Personal Training
First Competition Q+A!
Hey friends! Thank you all so much for your sweet comments regarding mothers day! My mom commented as well ( I think it was her first time!) She was so blown away by your sweet comments as well.
Now as I mentioned before, I wanted to take my time in regards to some questions I recieved about my first fitness competition. Well I compiled many of the questions I recieved (I had some of the same questions, so I just answered those one time) If anymore come up, shoot them my way! I hope you all enjoy and for those who asked and also got some of your questions answered.
What was one thing that you learned from the camp that really helped you with your competition? Thanks!
I thought camp was a great way to meet a whole bunch of CSF girls. Its amazing that all of these amazing women travel from all over for this one weekend of pure fun, sweat, positivity and more importantly to learn about the competitive fitness world! I learned a whole lot about the different federations in the competitive fitness world (For example the WBFF vs Fitness America vs NPC) I had no idea there were so many different shows, guidelines for each federation.
We also had lectures regarding nutrition, skincare and show prep given by Cathy, Lindsay Messina, Lori Harder and her knowledgable staff. For a newbie (such as myself at the time)—I would say it was a very valuble experience. And like I mentioned—the pure networking and meeting lifelong friends at that camp was one thing that I was most thankful for! It also was an amazing experience to be around these women who all have a similar passion to you. We are all brought together by a love for health and fitness, most of whom want to bring it to the next level, and this is a bond that is so powerful!
****Oh and get ready to sweat your booty off 😉 Lindsay Messina provides a KILLER workout!
You can read about my camp experience here
Did you follow your own diet and workout plan or one given to you from CSF? and do you think you’ll do another show?
I followed the CSF diet for the most part and especially when it came very close to show (about 1 month out) And by “follow” this doesn’t mean there are extremely specific things to eat (that only happens 1 week out) but the food list would say something like “starch, fruit, protein” with given portion sizes. I can choose within those what I want to eat! So there is a lot of room for creativity when it came to the food which was great and made the whole ‘diet’ aspect more exciting and less like a chore.
As far as workouts, since I am a personal trainer—I added my own things here and there, but I kept the weight training schedule as it was given to me with CSF. I also did the functional workouts that were given to us from CSF. Functional workouts were all bodyweight based, incoporated lots of plyometrics and fast paced movements (think Insanity)
I weight trained 4x a week and each month our workouts changed which kept us from plateauing and also from boredom! I really enjoyed this aspect of the weight training. For instance on a “shoulder day” I may do some of the CSF Shoulder workout and incorporate some of my own as well! I kept it fresh, fun and always pushed myself!
what place did you end up taking??
I honestly have no idea! I just know that I didn’t place in the top 10 (there were 25 girls in my class which was the short class bikini) I don’t care! I just was so happy that I accomplished my goal and got up there! Maybe I will pay attention for my next show 😉
I would love to know how you think you’ll deal with post competition weight gain (if there is any?) and if you think you’re dieting habits/workouts will be forever changed
I am prepared for the ‘post comp blues’ which is very common. The body that I achieved at the show—sure it was amazing and I worked damn hard, but I can also recognize that is not healthy to be that way and eat what I did for an extended period of time. This is why our week of show diet is just that—1 week (not even—its about 5 days) I won’t go preaching this diet nor share what it consisted of, but for a goal at hand—it worked. Did I miss food? YES! Am I psyched to get back to incorporating healthy, whole foods? YES! I am prepared to not have that ‘stage ready’ body all year ‘round and I am totally okay with that! From the start of the prep I have lost 16 lbs—THAT is something I am so proud of!
My diets and workout changed forever? Nope! I always will and always have loved eating 80/20 healthy. Clean, whole, unprocessed foods are where it’s at for me! Sure I love to indulge…I can’t wait to have some pizza again! But for the most part—I love all of those healthy, delicious, and nutritious foods!!
My workouts didn’t really change that much prepping for show with the addition of some added cardio (but only about 10 minutes more!) The huge changes that took place (for me at least) had to do with the diet. I always loved weight training and also the functional style workouts so those will stay for sure in my workout routine! I AM excited to incorporate more yoga!
Have to know, what was the hardest part about getting prepped for the competition??
