"Dude if only I would have carbed up one more day!!"

Magnum · May 22, 2009

God this is probabely going to be too long, but it bugs me to see some guys make the same mistakes over and over. Anyway, everyone has their own way of doing things and their opinions and this is mine.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard guys tell me how much better they looked the next day after they have eaten all the junk food after a show, but there are many things that they are NOT seeing and other factors involved that is making them believe that they look better. When you step on stage you need to be ripped first and foremost. Then you need to be dry. Obviously you need to be full but far too many people mistake being full (and "feeling" full) and vascular as the final ultimate result on stage.

Let me put it this way, you have two guys on stage pretty much equal in the judges eyes. The first guy is shredded, vascular (not all that important but it can be a plus) but he is just a tad flat. Now, don't get me wrong he looks very full, but he is ever so lightly on the other side of the line of dehydration. THIS IS A VERY FINE LINE!!!!!!

The second guy is shredded, vascular (again not that important) and he is very full, in fact he is so full that he is just a tad spilled over. Some of the very fine deep separation that the first guy has is ever so slightly blurred.

Now hopefully it is already understood that when you are onstage under most of the time not so flattering lights that the first guy is going to look waaay more shredded than that first. Also, remember that that judges are the closest to you and they are seeing what is actually there. The further away you are from the competitors the more they all look the same. At a distance it is very hard to see grainy muscle moving under the skin. This is a freaky sight to behold that most in the audience will not see due to how far back they are.

Now the next after the first guy won hopefully

the show he is going to see a very different looking physique than what the judges saw onstage. After he has consumed a ton of water and sodium and he is standing there in the hotel bathroon under the flourecent lights he he mistakenly going to think that he missed his peak. The very deep separation and very lines that were present the night before are gone, but they are replaced with wicked vacularity and extreme fullness (from watar!!), but because of the overhead flourecent lights in the hotel bathroom ihe is not aware of what is really going on.

To compound this problem even more he is mistakenly going to believe that it was the carbs that is doing all this crazy physique manipulation when in fact it's the water and sodium anyway. How many times have you heard, "dude if I only would have carbed one more day!!" Yep, it must have been all the junk food that made all these miraculous changes.

chris250 · May 22, 2009

Good post and very true...

I always say its better to be 98% full than 103% full (and spilling over)...Normally when your slightly flat your lines are super deep, and there are more straitions going on..When your full, your more vascular, but the lines arent near as deep...Yes, more fullness but lose of conditioning...

Very good post Magnum

chris

Press · May 22, 2009

yeah i just read an interview with dorian yates yesterday and the guy asked dorian why some people feel they look better the next day and he said "if they look better the next day they did something wrong. usually has something to do with sodium intake. its a fine line tho."

Magnum · May 22, 2009

Press said:
yeah i just read an interview with dorian yates yesterday and the guy asked dorian why some people feel they look better the next day and he said "if they look better the next day they did something wrong. usually has something to do with sodium intake. its a fine line tho."

He's right, but it depends on what is meant by looking better. The lightly spilled over huge vascular look is a great look for a photo shoot, but not a good onstage look.

chris250 · May 22, 2009

Magnum said:
He's right, but it depends on what is meant by looking better. The lightly spilled over huge vascular look is a great look for a photo shoot, but not a good onstage look.

yeah, stage lights with the slightly spilled over look, will make you look soft, but in pics you will look great ...

Designbuilt · May 22, 2009

Excellent post, this makes a lot of sense.

Magnum · May 23, 2009

OK here's a cool story for ya and remember that things like this that happen should always be a learning experience too. Went to support a guy who I knew at a show. Didn't know him that long at the time, but the show was close to where I live so decided to go. At the time this guy was being helped by a pro BB. So, I get there for the evening show and this guy is freakin cause he was told he was told he needed some lasix. He had already taken some diazide which at the time I didn't know. So we're both tryin our best to find some, but no luck. In his desparation he turned to me and asked my advise. I told him that I didn't feel too comfortable about taking over at this point which was an understatment.

After some pleading I told him I would do what I could which would prob not be a whole heck of a lot. He was flat as a pancake so I grabbed a salt shaker and told him to drink a bunch of water. He only had about 2 hours but it def helped, but unfortunatley there was not enough time. Here's the funny part. We go out to eat and he really didn't eat much, just a little mexican food and didn't even finish, but he drank a ton of iced tea.

The next morning I get a phone call from his room and he's telling me to get up here right away. I'm thinkin the worst so I get there as fast as a fat guy can. The door a partially open I walk in and there he is standing there flexing his thighs. Let me tell you that was soooo freakin dry I almost couldn't believe it. Over nite his body sucked up all the fluid along with the sodium. I remember him telling me how thirsty he was, his tongue had this white look and he could hardly produce any spit. This guy was as dry as anyone I had ever seen. Thinking back as to how all this came about still makes me laugh and at the same time makes you wonder, what if.

