# Post contest rebound - The best three week's of your life!



## ellis.ben (Jul 2, 2012)

Hey guy's!

As most of you know I competed on the Sunday just gone and I just wanted to share a picture with you highlighting the awesome power of the mythical 'Post Contest Rebound!' :thumb:

So many people just don't seem to get this process and some just plain don't believe in it at all!!?? Seriously guy's wake up and smell the iorn! The rebound is real, in fact you can build more muscle during them 3, short, post contest week's than you can during an entire 6month bulk! Don't believe me?? That's absolutely fine aha, I don't care =) but here's a picture of me taken yesterday wich was 48 hour's after my show, contest day I weighed in at 100kg exactly (That's 15st 10lbs) and yesterday I weighed in at 106kg! (16st 10lbs) here's how it work's guy's, your body love's balance, in fact it loves it so much it will do anything it can to maintain it! So if you're pushing your body in a direction it doesn't want to go for a long period of time (ie extreme dieting during contest prep) when you finally release it it will spring back with almost unstoppable force! Anything you eat weaver it be clean food or pure cookie and cheesecake ****e! It just gets rammed into your muscles and you fill out like a f**king rock! You're full, you're tight and you look absolutely insane! it really is the best 3week's of your life =)

But like most thing's in life, nothing lasts forever.. Once them 3week's have passed you'll notice you don't look as tight anymore, you're not as sharp and that insane vascularity has gone?? That crazy look you had is fading.. What's going on??

You're starting to spill over....

Moral of the story guy's, make the most of them three week's! Take full advantage of your body's amazing ability to pack on muscle in record breaking time during your Post Contest Rebound! Don't waste it and I promise you you'll notice a massive change in your physique next time you blast a cycle! :thumb:

48 hour transformation!!

I love rebounds!


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## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

Instead of coming across like pr1ck as I may have done above.. Let me clarify:

For 48 hours, you won't do any damage. But, to think in three weeks you can eat cheesecake and gain muscle. Not. A. Chance.

After my first show, I was told the typical - 'eat what you want.. your body is like a sponge' bullsh1t. (I had an IFBB Pro helping me at the time).

I put on 36lbs in 6 days. My blood pressure went to 220/115. 5 weeks later I'm having to have ultrasounds on my stomach and see gastroentorologists.

Here's two things I suggest you read:

The first one is a pretty concise article by Matt Porter (a v well respected coach) - How to Come Off a Pre-Contest Bodybuilding Diet | FLEX Online

The next is one *I've* written:

This blog piece is one that I write with experience and passion about. This applies to both males & females. From my observations though I'd suggest it affects males more from a physiological stand-point, and with females, more psychological.. Although obviously there is cross-over with both.

In the bodybuilding ranks you're typically told to eat anything and everything after your show - specifically for a big rebound. Old coaches say your 'body is like a sponge' so absorbs all nutrients for muscle growth.

Well&#8230; No! Your body is like a sponge to soak up nutrients for fat gain. You've just trained your body to the point of survival mechanisms kicking in, as you're THAT lean (or should be). The first thing that your body wants to do, is lay down some fat - if you're not careful about what you do after the show.

If you follow the advice of the 'see food and eat it' diet post show, you really have two scenarios.

Worst Case Scenario:

In the worst case, competitors will binge, put on 30+lbs and end up with sky-high blood pressure.

This is very serious and can cause damage to the kidneys.

On top of this, it can also lead to severe GI distress and abdominal distention.

Best Case Scenario:

The scenario above is purely health related (although definitely shouldn't be overlooked). The 'best' case scenario is the cosmetic side of things.

First off, you must understand that when we reduce bodyfat, we don't reduce the NUMBER of fat cells. They just shrink in size.

(Notice in the picture below, that the NUMBER of cells on the far right isn't any less than the middle - the cells are just smaller.)

The down side to this, is that these shrunken fat cells will always be ready and waiting to fill right back up if we drift into a caloric excess. (Think - overweight people constantly YoYo-ing after each diet. Their bodies are primed to keep returning back to previous bodyfat levels - or higher).

