Clean Bulking

Well, it’s been nearly a week of being off the competition diet and I haven’t noticed any changes yet physique or energy-wise. My calorie intake has been averaging about 300 additional daily calories due to an increase in carbs and healthy fats and this seems to be sustainable for my energy needs. My macros are about 42% carb / 32% protein / 26% fat compared to last week’s (peak week) ratios of 36% carb / 41% protein / 23% fat and the week prior’s (general competition prep diet) ratios of 40% carb / 37% protein / 23% fat.   I have to say, I am so happy to be able to indulge in my post-workout Syntrax Mint Cookie whey again! It may cause mild bloat but not enough to bother me; especially when it tastes so heavenly hehehe J

I can also happily say that I’m back to sleeping through the night! The week before a competition is just so stressful mentally that I was constantly waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep because of all the random thoughts running through my head. Not to mention needing to pee 24x7 due to trying to reach my suggested fluid intake of at least a gallon a day. Competing is a full-time job and while I am eager to jump back on the band-wagon and start prepping for my next show, my body is very thanking for a break!

Workouts this week have been great. I’ve cut-back significantly on cardio, doing it only twice this week and for only 20 minute segments. Oddly, despite not having run in a while, my shins have been bothering me again so I’d prefer to save my legs for weight sessions for the time being. Here was the breakdown of this week’s workouts:

Monday: elliptical, back & chest

Tuesday: legs

Wednesday: core

Thursday: stairmaster & shoulders

Friday: bi’s & tri’s

Tomorrow I think I’ll do another cardio session, maybe a run, and then embark on that “madness in the gym” workout I mentioned previously. It’s a long one but since its Saturday I won’t be so pressed for time. Then I’m contemplating using Sunday as an “off day” and may do a yoga class instead of my usual routine. My body is just in need of some serious TLC and I think a little yoga will help to stretch out tight muscles and maybe even help my mind to relax!  I’m wrapping-up the April CSF workouts right now and then I’m going to design my own plan for May. I’m finally done with the CSF program. The more people I meet in the bodybuilding community, the happier I am with my decision to leave. Unless you “drink the CSF water” (or Isagenix to be more precise!), they have no interest in helping you succeed. Additionally, as someone who already has a solid basis of knowledge when it comes to both training and nutrition, they really had nothing to offer me. If ever you are debating trying out this company, please contact me and I will give you the low-down in detail!

Also, doing a little marketing here, don’t forget that FitFierceFun.com is now up and running and now that I have a little more free time I can take on some new clients! I have a few people I’ve developed monthly workout plans for lately but it’s all been for friends/colleagues as I haven’t had any time, energy, or money to spend on marketing. Word-of-mouth is probably the best way to build a good reputation so please share my website with anyone you know who may be interested in starting a new workout plan but who maybe doesn’t know what to do or where to even begin. I seriously love designing workout plans and coming up with exercises specific to what an individual’s goals or needs are makes it even more fun for me!

I’m writing this entry on a tiny little window that I keep switching to when no one is looking as I’m sitting here wasting away at my desk on this beautiful sunny day LOL. It’s Friday and I so don’t want to be here! In a few minutes I’m stepping out to enjoy some sushi lunch with the maXtreme creator to talk business. Mmmm my tummy is growling thinking about it! I’ve allowed myself a few clean treats this week (and one very un-clean treat Wednesday night when my parents took me out for a celebration dinner of Truffled Lobster Mac & a glass of Pinot Grigio) Yummy!!! All-in-all though week one of “clean bulking” is off to a good start and I’m ready to keep rolling!

Just Breathe

For the first time all year I feel like I can just take a deep breathe and relax. This should be a good feeling but instead I feel kind of lost, wondering what I should be working toward now. I know my body needs a break from the intense dieting and training, and I intend on giving it one, but I also know that I am the type of person that always needs something to look forward to, a goal in mind, and sitting here stagnantly is going to drive me crazy pretty soon!

