Show me the money...shot!

"Money shot!"...That's what my husband yells everytime I'm on stage and it's time to turn and hit my back pose.  It makes me smile every time I hear it because I know that he's my biggest fan...after all, he's helped me create my physique!  If you read my last blog then you know how my pro debut went a couple weeks ago. But, if you for some reason you didn't read it then I'll openly admit that I placed 8th out of 9 competitors at the Governor's Cup in Sacramento, Ca.  If I thought that competition was tough, then I'd better get ready for the 16 girl line up at the Grand Prix next weekend- including 2 past IFBB WPD contest winners.  

I recently read this quote by Josh Billings: "Success does not consist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one a second time."   How true is that statement...especially when it comes to physique competitions?  If you didn't place well, why would you go into the next contest looking the same?  There are so many times that I'll see competitors coming into shows looking identical to their past appearances, even though they placed at the bottom of their class!  That seems like such a waste of valuable competition prep time to me.  As competitors we go through months of resisting food temptations, late night or early morning cardio sessions when you'd rather be sleeping, and working out when you'd rather just watch a movie with your family.  To do this is tough enough...now imagine that you do all of this and then don't place well at your show because your diet or prep plan just didn't work that well for you?  It's frustrating to know you went into a show not looking your best and that can potentially be damaging to a competitor's spirit. But I decided after that morning show to not let it get me down.  I went back on stage that night and nailed my evening routine, bloated stomach and all.  In fact, I'm using that experience as motivation and fuel for my fiery spirit!  My mom always says that I'm like TNT- a lot of power in a tiny package!   

After placing so low in my first pro show, I couldn't wait to talk to the judges and get some honest feedback.  When you're leaning out for a show, your friends and family will all think you look great because they have no one to whom they can compare you.  But on the other hand, those judges have seen the best of the best- and that's what I strive to be.  Finding out exactly what I need to improve upon and then following that advice are the key components to me moving up in the ranks of this new division.   

So after talking to several of the judges I took their advice and ran with it!  I've been hitting that cardio hardcore (sometimes even twice a day) and my dieting has been on point so that when I present this new and hopefully improved package on stage next week I will know that I've truely done everything that I could in such a short period of time between shows.  Now, they did tell me that I could put on some muscle since I'm the smallest competitor in the division (100.6 lbs to be exact...and I'll probably be down to about 97 lbs by the end of next week) but me and my trainer/husband know that there's really no way for me to make any huge gains while dieting.  So, instead, I'm hoping to just look bigger by bringing in a tighter package.  I guess we'll see what they think!