But, it doesn't stop there. Depending on the rate of fat gain these original fat cells start to fill back up as well as you creating MORE! Yes, once you refeed and regain bodyfat quickly after a long and extreme diet your body actually makes new fat cells. This is what makes dieting a second time even harder.

The reason for this is; say you get back to your original starting bodyfat percentage. You're now at that same number, but with maybe 20% more fat cells (totally made up number). This means each of those fat cells is smaller - just more of them and spread out.

This is bad because smaller fat cells have LESS leptin (hormone that signifies that you're 'full') and are MORE sensitive to insulin (storage hormone). Translated this means that you're still constantly hungry - even though you're eating more. And, with the fat cells being more sensitive to insulin they're more prone to storing fat. The outcome is that often competitors - if not careful - will end up HIGHER in body-fat than when they first started dieting & find it twice as hard to diet back down!

Hopefully this has made you think twice about your approach post-show. I know you've dieted your ass off to get in great shape so want to eat the foods you've abstained from, but is it really worth the potential excess fat gain & health risks?

On top of this, there are also the psychological effects all of this can have. I don't wish to stereotype, but I really see this in females more often.

When males balloon after a show they either:

a)	Use it as bragging rights; 'Bro I piled on XXlbs in 7 days!'

B) Shrug it off as 'water' or that they've actually added lean tissue.

In females though, they go from being in the best shape of their lives and having confidence through the roof.. To a sudden anti-climax. Couple this with losing sight of certain muscle groups and they know they've gained body fat.

In some cases this can spiral into a mild form of depression. Or, borderline eating disorders.

All of this can be prevented if we just use logic and patience to reverse out of things gradually and allow our metabolism a chance to adapt and adjust to our new energy demands.

A rough template of how I'd recommend you approach it is (this is me assuming most people reading this don't carry huge amounts of lean tissue, so the caloric jumps are fairly conservative):

Before The Show:

HAVE A PLAN IN PLACE! DON'T WING IT.

Day After Show:

One full day off the diet, eat foods that you've missed - but don't wait until you're full. Stop eating at the same time others around you do.

I actually think this is healthy from a mindset point of view, and can be time to finally sit down to a decent meal with family & friends. For me, it's one of the things during a tough prep that I miss most.

Week 1:

The second day after the show, back on your pre-contest diet, but add an extra 150-400 calories worth of carbohydrate to it. (35-100g of carbs.)

Week 2:

Add a further 150-300 calories to the diet, again mainly from carbohydrate. (35-70g of carbs.)

Week 3:

In the first 7 days post-contest you'd likely have put on 5-10lbs from show-day.

Bear in mind a few things influence this; gender, how lean you actually got and whether you manipulated water.

If going into week 3 you're still gaining weight at more than say a lb or two, then I'd leave the diet as it is for a week.

If your weight has stabilised by this third week, I'd increase a further 150-300 calories - this time including some fats. (10-20g of fats & 15-30g of carbs.)

Week 4:

Again, keep checking body-weight. If it's another big jump - hold calories as they are. If it's stayed roughly the same, add another 150-300 calories in.

At this point, assuming everything has gone to plan (don't be worried if it doesn't.. We're dealing with the human body remember) then your calorie intake should start to be around maintenance levels. From here it's now down to you to make small tweaks either up or down to maintain your physique!

Cardio:

This really depends all upon how much and what style of cardio you're doing. But, initially for the first 2 weeks I'd likely still be doing around 80% of what you finished your final phase of prep doing.

You can gradually taper it down over the weeks alongside how your body weight / composition is responding.

Training:

During this 4 week period, most would stop training initially after a show. I'd actually suggest carry on training, but reduce both frequency & intensity.

Instead focus on volume and maybe train 4 times per week. Nothing intense, just enough to improve how you handle these additional carbs in this post-show period (enhanced glucose uptake via Glut-4).

