{
  "slug": "peak-week",
  "name": "Peak week",
  "aliases": [
    "peak week bodybuilding",
    "carb load show",
    "water cut show",
    "contest peak"
  ],
  "family": "size",
  "heat": "mid",
  "talk": "Some talk",
  "mostDiscussed": false,
  "firstLine": "Peak week is the final preparation period before a physique show or planned photo session, focused on presentation after the longer preparation phase.",
  "whyLine": "Competitors discuss posing, feeling flat or full and how a practice peak compares with show day; reports differ greatly in what they change.",
  "feelWords": [
    "peak week",
    "carb load",
    "water cut",
    "stage look"
  ],
  "commonPicture": [
    {
      "lead": "Training is often reduced near the event",
      "why": "Accounts differ in what they taper and how it feels. [community]"
    },
    {
      "lead": "Food, fluid and salt changes appear in reports",
      "why": "These are contested experiments, not a safe protocol to copy. [community]"
    }
  ],
  "watchFor": "DIY water cuts, diuretics, and fainting. A hobbyist copying a pro peak is how shows go wrong. Not a mini-cut.",
  "whatPeopleSay": [
    "**The job:** look a little fuller and drier on one day after a real cut. [community]",
    "**r/bodybuilding and coaches** still fight water cuts. [community]",
    "**Hobbyists copying pro peaks** is the fail case. [community]",
    "**Not a mini-cut** and not 75 Hard. [community]"
  ],
  "howPeopleRunIt": [
    "**Finish the fat-loss first.** Peak week does not melt a missing month. [community]",
    "**They keep a coach or a boring plan** rather than five TikToks. [community]"
  ],
  "amountsPeopleUse": [
    "**Seven days.** [community]",
    "**Water-cut talk is the danger zone** — a clinician if they feel wrong. [community]"
  ],
  "howPeopleKeepIt": [
    "**One date.** Then they eat like a person again. [community]"
  ],
  "howItFeels": [
    "**Flat, then maybe full, then tired.** [community]",
    "**If they faint or cramp hard:** that is not a look, that is a clinician. [community]"
  ],
  "howLongPeopleRunIt": [
    "**One week.** [community]"
  ],
  "deepDive": [
    "**A cut** is the season. This is the last week. [community]"
  ],
  "watchForLong": [
    "**Diuretics, extreme water cuts, fainting:** clinician. [community]",
    "**Copying a pro peak as a first show.** [community]"
  ],
  "related": [
    "a-cut",
    "mini-cut",
    "body-recomp",
    "reverse-diet"
  ],
  "researchPointer": [],
  "housePointers": [],
  "playPointer": null,
  "sources": [
    "r/bodybuilding peak-week threads",
    "hobbyist vs coach peak-week arguments"
  ],
  "disclaimer": "Community talk may be wrong. Not medical, training, or diet advice. Sharp pain, fainting, or disordered-eating concerns need a clinician.",
  "quickAnswerHistory": [
    {
      "field": "definition",
      "rows": [
        "Peak week is the last several days before a stage or a photo, playing with carbs, water and salt after a real cut."
      ]
    },
    {
      "field": "communityPicture",
      "rows": [
        "Hobbyists copy pro peaks. Rooms fight water cuts and diuretics, and treat fainting as a clinical stop rather than a look."
      ]
    },
    {
      "field": "firstLine",
      "rows": [
        "Peak week is the last seven days before a stage — carbs, water, salt, and panic — not a fat-loss program."
      ]
    },
    {
      "field": "whyLine",
      "rows": [
        "Peak week is the last seven days before a stage — carbs, water, salt, and panic — not a fat-loss program."
      ]
    },
    {
      "field": "commonPicture",
      "rows": [
        {
          "lead": "One week, one date",
          "why": "A show, a photo, or a beach day they treated like a show. [community]"
        },
        {
          "lead": "Taper the crazy volume",
          "why": "They do not PR the deadlift on Thursday. [community]"
        },
        {
          "lead": "Carbs / water / salt experiments",
          "why": "Copied, argued, often overdone. [community]"
        },
        {
          "lead": "Not the whole cut",
          "why": "The cut card is the months before. [community]"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}