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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Nationals 'the experience'


These are from the BCs, a back shot which makes me so proud of my booty end.....great ham glute ties which I worked hard for without heavy lifting and a front shot taken just before my lat flare, but love the quads here.

*Once I get some shots back from Nationals I can post some.

Nationals ’the Experience’
Coming from a bloaty week for BCs and not being lean or muscular enough I was hoping for the week before Nationals to be better. I did look better and managed to keep a flow on for the week between work, prep and stuff.
Coco Challenges the Day
So my staffy gets to a plastic thing and chews / swallows pieces of it with me of course catching this after he swallowed. Based on a few pieces I found I was worried about blockage so here I am the day before my flight with lots of prep to do and this…….so a few hours later and lost….the vet makes him puke and I can go off restful of mind. He did this at 5mths old and needed an operation so of course we are normally very careful but me being pre contest, if you know anything about that you get something similar to what they call ‘mommy brain’.
Euphoric Landing
Now I land in SK and it was a nauseating landing. I hop a cab with a few other competitors and looked at them saying ‘I feel stoned’. And I had not smoked or drank or taken anything to cause this, it was like 6am for geez sakes and I just waved it off.
My voice began to disappear and get froggy as I was being taxied to the hotel. Again not to think much of it, I can breathe so whatever. Usually if I can breathe I don’t worry too much about things, breathing issues is a sign I am in trouble and since it was fine I just figured I was tired, its early, just off a plane etc etc.
The caliber of competitors was awe inspiring. Got heighted into short and ready to rock for next meeting where I get my number and give my music. I finished all that and had plenty of time to go back and color up for tomorrow.
I get to the judging portion; get to the curtain and nausea hits. Now you gotta remember I don’t get nervous, I love getting on stage and I have been at this for over 15 years now. So I figure, ignore it, its judging time so smile, its over in minutes.
We go out one at a time; I am first, number 1. I go out, do my turns, get in line and the rest of the girls do the same, all to file into the lines on each side of the center comparisons line. As the girls finish lining up everything goes black. I stood there thinking, okay wait it out, it will pass. I began to wobble. One girl, Debi Bartlett who got 4th in my division when all was said and done…….she tells me she was holding my hand and asked if I recalled this……NOPE. I barely recall people saying, ‘someone help her, someone help her’. I never did faint but was helped off to sit. Once the sight began to come back I wanted to get back out there to try and salvage my chance at getting judged here!
I went out, broke out into a full sweat and pulled it off. I was called into the first call out line up. It’s all a blur but I at least I got out there in time. I did not find out til later it was first call out I made it back, felt like I was off stage forever but it was only seconds.
I had 40 mins or so to recover for routine. I knew I could pull it off because when I blacked out on stage I had been out there for more than 2 mins. Routine is 90 secs. I can black out after…………..teehee.
I was weak for routine unfortunately but did it.
Of course today I am leaner than I was when I did BCs so maybe another 2-4 weeks and I could have placed better but I did not figure in that after a year sick it may take an extra few weeks to get to peak and for my body to come in.
The good thing is I decided to take the rest of my comps off the list and just train toward next July so see if I can crack that top place and overall at the BCs and get my lifetime by into Nationals which for me is handy in several ways. I like competing so it’s not a big deal but for the years where Nationals falls into provinces I may not be health ready for, like SK, I can skip that year and not have to re-qualify each time with the risk of not making it.
Next year Nationals are here so it’s okay but I did go to the dr and check on why this happened since it has never happened to me in contest before, it has though with the asthma.
I was able to breathe so I did not think it was related but apparently the dr confirmed I was oxygen depleted - not dehydrated nor carb depleted, hence the ‘stoned’ feeling when I landed. The Dr. suggested I do not go there again.
As for not being dehydrated or depleted……I know this because I did the least depletion ever on both of those. I worked with Mike Davies for support and he does things a bit different than I do. I used to start dandelion and such a month out, but then I came in stringy, this year barely any.
The lack of humidity out there and dryness was not good for me and I am still recovering a week later. My lungs are very heavy and had suffered but by the time that part kicks in its too late, good thing I was only gone 2 days.
IN the end I placed 6th again just like 09. This tells me I basically recovered my body back, to where it was before I got sick last year. I did this in 12 weeks, dropping 20 lbs in 8. I am trying to focus on those positives but of course I am so disappointed in my placings this year.
I am very happy for Vanda Hardaaren who did win my class and get her pro card by winning fitness overall. Her body is very attainable, very natural. She is not over muscled and not super lean. Seems the new judge panel at Nationals is doing a great job with the fitness look they are choosing as winners!
Here are a few shots from the plane as I was landing in BC with a huge sigh of relief, so happy to be home- ahhh mountains and water, coast! Also a few shots the day after comp.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Nationals here in Saskatchatoon.......

