Peak Week Secrets: The Final 48 Hours Between ‘Flat’ and Mr. Olympia ‘Full’

Peak week—the final seven days before a bodybuilding show—is the ultimate high-stakes gamble. After months of grueling discipline and dieting, the athlete’s fate rests on the final, delicate manipulation of three elements: carbohydrates, water, and sodium.

At the bottom of this post, we compare images of Samson Dauda and Derek Lunsford…I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments >>

The goal is to achieve the impossible: be maximally lean, yet look maximally full and 3-dimensional on stage. The difference between success and failure is literally the final 48 hours.

We recently saw this razor-thin margin demonstrated perfectly at the 2025 Mr. Olympia. Winner Derek Lunsford presented a perfect, “full-full” physique—muscles popping, round, and separated, appearing almost too big for his skin. Meanwhile, his formidable competitor, Samson Dauda, was undeniably lean but appeared visibly “flat” and slightly soft, failing to fill out his tremendous frame on the day that mattered most.

This difference wasn’t about the last training session; it was the final physiological science experiment. This post breaks down the core science of how the final 48 hours create the difference between a winning physique and a flat one.

The Core Mechanisms: Flat vs. Full

To understand the gamble, we must first understand the visual difference between “flat” and “full.” This difference comes down to the body’s stored energy and water distribution.

The “Flat” Look (The Hardness)

A competitor who is “flat” is usually the result of being extremely glycogen-depleted. During the initial phases of peak week, athletes intentionally drain all their muscle glycogen stores through low-carb dieting and high-volume training.

• Physiological State: Glycogen stores are empty.
• Aesthetic: The skin is thin, and vascularity is maximal, giving a “hard” or “etched” look. However, the muscles themselves appear smaller, softer, and lack the rounded, dense appearance needed under the stage lights. They are deflated because they lack their primary internal water source.

The “Full” Look (The Roundness)

The “full” look is the desired outcome. It results from successfully refilling the muscle’s glycogen stores and drawing the maximum amount of water into the muscle cell, away from the subcutaneous space (the area right under the skin).

• The Osmotic Equation: The science is simple: for every 1 gram of glycogen the body stores, it draws roughly 3 grams of water into the muscle cell. This is called intracellular hydration.
• Aesthetic: The muscle fibers are pushed taut against the fascia, creating a round, 3D, separated appearance. The skin is pulled tight, enhancing the appearance of leanness without sacrificing size.

The entire 48-hour strategy is designed to maximize this process without causing a dangerous spillover.

The Critical Triangle: Carbs, Water, and Sodium Manipulation

Achieving optimal fullness is a balancing act of three variables that directly impact osmolality (the concentration of solutes) and, therefore, water movement across cell membranes.

1. Carbohydrates: The Internal Pump

The carb load is the most critical factor. It starts after the final depletion session (often 48-72 hours out from the show).

• The Goal: Rapidly fill muscle glycogen without triggering an insulin response so extreme that it causes fat storage or subcutaneous water retention.
• The Protocol: Athletes consume small, frequent, low-fiber, low-fat carbohydrate meals. This ensures the carbs are shuttled rapidly to the muscles, maximizing the osmotic pull. Rice cakes, boiled potatoes, and white rice are typical sources.

2. Water: The Flush and Restriction

Water manipulation is the ultimate high-risk tool. The goal is paradoxical: flush water out of the body (subcutaneously) while ensuring the muscle cells are fully saturated.

Phase A: The Flush (72-36 Hours Out)

The athlete drinks massive amounts of water (often 2-3 gallons per day) while maintaining a moderate-to-high sodium intake. This high volume of water flushes the system and tricks the body’s antidiuretic hormone (ADH) into downregulating. The body assumes it has a surplus of water and stops trying to hold onto it.

Phase B: The Cut (24 Hours Out)

Water intake is abruptly slashed, often to minimal sips. Because the body is still in the ADH-downregulated state (due to the earlier flush), it doesn’t immediately switch to water retention mode. However, the muscles are still drawing water intracellularly from the carb load, drying out the skin space for that crisp look.

3. Sodium: The Water Director

Sodium is the traffic cop for water. Sodium, being an electrolyte, primarily dictates extracellular water retention—that is, the water held outside the muscle cell and under the skin.

Phase A: Maintain/High Sodium (72-48 Hours Out)

Keeping sodium high during the water flush helps to ensure the system is constantly being cycled. It also helps preserve electrolyte balance before the cut.

Phase B: The Dramatic Drop (48-24 Hours Out)

Sodium is completely or almost completely eliminated from the diet. Because the body’s system has been flushed and is no longer attempting to retain water (due to the ADH downregulation), the sudden absence of sodium causes any remaining subcutaneous water to be excreted, leaving the skin paper thin.

CRITICAL MISCALCULATION
If the athlete cuts water before the sodium has been sufficiently lowered, the body, seeking balance, will desperately hold onto the remaining subcutaneous water, resulting in the dreaded “soft” or “watery” look. This is the cardinal sin of peak week.

The 2025 Olympia Case Study: Lunsford vs. Dauda

The recent Mr. Olympia results provided a textbook example of peak week execution vs. miscalculation.

Derek Lunsford: The Perfect ‘Full’

Lunsford’s coach, Chris Aceto, executed a flawless peak.

• The Look: Derek was bone dry subcutaneously, with every muscle fiber separated and visible. Crucially, his muscles looked huge, dense, and “pumped” even at rest.
• The Execution: Lunsford’s team successfully saturated his muscles with glycogen and water. The final sodium and water drop was timed perfectly to draw the water into the muscle cell and away from the skin. The final result was a physique that was simultaneously granite-hard and bubble-full. This precision won him the Sandow.

Samson Dauda: The ‘Flat’ Shoot

Samson Dauda, who boasts one of the most aesthetic and massive structures in the world, showed up slightly “off.”

• The Look: He was undoubtedly lean and vascular, demonstrating the success of his overall diet. However, his muscles lacked the roundness and pop Lunsford displayed. They appeared flatter, and his insertions weren’t as deeply etched.
• The Miscalculation: Dauda’s team likely had a misstep in the carb loading and/or the final water/sodium pull.
•  Glycogen Insufficiency: He may have either failed to deplete adequately or didn’t carb-load long enough, resulting in muscles that weren’t fully saturated with the water required for fullness.
• Mistimed Water Drop: If the water was dropped too early or too rapidly before the sodium had completely cleared, his body might have retained a microscopic layer of water subcutaneously, masking the final level of muscular detail.

In a sport judged by microns of detail, the difference between Lunsford’s “full” and Dauda’s “flat” was the final 48-hour management of the critical carbohydrate, water, and sodium variables.

Summary of the Final 48-Hour Checklist

The final two days are about carefully orchestrating the body’s internal plumbing system to create the “shrink-wrapped” effect:

Peak week is not about training or diet quality; it’s about timing and understanding the delicate osmotic pressure ratio of Glycogen : Water at 1:3, and how sodium dictates where that water resides. It is the pinnacle of metabolic mastery.