This is going to be a short entry but an entry nonetheless. Because this whole week has been a blur and full of SOS, Shiny Object Syndrome. All in the best kind of ways. I've had a lot of people reaching out, and good project opportunities. Truth be told, it's currently 1010p on Thursday the night before the blog entry goes live and I'm just getting to it. I feel like I'm burning the midnight oil lately. When you get up at 430-445 on a daily basis you start to get tired around now, or maybe it's just me.
I almost opted for skipping the entry this week in light of all the work I have to do for the competitors who bought photo packages (thank you, thank you, thank you! This really does help), but then I remembered my mantra, "Consistency Creates Champions." Where does this come into play? Last weekend I photographed the National Gym Association Pro/Am Green Bay Hardbodies competition at the Meyer Theatre. And these people put months, weeks, years into building and sculpting their body. They suffered for a cause, and many of them won.
For most of us it's not honing in our bodies, but I guarantee there is something within you, your life, your situation that you can show up to every day and be better. Even if it takes time.
Yes my friends, if you want to be good at something then you need to be consistently doing whatever it is that is going to make you a champion. Like my blog, the consistent entries have been proving that my website is being found and searched by people. Likewise, if you're consistently bad, then what are you really doing for yourself?
Consistency can feel like a plateau in a way, combined with a gelatinous blob that isn't quite water, but isn't jello either. Some days you question your sanity. However, the realty is showing up every day, week, month, and making yourself better. Every. Single. Time. Even if you don't want to makes a difference. If only to you that's fine. We all die alone anyways. The only responsible for you, is you.
Trust me when I say, I've skipped full on gym days lately because I've been lacking in energy due to my energy being zapped from other things. But even with that in mind I put my focus on other things and trying to stay consistent to good habits throughout the day. It makes the gym or workout the next day feel better.
As for the body builders, I have to say, all of these competitors did an amazing job. They worked their asses raw, literally. They inspired me to get more into shape no doubt. I've met people I can likely call friends now, and on top of that I found it more than inspiring to see and hear stories from people who have gone through trials and tribulations and this competition was the best thing that happened to them. The cherry on top of a long journey. For some, this freed them to be a happy human with confidence again.
I know there's a general stereotype that body building is just a bunch of meatheads who lift things up and put them down, but there's so much more to the story than meets the eye many times. That's true for anything, but especially in this group of people from the people I talked to.
Congrats to every competitor, and every winner, and those who got their pro cards, and can go on to the next round.
Being privy to the lead up, and being there was indeed life changing, even if I never do a competition as a body builder. It was amazing to be witness to the process, and to watch at least a few of these people get better every week for the month leading up to the competition. To watch their confidence boost as I would take photos to understand what the judges look for, and to give people some idea what they look like. Mirrors are nice, but mirrors only reflect what YOU see, not what others see.
Here's a few of the favorites from the day.