4 Lessons Learned from Bodybuilding
4 Lessons Learned from Bodybuilding
1. Change is possible.
Like a lot of women in their late 30’s, I had tried it all: yo-yo diets, “cleanses,” pre-packaged foods, exercise videos, running, and giving up/eating chips in defeat. Before I did my first bodybuilding competition I told myself that the reason why I never had the body I wanted was because I was too old, my metabolism was too slow, and the strain of pregnancy had forever rendered me frumpy. 
The process of training for the show destroyed all my pre-conceived (and false) notions. At age 38, and despite two C-sections, I could lose the weight that was hanging on me; I could re-shape my entire physique in a relatively short amount of time. Think of bodybuilding actors like The Rock. Do you think he was born that way? Of course not! It took concerted effort to grow those guns, but that’s all it took. And actors and bodybuilders can change their physique, so can you.
Food is more important than exercise.
When people think of bodybuilders, they probably think of people lifting heavy weights. Don’t get me wrong – exercise is very important, and while training for a show you can easily spend up to two hours a day in a gym. But here’s the thing…what about the other 22 hours? A good portion of that time is spent eating clean and avoiding junk food.
There is quite a bit of science to the bodybuilding diet, namely you eat six times per day, and your meals have calculated portions of proteins, carbohydrates and healthy fats (called macronutrients). The slightest adjustment in your macros can affect your mood and cause you to gain or lose several pounds over the course of three days. Still not convinced that food is more important to physique than exercise? Think of it like this: you can have the strongest abs in the world but if there is a snuggly layer of fat around your midsection, how is anyone going to see them? The saying is true, “abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym.”
3. No one cares about your excuses.
This was a tough lesson to learn (I had a lot of excuses) but it is applicable to life in general. See, people care about results, not your back story. When you walk on stage to be judged, you are an anonymous person standing next to another stranger.
No one knows (or cares) that you have four kids and therefore messed up on your diet several times to accommodate for birthday parties or that she survived breast cancer last year and thus had to stop working her chest muscles after surgery. The judges go down a list of criteria (arms, abs, legs, back, glutes) and compare what they see in front of them that day, in that very moment. It’s harsh, but liberating too, because success is based upon results.
4. Go hard or go home.
Do you ever just ‘dial it in’? Like when you’re in the office and you don’t really feel like working so you cut and paste whatever you wrote for last month’s report into the current one and go back to texting on your phone? (Hypothetically, of course.)
When you ‘dial it in’ during show prep (by cheating on your meal plan, not lifting heavy or skipping workouts) you’re not hurting anyone but yourself. My trainer, Robin, just fired a client who wasn’t putting in enough effort because it was a waste of energy for both of them. Even at the amateur level, there is cost involved to bodybuilding. Money spent on trainers, posing suits and entry fees are only the beginning. It costs you time that could be spent doing something else and time is one thing that you never get back, so make your time training count.
These are the lessons I’m applying to my training for the Arnold Amateur. How about you? What lessons have you learned from your sport?
Lisa 
Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two. You can read more about her in her new book, “She’s Losing It!” available at Amazon.com.
ShesLosingIt.com (c) 2015 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, photographs, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission.