WOW WOW WOW……What an experience!
I have been so blessed with an amazing support system, not everyone may agree with what I do or understand why I want to train so hard but they were supportive regardless. People like that are hard to find and not everyone is that lucky. People if there is one thing I can tell you it is to surround yourself with people who support. They may not want the same goals as you or get it, but they will support regardless. Everyone else will wither come around or you will learn that you may not have needed them in your life anyways! I have noticed that they usually come around and you inspire, I haven't found anyone who I have had to ship outta my life yet!
I have already told a bit of my story and background in my 1st NPC blog, My NPC Backstory. So if you haven't read that yet, its a short read so please do. It goes into detail on my 1st contest prep, finding out we were pregnant, stopping contest prep, my husbands 1st show and starting prep again post baby and C-Section.
I picked a fall show hoping to be ready, you would think 5.5 months would be enough time to prep. To be honest it all depends on you body before, your training style and you "diet" prep. Im grateful that I'm a healthy eater regardless, and a gym rat too, because it help me be able to accomplish so much in such a short time in my opinion. Its important if you want a trainer to find one who will work your body the smart way and not ruin your body trying to get you to your goals just because you want to do a certain show. If your not going to be ready they need to tell you straight up and you should choose a new show, starving yourself, depriving yourself of water and doing endless hrs of cardio are not the way to get you there in a short time. Take the time, build your body, knowledge, and change those bad habits. That is the smart way to get you to where you want to be. Never put your body at risk! Now that I got my little rant over here has been my overall experience, prepping, the show and my honest opinion of the whole process.
When I decided to do the fall show I was so glad there was one back home to have friends and family there to support. I got my contest prep mid June from an amazing team, Tim & Rebecca Staggs / Staggs Fitness. Once I got that prep it was game on! Starting this prep mid summer, moving across country, new baby, 2 month vacation and hotel living I knew would be challenging but totally doable, after all if you want something bad enough you will find a way to make it happen! Having a new baby I prepped food way in advance for the week so I would have time to quick grab it as I needed it so there was time for baby, knowing we were going to be without dishes for about a week because of the movers again lots of prep. When we got home everyone was BBQing, drinking, boating, snacking….blah blah blah, yes I missed out on every BBQ, every glass of wine, etc but it was all worth every second. Then we got to kentucky and we lived in a hotel for 2 weeks, I made everything in a microwave and ate a lot of canned chicken, next onto our home still without our kitchen things…more canned chicken and making my food in a small pot I had bought. Finally we get our things and its back to weekly prep as normal. Its not impossible, but you do have to be committed to it! Im so grateful that I have a gym to go to on post as well. Having access to gym on the base has been helpful. While we were home tho for that few month vacation I got a membership at a 24hr gym so i could continue training. Now back on the base again I hit up the gyms here. In the beginning I started off with 4 days a week weight training and 2 days a week plyo, NO CARDIO…..it was amazing. I used my food for fuel and let it work for me! I did that for a few months, Lost around 30 lbs or so before I even added cardio into my workouts. When I did it was 4 days a week with HIIT training, that takes all of 20 mins of your day so its not time consuming! Towards the end I picked up my cardio to just a quick 7 sessions a week at 15 - 20 min a day along with my lifting and plyo. I never had to drastically cut calories or water, intact i ate around 1500+ most days and 1900 on others. So many people take out carbs or drastically cut them as well, I however enjoyed tons of them! Remember smart training to fuel your body not to ruin it! Everyday I ate 6 meals, trained in the gym and hung out with my family. It becomes a lifestyle after a while and you get used to the hectic schedule. Some days are better then others, some days are easier but in the end its was all worth the trip!
Each day, week, month I could feel changes in my body. Each day, week, month I grew stronger. Not only physically but mentally. Having the mindset of no cheats, discipline and dedication every single day strengthens your mind! I went from about 180lbs Post baby to 128lbs the week of the competition. That doesn't happen with cheats and skimping out at the gym! It really is amazing the strength you going as a person going through training for something like this when you have the right mindset. My mindset going into this competition was Im going to see how much discipline I can have, see how strong I can grow, do I even like to compete, do I have what it takes to do this, how will it effect my family, I enjoy lifting so I know ill like the training and Im doing this because its fun for me. NOT because I think I'm number one or because I think I'm better looking then other girls. Some people get lots in the beauty of this hobby and lose site of why they started.
The week leading up to the competition was AMAZING! Contrary to what people do or think during peak week I had a great experience! Tons of CARBS and WATER! I lightened my weights a it and relaxed on my cardio and just enjoyed the experience! Again people if you have a coach PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE choose them wisely. You want someone there for your best health interests and goals, as I keep saying Staggs Fitness is amazing and will keep your best interest in mind!
Here are my thoughts on that whole day and what I did. First off I drove 9 hrs one way (the day before) to get to this competition and 9 hrs (about 8 hrs after the show) back home. Up and at um early for hair and makeup. I chose to do my own hair and make up the day of the show ( being a hairdresser, it came easy to me ). If you know you can't do it or want a professional please book someone to help you as you are judged on that along with your body. Enjoyed my breakfast and just relaxed for a bit with my in laws and lil man. Ate again. Got to the venue around 9:30AM and got all settled into the women's changing room. It was so nice to have hair and makeup all done before I got there because while everyone else was trying to look perfect, makings a mess, trying to get into their tanning apt, etc I was all ready and relaxing just waiting to get my final spray and put on my suit. I got to people watch, check out my competition, talk to my family and amazing coach Becca. Eat, eat, eat some more, drink, drink, drink water too. Then all tanned up, suit on and glazed up……SHOW TIME!!! Walked on stage for the 1st competition of my life and felt amazing! No nerves, no jitters, I wasn't scared, I was ready! I had planned for so long that I knew I had to go own what I had worked so hard for and nothing was going to stop me! I entered to categories so i got to be on stage many times. Each time felt a little better then the 1st. After pre judging eat, eat, eat some more….more water and sit and wait for finals! I got to grace the stage 2 more times and it was done. Almost 6 months of prep for about maybe 2 min total on stage, an 8th place finish and about 8 hrs of sitting around doing nothing….just waiting. It was worth every second! I realized I loved it! I want to do another one! I want to train hard this winter and come back and take a trophy, but I don't want to do it just to win and get that trophy, I want to do it because I know I can come back with a stronger look, improve my mind, body and show the judges what it takes to get that top finish! I want to take a trophy home not because I know this judge, or because I'm friends with that person of the show, or my coach is a judge in the show….believe me it happens….I'm going to come back and take it because I trained hard enough to WOW them regardless of who I am, who they are or who is in the show. This may sound like I'm bitter or bashing what happened this past weekend and I'm not at all, I'm just bringing to light what can and does happen. Im glad I went in with a mindset of knowing why I wanted to compete so I didn't have un realistic expectations and false hope of what if I don't win, because I didn't care. All I cared about is going in owning what I had, learning and coming back strong the next time. Win or no win I know how far I came, how hard I worked, how my body looked compared to others and I felt great about it! After the show ended I enjoyed a glass of wine, some pretzels and cheese and a tasty cold sandwich. I didn't pig out of a bunch of BS and binge. The next morning I got to enjoy coffee with my in laws and some oats and peanut butter. The rest of the day I ate like normal. I had packed my food for the drive home so I knew I would be eating healthy on the road ( I did get a venti soy no while cinnamon dolce latte tho! ). I didn't do all that hard work just to go back to the way I was before! This is a live I chose for me and I'm grateful to have a husband who chooses to enjoy it as well for him!
If you want to compete and would like my honest opinion please feel free to message me or leave comments with any questions you may have, I'd love to answer them!
From beginning to end this has been a overall wonderful experience! Im so glad I decided to compete, Im training right now (less then a week later) for the spring, working on my lower half and gluteus. My upper body came in strong and looked great! My lower half was softer and not as defined and that is what lead me to my 8th place finish out of 14. Here are two short videos of my posing, Video 1 , Video 2 so you can see what I looked like on stage. Regardless of how I placed, how the judging went, what the other girls looked like, my opinion of where I think I should have been compared to the other girls ( because lets face it, we are all judging and looking at everyone there ) I need to say congrats to each and everyone of them. Getting on stage more then half naked and having people judge you on your beauty, tan, hair, makeup, over all look and most of all YOUR BODY as a female is extremely hard and you have to be one confident person to do that.
Here are pictures from beginning to end of my competition prep, and just because this competition is over doesn't mean I get to pig out, it means I get to train again for another and enjoy treats here and there like normal. I live a clean and healthy life, not just to be in competition.
I have been so blessed with an amazing support system, not everyone may agree with what I do or understand why I want to train so hard but they were supportive regardless. People like that are hard to find and not everyone is that lucky. People if there is one thing I can tell you it is to surround yourself with people who support. They may not want the same goals as you or get it, but they will support regardless. Everyone else will wither come around or you will learn that you may not have needed them in your life anyways! I have noticed that they usually come around and you inspire, I haven't found anyone who I have had to ship outta my life yet!
I have already told a bit of my story and background in my 1st NPC blog, My NPC Backstory. So if you haven't read that yet, its a short read so please do. It goes into detail on my 1st contest prep, finding out we were pregnant, stopping contest prep, my husbands 1st show and starting prep again post baby and C-Section.
I picked a fall show hoping to be ready, you would think 5.5 months would be enough time to prep. To be honest it all depends on you body before, your training style and you "diet" prep. Im grateful that I'm a healthy eater regardless, and a gym rat too, because it help me be able to accomplish so much in such a short time in my opinion. Its important if you want a trainer to find one who will work your body the smart way and not ruin your body trying to get you to your goals just because you want to do a certain show. If your not going to be ready they need to tell you straight up and you should choose a new show, starving yourself, depriving yourself of water and doing endless hrs of cardio are not the way to get you there in a short time. Take the time, build your body, knowledge, and change those bad habits. That is the smart way to get you to where you want to be. Never put your body at risk! Now that I got my little rant over here has been my overall experience, prepping, the show and my honest opinion of the whole process.
When I decided to do the fall show I was so glad there was one back home to have friends and family there to support. I got my contest prep mid June from an amazing team, Tim & Rebecca Staggs / Staggs Fitness. Once I got that prep it was game on! Starting this prep mid summer, moving across country, new baby, 2 month vacation and hotel living I knew would be challenging but totally doable, after all if you want something bad enough you will find a way to make it happen! Having a new baby I prepped food way in advance for the week so I would have time to quick grab it as I needed it so there was time for baby, knowing we were going to be without dishes for about a week because of the movers again lots of prep. When we got home everyone was BBQing, drinking, boating, snacking….blah blah blah, yes I missed out on every BBQ, every glass of wine, etc but it was all worth every second. Then we got to kentucky and we lived in a hotel for 2 weeks, I made everything in a microwave and ate a lot of canned chicken, next onto our home still without our kitchen things…more canned chicken and making my food in a small pot I had bought. Finally we get our things and its back to weekly prep as normal. Its not impossible, but you do have to be committed to it! Im so grateful that I have a gym to go to on post as well. Having access to gym on the base has been helpful. While we were home tho for that few month vacation I got a membership at a 24hr gym so i could continue training. Now back on the base again I hit up the gyms here. In the beginning I started off with 4 days a week weight training and 2 days a week plyo, NO CARDIO…..it was amazing. I used my food for fuel and let it work for me! I did that for a few months, Lost around 30 lbs or so before I even added cardio into my workouts. When I did it was 4 days a week with HIIT training, that takes all of 20 mins of your day so its not time consuming! Towards the end I picked up my cardio to just a quick 7 sessions a week at 15 - 20 min a day along with my lifting and plyo. I never had to drastically cut calories or water, intact i ate around 1500+ most days and 1900 on others. So many people take out carbs or drastically cut them as well, I however enjoyed tons of them! Remember smart training to fuel your body not to ruin it! Everyday I ate 6 meals, trained in the gym and hung out with my family. It becomes a lifestyle after a while and you get used to the hectic schedule. Some days are better then others, some days are easier but in the end its was all worth the trip!
Each day, week, month I could feel changes in my body. Each day, week, month I grew stronger. Not only physically but mentally. Having the mindset of no cheats, discipline and dedication every single day strengthens your mind! I went from about 180lbs Post baby to 128lbs the week of the competition. That doesn't happen with cheats and skimping out at the gym! It really is amazing the strength you going as a person going through training for something like this when you have the right mindset. My mindset going into this competition was Im going to see how much discipline I can have, see how strong I can grow, do I even like to compete, do I have what it takes to do this, how will it effect my family, I enjoy lifting so I know ill like the training and Im doing this because its fun for me. NOT because I think I'm number one or because I think I'm better looking then other girls. Some people get lots in the beauty of this hobby and lose site of why they started.
The week leading up to the competition was AMAZING! Contrary to what people do or think during peak week I had a great experience! Tons of CARBS and WATER! I lightened my weights a it and relaxed on my cardio and just enjoyed the experience! Again people if you have a coach PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE choose them wisely. You want someone there for your best health interests and goals, as I keep saying Staggs Fitness is amazing and will keep your best interest in mind!
