I
HOW
TO
BEAT THE
POST CONTEST BLUES!!! Written By Tara Thatcher Haertzen
want to preface this article by telling you that I really struggled with the post contest blues. After competing at my first two figure shows, without the guidance of a coach
or nutritionist, I put on 25 pounds in one month. I ate like every meal was going to be my last, and didn’t know what the words “balance” or “moderation” meant. I was unhappy, and had no sense of direction for myself. I know that a lot of competitors (especially first time competitors) struggle with this, and I would like to address it! These are some of the coping mechanisms that I have incorporated over the years, with the aid of a coach, and change in mindset.
Photo By
David Sherman Photography
Congratulations on your competition!!! So, now that the contest that you have been working towards for weeks, months, maybe even years, is over, what’s next? It feels like you have no direction; not sure what to do with your food, your extra time, or yourself! You must have a plan. Fail to plan and you plan to fail! So, take a little time to reflect on your experience. How prepared were you? How comfortable were you in your suit or on stage? Where do you think you could have used some improvement? Be constructive, and be honest. Ask the promoter for the judges’ feedback. You may find their constructive criticism extremely helpful. For example: “Need to work on stage presence” may mean practice walking and be more comfortable in your shoes (both on and off stage) or “Need to be more balanced with physique, bottom heavy” means work on building muscle in back, shoulders, chest, and arms and bringing legs in a little leaner. The beauty of competing is that we all have different bodies, different shapes, sizes, etc. All of us should strive for the best that our body can be, the most balanced. So achieving that balance can take years. So, each time we get on stage, isn’t it logical that we should want to improve on how we looked last time? If we keep bringing the exact same “look” then we aren’t making any progress. Learn your body. Love your body. And try to bring your body with the best possible conditioning. Through training and manipulating your diet, you can achieve this!!! What an amazing journey this can be!
Goal setting. Look at the weaker points that you want to work on and set up a time frame. Be realistic on how long you will take to make these nec-
essary improvements. Doing shows back-to-back can be really fun, but you can’t make a lot of improvements on your physique while you are dieting for another competition. Take at least 3-4 months as an “off season” and work on improving your weak points and gaining more balance. Write down what your goals are. For example: “I need to work on building up my shoulders and arms to balance out my legs” or ”I need to work on coming in a little leaner.” After you write that goal down, you need to map out a plan that will help you achieve that goal. If you are working with a trainer, tell them your goals, and if they can help you, they will! Following through with a plan is the key to making improvements!
Different organizations. Most organizations NANBF, NPC, FAP, OCB, INBF, WBFF, are okay with amateur athletes competing in other federations for fun, or experience. I would check out a few different organizations, maybe even go watch a few other shows, but ultimately try and find one organization that you really like the “look” of the competitors that they reward, and stick with that. That helps you, because the judges start to know your name, and can see if you are making improvements. Again, this is all about what you want to do with competing, and how far you want to take it!!! This is just from my experience, and some friendly advice. Photo shoots and publication. If you did a few photo shoots while you were in “competition shape,” it is time to use those to your full advantage!!! If you are submitting any of your pictures to magazines, they tend to prefer that you NOT have them posted anywhere else on the web, namely facebook, until after the photos are published. SO, if you have pictures that you want to submit, don’t post them anywhere else. I know itʼs tempting. Most magazines have a certain format that they would like the photo image in. Some like 300 dpi, some like high res images, and some will give you the dimensions that they wanted submitted pictures in. If you are not real savvy with these things, just ask the photographer that you worked with for the specified size. A few places to submit: Bodybuilding.com “Fitness Amateur Competitor of the Week” Great way to start getting your name out there! Oxygen Magazine “Future of Fitness” Submit pictures and a completed questionnaire in to possibly be featured online or in their magazine!!! http://www.oxygenmag.com/futureoffitness_guidelines.php Start looking at different magazines, and getting ideas for new styles that you want to shoot! Take a look in the pages of FitnessX.com Magazine! You will see plenty of fantastic fitness models, and great images, that you can use as an example! Have an “off season” diet plan from your trainer, or nutrition specialist. Allow yourself a few cheat meals per week, but do follow a good, healthy, clean, balanced diet. If you start cheating too much, all of your progress will go away, and you will have a lot of work cut out for you to try and get back to competition shape. You cannot stay at competition weight, because that isn’t healthy, but maintaining between 5-10 pounds over your contest weight should be a maintainable goal! So, in conclusion, have a plan, or plan to fail. The choice is yours. Be constructive and realistic with what you need to work on, if you have decided to compete again. Write down your goals, and have a plan mapped out to help you get there. Stay on a meal plan that is clean, but allow yourself a few cheat meals per week. Spend time with your family and friends. Try and find some balance, and thrive in that! Try new things, check out some yoga classes, get outside for some sprints, and take a class with a friend! Be a positive, healthy role model to others in your life!
ABOUT THE WRITER: Tara Thatcher Haertzen was an athlete all through
high school. After a six year commitment to the Marine Corps as a military policeman, she decided to take a job as a personal trainer at a local gym. Tara has been competing in figure and bikini for five years, winning her very first competition, the 2006 NANBF Natural Mr/Ms Minnesota, and she most recently won the 2010 Fitness America Great North Championship. She is a native of Minnesota, and resides in the Minneapolis area. She took her passion for leading a healthy lifestyle, competition, and fitness modeling, and turned it in to a business, Perfectly Prepared LLC. Photo Credit: David Sherman Photography
AUGUST 2011 • FitnessX.com Magazine
3.