First show in 10 weeks - peak week mistakes you wish you'd avoided?

[PowerForge21]

Ten weeks out from my first ever show. Conditioning is coming in but I'm terrified of messing up peak week and undoing months of work. For those who've competed, what's the mistake you'd warn a first-timer about?

[AlphaBulk]

The number one mistake: trying anything new in peak week. Whatever water, sodium or carb manipulation you do, you should have rehearsed it weeks out. Show week is not the time to experiment with your body for the first time.

[PowerForge21]

That's reassuring and scary at once - I hadn't planned a practice peak.

[AlphaBulk]

Do one. Pick a week a few weeks out, run your planned carb-up and see how you fill out and hold water. You learn more from one rehearsal than from any forum thread, including this one.

[BigBenLifter]

Second biggest: people panic when they look flat mid-week and start hacking their plan. You're supposed to look a bit flat before you carb up. Trust the process, don't chase the mirror every hour.

[ValkyrieLift]

Posing. Everyone obsesses over diet and then gasses out on stage because they never practised holding mandatories for real. Practise posing until you can hold each one relaxed and breathing. It also tightens your conditioning on the day.

[PowerForge21]

I've been posing maybe twice a week, sounds like I need way more.

[ValkyrieLift]

Daily from here. Even ten minutes. Your back especially - holding a rear double bicep steady is exhausting if you haven't trained for it, and it shows.

[MuscleMaster]

Don't crash your water. The old-school dehydration protocols make people look worse and feel awful, and they're risky. Conditioning comes from the diet over months, not from drying out in 48 hours.

[SteelTitan9]

Practical one: eat foods you've actually digested well all prep on the day. A show day is not when you discover a new rice or a new sauce disagrees with you. Bring your own coolbox of known foods.