Shelly Deathlock cares too much about Japanese wrestling and, as Captain of the S.S. Strong Style, she’s here to welcome you on board and fill you in on what’s going on in the world of puro. In this series, she’s preparing for the G1 25.

It feels pretty ridiculous to have to prepare to sit around and watch wrestling in your living room when the wrestlers in the G1 are preparing to have competitive singles matches four nights a week while traveling across Japan. Still, there’s no shame in being prepared if you need it!

• Part 1: The G1 is Coming.

Listen, I’m a relatively healthy woman, but I turned Play Button this year and if I miss my regular sleep patterns, I’m a complete wreck. Maybe you whippersnappers don’t need this advice if you’re up til 3 AM and eating pizza rolls and drinking alcohol and trucking along anyway with your metabolisms and your whatnot, but many of us older, responsible-type people would like to get through the G1 25 with as few incidents as possible. Okay, let’s try!

Scheduling

As I mentioned in part 1 of this series, I made a schedule you can download. Compare it with what’s possible for you and just nix any days you can’t make. Don’t worry about it, the videos are generally up on NJPWWorld a couple hours after the event airs live. If you stay away from the Internet, you can even avoid spoilers. Moreover, spoilers don’t REALLY matter until the later stages, because it’s a points-based tournament. Once the blocks are announced and the cards are set, you’ll pretty much know which shows are can’t-miss-live for you and which you can just watch later and catch up on.

Block off the finals on August 16 now, though, because you’re not gonna wanna miss that.

Meditation

The easiest thing you can do is pick up a nice meditation habit in advance of the tournament. There are some programs you can use to help. Headspace is pretty fun and there’s a free trial.  The UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center also has some guided meditation mp3s you can download.

Meditation won’t take the place of precious sleep, but it can help keep you calm and mindful in life. It’s an effective tool in fending off post-show depression.

Post-show depression usually only happens to me after a great live show: you get so amped up and caught in wrestle-mania that your return to real life is sad and hollow.

If I can be candid here, friends, I whiplashed myself into a bout of wrestle-depression after Suzuki vs. Styles in the G1 24 last year. There was just so much wrestle-elation all at once during that match that I completely crashed afterward and wondered why life kept going after the match was over. I wanted to crawl in a hole and not, like, eat food or watch wrestling or be alive for a while in a world where Suzuki/Styles was over. If I’d been meditating regularly I’m sure I’d have handled that better. It was just really unexpected. I’ll be prepared this year. Whew. Also no I haven’t been to therapy in a while, why do you ask?

[The following is not medical advice, do not sue Wrestling On Earth when things go terribly.]

Diet!

So it’s June 25th. The G1 begins on July 20th. That’s nearly a month. A month is plenty of time to try out that new diet you’ve been eyeing and have your body adapt to it. Maybe you’ve been wanting to go paleo or vegan or vegetarian, or go low carb, or just drop added sugar. You can do anything. It’s just a month. What better goal than “eat better & get in shape to watch a lot of wrestling at stupid hours of the day”?!

When you dramatically change your eating habits no matter what they are, there can be a transition period of a week or two where you’re going to feel like hell, so you’ll want to get that out of the way before the tournament starts.

Exercise!

The same goes for exercise. Maybe you always wanted to start DDP Yoga or not-DDP yoga or some other program, or just start going for regular walks. You should do it, it’ll probably make your sleep better and also fend off the wrestle-depression. You want exercise to be stress-relief instead of stress-inducing by the time the G1 is here, though, so start now and be prepared!

Relax!

MOST OF ALL, it’s stressful to miss sleep. If you’re missing sleep for the G1 and messing up your sleep patterns, de-stress other areas of your life for the month. Maybe drop an obligation. Take it easy on yourself. Take a bubble bath. Relax. Self-care above all. Self-care and professional wrestling! Maybe my new #brand? The S.S. Strong Style: Self Care and Professional Wrestling. Namaste. (But also still kill people with your knees.)

So that’s what I’ve got. What are your favorite G1 prep tips?

Next in the series:

• Recipes! Food ideas! Not pizza rolls!
• Whenever New Japan announces the blocks/cards we’ll run those down!
• My predictions~!