CANADIAN PHYSIQUE ALLIANCE APRIL 2019 | Page 27

IN-SEASON 1. Allot time for yourself each week that is outside of eating, training and working while on prep. Schedule this time as you do your workouts so you respect it and give it priority This concept will allow you to still feel a sense of self-care outside of your goals. It will provide you with a small dose of normal, noncompetition life to see it still exists and you don’t binge on anything post-season (ie. drinking, eating, lack of training, etc). 2. Include nutritional break meals in your program, but respect them. What I mean by this is provide yourself with meals that are outside of your strict eating plan to help you perform as an elite athlete (this is less important if you are doing IIFYM). This meal should still be providing you with nutrition, and high vibrations. However it gives you a break away from eating the same thing day in and day out. Again, this will also help eliminate the extreme binges of drinking and eating postseason, when you are back in a normal routine without a strict diet. 3. Talk to yourself, daily. Remind yourself of your goal, the actions you need to complete daily in order to achieve this goal, but also remind yourself that this is a competition and off-season is just around the corner. Do not lose touch with yourself while in prep. 4. Stay in touch with friends and family. What happens for a lot of people is that they get so obsessed with their prep that they start to cut ties unconsciously (“I am so busy that there is no time for friends”) or consciously (“these people are not in line with my goals so I need to stay away from them”). This is bad news, because either your friends start to resent you, or you find yourself again binging on hanging out with friends and family and giving up the time you need for yourself in order to stay fit and healthy off season.