Well, my apologies that it’s been a while since I’ve last blogged. It’s amazing how the time just zooms right by. Let me try and catch you all up to speed on where I’m at in this process. So, after returning from Colorado, I was working on getting refocused. I continued to struggle to get my extra cardio workouts in and to keep on the straight and narrow for my eating. On Saturday, November 19th, I spent all day attending the Bluff’s Classic in Council Bluffs, IA. It was a USA Super Pro-Qualifier in the natural bodybuilding circuit. I FINALLY got to see a show!!! In the morning they had the judging of all the areas: open figure, open bikini, figure masters 35+, bikini 35+, and all the men’s bodybuilding divisions. The evening show started at 5:30pm and it was AWESOME!! It really solidified the fact that I REALLY want to do this. I could see the hours and months that it took these competitors to reach the physical transformation that appeared to me on stage. To me, a physical transformation such as this takes tremendous courage, strength and determination. So, after that contest, it was game on! The only problem was, I still felt a lot of pressure and weight on my shoulders and I was struggling to understand it.
The week of Thanksgiving, I continued to struggle to meet my low carb count and felt tired all the time. I had no energy to stick to my extra workouts and I had no mental strength to keep up my scheduled eating and making the right food choices. I knew a lot of the culprit was the low carb levels. The other pressure I was feeling was knowing that I was only 3 months away from the competition in Columbus, Ohio. I felt like if I pushed myself to make it happen, that I’d be traveling to the competition alone. I also felt that if I pushed myself to really drop the Body Fat % that I need to drop, that I’d probably kill myself in that short time to make it happen. My gut just kept coming back to the fact that I needed more time to reach my goal. The other side of the coin is that paying for training is getting to be very costly. Though, I’m extremely grateful for all the knowledge that I have accumulated throughout this past year, I just can’t afford it any more. So choices and changes needed to be made.
What I realized is this. I have no intent to disengage from my goal of competing in a bikini competition. I have come way too far to abandon it now. Actually, after attending the Bluffs Classic, I feel more fuel has been added to the fire. I also know, that even though it is going to take me longer to reach my goal, this doesn’t mean that I’ve failed. I believe it is courageous to recognize when a timeline is too ambitious and to readjust our paths accordingly. The other neat thing about this is that over the course of this next year, I am going to put into use the knowledge and tools that my trainers have shared with me and prove to myself that I CAN train myself and that I WILL see results. Now that I’ve seen the competition that I will be competing in, I will better be able to visualize the experience and know what to expect when my time and my goal comes to fruition.
Currently, here’s what I’m doing. As the end of the year inches closer, I realized that I had some Groupon’s that needed to be used up before they expire. Back in June I purchased a months training at a training facility here in town and had to use it before it expired on Dec. 12th, 2011. So, I ended the personal 1:1 training and am using up my Groupon till the end of the year. 2012, I’m on my own. ;) I’m planning some great circuit workouts and weight lifting schedules. My goal is to really focus on changing it up frequently so to avoid any type of plateau. I realized at this new place that I am physically REALLY strong, but that my cardio conditioning is pretty weak. I’ve been huffing and puffing at times throughout the workouts and love every moment of it. I feel like I’m back in high school doing my volleyball conditioning. We even did the band sprints where you wrap the elastic band around your waist and you sprint as hard as you can while the person behind you tries to hold you back. I did those in track practice sometimes.
Overall, I feel really happy with my decisions that I’ve made towards my goal and that this is the best thing for ME.
I thought I’d leave you with a little something this time. Here is a fun little workout that kicked my butt yesterday. It doesn’t look bad, but boy does it pack a punch!!! You can do this in the comfort of your own home and it doesn’t take any equipment. There are 5 exercises that you preform each for 60 seconds (no rest between exercises), then you rest 1 minute when you complete that set before going on to the 45 second set of exercises. The numbers in the columns are the reps that I accomplished. See if you can beat my numbers!! =)
| Exercise | 60 Sec | 45 Sec | 30 Sec | 15 Sec |
| Burpees | 15 | 11 | 10 | 5 |
| Squats | 43 | 35 | 26 | 14 |
| Push Ups (knees) | 35 | 35 | 26 | 15 |
| Jumping Jacks | 81 | 65 | 44 | 23 |
| Sit Ups | 35 | 30 | 22 | 12 |
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