Anyone see the movie Grown Ups???? Saskatchatoon baby.......teehee. This is my first time here.

Well I am at Nationals, maybe did not place as high as I liked at the BCs but 3rd was what I needed at worst in order to be able to come compete for this show and 3rd is what I got!

I would never enter a fitness show thinking I need to get down to a 4% body-fat which is too lean for fitness and better for bodybuilding but that is what the BC judges went for so I will have to remember that if I have to do them again. I was peaking for tomorrow anyway but still could have come in a tad leaner for the BC show. I sit at 6% now which was my goal.

Normally I do things a bit different but working with Mike Davies has changed everything so I find myself going with the flow and seeing what this does for me compared to my prep. I normally would have been on some natural diuretics for like a month pre show but Mike is about hardness in the muscle and feels that minimal diuretics are the way to go. I was supposed to do 3 gallons water per day for the past 12 weeks but I have a small stomach capacity and my tummy is very sensitive so I have only been able to get a gallon down more or less so dropping water was not an issue but the fact that I have nothing to really drop means less of the water depletion effect which means I may look smooth or fuller and harder, lets see.
I would have been leaner but maybe more lanky and small had I done those natural diuretics my way pre show but may have also placed better............so many factors.

I also never eat this much, I cannot even eat all the meals he has me on.....9 meals......lots of food and fish......I did however get up to 7 the past few weeks which has been amazing. Last year with the intestinal issues I had I was barely able to eat, and what I could eat was not beneficial toward my present fitness goals but what can you do? So I lost a year of growth and development but the diet for this comp has my health very happy. I only got a bit of guff when changing diets each month but otherwise my body loves this diet and my health is optimal on it - asthma, allergies and IBS all behave while on this diet.

I am happy with the healing my body experienced through this show prep. To have hunger and an appetite again after a year of not......and to be able to eat now, 7 meals is amazing. It took the 12 weeks though to slowly progress here.

The best thing is more about the support. I know what I am doing and know how to do all this myself and probably could have and done well as I have in the past, but to have someone on your side, who has interest in you doing well is huge for me and Mike although very busy and short on communication has been support.
We have not met and I have to keep reminding him of certain aspects of my limitations with diet etc, but between us it seems to be working well and with his help I think I can get some more size. I know I normally do not diet as hard nor eat as much as he has me. I did no water load and deplete, no carb load and deplete, and had things I normally cut close to show like can tuna, broccoli, fruit............so its been interesting. I also never did as much cardio and weights etc, sauna....all kinds of new things which was interesting for me.


Nationals is tomorrow, meeting soon, not sure how many girls are in my height class yet but may get a better idea at the meeting.

One of my clients daughters gave me a super cute good luck charm and I LOVE IT!!!
Here is a pic of me in hotel, the view of downtown Saskatoon from my Hilton hotel and a pic of the cutest good luck charm which she made herself!! I think I am going to wear it for the bikini round, Thanks Jorga, you rock!
Wish me luck everyone, lots of talented athletes here this weekend!!!
Linda

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Off to Nationals!


So I made 3rd place which of course its disappointing for me ESPECIALLY being the vet at the show with expectations on me but they went with a leaner gal for first and a more muscled gal for second, I was leaner than second so was hoping to take that spot but for that spot they went for a gal who was bigger than I and I fell into 3rd which is still qualification for Nationals.

I have always had a tough time to place first at the BC show but being I barely worked out last year and had crunched my training for this show in 12 weeks, dropping 20 lbs in the first 8 weeks I guess my body just could not come back enough to get the win - to suit the judges for what they wanted.

