I did it! Part deux

My apologies for the long overdue post about my competition, 3 weeks ago! Right now I am sittin gin a hotel, keeping my teamie company, as she is competing tomorrow. And so I figured what a better night than to FINALLY get this done than tonight the night before another show???

Anyway, I will kind of give you the run down of the few days… So you can see. 

11am Friday 

Finalllyyyy I am off work! It felt like forever. Cue the rush home, and getting all my food prepped for the weekend. This week was the second week of teacher training and on Monday we had kids, so not much was done in the way of personal tasks. I made a MAD rush to get my food cooked and prepped. Eek. Word to the wise… don’t leave this for the DAY you check into the hotel. Not worth it one bit. 

Cue the nails… I had experimented with several nail options the weeks prior and finally settled on doing some glue on nails and painting my own toes. For SOME reason, this eneded up as a complete disaster so I made another MAD dash over to the new nail salon by my house. I was in, out, with a french tip on my toes and a full set (and believe it or not they are all still on and pain intact and hardly grown out) in about 30 minutes. YAHOO!! Crisis averted. Went home, did a full body circuit, packed up, and I am on the road! 

4:45pm Friday 

On the road to the host hotel FINALLY. I get there about 5:15, check in, and can finally breathe. It was much less stressful than I had originally anticipated, but hey, I had never done this before! Granted this was a smaller show than some so it was by nature less hectic. Anyway. Did my polygraph… talk about AWKWARD!! I was nervous I would fail purely by the fact that 1) my heart had been racing all afternoon and 2) it was just awkward so I felt jittery and sweaty and clammy. Ha. Im guessing I passed. 

Got up the hotel, got out stuff done, and now it was time for me my teamie Annalise (who I am here with this evening) to go get tanned. OMG. OMG. OMG. Hahahaha. So, we walk into this room and it is tarped up with plastic and there are 5 spray tan pop-up tents all in a row. The last  are occupied… It looked like a science experiment and I even said so out loud. Anyway, we had to wait out turn. Once we got in we were given hair nets, sticky feet things, and told to strip down and step in side! So we did! And promptly got sprayed. We had to keep moving down one tent at a time… which meant scrambling, one a time, in the nude (you don’t HAVE to tan nude but everyone I know does), and hope you don’t get seen (but at that point who really cares you are all almost butt naked the next day on stage anyway). The whole process took about an hour to tan and dry. We didn’t do all of our coats, so we weren’t as dark but it was good to do it that way. 

7:00pm Friday

Annalise and I made our way to the other side of town to meet with Coach. It was kind of funny. We were in our jammies, butt naked, and let me just tell you. You have no sense of propriety or embarrassment once you enter this sport. At least not around people who need to see you 95% unclothed, and for nothing but professional purposes. Anyway. We were told we looked good, told what to eat for the remainder of the day, and then we went on our way and we were STARVING. I stopped and got some ahi tuna and yellowtail (YUM) and Annalise made some food at the hotel. All in all, after we got back it was a pretty uneventful evening since we had to be up early anyway. 

5:00am Saturday 

Up! Eat your first mini-meal! Chug some water! Walk! Then take pics, text Coach, and have all our meals closely monitored for timing and size depending on how we are looking for the rest of the day. YEP. That specific folks. After we walked and took pics, we went downstairs to practice mandatories and t-walks one last time before it was time to step on stage. I had to make a run to get some last minute food at the Coach’s orders, then…

 

9:00am

We were on our way and it was like… settle in, second round of tanning back stage, hair and makeup, and hurry up and wait. Text pictures, eat, wait. Oh yeah, and more hurry up and wait. I was so happy I had some fantastic teammates back stage with me or else it would have been BORING!!! It was fabulous though. Funny story, 2 other girls in my class had on green bikinis. One changed into her pink bikini, and the other girl and I were right next to each other on stage… ha luckily, my suit had some blue stones on it so it sparkled differently than hers did and you couldn’t even tell!! 

