NGA May 2014

      Last night I competed in my first NGA bodybuilding competition. It was AMAZING!! I loved it so much.\. This show was a lot smaller than my first one (NPC in March). I liked how small it was. It was a lot more relaxed. Still crazy... but not as much.
      I woke up at about 6:30 in the morning and started getting ready. I did my own hair and makeup because... I like to do my hair and makeup... :) hahah some people like to get theirs done professionally for the show. I was nervous all morning. I was focused. I was a little ornery... I think from my water depletion. I didn't talk much. That happened to me at my last show too... I just get nervous and I can't really focus on anything else. My mom tried to distract me by talking to me on the way there but I could hardly follow anything she said... hahah sorry mama. We got there at about 8 and the prejudging was scheduled to start at 9. Of course, nothing ever goes as planned at these things (at least in my experience of a whopping 2 competitions...). So if you ever compete... be prepared for anything and everything. A lot of last minute changes are made throughout the day because they have to kind of play it by ear. So as we were waiting for the show to start, they told us that our walks would be different. Remember how I mentioned in an earlier post that the NGA walk is different than the NPC walk? yaaaa welll.... they ended up having us do the same walk we do for the NPC. I was really glad that I had been taught both ways. What would I do without Tamara?!  It stressed me out a little bit, but it was okay. After a while, I took a caffeine pill and ate some steak and rice cakes and I started to feel a lot better. I was ready to go!
      I got all pumped up about 20 minutes before stage time. I was still so nervous but I was in the zone. It's really scary to know that you've worked so hard for something and now you only have a few minutes to show your hard work. For the prejudging, you walk out individually and do all of your poses and then you all line up. That's when they really start to compare you and see who they like the best. You have to hold your poses for what seems like ages. Especially under those hot stage lights. They have you turn and face the back a few times. You just gotta keep smiling and try not to shake too much. If they like you, they'll move you into the middle so they can compare you. Then you all file offstage and hope you gave them enough!! It's such a relief when prejudging is done! I went out twice because I did the novice division and the open division. Novice is all the new people, if you didn't know.
      We had a few hours between prejudging and the night show, so my mom and I went and drove around and just walked through a couple stores. Turns out people are not so friendly when you're an orange freak. But that's okay!
      The night show started late as well. about an hour and a half late. I was getting a little bit anxious because I was waiting in line because my division was one of the first ones on stage. Oh and guess what! SURPRISE! They decided to change our walk again... :) lovely. They changed it back to the regular NGA walk, which is the T walk. So you walk from corner, to corner, to middle. From backstage, I could see Chloe and Mario in the front row watching! It made me a little more nervous but also more excited! I did my walk and lined up and then we all filed off stage. Then they called out the top 5 in our division and I was one of them! I was so excited just to be one of the top five, I didn't really care what place I got!! They started calling out the winners, starting with the 5th place winner. When they didn't say my name, I kept getting happier and happier!! Finally they said the 2nd place winner is..... Tiara Lee!! I was sooo happy! They put a huge silver medal around my neck and I felt like a million bucks!! I was really really happy.
     I ended up taking 4th place in open bikini!! I was really happy with that too! It was a tough competition!! all of the ladies looked SO good. Everyone's body is so different, so I never know who the judges will pick. Backstage, they had a guy that was engraving the medals!! I thought that was really cool! They also had tons of photographers back there. I'm excited to see the professional pictures!
     Anyways, it was one of the best days of my life. I'm so so grateful for all the love and support I've gotten. I've become so passionate about this industry and I LOVE competing. My sweet mama has been right by my side through it all and I'm so lucky to have her. I'm also so so grateful for Tamara Watt. She's my coach and my inspiration. She and her husband Jeremy have helped me and encouraged me so much. Keaton Hoskins is the one that first got me into competing, and I will forever be grateful to him for that. I can't believe this show is over. I can't wait to compete again in a few weeks! Picture overload:

I love this picture my mama took! You can see the fear in my eyes as I'm practicing hahah and the clock on the wall just sums it all up!!

Nicole! This sexy lady is from LA. She is HOT!

My mama and #1 fan

Alright so not only is she perfect.... she has 3 kids!!!!! Holy smokes. It was so fun to work with her!

glamorous. Look at the bottom of their feet. #spraytanprobz.

Chloe and Mario :)

Tamara got to demo an AMAZING fitness routine. She is incredible. She inspires me so much.

Look at all these beautiful women in my division!!

I'm so excited to get to work with Keen and Siri! They are launching a new website. Their company is called Fitness Competitors Data Base. More details on that later!!

My team backstage. Tamara Watt and Mary Catherine Vinton! They are both amazing.

Pushup contest!

Finally got to eat my cookie butter!!

Theres Tamara in the middle!

Go Mario, Go!

