Help! What to do/how to deal with post comp..........

[luv.me.oats]

Somebody rescue me from the kitchen, the aroma of baking is not good!

Just finished up comps for the year and I feel like a fish out of water, for months and months everything has been routine driven, on the clock, always organised. Training, dieting, work and rest. Your goal driven.

Now that it's over - what next, how does one avoid letting all that hard work (hard bodies) go down the drain by bingeing out :naughty: and taking it easy.

Your feedback would be much appreciated.

[BANNER]

I will watch this post with interest as I have gone from 91.8kg on Saturday to 106kg yesterday morning :shock: :shock: so I did 30 mins low intensity cardio to make me feel better :oops: :oops:

[biggurl27]

Everyone is suppose to have a post comp plan. Off Season diet and training schedule and set new goals in 6 week slots. However, its hard.

You go a little nuts and its hard to get back on track even though you have new goals. I have piled on a few kgs and now need to do a summer cut so I can look decent for summer and compete at the powerlifting comp on 6 December. Trying to stick to my off season diet but have strayed, dam those cookies!!!

Its only been 2 weeks and seems like an eternity. The mental hardness you need to have post comp is crazy, you loose it and think ooh I'm a fatty as you are not in comp shape anymore. You eat crap food and feel like crap. Everyone does it just some people are faster to get back on track than others.

Tomorrow is a new day, set new goals you want to achieve in 6 week slots including diet and training. Don't be hard on yourself, you need a break. Start Monday :grin:

[deeepsouth_nz]

Agree with BG, try to start a new block of training asap - perhaps a few new exercises or things you might have planned on trying whilst in the diet phase of comp (I always come up with heaps of new things at that time dammit but no energy to try them).

You do feel like crap esp after your first comp but you just have to acknowledge its normal and not get to hard on yourself. It does get easier and less time to come back to 'normal' the more you do. I remember my first comp took me about a month to feel like I was right again or at least where I wanted to feel, now takes about 7-10days or so.

Try get into a normal diet as soon as possible - I find I might have a few days of crap (eating whatever I want) and then gradually wean it out meal by meal....eating the last of the rubbish nearer the start of the day (more likely to be burnt off) until IM back to normal again

[Android]

Yeah it's definitely 'different' going from a very regimented program to....nothing planned.

I do know there's no more need to get 1.5kg of chicken out of the fridge every night for the following day, and I can drink protein shakes again!

I am enjoying the weight gain although the abs have gotten a bit blurry already dammit, but 7kg has gone back on my frame and have started to load up on creatine so I have that awesome skin-stretching feeling back that I just love so much!

The next 3-4 weeks are where you make the most gains as you bounce off the cutting phase and your body is like a sponge so I believe now is the time to go over the weak areas (if you have them :-) ) and hit those especially hard. Before you know it you're all settled in again and planning your comeback for next year.

I am planning to cope with the change by working hard on my weak points over summer and skimming over the good parts and then review again in the new year.

I think over summer-time training and diet gets interrupted often (xmas parties, dining out, days at the beach etc) so at the very least I want to do the weak areas else they'll lag behind even more later on.

That's my way of thinking, hope it helps.

[biggurl27]

A whole month DS? Yikes!

luv.me.oats I think you have similar goals to me, increase strength, SIZE (but then you will be over 55kg next year EEEKKK!), symmetry and stay around 15% BF all year round. I think I am just round now I'm going to hit the diet/gym hard next week so not such a mission getting BF down come comp season.

Hmmm I've just got sick so can't get to the gym today so grumpy :evil: Lucky now and not 1-2 weeks prior to comps.

Don't know about anyone else but 2 weeks later and I am tired and sore as hell! Weights are up there but not back completely and cardio is a chore.

[Nato]

Well Well

I think it is just as important to eat like a pig after comps as it is to diet for a comp. I mean eat everything and anything!!! I gain the most muscle in the weeks after a comp, when im not training and being a pig and when you got back to a plan.............. it works!!!!

I competed at NABBA nationals at 104kgs, im already 115kgs.............. not even 2 weeks after. I wont start training again till im well over the 120kg mark.

you have got to have your down time!!!!

