to the feedback it gives us .
I think all of us have been guilty at one point or another of wanting to push even harder , to the point where we feel terrible , and the results are just not coming . Especially if you have the mindset of a champion . Oftentimes you are willing to do whatever it takes to reach your goals .
This means that no amount of cardio is too high and no amount of food is too low .
But there does come a point where if we overstress the body past its point of recovery ( whether it be mental or physical ), it can oftentimes leave us in a very overstressed state where a cascade of hormones will have us retaining body fat and even burning off muscle mass . Let me give you some tips on what to do if you do find your body is fighting you back in regards to progressing in your contest prep !
Drop Off Fatigue and Give the Body A Slight Break- Oftentimes even just taking a few days off from intense training , intense cardio and the grind of prepping can allow the body to lower stress and get back in the groove of progress . This could be anywhere between a 3 to 7 day either deload or complete break from training . This is why it ' s important to begin a preparation early because a lot of times you don ' t have the time to be able to afford this small break . But when you don ' t take it , you ' re going to be making your preparation a lot harder and you won ' t be looking your best .
Introduce Refeeds- Oftentimes the body gets really used to lower calories and becomes very efficient at burning as little as possible . When we go long periods of time at a deficit , we may find it harder and harder to continue progressing and the more calories you cut , the worse it ' s going to create this problem . Sometimes adding one to two refeeds a week where we focus on a higher carbohydrate intake can really get the metabolism rolling and allow you to continue making the progress you were once experiencing without plateauing .
Increase Your Calories- oftentimes one or two refeeds a week may not be enough to get the ball rolling again . If you ' re drastically undereating calories , the body will oftentimes give the signal that it needs to preserve as much energy as possible and in effect , metabolism drastically can slow down . Sometimes if an athlete tries to continuously lower calories and increase output and is not getting the desired result , something drastic needs to happen . Increasing calories to the baseline diet can give the body that stimulus needed to get the metabolism rolling and improve hormonal profiles in order to continue losing body fat .
Get Blood Work- Sometimes a problem may be more in depth than simply dropping off fatigue or increasing calories in the short term . You may be having a hormonal problem or trouble with one of your organs which is causing you to not make the desired progress you seek . Getting blood work can let us know a lot about how our organs are functioning , how our sex hormones are functioning , and how our thyroid is functioning in order for us to see if perhaps we need further intervention to continue dropping off body fat and building muscle .
Focus On Training Performance- Your