Congrats to the winner though, I know she worked very hard for 2 or more years now to get this and has changed her body over the past 2 years in leaps and came in with the leanness, muscle and veins they wanted. Her legs were the best I have ever seen and the muscle she put on is to die for!!

Unfortunately I did not peak for this show but will peak for Nationals. Will it be enough?
Hard to say, judging varies a bit from BC level to Canadian level in this line/federation and from year to year the Canadians seem to vary in the look they place first. Its a crap shoot so I am going for it and lets see how I do!

Nationals are here next year...............I have my eye on that NOW.

I am working with Mike Davies from Fitness Factory, he knows all the ins and outs about that level of comp, he is super familiar with the politics and has helped many girls go pro!
He helps run some of the pro shows and has the biggest client load of pro girls you have ever seen!! I have seen him do wonders with girls I competed against and watched them breeze by me, all having gone on to get pro.

We have a good formula between both our expertise's and have found a way to compliment each other toward my journey training to get this IFBB card. His ideas vary from mine which is good, doing my own stuff for 15 years my body needed a change in the formula.

I feel good about training a year toward next year and confident I can come in with an unstoppable package given a year to train consistently without being sick.........that was my downfall for this year, I was off so much last year sick and had trained less than half that year, maybe 3 months accumulated, on avg of working out, in total last year and you can see it in my body. Plus being an intestinal issue my nourishment was not optimal for contest prep, lean muscle etc. Essentially I think I looked the same more or less as 09 and I weigh the same.

I have never had a coach.......this is a good implementation for me.

Another factor which helped was the switch around at home, much more support this year, it was amazing how much more you can accomplish when you are NOT being sabotaged and fought at every turn. I mean all these years yes I won shows, did well, got pro cards but all with struggle, obstacles, stress, and discomfort making it hard to enjoy the journey or process.........this time was different.

With all these factors in play I am excited to look forward and stoked in anticipation of the new levels I can bring my body to with a bit more time..........if I did this in 12 weeks, imagine 52?

Now I am not resigned to any specific outcome for next week, just prepared for whatever the outcome.
Knowing I could look better does not make me too confident about taking a National level win although you never know with judging and what they are looking for so I am going to go and try it out for my 3rd go at Nationals since 2008.
In 09 they did go for girls with very similar bodies to mine and the leaner or bigger girls were not top 2 so I have to try even if I am not leaner or bigger!

Doing Nationals this year means I would want top 5 so that I can go back next year without qualification through BC again. If I skipped Nationals this year I could go next year, I have 2 years qualification to Nationals but if I go this year and don't make top 5.......back to BCs again next year to re qualify.

And that's the scoop!

Here is a rough vid of my routine, its not perfect, stage rust..........

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Whirlwind Week

What a week!.....its been last week of prep so eating and training and tanning and leaning.......tons to do but of course things I was trying to get done business wise and was ready to take care of for weeks now - NOW is when others are ready to deal with them which stretches me a bit thin this week with the additional media attention etc but hey that is business! It was actually so much stuff that is was almost like a mass joke or something.......anyway I am balancing, dealing and all things are going well and are positive so whatever......GO WITH FLOW.....

I have to send a big THANK YOU KISS to all my clients who have been so supportive, they are all like 'oh we can do that later, your competing, don't worry, no rush'. And all the supportive confidence they have in me is such a boost to my confidence and emotional state!
I HAVE THE BEST CLIENTS IN THE WORLD!!!!

Fanny Kiefer and Studio 4
I was honored to be asked to the Fanny show and was she ever nice, the set was so relaxed it was great. I felt right at home on camera sitting with her while being interviewed.
When all was done we continued to chat about her family and some background then we decided to arm wrestle.....she has some strength this lady!!!
I have a great fellow named Fredrick Fowler who is a wizard hair stylist, he sponsored me for my hair for this show and for my comp Sat, my curls will happen. What a nice person to have working on my hair, he was a pleasure to chat with! He was beside himself meeting Fanny!

More Media
I had an interview for a feature in the Vancouver Courier which they aptly entitled 'Body Of Work' so photos had to be scheduled and juggled into the week last minute, its all last minute! Click the link to view my feature.



