Modifications for Final Week Before a Show

[Scott Stevenson]

Question really for Scott (or anyone else with experience here really); how do you modify Fortitude in the final week before a contest? Specifically how would you structure the workouts during the carb depletion phase?

Currently I'm planning 3 upper body only sessions with a different MR and pump set for each muscle group each workout.

That could be a good way to do things, esp. if your legs tend to be somewhat flat and don't fill out well, for whatever reason.

I've got some twists I put into then program (look for a video that MD did with Dave Hhenry before the Arnold this year).

The best answer is hard to give (for me at least), b/c the training is integrated with diet and eventually water and sodium manipulation. It's not that complicated in the big picture, but the details are something I work out with with individuals. E.g., it would depend on your current diet, what Tier you've been using, etc.

The main approach that I use is to keep those workouts essentially the same, but reduce carb intake to elicit a super compensatory effect when you re-introduce them after the training early in then week.

I think you're on the right track here, esp. with mixing up the exercises,a s that will ensure somewhat different activation patterns and likely do a better job of ensuring your use up glycogen more homogeneously throughout the muscles. (Rather then more severely deplete some fibers and not others.)

-S