In between Dia-Ins, May 7th – 23rd

May 21st…I finished a great practice dial-in almost two weeks ago, and took a bit of a break before the real one begins. The first week “off” was a little messy, as in my head I literally took a vacation from the gym, from my nutrition, from focusing on my physique. By the end of the week I was eating more icecream than protein, and half a jar of Nutella had vaporized! Whoops! When your really lean, and you’ve been tightening the screws for a few weeks, your ability to rationalize changes. Suddenly you’re on your 2nd slice of chocolate cake telling yourself, (I’m still kinda hungry and I can still see my 6 pack, so…). But 2 days later you may not be feeling so tight any more and all that sugar really drains you, it affects you hormonally, so you’re already mentally taking a hit, and feeling negatively about yourself, which is never a good thing.
I realized that psychologically I had to figure out a way to stay in the game (of show preparation), but also take a “rest” period. Calling it a “break” or taking the week “off” was putting me in a weaker mind-set…I talked about this with my trainer, and he suggested that calling it a “holding period” or a “de-loading week” might be a better term, as I really want to hold on to my gains, but at the same time take a breather from the extreme regimentation of a dial-in process.
After my IDFA show July 23rd, I’ll be using a de-loading week, before I refocus for the WBFF show August 27th. I know a lot of athletes have trouble with post-show or post photo-shoot behaviour, and it’s something I really want to address. While your stage physique is probably not going to be sustainable, you and your coach should put just as much care and thought into your post-show diet and training, to de-load your training and bring your body’s ability to handle dense carbs back up to normal levels. This can take 4 – 8 weeks, depending on how long your dial-in lasted…You want to develop healthy, attainable lifestyle habits, keep a solid physique year-round, and enjoy your friends, your work, and your family at the same time. Being healthy isn’t just about how much broccoli you eat, or how many chin-ups you can do, it’s also about your ability to handle stress and to relax, the quality of your sleep, how much time you devote to your hobbies, your family, and your career, your ability to balance your finances, and your openess to trying new things, to personal growth.
On that note, I want to tell you that I did practice yoga every single day, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I practiced Bikram Advanced yoga as well. I did one leg day last week, as well as one Metabolic Workout on Saturday with a girl from the gym who was curious about this kind of training. On Monday I started my new program, and also started to tighten up my diet again, though I’m still not doing menu-planning or keeping a food log. That will start on Monday for me, the official start of my 9 week dial-in for the IDFA show. I lost some gains in the lower back and upper arms, (that’s the last spot for me to hold), but nothing major, and it was great to eat some icecream and birthday cake with friends. It’s all about balance!
I’m going to post more entries these next 9 weeks, as I know a lot of you are curious about what I’m eating, how my diet changes as I get closer to the show, and how hard I’m training, the exercises I’m doing, and the duration of the workouts. I’ll also post as much info as I can about swimsuit designers, places to purchase heels, professional tanning/makeup companies at events, and photographers to work with…
Let’s do this, let the training begin!!!!