Post Meet Depression

 

 

 

– By Niko Hulslander

You’ve trained for 10-12 long grueling weeks. You have endured more pain and headaches throughout this training cycle than ever before. You wonder why its all worth it. However, you are the most dedicated athlete you know. You figure no one else squats 12 sets of doubles with 100+ pounds in chains on a Sunday morning after drinking til 2am the night before. So who cares if you’ve already puked 3 times in the gym’s trashcan? Another snort of ammonia and you are good to go!

You’ve taxed your Central Nervous System to the max. Meet day comes. The anxiousness, the aggression, the extreme spectrum of emotions that you experience throughout a day that can only produce a variety of results for your efforts. Some warm ups feel like a ton. Lifts that were projected as second attempts or maybe even thirds seems as far away as another galaxy. Other events that sucked in your training become your shining moments! How did you not have any of your best lifts, yet put 5-10 pounds on your all time best total? Or worse, you just bombed out?

Was it consistency in your training, did you warm-up too early, did you drink your AMP energy drink to early and crashed, or did coach have bad breath? The awards ceremony has come and gone, your YouTube videos get tons of hits, and everybody has something to say about your weekend. But it’s that one person that says, “Hey what happened? I thought you said you were gonna do blah blah blah.”

So begins the post meet depression. You feel empty. Time off from the gym has allowed your mind to wonder. You re-write your training program over and over and watch your vids like a college football coach watches scout films. What are you looking for? Is it a flaw in your technique, diet was off, switched gear at last minute? What you need to do is stop driving yourself mad. You came away un-injured, you survived a tough day of judging, and you didn’t allow yourself to quit. If you allow yourself to continue doing crazy stuff like I just mentioned, you’ll stop having fun and enjoying the challenges. Heck even the best in the business like Ed Coan and Kirk Karworski both told me that they could never make a living doing the powerlifting thing.

So, remember, you need to stay both mentally and physically sound in order to do this time and time again. Start doing some GPP, (ie) sled dragging, prowler work, kettlebell complexes, or even some light dumbbell work. Either way, don’t let your mind be your worst enemy. Light recovery workouts post meet can be a great remedy for your soul and your physical well being. Better days are ahead, that’s why they have more meets! Get moving and Stop the Weakness!!!