Monday Motivation: V.16

Today I'm at home from work. I'm currently on the couch, heatpack on my back and drugged up. It's where I've been all weekend if fact. 

You see for the past three weeks (roughly) I've had a niggly, sore back. I've been ignoring it though. Pushing through training, because first I was week or so out from competition. Then, after my competition I've pushed through training because I wanted to keep fit and stay on track.

Well in the end, not listening to my body and resting like I should have been doing backfired. Last Friday it was lifting weights back at Crossfit that 'broke the camel's back'. I pushed myself that little bit too much - and as a result I badly 'inflamed' a disc in my lower back.

I've been in excruciating pain and am hardly able to walk, let alone run or lift weights.

But it puts things into perspective, the struggle I'm going through has made me realise I have to take better care of my body. I have to rest when it tells me too, I have to get an appropriate amount of sleep and take rest days when exercising.

After all, how am I supposed to lift PB's at crossfit, run my fastest 5km or build muscle if I'm not nourishing my body.

What have you gone through lately that's been tough and taught you a lesson?

Monday Motivation is a weekly blog post sharing a quote I've found to help get me (or you through the week).

Project Life: {Week 12}

So I've caught up on project life! I've just spent my weekend scrapbooking and printing off photos from weeks 15 through to 19. And now I'll start back at Week 12 (18-24 March).

This week it rained a bit and we had a few spectacular lightening storms that I captured. On the other end of the spectrum, Brad and I enjoyed the sunshine on the Sunday afternoon too. I was up early for morning cardio sessions, my competition bikini arrived, and I baked a yummo lemon tart for dinner at Brad's Uncle & Aunty's.

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Project Life is a system created by Becky Higgins that is designed to simplify your efforts to document life and help get your photos into a book. To learn more about the product and how to get started, click here.

That time I was on page three of the local newspaper

So back late last year I was contacted by a photographer via instagram asking if I was interested in doing a photoshoot for the local newspaper, the NT News. At the time I was interested, and had just finished my last fitness model competition.

Then I fractured my wrist... the shoot was put on hold and Michael got back in touch with me earlier this year.

I was just over a month out from my competition and it was just before Easter and we set up the shoot for one evening at my gym while it was quiet. 

It was such a bizarre and weird experience, stripping off to a crop top at the gym and having a stranger photograph me doing exercises at the gym! I slowly warmed up and knew what he meant be smile, part my lips, tilt my head a certain way etc.

I was wary about being in the paper, you see it was on page 3 where the usual 'sunday stunner' is featured. Some model want-to-be etc. But I made sure it was going to be photographed in the gym and made sure I mentioned I was into health and fitness etc when the journalist called.

And here's a couple of shots from the photoshoot:

                 

 

Photographs copyright Michael Franchi

After a fitness model competition- what's next?

Last week (the week after my competition) I had my birthday, a couple of morning tea's at work, dinner out for my birthday (twice) and drinks.I still managed to eat relatively good - trying to keep in the back of my mind to try and keep my protein levels up, and not eat too many carbs. 

Exercise wise, I was conscious not to do nothing. I was back at the gym lifting weights on Tuesday and Thursday nights and also went for two runs and did a set of stair sprints.

Today I'm sharing what's next - how to I go from eating so strictly and training 8 times a week to trying to live a balanced life. I'm not saying a 'normal' life - but choosing balanced because what exactly is normal? 

Reverse Dieting

I'm not going to just fall off the competition diet, and binge eat all the foods I've been craving these past few months. This post-competition I'm going to be smarter and wiser.

During this competition prep I was researching along the way better ways to get back to reality after a show. People like the esteemed Layne Norton, fellow competitors, Amanda Marie, Jill Taylor from Activewear online and Charlotte Mary are all advocates for 'reverse dieting'. I won't go into detail, but it's all about coming off a competition prep diet and getting back to normal a healthy way keeping your metabolism in check. 

For me it means maintaining, then slowly backing off cardio. Keeping in weights training. It will also involve keeping my protein levels high, and slowly adding in carbohydrates and fats.

It's all about trying to not let your weight skyrocket after a competition and put on a lot of fat. So far I'm doing good, the highest 'weight' I put on was 3.2kg, and has now started falling again. I'm eating more carbs and fats already and am feeling strong.


