Being healthy, feeling vibrant, and looking great are some of the things that attracted most of us to training. When people think of health, vitality, and fitness, we Figure Athletes are folks the average person can look up to, and for good reason.

Imagine if this became the new "average" woman's body?

However, sometimes things appear a little better than they really are. Yes, we do tend to be vibrant and look more "in-shape" than 90% of the population, but in this sport it's rather easy to get a little extreme.

As dedicated, goal-oriented individuals, it's not uncommon to focus on our goals with such determination and drive that we actually have a less-than-healthful impact on our physical and mental health.

The reality is that when you factor in the intense training and fine-tuned diet, physique athletes probably demand more out of themselves than practically any other athletes. Our sport is tough.

Athletes in even the most demanding sports don't train hardall the time, especially in conjunction with what most would consider very restrictive diets. They have planned recovery periods at the end of the competitive season, and peak less frequently than we do.

Okay, so I wouldn't want to get tackled. But let's see a linebacker walk onstage in heels after a week of zero carbs.

Because the emphasis for our sport is on appearance rather than performance, and appearance is such an "in the moment" thing, figure girls tend to go close to full-bore year round. Unfortunately, trying to maintain or work toward peak conditioning nearly all year is an extreme approach to take.

The purpose of this article is to remind you, don't forget to enjoy life! Not only enjoy life, but enjoy the benefits that not being ultra lean brings.

Here are seven areas where it's easy to get a little extreme, with suggestions on how to ease up on them.

Some are fortunate enough to stay very lean all year with little effort, but most of us have to work very hard to do so. For many of us, it's actually easier to get "in-shape" if you have a shape to get into. Let me explain.

I don't know why, but it seems that it's often easier and more rewarding to get into really great shape if you're progressing and transforming into that shape. Some of it is probably mental, but going from 18% bodyfat to 10% bodyfat can be more pleasurable than working your butt off all year to maintain 12%, and then dropping to 10%.

If you think you have to, or should, be ready to step on stage any day of the week, 365 days a year, think again. Watching your body improve from week to week is a great feeling... but... that doesn't mean you should get way out of shape.

This is not an ideal off-season to pre-comp transformation.

Intense and constant exercise, even without restricted calories, can interfere with our female hormones and menstrual cycle. When carried to extremes, diet and exercise-induced amenorrhea (the absence of the menstrual cycle) can cause bone loss, bad skin, bad hair, and a whole host of other problems.

Many women accept this for a brief period of time during pre-contest, but turning your estrogen off for extended periods of time is surely not healthy. Carried to extremes it can lead to early osteoporosis.

Even in endurance sports, most athletes don't spend more than two or three days per week on interval training. It's not uncommon for a figure competitor in contest mode to spend six days per week on them.

Don't be afraid to back off on the cardio work a bit. Feel free to exchange intervals for steady state cardio, or Heaven forbid, hold onto your hat, how could I even suggest it... rest!

A simple adjustment in calories to compensate for less activity, to give the body a rest from huge caloric expenditures, will go a long way in the body's efforts to recuperate from such stressful training and diet.

4) Time for Others

It's hard to have much time for others when most of your day revolves around training. You can't really enjoy a nice evening out for dinner, if you're dieting restrictively all the time. Don't be afraid to plan an occasional cheat meal and low stress training week. It'll be good for you, your significant other, friends, and family.

5) Joint Health

Constant cardio plus heavy weight training places a chronic stress on the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. The problem is that joints and connective tissue recover a lot slower than muscles.

The end result can be an assortment of aches and pains. Easing up on the training load will help your body feel better, and you'll be better suited to train for this sport for a longer period of time.

There's a reason figure competitions have the Masters class. This can be a long-term sport.

6) Reset Your Metabolism to Offset Chronic Dieting

I've hit on this point many times in previous articles, but it's rather easy to get your body used to surviving on low calorie diets to the point where a 2000-calorie day sounds like a feast.

If you gradually increase your calories, it's possible to get to the point where you can shed fat on a daily amount that's much greater than what you're consuming now. Tell me that doesn't sound like a good idea!

7) Resetting the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis

This is not a good thing. One aspect of overtraining is an interruption in normal hormone balance, with an increase in catabolic hormones (like cortisol) and a decrease in anabolic hormones (such as testosterone and growth hormone).

Carried to extremes, you can semi-permanently alter your HPA axis to the point that your body no longer responds to stress properly. This results in chronic fatigue and a host of allergy-related symptoms. Loss of sleep, lack of energy, lack of enthusiasm to train, frustration with your diet, decreases in immune function, or lowered sex drive are all warning signs of this negative effect in the body.

