Bikini Competition Prep

You know what.. 13 weeks is too damn long to prep for a show!!!!! The weeks just get harder and harder and I think 12 weeks would have been more than enough. 12 weeks is what people normally give themselves. I think I could have gotten away with about 6 weeks if I buckled down on my eating.

I have Eaten Clean for 3 years now. Of course, I am not perfect – I use Sugar Free/ Fat Free Jello Pudding – and that’s not Tosca Reno approved! But I eat 5 – 6 times a day. I portion my foods. I only eat starch early in the day. I drink a gallon of water or more every single day. I am VERY healthy!! I also workout like a crazy woman, so the training piece is a piece of cake for these shows. I barely even change my training when I’m getting ready. So for myself, I think 12 weeks for prep is too much.

When you start prepping for a show, EVERYTHING becomes about the show. If your friend wants to get dinner, you have to make sure you can eat there, and if you can, then you need to know you are only getting 3 oz of protein. If you need to run errands, then you have to make sure you have enough food packed to bring with you based on the amount of hours you are going to be out of the house. If you have a road race coming up you want to do, you have to make sure you plan your workout schedule around it so it won’t screw up leg day the next day. I honestly don’t know how mom’s do it!

My week went totally fine for Monday – Friday. I added in more cardio so now, this is my training plan:

Monday – CATZ (includes total body ST & HIIT) + 20 min additional steady state cardio

Tuesday – 45 min stepmill + 60 min hot yoga

Wednesday – Heavy Shoulders + CATZ (includes total body ST & HIIT) + 20 min additional steady state cardio

Thursday -

Friday – Arms + CATZ (includes total body ST & HIIT) + 30 min additional steady state cardio

Saturday – rest (usually I do 90 min cardio and/ or yoga)

Sunday – 5k road race + 50 additional minutes of incline walking (usually I take Sunday off)

Friday afternoon I had posing practice with my coach and two friends/ clients that are competing as well. I’ve got my walk DOWN. I’ve got my pose DOWN. I left feeling excited and energized and READY.

But Saturday I broke two cardinal rules:

1. I was PMS’ing yesterday. I realized it last night so it all made sense. All day I was craving pb/ chocolate like BAD. I had one really little dark choc. square and a spoonful of PB (don’t worry – there’s none left in my house) and after learning last year the hard way, I can normally just realize it was bad, and move on. But yesterday… I dwelled on it.

2. I went online stared at pics of girls competing. I sat there yesterday and thought about how much better they look than me, then I sat there and obsessed over how I was 120 last year and much leaner than I am right now. This is bad because seriously, you are NOT that other girl. There is no reason you can compare yourself to anyone else because you can only be the best YOU.

But I know the Universe will never throw more at me than I can handle. And through adversity I find out more and more about myself, and who I am. And this experience has taught me something I think I kind of knew anyway, but never wanted to confront head on. Ever since I moved to Boston I tucked myself away. After the initial happiness of getting here, I had a falling out with my best friend and I kind of withdrew myself from doing anything. I went from being the social director and non-stop going out with friends in Tampa to forcing myself out of the house 1 night a week. That’s when I just decided to get into the best shape ever – at least I would have that. Now I’m at a place where I feel like I’m totally out of control if I don’t weigh my food or if I have a few drinks with friends. I feel like I’ve totally failed, so when I do go out I feel like I have to go balls out. I’m either 0 or 100 – there is no in between.

When these shows are over my goal is to find balance. I need to find a way to be okay with myself if I don’t eat perfectly and not beat myself up if I have drinks on (god forbid) saturday AND sunday! It seems like I can teach this to all of my clients but doing it myself is another story!! I guess we are all truly a work in progress, huh?

Here are my pics from last week to this week…..