It's all about balance

If you've been following my instagram feed you will have noticed I've indulged in a few treats (a colleagues homemade greek vanilla slice, cupcakes, chocolate, mexican and a few cocktails). I've been conscious to indulge in my 'cravings' and eat those things I want to without reservation.

However from now on it's about balancing a once (or twice) a week treat with nourishing, whole foods for the rest of the time.

2 June 2013: NT Powerade City2Surf -12km

I have already registered to run the NT City2Surf. It's on in a few weeks. Bad news is at the moment I can't run more than 3.5km without my calves getting super tight and almost crampy.

This run will more than likely be a motivator to get my back running again. I'm looking forward to it. 

Maintaining my exercise schedule

I'll be planning in weights sessions 4 times at week to keep the muscle I've built over the past few months. I'm going to get a new program written by my trainer. As mentioned above, I'll also be planning in runs and keeping in cardio like spin class or body attack also.

Getting back into Crossfit

I miss the social aspect of Crossfit, the varied exercises and the high fitness levels I got from it. I miss my friends from Crossfit Darwin and they miss me too - often asking when I'm coming back! At this stage I'm planning on adding in one session a week, and building up from there.

What are your next exercise/fitness goals?
What keeps you motivated?

Second Fitness Model Competition - Evaluation part 2: One week out and Comp Day!

You can read about my 16 week preparation here. But today I'm sharing my final week of preparation and competition day details!

One week out

I wrote this post mid-way through my final week leading up to my competition, talking about the realities of preparing for a bodybuilding competition. 

The final week for me was about keeping my caloric intake up, eating more protein, more food. I also carb-cycled and waterloaded. 


For those unfamiliar with it there are plenty of articles you can read but basically you drink a heap more water and cut your carbs, then start depleting your water closer to competition day and start "carbing up". This makes you store as little fluid as possible in your body, and the carbohydrates bulk out your muscles.

This cycling made me really tired and fatigued at the start of the week, and then full of energy as I got to eat carbs again - yummy oats! :)

For my final few days of weight training I stuck to lighter weights and higher reps and kept doing cardio all the way up to Thursday morning. 

I practiced my posing almost everyday and then it was the fun stuff - waxing, tans, makeup, hair!!

Competition Day

I woke early at 6am and woke feeling fresh and well rested. Surprisingly I didn't have a sleepless night tossing and turning. It was strange, I felt focused and relaxed.

I had 2 poached eggs with helgas multigrain toast with fig jam and a strong coffee for breakfast with all my vitamins. 

By 7am Brad had woken up and put my coat of Jan Tana (hi definition) on. On top of my two coats of tan it was going on well and looked fanastic! He did a great job making it as even and perfect as he could, wiping it on and dabbing and patting it with the applicator.

The night before I'd semi packed my bag, and a bag of food for before and after (choc-chip muesli bars, lollies, gatorade and an apple and banana. In my comp bag I packed my bikini and sports outfit, a change of clothes, makeup wipes, tissues, paper towel, my tan, glaze and applicator. I also packed makeup, bronzer and lipgloss, my shoes, competition heels and jewellery.

Before getting my hair and makeup done, I rested at home in the air-conditioning reading my book. I was feeling quite relaxed and not anxious at all! I had a 9am hair appointment about 20 minutes from home. I got my hair done, it only took an hour for my lovely hairdresser Andrea to clip my extensions in and curl my hair.

I then turned up to my makeup appointment an hour early at 10am and ran into Andrea, a fellow competitor, but friend (we share the same coach). Her makeup appointment was at 10am, so we just chatted while she had hers done.

My turn at 11am. I ended up getting blue eye-shadow done, which I was a bit scared about at first, but once the fake eyelashes went on it looked great! I drove the quick 5 minute drive to the venue (the Darwin Entertainment Centre) and started getting ready. By this time it was about mid-day - show time wasn't till about 1.30 (Fitness Model's were first on).

Backstage I set up my things. I was relaxed and feeling good. The vibe backstage was great. There was a fantastic bunch of girls, some newbies looking to Andrea and I (who both competed last year) for advice. Everyone was kind and sharing, sharing weights, bikini bite ( a special glue to hold bikini's in place) and casual chatting.

