THE WARRIOR GODDESS CHRONICLESMAKING THE CUT By Nichole Campbell RHN 
The Warrior Goddess is within us always and having this aspect of our personality present at the time of a competition is crucial. We need to feel strong and empowered and confident in our skills and our bodies. I believe we cannot feel any of these things without having a healthy body image. It is hard to be perfect all the time, and actually what is perfect? What the media tells us? Or what we tell ourselves? I believe the inner dialogue we have in our minds is the most important. Also, our health is an important part of feeling that warrior goddess within us. When you stand back and think about it for a moment, you’ll realize that all you have is your health. There are many days in my life now when I catch myself thinking, I am so thankful that I am healthy right now. I want to have optimal health and most people do. We want to be happy and that only comes with knowing how we can better ourselves on a larger scale. There needs to be strength in your mind body and spirit, prepared for whatever curve ball life throws at you. We are warriors, we are ready, we are strong, we are women and we can make our dreams happen, as long as we remember that we are spiritual beings on a human journey.
I remember when I was 12 years old, and unsure of what my talents were in school, unsure of my body and what it could do. I was in grade 7 and my friend Mandy asked me to join the girls wrestling team. I myself had never considered myself to be that physical, or that I could do it. She made it seem like it would be fun and something cool to do as a girl, and be powerful. This was coming from a girl whom I’d known since I was in grade 2, being brought up by a mother who was a fire fighter and single mother of two. She had passion and motivation, and I wanted to feel that too. All I wanted was to be a part of something that was positive and important. I had always liked sprinting, track and field and band, but never before considered myself a wrestler! I grew up watching it with my brother on television, and I remember what I was thinking as a little girl “How can my brother watch this? How can those men speak like that? They must have a headache at the end of those ring matches?” I remember never being particularly interested in the WWF or WWC. I think any women being portrayed in a powerful strong role has got to be liberating for women everywhere. As a young girl being a part of a team, something bigger than myself was more important than I thought it would be. I remember that I didn’t like WWF or WWC, but somehow I forgot about that and just enjoyed wrestling as a sport that I considered I could become really good at. I knew I wasn’t the best at volleyball, baseball, basketball or soccer, but I was good at sprinting and wrestling, which now I consider both equally respectable sports. I remember having to make weight, the every morning training and after school training and all the matches leading up to the provincials, when I lost. The thing that mattered most was not that I won or lost but the experiences I had along the way. Sure it would have been nice to win, but that would be next year’s accomplishment. I look back now and know what mistakes I made and learned from them. When it comes to feeling like a warrior goddess who can do anything, I believe that mental, emotional, physical and spiritual preparedness is imperative. In terms of the physical, we are all familiar with that, you train, train, train. I am a nutritional consultant and so my job entails helping people to balance and improve their overall well being, by getting to the root of their health concerns. I do this through symptoms analysis and lifestyle shifting. When it comes to martial arts and women, all I can say is that the training should not only include the physical, but also the nutritional, mental and spiritual aspects as well. When I was training for my competitions, I didn’t know that there were certain foods I could eat that could help me gain strength, focus, energy and mental alertness. I also didn’t know how to make weight for a competition in a healthy and efficient way either. Now I know that to make weight doesn’t include running up and down the stairs of my school with 8 layers of clothing, a winter jacket and no food or water in my body in order to lose those extra pounds. To make weight for a competition does not include any of the above. For weight-class sports such as boxing, judo, MMA, lightweight rowing and bodybuilding, it is best to be as close to the upper limit of your weight category. Losing lean muscle tissue should be avoided when trying to accomplish this. Usually drastic last minute fasting (starving) or severe dieting is a sure fire way of losing your lean muscle tissue, so it would be best to avoid this method if you want to burn excess fat off. It’s also dangerous to dehydrate by fluid restriction, saunas, sweat suits, and diuretics. The principles you need to remember for making weight for a competition are similar to those for weight loss. - Set a realistic and achievable goal.
- Allow yourself enough time to achieve it-aim to lose 0.5 kg body fat per week. This is such an important part of the making weight goal. Ideally, you need to plan “make weight” many weeks before your event and not at the last minute, as is often the case.
- Monitor your weight and body composition by * skin fold thickness measurements and girth measurements
- Reduce your calorie intake by 15% and never eat less than your resting *metabolic rate
- Increase the amount and frequency of aerobic training
- Maintain carbohydrate intake at 60% of calories
- Reduce fat intake to 15-20% of calories
- Minimize muscle loss by consuming approximately 1.6g of protein per kg bodyweight a day.
- Eat at frequent and regular intervals (5-6 times a day).
So, as you can see there is a science to making weight in a healthy way. The unhealthy way, as previously stated, is by last minute starvation and dehydration, depleting your glycogen stores. This doesn’t allow you to perform at your best and can be dangerous. Dehydration leads to electrolyte disturbances, cramp and heartbeat irregularities. Aim to be at or within your weight category the day before or day of, as it is unlikely that you’ll be able to refuel and rehydrate sufficiently between the weigh-in and your competition. You should also allow for extra weight gain of up to 1kg during the final week. So really all you have to do is make weight in advance, aiming to attain a weight at least 1kg below your competing weight. This should cover some ground in regards to preparing your body in the weeks leading up to a match, but what about the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects? These in combination with your physical training make for a more holistic approach to your warrior goddess training strategy. When in preparation for anything that is more of a challenge for me, I know it is important and worth my time and effort, as it is an opportunity for growth. At this point in my life, I cannot have one area of my life dominate the other as this causes imbalance and disharmony. One effective way to prepare mentally, emotionally and spiritually for training is to always be training! What I mean by this is we need to have consistency when it comes to our frame of mind and our emotional health. We as warrior goddesses need to make time for us in our busy lives to do an activity which triggers relaxation, discipline and focus. Yoga, Tai Chi, and meditation are perfect examples of an everyday activity that we can engage in that will strengthen our mind, body and soul. When it comes to your emotional health, if there are any fears you have, write them down in a journal and talk to a trusted friend, family member or therapist. Talk to someone you know will have your best interests at heart and who will help you maintain your strengths, not your weaknesses.  Vibrant Health with Nichole Campbell RHN |
