great question. More sophisticated/effective diets and carbup protocols? Maybe it took 10-20 years to iron the kinks out of the techniques?
I don't know. I mean the most popular way nowadays to diet is: figure out the amount of deficit you want to start out in. Set a specific protein intake that is not touched much during the diet. Fill the rest of the calories with your preferable ratio of carbs to fat. I would say most opt for lowish fat. Then all you do is reduce the carbs week by week. And/or manipulate cardio volume. It doesn't seem sophisticated at all to me.
Palumbo actually has a precontest diet where oftentimes the diet isn't altered much. When the diet stops working he increases the drugs and/or cardio.
My friend who is set to compete in a month has a 2K diet plan. He jumps on it 16 or 12 weeks before depending on how fat he is and keeps the calories at 2000 throughout.
I just roll my eyes at carb loading. I mean yes, more carbs can give you more "fullness" but in most cases the change from depleted to full is minimal. If you're in shape you are in shape, carb load or no carb load.