I had my 'cousin-in-law' Kate backstage to help me again this year. She touched up my tan for my, evening it out and applying a light amount of glaze to give me a slight sheen. She also helped me put my bikini and jewelery on and glue my bikini too! Love that girl!!

There was a mix of nervousness and heaps of excitement in the air. It was so so nice to have Marnie, my coach backstage this year - she was competing in Figure later on. I'm so proud of her and thankful for all her help - not only has she been preparing herself for the competition, but Andrea and I!!

This year I felt so different backstage. I think just knowing what happens backstage, being on stage before and having some practice doing Miss Blood Sweat & Fears the other week helped settle my nerves and boost my confidence a little. (A shot of vodka may have helped too).

It's show time!

Bikini round was first up! I was fourth to walk on stage (out of 9 other girls). Before lining up just off stage I remember jumping up and down in the halls and saying how excited I was to Marnie (after she told me "boobs out, butt out, hips back...") HAHA!

Walking on stage I was feeling pumped (a tiny bit nervous), but excited. I was smiling, naturally and couldn't wait to look out to the seats and try and find some familiar faces. I eventually found a couple of good friends, El and Karla and smiled even bigger when I saw them waving and whistling back!!

My walk went well, and I took my time posing. I remember looking at the judges faces too and taking the time to really look at them. For the bikini round they split the group and we did our quarter turns. 

I was surprised they then called about 5 of us forward - including myself - I had to remind myself what number I was! 

Coming off stage, I was beaming. Excited and couldn't believe I'd been called forward for a second look! We had about 15-20 minutes to get changed into our sports gear. I checked my phone and found a couple of messages - one from Brad and Karla saying I did an awesome job! 

Kate came backstage and she said her and Brad were sitting just behind El and Karla and that I did a great job and didn't look nervous at all. Yay! She helped me get changed into my fitness gear without getting tan anywhere and touched up my tan again. I added lipgloss, then it was time to jump back on stage again!!

After our T walks, we did our quarter turns again, and I got called up again. We got shuffled around and then we kept posing in our line for what felt like an eternity. I was chatting to Andrea who was next to me in the line up and kept moving my posing around, focusing on my good points, and flexing as hard as I could and smiling - always smiling!

The judges then had made their decision and called 7 girls forward, leaving myself and two other girls - one from my gym standing behind. I thought, "Oh bugger that means I didn't get a place"... But then... I thought, hang on - there are only three of us left at the back - that mean's I have a place.

They called Rachel first (the blonde girl from my gym), she got third, and then my heart was RACING! Oh my gosh - never in a million years would I think I would get a placing - and here I was about to find out if I got first or second place....

They called my number - 12. I got 2nd place - INBA NT Natural Physique Titles Fitness Model 2013. Holy moley. I was in shock, big time! I couldn't smile properly, I couldn't think. I had a trophy in my hand! AHHH! So excited!!

After the competition

I walked off stage and handed back my trophy (a slight hiccup - they had to use the same ones as all the trophy's didn't turn up!)... and congratulated the other girls. I quickly went backstage, and watched the overall's and then went out for intermission.

I saw Kate and Brad and Brad's cousin Mick's girlfriend Jacinta. I was so happy, gave Brad a big kiss. Everyone was excited and happy. I got a few photos - one with Brad below and one with Kate.

It was such a huge day. And even today, writing this almost a week later I can't believe it's all over and it's all happened!

Fitness Finds: My gym bag

This week's "Fitness Find" is the website 'My Gym Bag'.

You know those websites that you have to register for and they have sales based on a time limit? It's one of those - and if you're into fitness you'd better register!

Their philosophy is to "provide the best health and fitness brands hand-picked by four fitness connoisseurs on a mission to bring everyone the good life without the steep price".

Last week I missed out of nabbing a container of my favourite Defin8 pre-workout for $58! I was spewing! They feature other big name brands such as Nike, Russel Athletic, Asics, Lonsdale and more.

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Fitness Finds is a post series where I'll share the latest fitness fashion, trends, equipment, exercises and other stuff that I think is pretty cool!