This weekend was of course the OCB Spirit of America pro-qualifier where I competed in both the open and novice bikini categories. It was the second and last competition I plan on doing this Spring, held in Carver, MA. I have to say, I am very glad that for my first show I chose a small, local one as this was a totally different breed. Not necessarily better or worse as there were pros and cons to each, I just think that my first show will always be my favourite.  I drove down early Friday morning anticipating travel delays due to the horrible Boston terrorist attacks that occurred last week. However, the roads were smooth sailing and I made it to Plymouth an hour early for my 10:20 am tan appointment. Luckily the lady in charge was a bit of a drill sergeant  running a very tight ship, and was early herself so she got right to it when I arrived. The tanning product used was a bit different than the last show. Con: it wasn't as dark as the last one and I prefer a darker color on stage; pro: it dried quicker and once dry didn't get on your clothing (or anything else for that matter) so there were no nasty messes to clean up.

After my tan I drove over to the host hotel to register and pick up my number tags and goodie bag. To save money, I stayed with my Aunt in Kingston (the next town over) who had to work that day but luckily I have a lot of family in the area so I headed over to my Grandmother's house to visit for a while as I now had a ton of time to kill. Boy was she surprise to see her Oompa-Loompa Granddaughter show up at the door LOL!

Saturday morning I awoke at 5:00 am to start getting ready. I didn't need to be at the venue until 8:00 but I knew my lacking hair & makeup skills would require some serious prep time. Thank goodness my Aunt brews some especially delicious coffee...she even grounds fresh beans every morning! Off I went around 7:00 am. Being one of the first to arrive I snagged a great spot to both set-up and view the stage for the day. For the next few hours I mingled with the other competitors, had a brief competitor meeting around 10:00 am and then it was showtime at 11:00! There were I think 7 different bikini classes this time with approximately 60 competitors (147 in the entire show). I was in novice class C and open class B. The classes were supposedly divided up by height but no one ever asked me how tall I was and there were a few girls out there with me who literally towered over me! This time around I was not that nervous for the group comparisons. The stage felt a lot different than the last show though. The lighting was such that you could see the entire audience, not just the judges, and there had to have been at least double the judges there were at the last show. I got very worried when I was up there though as my former method of trying to make eye contact with each judge didn't seem to be working. I felt like they weren't paying me any attention and my attempts to change positions and wiggle around weren't helping either. When I exited the stage for the last time people asked me how I felt it went and I honestly had no clue. Time to wait.

For the next few hours I sat in my camp and socialized, touched-up, ate, and watched the other groups. The day was both long and exhausting. Luckily one of the other competitor's friends who was there for support and prep-help made a Dunkin' Donuts run for us mid-day. That may have been the best iced coffee I've ever had LOL! Around 5:00 pm it was time for our individual stage walks. Supposedly the judging is already done at this point but I still have insane stage fright and would pay extra to be able to skip this part! I also wasn't feeling very confident as I had only practiced once since the last show and the class I had planned on brushing-up my skills in on Friday had been cancelled last minute. My anxiety rose as I waited my turn backstage and as competitor #55 I was about the 20th person to go. Once out there I kept it simple, following the same routine I had done before, but I think I went too fast and felt like I probably looked as un-confident as I felt. Again, I felt like the judges weren't payment me any attention, despite being the only one up there this time, so I exited stage with a queasy feeling. At this point I waited around backstage as unlike the first show, here they posted the results of the top 5 in each class (supposedly in random order) immediately after the walks were complete. I'm glad they did this as it was a couple more hours at least before award time and if you didn't place it was nice to be able to leave early. Here's a pic of the placings:

That might be a little hard to read but I made the top 5 in both of my classes! I had told myself not to expect to place since there were so many other competitors so at this point I was on cloud 9! However, I do have to say that each class was smaller than the group I competed against at the first show (7 in open and 9 in novice) so I feel like placing at the Pine Tree was a much bigger accomplishment. The next hour or so I spent watching the other classes and categories perform their individual walks/acts. I have to say, the bodybuilders were beyond entertaining to watch! I highly recommend attending a pro-qualifying show next time you have the chance just to see the talented and often hilarious performances. One act involved 4 competitors all out on stage at once doing a group act that combined both traditional poses with expert dance moves; another competitor did an act including a full costume to a country song I wish I could remember the name of and several other competitors were just so much fun to watch for either their confidence, attitudes, or hilarious song choices. These people definitely knew the meaning of "owning the stage"!

