The Plan to Take “Hot-lanta”
When Sherman marched through the city of Atlanta, burning everything in sight, he couldn’t have had any more of a detailed, strategic, intense, & goal-oriented battle plan than Shannon drew up for me to set Atlanta on fire at NPC Nationals. My goal, burning desire, & all-consuming dream was to storm into “Hot-lanta” with the best possible physique that I could bring, & to walk away with my pro card.
Realistically, I knew that winning at NPC Nationals was a L-o-o-o-n-g shot at best. Nationals is always the biggest, most competitive show, drawing out women who not only have won big competitions but are already appearing in magazines & have corporate sponsorships even though they haven’t officially achieved IFBB Pro status yet. Case in point–last years’ winner of my class was Ava Cowan, whose photos I had on my wall in my office for motivation! How’s that for surreal? I had to compete directly against someone I idolized from the muscle magazines!
So my goal was to win my class, and thus my pro card, of course. But deep in my heart of hearts, I knew I would be THRILLED to place in the Top 5. To be in the Top 5 at THIS show, means I have an awesome opportunity of winning one of the smaller national shows in 2011.
The Plan to Take Hot-lanta:
I was ECSTATIC when I received my new nutrition plan just after the Masters Nationals! There was so much food on my plan! Seven big meals with lots of quality carbohydrates!!! I knew my body desperately needed carbohydrates, and my instincts were right on. Of course, Shannon & Rob knew it too, and they had the knowledge, experience & expertise to give me exactly what I needed.
I became absolutely obsessive-compulsive about doing EXACTLY what was on my plan. No substitutions, deletions, or additions. I followed my marching orders to the letter. I was going to ‘war’ with myself–to conquer any doubts, cravings, or anything else that dared to try to block my attack. I felt so good! My energy came back, and my training was awesome. I got stronger and stronger on my weights, while having plenty of energy to power through my cardio sessions with intensity.
My experience at Masters Nationals taught me a valuable lesson. Up until they called my name as the winner of the class, I had never really believed in my heart that I could do it. I believed it in my head, or I wouldn’t have even tried. But I realized that my biggest enemy was ME—my mental game was holding me back. I realized that I never truly believed in myself, and when I won, I actually had a meltdown. I didn’t think I deserved it and didn’t understand why! Looking at the pictures, I thought the other competitors looked better than I did. It took some serious ‘tough love’ from Shannon to get my head straight! Shannon is VERY direct and doesn’t mince words. She cut me off at the knees!
After the smackdown by Shannon, I had a real breakthrough. My belief in myself finally became whole. I believed in my heart AND in my head. She made me realize that my subconscious doubts were holding me back from really committing myself 100%. I decided that wasn’t going to happen any more, and I carved a deep promise into my heart, that I would believe 100% and give 100%. And my whole attitude changed.
I know anyone who is around me would be very surprised at this revelation, and I hesitated to share my struggles. But I want to be completely honest, and maybe it will help someone else realize that everyone has doubts. Everyone has body image issues. Everyone has times when their belief is challenged. Even someone like the aforementioned Ava Cowan, who seems to be perfect in every way, has shared how much she struggles before a contest. Knowing that someone I revere is not perfect, and struggles with many of the same issues I do, really helps me to cope with my own issues. Nobody is perfect, and nobody is immune to struggles and challenges. That’s why the mental game is the most important game to win!
And it’s funny, when my mental game changed, many of my previous struggles went away. Just vanished—*poof*! Cravings disappeared, the intense hunger that made me so miserable faded to a manageable level, and I just felt so much better.
Physically, I had some real obstacles to confront. My hip had been hurting in the glute-hamstring tie-in on my left leg. One of my required cardios is sprinting, and I LOVE to sprint! But it was really hurting me. Stubborn as I am, I kept on. One morning, I went to the track before heading to teach my Body Sculpt class at the gym, and ran kind of ‘half speed’ sprints, thinking that I could still get it done and not cause injury. Boy was I wrong on both counts! I had a terrible workout, as the slower speed just didn’t measure up in intensity—-aaaaannnnnndddd, I hurt myself anyway. By the time I finished teaching my class, my hip was hurting so badly I could barely walk. Just swinging my left leg forward in a natural walking stride caused excruciating pain.
I went in to see the chiropractor who owns the gym, and he stretched my hip very hard. It hurt so badly that I was literally in tears. And one of the sweet ladies who works there started crying because it upset her so badly to see ME in such pain! She is a very empathetic person! I sat on ice packs, alternated with hot baths. I stretched & stretched. But it wasn’t until I received ART therapy & then a Rolfing session that I had any relief. Rolfing hurt more than anything I have ever experienced in my life, but boy is it effective!
My cardio portion of my plan went out the window. So we had to retreat & draw up a new battle plan. Shannon said to just do what I could do without pain, which wasn’t much. But I resigned myself to the elliptical & stationary bike for a while. After the ART & Rolfing, I was much better, and found I could run up bleachers or steep hills with no problem. It was only flat-surface running that hurt me. So I became a regular at the local high school football stadium! This was a blessing in disguise, because sprinting up hills and bleachers is very intense, and I probably worked much harder than I would have on my original cardio plan.
And a surprising benefit soon became apparent: my ‘booty’ suddenly developed big time! Haha! I can definitely attest that bleachers will give you a ROCKING booty! My legs also started developing definition in the quads that was severely lacking before.
Our challenge was to get my legs to lean out with good definition, while keeping my upper body full and not too stringy. As the show got closer, my nutrition plan of course had most carbs removed. But this time, I did just fine with it. Again, I think my mental attitude toward my plan was the key. I didn’t feel deprived—I knew it was a strategic tactic necessary in our battle plan. And being a good soldier, I intensely focused on winning the war. Of course, it was difficult. My body became depleted, as all competitors do.
Another key this time also was that I let nothing stand in my way of resting, and I stuck to a commitment that I would get at least 6 to 7 hours of sleep each night. This was a big change for me, as my days run very long and start very early, and previously I was lucky to get more than four hours of sleep. I realized this was killing me, especially after I read an interview with Ava Cowan, where she said that as a natural athlete (meaning, no ‘enhancing’ drugs), sleep was absolutely paramount for recovery, and that she slept a minimum of 10 to 11 hours a day! Holy Cow!!! I was shocked by this, and realized that one of my biggest issues was lack of recovery and rest. That’s one reason I haven’t been able to work on my blog very much! Staying up until 2:00 AM wasn’t going to happen anymore, and I stuck to my guns. My natural ‘night owl’ tendencies had to be replaced by disciplined sleep schedules.
Nationals was inching closer every day. I will share more of the story in my next post! This one’s becoming a novel! Thanks for bearing with me. I appreciate you more than you know!!!
Be Defiant!!!
Fight For Your Health, and Fight For Your Dreams! Win that ‘war’ with yourself! Believe—in your heart of hearts!
Christy
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