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Saturday, September 16, 2023

US Sports Fitness: Understanding Primal Movements

Getting natural with your lifting.

Matthew Lannon

Back to Basics

It is in our nature to move. It’s how we interact with the world in order to improve ourselves and others. Today, we still have these abilities, but in more complex ways. Movement has become more about aesthetics and less about functionality. Is it possible to get back to our primitive instincts to improve our health? Primal movements will achieve this exact goal for any athlete or ordinary person.

Origins

The Primal Movement Workouts first took shape in 2017 by Hungarian professional athlete Peter Lakatos. Growing up, his instructor trained him through games that tested his coordination and intelligence. As an homage to this, Lakatos developed a style of exercise that targeted the same goals. All the while, it was supposed to be fun.

This style holds core values to develop someone as both a person and an athlete. First, the entire body is worked throughout the experience. There is no need to organize a weekly split; it’s already a full body workout. This may be the solution to anyone who does not have the time for a workout split.

High-intensity circuit training such as primal moving is more time-efficient for busy people. Wildland firefighters performed two sessions for 8 consecutive weeks. They had remarkable improvements in speed, upper limb and abdominal strength, and explosive leg strength (1). This means athletes can dedicate more time to being a person outside of their fitness identity.

Also, it plays into the body’s natural, primitive movements used each day. There are no fancy moves that need to be learned. Instead, people will get in-touch with their basic and playful manners. The playfulness will get one to look forward to the next practice/game rather than see it as a chore. It can target calisthenic strength, posture, and mobility in one session. Inactive males who practiced squat jumps (a primal movement) for eight weeks improved their lower body functionality, including velocity and strength (2).

The Basics

Primal movements fit into these seven categories:

Pushing involves distancing one force from another. It’s a natural instinct to push danger away for self-defense. These movements are common in pushing our own bodyweight away or pushing a force away from us. The muscles recruited in pushing are the shoulders, upper back, chest, and triceps.

Pulling involves attracting resistance towards us. It’s a movement we cannot accomplish on our own. Unlike pushing, we need something to grab onto to complete the movement. Pulling is seen in rowing movements in which the elbows get drawn back. The muscles recruited are the lats, upper back, and biceps. These muscles are also used in hanging movements.

Rotation is used for turning the body. It’s the one movement that is solely dedicated to the core and abdominal strength. These movements will keep the core stable while in motion. It can support the push and pull movements by increasing the ability to further contract the working muscles. Whether it’s turning to check blindspots in a car or an open environment, it’s a movement worth practicing.

Squatting is one of the most underutilized movements today. Our lower body mobility has devolved throughout time because we don’t squat as often. You can thank chairs for this. Our ancestors used to squat multiple times in a day. It’s how they got to the ground to sit or pick up something. This movement can be done on its own with or without resistance. It will bring mobility to the quads, hips, ankles, and feet.

Hinging, or bending, is another way of using the lower body. Squats work vertical mobility and hinging works horizontal mobility. This is beneficial for reaching a target that is low and far away. There is some muscle recruitment carried over from the squat such as the hips, ankles, and feet. For the horizontal depth, it uses the hamstrings instead of the quads.

Lunging is good for maintaining overall balance. Squatting and hinging are bilateral movements, meaning they use both sides of the body simultaneously. Lunging relies only on one side, deeming it a unilateral movement. This is the most evident when using stairs.

Locomotive, or gait, is the body’s natural way of transportation. Our ancestors had to travel long distances on foot. Even if the journey took days, they used their only way of transportation. As for short-range distances, they were crawling and leaping, similar to primates. In today’s world, cycling and swimming are also considered sources of locomotives.

Inner Animal

Many contemporary styles of fitness involve primal movements. Calisthenics has primal movements at its heart, making it the foundation of every exercise. Yoga and mixed martial arts have combined primal movements with discipline and natural instincts. Endurance training is even a modern form of practicing natural locomotion. The primal movements can be accessed in any form of activity. How will you connect with your inner animal?

Works Cited

Matthew Lannon

Matthew Lannon grew up in a family run by sports. He avidly played baseball and golf while following football and hockey. He was even exposed to his first weightlifting routine at the...

