Part of my clientele are members of the bodybuilding and figure athlete crowd. I never cease to be amazed at how often the general population assumes that simply because someone is a physique athlete they must, “be on steroids” or “have anorexia”.
While it is true that many physique athletes do fit the profile of body dismorphic image disorder, I’d argue that many of their diet and exercise practices are much closer to our “healthy” ideals than are John Q. Public’s.
That being said, “old school” bodybuilding and figure athlete nutrition is often laughable. While I don’t disagree that chicken breast, brown rice and broccoli are healthy foods, exclusively eating these foods for a 4 month period is not my idea of good health. Similarly, freaking out because you ate 6 stalks of asparagus instead of 4 reeks of a total lack of understanding about proper nutrition.
This is why I relish the challenge of working with physique athletes, even those who come to me with a seriously disordered relationship with food.
The way I see it, they can come work with me and learn a whole lot about how to get lean, while staying healthy… or they can go work with a coach who tells them the only way to get stage ready is through a ridiculous amount of cardiovascular training and a healthy dose of syringe-nutrition.
Sure the latter approach can get you lean but when you go into renal or adrenal failure, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.
“What’s that popping noise? Oh wait, that’s your kidney exploding”
Ok, while kidney explosion is a joke, getting someone lean through a stupid amount of overtraining is not. I’m a strong believer that any coach worth their nutritional salt must be able to get someone stage ready, while keeping them as healthy as possible leading up to and coming out of their show.
Sure this requires more vigilance on the coach’s part, but isn’t that what these athletes are paying for? It makes my blood boil to see the number of physique coaches out there who simply regurgitate the same “off the rack” piece of junk program to all their clients. Typically, these program are neither appropriate, nor effective for the vast majority of athletes who use them.
Obviously I place a tremendous value on personalized programming. However, before I agree to design a “show prep” diet for any athlete, I always make sure to grill them on their motivation for doing a show. A common misconception is that preparing for a show is a great way to get lean.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Preparing for a show is a great way to look shredded for ONE DAY. Doing a show is also a tremendous mental and physical challenge; however, 48 hours after the show, you’ll be bloated and puffy as your body refills with water and glycogen. The psychological toll this takes cannot be overstated.
Contest prep dieting is not a good solution if your real goal is to be lean year round, which is what most people are actually after. That’s a whole different program and one I think everyone needs to follow BEFORE doing a show.
One of the points I stress to people is that after a show is done, your body is going to want to return you to the body fat level you started at. If you aren’t prepared to deal with that rebound, you probably need to get “lifestyle lean” before attempting your first show prep.
As a rule of thumb: if you can’t maintain a reasonable level of leanness through your diet and 3-5 hours of physical activity a week, then what you are currently doing is wrong and you still have major changes to make in your approach.
FYI: Two hours of cardio a day or a daily fat burner chasers are not reasonable weight control measures and have no part in a healthy lifestyle.
As a result of these little “pep talks”, I actually wind up dissuading far more individuals from competing than I wind up taking on as clients. Less money for me, but I only want to work with people who stand a realistic chance of doing well.
I’m going to level with you, getting ready for a show sucks. Towards the end of your 12-16 weeks of preparing, you’ll be starving, exhausted and you’ll routinely ask yourself “why am I doing this?”
You’ll also be somewhat of a social reject, you’ll be constantly bombarded with people bothering you about what you are eating and on many days, dragging your butt to the gym will seem like an insurmountable chore. But if walking across the stage wearing your underwear for the chance to win a trophy is truly a goal you have, then you’ll leap at the chance to put yourself through the process.
Over the next couple of posts, I’m going to spotlight a couple of my past (Emily Zelinka) and present clients (Nikki Olivastri). Their stories will help you see what it takes to get started in figure competitions, as well as what it requires to excel on the National and International stage.
Stay tuned for their stories.
Till next time, train hard and eat clean!
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