Legendary bodybuilder Ashley Kaltwasser has proven to be one of the most consistent and disciplined athletes in the sport. In a recent video posted on YouTube, Kaltwasser shared tips for eating on show days.
Ashley Kaltwasser has been a mainstay of the Bikini division since 2013 when she emerged as a promising talent in the IFBB Pro League. She kicked off the year with a top-ten finish at the Arnold Sports Festival, which turned out to be her lowest placing of the last decade. She was undeterred by the result and wrapped up her rookie season with a dominant win at the 2013 Mr. Olympia.
Kaltwasser returned for the 2014 Arnold Sports Festival stronger than ever and took home the gold. She successfully defended her title at the 2014 Mr. Olympia and extended her reign against a slew of new contenders at the 2015 Bikini Olympia contest. She also won her second ASF title the same year and came out victorious in each show she participated in between 2014-15 except for the 2014 New York Pro.
In 2016, Kaltwasser finally got dethroned by Courtney King at the Olympia event. Kaltwasser took a brief hiatus away from professional competition to rejuvenate. She took to the sidelines for the 2017 season in favor of longevity. Her return got delayed after she decided to withdraw from the 2018 Arnold Classic due to health concerns.
Ashley Kaltwasser suffered serious challenges with her vision and needed to undergo strabismus surgery to correct her eyesight in Feb. 2020. Despite the setbacks, Kaltwasser managed to bounce back strong. She continued to compete and racked up a string of impressive performances, along with several titles, including the 2018 Vancouver Pro, 2019 Mile High Pro, 2020 Battle in the Desert, 2021 Pittsburgh Pro, 2022 Arnold Classic UK, and 2022 Legends Classic Pro. Her extraordinary consistency saw her compete in 26 shows over the last two seasons.
The 34-year-old opened up on her reasons for maintaining such a packed schedule last month. The Uber-experienced Bikini competitor likes to compete often to keep her motivation levels high as she may not train as hard without the pressure of an upcoming show in mind.
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Ashley Kaltwasser shares tips for eating on show day
In a recent YouTube video, Ashley Kaltwasser shared tips for eating on the day of a contest. She revealed she doesn’t cut out water until the show day and advised consuming light meals instead of heavier protein-rich ones that take longer to digest.
“I don’t cut water at all during my prep except for show day and not intentionally. It’s just that I don’t want to go on stage with water in my stomach.”
“On show day, you will never find me eating steak potatoes and broccoli,” she said. “There’s no point to do that. A lot of people think that if you don’t have protein for breakfast, you’re going to lose gains. You won’t lose any muscle mass in a day, that’s not possible. The idea with show day food is keeping it light, keeping meals small, usually calorie dense so that you can stay full, satiated, and have that energy without taking up the space in your stomach. If I had something like steak and veggies, that won’t digest by the time I step on stage.”
Kaltwasser listed out some snacks she utilizes to keep herself content before stepping on stage.
“Going back to small meals, I’ll just kind of snack around all day,” continued Kaltwasser. “For breakfast today, I had cream of rice with some coconut oil mixed in with cinnamon and stevia and little sprinkles of sugar because extra carbs on show day is great. Cream of rice digest very easily and don’t take up much room. I’ll snack on little flavored rice cakes. I love sunflower seed butter. I’ll usually have a coffee sipping it throughout the day. Sometimes, I’ll even have some sugar coated nuts. I don’t do these crazy carb up things.”
“I try to avoid carbonation on show day just in case it causes a little bloating. I stick with water. Another key thing is I’ll have some electrolytes in my water today just so I don’t gets any weird cramping, my muscles stay full, some salt packets with my electrolytes before I go on stage when I pump up. I’ve done Gatorade before too. I can even do full sugar Gatorade because extra carbs. The moral of the story is keep it nice and light and tight, no need to do this protein thing. You won’t lose your muscle in a day.”
Ashley Kaltwasser offered some beneficial tips on contest prep last week. She gave her guidelines for combating bloating, altering your water and sodium intake, and managing food cravings.
Kaltwasser has cemented her status as the most accomplished Bikini competitor in the history of the Olympia competition with three titles under her belt.
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