How do I prepare for my photoshoot in 4 weeks with carb/water/salt cycling/depletion?

Hi Nick

I can give you general recommendations on this but there are several factors that have to be considered such as your current shape, age, training regime, gender, your usual cutting method, whether you are "carb sensitive" etc. So you can use the below as a guide but you'll have to adjust this to your needs and specific circumstances...

Generally to be ripped on the day do the following (although you have to keep very close records of all activity and food/supplement/liquid intake, so that you can make adjustments and improve the results each time you go through this preparation)...

1. Depletion Training: Between 7 and 4 days out (7 to 4 days from the photoshoot date), do 2 or 3 full body workouts. These should consist of sets of 12 to 20 reps with very short rest periods between sets. I usually do about 50 sets with less than 30 seconds between sets.

2. Depletion Diet: Day 6 to day 4 - if your shoot is on a Saturday, cut your carbs to 50 grams or fewer on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in the week before.

3. Repletion ("Carb Up"): Wednesday, Thursday and Friday progressively increase your carbs. Usually something like 200g Wed, 300g Thurs and 400g Fri. Then eat a level of carbs on the day that is appropriate depending upon whether you feel flat or feel pretty full.

4. Water: Cut the water for 24 to 48 hours before the shoot starts. Don’t drink any other liquids. You can have a tiny sip of water here and there but not more than half a cup once or twice per day – although I have a few very thick protein shakes throughout the day but no other liquids.

5. Salt / Sodium: Keep sodium high from 10 to 3 days out and then 3 days (72 hours) before the shoot, eliminate sodium from your diet. This is when sweet potatoes come in handy as they are not only just about sodium free but are also very high in potassium, which pulls water into the muscle cells.

There are quite a few other subtle tricks that can make a difference but I’ll discuss them in a future article.

Can you put up a picture of what you look like at the moment? I have a lot of experience in getting cut from doing natural bodybuilding shows.

Fantastic overview by Mark!

thanks guys, i have uploaded a progress picture that was taken yesterday...
cheers
Hirdy