I promised a friend I’d write about this…Amy Kelly, this is for you!
Off Season. For a competitor it means NOT dieting for a show. For me, since I’m probably retired from the stage it means life. Just because you aren’t dieting for stage, it doesn’t give you free reign to eat whatever you want, and skip the gym. It means enjoying a little more food, to give you more energy to lift harder, so you can make big changes. Its not off season, its on season with different goals. Instead of the main goal being to lose body fat, the goal is to feel strong, energetic, and find a place that you can maintain a healthy body image, while gaining muscle if needed or recomposing your muscle to obtain the look you want. It also means resting. When do your muscles grow? Not while you’re in the gym. Its when you sleep. Take advantage of not getting up for early morning cardio and sleep in.
I made my most changes when i took a complete year, from november of 2009 till January of 2011, to eat more calories, do very little cardio, lift big girl weights and rest. When I came back to compete again, I had gained 10lbs of lean mass in that 14 months. Grant it I lost about 3-4 lbs of it when I prepped again, but that still put me on stage the next time with 6-7 lbs more muscle than I had in 2009. If you are a competitor, use this time to get stronger and put on good mass. “OFF SEASON” is when you actually make your changes. If you are like me, eat and lift for strength and muscle gains. Strong is beautiful and well, its also down right fun to lift as much and maybe more than the boy beside me. Make nutritious food choices that also affect (or is it effect? I need my red headed english teacher friend for that one.) your internal health. Choose colorful vegetables, good carbs and healthy fats. These foods give you brain power, fight cancer and other diseases, give you a healthy digestive system. />
Whether you compete on a stage, on a field, on a court or just want to live a long, happy, healthy, strong life…treat everyday as if you’re training to be a better version yourself. In life, there is no off season.
Ironic. I just preached about how important rest is and I’m blogging at midnight…well, I couldn’t sleep. If that’s the case then at least do something productive instead of raiding the cabinets and watching infomercials. :0P~
