Kris Murrell: Chapter 3: THE 2007 NATIONALS
The measure of a relationship is the accumulation of events that create emotional ties. As trainer and athlete, Kris and I won the women’s heavyweight bodybuilding class at the Pittsburgh, took home a 5th and 1st place trophy at the Jr. Nationals, and a 7th place at our first Nationals. We were moving in the right direction. With Kris’s structure, shape and presentation, the 2007 Nationals was within her ability to win. We put everything we had into that competition. The show was to be in Dallas, Texas.
“Life is the occurrence that gets in the way of one’s plans.”
Jo Nelda Patton
Life is like the four seasons. It gives birth in the spring, matures in the summer, has perspective in the fall and lays to rest in the winter. The same can be said of relationships. Kris’s relationship of four years was about to be tested. Her boyfriend had accepted a job promotion. The catch was he would have to relocate half-way across the state. Kris had been in Jacksonville about six years and had a managerial position at a Cory Everson’s gym. Change is difficult, and making the right decision to meet everyone’s needs isn’t easy. Circumstances like these test a relationship. Kris’s boyfriend needed to sell his house and Kris would need to find a job. The plan was for Kris to live in Jacksonville while the house was up for sale. Her boyfriend would live with a co-worker and save money while waiting for the house to be sold.
Tremor: “An involuntary quivering moment”
I have always had a philosophy, prepare for the worst but expect the best. Sometimes, the worst is different than one expects, and there is no preparation for the unexpected. Cory Everson’s was sold. Because Kris had a longstanding relationship with the owner, part of the sales agreement was that Kris would stay in her managerial position. Kris is a consummate professional. She has a textbook sales pitch, the Midas touch with customer service, and a fierce loyalty to her employers. Loyalty is extremely difficult, however, when an employer knows little about building a business. When one has invested years in building a clientele and working a prosperous business, being loyal to someone who is destroying it all becomes contradictory. Being the best requires personal investment in what one is doing. Sometimes without cause, everything you’ve worked for becomes unraveled. Kris’s job and personal relationship were on shaky ground. The only thing she new for sure was that her future was uncertain.
Bodybuilding isn’t a sport for people who need their hands held. The judges don’t care, your competition doesn’t care and I don’t care. If you want to beat the dragon, you must think like the dragon, you must act like the dragon, you must become the dragon. This is the approach one must have to be in the proper frame of mind when preparing for competition. Kris and I would proceed as if everything was normal, although it clearly wasn’t.
They say that everything is bigger and better in Texas. In retrospect, what is bigger a
nd better is more about perception than reality. To be the best, you must believe you’re the best. With bodybuilding, a slight hesitation or glimmer of doubt can create the crack that unravels everything you’ve worked for. In times of emotional distress, many will use contest prep as their focal point while dealing with their difficulties. In theory, this makes sense and may create an emotional escape route. In reality, however, you won’t be at your best on the day of the show. What usually happens is that the body reflects the unrest in your life. and being less than your very best will always compromise the end result.
Kris, like most great athletes, is her own worst critic. Champions put the most pressure on themselves. Often, the amount of pressure reflects how they are feeling about themselves, their lives and their prep. If all parts of the whole equal the sum, and one without the other is zero, then how Kris was feeling about life at that time didn’t bode well for the Nationals in Dallas.
“Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”
Murphy’s Law
By 2007, Kris was one of the most popular competitors on the Internet. She had a large group of friends on MySpace and was a hot item for photographers, many of whom were quick to tell her they expected her to win. On the surface, everything was going in the right direction for her prep. Kris always puts her best foot forward, never complains, and was in the best shape of her competitive career. However, every few years, the NPC reevaluates the women’s categories and by this time, outside influences were becoming stronger. The Weiders had sold their flagship magazine to AMI, which pushed the judges toward a softer look in the women’s categories. A shift in the judging criteria isn’t unusual in bodybuilding. What was different this time was that the push came from a major sponsor. Not only would things change, the sport was about to undergo a major overhaul and nothing was going to be the same.
AMI’s influence was evident by the judges’ choices at the Nationals. Their picks were very inconsistent. They went for a very conditioned look in the lightweight class, but in the middleweight class they went very soft. The light-heavyweight class came up and the top five competitors were ripped to the bone. When the heavyweight class was called, Kris was in the first call-out. The top five picks resembled a fruit basket and they were all different. It was impossible to tell who the judges’ choice would be.
At the night show, Kris’s performance caught the attention of the audience along with every judge and pro in the building. It was her best performance to this day, but 4th place was the best we would do. As a trainer, it is critical to evaluate the processes you use to prep an athlete. Contest prep has several phases and all phases should be synergistic. The difficulty with prepping for a show is that you never know who the competition will be, or what condition they will be in. Also, the body can change for the worst very quickly. The only thing an athlete can do is to go into a show in the very best condition possible, then leave the rest in the judges’ hands.
At the 2007 Nationals, Kris looked conditioned and dry as we left the room for pre-judging. By the time she hit the stage, she had spilled. It was evident to everyone who saw her on stage. Even so, every trainer at the show saw what she had and wanted to pitch her on how he could help her win a pro card. It wasn’t clear what went wrong. Was it stress? Was it the food? We didn’t know. What we knew, however, was that we weren’t happy with the outcome and something had to change.
NEXT: 2009 NATIONALS
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