Competition Prep And The Added Stress From Challenges Presented Due To Work
How Stress from the Workplace Turns into a Personal Competition with Your Body and the Stage
Anyone who competes understand
s that it is a stressful time and challenging mentally, emotionally, socially and physically. There are always little things that come up that can help or hinder the preparation, but it is usually the everyday stresses that can have the most severe effect if one is not able to get it under control. But what about certain stresses that we cannot control, like work stress and financial stress? Competing is expensive, and you need to work to make money. Many who compete it seems work within the industry as either gym owners, trainers or coaches. This is most common and seems to make the most sense to society - only people who work in the fitness industry are the ones who want to compete. So for those that do work in the industry, this can help eliminate a stress or two. But there is another group of competitors too. These are the ones who are part of a good handful of competitors who have jobs and careers outside of the fitness industry, which already makes competing a challenge. You have the daily travel issues, meetings, having to deal with the questions from co-workers and clients about what you are eating and why, being surrounded by non contest friendly food, the hours of the job, flexibility of your job in order to take days off, physical, emotional and mental demands of the job and the type of work you are involved in. A desk job to retail can all have factors that stress you as a competitor out, and in turn, guess what, your body will react and have a few choice signs for you.
More and more it is becoming made aware and known that work related stress has a huge impact on your overall health and well-being. In more recent years, many in the health profession and employers are noticing that stress is becoming the number one reason that employees are struggling at work. This is even being seen in jobs that are considered low stress level jobs. So what does work related stress look like? According to The University of Cambridge, they stated that the effects of work related stress on people may include a few of the following physical effects on the body:
"Physical - Sleep disturbances, Headaches, Gastrointestinal upset, and Raised blood pressure/cardiovascular disease"
All these factors are a huge strain on the average non competitive body, and for any com
petitor prepping for a show who is already placing their body under exhausting physical demands of which the body wants to fight to a certain degree, these extra physical challenges add to how the body reacts and responds to the contest prep even more. Stress upon stress is a set up for failure, and some of that is not even in your control, no matter how hard you try to limit it or avoid.
In the industry, I know that there are many competitors that have chosen careers that follow a shift work schedule. Shift work for the average person is very hard and demanding. Time away from family and friends, opposite hours of the day when you are asleep or awake compared to the "norm", the days on and days off routine, weekends and holidays are no longer sacred, eating meals when your body wants to sleep, or the ever popular that once you get into the routine of one shift, you go on your days off and then start a different shift....and the list can go on.
Now for the purpose of my looking at stress and work, particularly shift work, I am going to speak to those that chose their careers in Emergency Services. I am not looking to favour any one job, but having worked shift work in this field as a Crisis Counselor for the Toronto Police while going to university and training, I can relate and express myself best here. Also, many competitors and judges that I have met over the years are in the Emergency Service field and I have had the chance to talk to them and get their take on the added stress from their job and getting ready for a show.
When you think of Emergency Services, this entails those that work the 911 circuit - police, fire, and EMS. This field alone has more stress than any other job I can think of at this moment. It is you and the unknown at every given moment. Sure any job has unexpected situations and job hazards, but the role of an Emergency Service worker walks into that at every call they attend. Trying to do that sort of job and not compete is hard enough. You won't always be able to eat, you don't leave work at the end of your shift, you get called out to a situation and you are not able to leave and you have a hard time separating yourself from the emotional and mental demands of the job. So take all of that and now add how you feel when you are competing. It becomes the hardest and most trying experience you can go through. Your cortisol levels are through the roof!
Anybody who competes can tell you that eating your meals on time and eating all your meals is important and essential for the body to be fueled and muscle to grow. Getting 7-9 hours of sleep in order to feel rested, healed up and growth to occur is number one. Finally, going to the gym to work out and training your body properly, with a specific training program and plan in mind in order to create the desired physique for stage. All of this, plus each competitor has their own technique or style to add to the routine/program. Guess what....working in Emergency Services does not allow a lot of wiggle room for all of these key aspects and elements to come into play and no matter how hard you try and plan for it, something is bound to come up.
I had the privilege to talk to one of the local Ontario competitors who just recently competed at a Provincial show and he is also a Police Officer. Many of the the competitors that he has met at shows are fellow Officers or Emergency personnel, and his training group at the gym are co-workers and competitors. Talking with him, and hearing his story made me truly see and understand that this is a sport of passion. Not only are you willing to endure life's random stresses, but you are taking on the everyday stress of your own, contest prep stress and now job stress which comes with an epic stress level rating. This is what PC "FarFlex" had to share:
"...in Toronto we work a 7 day rotation...meaning 7 day shifts, followed by 5 days off, 7 evening shift, followed by 5 days off, 7 night shifts followed by 4 days off. All 10 hr shifts and often with overtime and court and extra duties on days off. We would be lucky to have 2 or 3 actual days off to ourselves. The biggest challenge is our sleep. Our sleeping pattern changes every week. Our second biggest challenge is eating on the go. We eat in between calls and never have enough time to eat in peace. Unfortunately most guys rely on quick fast foods...you know the bad sugars and fried foods. On days off we often get so tired we just crash and burn but we still have to look after family life and responsibilities. So time management becomes our number priority. Making time is key other wise we can't do anything.
To have the drive to exercise and even compete is like a fantasy. The ser
vice doesn't encourage us or give us the time we need to stay healthy. Stress is our biggest enemy on this job. Dealing with the 1% is not easy and can change you in many ways. I love training and have been doing it since I was 15 and I have been in the fitness industry for a long time and I still find it challenging at best to keep my fitness lifestyle....the Policing lifestyle does not at all match up with competitive lifestyle.
However, Police Officers are very competitive and will find ways to reach their ultimate goal....they are very driven and won't stop till they get what they want..."
When someone chooses to compete, you have to truly want to do it because there are many sacrifices that take place in order for it to happen. Funny enough, it seems that no one really thinks about that - they just see the stage. But, work stress and working in a stressful job should not sway you to not compete. If this is what you want, do it, but be prepared and aware of the all factors that can happen, and will happen. The body is amazing at coping with stress in minimal amount; however, when you are already putting contest prep stress on the body and then adding shift work stress on top of that, the body can only take so much.
No matter what path you chose to travel in life, daily stress is a part of living. The stress levels brought on by careers, family and everyday living only add to the complexities of being human. When someone chooses to compete, they do so with the knowledge that it will not be easy and that there will be ups and downs along the way. By limiting stress in your life, this in turn can help reduce some of the stresses brought on by competition prep. However, when your job or career is highly stressful, and it is on a shift work schedule, all of that, plus daily living and contest prep stress make it a combination that can make or break the goals you are trying to achieve. Putting your health and safety first is what anyone would tell those who choose to compete, as well as to make sure that you limit causing yourself unnecessary stress mentally, physically and emotionally. But when you have a passion and love for your career and this industry, you do what you can and make it work. It is about the heart and mind connection in order to achieve what you set out to do and not let yourself or those you work with down.
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