Coach: Tammy Strome
As you may remember, last week E didn’t make the top 5 at the Ontario Physique Association (OPA) show, so she didn’t qualify for the nationals. Understandably, she was devastated (though she put on her best brave face). Fortunately, after a few days’ food and rest, it has become easier for her to honestly evaluate the situation and feel positive again.
There were lessons to be learned. E will share those in her post, below.
My Recommendation to E? A Little R & R
All athletes need to recover after a period of competition and intense training. E will now take 2 – 4 weeks off from training to let her body and mind rest. On my recommendation, she’ll gradually reintroduce some carbs and other previously limited food back into her diet. This will continue over the next 4 – 6 weeks. Of course, she enjoyed indulging in some treats after her show (everyone deserves a reward!) but she didn’t want to go overboard. This was a smart move on her part.
Sometimes competitors binge on sodium and sugar right after a show. The result can be massive water retention, nausea, lethargy and digestive distress.
This can feel traumatic to someone who has been on such a strict diet and is used to being lean.
It is much wiser to hydrate and replenish fluid balance then gradually introduce healthy sugars and fats back in. It allows the body time to adapt. Calories can gradually increase to healthy pre-contest levels over a few weeks.
That is exactly what E is doing right now and, so far, she has no fluid retention or other problems.
With teary eyes, this post concludes our Team T & E Journey to the Stage!
E and I will still be working together, but it’s time to move onto some other things, which I’ll be sharing with you soon. As always, I’m committed to help you, my readers, work towards your own personal goals.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. I know I have! I plan to share the journey of another competitor in the future—maybe it will even be Eftihia again! We shall see…
If you used this journey to support and motivate your own fitness endeavors, I’d love to hear your feedback. Email me at tammy@cre8ionfitnessandwellness.com to share your story and your progress.
Stay tuned for Thursday’s post, which will be about a common problem for us all–food cravings! I’ll share some solid tools on how to deal with them.
Yours in health,
Tammy Strome
Client: Eftihia
Rest, relief and normalcy…that’s what this week has been all about for me.
After getting some much needed rest and rejuvenating my body with a healthy amount of food, I’ve had time to reflect on the show and what I learned from losing. Here it is!
The 8 Benefits of Losing
1. I’m relieved I don’t have to compete at the national level in less than a year. I would have had to start prep again in 8 months to compete at the national level. The challenge would have been that women at that level have more muscle maturity than I may be able to design in just under a year. This would be a lot of pressure!
2. I learned that losing doesn’t define me. Sometimes it’s good to get something you don’t want—to lose. It takes a real champion to still celebrate your achievements even if they don’t lead to what you originally wanted. My placing 8th serves as a wakeup call, teaching me to appreciate all the ups and downs of competition. It also helps me to respect where my body is at this stage of my bodybuilding career; after all, I’ve only been training for a couple years. This allows me to look honestly at those who did qualify and celebrate their win after all the time and effort they put in.
3. I feel much more prepared for my next competition. I’ll definitely be back next year, and I’ll be much more mentally and physically prepared. The reason I became interested in competing was to push myself to be the best I can be, and that reason still stands. I do it for myself. That’s what stars do—they shine! We are all stars when we go out there and shine as we are.
4. I learned that I’m a real athlete. I’m not perfect and sometimes I’m too hard on myself and my body (competing in a judged sport makes this more intense), but I know that I worked hard during this contest prep. Even when I wanted to give up, I pushed through the hard parts to get to the end result!
5. I learned that teamwork is everything. Without Tammy I never would have made it this far. It was the teamwork aspect that kept me going when everything looked impossible. All athletes need an amazing coach like Tammy guiding them and cheering them on.
6. I learned to take my own advice. I always tell people “as long as you’re putting in 100%, it doesn’t matter where you end up!” Yet, when I realized I hadn’t made the top five I was devastated, so I guess I didn’t really believe those words. Now, I’m learning to live my own advice because, really, it’s about how much you grow and achieve, not how others judge that.
7. I realized that life really is the journey and not the destination. Eleven months ago I stepped out of my shell and showed myself to the world for the first time. Just one short week ago I did that exact same thing for the second time. When I do it again next year it will easier, and I will look even better! The more I learn and work hard at this, the more I see results—in all areas of my life. The judges may not have seen the champion in me yet, but I see her…and she’ll be back next year!
8. The most important thing of all on this journey called life is to have fun. Whenever I look at the pictures of me up there on that stage and I see my smile, I remember it was real—I WAS having fun up there on that stage! That is the main reason I will keep doing it because, even though it’s hard, I enjoy it.
Like many people, I am my own worst critic. When the competition first ended I felt like I’d let a lot of people down, especially Tammy. But she doesn’t feel that way at all. She knows I did my best and, deep down, I know it too. I’m human and it’s hard to lose but, as you can see, I learned so much from it that losing turned out to be a gift. Sometimes when you win you lose…and when you lose, you win!
Thank you all for following along and for your encouragement! I’ll see you again next year!!!
