As you all know I did a four week contest prep for Kucklo classic.
It was a show I wanted to compete at last year, but in February I had a car accident that really scared me and let me make this long story short.
After different eating disorders after my first bikini competition, I struggle to achieve my dream physique and most important; my balance.
I lost my discipline and the motivation that bikini's gave me.
I got depressed from not being able to keep my diet. “Neither clean diet or flexible dieting” I exercise more than my body could and I burn out myself to the point that it wasn’t me anymore. I wasn’t the loving, peaceful, wife and mother I used and wanted to be. I was mad at myself and I blamed everyone else.
What doesn’t kill you make you stronger!
After trying out different type of diets, different eating styles, different everything.
I came to the conclusion that I didn’t need to have a nice body if I was having to battle to have it.
I wanted to own it.
i wanted to feel certain that I was not going to fall out of track.
I also love how competitors look on stage and I love bikinis. I love sports and I wanted to prove myself that the sport I choose “bodybuilding” is not the enemy.
I had tempted the wrong way from all the information out there that we consume and many times misinterpreted from not taking the time to ask; why?
After two years of finally knowing and feeling what health is, I decided to give myself a 3rd round competing. I wanted to get ready by doing what I was already doing except without the increase of calories(treats) I normally do. I decided to trust myself and let my body create the deficit I knew the mechanism of “learning” will give me.
How do we learn?
That is the big question! Because everybody wants to learn! The problem is that we don’t learn what we want, but what we need and is hard to know what we need because what we think we need is not the root of our need.
This is were awareness comes from; mindfulness!
And being mindful is not only about feeling, but about knowing.
Knowing is homework and it takes practice and several repetitions to get it.
Exercise is more than a method to lose weight or to look nice,
Exercise trains our behavior by connecting our actions to our thoughts and viceversa.
They create the chemical charges our body needs for those physical reactions we want to see in our appearance.
My hypothesis was that our brain does everything for us when we are fully engaged on what we do, by listening our body and keeping a goal in mind that is easily achievable when is present with us. I was like; “let me just chill out”
Methods;
I started 4 weeks out. The day before the show I had enjoyed myself tostadas of fried beans and fried fish so my calories went over my maintenance and more. I started at 19.3 lbs and I resumed my previous eating habits and the same calorie intake, except the final week; I reduced 150 calories when I took off artificial sweeteners to avoid any consequences to bloating and removed high fiber foods the last 4 days prior my show.
My training stood the same as it is in my current plan!
I made zero changes until I was 4 days out; I decrease my intensity and I add 2 full body circuit the last 2 days.
Results
I got to 113.3 lbs, my strength stood the same the whole time, I even got stronger on my upper body and I could perform better hip thrusts with the same weight I had hit a Pr before. I got stage ready and I felt great the whole prep, except that I felt sleepy earlier than usual.
Discussion:
our brain does everything for us! We have to activate it so that it fires our neurons to reduce the amount of work by allowing us to increase effort by repetitive behavior.
This study shows that strength is not only about power but about practice and practice. I could have got the same results by doing more without engagement, but the deal here was not to do more, but to do what I knew was going to be able to give me sustainability so that I could keep my progress and not fall into my previous eating disorders that stole my soul and that now I am happy I can feel me and I want to be me.