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Monday, August 26, 2019

BBcom Featuring: Banded Glute Workout | Nathalia Melo, Former Bikini Olympia and Start Here: The Most Important Supplements For Every Body

Start Here: The Most Important Supplements For Every Body

Chris Lockwood, Ph.D., FACN, CSCS •

You might cringe when you hear nails across a chalkboard—if you can still find a chalkboard, anyway. Me, I cringe when a nearby conversation begins with, "What supplement should I take to [fill in the goal]?"
If you are in the health and fitness industry, or just look like you're relatively healthy and fit, you've probably been asked the same thing. There are just too many confused people, wanting to believe the answer lies just one pill or powder away. And there are just as many bad shepherds feeding that misbelief, too. Let's fix that!
In one way or another, I've walked countless thousands of people through what you're about to read. This is my "keep it simple and smart" approach to effective supplementation. I'll give you six steps to help you get the most out of whatever supplements you do choose to take, and then my six recommendations for a supplement starter set.

Add One Step and One Supp at a Time

You'll never know what supplements do or don't work for you if your approach is haphazard. Instead, when you decide to introduce new supplements into your regimen, do it by an addition of one. That even applies to these big six!
Specifically, only add one new supplement to your diet at any one time. Take that supplement for a minimum of 6-9 weeks—and do it according to the label or an expert-driven article like this one—before you decide if it's provided the benefits you sought. If not, discontinue using it.
If it has helped, great. Keep using it until you notice your gains peaking. Then, you can add another one following the same process.
Getting healthy and building your body is a long-term project. Respect it as one, and you'll have a better chance of getting where you want to be without wasting tons of time and money along the way.

Supplement Basics

What To Do Before Getting Serious About Supplements

Step 1: Take legitimate inventory of your current diet, training, lifestyle, and health

Sorry, supplements shouldn’t be your first point of action if:

You’ve been sedentary
You don’t train or haven’t mastered the basics of programming like progressive overload and undulating intensity
You have a piss-poor diet
You have a pre-existing medical condition

Instead, it’s time to get the basics in order first. What are you doing, and how do you feel? Have you been avoiding the doctor for years or neglecting a major part of your self-care? Have you not trained in years, but are considering taking a pre-workout? You'd better believe these things can affect the effectiveness of a supplement.

Step 2: Set realistic, but proactive major and weekly goals

Any supplement worth taking—including the basics like protein and a multivitamin—should only be an addition to realistic, progressive training and a well-planned nutrition program.
What do you want to do, and how do you want to feel? This doesn't have to mean "I want to lose this many pounds"—although I know for many it inevitably will. It can be getting stronger, improving at a sport, doing a certain number of workouts a week, or even just finishing a solid workout program. These goals should inform what you eat, how you train, and what supplements get your hard-earned dollars.
If you think any supplement will allow you to reduce effort in the gym or adhering to a solid eating plan, then you’re setting yourself up to be sorely disappointed in your supplements.

Step 3: Eat and train intelligently for your goals

You don't have to hire a world-class trainer. Just don't be a complete embarrassment! For example, if you're trying to add an inch to your biceps and chase a triple-bodyweight deadlift while eating in an 800-calorie caloric deficit and are getting black-out blitzed three days a week… no supplement will help you. Watch the Bodybuilding.com Foundations of Fitness Nutrition course. Eat lots of protein and veggies. Don't let bad habits dominate. Train consistently and progressively.

Step 4: Recharge Well and Keep Life’s Stress Under Control

No supplement out there will do as much for your performance—and health—as getting adequate rest, keeping mental stress in context, and limiting your exposure to people who are toxic to you and sabotage your ability to reach your goals. If your friend's idea of a healthy night out is downing a 12-pack and ending the evening pointing blearily at food items on a Denny's menu at 3 a.m., hey, good for them. But if you match them night after night and then try to compensate by slamming a pre and some creatine before hitting the gym the next day, you're only fooling yourself.

