Quite often during competition preparation you will start to doubt yourself, what you’re doing and your emotions too may start to come into play…. Get prepared because I’m about to ask you some thought provoking questions!
At this point, and I’m sure other points in your preparation, you may be thinking things like:
- Am I going to be ready on time?
- Should I be doing something different with my diet, training, supplements?
- Am I going to look like an idiot on stage?
- Will people laugh at me?
- And for the girls, Am I going to fall ass over in these frickin heels?
The biggest question which you may be asking yourself is ‘Why am I doing this?’ Why is it all your friends are out partying and your opting for an early night because your exhausted? Why can’t you just eat everything everyone else is eating? exactly why/what did you sign up for? It’s Saturday night man, let me have a piece of (or a whole) pizza already!!!
Most of you will remember when you signed on with us we asked you to fill out an initial Goals Sheet. That sheet asked you a question, the answer to that question needs to be plastered onto your fridge, pantry and desk and read as many times a day as you need.
Of course that question is:
WHY AM I DOING THIS????
If you haven’t thought about it lately, it may be time to put pen to paper yet again and answer some simple questions:
- Why are you competing?
- How will you feel once you have competed?
- Are you just doing this for yourself or for someone else?
- Why is stepping on stage in the best shape of your life important to you and how will it change your attitude towards yourself and even others?
When you get an earful from your family, friends or all the ‘Experts’ out there ask yourself:
- Why are these people saying this to me?
- What difference will it make to them personally?
- What interest do they have in my being successful or not?
And lastly if you receive some feedback or comments which start to provoke some negative emotions take a step back and think:
- How is holding onto these negative emotions going to help me or anyone around me in any possible way?
Preparing and competing in Bodybuilding/Figure/Fitness/Sports modeling is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. You will have people around you, family, friends, co-workers and even strangers telling you how ‘unhealthy’ it is. You will have people telling you 100’s of different ways in which you should be dieting or training and 1000’s more articles from the internet confusing things even more.
The reality is very few people really understand what you are going through. If you allow your emotions to take control, instead of reasoning out why you feel a certain way, you will have let those doubting people and even your own self doubt win.
Keep the positive people around to share your thoughts and feelings with. Just be sure that at the end of the conversation you are in a better place. There is no point wallowing in self-pity, remember YOU choose to compete and only YOU will be able to see the preparation through. A good friend of ours summed it up earlier this year when he said: ‘You have to enjoy it, because after all it’s just a hobby’.
One of the most influential quotes to me during comp prep is: ‘I didn’t say it would be easy, I said it would be worth it’
Trust us when we say, competing WILL be worth it.
Take it to the next level and TAKE IT TO THE MAX!!!