Peak week. The final seven days before a bodybuilding competition. For many, this is the holy grail, the week where the "magic" happens. The internet is flooded with protocols promising to transform you from "in shape" to "unreal" in just a few days.
Let's be direct: that's nonsense.
The truth is that peak week isn't magic. It's the final, refined step in a months-long process. It's the 5% that perfects an already completed 95%.
What Peak Week CANNOT Do:
- Get you shredded: Fat loss happens in the months before peak week. If you aren't lean enough 7 days out from the show, no amount of water, sodium, or carb manipulation will make your skin thinner. In fact, drastic measures can make you look worse.
- Build muscle mass: The final week is dedicated to recovery and manipulation, not hypertrophy. The time for building muscle is long gone.
- Save a bad prep: Peak week is like polishing a diamond. If you start with a rock, you can polish all you want, but it won't become a diamond.
So, What IS the Goal of Peak Week?
The goal is twofold and revolves entirely around optimizing the look of the muscle you've already uncovered:
- Maximize Intramuscular Glycogen: Through a depletion and loading phase of carbohydrates, we ensure your muscles are as full and round as possible. Every gram of glycogen pulls approximately 3-4 grams of water into the muscle cell with it, creating that desired "pop". (1)
- Minimize Subcutaneous Water: This is the water that sits under the skin and can obscure muscle definition. Through a strategic approach to fluid and sodium intake, we aim to reduce this water, making the skin appear tighter against the muscle.
The Risk of Overcomplication
The biggest mistake athletes make is changing too much, too drastically, in the final week. They cut all sodium, drink almost no water for days on end, and eat absurd amounts of carbs. The result? They look flat, watery, or a combination of both on stage. This is due to hormonal responses (like a spike in aldosterone) that cause the body to retain water. (2)
Conclusion: First Things First
A successful peak week starts with a successful prep. The focus must be on achieving the required level of conditioning before the final week begins. Only then can a peak week protocol do its job: revealing your best possible physique, without hype or dangerous practices.
In the next parts of this series, we will dive deeper into the specific variables: training, carbohydrates, water, and sodium.
References:
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Fernández-Elías, V. E., Ortega, J. F., Nelson, R. K., & Mora-Rodriguez, R. (2015). Relationship between muscle water and glycogen recovery after prolonged exercise in the heat in humans. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 115(9), 1919–1926.
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Tiwari, S., Riazi, S., & Ecelbarger, C. A. (2007). Aldosterone: a mediator of hypertension and renal disease. Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension, 16(1), 26–32.
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