I needed a bit of time to rest after the completion of the CrossFit Games.
But now I'm back!
And I wanted to chat about a couple things:
a) my thoughts about the experience of competing for visual appearance and subjective muscularity VERSUS competing for the sole purpose of performing challenging physical tasks
and
b) how sharing my experiences can help YOU to better accomplish your health and fitness goals
So...
Let's begin with my fitness experiences.
In August 2007, I competed in a Figure/Physique competition here in Southern California. The competition involved completing a series of required poses in a one-piece and two-piece swimsuit. Subjective judging determined which physique was best. And, honestly, in the Figure world, the judging system is still extremely flawed. But I assume it always will be if we are simply judging which muscular physique we prefer...
The experience of prepping for this competition was not extremely enjoyable - especially the final three months of strict dieting. I guess any worthwhile goal will involve some sacrifice... but the sort-of nutritional deprivation that one must endure in order to reach low levels of body fat was extremely challenging for me. Don't get me wrong - my diet was healthy and my caloric deficit was not too extreme, but returning to a more normal way of eating after 3 months of obsession with meals and food was a painful process.
Training for a "perfect", symmetrical, lean, muscular physique entails calculated eating and intense training (heavy lifting, interval training, and metabolic circuits). Throughout the process, I struggled to keep up my energy levels. In fact, at the end of the day, I had nothing left to give to my poor husband. I was a zombie on the couch!
I'm extremely proud of my ability to stick to a difficult plan all the way to its conclusion AND to produce a phenomenally lean physique... but I was definitely turned off by the psychological difficulties I had with the entire process (along with the hunger and the intense lack of energy!!).
Fast forward to July 2009... the CrossFit Games!
The Games tries to answer the question, "Who is the fittest person in the world?" It is a competition that attempts to test its competitors on a broad range of physical challenges. And, in order to ensure that no one has an advantage, Games officials do not divulge what those tests will be. Therefore, CrossFitters must train EVERYTHING! They must be prepared for any physical task.
So, my training for 3 months before the Regional Qualifiers AND for 3 months before the actual Games consisted of many varied tests of strength, stamina, coordination, power, etc. etc. You've all seen the truck-pushing workout! That's just a taste of the madness!
Now, we had to make sure that I wasn't working out too much. But I also needed to intermittently perform multiple workouts in one day. Training was intense. I was often sore. But, in order to ensure that the body recovers from those workouts, food is key. I had to eat... and I ate A LOT. Eating well was much easier in this instance - because it wasn't measured! And splurging was more acceptable - because my activity level was so darn high.
Not only was it great to be able to eat, but it was also fun to have a purpose during my workouts. It was amazing to visibly see my progress. And it was fantastic to have oodles and oodles of extra energy!
On my off days, I could go bike riding or rock climbing or snowboarding, and it was just an easy, enjoyable pasttime. I could feel the extra energy coursing through me!
Can you tell how much more I enjoyed training in order to improve my performance? And ya know what? By attempting to improve my strength, my endurance, my speed, and all my other abilities... I actually have gotten pretty darn lean yet again. And I wasn't even focusing on it!
How can all this babbling relate to YOU?
Well, how tedious can it be to suffer for physical perfection? How uncomfortable and tiring can it be to deprive yourself of necessary nutrition just to acheive a certain weight or fit into a certain clothing size? How unmotivating is it to strive for a goal of... looking better?
Ugh. No wonder people have no desire to get fit. If they simply want to approach fitness in order to look better, then they really have a slim shot for success. Looking a certain way isn't gonna be a strong enough goal to get you through the discomfort.
On the other hand, how wonderful is it to feel capable, strong, and able to complete a task you never could before? How amazing is it to have endless energy and the drive to be active? How refreshing is it to be able to eat lots of good food for fuel, for recovery, and for the purpose of stoking that elevated metabolism?!
My point?
Find an activity that you love to do. Try to get better at it. Spend time on your performance, enjoy the movement, be a physical being. Work hard! Then, make nutritional choices that will help you recover from your empowering workouts. Don't skimp... actually eat! Focus more on your body as a functional entity that you must feed, water, and activate. And in the process of creating energy and metabolism, your body composition will improve by leaps and bounds as well. Guaranteed.
Why go for appearance and simply be a hot-lookin', crabby, tired person...
When you can strive for better performance and complete health, yet end up a hot-lookin', energetic, strong, functional, satisfied person! Yeah!
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4 comments:
Thanks for telling people that appearing healthy and actually being healthy are two completely different things.
Function over fashion...it took me some years to realize I prefer this order.
IMHO I think you look muscular in the 2007 pictures but not healthy. I think you look MUCH better now. By better I mean it all; attractive, sexy and healthy. I lived next to professional female body builder once. Besides the unhealthy tanning and steroid use (I won't even go there) she was just plain misserable most of the time. I guess to sum it up, if you know what goes on behind the scenes to produce that certain look, it becomes ugly. Keep up the good work Kim!
It's so true, Jay. I really wasn't healthy. Toward the end of my physique prep, I began to develop an unhealthy relationship w/ food.
I was constantly drinking diet cokes and chewing tons of sugarless gum. I was just constantly obsessed w/ the act of eating/drinking. I was beginning to believe that, when I finished the journey, I "deserved" to eat doughnuts and pizza and lots of other stuff that I really had no desire to eat very often before the competition prep. After the comp, I had an extremely difficult time figuring out how to eat healthy without measuring stuff out all the time. It was as healthy a pathway as it could be (no drugs, no extremely low calorie intakes, no starvation) - but I was NOT healthy.
I definitely think that healthiness is tied into happiness, sexuality, psychological satisfaction, physical ability, etc... so, yes, looking good because you've decided to focus on feeling good is a much better way to go!
Thanks to all three of you for your comments!
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