[biggurl27]

Hell I thought I was bad going from 67.8kgs to 77.5kgs! How much do you think is fluid and fat though Nato? 10kgs is a bit much though aye? I was only about 70-73kgs all of last year and freaking out at the minute!!!!

[BANNER]

Well Well

I think it is just as important to eat like a pig after comps as it is to diet for a comp. I mean eat everything and anything!!! I gain the most muscle in the weeks after a comp, when im not training and being a pig and when you got back to a plan.............. it works!!!!

Hay Nato when you say 'pig' and everything and anything would that still be your regular amount of meals? say eating like a pig every 2-3 hours or more random as you would be fuller longer, do you still take into consideration your levels of protein and such/ and during this down time are there still specific foods you stay away from due to higher saturated fats, simple carbs etc or do you just totally relax the eating till your over the 120kg mark?

[Nato]

hey biggirl

yer there is a hole lot of water retenshion at the mo......... ive got kancles lol all part of the fun a. But the wateris starting to come out finally :pfft: so will go down a few kgs in the next few days. and yer when i get up over 120kgs i would have gained a fair amount of fat....... but i need it! or training is hard work, the higher my fat level the harder and heavier i can train and better results of course

hey banner

everthing and anything means just that!!!!! what ever im craving for :grin: BK, nandos, chocolate, lollies, paster, steak, eggs, fish, shit loads of penutbutter on toast, a 4 liter icecream contaner full of raw oats a day!!! choc pudding, true mass protein shakes...... 3 every day!!!! a 5lb tubb lasts 6 days :shock.................... thats just all day eating, no set meals as such. i think they call it grazing ha ha

it works for me!!

[radicool]

great question luv me oats and by the way that was a damn impressive debut at north harbour :clap:

I'd give you some advice but I don't have any but I now understand why I'm a bit lost at the mo

tried the gym last night felt like crap gave a crap effort went home early with kfc.

don't want to jump on scales yet either lovin eatin must admit

[biggurl27]

Holly cow you can eat! :shock: So you could be consuming 5000-7000 cals per day! And you don't train AT ALL for like a month?

[Nato]

there is know way i could train in the weeks after the comp, thats crazy!!! take your time off and learn to be ok about it. its like you have to take 2 steps back to take 5 steps forward.

I was once asked "when was the last time you had a month off training?" my reply was............. that id had one week off in three years. other than that i had trained 5 days a week with out fail. I was then told that when i could learn to take time off training, dieting, supplements and everything bodybuilding, AND....... be ok about losing a few kgs gaining some fat and sofening up a bit. Thats when i would crack the sport of bodybuilding.

That was 3 years ago and since then ive gain more size and shape then the 10 years of training before that.

The down time is just as important as anything eles!! and if anyone was wondering who gave me that kick in the ass (that i needed) it was big Moe.

[biggurl27]

Good advice there :nod: I thought a week off was enough

[Growing Concern]

I agree with Nato, there is nothing wrong with a break, the good thing is by the end of your break you are itching to get back into it, maybe even your wife or partner is begging you to go back to the gym because you are becoming a royal pain in the arse from you withdrawal symptoms.(thats what my wife does anyway)

I take a week off every 3 months at least. they say you are better to slightly undertrain than overtrain. I have recently gone from 100kg to 114 since my last show and it feels good. It would be nice to be in contest condition year round but it's not realistic especially if you want to make gains(eat big to get big). The prob is post contest you think you are fatter than you really are, at least for the first few weeks.

[Nato]

just listen to your body big girl, you will know when its time to train hard again. but go a little easy the first week back! you will not belive how sore you get after a month off and how little you have to do to get crazy sore. but the results are so worth it!!!

[bj powerL]

Eating anything and everything?

Hey if it works for you then?

But I reckon it's a Good way to end up a diabetic and or high cholestrol and it puts a huge strain on your kidneys, intestines, liver.

All that overload and part of the reason you hold fluid when your overload like that is because your body can't cope with what your doing all of a sudden and to say it 'NEEDS IT' is a bit off the planet.

Hey man I'm all for treating yourself afterwards and taking time out of the gym to relax yeah definitely but it makes more sense to feed yourself good food afterwards and yeah have a treat or 3 without going overboard. Your body and brain will thank you more for it.