Step 5: Rid your environment of harmful pollutants that you can control

If you think chemical pesticides and weed killers are the perfumes of healthy living; if you believe all things should be stain-resistant and a home or office space isn't hitting on all senses unless intoxicating inhabitants with plug-ins and aerosol deodorants; if you lather on sun block every day like you're putting on baby oil to wrestle Blue in Old School… sorry. Your life may smell like a scented candle, but your body is left battling off so many physiological attacks from these common and easily avoidable chemicals. Over time, this can significantly and negatively affect hormones, neurohormones, your health, and yes, the effectiveness of your supplements.

Step 6: Get your mind right

Stay committed, positive, and know that getting in your best shape isn't a cakewalk. Everything worth earning is earned incrementally. Immediate results can leave you as quickly as they find you!
I know it's a lot to take in. But there's an overriding theme here, and it's this: Supplements aren't magic. They won't make an unhealthy lifestyle healthy, but they can make a healthy lifestyle healthier!
Now, once you've taken the aforesaid steps and are on your path to a solid base level of fitness, it's time to start optimizing that base with a few key supps. These six supplements are ones everyone should start with to help stay on the road to optimal health and fitness.

How And Why To Take A Multivitamin

Why: No supplement can compensate fully for a poor diet or lifestyle, but these supporting actors (or "cofactors") can help make the processes in your body work optimally. These nutrients are also in increased demand whenever your body's physiological processes are stressed, such as in response to intense training, dieting, periods of growth, or immune system attacks, just to name a few.
What: An intelligently designed multi should provide active ingredients shown to significantly elevate circulating levels of the biologically active forms of the following vitamins and minerals:

Start reading about multis, and you'll sometimes hear that you shouldn't consume this or that vitamin or mineral in combination with others. Calcium decreases the absorption of iron, for example, and zinc can decrease absorption of chromium and magnesium. However, such statements are just marketing-driven spin to justify why ingredients that take up a lot of space in a capsule or tablet haven't been included in a particular supplement.
Why? Because nearly every one of the nutrients can decrease the absorption of one nutrient…and increase the absorption of something else. Calcium increases vitamin B12, to return to our earlier example, and zinc increases the absorption of selenium. Also, having low circulating zinc levels can decrease the absorption and utilization of vitamin A and folate, and decrease the amount of vitamin E in the body.
The point is that the human body has a very large number of examples where competition for absorption occurs. It doesn't mean that absorption doesn't occur at all, though; just that it can be less efficient. The human body has synergistic feed-forward mechanisms whereby circulating levels of one vitamin or mineral will affect the bioavailability of others. Therefore, take a multi for what it is: a good back-up for your diet. Nothing more.
How: Take half a dose with breakfast and another half-dose with another meal later in the day. Even better, split a full day's dose across three or four servings. If you take a high-potency multi on an empty stomach, be forewarned that not only will the absorption of many of the nutrients be reduced, there's also a very good chance you'll begin to feel nauseated within about 30 minutes of taking the supplement.

How And Why To Take Vitamin D3

Why: Most multis just don't include enough of this critical nutrient, which is now commonly referred to by experts as a versatile steroid hormone instead of a vitamin.[1] And as explained in Bodybuilding.com's article "Your Expert Guide to Vitamin D," the recommended daily allowance of this vitamin is pretty low—especially considering that much of the population of the United States is estimated to be deficient in this nutrient, which plays a big role in health and vitality across the body.
Using between 4,000 IUs to about 8,500 IUs per day has been shown to provide a significant and beneficial effect on measures of exercise performance.[2] Most multis contain 600-1000 IUs, if that.
What: Cholecalciferol is the D3 form of this vitamin. The ergocalciferol, or D2 form, albeit much cheaper, has regularly been shown to be significantly less effective than the D3 form at raising circulating levels of the active form of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) in the blood.
How: Take 2,000-4,000 IUs with breakfast and again with another meal later in the day. It's a fat-soluble vitamin, so taking it on its own isn't likely to be as effective. And even if you take a vitamin D supplement, still get out in the sunshine.

