Tag Archive for contest prep

It’s Been a Minute….

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This will make you laugh. I was bored the other night and made this…haha

HA! Anyways… Wow, that’s the longest I’ve gone without posting since I started this blog.

I needed a break, and I can’t say that I’m 100% back yet, but maybe…

Training:

Going amazingly right now. I am LOVING my workouts and seeing better results than EVER!! I’m lifting heavy and really can tell a huge difference in my physique.

Dieting:

I feel better than ever. I am eating a liberal contest diet. Meaning, I’m actually eating carbs every single day (in my first 2-3 meals) and I haven’t felt this good in a long time. My weight has been holding steady the past few weeks, as my body got used to having carbs again since I wasn’t really having much in preparing for the USA’s.(more on that below.) My clothes are getting looser though, and my mind is in such a great place.

Competition:

If you didn’t know already, I’m NOT competing in the USA’s this weekend. I made the decision that I am going to do this the right way. The right way is different for everyone, but MY right way is slowly leaning out. None of this no-carb crapola for me. My body does better with high protein, moderate carbs and moderate fat. My activity level is high enough to support that and it is the way i started this whole thing. I got too wrapped up in “having” to do the show, that I started to do what I’ve always said not to do: eat too little. My body wasn’t responding as well and I knew I needed to get into a long-term mindset.

Future Plans

As of right now I’m not sure. I’d like to compete in a national bikini show this year, but part of me is really turned off by the sport and the judging/posing. I am really considering doing figure. At this point, I’m not finalizing anything because I really just am having a good time working out hard, leaning out and not having a timeline…….

 

It’s becoming a lifestyle. The workouts have always been, but the eating too. It doesn’t feel like a chore anymore these days and it’s what I want to do.

Basically, I’m loving life right now, getting back into music again, training for the fun of it, getting amazing results, and enjoying every moment. I do plan on competing before the year ends, but I’m seeing where this road takes me.

Posted in contest prep, Work Hard tagged with , , , , ,

Is Pressure a Good Thing?

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Hola! 4 weeks out from NPC USA’s woo hooo!!! 🙂

Pressure: Good or bad?

So I’m curious to know what you guys think. Do you do better or worse under pressure? To be honest, I’m not really sure where I stand on this subject. In ways, the pressure of my sponsors and coaches to be ready for this show in 4 weeks has made me push myself harder than I ever would have on my own. But at the same time, any doubts or fears that they have about me being ready kinda bring me down. I feel like the pressure can really get to me sometimes and make me want to give up, but it is the same thing that is driving me to work so hard. Kind of interesting to think about and it’s just one more part of the learning process on what works best for me.

 

How does pressure affect you? Does it help you or does it make you less motivated? Even if it makes you uncomfortable, do you prove greater results with the presence of pressure??

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5 Weeks Out

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So I’m pretty sure that nobody reads this anymore 😀 Sorry for being such a slacker but I just haven’t had much time for blogging these days.

Training

I’m literally in the gym all day long. As you know I work there, as well as work out there, so if I’m not working out, I’m usually working. My cardio is…well…a lot right now. I don’t want to get into too much detail because it isn’t something that I would ever have a client do. I’m borderline behind schedule and need to make sure I’m ready for the show. I am not taking on more than I can handle, workout wise, but it is definitely rigorous training. I am thankful that my body keeps up with me 🙂

My diet is very strict right now as well, but I’m feeling good. I truly like training hard and dieting hard (although I’m definitely looking forward to eating a bit more variety after the show ;-)). I feel extremely accomplished knowing that I’m putting in all the effort that I can.

Stress levels are high right now for other reasons. Lots of things going on in July, lots of things going on in my head, and lots of things that cost money and take a lot of time. I don’t have much of either to spare, so I’m trying to work it all out.

I’m hangin’ in there and only 5 weeks to go! Hoping my body does what it needs to do 🙂 I’ll post some pictures here sometime soon when I get a chance, too.

Posted in cardio, contest prep tagged with , , , , ,

We’re jammin’!

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Goooood morning!

A very early morning, obviously. It’s 3:15am and I have to leave for work in about a half hour, but I woke up extra early for some reason today. I figured I should blog now because I’ve got the time.

Life Update

I seem to love to keep myself extremely busy. Okay, I seem to love to do everything to the extreme. I don’t have a happy medium apparently! Haha. Today is going to be a nice 15.5 hour day…Work, workouts, class, meetings and a demo this evening.

I’ve found a new way to incorporate my two favorite things in the world……….

image

This is me at the gym jamming out while I work. Yes, I am a nerd. No, I don’t have kids.

You may or may not know that I am a music fanatic to say the least. I went to recording school and have played piano and guitar for the better part of my life. Although you would THINK this would mean I’m good at those instruments, well, I play for 6 months, then take a year off and have done this for about 8 years. I can still rock out though! Anyways, bringing my guitar to work has been the highlight of my shift! Playing music at the gym=two passions combined. Success! Another reason why I’m not a fan of the corporate gyms….couldn’t do this there!

