood cutting water = cutting the ability for the glycogen (broken down carbs) to get to the muscle. where you add salt where salt goes water flows so you add salt, with a good pump formula to help too and pump up it will push everything into the muscle including any water sat sub q (between skin and muscle) using diarrhetic just keeps the water flowing through and stops it sitting sub q where its not needed. Cutting water or not though, always make sure you get a lot as soon as you step off stage and salt. I normally recommend something like a lucazade sport or hydron8 as well to replenish the electorate balance and rehydrate the body in the most sufficient way possible.
The show day itself with both ladies we had pump formula and some sweets around 20mins pre pump up then used bands to pump up the areas needed for Lily we focused on delts back and glutes and TJ we just pumped up glutes lightly and posed to push blood into the other muscles in the physique.
Lily’s first class was female first timers where she was against ladies competing for the first time across classes and she came 3rd she was so nervous but she really held her own up there and going up there and getting a feel for the sage really helped her when it then came tot the masters class were she took another bronze and much improved stage presence which we were all sat in the crowd so proud of her for. and absolutely buzzing and I think she was still smiling in work the morning after very well deserved as I know what a hard prep it has been for her.
TJ was the last class of the day so had lots of chill time before the stage before taking to the wellness stage with a really great line up of ladies in, and took home the win. was brilliant to see her absolutely nail her stage presence and performance and she absolutely owned it up there previously this has been something she struggled with but now her feedback was that was a real strength so that was great. she went onto the overall where she really held her own against a very high standard overall class and even got a pose down with the boys too which was fun.
I hope this deep dive provided you with some interesting inside info in how i peak athletes based on their physique for stage and answers some questions you may have on peaking, again if you have any questions on peaking or why i chose some methods over others please drop me a DM, I’d love to have a chat with you.