3:00pm 

Waiting around for finals to start, it was time to really have fun, relax, and kick-ass on the t-walk. The places are picked during pre-judging (unofficially) so it was a good time. I literally almost fell over during my t-walk but saved it and timed it all just right and no one was like OMG YOU ALMOST FELL in fact, the didn’t even notice or know until I said something. Ha. WIN!! 

I competed in two classes – open and novice. I placed 4th in Novice and 3rd in Open and am very satisfied considering I didn’t lean out to where I should have due to some hormone imbalance that I discovered later. 

OVERALL… 

I would totally do it again. I WILL do it again. I loved every second of it… the camaraderie, the discipline, the experience, being on stage, and I wouldn’t have changed any of it. 

Even better? I now TRULY feel like a competitive athlete. YAHOO!!! 

I did it!

Well… I did it! I competed in my first competition! While I have much to say about the experience in detail, I am pooped and school starts tomorrow.I DID take home some hardware – 4th in Novice Bikini Class C (tall ladies) and 3rd in Open Bikini Class C! AND I got some incredible feedback from the judges. I am actually getting ready to hit the sack, but I will say some choice phrases…

1. I love this sport.

2. I love the people bodybuilding has brought to my life.

3. I will compete again no doubt about it.

4. I got some incredible feedback from the judges and feel much more validated as an athlete.

Goodnight 🙂

 

The Financial Cost of Competing

Ok I am going to be completely honest with you all! I would have so much more extra money to utilize if I wasn’t doing this show. Am I still gonna s do it? Hell yes. But let me break down some of the costs associated with the show just so you can see for yourself that this is a financial commitment as well as a mental/emotional/physical commitment. 

• Federation Membership $70
• Show Registration $150 
• Photos at the show $80 
• Hotel (splitting with another girl who is on my team) $100
• Tanning $120
• Hair and Makeup $150 
• Nails (doing them myself) $20
• Hair extensions and blowout $300 (I have a girlfriend who does hair 🙂 )
• Shoes $100 – one practice pair and one show pair 
• Jewelry $20 
• Suit $200 
• Coaching Annually $1500-$3000
• Teeth Whitening $20 (I use Rembrandt) 
• Silky Pajamas to tan and sleep in $30 
• Sheets to bring to the hotel so you don’t ruin them $10 (found them on sale!)
• Bikini bite (tanning specialist uses it but it’s always safe to bring your own) 

I think that’s all of it… but who knows! If I think of anything else, I will let you know. But seriously – before you make the decision to compete think about if you can afford it. 

Now the two things I could save some money on here are hair/makeup and tanning. Ladies with more experience can do their own, but since this is my first show I don’t want to take any chances! Maybe for the second show I am doing at the end of August I can practice tanning myself and see how it goes but truthfully the less things you have to worry about the better. The other thing is most girls might not spend the money to get extensions put in prior to, but I did. I normally have my hair blown out since I have naturally curly hair. The keratin treatment just helps with manageability. And since I am in the process of growing my hair out, and was going to get clip in extensions anyway, I decided to get the tape-in extensions! My hair grows super fast with extensions and so I figured, hell, why not 🙂 

My suit… well, I did not order my suit custom. This suit was ordered custom by another competitor, and ordered custom for about $800!!! I got it for $200 🙂 It is cut really well and the back is SO KILLER and really shows off my glutes, which are kind of huge right now – although I wouldn’t mind if they were bigger 😛 But be aware that quality is SO important. I think next time I will order one that is NOT blingy, get it cut really well, then bling it out myself. I am more concerned with the cut of the bottoms more than anything else. But for now I am super excited for this one since it will look so good on stage 🙂 

The costs for a coach also vary. My coach is awesome. In all reality, he could probably charge WAY more than he does for everything he does for each of his clients. I am not putting the actual cost of my own package up here because (and I don’t know how to say this without sounding crass so I apologize) I do not want anyone reading this, going to my coach, and being like “She said she got your services for this amount so why can’t I blah blah blah.” It’s not fair to him, and in all reality,  your needs may differ from mine so therefore your cost will differ. Picking a quality coach is so important – ie stay away from the cookie cutter diet and training regimens that so many people hand out to every single competitor they take one. They are NO GOOD and will drop you like a hot potato once your comp is done. Find someone who can coach you in AND out of your show so you experience the most success. You worked hard for your body, so wanting to take is slow and monitor after your competition is reasonable. I know for myself I am not ready to bulk again – personally I want to SLOWLY reverse diet and maintain as close to my show weight as I can, then SLOWLY bulk, and then compete again maybe a couple of years from now. 90% of this sport is the behind the scenes grind and the 10% is the time you spend on stage. 