IT'S TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

It's real! It's here!! And I'm so excited!! Tomorrow is my second ever body competition!! It's also my very first NGA competition. Today we had registration and I already love NGA! It's so friendly. It's a lot more organized than NPC because not as many people do it. I like that about it. The guy who is promoting this one tomorrow is named Paul Hickey! He seems like a great guy. He is new to promoting bodybuilding compeitions and I really like his attitude about everything. He says it's entertainment and we should be there to encourage each other. I agree with him completely. It is entertainment. But I also think of it as a sport. It's a very competitive sport. This industry is scary because a lot of it is about how you look on the outside. People get really caught up in the cosmetic part of it all and forget that it's also about health and about inspiring other people. "Strong people don't push each other down. They lift each other up." Anyways that was an odd rant. But I'm so excited for this show. I think it will be a fun show with a lot of great people and great opportunities. I can't wait! I'm also really excited for my reeses peanut butter cups.... Hahaha and I maaaaaay or may not have to eat an entire jar of cookie butter after. If you haven't tried cookie butter...............................................................................................................................ummm try it. :)
Anywho I got my tan done by JanTana. It is really dark this time. I love the color of it but it's also A LOT more sticky than my last one (from Martini Tan). I think this color will look better onstage. The whole set up wasn't as awkward this time either. Hahaha at the last show the tanning tents were all facing each other. There were men and women both getting sprayed at the same time and it was just... weird for everyone. But this one was a lot more private. Ummmm lets see.... also I put acrylic nails on this morning. I hate having acrylic nails so I prefer to just do them myself and only have them on for a few days. It's only like 7 dollars for a kit so thats also a plus.
Wish me luck and a lot of sleep tonight. I hope I don't ruin my spray tan. hahaha goooodnight!

Peak Week

May 19, 2014
Iiiiiiit's peak week!!! I love peak week! It's the last week before your competition. It's strict but your body changes so much in that week! My diet will stay the same until Thursday. Friday my entire diet is beef and grapefruit for all 6 meals. With a little bit of sweet potato on a couple meals. The training is different this week too. Today I'll do a full body lifting routine with 40 minutes of cardio. Tuesday full body routine at 60% my usual weight with 30 minutes of cardio. Wednesday same thing but at 50% my usual weight and only 20 minutes of cardio. After Wednesday... no training til after the show!!!! That's craaaaazy!! My water loading started yesterday. I drank 2 and a half gallons. Today-Wednesday I'll do the same. Thursday is only one and half gallons and then Friday is only a half gallon. The water is soooo cool. I love peak week. I'm so excited for this show!!

Watch it.

http://youtu.be/ptJWKnQmPWI

This video is just a little bit of quick motivation. Love it!

A Week & a Half To Go!

Update time!!

Okaaayyy so we are a week and a half away from my second show ever!! I feel so much more confident about this show. I'm just glad that I know what to expect and I know how it feels to be onstage. It's such an amazing feeling to step out there in front of everyone and show what you've been working for. I can't wait to feel that feeling again. My body is starting to dial in with this new workout. I LOVE the last couple weeks before the show. It's really cool to see how your body leans out with a change in diet and exercise. For my body, I haven't had to cut carbs, so that's nice. I am still eating sweet potatoes and brown rice everyday for my carbs. Plus some vegetables. The workout is different because it's a lot of fast stuff (lunges, skaters, jump squats), instead of heavy lifting. You have to be really careful at this point, because you want to keep your muscles round and full, but you want to be lean enough too. It's a tough balance! But I'm starting to think that my body will look better for this show than it did for my first one. That's surprising to me, because I've only been planning on doing this one for 4 weeks! I also feel a lot more confident with my posing this time around. I didn't realize that NPC posing is different than NGA posing. For NPC bikini you walk out and do your front pose, side pose, back pose, side pose and walk off stage. For NGA it's a lot more walking and a lot more posing. You walk to the front right corner and do your front pose, turn and walk to the other side of the stage and do a side pose (at least that's how my routine goes), then walk to the middle of the stage and do another front pose, then turn to the back, then turn to the side, then you walk around in a circle and line up on the back of the stage. Hahah it's pretty long! But it's fun. I like NGA posing more. I'm also focusing on drinking enough water right now. Trying to go for about a gallon and a half everyday. I don't think I mentioned this before, but I'm also going to do 2 shows in June! I want to compete as many times as possible this year. I know 3 times in a month is pushing it a bit, but I like to push myself. :) 

wish me luck... today is leg day.

Come What MAY!

Come What MAY!

Hehehe get it?? Because it's May now?? Hahah okay well I thought it was clever. 

 

So..... it's May.... sooooo it's basically summer. I would probably consider June to be the beginning of summer...but a lot of college students just finished the semester.

So what happened???? You were planning on working out a lot and getting that bikini body just in time for summer?? 

But then you just got too busy and lost track of time??

And now Summer is here???

Welllllllll I hate to say this but... 

you people are out of luck. 

HAAAAA!!!!!!!!! 

I'm totally kidding. 

YOU STILL HAVE TIME!!!!!!!!!!

Listen. Your body can change FAST. All it takes is a little jump start. Your body can respond really quickly to diet and exercise. I learned this while training for my competition. It's absolutely insane to me how much your body can change within a matter of just two weeks. These pictures show the difference in my body after just 4 weeks of me working out. Not a HUGE difference, I know, but definitely more definition.

Ugly I know hahahaha

And in case you didn't see this picture when I first posted it, that's a difference of 4 days. Our bodies can respond FAST.

But you need to start now. The hardest part is getting started. If you've been in a rut for a couple months (or if you've been hibernating all winter...), you need to get yourself moving. 

START TODAY!!! 

Don't have a gym membership?? 

Look up a video on youtube.

Or a workout on pinterest.

Don't have a lot of time today??

Stand up right now and do 100 calf raises.

Then do 20 pushups. 

Then do 50 leg raises. 

And in my opinion..... going out and running for an hour won't make as much of a difference as doing some quick toning exercises. But I'll talk about that more in the future. 

My point is...

Just do SOMETHING!!!!

Like I've said before, the first 4 days are the hardest. They were for me at least. Diet and exercise are HARD. The second you commit to a diet, everything you can't eat, has never looked so good. But if you can make it past those first 4 days, you've got it. Basically... I'm just saying that you DO still have time to get a body feel good about for the Summer.

So let's make May count. 

Come what May. You can do it.