Belles of Steel Spotlight: Val Eckard, Bikini Overall Winner at First Competition!

I should really name this post “How to break typical bikini competition dieting rules and win first place”, but I’ll keep the focus on my client instead.  Well, that and our collective awesomeness.

The latest success story is Dr. Val Eckard, a 41 year old radiologist who came to me already in very good shape.  She was pretty sure she wanted to do bikini competitions, but only under certain specific conditions:

1) The look had to be sustainable year round (which meant the approach had to be sustainable).

2) It had to be a healthy approach, and one that fit into her hectic work (and vacation) schedule.

3) There couldn’t be any big bulking phase where she wouldn’t be happy with how she looked (San Diego has a beach if you haven’t heard)

4) I had to know more about sports nutrition (namely contest prep) than the nutritionists she’d previously been to.  You know…the ones who are pedaling useless products, still prescribing the RDA for protein, and making people’s lives revolve around food (aka latest breed of eating disorder)?

I said, “No problem, how about we do all of that and you get a tootsie roll per day, the occasional binge drinking day, a 5 oz. glass of dry red wine up to 4 times per week and the option of going out to eat somewhat routinely?  Oh, and we’ll significantly reduce your cardio as well”.

We began training the following Monday.

Now before I go any further into the approach we took (you’d exit my site if I told you right now), I want you to see the transformation.  This is what working hard, consistently nailing down the fundamental principles and not hyper-focusing on typical contest prep minutia can do for you:

Front View:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rear View:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and the whole progression (click for larger images):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, let’s not forget about numeric, performance and health improvements…while dieting.  After 6 months of light to moderate caloric deficit dieting (re-comp), Val dropped from 129 lbs @ 19% bodyfat (via DEXA and my 14 years experience using skinfold calipers) to 118lbs @ 12% bodyfat!

Mind you, this is without doing any sort of pre-contest depletion (low-carb, sodium/water manipulation, diuretics, etc), so if the numbers don’t sound like much for 6 months…its because none of the weight lost was water/glycogen/muscle.  In fact, I’d guess her muscles hold more water and glycogen now than they did when we started…they’re definitely stronger.

Performance Improvements: After 3 months of training, Val did her first ever unassisted chin up.  Now at 6 months, she’s consistently doing 5 (did 6 the other day!) on her first set and around 3-4 on the few sets following!  Her strength has improved overall, enough that I estimate a net muscle gain, again…while dieting and getting very lean.

Health improvements: After just a few months, Val’s resting heart rate dropped from 74 beats per minute to 50!  She had her HDLs tested which have always been high (a good thing), but are now through the roof!  Her knees stopped clicking for the first time in her life, and no longer hurt after training.   And due to some intelligent mobility/stability training both pre workout and on her own between workouts, her scapular winging/posture is slightly improved.

So what was our dietary approach? The same one I always use: Whichever one meets the fundamental requirements from a physiological standpoint, and is the most practical for the client, so that she can adhere to it 99% of the time. That one works better than the “perfect” one that only the most obsessive compulsive (or unemployed with lots of time to cook/eat) dieters can follow.  Basically, we fit the diet to the person rather than the person to the diet.

This time, it was a Leangains.com based intermittent fasting approach using the same calories and macros I would have prescribed with a more traditional approach.  I’ll admit, this is not one I had used before and I wouldn’t necessarily propose the idea of using it unless the situation absolutely called for it.  This one did (and she asked about it a couple weeks into the more traditional diet we originally started with).

Val and her husband work from a home office well into the middle of the night.  They get up the same time I do: Late.  So they have just enough time to workout and run errands before everything closes.

Trying to eat like most bikini competitors eat during this time of the day would have been very impractical…and she was adamant about the approach/results being sustainable right from the start.  She also likes to go out to eat prior to starting her shift, and we all know how easy it is to go over on your daily calorie and macro targets when your last meal of the night is at a restaurant.

So we went with a 14 hour fast (with BCAAs before and after morning workouts) starting shortly before bedtime, and ending at about 4pm the next day.  This 14 hours includes 8 hours of sleeping mind you, so its not as bad as it sounds.  Its roughly the equivalent of skipping breakfast and not eating until lunch.  This leaves a 10 hour feeding window where she was free to fit all of her carefully measured food, and estimated portions while eating out.

We used the same calorie and macro intakes as we would have for a more traditional approach, but they were just consumed over a 10 hour period vs. the 14-16 hour period most people eat in.  In Val’s case, this meant more food when she had the most time to eat and actually enjoy her food, and none during the time of day where she didn’t.

So what about all the dieting rules this approach breaks?

The “don’t skip breakfast, and eat every 3 hours or you’ll go into starvation mode”?

Or…

“your body can only utilize so much _______ at once, and the rest gets stored as fat…so you have to eat small, frequent meals”?

Or…

“you need carbs and protein before you train so you remain in an anabolic state”?

…”and after you train so you maximize glycogen replenishment, halt protein breakdown and resume protein synthesis”?

Well, most of this is irrelevant at least within the context of a properly set up calorie controlled diet (endurance/extreme sport diet programs excluded), as long as there is sufficient energy/strength for the workouts…which there clearly was.  But I’ll briefly address these items one by one:

1) The starvation mode stuff is a bunch of nonsense. It takes several days of fasting to even begin to slow the metabolism…I don’t think we would have survived as a species had we been as sensitive as many of us like to think we are.  The starvation mode/frequent meal myth sells protein powder and meal replacements extremely well…that’s why its a myth that won’t go away.

2) The “you can only utilize so much of a nutrient at once” talk: We have these things called stomachs.  They store food until its fully digested and absorbed.  A larger meal just sits in the stomach longer than a smaller one but it doesn’t get converted to bodyfat unless you’re eating in a caloric surplus for the day.  And those large meals were offset by the fasting period where she was in the post-absorptive state (ie burning vs storing).  Checks and balances…just like any calorie controlled diet.

3) We took care of the pre-workout protein part of the equation via BCAA supplementation. Pre-workout carbs were not necessary because we were not doing any particularly glycogen depleting workouts, and we kept her carbs up all throughout her prep.  She had plenty of stored glycogen for the kind of workouts we did.

4) Post workout protein/carbs: Again, the workouts were not particularly glycogen depleting, since the idea was to train with heavy weights while dieting in order to maintain and possibly build muscle, so no need to replenish.  Carbs post workout do help to halt protein breakdown, so we may add some at some point, but so far she’s still successfully getting stronger (even 1 week out from her show!) and building muscle, so no need.  Post workout protein was taken care of via BCAA supplementation, which seems to be fueling enough protein synthesis to keep her in a net anabolic state.  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

So what does all of this prove?  To me it proves two things: 1) Bikini Competition is not such an extreme sport that you need to have your life revolve around getting your next meal in, or develop an eating disorder to do well.  And 2) If you work as consistently hard as Val did and your program meets the fundamental requirements, the minor details will be irrelevant, and you’ll do awesome!

Thanks for making it so easy Val!  Now lets get ready for the NPC Tournament of Champions!

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Tagged as: 10 hour feeding window, 14 hour fast, bikini competition, bikini competition dieting, bikini competitions, bikini competitors, bulking phase, calorie and macro intakes, calorie and macro targets, contest prep, frequent meal myth, heavy weights while dieting, intermittent fasting, NPC Tournament of Champions, pre-contest depletion, san diego, sports nutrition, starvation mode