I have had this in my head for a while now as I’ve been prepping for this show. I have been watching many, many other ‘preppers’ and their methods. I’m talking pro and national level figure competitors. The things I see are unreal!! It also makes me feel GUILTY for not suffering as much!!
I have to remind myself daily…especially while I read other blogs and watch other pictures rolling in from people doing the same contest…this is not a contest to see how lean a person gets. Leanest does not = winner. Nor does most muscular, nor does the person that does the most cardio, nor does the person that starves themself the most and only eats fish and asparagus WHILE doing the most cardio!!!!
Come on, now!! We have to keep our heads about us while doing this stuff. Myself included. I am sure that there are those that just live for the contest. But that isn’t me. I care what happens before, and I care what happens afterwards. EVEN IF down the road, I am lucky enough to do very well. Even IF!! That guarantees me nothing!! How many millionaire figure pros do you know? Anyone?
Ok, so what does win? Shape, symmetry, condition, overall appearance, feminine muscularity, beauty, that special something that someone has on stage that you cannot see in the pictures…the TOTAL PACKAGE. And let’s face it, sometimes at these national level shows, place 16 can be in the same condition as place 1!!
For all you girls that are going to hire a figure coach. Please do not hire someone that you KNOW is going to make you do 2 a day cardio sessions. Totally unnecessary!! Please do not hire someone that is going to make you eat only protein and vegetables…PUKE!! I won’t even get into how unhealthy that is!! There are some coaches out there that look like they can get you to the top b/c of WHO they trained (with great genetics or ’supplements’), but don’t be fooled.
Yes, it is great that a contest motivates you. It’s great to rise to the occaision, and really work your butt off to reach that goal!! It’s inspiring! But let’s do it the right way so we can keep on inspiring after the contest is done. ;) Don’t do anything you wouldn’t tell your daughter to do.
If you read this blog and have not joined us yet at www.aliswanson.com/forum what are you waiting for?? There is a great group of supportive women over there!!
If you want to contact me for coaching services on line or in person, please contact me at ali@aliswanson.com
Hey, guys! When I am on the treadmill, or watching my kids swim…or anything else that allows my mind to wander, I think about things that I can write in my blog. Sometimes I jot them down b/c I’m old, and I’ll forget!! I have GREAT thoughts on the treadmill….wonderful writing ideas! But then it escapes me when I get off and go about my day.
Well, I jotted a couple notes down this time. They are random and hard to read. But here is one…this is in the middle of a 45 minute cardio session: Why the Treadmill Pisses Me OFF! LMAO!! I don’t even remember what that is about. I just thought it was funny.
Ok , I really do remember. I think it is about the fact that I really want to get outside and run!! It’s very hard to run at a specified rate all the time. Running/walking/moving outside is GREAT! It doesn’t force you to move at a specified rate. It’s harder…the ground is uneven, or slippery, or snow covered! The wind blows, there are hills. Best of all, you can adjust your intensity instantly according to how you feel. When doing sprints, you can go allllllllllllllll out as fast as you can go, and then let it trail off because you can’t keep that intensity up. You can’t do that on a treadmill.
Outside you are actually pushing off the stable GROUND…the treadmill is moving. It’s not the same. So…that’s my frustration for this contest prep. I have done some outside hill runs, but that’s it. Nothing on the snow covered road. I told my husband we needed a track. He laughed.
So, what do you do when you hit that wall. It ALWAYS happens during the course of a diet. Do any of you watch The Biggest Loser? There is the dreaded week 2. Well, this was my week 2. It was actually week 3, but that’s a minor detail. :) I had a down week. I was starving, I was cold (it was barely above zero during the day here in MI last week), and was just not feeling the love from the scale. Those thoughts of ‘Why am I doing this…I’m miserable!!’ crept into my head. I am willing to bet that that is the reason that many people go off their diets and say, ‘What the heck!? It’s not working, anyway. I might as well eat if I’m not losing weight.’
This is where you have to dig deep. You need to believe in the process. You need to have faith. You know what the right thing to do is. You know what will lead you to the right thing in the end…you just can’t visibly SEE it at the moment. Who are you?
What do you do in this situation? Do you make it easier on yourself? Because you’re struggling. It’s HARD! You deserve a break! You do!! I have seen this time and time again. If you shoot for something mediocre…chances are you’re not gonna make it. It’s just not that important. The stakes are not high. The harder you make it, the harder you are going to try. The more enthusiastic you will be about accomplishing that goal. Do NOT be easy on yourself. Who are you? Give it all you’ve got…and then give 2 more. Don’t get in good shape…get RIPPED! Don’t aim for the beach body…aim for a pro figure competitor. It IS possible. Go one more MPH, 5 more pounds, 30 more seconds. If you shoot for the moon, you might hit a star.
Hi, guys!! I’m just riding the wave right now. I’m feeling excellent, I’m getting leaner (slowly…but surely).
I am trying to appreciate every step along they way, and not stress too much about the past or future. That is one of my new year’s resolutions. Speaking of which, did you make yours? Did you reflect? Make goals for the future? It’s kind of like changing the batteries in your smoke detector, you don’t need to do it on New Year’s Day, but it’s a good reminder to take inventory of your life and the direction it’s taking.
What did you do today to make yourself happy?
