Obviously prep is an extremely demanding time on your body and mind both. That being said every competitor has to deal with juggling diet, training, and life.
A good female friend of mine is a competitor on the nationally qualified level. She is 3 weeks out and 7 weeks out from the shows she plans on doing.
However she and her partner are having troubles (not prep related) and she is so stressed out she's concerned its having a negative effect on her progress. In discussing this with her she mentioned cortisol release related to stress.
I decided to do some research and of course found all the answers on the internet.
That being said....I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has had any experience dealing with high stress during contest prep and how they were able to deal with it leading into a show.