fitnessprincess’s BodyBlog

Practicing posing is going well. I don’t recall if I posted this but I brought my hooker – um “competition” - shoes to work (the university in my case) and I wear them around my office when I am not teaching (just not cool taking a dive off my heels in front of my chemistry class!) LOL!

Anyway, I thought it might be helpful if I wrote today about all I have learned regarding competition shoes. Before I do that though I have to thank the Community because you have all been super generous and helpful in sharing your experiences with me and that has made my road a lot easier.

Some of the suggestions folks shared include 1) purchasing two pairs of shoes – in case one breaks. I thought that sounded like a good idea. 2) Someone else posted about the value of purchasing shoes that don’t have a buckle strap as that makes it easier/quicker to step in/out of your shoes on competition day so you don’t have to wear them longer than you want to or are able to (these things are simply not comfortable! And don’t let anyone tell you differently!). 3) Alot of folks advised me to practice and I sure do see the wisdom! You watch some ladies up on the stage and they look simply awful as they stumble around and their inability to walk properly ruins their posing. Such a shame to have your shoes detract from all the hard work you have put into getting up there on the stage and so unnecessary.

I originally purchased the “standard” 4” Brook style shoes from Snazy75.com (wide selection and great prices ca. $35) – shown at upper left. Four inches by the way is the minimum heel you should be looking at. You can use 5” or 6” inch heels but why put yourself through the torture? I have heard it argued both ways for and against a higher heel in terms of accentuating your calf and the length of your leg. I am a novice to competition and a novice to wearing any kind of heels so I am not interested in being sidelined from my workouts and competition by a pair of high heeled shoes.

By the way if you are interested in competing apparently NPC frowns on platforms so check with your show beforehand to find out what shoes are acceptable or not. I also liked the idea of just a bit of sparkle on the shoe – you apparently don’t want too much though as the idea isn’t for you to sell shoes but your figure (wink!) on stage. So, I decided I would get a second pair of shoes that I will keep and wear at home which don’t have buckle straps, do have just a touch of bling, and a small platform. The ones I picked are the Loretta style – shown top middle. I purchased mine from MaggieFit.com (wide selection and good prices ca. $40-55). They were a bit more expensive ($55) than the Brook’s but I really like them. They are really cute and I must say that they are much! much! easier to get on and off.

If you like the idea but don’t want the bling then you might choose Coco – shown at top right.

As I have discovered there are a number of places you can purchase these shoes. I mentioned several places above where the shoes were relatively inexpensive and where I had good shopping experiences. Other places you might try include:

• www.suitsyouswimwear.com – I found their prices higher – around $70 for the styles listed above.
• www.fitnessprodirect.com – they carry a much wider array of shoes (be careful because they may not be acceptable for competition) at very good prices (ca. $50)
• www.ebay.com – of course, you can find anything on ebay but I haven’t had good experiences on any purchase through them so unless you are ebay savvy I suggest looking elsewhere.

Good news! The original invoice is wrong and Lidia agreed. Always keep your receipts folks!!

Bad news: She blamed the fact that the black one-piece suit doesn’t fit on me!! I was mildly amused and more than a bit perturbed since I told her upfront I was a novice and asked how to make the measurements required!! I also sent photos!! She asked for competition weight and back then (August) I told her I had no idea never having competed. Although the whole suit fits poorly (I look like a fat pig stuffed in a velvet bathing suit!) the biggest issue is that it isn’t long enough. I would have to be 4’ high for it to fit right. I would think that someone who makes suits for a living would have some idea of what the measurements would be roughly for someone who is 5’6” and would therefore be able to spot anomalous measurements. All I can say is this doesn’t make sense to me.

Good news: Lidia agreed to fix it. I had to take pictures – more like porno pictures frankly – and mail the suit back to her. I call the photos porno pictures because the tips of my breasts are barely covered when I stretched and pulled the material up to fasten the top around my neck. I just look fat, stupid, and ridiculous – sorry folks not sexy just ridiculous! Honestly, it is hard to laugh about all this because the experience has been so heart breaking. I never worked so hard for anything in my entire life and I just can’t believe that this happened and that it happened to me.

I am going to press forward and have decided that my intermediate goal is going to be to reach contest shape for Xmas and I will mark it by taking photos in my competition suits. That should allow me plenty of time to tweak my physique for spring competition season.