After this all bikini top 5 placers got called back stage for award time. It was a bit chaotic as they seemed to be rushing everyone out on stage as fast as possible and there wasn't much glory involved in receiving your trophy. It was all so fast that I couldn't even tell you who the other girls up there with me were. I must say though, and I know this will piss some people off but hey, it's my blog and I'm not going to censor myself, I am very discouraged with the judging at this show. Being a large show, yes there were many more competitors but I didn't feel like the competition was any harder than the first show. In fact, I felt like there were a ton of girls there who came straight off of OOB and never trained or dieted a day in their life! As I stood there on stage after receiving my trophy for the open category (I got 3rd Novice and 4th Open), I remember this one girl come out having placed ahead of me who I kid you not had the sagging ass of my 93 year old step-grandmother! I don't recall which place she got but I was beyond disgruntled. As I looked around backstage I realized that given how small the classes were, at least half of the girls got trophies which made placing even less of an accomplishment. If it were my show I would have had half the classes, making them each twice the size so it was more of a true competition. Don't get me wrong though, I am of course extremely happy I placed in both categories. I just feel like I don't know what they are looking for anymore. The advice I got from the judges at the first show made me think they wanted a little more muscularity. I was so excited to be bringing way more shredded abs to the stage this time and spent my entire time up on stage flexing my quads to make them look more defined than they are. Apparently these judges wanted the soft Sports Illustrated cover model look. Oye Vey! Anyway, here's a pic of me and my two trophies after the awards were given out:

The overall winner definitely had the body type of a SI girl. She was tall, thin, had a great figure and was extremely confident (and disgustingly rude and cocky backstage I must say) but she did not have much for visible muscle tone. I guess I just feel lost as to what to do to improve my scoring next time. I personally like the more muscular bikini look way better and I'm going to continue to train that way. One girl recommended I try NPC (another organization as opposed to OCB) as they look for a more muscular bikini physique. For now though I think I'll continue with OCB for the rest of the year, see how things pan-out, and then maybe change things up next year. I haven't yet decided on when I'll compete again but right now I'm considering a show in July. The next month however is all about a more normalized (but still clean) nutrition plan and building more muscle mass.

I stayed until the end of the show which was around 10:30 pm as I had plans to grab dinner with the other competitors on my new team, Team Maximum, which I was invited to join last week. Most of the team members don't live in Portland (or Maine for that matter) but it's great to say I'm on a team now and know that I'll always have a network of people for support at future shows. We went to a Mexican restaurant in Plymouth and I had a delicious skinny margarita and fish tacos, both of which I'd been craving for months! The service was terribly slow though and being beyond starving I think I ate about 3 baskets of tortilla chips myself before we got our food. As a result I spent the next 12 hours with a massive stomach ache!

The next morning I got up early and headed home, making it from Kingston to Portland in only 2 hours. Mapquest says it's supposed to be a 3.5 hour trip...apparently I have a lead foot LOL. I was beyond exhausted yesterday after the long day on Saturday and then only getting 4 hours of sleep. Luckily I took today off from work so I can recover. It will be my first day back in the gym since Thursday and I'm ready to bust some serious ass! I'm cutting-back a bit on cardio and going hard on the weights for the next month. Bulking season here I come! 

Mind Games

What happens when you get up extremely early, finish your entire workout before any of the usuals arrive, prep all your food for the week, walk the dog, shower, eat and look up at the clock to see that it's only 12:30? Being ready for bed at lunchtime, that's what! It's no joke that living off of a low-carb diet is exhausting. Peak week #2 begins tomorrow and I plan to tackle it a bit differently this time around.

I'm cringing as I sit here and try to type without any typos as these claws I still have on my fingernails, yes CLAWS I say, are driving me insane! Never will I get acrylic nails again. I know they look best on stage but aside from feeling like a cheap whore they make it impossible to type, text, write, or do really any task requiring a detailed touch. I left them on from the last show because they are expensive and I figure better to get two shows out of them since they are bonded to my real nails so tightly they surely aren't going anywhere! The first thing I do when I get back though will surely be having them taken off!

