Post-Competition: What Do I Do Now?
Post-Competition: “What Do I Do Now?”
When it comes to the sport of bodybuilding, I could go on forever about how difficult it truly is. You prepare for months and it requires 100% discipline in terms of your diet and your training regimen. You watch your body literally transform in front of your eyes, and for a lot of people, the changes come pretty quickly. This is because preparing for a competition requires you to take extremes. It doesn’t necessarily mean you are making unhealthy choices, but you are certainly doing things that can only be accomplished in the short term. Well, once show day comes around and you are *hopefully* at your ideal physique, you get to experience what it is like to be your absolute best, physically. You see with your own eyes how lean and defined you are, and of course you get a lot of attention from others for looking this way. People ask for advice, stop you at grocery stores and compliment you on your arms, etc. It’s a good feeling... when others look up to you and can see your hard work just by looking at you. It’s an image that you work SO hard for and you are proud of that!
But after your show, what do you do now? This is the big issue. People typically do one of two things, and unfortunately, there USUALLY isn’t a happy medium. People either go buck wild, eat everything in sight, binge/cheat for days, give up on going to the gym, and gain a bunch of weight, OR they keep up with their restrictive eating habits (which develop from prepping), continue to do hours of cardio, fear “bad” foods, and are constantly worried about gaining weight. I have seen both ends of the spectrum, and I will tell you from experience, that I have personally suffered from trying to prevent myself from losing that ‘competition’ body I worked so hard for. A lot of you who have followed my fitness journey for a while probably remember this. In my past, I would compete, and then I would STAY super lean for months on end after my competition was over. I would go into my so-called “off-season” and pretend to eat a ton and change up my protocol, but I truly feared change and wouldn’t. I was totally in denial.
You see, when you prepare for a bodybuilding competition, you MUST become obsessive. Your JOB becomes prep. Your LIFE becomes counting calories, watching every single thing you eat, over-training, tons of cardio, and constantly watching your weight, taking measurements, and checking your body fat. I cannot pin point why this habit is so hard to break for each individual, but regardless, many people suffer from breaking free from this routine. Maybe it’s because it becomes normality and we secretly enjoy the obsessiveness involved. Maybe it’s because, like I already mentioned, we fear change. Or maybe it is simply that we love our stage look and we don’t want to lose that image! I’m not sure if I will ever know the exact answer for everyone, but I know for me, I love the feeling of control. And prep is where I have the most control over everything in my life. So after prep, I struggle with letting that go.
Now when it comes to the other end of the spectrum, where people DO lose control after a show, it is a little different. I have a lot of friends and supporters and even clients who suffer with this loss of control, and it breaks my heart just as much as it breaks my heart when I hear about people who fear giving up their “stage” body. I personally feel that this loss of control that people experience is something that is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. And by that, I mean that people believe that they are going to fall off the wagon and believe that they are not going to be able to stay disciplined after a show, and then, in turn, that is exactly what happens. They LET it happen because in their minds they truly don’t have confidence or belief in their own abilities to stay disciplined without a goal like a bodybuilding competition. (Which saddens me because everyone has the ability to succeed and we all possess the ability to take control!).
Another thing is that a LOT of people who compete have previously had issues with food. You would be amazed at how many people have suffered from binge eating, anorexia, and other disordered eating habits. Binge eating is probably the most prevalent, from what I have seen anyway, and it makes sense that competitors tend to rebound after shows. After restricting food for long periods of time, these binge-eating thoughts come back stronger than ever! And it’s very easy for people to lose control and just completely do a 180.
So, now let’s fast-forward a few weeks, how about a month, post-competition. Now what? Again, here we are lost and without any clue as to what we should do. At this point, a competitor has *typically* either gained a lot of excess weight since show day, or they are still just as lean as they were on the day they stepped on stage. Neither one of those situations are good, because maintaining an extremely low body fat is very unhealthy, especially for women, and obviously gaining excessive weight is never good for anyone’s health either. Also, we cannot overlook the fact that metabolic damage, hormonal issues, and other health risks are involved with both situations, too.
Post-competition is HARD, as you can probably tell. If you haven’t competed, you won’t fully understand. But maybe you have had times in your life where you followed a program or diet or got involved with a sport that required similar requirements, and dealt with the “What do I do now?” question after it ended. If you have competed, you are probably sitting here thinking about what happened after your show. You might have rebounded bad, or you might have held on to that lean physique for far too long (like I have done before). The takeaway from this is that bodybuilding is a very difficult sport, but it is almost MORE difficult to transition back to “normalcy.” And many people don’t talk about this. Kind of like in the military when soldiers come home and have to transition back to civilian life. They feel lost and confused. Well, that is how competitors often feel.
My suggestion when it comes to making a smooth transition back into normalcy after a bodybuilding competition? Have a PLAN. If you have a coach, figure out how to reverse diet out of your competition. Figure out how to back off the gym and give your body a well-deserved break. And then, of course, remember that your HEALTH is extremely important, and the best way to stay healthy is to search for balance. Don’t go eat like it’s The Last Supper, but also don’t forget to enjoy some yummy food again! Balance is definitely the hardest part of this whole experience, because there is no balance whatsoever when you are in prep. You must be perfect and obsessive and meticulous. But when it comes to everyday life, there is no stage. There is no deadline. There is life. And life must be enjoyed.
If you are struggling with food and exercise issues after a competition, keep a few things in mind – 1. It is OKAY to mess up. You are human. If you binged or if you restricted yourself too much, it’s alright. It literally happens to every competitor. It’s in the past, so let it stay there. 2. ASK for help. Talk to someone. Talk to you coach. Talk to a competitor who knows what you have been through. Get support from a family member or even a counselor. I have gone to a counselor plenty of times to discuss my issues with food and it has helped drastically. 3. If you don’t have a plan, you need one! Have a game plan for your diet or for your goals for your body, and start today! 4. Again, don’t dwell on the past. Focus on now and all the things you can do TODAY to pull yourself through this! 5. Remember that competing is a short-term goal. A stage-ready body is not maintainable. There is no sense in comparing your body to your stage body, and there is no sense in trying to hold on to it. Yes, we work SO hard to get to that goal and it’s so hard to let go of it. But we have to. To be healthy and find balance, we must realize that change is a good thing after a competition. The scale SHOULD go up after a competition. 6. Mindset is everything. Stay strong, be positive, and don’t you dare give up. Where there is no struggle, there is no strength <3
