Table 3 Supplement Considerations During Peak Week

Creatine

Creatine (Cr) supplementation has been shown to increase intracellular fluid volume by ~ 3 % without impacting ECF and up to 6.6 % for total muscle volume [131]. Additionally, it has been shown to aid in glycogen synthesis and super-compensation [31, 129]. Although it’s advisable for physique athletes to supplement with Cr for the entire contest preparation, continuing to supplement throughout peak week is suggested. If an athlete has supplemented with creatine throughout the contest preparation, a ‘maintenance’ dose of 0.03 g/kg/day may be employed. If the athlete has not regularly used Cr throughout the contest preparation, supplementation during peak week would require a ‘loading’ 0.3 g/kg/day. This would translate to 25 g/day during a loading phase and 5 g/day for maintenance when using a 180lb (82 kg) subject as an example.

Carbohydrate Powders

During the carbohydrate loading process with the intent of super-compensating muscle glycogen, carbohydrate supplements may be beneficial to reduce this risk of negative gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g. bloating). With carbohydrate intakes potentially reaching 10-12 g/kg, the sheer food volume alone can be problematic. Some carbohydrate supplements (e.g. highly branched cyclic dextrin) may be favorable due to their osmolality and gastric clearance rate. This may particularly advantageous for physique athletes who had to deplete and dehydrate to make weight for their class and have a small time window to carbohydrate load.

Herbal Diuretics

Herbal diuretics (e.g. dandelion root) may be employed in an acute fashion to increase urine frequency and excretion output [149]. The potassium rich herbs may further enhance the dehydration process, specifically by expelling extracellular water [150, 151]. As noted in the text, caffeine is also an effective diuretic in non-habituated users [152], but runs the risk of causing sleep disturbance.