Post Show, plans for the year and the complexity of willpower

I'm gonna be blatantly honest here.   Competing is a rough sport to participate in mentally and just went you start to accept and love the body you are in the show is over and back to offseason and adding fat and water back into your body. For some competitors, like myself  I hold about 20lbs of water. When I dry out my body is shredded, lean but dehydrated and mentally miserable.

I had my show about 2 weeks ago. Since then I am up about 10lbs. My abs are puffy, my muscles are watery and in simple terms I feel fat. It's a mental battle that all competitors have to go through.  As competitors we have to learn to embrace and accept the changes are body goes through with each stage of prep.

Now for the questions I keep getting asked about my show results.  I placed 2nd in my class in a national level show. I am not upset nor disappointed.  Comparing my previous physique to my current one I brought on stage I can only be proud at the immense changes I brought within a short period of time.  Yes of course we all want to place first, win the overall and continue on to the IFBB pro league, and my time will 10000% come. I am patient, I see the changes my body makes through each season. As long as I am always improving, I am inching myself closer to the professional league.

Competing is a selfish choice that each competitor has to make. And yes, I do use the word selfish but not as a negative. Selfish meaning yourself. The sport is a you vs. You sport. You have to be selfish to yourself in order to improve. That means the bland dieting, the hours of morning cardio and the hours of night cardio. The daily intense lifting sessions. Each workout brings you that much closer to the next goal.

Personally, I enjoy the process but there are times I want to bury my head in a bowl full of cereal and eat myself to a carbohydrate coma, but it's the willpower of a competitor that is so amazing. The brain is such a complex organ with its ability to adapt to certain regimens and routines it still amazes me what an I individual can accomplish if they focus in on their personal will power.

I am not competing the rest of the year. My body needs a break as I have not taken a year off from competing since 2014. I will be back on stage 2019 to compete in another national level show and hopefully this time I will be one step closer to the professional status I aim to accomplish.