Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Well, I have been a little off-and-on lately... I eat really great and clean one day, then totally go crazy with sweets and carbs the next. But it's all stopping now. It's amazing to me how huge an effect food can have on not only your body and health, but also your moods! So, today I have vowed to be healthy from now on seriously! Why feel gross all the time when you can feel awesome and on-top-of-the-world just by eating healthy foods. My workouts have been frequent (pretty much every day) but not quite as intense as usual. I'm trying not to do weights until January when I have an exact plan on how to decrease my lower body muscle and make the tweaks necessary for a totally symmetrical competition body! But, I find it really hard to stay away from the heavy metal in the gym. Cardio can be so boring when that's all you're doing. So, I'm trying to keep myself interested by doing plyometrics, intervals and other brain-intensive sweat sessions lately! I leave for my vacation in Dominican Republic this Sunday which is totally exciting (it's been a long time since I had a stress-free resort vacation) Woo-hoo!

Monday, November 9, 2009

So, my last competition of 2009 was this past weekend. I competed in both Fitness Model and Open Figure categories at IDFA's Canadian Classic. It was a totally awesome experience with quite large and impressive groups of ladies competing! I definitely didn't take enough time to prep for this competition and I knew going in that I wasn't really lean anough (I actually almost pulled out of the Figure category at the last minute because of this, but didn't and was glad I didn't). I was really happy to see such large groups as that always means there's more of a variety of types of bodies so it's not like I'd be the only one without razor-sharp muscles and six-pack abs. I was definitely relying heavily on the 5 inch heels and a super dark tan to bring my physique up a bit! So, when I got my spray tan the night before I got 3 coats instead of my usual 2, and I felt dark enough this time which was awesome! I had decided not to wear my figure bikini for the Fitness Model round and had spent the 2 days before the competition buying, and altering a bikini I had found at a shop on Yonge St. I was a little worried about it and had to totally pin and tape myself into it all to make it secure and look ok, but in the end I really loved the look of it and I got so many comments on that bikini! It was good to have very different looks for the two very different categories. The Fitness Model category was new for IDFA (they usually just have Figure and Bodybuilding), so no one really knew what to expect in terms of what exactly they were looking for in bikinis, poses, and physiques. It seemed they picked quite a similar look to Figure in the end which I think some people may have been a little surprised by as why have the 2 separate categories if there's no difference? I don't know... I felt really off and like I had back-tracked in my progress from my competitions in June and July (which didn't feel good). But my mom snapped some photos of me and even videotaped my little walk in Fitness Model in the daytime prelims. So, in between shows I looked at those and I felt quite a bit better! My body wasn't exactly how I'd like it to look for competition, but it also wasn't as bad as I had thought! I think I should aim for about 10 pounds lighter for my next competitions. Just a bit less chub on my lower body. Today I was looking at pics from the Neutron competition in October and the pics from this competition (which was 3 weeks later) and I see a big difference between them (I did lean out a bit) so that's cool! I really should be competing at the end of November so I could get the right look as I'm so close, but I feel a little overtrained and dieted out at this point, so I'm going to relax and start training smart in January for all the competitions I plan to do in June and July!!! I'm working on formulating my plan to make my body more symmetrical since a lot of the feedback I get is about my lower body overpowering my upper body. I don't particularly want to increase my muscles in my upper body (other thana bit more back/V-taper), so I think I will try to decrease the muscles in my quads and abs (I want a waist!) and then of course, the main thing will be leaning out enough that the fat leaves my problem areas (lower abs and legs). Not being totally ready for these past 2 competitions really has inspired and motivated me to be extra ready and looking my very best at the next ones I compete in! I ate some bad stuff this weekend and felt totally ill from it all. After my pizza and sweets after the competition on Saturday, I had a really dizzy/drugged-feeling day yesterday that was not very pleasant. So, today I started my day right with cottage cheese! I'm not saying I'm gonna be totally clean all week, but I'm also not going to cheat all week as I thought I would allow myself to do after these comps and going so hardcore for the past 2 weeks. Why would I (or anyone else) ever want to feel so bloated, low energy and gross? To keep me on track, I also have my vacation to Dominican Republic at the end of November where I'll be living in a bikini so that should be good! Talk soon!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Well, it's now the week of my next competition (it's this Saturday!) I'm feeling a little behind (as usual), but I'm just going to come in the best I can with a few days of insanity right now! I talked two more of my students into training with me to compete with me this Saturday and that's really been fun! I'm not the type who needs someone to motivate me to get to the gym and workout and I usually workout on my own, but since training intensely with them as well as my husband recently, I see doing it with someone can really help me exercise more intensely and push my body to new levels! When I go to the gym on my own, I often read a magazine while doing 45-minutes to an hour of steady cardio or do some weights, but lately, with my gym-pals, I've been doing hardcore weights, crazy intervals on the treadmill, and outdoor runs with stair work, etc. It's awesome! My legs aren't leaning out the way they were in June/July (I think I just need more time) and I really am wondering if I should do another competition this season after this Saturday just so I could really look the way I want to look for a competition this season... there's one Nov. 14th, as well as the 21st, but they're both out of towm... Toronto really needs more competitions! Hardly any are held here, things are all in Hamilton, London, Ottawa, etc. I know they're not far, but you have to be there for registration and drug-testing the day before too, so it makes it a little more inconvenient and expensive (especially when Zak, my baby, is involved!) I'm leaning to no, but we'll see how I feel after the IDFA competition! I'm going to be wearing different bikinis for Figure and Fitness Model categories, so today I'm going to go on the hunt for my Fitness Model bikini!