You ate what?!

I have come to a rather amusing, yet somewhat frustrating conclusion. As soon as I start comp prep, everyone (and i mean everyone) wants to tell me what they ate that day.
Really people? Thank you for telling me you had the most delicious apple pie and dumplings for dinner last night. And by the way, it doesnt make anything better by then having you ask me what I ate last night...ummm my meals dont change. Ever. Well - I lie - they get smaller and less interesting.
Yesterday I counted. 5 people told me what delicious meal they had consumed. Im not being overly sensitive either - its really happening!
It got me thinking - why does this happen? I know its not out of trying to torture me (well not for everyone anyway!) i think its a subconcious decision by that person to want to share that food with me.
But heres a little secret...i choose to be a figure competitor. Im not tortured on a daily basis by the fact I cant eat chocolate or icecream or even an apple. Occasionaly, and often closer to comp date, yes i feel the sting of not being able to feed myself. But generally I have a goal in mind and nothing bothers me and nothing can get in my way. What I have found is that it bothers OTHERS.
Heres an example. Recently we went to dinner for a staff members birthday. It was a great evening. I tried to order my salmon, which they wouldnt do (what restaurant doesnt do salmon??) anyway i opted for their fish of the day that arrived on a mountain of potato wedges. I literally had to 'fish' through my fish to find meat in amoungst the offending potato.
Then I turned to the waitress and asked for green beans - with NOTHING on them. She looked at me like I had just suggested giving her a chinese burn and repeated me with confusion..."nothing??". I nodded, 'yes please, nothing'. Her reply... "nothing at all?". Sigh. "yes nothing. At all. Plain. Green beans with nothing...thanku'. As she turned away, clearly offended by my need to have un seasoned beans, i noticed Michael next to me, killing himself with giggles. He's used to this stupid dance with waiters i have to go through.
This is what bodybuilders and figure competitors go through - and this is why we tend to opt out of social dinners - its just too hard!
So as i sit down to my salmon and beans tonight, i hope you enjoy whatever meal it is your having. Just do me a favour...dont tell me all about it tomorrow!
Til next time...xx

Last years comp in pictures...

Ok, so these are pictures from the morning before my comp last July, just after the comp with my cheer squad (u guys know who u are and I will always be grateful for your support xx), on stage and at the after party at the studio.
A lot of you ask to see pictures, so here you are...enjoy!

Ummm do you eat chocolate at Easter?

This seems to be my most asked question at this time of year. I can see why it would be intriguing - its Easter, doesn't everyone eat chocolate at Easter time? I can almost hear the mass gasps of shock as i describe my last Easter festivities. Ok for those of you that didnt follow my last blog of prepping, let me indulge you in the horrors.
This time last year I was well and truly into prep for July competitions. As it happened my coaches thought it would be a good time for me to do a trial water load and deplete. A water load and deplete is simply a manipulation of food and water to rid your body of excess fluid so that your skin becomes tight and your muscles look, well bigger.
For 5 days straight I ate sweet potato and chicken. After the 3rd day i gave up trying to peel the sweet potato into interesting shapes or position the food on my plate to make it look more palatable. I felt bad for Michael too, who, on day 4 decided to escape the 'mad house' and left quickly only to return 3 hrs later smelling of pub food and looking decidly sheepish.
That was my Easter 2010. No chocolate, no hot cross buns, no Easter sunday lunch - just a well entrenched gag response to orange vegetables and boiled bird.
So this year things are a little different. I have been given a re-feed day by my coach on Sunday (thanks Kate and Ren for hosting Easter lunch!)and although its designed to be a calorie increase through clean foods like potatoes and pasta - i am people, giving myself a chocolate hall pass. So in answer to my blog title. Yes, i will be eating chocolate this Easter.
Prep is going well. Im 3 weeks down and building the muscle i need to be competitive this year. My food intake is still high, which is what i need to get through my punishing weight sessions and overall i feel good. Theres the occasional day I feel a bit wiped but its nothing in comparison to whats to come - so i try to ignore it.
Tomorrow, is weigh in day. When i say weigh in, i really mean body fat percentage and girths - weight, well, scale weight = pretty irrelevant when your building muscle (girls take note). At present I am 19% body fat and come July or september, i need to be between 8 and 10%. My main concern at present is to retain and build muscle and body fat reduction is purely a bonus. I will be posting progression picks in weeks to come so watch this space...
Happy Easter everyone. Enjoy your time off and remember to balance out the chocolate with some exercise...and no, lifting the chocolate to your mouth does not count. xx