The last neat thing I wanted to mention was that yesterday as we went to take the dogs out, I was walking and I tend to scout for clovers.......well I look down and there was .....not a 4 leaf but a 5 LEAF........FIVE LEAF clover....and then another, and another........holy smokes, I found over 9 FIVE LEAF clovers and a 4 and I had left a ton more which were there in this wonderfully 'GOOD KARMA' cluster. I don't recall ever seeing 5 leaf clovers......................I take this all as a great omen!!!!!! Saturday, regardless if the judges see things my way, I feel so successful!

Linda

Saturday, July 9, 2011

No Power??? Boot Camp at home then......




So I rearrange my schedule to make the one class per week of boot camp for today, I do it pre contest on occasion............and the power it out in the gym building.
Guess I am doing boot camp at home, bring out the music into the driveway, the mat, the bosu, barbell, dumbells...........lets go!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Join me today in my Arm workout

Here is a clip showing a few reps of the exercises I did today for my light arm pump. I began with 40 mins not intense, on my recumbent bike and will do another 40 mins of cardio at the gym on the elliptical later or 30 mins of intense bike at home.

Enjoy, workout out along with me if your up to the pump!! I suggest 4 sets of 10-15 for these exercises and you can superset some of the pairs if you like.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

What a Weekend!



Well I did not drink, party and all that like some of you would think of as a great weekend......

I saved a bird, like above a sparrow, poor thing had yarn and stuff caught in his foot which caught on a low tree........lucky for him or he may be dead now if he was where no one could reach or see him.

WE have bird feeders and I love birds so they come around and like I said he was lucky he was in a lower tree.....it was a neighbors actually so I went over and grabbed him.

I am used to holding birds since I had budgies as a child a lot........I had to break the branch, again lucky it was small and easy to snap cuz if I did not hold him he was going to rip his leg off trying to fly.......he was stuck upside down and fluttering which caught my eye.

I had to carefully cut the strands without cutting his toes, wings and lucky for me.........I should name this guy lucky, he did not fuss much. It was like he knew I was helping him.....it could have been female but a girl would not have gotten in that mess so I feel he was a boy.............anyway, once I cleared his feet of this messy stuff he either got caught on or stuff he was nesting with?.........I let him go, he went into my fig tree and was free. Not sure if he broke a toe but at least he is not crow or cat food now!

MAIL IS UP AND RUNNING IN CANADA
My suits are in, I can now fit them into the picture, dress rehearse today. If you don't come to watch the show then you have to wait until its all over and I post pics, then you can see the costume and bikini.

My tan is still not in, should be today! I am so proud of how I handled all the kinks, I just swept it off my shoulder......

Competing is all about how you handle the 'curves' thrown your way, cuz you know it never runs smooth, there is always stuff to blast through.
I have lost at shows where it all came together and won shows which just were hell to get to.......with injury and imperfection so I have learned that anything can happen with judging and not to sweat too much cuz in the end you could still win after injury, mistakes, malfunctions and still lose if you look the best, did the best and it all came together.

I am going to enjoy it, love my stuff (suits, routine, being fit, having a 6 pack, summer.....) and my process and whatever happens after that is out of my hands, I did the best I could at that time!
*This mentality has me in a great mood and ready to rock! And I love how my arms and abs look, and how my ass is half the size and how all that cellulite and jiggle is almost gone!

Dark of the Moon
On a fun note, I saw Transformers yesterday, Dark of the Moon...........I am a action movie junkie I love some of the actions that get bad ratings......like expendables.....teehee, I liked it and can't wait for the second but anyway I LOOOOOOVED TRANSFORMERS!!!!! It was a bit more violent than I expected but I loved it!!!

I have seen them all, I love giant alien robots!!! I love the transformations and sounds and the 3D thing was actually really good! I can't wait to see it on blu ray. Theres this ferrari called Mirage and a corvette called Sideswipe from the second movie he is back...has a chopped top - literally, too friggen cool!!!!!! EYE CANDY!!!!! See pics below!!!

I love cars! Its just a car lovers drool fest! BIIIIG fan of Camaro, had one.......mine was purple back in the late 80s early 90s........custom paint.

I love the 69 SS but of course the new ones being so HOT ROD I love them! YES I love Bumblebee! See his pic below, love his yellow orange tinge!!!!