JETHRO TULL · May 23, 2009

Excellent story, Magnum.

Magnum said:
OK here's a cool story for ya and remember that things like this that happen should always be a learning experience too. Went to support a guy who I knew at a show. Didn't know him that long at the time, but the show was close to where I live so decided to go. At the time this guy was being helped by a pro BB. So, I get there for the evening show and this guy is freakin cause he was told he was told he needed some lasix. He had already taken some diazide which at the time I didn't know. So we're both tryin our best to find some, but no luck. In his desparation he turned to me and asked my advise. I told him that I didn't feel too comfortable about taking over at this point which was an understatment.

After some pleading I told him I would do what I could which would prob not be a whole heck of a lot. He was flat as a pancake so I grabbed a salt shaker and told him to drink a bunch of water. He only had about 2 hours but it def helped, but unfortunatley there was not enough time. Here's the funny part. We go out to eat and he really didn't eat much, just a little mexican food and didn't even finish, but he drank a ton of iced tea. The next morning I get a phone call from his room and he's telling me to get up here right away. I'm thinkin the worst so I get there as fast as a fat guy can. The door a partially open I walk in and there he is standing there flexing his thighs. Let me tell you that was soooo freakin dry I almost couldn't believe it. Over nite his body sucked up all the fluid along with the sodium. I remember him telling me how thirsty he was, his tongue had this white look and he could hardly produce any spit. This guy was as dry as anyone I had ever seen. Thinking back as to how all this came about still makes me laugh and at the same time makes you wonder, what if.

I read every word closely when you post. Very good information and I try not to miss it.

Magnum · May 23, 2009

OK here's another one that I may have told before but I still make fun of my buddy about this as it is my favorite to tell.

Bout 12 years ago my friend comes up to me in my gym and says hey you know that show in 10 weeks, I wanna do it. Now this guy had never even been to a show before swear to God. Didn't even know WTF a mandatory was. Good thing is that I love to train newbies cause they aren't corrupted and they 99% of the time listen. SO I said OK we got some work to do. I immediately put him on zero carb. He doesn't know any better so he doesn't ask any questions. The weeks go by and he's coming right along. So a couple of days before the show we are going over everything and I'm telling him that he is to put nothing in his mouth that is not on his diet. He swears to listen.

I love this. He had been tellin me that he was having some trouble with constipation so I had upped the veggies and gave him some fiber. This was also one of the rare occasions that I used a diuretic. He used one half of a diazide the night before and nothing else. Also, he did not carb up at all.

So come the morning of the show his car pulls up at my house and his girlfriend is driving and I see him get out of the car he's movin real slow.

He walks in and he ain't lookin too hot so first thing I say is let's see your legs. His drops his sweats and flexes his thighs and he looks fantastic. Very deep separation. I'm still wondering though in the back of my mind why the heck he looks to bad. So I ask him how he feels nad he says he feels pretty tired. Says that when he woke up his eyes were stuck together and he had to use a wash cloth to get them open. HAHAHAHA Sorry, this is bringin back memories. Then he says, oh yeah I finally took a huge dump last night and I'm thinking ah oh and I ask him what did you do! He said I took some Ex-Lax and he commented on how good they tasted. How many did you take I ask. He says "I ate the whole box!!!"

He ended up winning the lightweights and gave the heavyweight and overall winner a pretty good run. I had people come up to me at the night show and asked me how I carbed him up cause of how vascular he was.

mikeyt869 · May 23, 2009

Magnum said:
OK here's another one that I may have told before but I still make fun of my buddy about this as it is my favorite to tell.

Bout 12 years ago my friend comes up to me in my gym and says hey you know that show in 10 weeks, I wanna do it. Now this guy had never even been to a show before swear to God. Didn't even know WTF a mandatory was. Good thing is that I love to train newbies cause they aren't corrupted and they 99% of the time listen. SO I said OK we got some work to do. I immediately put him on zero carb. He doesn't know any better so he doesn't ask any questions. The weeks go by and he's coming right along. So a couple of days before the show we are going over everything and I'm telling him that he is to put nothing in his mouth that is not on his diet. He swears to listen. I love this. He had been tellin me that he was having some trouble with constipation so I had upped the veggies and gave him some fiber. This was also one of the rare occasions that I used a diuretic. He used one half of a diazide the night before and nothing else. Also, he did not carb up at all.