How And Why To Take Protein Powder

Why: Protein is the only major nutrient that stimulates muscle protein synthesis, the process by which your body repairs and grows muscle. But it also improves insulin sensitivity and blood glucose control, supports healthy blood pressure and inflammatory response, reduces age- or inactivity-induced losses in muscle and strength, and is critical for a robust immune system. Plus, protein increases calorie burning (thermogenesis) and reduces hunger more than either carbohydrates or fat.
And no, it's not just for when you're looking to gain weight. When combined with a calorie-restricted diet, supplementing with protein also increases the loss of body fat and weight, and reduces the loss of lean body mass.
In today's market there are plenty of options for where you can get your protein: dairy, egg, chicken or other animal sources, vegetable (soy, rice, pumpkin, hemp, etc.), fish, algae like spirulina—the list goes on and on. However, I'm of the opinion that the conversation begins with whey.
Why? Because for the human body, whey is literally the protein of life. Whey makes up almost 92 percent of the total protein present within human breast milk at early lactation, and is still about 55-60 percent of the total protein in breast milk when children have been fed for more than two years. Even if the mother is strictly vegan, she still produces whey protein to provide for the robust needs and health of her offspring.
All other proteins are fine as a matter of variety and a source of amino acids, but whey is the most popular for a good reason.
What: If your goal is to get bigger and stronger, any whey protein concentrate (WPC) will do just fine. If you're following a carb- or fat-restricted diet, or if you have a genuine lactose allergy, then reach for a whey protein isolate (WPI).
A hydrolyzed ("pre-digested") WPC or WPI, though more expensive, can also be used if you typically get an upset stomach by consuming dairy proteins, or if you want more insulin response. Plus, some evidence suggests that extensively hydrolyzed forms of whey may promote greater fat burning than other forms of whey.[3] Data is equivocal if moderately hydrolyzed whey can provide the same benefit, and no quality data supports any advantage of using minimally hydrolyzed whey.
How: The majority of the studies support consuming at least 20 grams of whey per serving, at least once, but possibly multiple times per day. To help reduce appetite and lower blood glucose response to a meal, drink a whey shake at least 30 minutes prior to eating a meal. Around exercise, there's really no wrong or conclusively right time to consume whey: pre-, intra-, or post-workout. Each has its potential benefit, depending upon other factors. The main point is, consuming whey around the time of your workouts can amplify the positive effects of your training.

How And Why To Take Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Why: In addition to being a source of caloric energy, fatty acids (FAs) are something every cell in your body uses as the foundation of its fluid membrane. Since cells are constantly being rebuilt and destroyed, you can hopefully understand why having a diet high in essential FAs (EFAs) is necessary to support optimal health and fitness.
FAs are also critical as metabolic precursors for hormones and they help your immune system operate properly. Notably, when consumed in adequate amounts and ratios to other FAs, certain FAs provide a potent anti-inflammatory response which is necessary to recover rapidly from intense workouts or the stress that occurs because of inadequate sleep, a poor diet, or other environmental and lifestyle stressors.
In one well-designed study, when 4 grams per day of a certain FA was consumed in the absence of any other nutrients, there was no direct effect on stimulating muscle protein synthesis or pathways that lead to increased muscle growth in healthy, but physically inactive men and women. However, when blood levels of insulin and amino acids were increased, the EFA supplement increased the anabolic effects by approximately 50 percent over what occurred in response to just the insulin plus amino acids.[4]
The upshot for you: EFAs don't just offer great benefits on their own, they also make other nutrients work even better.

What: Omega-3s are particularly important forms of EFAs, should be supplemented regularly, and occur in higher concentration in fish than plants. Fish-derived omega-3s also yield a higher concentration of two powerhouse EFAs, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
When buying an omega-3 supplement, reach for those that provide the FAs in natural triglyceride, or free fatty acid form. The other most popular options include ethyl ester, concentrates, or "pharmaceutical grade" forms, all of which are required in higher doses to provide comparable rises in blood levels of what occurs in response to lower doses of the naturally occurring form. Even then, the ethyl esters don't appear as consistently or nearly as effective as when omega-3s are provided as free fatty acids.[5,6]
How: To support a healthy inflammatory response to exercise and other forms of physiological stress, as well as to support mood and mental health, and promote a healthy heart and healthy-looking skin, consume at least 2.8 grams per day of combined EPA and DHA, in about a 1.75:1.00 ratio of EPA to DHA.
Also, the more processed grains, refined vegetable oils, eggs and other poultry, red meat, pork products, cheese and other forms of dairy that you consume, the more your fat intake will tilt toward omega-6s. This increases the need for omega-3s to achieve a healthy ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. An even 1:1 to not more than a 4:1 ratio is optimal; a typical Western diet is in excess of 18:1 omega-6s to omega-3.[7]