I really like the movie, story, locations but...........cmon, a victoria secret model for the main female star???????????? yikes. I like her better with wings on prancing down a runway in heels and underwear...........she sucked and luckily she was only a third or less of this movie.

I much prefered Megan Fox, she was hot and loved her tude, too bad her and M.Bay had a scrap and could not get over it, she would have made the movie a bit more complete in my eyes. She had a mix in the storyline, she was not just 'the girl'.......I was not even sure what she did as her job in this movie.....it was strange.

The nascar type impala rocks, rolling around like a one man army......so cool.......see him a few pics down.

I never caught the name of the Impala, but Mirage is the red Ferrari just beside.
Sideswipe, Mirage and Bumblebee..........I could dress my driveway with these babies!!!!!!

There was also a few fights this weekend, one being UFC 132 and there was a strikeforce and bellator and a kickbox tourny too.............we ended up (me n da old man) going to the casino to watch the fight. Nice long weekend to get out, and you can have some fun gambling the bux you would have spent buying the fight, mind you I watch the fight........gamble after or just let the old man do some roulette or keno or whatever......I want to watch the fight! It was good but glad I did not buy it, not worth the money to buy it, rather have a bit of fun and gamble that 70 bucks instead. I did not gamble tho, the old man did 20 bucks but we left after that.

I look forward to GSP Diaz and there is tentative on GSP Silva.....catchweight maybe?

Got into some M&M peanuts but just like 10, which satiates any cravings and hunger while you sit and watch for a few hours........not like I can just go order food, its crap food at this casino and even if I was not dieting, the food is not food I would ever eat except for like a bag of chips or something that they DO NOT cook there- the cooked food is crap, worse than chips.....

I had about 10 popcorn kernels too, on Sunday but again was sitting for a few hours and its not like i am going to carry my fish in and eat it in there or my egg whites stinking up the theater......they would kick me out!~

Friday, July 1, 2011

Competition 2 Weeks AWAY!

Today was a grueller, an hour cardio, over an hour routine work to tweak out a few things and polish and then some weights. 3 hours later ready for a 1/2 apple and some nuts.
I still have a few wind sprints to do later on, but only 10 for .2 mi each which should only take 10-15 mins and won't be that bad, I like to run those about 10mph if I can and today its so crappy out so I don't want to do go outside to do it.....besides I love my evo smooth treadmill.

On The Pro Contest Front
Jodi Boam just got 3rd at the Toronto Pro which is great, she is the body I am working toward more or less.
It will be hard maintaining a smaller physique, my less masculine 'in my opinion' muscle than what you see in the pros- when they keep picking girls who are larger than what I want to be but seeing Jodi get third was promising!
Many of the other new pros were placed much lower and from what I can tell it seems to be related to muscle size. The thing is I prefer the muscle and look and softness that the new pros bring into the pro division so lets hope more of them saturate the pro shows and then we will see more girls like that in top placings. I think Jodi has a perfect fitness body, size, muscle, cut.....all of it but I would not want to be any bigger than what she is now so lets cheer her on to some first place wins as that would mean more girls with that look will be taking the top placings!
Here are a few snaps of routine practice.


So tomorrow I could have a cheat meal, I am debating if I should or not being its 2 weeks out. I am bang on ahead of the game and for my sensibility it would be good, for sanity right.......but its a scary thing to do at this point.
My readings are between 9-12 percent body fat as of last week, this week eeking toward the lower end although my readings are getting hard now, some days I get 4 notches on the accumeasure, other days just 1.....using umbilicus means I am grabbing water too, although not much water or fat to grab, abs are pretty tight right now. So I err on the higher end even if I am on the lower.....to be safe. I know i am not TOO ripped, nor am I too soft at this point I think I am perfect other than that last 2-3% on the back of the thigh, saddle and tricep but its tiny and picky.
I still await my costume, bikini and tan stuff so I hope that mails catches up by Monday, today is a holiday here so I wait! Again am confident Amy got the fit right but if not I will have to be creative, if the bottoms are too short I need to wear shorts under, and if the top is not sufficient, same there too since I have no time to alter. I am pretty sure the suit will be fine, she made is based on my last suit.
I hope the Canada post workers have not been prancing around in my suit with some heels on back in their mail sorting........