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How to Get Cut and Dry for Bodybuilding
Achieve that Cut Dry Look
There's a big difference between having a relatively low body-fat and being shredded, showing that dry cut look often seen onstage bodybuilding competitions. Being "not fat" is miles away from getting that shredded dry cut look. However, losing water and keeping your muscles full is a delicate operation.
If we regard the dry cut look mentioned above as the objective, the end goal is to go through the 4 different stages of the definition of "Lean".
The first level of lean is when you're not overweight but you can't see your abs either.
The second level of lean is when you in shape showing a bit of muscle but only your upper abs can be seen.
Level three is when you're nicely cut, body-fat below 10% and you can easily see all 6 abs.
Level four is shredded, totally shredded; what bodybuilders call dry cut. It means more than just a single digit body-fat percentage; it means the bodybuilder on stage has manipulated his carbohydrate and water intake correctly showing paper thin skin with little or no subcutaneous fat.
Minimizing subcutaneous fat and keeping the muscles as full as possible need not be just trial and error. Competitive bodybuilders not only know how their bodies respond to diet and exercise manipulations, but they use supplements to achieve this "dry cut look", even water-soluble supplements can work very well.
Any full well toned muscle will push against your skin, if there's no subcutaneous fat lying under your skin you'll get that dry cut look. In professional bodybuilding the difference between a bodybuilder who timed their "drying out" process correctly and those who don't will place them 1st or 10th in the overall lineup.
It's all about manipulating the water that your body retains; it can be deliberately manipulated to achieve that dry cut look on a specific week if you plan ahead. What is listed below is not a diet, it's a way to get shredded and it's not sustainable for weeks at a time, it is for 6 or 7 days before competing.
1. Carb Manipulation:
Any low-carb, high protein diet will have a diuretic effect on your body helping to flush out excess water under the skin. Manipulating your carb content over the 6 or 7 days before a competition would mean eating only 60 grams of complex carbs or less, bodybuilders would usually carb up to draw more water out from under the skin 36 to 48 hours before the show.
2. Fluid Intake:
Drinking a lot more water than you would normally drink will help speed up the flushing process when you start off. This flushing gets a rhythm so that on your last 36-48 hours you drink less to get that last bit of water hiding your muscles away.
3. Training:
Your training is specific because you're training to get glycogen depleted. If you train with that objective eating low carb your workouts gets tough, but when you start carbo loading your muscles are going to soak up all the carbohydrates they can get and inflate drastically, showing that full muscle look as it presses against your paper thin skin.