As a purely subjective sport, bodybuilding lends itself to a plethora of differing opinions. One may prefer a certain look or body type over another, or you may give preference to size versus shape and condition. Whatever the case may be, the athletes who are being judged must present the package they were able to put together on that day. There is no hiding if you’re out of shape, there are no tricks up sleeves, and there is certainly no real chance of cheating once under the lights. The idea of cheating in bodybuilding rarely comes up, especially in competition; however, cheating for personal gain throughout a contest prep is common practice. What I’m referring to here are scheduled cheat meals and what’s typically known as cheat reps. Each has a place in a bodybuilder’s prep and should only be used as a means to furthering your progress in the gym and ultimately on stage.
What is a cheat meal and what’s the point?
A cheat meal is just that, foods that are not in your regular diet that go against all that is good in a contest prep. Most times this meal consists of a higher than normal carb intake, high-fat content with a hearty serving of some protein that is not as lean as you have become accustomed to. The idea here is to push as many calories into the body in one sitting without going overboard and sacrificing all that you have worked for. It is not a time for gluttony, rather a scheduled and well thought out plan to take your physique to the next level. It also serves as is a psychological break from the redundancy of dry chicken breasts and tasteless rice. A reward of sorts for sticking to your diet and making great strides in your prep.
Now for what it will do physically for you. The influx of calories from the cheat food creates a thermogenic environment within the body through metabolism trickery. The body has been fed only what it needs to maintain muscle and burn off unwanted fat. After a considerable time doing this, the body eventually adapts, and that slows down the ability to burn fat. After the onslaught of calories is introduced, your metabolism will go into overdrive trying to rid itself of the additional calories in an attempt to achieve homeostasis once again. This is a good thing and exactly what you want to happen. You may gain a few pounds after eating this meal, but your metabolism will continue to run high in the days following promoting new fat loss and a new look to your physique.
What’s a cheat rep and why perform them?
Just like the Max-OT program, I preach a full range of motion in a controlled fashion when performing all reps. A muscle grows best when it is trained from origin to insertion with heavy weights for 4-6 repetitions. To effectively promote muscle growth, a level of intensity is necessary to accompany each set. To up that intensity, even more, cheat reps can be introduced at the end of a set. Let’s say during your Max-OT set, you hit failure using perfect form at 4 reps, yet psychologically you feel you’ve got some left in the tank, what do you do? You use a little bit of body English or some help from a training partner to continue the set for an additional one or two reps. All this does is ensure the muscle is completely destroyed and perfectly primed for new growth.
Like I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the word “cheater” rarely comes up to describe an athlete on a bodybuilding stage. Unless you have a few of the judges in your back pocket or you’ve stolen someone’s rice cakes backstage, what you see onstage is what you get, and there is no way to give yourself an unfair advantage over the other competitors. When you do have an opportunity to cheat, don’t feel bad about it at all. It has its place, has been well thought out and executed and follows all the rules. We’ve all been taught that cheaters never prosper; fortunately for bodybuilders, that’s not always the case!