Lots to think about… if you can swing it and you can emotionally and physically take on a competition, I say do it! This experience has been more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. When you focus on what you gain from the overall experience, it makes it so much better and so much fun!!! ❤

PEAK WEEK IS HERE

I am 1 week away from my show. 

Honeslty? I totally don’t feel ready 😦 But I know 90% of it is in my head. This week is peak week! I will be sending my coach daily updates on EVERYTHING and will adjust my nutrition accordingly. HOLY CRAP. It’s almost here. 

Stay tuned 🙂 

Back it up… 7 week out.

No, that title isn’t a typo. I am 7 weeks out! 

After talking with my coach, we have decided to push my competition out to August 2nd. And mainly because I am just NOT leaning out like I should be!

BEFORE YOU GET ANY IDEAS. Let me set a couple of things straight. 

1) I HAVE NOT DEVIATED FROM THE PLAN. I have been doing what Coach has told me – which is part of my frustration. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t getting discouraged. I have read about and heard about women who compete, place, and rock it, but they DEVIATED. They binged, cheated their nutrition, didn’t push in the gym, etc… and still succeeded. They placed. They may have even gotten their pro-card. Good for them! They got lucky, and I hope they enjoy their success. But it irks me…  here I am working my ASS off, dedicating myself to be successful, and I have to push my show back. I pride myself on that “go getter no bullshit” mentality for my training because it really gets under my skin when people half-ass it. It just does. 

2) I have never been overweight. I have also never been naturally thin or in super good shape. If you read my “about” page you’ll find that my fitness journey started when I was 13-years-old. I have had times when I was heavier, but it didn’t take long for me to snap out of it – because trust me it didn’t take long for the lbs to start coming on as soon as I got lazy! I have always had to work and be conscious of my nutrition and activity. Hormone issues run in my mom’s side of the family – many of those issues cause some of my relatives to have a hard time losing weight. And that’s just what I was handed genetically. Luckily, my dad’s side of the family is fairly lean so while I do have a harder time of it taking weight off and putting lean mass on, at least I don’t struggle as much as some of my family members. THAT much I am grateful for. And as far as I have to go I will continue to work hard every single freaking day because if I want this that is what I will do.

3) I initially was set on the July 18/19 show because of work. I am a teacher. Competing during the summer makes more sense for me. Luckily the August 2/3 show is the weekend BEFORE school starts. I will not have to take off time for new teacher training in my district (not that they would let me for a competition anyway) but it won’t interfere. The other thing I realize? If I want to continue this lifestyle, I am going to fit it in where it fits for my body. I will make it work if ever there comes a time where a competition coincides with school, period. You just either DO it, or you DON’T and that is just something I have learned. 

4) I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. That hardest thing is that people think the first reason you don’t succeed is because you DON’T give it your all!!!!!!! And it honestly makes me want to punch something because I have been working so freaking hard. I don’t know how to make people understand… I HAVE BEEN DOING WHAT I AM SUPPOSED TO. And STILL I question if it’s enough because my progress has stalled. And it’s kind of driving me mental. Coach said to lay off the stress… and I will. I even admitted to him, “this sport is a marathon, not a sprint.” I guess now that I have started this process, and future preps will have to start earlier than this one did so I can make sure I have the time my body needs to drop the weight in order to be competition ready. And that is just it. This whole thing is a learning process… so I learned, and will use that knowledge to be more successful in the future. 

Alright. Time to take these fresh baked brownies to my dad’s house! (and YES I did track and weigh the batter that I ate – IIFYM baby!)

 

Almost 5 weeks out and starting to feel it…

Going into this process I knew it would get hard. There is no doubt about that. So, I am not complaining that it is ‘hard.’ That is not new information. 