Once calories are up at around maintenance and body-weight has stabilised I'd suggesting taking a couple of weeks off of training to give your body the chance it needs to fully recover mentally and physically. You've earned it!

This is really quite a complicated area of metabolism, but I hope this has given you a small insight into why it's such an important time not to completely go off the rails.. The food isn't going anywhere!


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## ellis.ben (Jul 2, 2012)

ah24 said:


> Instead of coming across like pr1ck as I may have done above.. Let me clarify:
> 
> For 48 hours, you won't do any damage. But, to think in three weeks you can eat cheesecake and gain muscle. Not. A. Chance.
> 
> ...


Coming across as a pr*ck?? Not at all bro! You clearly just have more experience on the subject and are more knowledgeable than me so thanks for sharing brother =)

There is something I'd like to clear up though:

I wasn't for a second saying that you can build muscle eating nothing but cheesecake aha, I'm not an idiot. You don't get to a competitive stage by using cheesecake as your protein source :lol: Its clearly a very temporary stage of your rebound wich has more to do with sugar and glycogen being flushed back into the muscle not your muscle taking protein from the cheesecake to build tissue aha. I thought that would of been obvious to people but never mind.

And you're absolutely right I've definitely been having some pretty nasty abdominal pains and gastric problems over the last 72 hour's so I will definitely be taking what you've said on board! Thank you for sharing your knowledge bro and I hope others who are reading this will also take it on board =)

Thanks @ah24 :thumbup1:


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## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

ellis.ben said:


> Coming across as a pr*ck?? Not at all bro! You clearly just have more experience on the subject and are more knowledgeable than me so thanks for sharing brother =)
> 
> There is something I'd like to clear up though:
> 
> ...


No problem at all, glad you took as intended 

On a positive note, you got in great shape for the show! Have your bit of down time and then get back onto making some proper gains, ready for the next show! When is the next one?


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## ellis.ben (Jul 2, 2012)

ah24 said:


> No problem at all, glad you took as intended
> 
> On a positive note, you got in great shape for the show! Have your bit of down time and then get back onto making some proper gains, ready for the next show! When is the next one?


Thanks mate appreciate it =) well I qualified for the IBFA Britain Final wich is in three week's (14th June) but I've decided I'm not going to to do it.. I'm taking some time out to focus on my family and relationship. It's been a long 4month's and has been quite taxing so I just wanna take some time out for them =) but we have sat down and discussed our plan of action for next year, I will be competing at the same comp in May (North Wales Classic) then providing I qualify again I'll be doing the Britain back to back three week's later =)

But for now its back in the gym and hitting hard!


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## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

ellis.ben said:


> Thanks mate appreciate it =) well I qualified for the IBFA Britain Final wich is in three week's (14th June) but I've decided I'm not going to to do it.. I'm taking some time out to focus on my family and relationship. It's been a long 4month's and has been quite taxing so I just wanna take some time out for them =) but we have sat down and discussed our plan of action for next year, I will be competing at the same comp in May (North Wales Classic) then providing I qualify again I'll be doing the Britain back to back three week's later =)
> 
> But for now its back in the gym and hitting hard!


Best of luck.. and wise move putting family/relationship before the contest. It's pretty tough going on them too!


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

ellis.ben said:


> Hey guy's!
> 
> As most of you know I competed on the Sunday just gone and I just wanted to share a picture with you highlighting the awesome power of the mythical 'Post Contest Rebound!' :thumb:
> 
> ...


water and glycogen retention isnt muscle.


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## ellis.ben (Jul 2, 2012)

ah24 said:


> Best of luck.. and wise move putting family/relationship before the contest. It's pretty tough going on them too!


Thanks bro x


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## ellis.ben (Jul 2, 2012)

banzi said:


> water and glycogen retention isnt muscle.


Keep up with the conversation mate we've already just discussed that.. :confused1:


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

ellis.ben said:


> Keep up with the conversation mate I have already had that explained to me.. :confused1:


fixed


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