Here are my thoughts on that whole day and what I did. First off I drove 9 hrs one way (the day before) to get to this competition and 9 hrs (about 8 hrs after the show) back home. Up and at um early for hair and makeup. I chose to do my own hair and make up the day of the show ( being a hairdresser, it came easy to me ). If you know you can't do it or want a professional please book someone to help you as you are judged on that along with your body. Enjoyed my breakfast and just relaxed for a bit with my in laws and lil man. Ate again. Got to the venue around 9:30AM and got all settled into the women's changing room. It was so nice to have hair and makeup all done before I got there because while everyone else was trying to look perfect, makings a mess, trying to get into their tanning apt, etc I was all ready and relaxing just waiting to get my final spray and put on my suit. I got to people watch, check out my competition, talk to my family and amazing coach Becca. Eat, eat, eat some more, drink, drink, drink water too. Then all tanned up, suit on and glazed up……SHOW TIME!!! Walked on stage for the 1st competition of my life and felt amazing! No nerves, no jitters, I wasn't scared, I was ready! I had planned for so long that I knew I had to go own what I had worked so hard for and nothing was going to stop me! I entered to categories so i got to be on stage many times. Each time felt a little better then the 1st. After pre judging eat, eat, eat some more….more water and sit and wait for finals! I got to grace the stage 2 more times and it was done. Almost 6 months of prep for about maybe 2 min total on stage, an 8th place finish and about 8 hrs of sitting around doing nothing….just waiting. It was worth every second! I realized I loved it! I want to do another one! I want to train hard this winter and come back and take a trophy, but I don't want to do it just to win and get that trophy, I want to do it because I know I can come back with a stronger look, improve my mind, body and show the judges what it takes to get that top finish! I want to take a trophy home not because I know this judge, or because I'm friends with that person of the show, or my coach is a judge in the show….believe me it happens….I'm going to come back and take it because I trained hard enough to WOW them regardless of who I am, who they are or who is in the show. This may sound like I'm bitter or bashing what happened this past weekend and I'm not at all, I'm just bringing to light what can and does happen. Im glad I went in with a mindset of knowing why I wanted to compete so I didn't have un realistic expectations and false hope of what if I don't win, because I didn't care. All I cared about is going in owning what I had, learning and coming back strong the next time. Win or no win I know how far I came, how hard I worked, how my body looked compared to others and I felt great about it! After the show ended I enjoyed a glass of wine, some pretzels and cheese and a tasty cold sandwich. I didn't pig out of a bunch of BS and binge. The next morning I got to enjoy coffee with my in laws and some oats and peanut butter. The rest of the day I ate like normal. I had packed my food for the drive home so I knew I would be eating healthy on the road ( I did get a venti soy no while cinnamon dolce latte tho! ). I didn't do all that hard work just to go back to the way I was before! This is a live I chose for me and I'm grateful to have a husband who chooses to enjoy it as well for him!
If you want to compete and would like my honest opinion please feel free to message me or leave comments with any questions you may have, I'd love to answer them!
From beginning to end this has been a overall wonderful experience! Im so glad I decided to compete, Im training right now (less then a week later) for the spring, working on my lower half and gluteus. My upper body came in strong and looked great! My lower half was softer and not as defined and that is what lead me to my 8th place finish out of 14. Here are two short videos of my posing, Video 1 , Video 2 so you can see what I looked like on stage. Regardless of how I placed, how the judging went, what the other girls looked like, my opinion of where I think I should have been compared to the other girls ( because lets face it, we are all judging and looking at everyone there ) I need to say congrats to each and everyone of them. Getting on stage more then half naked and having people judge you on your beauty, tan, hair, makeup, over all look and most of all YOUR BODY as a female is extremely hard and you have to be one confident person to do that.
Here are pictures from beginning to end of my competition prep, and just because this competition is over doesn't mean I get to pig out, it means I get to train again for another and enjoy treats here and there like normal. I live a clean and healthy life, not just to be in competition.
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| After Tesla was born when I first started training again. |
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| Getting in our 5K as a family. |
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| Working on my front squats. I went from 60lb BB to 135lb BB in my 5 months of training. |
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| About the middle of my training. A huge difference! |
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| Working on that flat booty! |
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| Starting to see some arm definition. |
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| Back progress, June '13 |
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| Side progress, June '13 |
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| Front progress, June '13 |
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| More definition, Aug '13 |
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| Plyo = Death! |
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| Box jump oopsie! |
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| Working on that Bicep! |
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| Starting to lean out, Sept '13 |
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| Sept '13 |
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| Early Oct '13 |
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| Posing practice |
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| Posing Oct '13 |
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| Gotta get that cardio! |
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| Selfie! |
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| My Suit 1st fitting. |
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| Not a single AB crunch |
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| What compound exercises and old school lifting can do for your core, not one AB exercise! Im not saying they are not important, just want to show you what a proper diet and hard work can do. |
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| Ready and waiting for me to wear it! |
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| Fun with workout clothes! |
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| Back progress, Oct '13 |
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| Side progress, oct '13 |
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| Front progress, Oct '13 |
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| Competition day! |
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| Hair and makeup! |
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| Finished suit and smiles! |
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| Ready for the stage! |
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| Them obliques! |
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| My Competition:) Lovely ladies! |
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| Reppin Staggs Fitness! |
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| Finally some naughty food! |
A few stage pics!
