fitnessprincess’s BodyBlog

I get asked a lot by friends and folks interested in doing figure what I do and therefore what do you need to do in order to compete? So, I thought it might be worthwhile blogging on this topic. Many people seem to think that all that’s involved is dieting down or dieting down and exercising. There’s quite a bit more required if you really want to do it right - enjoy the process and feel good about your very short time on the competition stage.

So here are the key elements:

1) Diet - key elements here? a diet filled with healthy, whole foods (meat, poultry, veggies, fruits, and breads/crackers) that delivers the right amount of calories and the right macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals) in the right amounts! And please note we are not talking starvation diet here ladies! unless you want saggy, baggy, unhealthy looking skin and no muscles when you stand on the stage in your little bitty competition suit! For a variety of reasons not the least of which is our modern world and what we have done to the animals and plants on it, you are going to need to use supplements and I am not talking about fat burners here (no such thing by the way ladies!). I mean vitamins, minerals, amino acids, creatine.

2) Exercise program - key elements here? solid, old-fashioned weight training with heavy weight DBs, Bbs and some cardio (mix of HIIT, plyometrics, and ss cardio). Your program should not be hours of cardio each day ladies. You should be working your whole body and your workouts should emphasize compound exercises like deadlifts, squats, lunges, etc. 

3) Stress management - yoga (also great core training!) - I got introduced to yoga by Cathy Savage Fitness’ Ms. P (my eternal thanks lady!), adequate rest, and sleep!!! You have to manage your stress if you want to lose weight, maintain your sanity, and your health and get up on that stage!

4) Posing - It may look to you like those figure ladies are just standing up there, smiling, and all relaxed but that’s far from the truth! To get the most out of your physique you have to flex your muscles and it isn’t easy and you have to figure out how to do this in such a way that it emphasizes the best aspects of your hard won physique and hides your flaws (everyone has some by the way! everyone!). Walking in 4" high heels isn’t easy either and you have to make it look that way smiling the whole time. All of this takes practice - months of practice! in your high heels in front of a mirror! and near the end in your posing suit.

5) Appearance - posing suit, makeup, hair, tanning, fingernails. To compete in figure you need to get a figure suit (these aren’t cheap!) and these typically have to be ordered 10-12 weeks in advance of your competition date. Even if you tan outside or in a tanning bed (I hope you don’t do the latter - very bad for your skin’s health!) you will need to learn how to apply competition tanner so you look nice and dark on the day of your competition (your tan needs to look ridiculously dark but will look great under the harsh stage lights). You will need makeup (many women use false eyelashes) that compliments your figure suit, hair, etc. Lots to learn and lots to do here and you can’t do it at the last minute.

Many of us hire a coach to help us navigate the labyrinth of figure prep.  Some folks hire someone to help them with diet. Others hire someone to help them with training. Still others hire a coach who will help them with diet, exercise, and some of the other elements of figure prep including suit selection, makeup, tanning, posing training, etc.  You can get a coach who will design a program for you on-line.  Of course, it is harder to get assistance with certain elements, e.g., proper exercise form, posing, etc. many of us use this approach (on-line coaching).

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!

Busy and very scary day today for Pam!

First I heard from my suit maker that I am going to have a moderate rather than full bottom on my suit. Agh!! If you saw “moderate” you would understand my knee-jerk fear reaction. My bottom is rather big and I am not sure that everyone wants to have that much of an eyeful of my butt! She insists that I am being silly and my butt is going to be just fine in the moderate suit bottom. Agh!!! OK calm down Pam. Take another deep breath. Repeat after me: everything is going to be OK. Everything is going to be OK…

OK. Sigh. That’s the sound of a frenzied calm settling in here. Hmmm… Ugh! Now, I want to bite my nails again. Ugh!!! Anyway I visited several tanning and nail salons at lunch. Each store has different products and services. LOL! I feel so stupid! The only thing keeping me sane is remembering that I have somehow managed to live 40+ years without knowing any of this stuff! And hey! I should be able to do this, right??

There are many different tanning products out there – about as many products as there are tanning salons. That’s funny too. I never noticed them or even realized how many there are (in fact there are two right across from my university) until I started looking for them. A number of good people on a number of discussion boards have recommended Mystic Tan as a base so that’s what I am planning on doing. This is a spray tan. You apparently go in a booth, get sprayed from all angles, wait 8 h before showering so the color can develop, and then there you go! It is good for a few days. So, the plan is to get sprayed Thursday night, sleep, wake up Friday and shower, teach, and then get on the train to travel to the hotel and the competition which takes place Saturday. I am going to do a practice run on the spray tan probably next week so I know what to expect.