So come the morning of the show his car pulls up at my house and his girlfriend is driving and I see him get out of the car he's movin real slow. He walks in and he ain't lookin too hot so first thing I say is let's see your legs. His drops his sweats and flexes his thighs and he looks fantastic. Very deep separation. I'm still wondering though in the back of my mind why the heck he looks to bad. So I ask him how he feels nad he says he feels pretty tired. Says that when he woke up his eyes were stuck together and he had to use a wash cloth to get them open. HAHAHAHA Sorry, this is bringin back memories. Then he says, oh yeah I finally took a huge dump last night and I'm thinking ah oh and I ask him what did you do! He said I took some Ex-Lax and he commented on how good they tasted. How many did you take I ask. He says "I ate the whole box!!!" He ended up winning the lightweights and gave the heavyweight and overall winner a pretty good run. I had people come up to me at the night show and asked me how I carbed him up cause of how vascular he was.

lmao

thats some funny shit

HawaiiMuscle · May 23, 2009

LMAO that hilarious right there!!!

T TOTAL · May 23, 2009

Magnum said:
God this is probabely going to be too long, but it bugs me to see some guys make the same mistakes over and over. Anyway, everyone has their own way of doing things and their opinions and this is mine.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard guys tell me how much better they looked the next day after they have eaten all the junk food after a show, but there are many things that they are NOT seeing and other factors involved that is making them believe that they look better. When you step on stage you need to be ripped first and foremost. Then you need to be dry. Obviously you need to be full but far too many people mistake being full (and "feeling" full) and vascular as the final ultimate result on stage.

Let me put it this way, you have two guys on stage pretty much equal in the judges eyes. The first guy is shredded, vascular (not all that important but it can be a plus) but he is just a tad flat. Now, don't get me wrong he looks very full, but he is ever so lightly on the other side of the line of dehydration. THIS IS A VERY FINE LINE!!!!!!

The second guy is shredded, vascular (again not that important) and he is very full, in fact he is so full that he is just a tad spilled over. Some of the very fine deep separation that the first guy has is ever so slightly blurred.

Now hopefully it is already understood that when you are onstage under most of the time not so flattering lights that the first guy is going to look waaay more shredded than that first. Also, remember that that judges are the closest to you and they are seeing what is actually there. The further away you are from the competitors the more they all look the same. At a distance it is very hard to see grainy muscle moving under the skin. This is a freaky sight to behold that most in the audience will not see due to how far back they are.

Now the next after the first guy won hopefully the show he is going to see a very different looking physique than what the judges saw onstage. After he has consumed a ton of water and sodium and he is standing there in the hotel bathroon under the flourecent lights he he mistakenly going to think that he missed his peak. The very deep separation and very lines that were present the night before are gone, but they are replaced with wicked vacularity and extreme fullness (from watar!!), but because of the overhead flourecent lights in the hotel bathroom ihe is not aware of what is really going on.

To compound this problem even more he is mistakenly going to believe that it was the carbs that is doing all this crazy physique manipulation when in fact it's the water and sodium anyway. How many times have you heard, "dude if I only would have carbed one more day!!" Yep, it must have been all the junk food that made all these miraculous changes.

Good post mate. I also tell aothers its easy to say you missed your peak and looked better the day after looking in the bathroom mirror or wherever as there is also NO ONE stood next to you looking shredded and to be compared too.
A friend of mine just entered a show and won his class hands down. He is only class 4 ( short class )/lightweight and didnt carb load on this occasion. ( I appreciate everyones different though. When his line up walked on, the 1st one on was huge looking, and looked lean and ripped. However when my friend came on stage 3rd, he made the 1st one look way off. There must of been about 2 stone difference in weight/muscle, but my friend was to the bone. He to was close for the over all against the bigger/taller classes. Infact he won the overall at a show the following week....

flexingtonsteele · May 23, 2009

Awesome stories Magnum.

dragonfire101 · May 24, 2009

I read a article a while back and said where the salt goes the water follows and that if you flat to add in some salt and water and its not the carbs.

Designbuilt · May 26, 2009

Magnum, This is an excellent thread and deserves to be re-read. However, I do have a question, bottom line, what are you trying to say?

Are you saying that the sodium is good? I mean if you had to summarize all of this and tell someone flat out what to do for the last two days, what would it be? Thanks in advance.

Magnum · May 26, 2009

Designbuilt said:
Magnum, This is an excellent thread and deserves to be re-read. However, I do have a question, bottom line, what are you trying to say?

Are you saying that the sodium is good? I mean if you had to summarize all of this and tell someone flat out what to do for the last two days, what would it be? Thanks in advance.

I always keep sodium in ones diet and tend to raise it the last 10 days or so. In the case of the girl whos pics I posted I did't really pull it till Fri. She was pretty dry the whole way thru with the raise in sodium once her body adjusted to the raise. The first few days she was pretty puffy but that was temporary.

Lenny · May 26, 2009

Magnum....keep the great information coming. Personally I have never watched my sodium at all when prepping, so whatever foods have sodium in a certain amount, that is what my body will be taking in...until I do a reload on some carbos, nothing drastic, just something that has been controlled as of lately.