Coach: Tammy Strome
In just seven weeks, Eftihia will compete on the stage. She’s holding strong but facing lots of challenges.
This week she developed a nasty head cold that threw her mind and body for a loop. It’s hard to maintain an upbeat attitude when you feel awful.
In fact, one of the reason we add supplements during contest prep is to support the immune system…so those little germies don’t get ya. Contest prep is physically and emotionally intense; it stresses the body. The most common time competitors get sick is right after the show ends—perhaps the body senses it’s finally okay to stop and regroup.
Illness can also happen after a major change: in your family, job type or schedule. Really, it can be brought on by any experience that pushes the body to its limit (usually via stress). In E’s case, she took a break from her day job. She will not be working between now and her show, so she can focus all her energy on the competition. This shift in her schedule was all it took to throw her body on the germ track.
E has been a real trooper, continuing her workouts despite having a cold. However, I suggested that if she feels horribly sick it would be wise to give her body a day of rest. Otherwise, she could be doing more damage than good.
Now, it’s generally fine to train with a head cold. Sometimes it can even help you feel better. But you should never train when you have a fever, flu symptoms or body aches. That could be quite dangerous. The bottom line is that if you feel too sick you should rest! It’s important to listen to your body.
Meanwhile, E’s shape continues to improve. I saw pics on Sunday and her shape is really coming in. She has a water-holding body type, but that doesn’t concern me. What matters is that I can see the fat coming off! Another thing is that illness makes the body hold water. It’s a natural immune response. Sometimes, training can cause this too.
For these reasons, I have officially banned E from the scale except when we need it. It would be especially silly for E to weigh herself when she’s sick, because of the stress if might cause.
On the awesome side, E is learning to give herself the credit she deserves.
She’s pushing her body but she’s learning to respect its’ boundaries, and she’s holding up quite well under the weight of all the challenges showing up for her.
Tune in for my blog post on Thursday about “Three Common Signs You May be Overscheduled” and the consequences of this in achieving your fat-loss goals.
Yours in health,
Tammy
Client: Eftihia (E)
Whoever said this was going to get easier was LYING! *bitter laugh*
As I walked down this path “two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by”* and it sucked. (*Thank you, Robert Frost.)
Okay…there’s a little self pity party going on. This week I came down with the WORST possible head cold! I woke up day after day, wishing I could crawl back into bed, yet I trained through it. I did my cardio and stayed as positive as possible until…a HUGE cloud of negativity overcame me. Or, as Tammy would say, a gremlin followed me down that path in the woods, tapped me on the shoulder, and I broke down! Who knew contest prep could double as therapy? Of course, anything that pushes you to your limits will help you face any old issues. I know this is a good thing, but it’s no fun.
I’m tired. Add sick to that and the combination wreaked havoc on my headspace this week. This prep, I feel like there has been nothing but roadblocks. Fortunately, a good friend of mine told me “these little things (which seem larger when they are happening to you) are meant to remind you to push, to reach for what you want, to make SURE that this is what you want…because no matter WHO you are, this isn’t easy!”
She was right. This isn’t easy. This is hard…MORE than hard. As the wise coach she is, Tammy keeps reminding me to reflect…on the year, past shows and even the past few weeks so I can remember how far I’ve come and keep it all in perspective.
But it’s hard walking around with this gremlin whispering mean things in my ear.
All I can do is talk back—tell myself “I am special. I am important. I am NOT a zero”…as much as the gremlin would have me believe! I am a champion and an inspiration to my family and friends…but they aren’t the ones who need convincing.
This process is teaching me that I need to believe in myself, because I am the one who needs to believe in order to make it true!
Fortunately, I’m realizing that a swift kick in the butt is useful to remind us ALL that, no matter what we do in life, we all add value in our own unique way. Everything we do–no matter how small–is important and makes a difference…even if it doesn’t make the evening news. Every choice we make creates our life and affects the people around us, so when we choose to stand up and do something new, challenging or scary it IS important! (And that’s where the greatness of life lies anyway.)
I need to remember that this journey started a couple years ago, when I found the courage to leave an abusive relationship and the nightmare that was my life. Since then I have stared failure, sickness and self-doubt in the face and kicked it HARD! So, Tammy is right. I need to remember the person I was when I first came home just glad to have survived that abuse. LOOK AT ME NOW!
As much as I want to hide myself and degrade myself, Tammy says…
what I really need to do is GET OUT and show people that this is what happens when you dedicate yourself to something, tie yourself to something—when you live and breathe it. You become your own beacon…your own light. You make your OWN path and walk it. You don’t look for the easy way, because with bodybuilding—and with life—there is NO EASY way. You climb the stair mill for 1 hour, and it’s like climbing over a tangled mess of fallen tree stumps. You pull yourself out of bed, and it’s like dragging your legs out of the mud. But you do it again, and you do it with pride, because you remember why you started on this path.
And then you say it out loud: Because I LOVE IT! I love the way it’s changing my body, my mind and my life—showing me, day by day, that I’m so much more than I realized…and that the sky is the limit.
I just have to keep going…that’s all.
