IFBB Figure Pro Erin Stern is headed to her second Olympia in less than four weeks. Check out what the Sternster is up to…
There may be hundreds of ways to prep for a show – I have always relied on progress pictures and yes, the dreaded scale. Weekly pictures don’t lie, and the scale is fine for me. I now know right about where I need to be as the days get closer to show time. Many girls rely on body fat testing. I haven’t been pinched, submerged, or electrically impeded (if that’s even a word) since my college days. Yet, each day in the gym I walk past the “Bod Pod,†a machine that boasts a 99% accuracy rate in measuring body fat. Curiosity gets the best of me, and I make an appointment. As I sit in the pod, I’m pretty stoked that I’m not being pinched or having to hold my breath. After a few minutes the test is complete. I’m guessing I’m somewhere in the 12% range…no…the monitor reads “15.8%!†I’m silently panicking as the guy performing the test is telling me about the mathematical formulas involved in calculating the results. Then he blurts out, “your boobs are throwing the results off. They take up space, and the Bod Pod assumes they’re made up of fat, and it could throw the results off by 3%.†He assures me that the machine is still 99% accurate though.
The pre-contest brain is funny – little issues become a huge deal and elementary concepts can take a while to register. A little later in the morning, I realized that how I will look on stage will not be based upon a computer’s mathematical formula. Whatever method you use for prep, it’s probably a good idea to stay with it through show time… especially if it has worked for you in the past! I can’t wait to set up the self-timer on my camera on Friday!! Maybe I’ll hop back in the pod after the show.
Check out more on ErinStern.com.
