Turn Your Weaknesses Into Strengths.

        The competition is NEXT WEEK! I can't believe that. In 9 days I'll be on stage. I've worked so hard for this and no matter what happens, I'm proud of myself for doing it. I'm proud of myself for changing my body and for changing my lifestyle. I've learned so much about my body and I think it's so fun and interesting to learn. Like I've mentioned in other posts, when I first started out 5 months ago I didn't mind the way I looked. I wanted to put on more muscle and just really tone up. My trainer told me on the very first day that my two weakest points were my butt, and my shoulders. He told me that those were the spots we would have to hit the hardest. I could have taken that the wrong way, and started to hate those two areas on myself. But instead, I took it as motivation. I'm so glad that he told me my two weak points in the very beginning, because it made me really focus hard on them. There were times that I would start to feel a little discouraged, it's only natural. I would look at fitness competitors and compare my shoulders to theirs and I would start to get a little down on myself, but it made me want to go to the gym and work twice as hard on my shoulders. I really started to love shoulders. If you are interested in fitness, you've probably noticed that shoulders make a HUGE difference in the way someone's physique looks. I love nice rounded shoulders and delts. I wanted them so bad. I learned to love my shoulder workouts. My trainer, Keaton Hoskins, really knows what he's doing. When he changed up my workout after a couple months, he told me that we were going to double up on shoulders. Military press, side raises, lat pulldowns, row machine, pushups, rear delt raises, tricep pulldowns and bicep curls. Those exercises all focus on arms. After about a week of really focusing on those exercises, my shoulders started to round out a little. I know that I still have a long way to go, and that they could be better, but they're now my favorite part of my body. The first day that I met with my posing coach, Tamara Watt, the first thing she said to me was, "wow your shoulders are amazing." That felt so good to hear her say that. My hard work was finally paying off.
         My butt is still not as round and as lifted as I would like it to be, but it has come a really long way too. I would always hear people say, if you want a round butt, do squats. I believed that but I didn't realize how true it was until I started doing them. There's no other exercise that works your butt (and hamstrings, and quads, and core, and calves and even arms), quite like squats do. They're amazing. When you do squats, it also helps you build muscle in other parts of your body. When I first started doing squats I HATED them. They are difficult and they really wear me out. I could barely even squat the bar at first and I was discouraged and embarrassed. But I kept at it and kept adding more weight and now I can do 25 pounds on each side. I know that's not a lot to some people, but for me, that was a big accomplishment!
         Anyways, my point in telling you all this, is that it's okay to recognize your weak points. In fact, I think it's important. I also believe that it's okay to compare yourself to people just a tiny bit, as long as it's in a healthy, motivational way. As long as you're looking at those people as inspiration. As long as you're taking your weak points or your flaws and really working twice as hard at them. There's nothing more satisfying, then knowing you've turned something you hated into something you love. <3