Pernilla Böckerman talks about the difference between race condition and training condition

Pernilla Böckerman no competition this weekend on the SM stage at the Nordic Fitness Expo. Last year, she competed in bikini fitness in Lahti and went on to great success by winning World Championship silver in the general category and Junior World Championship gold.

However, Böckerman is at work in Lahti this year as well. In a certain way, the condition can now be described as better.

– I encourage that it’s incredibly nice to have a little fat in the body and feel strong. Even now, I feel much better at this moment, he says.

Race fitness is a tough squeeze and requires a strict diet. However, it won’t last long.

– It is good that this issue is being talked about. There is a lot of idealization of that competitive shape, but an awful lot of people can’t tell the difference between, for example, what my normal body is and what I look like on stage.

– We have very little time to be in race condition. Finishing is meticulous work. Let’s do all threesomes. Already an hour after the race, I look different when I’ve eaten something and drank water. Recovery begins.

These are the differences

Böckerman’s competition weight was around 55 kilos on the SC stage last year. He is 169.5 centimeters tall. On the World Championship stage, the condition was tighter and the weight was also lower.

Now he weighs 63 kilos.

– The difference in my weight between the competition season and the training season is about eight kilos. In the beginning, liquids will come out. It really doesn’t lose eight kilos of fat.

Böckerman says that he is careful that the body also works in competition condition, but there are still differences compared to the training season.

– Of course, you don’t feel so strong in competition condition. There may be a certain kind of fatigue mentally as well, when the body has been pushed to its limits pretty much.

– When you’re in race condition on race day, you’re not interested in going for a 20-kilometer run. During the training season, on the other hand, it feels like you can go for a run or do a hundred burpees at any time.

The SE of Sisäsoudu

Böckerman, 22, says that competition tension may also be related to feeling a bit awkward before the competition.

– If the whole body is in a slightly tense state, it does affect the nervous system.

He explains the difference with an example.

Böckerman, who has always taken care of his basic fitness and endurance, competed in indoor rowing last season and holds the Finnish record in two weight classes at 500 meters for under-23s.

– When I did SE, it was about four months before the bikini fitness competition. I had lost about three kilos. I felt really free, my condition was good and my nervous system was fine.

– But if I had made the same bet a couple of days before the fitness competition or on the day of the competition, it would have been quite hard and the recovery much more difficult.

Whistle over the game

Böckerman says that competitive fitness in bikini fitness is a momentary spike, just like in other sports.

– For example, not even a sprinter is in top condition all year round.

He says that he can also separate his stage self from his everyday self.

– Pernilla is not 100 percent on stage. The right Pernilla can be found in the training season. I don’t think that now I look cool when I get in shape for the competition.

This year, too, he aimed to start the Games, but decided to miss the game.

– When I went on a diet this year, the idea was to go again and win the world championship, but it was a bit forced. We were pushed ass first into the tree quite hard. Fun and joy were missing. Fortunately, I understood that game whistle.

– The sport is very dear to me, but next time I will only go on stage when there is a really strong fire and spark.