Are we there yet?

I am done.  Beyond done.  I do not want to prep anymore.  I want it to be GO time.  I want to compete and I want life to be “normal”.

When you are prepping your body for a competition you get to the point, several times, of just ready to be done.  You measure, weigh and track every crumb of food that crosses your lips.  Your standards of off zone food (i.e. that piece that touched the table or worse yet, the floor) are non-existent.  I mean you weighed that snack within a gram of its life!  You MUST consume it ALL!!!

You are in the gym every day.  Sometimes multiple times a day.  You are lifting weights and doing cardio in your dreams.  Each day loses its name.  Tuesday?  You mean leg day?  That damn stair mill taunts you from the corner of the room “you can never beat me”.  But you try super hard to stay positive.  You can watch Netflix on the stair mill after all.

With all the glitz and glamour that prep is (sarcasm inserted here) what helps a person to get through it?  Well, reminding yourself that this is a very small period of time in the relation to the grand scheme of life.  Sixteen weeks feels like 16 years when you are doing something hard but looking back you realize it’s only blink in time.  Finally receiving your suit.  Nothing keeps you from shoveling in a fistful of chips while mumbling “YOLO” quite like knowing you have a scrap of fabric you will be shoehorning yourself into in less than four months. Hearing encouragement from those who know what they are looking at.  It feels good to hear a compliment from anyone, sure, but sometimes well-meaning friends and family say things that are not from a competitor mindset.  Like you are looking really “skinny”.  But when you are in the gym with other competitors “man, you are looking lean today!” *toot toot*!  Now THAT is what you needed.

Finally, when your day comes all those days spent grumbling, sweating and sometimes crying pay off.  You will have your time to shine and know you put in the hard work and hopefully bring home some hardware.  Until then keep grinding on!