Contest prep:
Injuries -
overuse especially in the lower limbs (obvious - cardio + leg training + low insulin levels + low pooling amino acids)
Ways to beat overuse-
cycle cardio - off days perform intervals training days low intensity (very low just enough to burn 200-300 calories)
Make your diet more effecient - it sucks but your mind will be the factor to overcome not sore muscles
Don't build your cardio until the last weeks when you are in a fragile state, instead peak it at 6week mark (assuming you want to be ready by week 2 and lower it as you lead in weeek5 , 4, 3 and so on.
Injuries : contraction dysfunction, muscle contractures (lack of electrolytes, cellular dehydration, overstimulation)
Contraction issues: potassium , sodium, and magnesium are all needed I won't mention calcium because assuming everyone is using a form of testosterone there will be an abundance. Everyone has different signaling of neurotransmitters so it is difficult to set a rule of thumb but generally speaking. You want 3:1 sodium -potassium amounts are going to depend on activity and muscle mass avg for active healthy male 180lbs (non hormonized) 6g sodium 2g potassium. Again , as for magnesium if you tend to have a lot of muscle contractures and and prone to tears you need the higher end of magnesium about 10g if you experience no contractures and are readily flexible even after training 5-6days a week 2g is good (2-10g range).
Overstimulation; there's comes a point in prep when training like you want to and need to comes into question. We are all perfectionists and hard workers but these drop sets, training past or even to failure needs to be put on the back burner and simply engaging your muscle to a safe threshold is all that is needed to increase protein synthesis and hold the muscle we've built for years. When action potentials are propagated and there is no sodium to bring into the cell what happens? The muscle will not contract as hard as it should ,now as efficient as we are if we repeat this , our bodies will become accustomed to not fully contracting , Ofcourse that is worse case scenario but it's something to think about.
In terms of overall recovery and neurostimulation i mentioned in bboy thread the use of hydro therapy. Simply jumping in a hot tub for 3-5 min then into a pool for 30sec to 1min and repeating it 2x before and after you train will not only speed up recovery but eliminate doms, help you to be more focused (neurostimulation) while training, and help your muscles actually grow by relaxing the fascia surrounding your muscles. Hot cold shower isn't the same but it's better than nothing.
All these little things will make us better bodybuilders, I truly believe this to be one of the greatest mental sports still around next to chess, and the stock market , (minus the hormones)
Injuries -
overuse especially in the lower limbs (obvious - cardio + leg training + low insulin levels + low pooling amino acids)
Ways to beat overuse-
cycle cardio - off days perform intervals training days low intensity (very low just enough to burn 200-300 calories)
Make your diet more effecient - it sucks but your mind will be the factor to overcome not sore muscles
Don't build your cardio until the last weeks when you are in a fragile state, instead peak it at 6week mark (assuming you want to be ready by week 2 and lower it as you lead in weeek5 , 4, 3 and so on.
Injuries : contraction dysfunction, muscle contractures (lack of electrolytes, cellular dehydration, overstimulation)
Contraction issues: potassium , sodium, and magnesium are all needed I won't mention calcium because assuming everyone is using a form of testosterone there will be an abundance. Everyone has different signaling of neurotransmitters so it is difficult to set a rule of thumb but generally speaking. You want 3:1 sodium -potassium amounts are going to depend on activity and muscle mass avg for active healthy male 180lbs (non hormonized) 6g sodium 2g potassium. Again , as for magnesium if you tend to have a lot of muscle contractures and and prone to tears you need the higher end of magnesium about 10g if you experience no contractures and are readily flexible even after training 5-6days a week 2g is good (2-10g range).
Overstimulation; there's comes a point in prep when training like you want to and need to comes into question. We are all perfectionists and hard workers but these drop sets, training past or even to failure needs to be put on the back burner and simply engaging your muscle to a safe threshold is all that is needed to increase protein synthesis and hold the muscle we've built for years. When action potentials are propagated and there is no sodium to bring into the cell what happens? The muscle will not contract as hard as it should ,now as efficient as we are if we repeat this , our bodies will become accustomed to not fully contracting , Ofcourse that is worse case scenario but it's something to think about.
In terms of overall recovery and neurostimulation i mentioned in bboy thread the use of hydro therapy. Simply jumping in a hot tub for 3-5 min then into a pool for 30sec to 1min and repeating it 2x before and after you train will not only speed up recovery but eliminate doms, help you to be more focused (neurostimulation) while training, and help your muscles actually grow by relaxing the fascia surrounding your muscles. Hot cold shower isn't the same but it's better than nothing.
All these little things will make us better bodybuilders, I truly believe this to be one of the greatest mental sports still around next to chess, and the stock market , (minus the hormones)
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