How And Why To Take A Multi-Phytochemical Or Greens Supplement

Why: Less than a decade ago, the vast majority of college-level nutrition textbooks considered plant-based foods as little more than sources of calories, major nutrients (e.g., carbs, fat, protein), fiber, and the essential vitamins and minerals. But partly due to the continued growth of integrative and alternative medicine and osteopathic medicine programs, a wide range of new (and ancient) plants have burst into the mainstream.
Hopefully the textbooks ten years from now will have caught up to what nutrition experts in the trenches are realizing more every day: namely, that phytochemicals (secondary metabolites from plant-based sources) have the potential to unlock a world of optimal health and fitness benefits.
What: Given how different phytochemical supplements can be, it's hard to make sweeping conclusions. As a very general rule, most powdered forms of botanicals and their constituent major categories of phytochemicals (e.g., phenolic compounds) are of limited efficacy in doses of less than about three grams per day, and most sub-categories of those major phytochemicals (e.g., total flavonoids) require you take at least 500 milligrams per serving to reap their true benefits. Sure, there are exceptions, like when the alkaloid caffeine is isolated and extensively concentrated from its original source.
In lieu of giving any specific recommendations, I'd advise to take a product, but not stick with it for more than 6-12 weeks. Some of the major and sub-categories of phytochemicals to look for include:
Terpenoids (carotenoids, triterpenoids, and phytosterols)
Phenolic compounds, including:

Aromatic acids
Polyphenols (flavonoids, flavan-3-ols, anthocyanidins, and anthocyanins)
Isoflavonoids
Stilbenoids
Tannins

Alkaloids
Glucosinolates
Nitrogen-containing compounds
Organosulfur compounds
How: There's no one-size-fits-all dosage strategy that works across every category and sub-category of phytochemical. But many phytochemicals have been found to be more effective when consumed with food. For a few examples, omega-3s, vitamin C, and the beneficial active ingredients endemic to spicy foods have been shown to increase the bioavailability of some of the most beneficial, but least absorptive, phytonutrients.

How And Why To Take A Probiotic

Why: Unlike bad bacteria strains like Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli that can make you sick or worse if they enter your digestive system in high enough numbers, there's a growing list of good bugs that should take up residency within your body if you're to maintain optimal health.
Consuming a wide variety of fresh or lightly cooked organic fruits and vegetables can do wonders for supporting a healthy and diverse population of beneficial bacteria, and that's where your strategy should start. But unfortunately, the environment you live in, how you respond to stress, your lifestyle and diet, eating processed foods, and a wide host of chemicals (including high-intensity sweeteners—both "natural" and artificial) can beat the life out of these gut good-guys.
What: The lactobacilli and bifidobacteria strains of probiotics are the most common that you'll find in almost all supplements. Current recommendations are that you cycle between products that contain a variety of different probiotic strains, because once you get enough good bugs in your system and consume a sound diet with ample variety, the good guys will multiply on their own.
Therefore, like a healthy society, you want to increase the diversity and the total number of good guy bugs as opposed to just supporting a single homogenous sub-population. Also, only choose probiotics from companies that will provide a guarantee of the total number of active "colony-forming units" (CFUs) for each of the probiotic strains listed on the product, all the way up to the product's expiration date. Otherwise, it's very likely that what was originally in the supplement has decreased dramatically since manufacturing.
How: Consume probiotics with meals or snacks high in plant (vegetable and fruit) polyphenols, other phytochemicals, omega-3s, and other "good" fats.