Sorry I haven’t posted recently. Life has been hectic! First, I think I need to let you know that I have decided not to compete Saturday. I am more disappointed than I can say but as I compose this I still!!! do not have my competition suits and as a result of going to Camp I realize that if I give myself more time to prepare properly and I will get into that below I am more likely to have the positive result I wanted from competing.

First, if you are thinking of competing, videos/DVD’s are nice but there is no substitute for going to a figure workshop or fitness camp.

If anyone out there is thinking of competing in figure or fitness, I cannot strongly enough encourage you to attend an upcoming Cathy Savage Fitness Camp. It was an invaluable and truly inspiring and uplifting experience well worth the time (Friday evening through Sunday afternoon) and monetary investment ($250). I only wish that I had done this sooner.

I attended the October Fall Savage camp. There were about 50 women of all ages, sizes, and fitness levels there from many states and even from abroad. The majority were newbies like me who had never competed. Some were interested in competing in fitness, others in figure and some had no interest in competing on stage at all/ever. A number of Cathy’s successful figure and fitness women participated in the weekend including Dawn Butterfield and Toneka Pires performing their fitness routines for attendees. Maggie Blanchard and Sylvia Tremblay also participated. You could consult with both about competition suits and Maggie also had shoes and tanning supplies as well available for sale.

I almost missed out on this amazing experience. When I arrived Friday night we were told that we should wear our competition shoes and shorts or our competition suit if we had one Saturday. There were so many truly beautiful young women there that I wanted to flee. I couldn’t because I had to take the commuter rail to get to the Camp facilities so I had to stay and by the end of Friday night I was willing to come back and give things a try Saturday morning. Cathy and Jodi met with each girl to do an assessment. I decided to do it first thing Saturday so I could relax. Cathy and Jodi assessed each girl’s look and discussed when (now, six months, etc.) and where (which federation) we might do best if we wanted to compete. Cathy also offered suggestions regarding each girl’s best suit colors.

Saturday morning we learned some dance steps – LOL! I am total klutz but I will say it was fun and I didn’t feel totally out of place. There were others who also had no dance experience. Both days we went outside and had a really good cardio warm up followed by an energizing body weight only workout back inside the facility. We learned about nutrition, basic/required fitness moves, tanning, makeup, recommendations about ordering competition suits, etc. We practiced posing in our shoes following the standards from each of the major federations. Bottom-line if you are serious about competing I highly recommend attending an upcoming camp. For me it was truly a life changing experience I will never forget!

Last week I had my eyes checked and I am trying to decide if I am going to spend the $5K for LASIK or instead go for contacts. I am too nearsighted to even contemplate going without glasses.

I am still struggling with posing and walking in my heels. I am now trying to make sure that I walk in them each day. I really think that is a good idea. I have taken to wearing my shoes around the office in the afternoon. LOL! It has been a hoot! People think I am crazy but if you are like me I am not home for long in the evening only to sleep so when else am I going to get a chance to walk around and practice? So, I am also practicing my quarter turns and holding the poses and flexing my muscles. That is also something important to do.

Perhaps the biggest issue right now is the fact that I don’t have my suits in hand. I am angrier than I can say because I spent over $500 and I placed my suit orders back in August. Lidia Conti mixed up my suits with someone else’s supposedly and I am still waiting for my suits to arrive. I think if I had to do it all over again I would do two things differently in terms of placing my suit order. I think I acted a bit naiively in terms of placing my order and (I am seriously wondering if honesty was the best policy here) telling her that this was my first competition (so I think she didn’t make my suits as much of a priority perhaps as that of more serious competitors) and I should have given a date a week or two ahead of my actual competition to ensure that I had my suits in hand. Doesn’t seem to me that any time was allowed here for alterations and that seems a bit dishonest. What really gets to me though is the fact that I have spent alot of good money on my suits - what is it they always say? You get what you pay for - well, I am still waiting. Needless to say all of this has been stressful and I ate very poorly last week as a result at a time when I knew I couldn’t afford to do that - I am not blaming anyone else for that just disappointed that it happened. So much for being over emotional eating, huh? Ugh! Honestly, this is all OK though. I think maybe this is all for the best because I wanted my competition to be a fun thing and right now it sure wouldn’t be all I wanted it to be so I think we are going to take a deep breath and make plans for a spring show and really do this right!