Prep Update

This prep has been relatively easy mentally. I’m making progress, it’s just a matter of if there is enough time. I am now just under 6 weeks until my competition and although I’m leaning out, I’m just not sure I’ll be ready in time. Sure, I could be ready enough to get on stage, but for a national show, I need to be looking 110%!!! My coach and I talked and we are going to decide July 7th whether I do USA’s or wait another month and head to Texas for Jr. USA’s. Kind of frustrating as seeing that I have invested a lot into this particular show, but it’s not out of sight yet and I’m pushing it HARD!! We’ll see what happens in these next 2.5 weeks!

 

Okay, time for work+workouts+jammin’!

Posted in contest prep, guitar, music, Work Hard tagged with , , ,

Tips for Getting it all Done! + TV Appearance

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Hey guys! I’ve been so neglectful with the blog. I apologize, I’ve just been busy! Summer school is great because you get everything done so quickly, but it is SO much work!!

I’ve talked about the various things I have been doing with my life these past few months, and when I begin to write about it sometimes I’m amazed that it all gets done. Here are some tips to getting it ALL done:

Tips to Getting it All Done

Sleep: Go to bed as early as you can. Hands down, the best advice I have. The earlier you wake up, the earlier you can get your day started, and the beauty is that most of the world is sleeping, so they won’t bug you and things won’t just come up as often.

Cardio: Wake up and go do it. Even if you don’t want to, just do it. Just get your butt to the gym, or outside and just START. Don’t think, just start!!

Weight Training: Some people prefer to do this in the evening, but by the evening the last thing I want to do is work out. My routine involves doing cardio, eating my breakfast at the gym, waiting for the food to digest and then hitting up the weight room. If i have more cardio to do, I do it right after my weight training and then my workouts are DONE for the day. I’m usually done by about 8am

Studying: If you’re in school or studying for something, it can be hard to find the time to do this on its own. I’ve found that incline walking and  reading chapters for my classes is pretty much a win-win situation. With incline walking, you don’t bounce as much and you don’t have to worry about slowing your intensity because you have it pre-set, so you can’t slack. The cardio time also goes by really fast when you’re reading, so cardio flys by. Studying+Cardio all in one=AWESOME.

E-mails, Homework and Work-related items: A lot of my work (outside of my gym and supplement store jobs) involves writing client workouts and meal plans; and doing freelance articles. I’ve found that the best way to plan for this is to write it in my calendar and get things done early. If I have an hour in the afternoon free, I write in my calendar what I can get done in that hour. I do this every Sunday for the week, and obviously it changes, but it’s a guideline to ensure I don’t forget about things. Plus, who doesn’t love checking things off of a list?! 😉

Those are just some tips that I use to get everything done. I try to multi-task when I can, and to plan things out for the week so that I get it all done without cramming it all into one day.

TV Appearance

If I get a copy of the airing, I’ll post it, but if you are in the AZ area, tune into Channel 3 tomorrow (Monday) morning at 10AM Arizona Time to see me demo-ing some exercises for my former roomie Emily! It was really fun to do, and I can’t wait(or maybe I can, because I might look like a goof haha!) to see it on TV.

****Less than 6 weeks to go until competition time!! Still have some work to do, but I’m confident I can pull it off!

Congrats to Rebecca, Genie, and Kendra on their competitions this weekend. They all 3 did incredible and have set the bar very high!!! Way to go girls!!!

Posted in cardio, contest prep, Focus on the task at hand, school, Work Hard tagged with , ,

Motivation

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Let me start you off with a few videos…..

And one more…

I’ve talked about it before, but I’ll say it again. Losing weight, training for a marathon, prepping for a competition, or WHATEVER your goal may be is NOT about your diet, exercise or training plans.

Those things are about 10% of acheiving your goal. The other 90% comes from your motivation, drive, persistance and consistency.

Motivation is probably one of the hardest things to acheive. YES, we want to achieve the goal, but staying motivated all the time can be really hard. When you get your swing moving, things become easier and your motivation can become more consistent and apparent.

For anyone reading this that is stuck in a rut, we’ve all been there. Here, let me say it again: WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE. You are not alone. You are not a loser because you can’t keep your motivation high. Hell, I’ve been there. I would venture to say that I have been there the past, oh, 5 months? Yep, that’s right.

I’ve been struggling, but something clicked with me tonight. I realized a few nights ago that I was really unhappy with myself. Yes, I have been in a pretty good mood most of the time, but deep down: Not Happy. I wasn’t keeping up with my goals and was just letting time slip past me. My only explanation for this is that somewhere down the line, I stopped doing this stuff for me. I started eating well and training for my coaches, sponsors, and friends.

All of these people were “counting on me”(in my head) to compete and get better. I lost my biggest fan, though, ME.