Apparently though the spray tan itself isn’t enough. So, I have been told to buy Jan Tana Onstage and that I will need to apply 4-5 coats of that beforehand.

I also visited a number of nail salons. I bite my nails down to the quick and have for years. Heck! I am biting my nails even as I type this blog entry! I have been most unsuccessful dieting and trying to go cold turkey on the nail biting so I have finally decided to go acrylic and get “French tips” for the nails. That will cost me $40 and I plan on doing that Tuesday before the competition. I may do a practice run on the nails, too. Haven’t decided yet.

Tomorrow I am going to Norwood for the weekend to attend Cathy Savage’s Fall Fitness Camp where I hope to learn all about makeup application, posing, tanning, and everything I need to know before my competition on Oct. 20^th. I am excited and terrified all at the same time. Terrified because I am concerned the weekend will affirm that I am crazy thinking that a 47-year old broad with no fitness/model experience could ever dream of competing in a figure competition. Also, terrified because I am so out of my element. I never was a girlie-girl – never interested in makeup, dating, etc. So, this is an alien world to me. Excited because I really want to learn this stuff and make up (ooh! bad pun!) for lost time. Well, we’ll see soon enough as they say!

Have a great day!

Wow!  This is a whole new world for me!  I have always been most comfortable with guys and even though I was overweight I was just never into all the "girlie" stuff.  Right now though I wish I had paid a bit more attention to at least some of this when I was growing up.  Now here I am trying to learn it all in 12 weeks and wow!  so much to learn:  how to wear/walk in high heels, how to wear/put on makeup, waxing, makeup, tanning, clothing - yow!  Where were you PAM growing up???  (I was a total, total geek  hey my only jewelry is a brass rat, earned by the way, and if you know what that is then you’ve pretty well got me figured out!)
I spoke to Lidia Conti, a suit maker and a really nice person on the phone yesterday.  I like her suits not too much bling - nice designs and decent prices.  I emailed her because I couldn’t figure out all the different terms on her website that you need to know in order to buy a suit.  Oh and it isn’t just her site either.  Things you need to decide include:

1) bottom style:  brazilian, moderate, full (the language changes from site to site could be french cut, brazilian, or V front/back)
2) bottom type: low rise, medium rise, high waist
3) top style:  triangle, swoop, or rounded
4) cup size (I don’t have much up top so I don’t wear
3) whether you want bra padding or not (I don’t have much upstairs so do I or don’t I?)

Anyway, I got homework for Lidia: take photos (I was planning on doing that for my biweekly anyway), do my measurements (ditto - for biweekly), and go to a store and get fitted for a bra so I know my cup size.

Summary for 8/8/07

7 am PT7000 step mill 20-min 1.81-mi, 88 floors, L9 aerobic training, 180 calories (3rd day in a row of morning fasted cardio)
5:55 pm stationary cycle Star Trac Pro forest ride L5 20-min 4.25-mi 197 calories
6:20 pm treadclimber (love, love, love this thing!!!) mixed terrain 30-min 1.82-mi 350-calories

I am a bit stiff today. Not my happiest day - I heard back from Engineering and the lack of enthusiasm for my labs was upsetting to say the least.  Then I got hit with constraints on running the actual lab and of course I am feeling very pressured time wise.  Then I got the two studies for the meeting which starts next weekend. Ugh!! So much to do!!! Deep breath.

Dietary Adherence (x=adherence, 0=missed meal, *=non-compliant meal)
Meal 1 x
Meal 2 x
Meal 3 x
Meal 4 x
Meal 5 x
Meal 6 x

Nutrition summary for 8/8/07
1387 calories consumed (1397 calories target)
154 g protein (140 g protein target)
54 g fat (54 g fat target)
68 g carbs (87 g carb target)

Supplementation
multivitamin - 2/day - had one
calcium - 2/day - done
Creatine - Cell Mass (38 calories, 10 g carb) - 2/day - done
Fish Oil (30 calories, 3 g fat) 3x/day 2 capsules each time - 4 capsules
vitamin C - morning and PWO - done
vitamin E - PWO - done
BCAA’s 3 capsules 3x/day, 3 capsules before workout, 3 capsules PWO - done
finally back on track in terms of nutritional compliance!!!