The Week Before Comp - A Touch of Reality

I feel the burning need to share with you a gym session during the last week of competition prep. It’s unique, gruelling, hilarious and heart-breaking all in one. As follows;

·        I walk into my home garage gym and feel immensely grateful that I can do this workout with only shorts, sports bra and bare-feet. I have no energy to put shoes on.

·        Exercise #1 is lying hamstring curls. My gratefulness is gone in a flickety flash. And now I’m searingly pissed off that the preacher curl attachment is where the hamstring curl attachment should be!!! WTF??!!!  How could I have been so stupid as to leave it like that last time?? Oh yeah – that’s right – I couldn’t be bothered changing it back and had no forethought of my next hamstring session. Typical. I want someone else to blame but can't find anyone within glaring distance.

I have to pull a lever out while lifting up the preacher curl attachment. It’s a near-on impossible task. I simply cannot pull that friggin lever and lift the dumb attachment at the same time!! IT WON’T WORK!!!!!!!!!!! I want to scream!! I need to do hamstring curls. Nothing else will do.  NOTHING. It's hamstring curls or I'll go inside and do nothing!

 

My mood has turned foul and I begin yanking at the stupid lever with the miniscule strength I have left. I end up sitting on the ground and bugger me if I don’t feel some little tears sting the corners of my eyes!! Ridiculous!!Having a sook over a stupid lever. All of a sudden the stars align over Jupiter and the lever gives way while the attachment flies off!!  

Next job – I need to reattach the hamstring curl attachment. Does this nightmare ever end?? That involves fitting one piece to the other with a bolt. Lining the holes up is an almost-impossible job and it takes every piece of focus I have to get them square. I fumble with the bolt and, for some reason, ‘lefty loosey, righty tighty’ just makes no freakin sense and I’m turning it all wrong and I’m getting mighty pissed off about it. I want to use a bloody great hammer and just smash the dumb thing in – and would have done so if the tool box wasn’t an eternity away in the garage. 

I finally conquer the worlds’ most stupid piece of gym equipment ever and now it’s time to get started. I feel like I’ve already done a workout and can’t believe that I haven’t yet completed even one set. The whole workout is looming like Mt Everest and feels too big to conquer. 

I contemplate my usual hamstring-curl weight and decide to halve it. Partly because I know that I have very little strength …partly because I can’t be bothered collecting anymore weight plates. Holy hell – has life come to this? Today it has. 

Believe it or not, I make my way through all 8 sets and go on to complete everything else on The List. None of it done with style and grace. More with glares and stares. 

And here’s the truth; On completion I don’t feel ‘Pumped’. I don’t feel revved up. I don’t even feel energised! I only feel a mere smidgin of satisfaction that I’ve been able to tick off the necessary activity for the day. I had no reason not to do it and it wasn’t appropriate to use it as a Rest Day. So it was a necessary activity. 

I finished with a somewhat half-hearted rendition of my routine. Rob made the mistake of offering a small piece of constructive criticism. I jumped down his throat like a lion on a zebra! I ripped his head off and let the blood run dry. I had a small conscience-stab that I was just perhaps over-reacting slightly to his comment …  just maybe … (bloody absolutely was!!!) but had no energy to concede this fact. Instead I stormed off like a madam and had to save my “sorry” for later – when I had some food energy to make it sound genuine!! Which I did - well I think I did - don't quote me on that. 

So that, my friends, is the reality of what my workouts can be like just prior to competition day. Glamorous hey??!!! Haha – NOT. Thank god every day is not like this.

Finally A Blog - Just 7 Days Until Comp #1!!

Yes, Yes – I hear you!!! The silence has been deafening!!! I had so much to say and now not a thing for weeks on end!! I have some defences and here they are;

• I am currently on a work course in Darwin and I only have access to pre-paid wifi. Do you have any idea how much this costs???? Holy heck!! And then, top matters off, I had some sort of bug in the computer system that meant I chewed through $100 worth of internet in about 5 days!!! Thank god for a great system security program and I’m back on track – but that sure put me off the computer for a while!!
   
  My work course is morning-til-evening of legislation, case law and all things paperwork. I love it and am learning a ton but it sucks the life out of me and I have had no desire to sit and write in the evenings.

• Comp prep is pretty hard yakka. The endless food prep, sluggish training sessions that take twice as long as normal, routine practise, posing practise and ensuring all of the bits and pieces come together with regard to bikini, shoes, bling, hair, makeup, airfares, accommodation etc etc etc – they all take time and are extra challenging when I’m away from home and trying to fit them around homework.

So that’s the reasons for my silence – nothing sinister lurking in there.

Not to say I haven’t been hit with the usual trepidation and self-doubt that always hits in the final hours of comp prep. I have. As I’ve alluded to all along, the battle with making the scale weight has been intense. I’ve thrown the scales away for now because there is literally nothing more I can do to make them happy. My food is immaculate, my training instinctively proportionate, and my focus is firm. But there is no denying that this body has been under plenty of stress – from all of the factors mentioned above and remembering that I am yet again away from my family and out of my ‘normal’ lifestyle routine. I believe that my system got to a point where it shut-down and became a little unresponsive for a time. Ingrid came up with a plan and we backed right off the hard cardio, added in some stress-busting secrets and I decided to do what I needed to without engaging the old emotions too much. Has it worked? I think so. Not sure the scales do but I’m quite happy with how I’m progressing.

In literal terms – how am I progressing? Well, I’m very dry, very thin-skinned, very veiny and looking more muscular than I ever have. And I’ll tell you the overwhelming lesson that this has reinforced;

Competition is fought in the off-season – NOT during the comp prep!!!

Any of you that are thinking about competing and have decided on whom to engage for your comp prep, that 's all well and good but comp prep is NOT where you’ll be making the difference. That is just the place you will be uncovering it. The work and difference will be made now for next May and next September. Make no mistake about that.

With regards to nutrition, I’m definitely in that place of food denial. I’m hungry. I’m a little lethargic in the times where I’m doing nothing – but have managed to keep my mind focused and sharp for my classes which is great.

I’m missing certain tastes and starting to daydream about food groups. All normal and what happens when you deny yourself. Is there a way to incorporate all food groups right down the final days of comp prep? No one has convinced me of that yet. They try, and I read many articles on all different styles of comp prep – but the bottom line is this; if you are leaning down, you must eat less than you require. That’s the whole essence of leaning – being in calorie deficit. Not really rocket sciences. Those that claim the final stage of prep is still full of yummy treats and full tummies - I have one word for you - bullshit. That is all.

I’m getting tons of, “I could never do that” comments and quite frankly, I draw great strength from them as I realise that I choose to delve into an area that many fear to tread. And I love that realisation!!

I have also been asked why I don’t post pictures very often. Simple. I’m not that confident in putting myself out there for comment. I really don’t ever want to be in the position that I rely on good comments for my assurance that I’m looking on track. I like good comments - who doesn't? - but I want to be assured of where I’m at myself.

In saying that, I have added one little ‘arm selfie’ for a bit of comparison.

                               Picture 1 – September 2012                             Picture 2 – September 2014

That's all for now!