Instead, I am taking that frustration and turning it into a more positive energy… and I am taking the time today to spend one  ME. Refocus in the gym and hit it hard today, refocus on my nutrition and spend some time in the kitchen, refocus on my life and spend some time on home projects and take the dog for a hike. 

Couple of things I am experiencing (and I apologize if this is TMI) are fatigue and constipation. 

Fatigue as in I fell asleep yesterday morning halfway through my coffee at the kitchen table after and extremely restful night of sleep. 

Constipation as in I FINALLY pooped today but hadn’t gone for 2 days!!! Grr.  

To deal with these things I reached out to my team. We all have the same awesome coach and are a great support system for each other. You rock Team TNT!  Although YES I absolutely reached out to my coach, today is not one of his bigger e-mail days so I used the other resources around me. It is important to know you are not alone in the journey. I’ve basically been advised this: try more magnesium, still do the fiber, and try a detox tea to clean out my system. OK! Also, I have been told that sometimes the biggest changes happen in the last 3 weeks… although I am super nervous. Just to be sure, I even asked Coach about maybe doing a later show to give me more time to tighten up without totally ruining my metabolism. In theory my body shouldn’t be reacting the way it is but it is, so my carbs are already low (which I have learned to deal with so low-carb doesn’t scare me) but I want to reverse diet after the show. But if he says I will be ready, I will stay the course and see it through!

Something I have learned about this sport through everything has been this: I love this sport. I love the way it pushes me to be better in ALL areas of my life. I love that it has made me stronger and better able to handle and deal with life. It has even made my relationship stronger… My boyfriend is a hot shot firefighter and you bet your ass this relationship will require not just a whole lotta love and respect but it will need the mental toughness to survive. I feel so confident and even better in my relationship now and that strength is a direct side effect of this sport. I have learned this process goes beyond the time spent on stage – and I haven’t even been on stage yet! But in my head, I have already won. I have never been so consistent in anything or followed through so well on anything. That has spilled over into the rest of my life as well which is incredible. My professional life has blossomed and I even started my own business. 

So. Many. Good. Things. And nothing worth having is easy, so I am glad in a way this process is finally starting to kick my butt mentally. It is good for character building. I have such a fabulous support system in my friends, family, team, and myself. Yes, I do believe that I am part of my support system because this is my journey and it will turn out exactly how I want it to even if it takes some more time. 

Anyway, about 5 weeks out and I am still feeling good but definitely starting to feel the grind more and more. I will still go strong and see it through until the end. And even the ‘end’ isn’t the end… trust me I have more goals I want to meet and hurdle I want to jump. This is only the beginning 🙂 

If at first you don’t succeed… Try doing what your coach told you to do the first time.

Last week was my first week on lower carbs. I’d be a big fat liar if I said the struggle wasn’t there. The first time I’ve really struggled this whole prep…

I recall mentally feeling discouraged. And wanting to complain. And while I vented to Stephie Poo along the lines of “I knew this was gonna get hard at some point- but you know what I’m gonna make it work and every day it will get easier.” I always have ONE thing in the back of my mind that I never forget that keeps me from getting too down… And we all need to remember: I signed up for this!

Fast forward to this morning: my reply from Coach from my chart the other day. I said…
1. I moved my refeed day so I can have the extra carbs the day before my heaviest day.
2. I have another cyst so I’m doing my best but I’ll keep you in the loop if I have to cut my training short because of irritation. Last thing I need is for it to abscess and be out for 2-3 days.
3. I have steady cardio now in my regimen, but the dog has her staples out and I need to start taking her hiking. I asked if this could be my cardio.
4. Keep in mind I’ve always been instructed to hit +\- 5g on my macros unless otherwise instructed. So I hit my numbers as such.