Anyway, the past week has been excellent as far as training goes. I went back on my pre-peak week diet plan so I have had plenty of energy to own my workouts all week. Thursday was my "off" day when all I did was an hour of core exercises but every other day was a solid weight training and/or cardio workout. Being in the gym each day this week, especially last Sunday and Monday has done wonders for my confidence as most people have been really nice, asking me how the show went or congratulating me if they happened to have been in the audience. Unfortunately my low-carb brain paranoia is still lingering and I feel like I'm getting the stare-down by other competitors. I have always had the tendency to read way too much into things so I'm sure it's partially just my crazy mind playing games on me but it's such a slap-in-the-face reminder that this really is an individual sport and no matter how friendly people may be on the surface, when it comes down to it everyone wants to win. You're always going to be sized-up for comparisons, what you have to try to do is stay strong and focus only on yourself. It doesn't matter what the other competitor's are doing. What matters is that you are improving each day and ultimately the physique you bring to the stage is better than the one you brought last time.

Yesterday morning was unusually busy for a Saturday and I felt very uncomfortable with the group of  un-usuals in attendance. This morning however was the perfect gym experience as barely anyone was in there during my entire workout! I started today's workout with a run which I haven't done in at least a couple of weeks. It was moderately painful as usual (I think new running shoes are in order again) but I pushed through it and felt great afterwards. I did my usual 10-7-5 minute running intervals with 2-minute walks in between and decreasing incline throughout the 30-minute duration. Then for weight training I did a workout that is new on my plan this month called "Madness in the Gym". It's really just a sequence of about 9 different exercises hitting all major muscle groups. Not super intense as the name implies but I liked it!

Going into peak week I feel much better knowing what to expect this time around. I plan to follow the CSF diet on Monday and Tuesday but then from Wednesday to Friday I am increasing my carbs by at least one additional serving per day (likely sweet potato with dinner) so I don't start getting dizzy and unsafely weak like last time. My coach gave me a couple changes she wanted me to make this week but I don't agree with them so I'm not doing them. It really annoys me when I am told to do something and not told why and then when I ask what the reasoning is, it's pure cookie-cutter BS. Anyway (ending rant now), some of you have asked me about protein requirements lately. Honestly it depends on the individual but to put things into perspective here's a pic of the meat I'll be consuming over the next week:

...and this isn't even all of the protein since I still have my egg whites (12!) with breakfast each morning LOL. As of yesterday I am a 110.5 lb. girl so I guess I have a super turbo-charged metabolism these days! Everyone seems to be under the impression that bodybuilders starve themselves. Seriously, it is nothing of the sort. It's the carb-depletion when we diet down for the stage that is the torture. Food consumption is still a-plenty, quantity-wise that is.

This entry is getting too long again so I'll try to wrap it up here. I'll be driving down to Massachusetts on Friday to get my base-tan done and possibly attend a posing class that the show promoter may put on. Then on Saturday it's judgement day all over again! I'm feeling great about the physique I'll be bringing to the stage this time around. I've leaned-up quite a bit more from a week ago which I didn't think was possible. I don't think I'll place in this show even if I do exceptionally well simply because it's a pro-qualifier, bringing in talent from all over New England and possibly beyond. As of yesterday there were over 140 competitors signed-up! There's always hope though as I know I'll be much more confident on stage and I've received some good feedback from the judges. So far, three of them have responded and all had nice things to say about my presentation, smile, color, suit, accessories, and poses. One judge did say that she could tell how nervous I was but that that's understandable for my first show. Another judge said I should work on my ham/glute insertion for upcoming shows (obviously not much I can do about that now since it's an area I'll have to work on over time during the "off season"). All-in-all though it was more praise than critique so all I have to say to the rest of the bikini competitors is "bring it on ladies!" haha

Well, that about sums it up here. Tomorrow brings my last hardcore leg routine before the show and the start of my peak week diet. Here's to staying strong both mentally and physically this week and a successful presentation at my first pro-qualifying show! 'Til next time gym rats, happy gymming!