Going For It: My 1st Competition

Okay so here's my announcement that I teased you with in my last post ... Remember back in January when I said I wanted to take it up a notch with my fitness and exercise level?

Well, consider this coming Saturday the official "check off" of that goal.
I am competing in the 2011 NPC All American EFX Big Sky Championships.
Yup, April 9th I will be showing off all my hard work in the gym and my dedication in the kitchen by competing in the Bikini Championships.

Picture me up there with these fit ladies...

So now it's only1 week till showtime! It's coming up so fast... I decided to do it only two weeks before I went on my cruise to the Bahamas for Spring Break, so I had basically no time to get a suit, shoes and accessories, learn to model walk, learn the right poses, learn the NPC Bikini competition rules, and try to perfect it all! On Saturday, I will be displaying the fittest, finest version of myself :D And I can't wait...


My beautiful (tiny!) suit I'll be sashaying around in on Saturday



My training has always been intense, but for the month I had to prepare after I decided to do the competition I took it up a notch, and added lifting back into my fitness routine along-side BodyRock. I found www.Bodybuilding.com to be a great resource of information, as well as Oxygen magazine. I also keep a workout journal to track my workouts and my progress with increasing weight or beating my reps in BodyRock.

My workout journal

Here's what a typical week from my workout journal looks like:

 

-- Training Schedule--

Sunday - Lift (Back/Bis/Tris) + Cardio (elliptical)

-Warmup 20 min on elliptical at steady state pace

- Lifting (here's the tri/bis section of my workout)

Monday - Lift (Shoulders/Calves) + Cardio (BodyRock)

-"4 Minutes" Workout and "Hot Curves" Exercise Challenge in morning

-Lifting in evening

Tuesday - Lift (Glutes/Abs) + Cardio (elliptical)

-Warmup 10 min on elliptical

-Lifting

Wednesday - Cardio only (BodyRock)

-"Gaga For Poker Face" Workout

Thursday - Lift (Back/Bis/Tris) + Cardio (elliptical)

-Warm up 20min on elliptical w/ stead state pace

- I tried this new combo of workouts from Scott Herman for Bis and Tris 

Friday - Lift (Shoulders/Calves) + Cardio (elliptical)

-Warm up 20min on elliptical w/ stead state pace

- Lifting

Saturday - Lift (Glutes/Abs) + Cardio (bike)

-Warmup 10 min on elliptical
-Lifting

So that's the workout end of the bargain, some of the sections of my workout I didn't link, but I generally do 4-5 exercises per muscle group so if I listed shoulders for example, then I did something like 3 sets x 10 reps of shoulder press, rear delt raises, reverse flyes, arnold presses and crossover cable raises, in addition to a similar circuit for the other muscle groups I listed for that day. Like I said- it's pretty intense but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Dieting for a competition is not so fun though, it can get a little tough having no cereal, bread or other high carb foods for the pre-contest weeks. I love my oatmeal!

An average day looks like this:

 -- Sample Meal Plan --
Meal 1

-greek yogurt

-peanut butter

-blueberries

-(ONLY if I do morning cardio, 1/3c. oatmeal)

-water

Meal 2

-chicken on mixed greens + balsamic vinegar

-cottage cheese

-almonds

-water

Meal 3 (Pre-workout)

-Jamie Eason's Carrot-Cake Bars - these are actually really awesome

-strawberries

-water + Jack3d

Meal 4 (Post-workout)

-1 scoop protein powder

-1 cup almond milk 

-Sweet potato + greek yogurt

-water

Meal 5

-green beans + mushrooms +onion

-salmon fillet

-peppermint tea

REPEAT for weeks and weeks....

So, after I finish my show I am totally rewarding myself (in a healthy way) by making this...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard

Photo and Recipe courtesy of OhSheGlows.com