The reply read something like this:
1. Don’t worry about the refeed nonsense- it’s a myth and don’t move it again. We are in crunch time so just keep with the program.
2. He didn’t say anything about this- because my coach is awesome and has always helped me accommodate when I have health issues pop up. Luckily, the cyst DID heal and didn’t abscess (cue happy dance).
3. I can do hiking for cardio but I have to keep my heart rate steady. So I decided I’m gonna get a heart rate monitor to maximize my time with baby girl to meet my fitness goals.
4. No more going over- although I did stay within 5 grams for carbs, no more no more no more. He did the same with my fats last week… Don’t go over. Period. Not even 1. So I won’t. No questions asked.

Coach is always friendly, always nice, and usually DOESNT have to do the tough love thing. I just listen to what he says and I do it. So I just said “ok got it!”

Why? He is the COACH. I am the ATHLETE. It’s his JOB to tell me when I’m doing well and when I need to be more on pointe. In truth I’m happy he doesn’t coddle me. I wouldn’t be anywhere close to being able to be ready for a show.

So fellow athletes… Here is my tough love to you.

1. You signed up for it. You asked for it. You knew it was gonna be hard and gnarly at times. If you do feel discouraged or shitty (which will happen), reach out to your coach or your mentor and push even harder! Complain but then find something to get out of the hard times. You’ll be better for it. But don’t whine and throw a hissy fit and give up. It’s not cute.
2. If you have a Coach… Just do what they say. This is as long as they actually listen to you and don’t put your health at risk. Trust them because it’s their job!! And hopefully they are a nice person too and not just trying to take your money. But just do what they say. Duh.
3. Don’t just listen to your coach, be honest with them too. They can’t help you if you aren’t giving them the whole story. I don’t feel like that one really needs to be said, but just do it. Otherwise you are doing yourself a disservice.
3. Be encouraging. Use your struggles to make you stronger… More disciplined… And lift up those who need some encouragement. Everyone will struggle but it’s how you choose to handle it that will determine your true success.

Ok, I guess it wasn’t TOO tough of love. This may be fueled in part because lately I see so a many things and posts about how it’s so hard and you don’t think you can do it and you haven’t seen results and this and that. That’s fine. Get it out. It’s unhealthy to stay bottled up. But then go out and push harder, lift someone up, and trust your coach.

SPARKLES

Alright… what can I say! 8 weeks out? How did it happen so fast! I feel like there is so much to talk about. But let me focus on in on something that is the most recent most exciting thing to occur in regard to my prep… 

I GOT A SUIT. AND I GOT SHOES. AND I STARTED POSING. 

Ok, maybe 3 things, but they are all related, right?!?!? 

I’ll start with the posing. I FINALLY was able to meet with Coach and his bikini posing master Nichol to go over some basic stuff. I bashfully admitted to and was asked to demonstrate what I had kind of played around with on my own time – not knowing that just that little bit of ‘messing around’ would pay off. I didn’t have shoes yet but Nichol brought over a pair for me to borrow for our session. 

So here I was in a personal training studio, with a another woman doing bodybuilding posing (and oh my goodness her physique was amazing I couldn’t believe it) and me in my neon shorts, sports bra, and heels. PHEW. We went over the basics: butt gets lifted, chest get pushed out, shoulders get relaxed, and lats get spread. Seems easy? NOT REALLY. I was sore in some places I didn’t realize could BE sore! But it was fantastic. We then did some basic footwork, and that is my homework until next time: posture and footwork. They said I did pretty well, so I am just rolling with it. Luckily my gym has a posing room (literally a room full of mirrors) that I can work in after my workouts. I’ve already got two on-my-own sessions under my belt and I already can feel them paying off. 

The next thing was a suit… Nichol asked me what kind of suit color I was thinking. While I had thought of it briefly, I hadn’t given it too much thought since I really don’t know what the best on-stage colors are. It just so happened that she had a friend who was selling her beautiful custom suit and her friend just so happened to be in the same area I was in working with them that afternoon (which is an hour away from where I live) and it was magic. I went over to her house, tried it on, and OMG. I was sold. It is beautiful. I didn’t know something could be so teeny tiny, sparkly, and just feel so GOOD. It felt really real for the first time. It was fate I believe… there was a reason we had to reschedule posing 3 times, and it just happened to finally end up on that day in that part of the metro area and it was still available. FATE I TELL YOU. I am a big believer that things happen for a reason and I bet the reason that day was so I could get this beautiful lovely suit. It looks incredible on stage too – I saw pictures. I walk by it every morning and just get a little bug eyed and giggly because it is just so beautiful!!! I hope I do it justice on competition day 🙂 

Next came the shoes… Nichol directed me to a tiny store (that was easily enough on my way home – FATE) where I could get my shoes. I walked in. THEY HAD ONE PAIR LEFT IN MY SIZE IN THE ONES I NEEDED. Fate! I tell you, this was the day I was meant to get my stuff. It is all REAL. 

