Tapering and carb-loading are basically race-week superpowers. When you pull back on training, your body finally gets to recharge and show the fitness you’ve been stacking for weeks. Then, topping up your carbs the day or two before the race fills your muscles with the fuel you’ll actually use once things get tough out there. This blog goes through the evidence on tapering and carb loading to peak for an endurance event, using personal reflections from my experience to guide judgement.

Welcome to the bodybuilding log! Here I am going to be sharing the outline of my plan for this year’s competition prep– in hopes of providing insight into what goes on behind the scenes of competitive natural bodybuilding.