Next Bikini Show...?

After my first show I knew that I wanted to do another one...but only after I took home second place. I knew then that I wanted to try to bring home a first and do better in the Open category (I got 6th in the Open in the first show)...(Open Ctaegory is against all other contestants). 

Having to balance homeschooling... being a family... working out... being a mom...having adult friends...cleaning my house...the list never ends...errands...sick kiddo....bank....grocery...grocery...grocery....doctor apts...hair apts...

It's tough. It's life.

Prepping for a bikini show is very time consuming.

For me I workout 5x a week year round. About 1-1.5 hours per day. 

I eat clean everyday. It just works for me. I prefer living a super clean lifestyle. And eating super healthy works for me.  Except my one cheat meal a week..(lately I've had two cheat treats instead of a full cheat meal.)

So for the last show I had to amp up my workouts the month prior to the show. 

I worked out 6x a week. For 1.5-2 hours per session. 

Stopped all cheat treats and meals 3 weeks prior. Which is super hard!! 

So I am prepping now for my next show.

I have one more cheat treat next weekend. Then none until after the show.

And starting this week it's 6x a week at the gym. 

I also hired new posing coaches. I'm loving my new routine!! Which I will continue practicing daily until it feels perfect. (Posing is the hardest thing for me! And it's a HUGE part of these shows!!!! HUGE)!!!

Soooo.....

Here we go show number 2!!! 

I can't outwork my fork

When I finally realized that I couldn't out run.....out lift.....out step mill....out workout....my food and fork...

Everything finally clicked!

My husband....the fitness guru...had been telling me this for years....

I had had many trainers tell me this in the past including Dominic and Tarik...

But 

A. I didn't want t hear it

B. I didn't believe them

C. I didn't want to hear it 

What this means is I can't eat a whole pizza and then go run 5 miles the next day to negate the pizza calories.

I can't eat 1400 calories of jelly beans and then do the step mill for 90 minutes to try and burn off the jelly beans.

It just doesn't work this way.

That's why I have a cheat meal or treat once a week read more about that Here...so I don't feel deprived of my favorites.

It also allows me to workout and feel so much better. I don't have the sugar highs and bonks like I used to.

It's is such a simple concept with a huge meaning! 

Once it clicked with me everything started to fall into place. 

Road to my first bikini show Part 1

Why on earth would I want to parade around in a sparkly bikini and clear very tall heels....in front of an audience at age 41????

I asked myself this over and over again during this year of preparation for this show! 

That's right a full year of prep time! 

The only reason I came up with is ......to prove to myself that I could.

So last May I started to follow a friend of a friends journey on social media to her first Figure Compettion. 

And.....

It just went from there. 

I have another super close friend that does Figure Competitions and I started asking her a ton of questions. 

I then found out another acquaintance that did bikini shows...

Then I started to research (BC that's what I do) .....I researched to find out the ins and outs of everything on bikini competitions that I could.

What I needed to look like.

What I needed to eat.

How much muscle I needed to gain.

Posing.

Bikinis.

Coaches.

Jewelry. 

Shoes. 

I researched it all! 

This was taken in April of 2014... Right after I had lost about 7-8 pounds from stopping eating candy. Remember that? Read more about that ...  Here... I  weighed about 120/122ish...

Notice my completely flat as a pancake booty and very string bean arms. 

This was at the end of May 2014 right before I started to change my lifting and cardio. 

So no I certainly didn't look "bad" I realize that.... I was fit...cardio wise...very fit...and had about 100 pounds of lean muscle at this point from years of lifting...

But.....

I knew that this was going to be a huge challenge. 

I knew that I was going to have to work really hard.

I knew that I may get last place. 

I knew that I wanted it really bad!!