[Nato]

thats you mate not me!!!

i always have full blood work 6 weeks after every show i do!!! red blood cells, estergen, test,GH, liver and kidney, blood presure the hole nine yards. the highest cholestrol level ive had is 2.4, i have never had anything other than the docter telling me im as healthy as can be!!!!! and the first time i went and seen the doctor that i use for those tests, i told her that i use steroids and to try and find something wrong with me. ive had tests done just before comps and just after, those tests have been off, but that has to be expected. The docter tells me that those tests are no different than what a test would be after a week on the piss.

this is what has worked time and time again for me! take it only as that!

[Nato]

and the water retenshion is from diaratics that i take in the days before the comp. body just freaks out and hangs on to all the water it can. it takes about a week and then it just comes out (while im still pigging out)

[biggurl27]

I'm in the Nato club, yay to being a pig and laxing out for a bit. I have always been like 10kgs heavier than most birds and I think its because I eat more cals and have done all my life, heavy bones my ass! haha I want to gain some good muscle gains in the next year so being a little puffy for the a couple of weeks is not going to kill me.

As some know I rushed myself off to hospital just after Nationals with my fluid retention worried I was really unhealthy, sluglish, hard to breath, about to pop, kankles, sausage fingers (rings stuck), and round face/neck. I was almost 10kgs heavier. All tests Normal; ECG perfect, bloods perfect, urine perfect. I was a perfectly healthy subject unfornately just bloated and puffy as hell. They had no clue even though I told them I took diruretics. They said I was a very unusal subject and there was nothing they could do. I wish someone had warned me abou this before I wasted a good 6 hours at the hospital :pfft: :shock: Not the best learning experience.

[luv.me.oats]

Thanks guys, all good advice.

I actually read something on bodybuilding.com and kinda cringed, as I could relate to most of the parts. http://blog.bodybuilding.com/dvsness/2008/08/20/metabolic-damage-among-figure-and-bodybuilding-competitors/

Particulary point 2 and point 3. Hey BG, remember our shopping trip to New world in Wellys after Nats weigh in. That's what I'm talking about!!! \:D/

Perhaps it's my energy levels and the need to be kept busy and have some sort of routine, I walked home from work tonight so kinda easing myself into some form of activity- but I reckon I'm going to hit the gym tomorrow (1 week enough time off moi and summer is coming so that is good incentive - don't reckon I'll train that much over the Christmas break) Tomorrow going to change it up do some light weights/high reps, no heavy training for a while. Change of scenery and maybe some classes at Les Mills.

I'm a bit over the bloated feeling - it hurts :shifty: , whilst it was/is good to induldge. Christmas is coming, so want to save myself to indulge over the festive period - at the end of the day the food isn't going anywhere.

Going start bulking up christmas day me thinks as I want to get big!

but yeah perhaps a detox might be the first point order,

BG, reckon I'll do u55kgs next year too.

[luv.me.oats]

thanks for the kind words Radicool, did you compete on Saturday, if so, which class?

[radicool]

hey L.M.oats yup I was competing I was in the shape class red suit one of my gym buddies was competing for the first time in the purple, hula girl.

I don't train as hard as you guys definitly don't watch the diet as much yet we take up twice the room backstage with all our bags of girlie stuff :oops: :oops:

maybe I will graduate out of shape in a year or so?

[poos_n_wees]

Thanks guys, all good advice.

I actually read something on bodybuilding.com and kinda cringed, as I could relate to most of the parts. http://blog.bodybuilding.com/dvsness/2008/08/20/metabolic-damage-among-figure-and-bodybuilding-competitors/

One of my favourite studies! We discussed it here before :nod:

I know allll about the post-comp rebound.. after my first BB comp, a friend and I went to the supermarket and ate stuff straight off the shelves then took the empty packaging to the checkout to pay for it after :oops: Checkout girl was all.. "uhh, thats like, illegal"

If you don't nip it in the bud early, it can get worse :? You sorta forget what its like to eat "normally" after having regimented meals for so long eh!

[biggurl27]

:shock: Those articles were scary!