References

Norman, A. W. (2008). From vitamin D to hormone D: fundamentals of the vitamin D endocrine system essential for good health. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 88(2), 491S-499S.
Tomlinson, P. B., Joseph, C., & Angioi, M. (2015). Effects of vitamin D supplementation on upper and lower body muscle strength levels in healthy individuals. A systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 18(5), 575-580.
Lockwood, C. M., Roberts, M. D., Dalbo, V. J., Smith-Ryan, A. E., Kendall, K. L., Moon, J. R., & Stout, J. R. (2017). Effects of hydrolyzed whey versus other whey protein supplements on the physiological response to 8 weeks of resistance exercise in college-aged males. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 36(1), 16-27.
Smith, G. I., Atherton, P., Reeds, D. N., Mohammed, B. S., Rankin, D., Rennie, M. J., & Mittendorfer, B. (2011). Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids augment the muscle protein anabolic response to hyperinsulinaemia–hyperaminoacidaemia in healthy young and middle-aged men and women. Clinical Science, 121(6), 267-278.
Offman, E., Marenco, T., Ferber, S., Johnson, J., Kling, D., Curcio, D., & Davidson, M. (2013). Steady-state bioavailability of prescription omega-3 on a low-fat diet is significantly improved with a free fatty acid formulation compared with an ethyl ester formulation: the ECLIPSE II study. Vascular Health and Risk Management, 9, 563.
Offman, E., Davidson, M., Abu-Rashid, M., Chai, P., & Nilsson, C. (2017). Systemic bioavailability and dose proportionality of omega-3 administered in free fatty acid form compared with ethyl ester form: Results of a phase 1 study in healthy volunteers. European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, 42(5), 815-825.
DiNicolantonio, J. J., & O'Keefe, J. H. (2018). Importance of maintaining a low omega–6/omega–3 ratio for reducing inflammation. Open Heart, 5(2), e000946.

Thursday, May 3, 2018

BPI Sports-POST SHOW: THE AFTERMATH

From BPISports

What is post show? Post show is the phase after you have completed a show. In my opinion, post show is much more difficult than the contest prep itself. If you are a member of a local gym, you are likely friends or at least gym acquaintances with a competitor. Competing is popular, and you’ve also likely been following many competitors on various forms of social media. You have followed their impressive journey to stage – from the dieting, the endless selfies, the improved physique, and then all the stage shots. You understand the process of the contest prep, but what about after the show? Do you fully understand this phase?

It is very important to understand what post show is and be ready for it, both physically and mentally. During contest prep, you are so focused on one thing and one thing only: getting on stage and looking your best. It is easy to stay on track because anytime your mind wonders, temptations rise or you consider getting off track, you quickly think about the stage and it seems you have the inner strength of a ninja to stay on track and keep on going. However, once the show is complete, you don’t have this “stay on track” mentality because you are no longer stepping on stage. This is when the battle of wanting to stay on track but not having to do so sets in. This is where the problems can begin to arise.

If you have been dieting for 16 weeks or longer, it is crucial that you reverse diet out of a show. What is reverse dieting? It is as the name applies: “reversing out a diet” means slowly increasing calories to allow your metabolism to adjust to the increased calories while maintaining body fat.

For more information on Reverse Dieting, stay tuned for another blog next month!

PHYSICAL EFFECTS

Most people don’t have the information or knowledge to reverse diet, and end up going back to “normal” eating after their show or even worse: bingeing. Bingeing is when someone eats a large amount of food – more than the average person – during one particular period of time. Often, when someone binges, it’s as if they’ve lost control over themselves and continue to eat even when they are already fully satisfied. After being on a restricted diet for so long, it is very common for this to occur, and many competitors (myself included) have experienced this on occasion.

Having some structure and a reverse diet set in place can help prevent this bingeing. Let’s consider bingeing’s impact on the body. During a binge, someone can easily consume more calories than they eat in a two-day period on their normal diet plan. The problem with this is that after a long period of dieting, the body is “impaired”. Your metabolism isn’t as fast, Leptin levels are decreased, and thyroid production isn’t as efficient, so you aren’t burning as many calories as you would if you hadn’t been dieting for an extended period of time.

