The Body Difference

by Kris Pitcher

Heading for the doors of the gym with my hands overloaded, trying not to let my slacks slip off before making it to the locker room, OR peeing my pants after the drive from the office...she came at me.

"Every time I see you I think I should stop you and talk to you!" she started, "you are just looking so great, I should find out what you're doing?!" she finished as she ran off to her group exercise class.

I was kind of dumbfounded. A few things struck me. First of all, she didn't stop me and hasn't. Second, she's going to group exercise. No offense, I started 20 some years ago in a group exercise class. Lots of people begin there. But I immediately thought, "You're going the wrong direction...you should be heading toward the weight room."

But the thing that really made me laugh is people THINK they want to do what I'm doing to look the way I look. They don't. Believe me.

She couldn't even slow down to ask, let alone listen. And if I even started to tell her, I'd get the familiar glazed over look I've seen so many times. So, no you can't have the look without the work. How does this sound?

Six years of competing. Focused drive over the past two years of clean "dieting". Meaning strict attention to detail of macro nutrients, no alcohol, virtually no dairy, and no gluten for the last year. Still with me? Most days off season one or zero pieces of fruit. Zero.

Twenty weeks of contest prep dieting following a nine pound increase in body weight over last season's stage weight. Nine pounds. There are no french fries in 9 pounds. Daily food preparation and meal packaging carrying my cooler ever where I go. Meetings, travel for work, holidays with the family, vacation. Everywhere.

Still think you want it? The alarm goes off at 4:25 a.m. so I can get up and do my cardio. Why so early? I work four 10 hour days at my professional job and start at 7:00 a.m. I make it to the gym by 6:00 p.m. for our six day split weight lifting routine.

Let's see, home by 7:30 p.m. pack meals, eat, and in bed by 8:30 p.m. to do it all over again. It's a lifestyle. You live this. You don't just do it for a while when you want to look a certain way then stop. The nutrition, the exercise, the sleep and recovery, the stress management, the organization - it all plays into the body that walks into the gym.

A body that is a lower percent fat than "normal" even for an athlete. A body at it's limits. A body that is underfed, and over tired. A body that is refining itself constantly. A body that has over time made improvements beyond belief.

A body that will join the ranks of National competitors for the very first time in June. A body who wants to leave nothing behind. A body who is fully committed to her dreams. A body who believes she is a champion. If you want it you have to believe, and you have to do. That's the difference.