Freak vs Athlete

What do you consider constitues an athlete? Someone fit, healthy, dynamic, focused, driven...? I think of all these things when i think about an athlete. I consider myself now to be all of those things...and yet as a Figure competitor sometimes my Sport is questioned. But why? Like someone training for a marathon i train alot, consistently and with great intensity. I watch my nutrition meticulously - i eat a lot and regularly. I consume supplements to keep me training hard - even when my mind is telling me to stop. I become a social hermit because i know i need my rest for the next training day. I want to be the best that i can be and so stopping isn't an option and intense focus is a necessity.
So because i wear a bikini and heels, and not sneakers, on the day of my event - does that make me a freak and a little less an athlete?...
This got me thinking the other day when a client (who i adore - u know who u are!) said she supported me but just couldn't bring herself to come to my competition because it was, well, weird. Ok, ill cop that. The events themselves are a bit confronting. Tiny, hardened, muscular bronzed statues wandering around in a carb depleted fog, well, yea that is weird.
But i guarentee you the desire to go into that event and dominate is the same whether youre a runner, a tennis player or a bodybuilder. The mindset is the same - the exterior is a just a little different.
Somedays i actually get off on telling people what i do. When im feeling particulaly restless and cheeky, ill go into all the ins and outs of my sport just to see the 'Ooohhh' form on peoples mouths and the obvious raise of the eyebrows as they try and work out exactly what bodybuilding is and why i would want to do it. Other days - i can't be bothered going into the intricacies of the world of Bodybuilding. Most days, I'm ambivilent either way. For me, its just a Sport, and keeping fit all year round is a lifestyle choice.
Today was leg day from hell. Im 2 weeks into prep and today thanks to this workout im sore already (DOMS are not going to be funny in 12 hours time..)and hungry as all get out, and im tired. I know tomorrow im going to be in all sorts of sore muscle trouble, ill still be hungry and possibly even more tired than I am right now. And you know what? I'll do it all over again tomorrow because i love what i do.
Til next time xx

Its that time of year again...

Well it has been a very long time between blogs! The last time i blogged i was telling you all about my result at the INBA All Female Competition in July last year. Oh my how time flies.
So what has been happening since then...well of course I have caught the 'bug' and have decided to focus my energy on competing again this year.
Last year i had the pleasure of working with Glenn and Corina from ASN and as my coaches and friends - they rocked. They were so dedicated to getting me where i needed to be to step up on stage. I will be forever grateful. They taught me that consistency and hard work does pay off. Yes people - its true. Dont talk to me about not getting results if you're not training hard, training consistently and eating clean.
So post comp came the blues and the inevitable weight gain. On stage i was a tiny 48kgs. Weight gain? Yes, it had to happen. I was wandering around looking like i would be blown over with the slightest gush of wind. One of my staff (you know who you are..!) commented to me the other day that when i was 1 or 2 weeks out from comp he came into the studio and wondered who the jockey was. Hmmm, the jockey, as it turns out, was me.
I also suffered a lot of illness post comp, no doubt due to the riggers of getting into comp shape. It appears I suffer from adrenal fatigue and so this has been tricky to balance, as someone who wants to continue to train hard, whether im competing or not. The idea was to start prepping in january to do some early comps, but my body wasn't having a bar of it. I was fatigued, i hated the idea of training, and frankly i wanted to eat. Everything.
So as it turned out my wonderful coaches were changing the direction of their own lives and now Corina has moved back to sydney and Glenn has opened his own supplement store in Geelong called 'Athletes With Attitude' or AWA. Im still great mates with them both and miss them dearly...
The hunt then, was on for a new coach. This would prove trickier than first thought. After a couple of speed bumps I found the most amazing coach anyone could ask for. Rosa-Maria Romero is the highest ranked figure competitor in Australia currently and although she has now retired from competing, she coaches girls to the stage. Perfect!
Rosa takes a very different approach than what im used to - and as she said to me the other day, change is good. I agree, change IS good.
I am currently aiming for All Females again in July, however realisticially my first comp may well be in september. Either way, i know im in good hands to build the best physique possible.
Now people please be sensitive to the stages of building an amazing stage physique. I will get bigger before i get smaller. Its all part of building amazing muscle. Yes yes i know chunky monkey comes to mind, but if it comes to YOUR mind - dont let ME know. Some things are best kept quiet...!
So other than not being able to walk straight from all the legs i have done this week, things are going well. I am approximately 17 weeks out from July comps and 23 weeks out from sept comps... lets hope i start building some more amazing muscle.
Til next blog train hard and eat clean xx