
First things first, well done on completing your first competition! This is a BIG deal, even if you are one of those people who was more on the ‘fun’ side of the scale than ‘serious’.
This is still a big achievement and something your should be proud of.
This next section applies to all, but may resonate with those of you who take their training a bit more seriously and went to the competition with the intention of doing more individual comps in the future.
Next steps: Celebrating!
Some of you have returned to the gym immediately and that is your choice, my recommendation would be to take some time off. You’re unlikely to be getting any stronger/fitter by training post competition. If you gave it everything you have, then you’re also unlikely to want to train for a while aha!
I strongly suggest you go out and do something to celebrate your effort!

‘WildBoiz Camping Trip post-comp
You don’t have to go camping, you could go for a meal, little day trip out somewhere or even just have the hours back that are spent training for a few days and enjoy the time.
This trip was perfectly timed so I could take a mental break from training/competing and think about what I really enjoyed and where I needed to go from here to reach the next level of competition. Rather than immediately returning to the grindstone and start attacking workouts again with the increased chance of burnout.
Next steps: Self-reflection
Your time would be better spent reflecting on the experience and maybe writing down some of the things you thought went really well and then the things you want to improve on.
This can be done with all the coaches at Wildcard but personally I would love to help you do this. (Link in the Wildcard Instagram to book or message coach Jake directly.)
Self reflection is really important, it is something that I have used everyday since working with a sports psychologist and my own coach to help me constantly look for the ‘inches’ to quote JST compete. Or as we call it in Wildcard, ‘Low hanging fruit’. These are the smallest things we can change that give us the most return for our effort.

Coach Jake helping Kyle formulate a plan to get to the Games
During your reflection think about everything from the minute you signed up for the comp to the minute the final timer rang out. Where could you have gained inches on your opponents?
This is a daunting task but with a coach by your side it gets a lot easier.
For a place to start and something that everyone can do regardless of seriousness towards
competing, start with this list:
1) How was my food/sleep/hydration for training leading up the comp?
2) How was my training leading up to the comp?
3) How was my stress levels on the day of comp?
When answering these questions, give them a score out of 10 and write down some thoughts as to why you gave it the score you did.
Then think about how to improve it by one point, not how to make it a 10, this will keep your changes simple and easy to implement. Remember, ‘Low hanging fruit’.
-CoachedByJake