Many times, when these symptoms are happening in conjunction with one another, it's a sure sign that things are being altered in your body in ways that will no longer benefit you, either aesthetically or health-wise.

When hormones can't be regulated properly, it's almost guaranteed that complete burnout will come knocking on your door. The only solution is more rest. If you feel like you've been overdoing it for months on end, and you feel absolutely miserable because of it, don't hesitate to take some time off.

If it makes you feel better, you have Doc Heath's official permission to rest if you're getting burned out.

The good thing about overdoing it is that the exact opposite of the process that created it, will cure it. If under-eating and overtraining brought you to where you are now, then resting and eating more will bring you back to baseline. It typically doesn't take long, either.

Take a week off and come back with more of a manageable schedule. Gradually increase your calories up to a level of intake that you should be eating, based on your activity and bodyweight. For most people that's about 10 calories per pound, plus calories for daily activity and training.

Most people can get good results sticking with a fairly conservative schedule most of the year, and then cranking it up when they really need to. But what exactly does a "conservative" off-season schedule look like? It really depends on you, but five or six hours of total exercise per week is an amount I like for most people.

It's enough to be very effective, but not so much to be overly stressful. Something like three weight training session and two or three cardio sessions works well for most people.

Here is an example of a four-month recovery diet outline that will help your metabolism recover by adding some much-needed calories. This works great not only post-contest, but for anytime during the year that you're overtrained and overdieted.

Stay at your pre-contest diet calories with very low carbs, and remove stimulants and other hardcore supplements from the diet. However, Flameout should still be consumed liberally, as well as your multi-vitamin of choice. Exercise should be restricted to walking and other non-training-related activities.

Increase calories slightly by adding carbs such as Surge back into the plan as part of your post-weight training meals. Weight training should be introduced three times a week (or four if you just can't help yourself), with light cardio on the off days.

Now you can get back to the weights.

By now, your appetite should be catching back up to you, which is a good sign that another increase in calories is called for. Add roughly 200 (or slightly more) calories each day, in the form of carbs and protein, and a little bit of fat.

All of your more hardcore supplements should be added back in with full force. They'll now serve to increase your metabolism and muscle mass while your food levels increase.

Things like Creatine , BCAA's, Hot-Rox Extreme, Se7en, and a whole host of other staples should be taken regularly. Think of them as useful for building and recovery, instead of fat loss. Your energy levels will go up, thus enabling you to train harder. This will set you up for then next increase.

Start out with an additional 200 calories between the two meals following training on weight lifting days. An additional 100 calories on cardio days is also a good start. It may be time to add some interval training at the start of your cardio sessions again.

Just be careful not to over do it. In the off-season, there's no reason to do more than 10-15 minutes of intervals at any one time.

By now, you'll have added roughly 500 calories back into your daily diet. You'll be gaining a sense of pride about how you've trained your body to want more, and you can actually feed it without losing your hard earned results.

Your appearance will not be the result of a post-contest rebound, or a long drawn-out diet that resulted in post-burnout binge. Your mood should be fantastic, and mentally, you should be stable and satisfied! At this point, you can increase your activity levels and food even further, depending on when your next event is.

The Most Important Part

Once you get to this point it is crucial that you don't turn around and diet again. You should revel in this new state of homeostasis. Let this be a time to increase PR's in the gym, eat lots of clean foods, and maintain your bodyweight over a period of time.

Let your body enjoy being "normal" for at least a month before going back to a more strict diet. This will serve as one of the best physique decisions you ever make. And that, my friends, is a promise.

Summary

Always remember that your body's ability to stay healthy and lean long-term is totally dependant on you not running it into the ground in an effort to maintain mediocre results year round. This will only result in a frustrated, burned out, fat body.

If you think of your plan as a road that leads to a destination where you'll be a tiny, lean, ripped figure girl 24/7/365, you'll only be going down a road that leads to a dead end. And it won't be pretty.

Listen to your body. Give it the time it needs to get stronger, and then when it demands more from you, give it and you'll be floored at what you can accomplish over the long haul. I know you can do it.

Jen Heath is an ACSM certified personal trainer, professional natural bodybuilder, and mother of four children. She runs a successful online coaching business, through which she helps women alter the course of their lives, and achieve the lean, muscular physiques they desire. You can also find her at FatLossPros.net.