So now you have a slow metabolism and you just consumed enough food to feed a tiny village… the result? Potential metabolic damage due to elevated insulin levels, which will in turn cause your metabolism to slow down. Excess insulin levels will lead to increased fat storage. It will also have a negative effect on your thyroid: which is another powerful factor in metabolism. Along with these negative metabolic effects, energy levels plummet, making daily tasks a lot more difficult.

As you can see, bingeing has some serious consequences, but what is much more detrimental is the psychological effects it can have on someone. Bingeing can also sometimes lead to an eating disorder referred to as Binge Eating Disorder. According to WebMD.com these symptoms include:

You eat more food than other people do in the same situation
Feel like you can’t control how much you eat
Feel upset after you binge
Have an eating binge at least once a week for three months on average

Although I have experienced binge eating a few times before, I do not have them frequently and would not be classified as having this disorder. I therefore, cannot speak on those who deal with this, but recommend professional help if this criterion meets your own.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SIDE EFFECTS

Let’s rewind back to hitting the stage. For most people, you have just accomplished something quite extraordinary – being able to manipulate your body and get it stage ready is a huge accomplishment and no easy task. It is amazing to see yourself turn into this tiny little action figure. The problem? Once you have seen yourself at “your best” it can completely distort your body image and the way in which you view yourself and others moving forward. If you aren’t educated on the concept of dieting and stage leanness you might think that it’s realistic to look that way year-round, so when you start to soften up after the show, which is necessary, it can hit you hard.

It is very important to understand that manipulating your body to compete is for stage purposes and stage purposes only – it is not realistic and definitely not an attainable look to strive towards year-round. Your entire body would be out of whack, and as I have said before, the body doesn’t like to be “out of whack.” It will fight back in order to restore balance.

It is important to understand that you NEED fat. A women’s body is this immaculate and quite incredible thing: we can create a human inside of us! This isn’t something to be taken lightly. We are amazing. That being said, your body is made to make babies, and it NEEDS fat in order to do so. Even if you aren’t carrying a baby, your body needs fat to function optimally. When I am stage lean, I don’t function optimally, and neither do you. I have little to no energy, I am moody, I have little to no sex drive, I have no personality; I am literally a walking “zombie.” Hell, I look badass but I am just a blob of a person. It’s great to accomplish this for a short period of time and for competition purposes, but full time, HELL NO.

You must eat more food again, gain weight again, function properly again. Don’t be so consumed by looking a certain way that you forget to live your life feeling good and being healthy on the INSIDE.

Everyone’s body is different; we all carry fat differently. Some carry less, others more. Some put on muscle easy, others not so much. We are all unique in our own way, and this is what makes us human. Each of us have our own strengths, our own weaknesses, but they are different. We all have our vulnerabilities, our moments of doubt and weakness.

Social media might be one of the culprits. I love social media and what is has done for me and my career but it tends to lead to constant physique comparison. Comparison of others is one of the killers of happiness. We look at other people, we focus in on their strengths, their successes and then we focus in on our own weakness our own failures.

I too compare myself to others; sometimes I wish I was someone else. I wish things came easier, I wish I looked like this…. “wish, wish, wish.” The problem with wishing is that it doesn’t do ANYTHING. You can sit there and dwell on what you don’t have, and trust me I have, but at the end of the day it doesn’t solve anything. You are you, own that sh*t. Be proud that you have differences. Be proud that you are unique. Be proud of who you are. Don’t focus on others and how you wish you were them, or had this, or that. Focus on you, and your strengths, learn to make yourself better, learn to love you.

As I sit here and write, I think to myself, “Wow Victoria, it truly does appear you have it all figured out! You give advice as if you have mastered this all!” This couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, I give you advice as I want to inform and help, but learning to take my own advice is truly half the battle. I am not perfect; I am always a work in progress and am working hard at also taking this advice. I will continue to have days of doubt, but as long as I strive towards improving myself, focusing on myself, and loving myself… eventually I will succeed.

-Victoria D’Ariano