To end this post… one more mention of my suit… SPARKLES. 

Happy Tuesday! 

 

Oh. My. Word.

Bikini prep in a nutshell:

Sleep. 

Water. 

Eat. 

Vitamins. 

Train. 

Flavored Coffee. 

Stretch. 

Cardio.

Cook. 

Not in that order… and repeat. 

Did I leave anything out? I hope not. I think that covered it. When you break it down like this, it doesn’t seem too bad… Mix it in with real life? And it becomes a bit of a juggling act. 

I am so relieved that the hardest part of my prep is falling over the course of the tail end the school year and summer time! It is such a relief – I am not sure I could have handled it any other time. 

All I can dream about right now is TIME. To not be rushed or busy… To be able to work on things at night until my hearts content, stay up super late, wake up early and NOT be tired. Oh man. That would be the dream. 

Well, summer is COMING!!! Thank goodness. 

Now it’s time for me to rest! And sleep! And REPEAT!

9 Weeks Out!

9 weeks out tomorrow….

SAY WHAT?!?!?!?! It can’t be! I still have so far to go! But how far I have come… now THAT is incredible.

I was discouraged earlier, but I decided I am not going to post about it – because I am no longer feeling discouraged. I am anticipating my diet changing this week, so I prepped my food and shopped according to what I feel like is going to be reduced macros.

I am ready. My training this week was a NEW plan and BOY did it hurt. Leg day? Talk about squats, deads, AND sumo deads. I have some pretty neat bruises on my shins, SEE?!?!? Battle wounds.

Also, fitting in 3 solid cardio sessions was a tad ahrder than I thought. i am not used to spending a solid 2 hours in the gym – this is including some serious stretching. Like, stretching how I used to. I miss the days when I had 45 min every night just to stretch. I stretch like how I did when I was a dancer – and that for me is calming, it challenges me in the best way, and I love it. I am so happy and i am going to fit it in 2-3x per week now. I miss my flexibility and damnit I am GOING to get it back!

This week is the last week of school, so it will be pretty low key and I can really focus on my new business and my training.

New Business? Stay tuned 😉

Right now I am pretty pooped. I have some last minute food prepping to do for this week and am eating my last meal and am waiting for a load in the washer so I can throw it in the dryer.

I wish I wasn’t pooped thought… I have SO MUCH MORE I need to talk about right now I feel.

This week in my progress pics I feel like I am tightening up more which is WONDERFUL. I also have noticed on my own that my muscles are starting to LOOK more defined all over – arms, legs, abs, you name it. I am definitely making progress. I hope Coach is pleased because I sure am. Check me out!!!

Last night I had some MUCH NEEDED girl time. This whole weekend I was pretty social – went out to a party Friday night and had girls night at a friends house last night and I think I needed it. I am feeling mentally recharged. I was going stir crazy for a while since it seemed I was so busy and everyone else was so busy and there was no time for playing, just working. Not to mention the last 3 weekends in a row I took stuff home for work. And I try my hardest to limit my homework so I can have a healthy balance and still enjoy my job. So I work hard during the week, use my time wisely, and stay on top of stuff enough that I can get it done! But, once in a while, the extra time does need to get put in and that is when you just gotta gut it out on your own time. And it was totally worth it.

I hope you had a restful weekend! I know I did – at least I had a mentally recharging weekend which was way overdue. I have LOTS more to say this week about LOTS of stuff so keep your eyes peeled!

SO MANY THOUGHTS, SO LITTLE TIME .

But I like it that way!