Skinny Is A Swear Word

Bodybuilding is an individual art form. You go about your training with the goal of building your view of the ideal physique for you. When you are a competitive bodybuilder you take it a step further, using judge feedback from past competitions to help you focus on making improvements for your next competition. When you put so much effort into building yourself day-in and day-out, making diet, social, and lifestyle sacrifices as required to reach your goals, the last thing you want to be told is that you are "skinny".

Skinny is a swear word. Prior to my July show I was feeling pretty good about my progress and was confident that I had made serious improvements over the 3 months since my last competition. One day I asked someone close to me if they thought I had put on some muscle in the time that had passed. The response I got was; "well, you look skinnier". Now, this person not being very familiar with the world of bodybuilding undoubtedly thought they were giving me a compliment. After all, doesn't every girl want to be called skinny? However, I couldn't help but feel down about myself for the rest of the afternoon. Why did I bother asking them in the first place? I was certainly looking for validation in the wrong place!

Call me lean, toned, fit, strong, muscular, ripped, shredded, built, athletic,conditioned, hell, call me a fat fucking pig for all I care (I obviously know that isn't true), just please do not call me skinny! Unless of course you want to seriously piss me off in which case now you know how to do it. Now that I think of it, "thin" and "slender" kind of irk me too.

Another unrelated pet peeve of mine lately is people who just love to offer their nutrition and training advice without being asked for it. Specifically those who are not representative of the goals I am striving for. If you are not a mighty fine physical specimen living a healthy, balanced lifestyle then please keep your comments to yourself. Said differently, if I wouldn't want to look like you then why on earth would you think I would want to follow your advice? I wouldn't.

Okay, it's Saturday night and I realize I should be out on the town enjoying the Summer while it lasts but after spending my morning training my back and bi's with a few Team Maximum members and then soaking up the rays all afternoon at the beach, I am spent. Basically I talked bodybuilding all day long with a variety of people so I came home with a few things on my mind (hence this blog post).

Moving on here. When I look back at the pics from my shows I am always disappointed with how my back looks completely flat, void of all muscle. Somehow, building my back muscles has never been a topic the judges have recommended. Well, apparently I just need to improve on my back flexing while facing away from them because based on these pics I had one of my teammates takes today, my back is looking rock solid!

Lastly, I have now chosen my next (and possibly last) show this year! I'm not announcing it just yet but I've already planned out my new diet plan, returning to my more structured schedule 7 weeks out, and tapering it down further at the 5 week mark. I'm making a couple of minor changes this time around including eliminating all dairy a week earlier and not cutting my starchy carbs back so much during peak week. Like I always say; it's all just a game, and these small tweaks could be just what make the difference! I can't wait to get back on the plan. My month of relaxation is not as exciting as it once sounded LOL. Well, that's all for tonight. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and remember, a skinny comment is deserving of a serious beat down.