Recent comps:
Nov 5, 2016 NPC Midwest Gladiator Chicago - Women's Physique
Sept 24, 2016 NPC Indianapolis Grand Prix - Women's Physique
May 7, 2016 RPS Mid-Atlantic Powerlifting - Raw 132, Pro total
June 12, 2015 NPC Junior Nationals - Women's Physique
Scott Paltos has been doing my programming since March 2015 for both powerlifting and physique. Read back at previous training logs to see what my off-season contained to prep for both PL and physique. May - September we coined #creatingamonster to bring a bigger package to the stage. With physique comps done for 2016, we will transition back to strength work in preparation for the Arnold.
Surprise! I did a show!
After the September Indy show, I had decided to continue on for 2 more weeks and hit one October 8th to dial things in a bit more. Well, we all know what happened there....
Once the dust settled, I took a few days to get back into the training grind and by the end of that week, I had decided that maaaayyyybbeee, I could do a show that was coming up soon. I had this sense of unfinished business to take care of. Plus let's face it, I was already dieted, cardioed and trained for it, so what's another couple weeks, right?
I was able to take a few days that week and stick to my show diet 98% and still have some off-plan foods for my birthday. "Just gonna have to push, that's all." Aye aye, Captain.
And push I did. We stuck with the plan we had going into the Oct 8th show because it was working how we wanted. I didn't say much to anyone about doing a show because mentally, I just needed to get shit done. Every once in awhile I go dark a bit and my mind needed to for several reasons.
Training was awesome as usual. Here's a quick recap of the weeks leading up (I know I get asked most about my diet tweaks and what we did different this time):
* Still trained 3 days on 1 day off. Adjusted as needed based on travel/out of town days and events. Kept shoulder volume rockin', back work pretty solid and legs still once a week.
* Hit a final leg day 1 week out at the Elitefts compound. Going into the Oct 8th show, we had actually cut legs about 10 days out, but needed to get one more in for this one. It was tough, but manageable enough that I recovered well.... which is KEY going into the week of the show. Food is down, cardio is up and if you can't recover, things won't come in.
* Kept carbs in. In the past we've depleted hard and learned a couple things. My upper body gets too small and I have a hard time filling back out. Depleting me hard didn't bring in my lower body any better, so risking losing upper size wasn't worth it. Kept carbs 150ish and my cardio regimen seemed to help with the legs.
* Little bit of water cutting to dry out.
* And I trained! Trained all week through Thursday. Did that for a few reasons, but it all worked well.
Woke up Saturday morning with legs where we wanted, upper thick and full and ready to rock.
Prejudging went really well. Show started at 10, but we didn't step on stage til almost noon. Timed up food and pre-stage goodies pretty well though - rice cakes and jelly, sour patch kids and a secret something. 🙂
Hit a fast and hard pump, starting about 30 minutes out. Ton of pushups and banded shoulder stuff. Treated it just like my training sessions because I respond well to that.
Quarter turns and mandatories. Two girls moved around and I stayed next to the center girl. Good placing even though was hoping for center. Was pretty quick and off the stage. Grabbed a burger and a nap after prejuding.... time to soak it up for finals.
Finals took a little longer than I expected. Started and 5:00 and some of the classes before physique took a long time (ahem... bikini). I think we stepped up on stage around 8:00pm. The 5 of us in the short class all did our routines. I had run a few new moves in my head the few days prior so I was anxious to see how it was all going to come together.
Cue music......... 60 seconds later........... done.
LOVED it and had a blast with it. Learning to get more and more comfortable with routine work now. After all the routines were done, we got called up for placing. I finished with 2nd which I was very happy with. Of course, I wanted first, BUT we had a ton of good come out of this..... Bigger than before, legs in better than before, a more overall symmetrical package, better presentation.... learned a lot about what my body responded well to, so we'll take that information and use it as needed moving forward for future shows.
So despite having an October that wasn't great (broken arm, no show, house repairs, few mental blocks), there was a lot of great things that came out of it (prepped better, time with family, creating memories, Cubs winning World Series).
When I was down at the Elitefts compound a couple weeks ago, just a week before my show, I had a conversation with Dave Tate. He of course gave my son all the tips on how to "use" his broken arm to get more candy. But then he looked at me and said, "You're a great mom."
The confused look on my face must've been enough for him to elaborate.
"Look, a lot of people in your shoes would've competed anyway (day after your kid breaks his arm). Hell, I've been there and made the wrong decision. You.... you did the right thing and not a lot of people would've done that. You're a great mom."
I had never thought about that.... about whether it was the "wrong" or "right" thing to do. Sure, it crossed my mind briefly to still compete that weekend, but there was no way I was leaving my kid. Shows, competitions, training will all be there. It meant a great deal to hear that. Only a few other close people in my life had said that to me in the past few weeks. So thank you.
As I've gotten older and hopefully a little wiser, I have realized that people and memories are what make my life so great.
Moving forward, the plan is to transition into some heavy training again with the hopes of competing at the Arnold in March (raw). Slowly up the food, continue to add some muscle and keep on
CREATING A MONSTER