September 15, 2003

Inside Chantal Dicaire’s Amazing Six-Month Fitness Transformation: Part Two, Planning

Last time, I said that the 2003 CBBF National World Qualifier and the Canadian Fitness Championships became part of Chantal’s overall plan -- an important point. In the past I’ve seen far too many athletes training for competitions with no plan at all, which, in my estimation, is a recipe for disaster -- particularly for a fitness competitor who has to prepare so many things. With Chantal, we had a precise and definite plan, and it was crucial to her 2003 success.

Planning is not very hard. It just takes a little foresight, mixed with some commonsense. And since the actual competition date is something that is set in stone, the entire plan simply revolves around preparing for that date. The key is: you have to start early enough ahead.

Chantal’s case was a little more complex, though. There were two contests to prepare for, and with Thomas Fernandez, her boyfriend Francois, and myself, there was a three-person team behind her, with specific assignments for each person.

Chantal’s assignment was the biggest, and most obvious -- dieting, training, practicing, posing, etc.. But there were other things she had to do that were not so apparent. The most important thing, I’d say, involved the team itself. If she was going to have the three of us helping her, we had to be assured that what we were saying would not fall on deaf ears -- otherwise, we might as well not be around. As you’ll find out shortly, there was no problem like that at all.

Thomas was in charge of helping Chantal with her dieting and training. I was in charge of her presentation, which included everything from her appearance, to the look of her bikinis and routine outfits, to the posing she would need to do onstage. Also, I was the one who had to give her critical advice as the weeks went by -- in other words, telling her what was good, and in no uncertain terms, what was bad. A tough job? Sometimes -- but for a serious competitor, it’s for her own good.

I believe an athlete’s best friend is someone who gives her honest feedback that can help her, as opposed to someone who pats her on the back and tells her how great she is when there are, in fact, things that need to be fixed. Actually, someone like that only harms the person’s chance of winning by falsely inflating her ego. (During a meeting we had one night her mother said to me, "I like you because you tell Chantal the truth about what she needs to do, and not everyone does.")

Francois, her boyfriend, probably had the toughest job of all. He was there for everything else -- 24/7. Furthermore, this was his first time going through contest preparation, and you can imagine what kind of stress that can place on a person -- and a relationship. However, he performed above and beyond the call of duty, to the point that when Chantal was onstage competing, it was as if he was onstage too.

With everyone’s roles well understood, Chantal’s most serious preparations started on February 1, about four months ahead of her first competition. It was also about the same time that we began the now famous "Chantal Dicaire Serious About Results 2003 Fitness Countdown" that was featured on the Sportlab website (Sportlab has been her sponsor since the summer of 2002) -- a fascinating step-by-step photo journey through Chantal’s dieting and preparation for these two contests.

The "Countdown" on Sportlab’s site stemmed from the fact that as part of her preparation, we were going to take periodic photos to gauge her progress -- photos are a great tool that allow a competitor to see how they really look as time progresses. When we took the first set of photos, it dawned on us that it would be good not only for us to see them, but for the world to see them too. After all, the world has already seen enough of those phony before-and-after photos that so many supplement companies like to use. But how many times have you seen real progress, updated to the Internet nearly instantaneously? So that’s precisely what we did -- and in my mind it was one of the most daring things I’ve ever seen a competitor do.

First, who would really want to show themselves to the world in their worst shape, even if they’re going to look better in a few months? Second, when we started, we had no idea what the outcome would be. After all, how many competitors have you seen start preparing for contests only to back out a short while afterwards? I’ve also seen some competitors go on diets and end up looking worse than when they started! Not Chantal, though. She wasn’t scared to show herself in any condition, and also, there was absolutely no way she was going to back out, or screw-up her diet.

Chantal surprised me by how focused and disciplined she was during her preparations -- I mean really focused and disciplined. Shockingly so! That, though, is what made her so good to work with, plus that fact that she took every piece of good advice to heart, and would persevere with something until she got it right. I remember back when we started, she did not know how to flex her lats properly. During our first session she managed to get some of the feeling of how it is done. When she went home, though, she practiced and practiced until she got it. The next time I saw her she had improved significantly, and a month later she could flex them so easily that it looked effortless.

In hindsight, there was really nothing to worry about. But at the time, in early February, we did not know what would happen -- and there was no certainty that she would win the contests we were preparing for. We were just starting, and at that point all we had was a plan. But that plan, we found, was key to helping us achieve success. It helped us set out a path to follow to reach our goals. I believe that any competitor, regardless of their level, should do the same.

In future articles in this section, we'll describe some of the unique exercises and workout programs that Chantal uses to help achieve her outstanding physique.

...Doug Schneider
das@seriousaboutfitness.com

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