This was probably putting my ‘life on hold’ I hated not being able to go out to eat with friends, or going to grab a drink with my family; Enjoying treats and Passover dinner with my family. Its hard to stay 100% connected to everything else and everyone else in your life when you are so consumed with food prep and going to posing classes and workouts and everything else that comes along. Don’t get me wrong, I loved every minute of preparing for my first show—but it was my first show so I took everything super serious and was a bit strict with myself. I spoke before about missing that balance in my life and currently, I am happy to be back to a less regimented lifestyle and schedule! HOWEVER with all of that said, the prep and everything that came with it was all worth it in the end.
Im curious about how you felt during all the dieting, how was your energy level/blood sugar/emotions, etc?
During the last week or two of dieting, I certainly had ups and downs but I have to say that without the support of the other CSF girls, I may have a different answer to this question. What I can tell you is that during those last two weeks, when everything seems harder, there is NOTHING like the support we all have for each other. Days you aren’t feeling up for a workout or want to grab a cookie—we are there for each other—pushing, focusing and supporting. It is such a great community to be a part of. SO although my energy levels were a bit low, I really fought through it—mind over matter! You somehow get this laser vision with jsut one thing on your mind–just thinking about how close you are to that show and being on that stage gets you through all of the negative emotions and low energy!
I have always wanted to give a contest a shot, but have always been to afraid to bulk first to gain the muscle and then cut…did you have to bulk for this type of contest? Also did you have any issues with your blood sugar levels?
For bikini, there was no bulking and cutting phase (they may have done that for figure but I am not 100% sure). We basically ate healthy, normal foods (whole grains, healthy fats, lean protein sources, coffee, tea, low fat dairy) that were normal sized portions and then as it came closer to show (1-3 weeks out) this is when the food starts not even necessarily getting ‘cut’ but definitely cycled. One day I may have 1 more serving of starch than the next and the same goes with other food groups. The last week before show was certainly the most challenging, but at that point you have prepped your body so much that I didn’t really experience anything negative to my body that week.
How much did your cardio increase from the beginning of prep to the end? What about your calories?
I never counted calories, macros, micros-whatever you may call it so I have no idea how many calories I was consuming. I preferred it this way, and we all just stuck to portion sizes. It is one way to stay somewhat as sane as possible. I would NOT be able to handle counting every morsel of food going into my body , on top of everything else!
My cardio duration didn’t really increase at all, but I did increase the frequency, but only 1 day more a week toward the end of show. I was doing a mixture of HIIT and steady state work all throughout and like I said, I didn’t increase my cardio duration at all just added one more day!
Do you think you’ll do another show, if so, when
Yes. But Have no idea when! There is a local show in Boston in the fall that I will probably do—that will most likely be my next. I loved competing and being up on that stage, but it is very time consuming and also money consuming! I plan to take the summer off, and first get my life a little more balanced and back together. Come fall time–if the time is right and I feel right, then that September show will be in the cards!
Did you like CSF and will you use them again if you compete
Yes, I love CSF and don’t know how I could have done this without them and the girls I have met along the way! Yes I will certainly be using CSF for my next shows
fave place/site for suits
I ordered my bikini suit from Passionfruit Designs along with the majority of the Savage girl. Berns Berdard is the designer and I met her at CSF camp in January. She is amazing, talented and her suits fit like a glove! I was beyond happy with my suit! For my sportswear, The gold shorts were from American Apparel and the top was designed by the CSF in house sportswear designer (and she also competed and one of my besties on the CSF team, Leigha Marie Designs)
This is my Passionfruit suit. You can’t reallllly see it that well but it was gorgeous, beautiful and fit like a glove!
This is the top of my sportswear that Leigha made! BEAUTIFUL as well!
For my photo shoot, I ordered a bikini from Chynadolls.com and I LOVED it!
Will you ever move up into figure or stick with bikini
Bikini
will you stick with the same federation you competed with (which was what? i dont even know) or use a different one?
I competed in the Fitness America Pageant and I would not be opposed to trying another federation!
any plans to travel to CA to do any shows? 🙂
If you pay for me
Ok, there ya have it! ENJOY!
Question of the day: Once you accomplish something, do you find that you have an ‘itch’ to keep doing it such as run a marathon, participate in a concert or other event? Or do you get the “one and done” mentality?
