Scenario
A year has gone by with heavy and consistent training with an eye toward winning a National Championship in bodybuilding. Every thought, every training session, every cardio session, all the right food, all the right supplements have gone into the preparation to become a champ. You are ready and you are not intimidated by the other competitors. Finally, you are a well-oiled-machine with a purpose and you just know that nothing will stop you…..THIS TIME!!
Contest
As always, the process unfolds as predicted and on schedule. Dieting, supplements, cardio, spray tanning. All of these are prepping items for your stage presentation.
They call your group and you line up to on stage in the order of the numbers that each competitor wears on the left side of their “Speedo.” When the stage manager beckons for you to take your turn on stage, you move to his hand and he says something like, “ok, you’re on.” You move to the designated spot on stage to begin your free posing routine. You hit all the great poses that best present your body to the crowd and to the judges. Then, shortly, you are moved to center stage with your entire group to do the compulsory poses. These are mandatory and there is a very strong element of precision to best present your physique. When this is over you exit the stage to await the judges results. Tension time is now here and it is very hard to keep a lid on your anxiety and anticipation regarding the judges score.
Results
This particular year my Coach, Justin Dees prepped me much more strictly to get me as lean as possible. I followed the program and I came in lean, tight, very vascular, and a well defined musculature. I was confident, unintimidated, and ready to do combat. My posing during the last 3 months really sucked, so I had put in extra time to do it better. This mission was accomplished and I think it showed well on stage.
But, when the call outs came in I was not part of the first 5 competitors. My heart sank. My mountain of sadness and regret became the focus. The judges said that all competitors should come back for the evening show. Those who did not place in the top 5 would get a chance to walk across the stage and do their favorite pose. The top 5 would be allowed to do their music routines. I thought about the proposal to walk across the stage to do a pose and I declined. I figured there was no point in eating a second helping of “humble pie.” My wife and I went to a restaurant and I had a hamburger and fries. Yummy! It served to help reduce my sulking, bitterness, and disappointment. It was very hard to tell my Coach the results. I had wanted so badly to win this year. Instead, it’s now “back to the drawing board.” The best I can do is to double down on my effort and try to understand my shortcomings and over come them.
Lessons Learned
First, one of my Instagram Followers who sees me as an inspiration told me to “get up and get back to work.” He said, “use this defeat to motivate and focus yourself on getting better and showing them that you are for real and that they made a mistake.” Bottom line: Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Back to work!
Secondly, I will never take anything for granted prior to a show again. I did what my Coach wanted but it was not enough. I have to be firing on all cylinders all the time, everywhere, until the contest is over. Never let up!
Thirdly, Sulking never helps anybody, least of all me. It leads to playing “the blame game.” I.e. The reason for my less than optimal performance is somebody else’s fault. You lie to yourself in this way to spare your own ego and not accept any personal responsibility.
Fourthly, I need to spend some time regrouping and reviewing the results with Justin Dees, my Coach, Note: I was so disappointed in myself that I could not bear to tell Justin the results. Real Dumb! His counsel was, “Go get a Hamburger and some fries.” Thus, officially ending this year’s quest.
Closing Remarks/Wisdom
Disappointment must be used to motivate us to higher and more sustained effort. The goal being to show yourself, your coach, and the judges that you are not a quitter, you’ll be back even better than today. As my Instagram colleague said to me, “Get back in the gym!” There are contests to be engaged and won.
Six Pack and Senior 