robin_sinclear’s BodyBlog

I’ve learned alot about myself over the past few months…things I’m not proud to admit. I’ve had an epiphany of sorts.  I discovered that I had fallen prey to a bodybuilding mentality that was hindering my life and my athletic progress.

I haven’t been an athlete for very long.  During school, academics was stressed by my family much more than athletics. The closest I came to a participating in sports was as a cheerleader.  In my 20’s, I wanted to look like Cory Everson and Rachel McLish, but lacked the motivation to train hard and eat right.  It wasn’t until after I had my kids that I discovered my "inner athlete".  Once I unleashed her, though, there was no going back. It didn’t take me long to build a decent physique and step onto a stage to compete. 

During competition prep, I went balls-out.  I was focused, determined.  Obsessive really. Then each and every time the contest was over, I would go back to my old ways and gorge myself on all of the shitty foods I had been "depriving" myself of during the previous months. Pizza, ice cream, burgers. Inevitably, I would easliy gain 15 pounds back in no time.

My training always changed, too.  During contest prep I would do extra cardio, track and sprint workouts, stairs, high-volume with short rest periods. In the off-season I did almost no cardio and nothing but heavy weight-training with long rest periods.  But that’s what bodybuilders do, right? We want to gain muscle, so we lift heavier and eat more in the off-season, then diet all of the fat off for contests.

After my contest season ending this summer, I did this same old thing. This time my weight crept up to a whopping 145 pounds. My clothes didn’t fit. I felt disgusting. I knew I needed to try something different.  I had no idea what to do about it though. I couldn’t live my life eating bland chicken and broccoli day-in and day-out.

It has been 3 months since I began training at KOR Fitness with Russian Kettlebells and trainer KC Reiter.  In the beginning, I was just enjoying learning new things and training with new people. It took me a while to approach KC with my issues and ask for help.  Once I did, he suggested a "paradigm shift from a bodybuilding mentality to an athlete mentality".  Still, I didn’t really get it until I started to describe some of my on-season regimens. That’s when the epiphany came.  Why, when I want to look and perform like an athlete every day, wouldn’t I train and eat like an athlete every day? Why change my eating habits and training habits so drastically throughout the year? I was yo-yo dieting and yo-yo training, and it was wreaking havok on my body.

So, in turn, I have changed my lifestyle for good. No more New Year’s Resolutions, or starting a new diet on Monday.  I will no longer need to set a date for a contest to get myself to eat right. My training has changed, too, with the goal of functional strength, endurance, stamina, agility, flexibility, and cardiovascular health. I know that consistency will be the key to becoming a better athlete year round, and will therefore help me improve my placing in future contests.