It should not be harder to love the body that builds this body than it is to love the stage body

I know what it’s like to get uncomfortable in improvement season after improvement season.

In fact, I know what it’s like to do that & still be told you need to grow more.

I am no stranger to the stage lean physique and pressures of prep and meeting criteria either.

After competing in 16 shows I can confidently say that your stage physique should always be evolving therefore so should your physique off stage.

There seems to be this narrative of perfection and precision being necessary year round but at what cost to the athletes longevity and life satisfaction?

When we tout this “ideal” threshold for athletes to maintain post show I feel that it can put a cap on potential or even commitment & can lead to maladaptive behaviors like purging or extra cardio or food restriction in an effort to meet that threshold instead of seeing that maybe they are able to push food more or maybe they gain at a different rate than others or maybe the number given to them is not their best anyways

As a mental health counselor I am telling you if you don’t love the process you commit to then you won’t be committed very long & if you skip steps to the process expecting yourself to be like someone else who is “ahead” of you with the snap of your fingers then it’s only going to contribute to the failure loop you feel stuck in.

It’s unrealistic & unproductive to expect perfection.

Yes strive to be better than before & to be consistent & to challenge yourself.

But if you’re finding yourself taking one step forward and two back then you probably need to adjust the path you’re on & find a new one that allows you to make progress.

For example, if you keep failing to hit your macro targets maybe it’s time to set a new goal of being within x amount of those targets or having a few days where you only hit protein targets. You might immediately think NO I SHOULD BE BETTER THAN THAT! But the truth is, you’re not meeting the standard so adjusting, building up wins, & then recommitting is better than the all or nothing cycle

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