For me, making goals and following what it takes to get a step further towards them, makes me happy. When *I* am happy, I am able to pass that enthusiasm, love, support onto others, and then it comes back to me x10. So, pass it around!!
Have you all seen this??
Ms. New Booty
From Fredericks of Hollywood:
Padded control brief with completely invisible, removable foam padding. Cotton pocket holds pads and stitched outline of pocket holds pads in place. High cut front leg opening eliminates panty lines. Firm control panel on front flattens tummy. Nylon/spandex. Imported.
Blink
Here is MY solution to getting a rounder booty:
I did a quick search for a good picture, but couldn’t find one….Anyway…
The hotel is booked, my tan is booked, NPC membership in, shoes purchased, suit in the works, Arnold tix purchased…it’s all going to happen! Wow, is that a lot of money!
My mindset right now is that I’m super-motivated. I want to do too much. That is always my problem with prep…I want to do all I can to bing my best self, but I know I can’t work myself into the ground. I will wear out before the show, so I am trying to ease into everything. I am easing calories down slowly, not doing too much cardio, not doing my fastest sprints, etc. I haven’t been doing any cardio for a month, but I still feel pretty in shape, and my legs are definitely strong, so I feel like I could bust it out, but I don’t want to get injured. Plus I want to see if it works just going slow. I’ll leave some in the tank for when fat loss slows to a crawl!
So right now, I’m only doing about 70 minutes of cardio a week. Wow, that doesn’t sound like much, does it!? Cool. Lots of room to ramp it up if I need to.
My NYE diet was successful. I had a small meal of party food, and then snacked on veggies and fruit the rest of the night. Oh, and I had another one of those non-beer Miller 64’s. That stuff is just not beer. Does not fit the bill!! I was down a pound the next day. LOL That was from no workout and dehydration. I gained the pound back today.
So, now I am through the holidays and nothing to focus on but this show…oh ya…and my 4 kids…and everything else!! haha.
Hi guys! A little update. I’ve started dieting. I’ve dropped a couple pounds of water weight, which puts me at 112. This will be, what…9 weeks of dieting? That’s enough for me. It seems that pushing it into a 12 week cut gets me a little too lean, and at the point of losing muscle. So, I’m just going to slam it for 9 weeks and be done with it.
Man, I’m still amazed people do 2 hours of cardio a day and eat nothing but protein and veggies during a contest prep. No fruit, no dairy, no ‘bread’. What? I never would have done this had I had to eat like that. Ya, it’s hardcore. Ya, it works…but why toture yourself unnecessarily? I mean, it’s hard enough!! I can’t even imagine THAT rebound. Ugh! NOT that there aren’t some amazing physiques that come out of that…there really are. I just don’t think it HAS to be that way. Maybe people will listen if I do well. :) I don’t know why it takes that…but it seems to.
Did you guys see that video of Erin Stern that said she dieted for one week before winning the overall at Nationals? Haaaaaaaaaa! Although, I’m sure she worked out and ate well, anyway. She is a track athlete. High jump, I think?? She will be doing the Arnold -pro. What a beautiful lady!!
Here’s a little of my thought process as to why I’m doing this show. I am a SAHM of 4 children. I am 37!! Man, I can’t even believe that one! Next year my youngest will be in kindergarten, and I will probably start WORKING…like for money. Yippee!! So, I figured that this is the year to do it if I’m going to…that is…hit a round of national shows. Now, I’m not committing to any more than this because I just don’t know how I’ll feel after doing this one, but this is a start.
So, when I sent in my application right before Christmas, I was excited…but then it set in…OH @#$%^&* !! What did I just do??? So, until a week ago, I was walking around in a state of OMGIdontwantodothis! I wouldn’t find a hotel room, wouldn’t start my suit, wouldn’t pay for my tan, and I was eating like a crazy woman!! (hey, it was the holidays, and I was baking up a storm!!) I was just stressed about the whole thing.
Now, I don’t know what happened, really. I just decided to calm the hell down. I’m taking one day at a time. One minute at a time sometimes! I have to get in my ‘mode’, and then when I am in it, nothing can stop me. I CANNOT do a contest on the fence. I did that one time, and the results were horrible all the way around. You HAVE to be completely committed to it. It’s too hard, otherwise. You’ll waffle.
So, that’s my mental journey so far. I am in it, now…just raring to go!! Now my system just has to adjust to more protein and less…uhhhh….christmas cookies. Argh!! Pretty bad when that happens.
Well, back to blogging, that is…I’ve been posting on my forum all along. :-) I’m in contest prep mode, again, so I figured I’d start blogging the process. I’m going to try to do some video blogging, so that will add a fun, new dimension to this. At the very least, I should be able to make someone laugh at me, and if I can get a smile…that will make me happy.
Just to get this blog up to speed from last May, I had hernia surgery in June, and then we took an active family vacation a week later to the mountains. So, that gave me 3 weeks off. Since then, I worked my strength back up. My deadlift took the longest since I took the most time off from that (some before the surgery, even), and at least 6 weeks afterwards. I am back 110%, now, though.
I kept my weight under 110 the whole summer…mostly 106-108, I think. I started slowly gaining at the end of September and into October. I took a little break from that in November (cut that fat a bit), and have been on again (eating) since the week of Thanksgiving. I really don’t like the gaining process at all, so I try to keep the fat gain to a minimum. At this point, I’m not going to gain a hord of muscle, so that fat gain just isn’t worth it.