I found her today. After some serious events that hit rock bottom today, I realized that I needed to get my happiness back. I was letting outside factors and simply, a lack of personal motivation get the best of me.

Let me put this out there, I LOVE my life. As hard as things get, and as ashamed of myself as I’ve been, I still love my life. I love training HARD. For some people, getting to the gym is a real struggle and eating right is pretty simple. Although I do LOVE eating healthy, I also like to eat a LOT haha. That doesn’t exactly work when you’re trying to slim down for myself. Not for a competition(although that is a landmark along the way), but for ME. I like my body lean. It compliments my training. It makes me feel good about myself and it reinforces my hard work. So there. 😛

Getting to the gym is easy for me. I LOVE lifting, i LOVE pushing myself to the absolute max. Sprints and running bleachers? Yes, i love it.(Although during it I swear like a pirate and grunt, but that’s just part of my sound effects. I swear one day I will make a soundtrack of myself )

I remember around this time last year, I  made a goal. I decided that I was going to get in the best shape of my life, and that when I was ready I would do a competition. March 2009 was in my mind, but when the time came, I didn’t feel ready. So I pushed on and decided on July. About 2 months before the NPC show, my posing coaches told me that I shouldn’t do it. The reasoning is that we were all planning on doing a show in August, and two shows in a row is hard to do.(Learned later, they were so RIGHT.) HOWEVER, I decided to do that NPC show because it was what I had been working for and I wanted to do a damn competition already!! So I did. And I placed 2nd. And had the best day/night of my entire life.

Here’s to me re-committing myself to being healthy and happy. I have found the peace within myself that i have been looking for. All it took was for me to take a step back and remember why I do all of this. This isn’t for my coaches, or my friends, or my family, or my sponsor. This is for ME. If I don’t compete again until 2012 RIGHT before the world ends, then so be it.(1. I don’t really think the world will end but maybe it will! Who knows?! and 2. I DO still plan to compete this February. If I feel ready. If not, I will jump on March. End goal however, is June -Jr.Nationals. That one is in the books for sure.)

I’ll leave you with this commercial that my professor showed us last night. I dig it. I also dig him, he is amazing. I am planning on re-taking his class, because it is THAT awesome. Right now his 466 person class is already full…

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Labor-less Day

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Morning blogggies! Hope you have all had a fantastic weekend so far!

Mine has been pretty good! Friday night I went to the casino, if you remember. I came away with $40 bucks 🙂 Not too shabby for not even betting my own money 😀

Afterwards, I went out to Oldtown with my friend Nina, and got home around 1:30am. I crashed in bed.

Saturday, I got in a good ab workout and some cardio, and then got home and showered to meet a friend at the OCB show. A few of my friends were competing and I was also promoting Funktional Fitness there. My friend/posing coach/amazing mentor Tiffani, who was competing, placed 1st in figure, 1st in fitness model and also received the Best poser award!! Laura placed well in her classes as well and it was an overall really fun event. OCB runs their shows quite a bit differently than I am used to, so I am glad I got to see it first hand. I feel like I could have done pretty well at this show, had I decided to compete, but I am still glad that I didn’t. I feel so good lately. Sleeping through the night rocks 🙂

Sunday I went up to Prescott with my dad. He has a cabin in the area, and I’ve grown up going there multiple weekends out of the year. Since we are all grown up now, I don’t get up there as often as I like. I wish I had pictures to show because it was GORGEOUS up there. It had rained on Saturday, so the air was fresh, breezy and crisp. We started out at the farmer’s/flea market where I got some beautiful red bell peppers, and 5 pounds of apples for 3 DOLLARS–yes please 🙂 They were sweet and delicious! We then ended up meeting a good family friend for breakfast. Afterwards, my dad and I walked around the city, since there were some events going on, and ultimately headed back to the cabin. We just relaxed on the deck, reading and enjoying the beautiful 85 degree weather.(Much cooler than the 100 degree weather we deal with in Phoenix.) The best part is that it is only an hour drive from Phoenix.

Note to self: Get up there more often!

Came home and did laundry, cooked up some chick-a-dees, prepared meals for today, and did the dishes. I also cleaned up my room a little bit. Very productive!

A lot little too much snacking on kettle corn may have gone down, but I am still 11 weeks out. I will allow myself a little extra snackies here and there this week, for sanity purposes of course 😉 10 weeks out (Friday, September 11th)I will begin my prep. Right now, I am basically eating contest prep diet, but not fretting about eating an apple, or a little extra sumpin sumpin, ya know?! I am going to take measurements every two weeks and will post them for you to see. First measurements will come this Friday!

Today, I’m headed to the gym for some leg ac-shee-own(action;-)). Not sure how the rest of my day will play out but I think I might go hang out with the sister since she’s off today. Maybe do a little shoppy shoppy?! (Hey, I’ve got an extra $40 to spend right?!)

Quote for the day: 

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

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