Diuretics are not an exact science. Results may vary from person to person and if you fuck it up-it could easily cost you a place or two in the contest. I've posted my opinions on this pre contest type of voodoo before. After doing my 3rd show, getting schooled, and actually looking better the day after-I decided that I wasn't going to roll the dice with diuretics ever again. So I looked to a local pro BB named Vince Comerford for advice. With his advice, and little bit of fine tuning on my own, here's what I did to eliminate 90% of the guesswork involved in the dreaded final week before a show:
When dieting for a show I usually do it on a 3 day low carb/3 day moderate carb fashion. Over the 3 low carb days I lose a shitload of weight-on the 3 mod carb days I gain back all that I lost except for 2-3 lbs-giving me a net weight loss of 2-3 lbs ever 6 days. When I was at about 7 weeks out, I started experimenting with my diuretics) and switch from 3 moderate carb days to 4 so I could be on a 7 day diet cycle (instead of 6). I'd try to time everything(water/carbs/diuretics/sodium/potassium to look my best on Saturday mornings (when prejudging is usually held).
Personally I got my best results off of aldactazide-a combo of aldactone and diazide. I can't remember the mgs cuz it's been awhile(it was basically like 1 pill in the AM and 1 pill in the PM), but I'd start it 72 hrs away from Saturday morning 10:AM. After a 3-4 weeks of experimentation with 3 days of diuretics/wk and playing with different carb depletion/loading, water intake/restriction, you should have a pretty good idea how your body responds to look your best when it counts. You can follow this pattern all the way up to the show, or just save the right combo for the last week. Personally I liked doing it every week all the way up to the show because I felt the more used to it my body was, the easier it would be to dial in on the final days before.
If for some reason I wake up on contest day and don't feel that I'm hard enough-I'll drop a a small mg amount of Lasix(which is a rarity). If you don't like doing things this way, at least you'll have a better idea of how your body responds to diuretics/carbs/water etc. As far as water intake goes-some guys cut back 3 days before the show-some guys continue drinking the same amount. Personally, I'd drink almost 2 gallons/day on mod carb days, but when trying to dry myself up I'd cut back to a gallon/day for the 1st 24 hrs, and just sip as needed/pose up until the show.
Oh yeah-aldactone/aldactizide are potassium sparing, so don't take any supplemental potassium-unless you dig heart attacks? Also,the reason behind starting aldactone 3 days out is because it supposedly has a rebound effect after 24 hrs. So you actually smooth out a bit from the 24 hr-48 hr point. After the 48 hr point, you start to to really harden up and look your best. It's a mind fuck looking flat 24-48 hrs out-even when you're familiar with using diuretics and knowing that you'll harden up over the last 24 hrs or so.
I know this is some confusing shit and there no right/wrong way of doing it. Anybody that says their way is the only way is a moron. They are not you! All you can do is acquire knowledge on your own, apply it, and through trial and error tweek it so that it eventually works for you. I still can't see how some guys wait until the last week before the show to figure this shit out. Then again, some guys need an excuse as to why they got their ass kicked on stage-and missing their peak has gotta be the #1 excuse I hear.
The 1st time I was ever confident about my last week of pre contest prep I won the whole show. Every show after that was a lot easier since all I needed to do was duplicate what worked for me for that first overall win. However, I was probably ready about 12 hrs too soon-and since I restrict water a few days out, I was hurting in the thirst dept. for a bit longer I than I really needed to be. Here's a poolside pic taken at about 6PM Friday night before the show-I lost another 2-3 lbs before prejudging the next day late AM.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b169/bigcracker/ripped.jpg
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