A few weeks ago, I held a retreat at my home for my HLP and Challengers clients ….fun, fun, fun! I gotta say, these women were looking great! (My husband agreed!)

I was impressed with how many women were seriously contemplating struttin’ their lovely, shapely bodies on the competition stage. Yet many were hesitant, having heard all the craziness around contest prep. So it was inevitable: I had to start something new…

My new Warrior Woman Competitors Program has started, but it will be different than other programs. Simply, it will be based on building health, not eroding it, a fresh perspective in a sport that is sometimes known for its extremes and its harmful approach to training and eating.

In my view, there are gaping holes in the sport of competition. The sport has grown in numbers, but so too have some of its practices.  I am a minimalist at heart, and I’ve always believed less is more. Case in point: doing endless bouts of cardio will erode health, harm your metabolism in the future, and set you up for metabolic disaster later in life. Cutting calories below 1200 will only teach your body how to really save up that fat in the future, and make future fat loss next to impossible (without doing the same drastic things, because the body knows, and tries to protect itself, so more interventions are required now..)

Some competitors down crazy amounts of so-called supplements whose ingredients I question: colour additives, ingredients you can’t pronounce…really? And women put themselves through sodium manipulation, severe carb depleting, drastic calorie cuts (below humanly possible)….yet you are supposed to walk up on stage looking like the epitome of health. A spray tan and a sparkly suit and heels do wonders to mask the metabolic damage that’s been done over the months leading up to show. Sad but true.

The Warrior Woman’s Competition Prep is rooted in Mother Earth  – our fare is organic, clean, real. Our supplements are real too, basic, with ingredients we know and trust. We do no drugs or dangerous fat burners, and we not buy into marketing hype and the ads that support them. We do not partake in artificials, colours, dyes…we will do no harm to the body. Our training (and our cardio, which is minimal), is the key, and we do it in Phases, much like the phases of the seasons.

I prefer women learn to live like an athlete year round, not a competitor who drastically changes what they do at 12 weeks out, steps on stage at her peak (hopefully, anyway), then loses it all afterwards. That, to me, isn’t fun. I’ve done it. It confused me then, and it still confuses me today. I prefer women live, eat, and train a different way, the Warrior Woman Way. That’s what I want to teach other women – to honour the body. I want women to honour and build strength and vitality in that amazing vessel – our body. And the trophy, the reward, lies in the fact that she looks and feels strong and powerful, fit and healthy, year round.

Onward, Warrior Women! See you on the competition trail!

Karen

PS  – Please join me this Monday at 9 am for my next radio show – Talk Fitness with Karen McCoy, where I debunk the eating myths once and for all! CLICK HERE for more information.