The Holistic Way to Recover from Your Bodybuilding / Fitness Competition
What. A. Weekend.
As title sponsors at this past weekend’s IFBB Vancouver Pro Show, we rubbed elbows with a ton of athletes. For those of you who were there competing we’ve got to bow down – getting in that kind of shape is not only physically demanding, it’s one hell of a mental challenge too.
Now that your goal has been reached, let’s talk recovery. You may dreaming of a week full of cheat meals and some time on the couch, but let’s not let all that hard work go to waste.
We checked in with our team’s holistic nutritionist to find out what you should be doing to recover from your fitness or bodybuilding competition.
Take…
Protein powders, pre-workout stacks, fat burners – the months leading up to the contest can be supplement heavy to say the least. Now that the job is done it’s time to show our hard working liver some support so that it can deal with everything we’ve put it through. Cut back on the aggressive pre-contest supp routine, and add in couple of Himalaya LiverCare tabs daily to support liver cell integrity and help preserve its strength.
Eat…
We all know greens are an essential part to any competitor’s diet, but despite adding spinach to our eggs, or chard with our fish, the heavy protein consumption can put our body in an acidic state. While you might not notice anything different in the short term, being too acidic causes us to forfeit valuable minerals from our bones, creating bone density problems in the long run. Being too acidic has also been associated with poor energy levels, a weakened immune system, and a harder time maintaining that lean physique. 1
To get yourself more alkaline, switch the focus of your diet, and aim to make 70-80% of your diet fruits and veggies (bonus points the more green leaves and sea veggies you get), and only 20-30% protein. If you’re finding it hard to to get your greens at every meal, try adding a scoop of Pharma Greens to your morning glass of water or smoothie.
Do…
As we mentioned getting contest ready is just as much mental as it is physical. For weeks, if not months now, you have been sacrificing in the name of your sport. It’s time to indulge yourself in a little R&R that nourishes both body and mind – try going for a Float, a massage or, simply treating yourself to a good night out with friends and family who supported you along this journey.
If you’ve got any post-contest tips you’d like to share with us let us know. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We are #ReflexNation.
- Schwalfenberg, GK. “The Alkaline Diet: Is There Evidence That an Alkaline pH Diet – NCBI.” 2012. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195546/>
