The best way to get in touch is probably via Twitter – I am @thefitwriter. My mobile number is not hard to find, either —>

Hope to see you there!

(Why not read my round-up of
my 2012 BodyPower visit whilst you’re here!)

I’ll be at BodyPower expo 2013 is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

They specialise in lactose-free (and vegan-friendly) protein powders. There are two main product lines – “Viva Sativa” hemp protein and “Viva High Pro” plant protein blend (hemp, pea, rice and soy). At the moment, there are four flavours across two product ranges: toffee, chocolate caramel, strawberry and banana, and kiwi and lime. They are all non-GM, organic and naturally sweetened with Stevia (a calorie-free sweetener derived from a plant – rather than from chemicals) and use raw plant protein, minimally treated and processed. Take a look at the ingredients lists – teeny!

I tried them all: straight-up as shakes, with my PWO banana (mashed up and frozen, like icecream) and stirred into my porridge oats. All were great! Because they’re plant proteins, the powders are rich and creamy and so they make quite thick shakes and go particularly well with oats. I loved all the flavours except for the kiwi and lime – I hoped to love this one as it’s unusual and not a flavour combo I’ve come across in any other protein powder, but I’m afraid I didn’t like it. This might be because, at the moment, this is the only one in the range which contains artificial flavour (the Sativa Shakes folk tell me they are working to find a natural replacement). I thought all the others were absolutely delicious, though.

The strawberry and banana, chocolate caramel “Viva High Pro” plant protein blend is a mix of pea protein isolate, soy protein isolate, hemp protein, brown rice protein, flavouring, cocoa powder (in the choc version) Stevia and xantham gum (a thickener) with citric acid.

Per 30g serving you get around 105 kcals, 22.3g protein, 1.3g carbs (0.4g sugar) and 1.2g fats (including a good mix of omegas). The amino breakdown is different to whey, as you’d expect with this being a plant protein – check out the full nutritional stats on the Sativa website. The stats are very slightly different across the flavours.

The “Viva Sativa” toffee flavoured hemp protein is simply raw hemp protein, natural flavouring, xantham gum and Stevia. The kiwi and lime version of the hemp protein does – at the moment – contain artificial flavour. Per 30g serving: 130 kcals, 13.7g protein, 4.5g carbs (1.6g sugars) and 3.7g fats. Again, you get a good dose of omegas and fibre, and of course no lactose – these being dairy-free protein powders.

They’re ideal for vegans but you don’t need to be a vegan to try them! I really did like these, particularly the toffee and chocolate caramel flavours, I think because the taste goes really well with the rich, earthy, nutty flavour of plant proteins.

I’m not indulging in any protein-baking at this stage in my prep diet but I think that I’ll try these in a cake or muffins at some point. I reckon they’d be a great ingredient with the rich flavour and the thick nature of the powders.

If you’ve been looking for a non-dairy, vegan-friendly, lactose-free protein powder, or if you just fancy trying a new protein product, I recommend giving Sativa Shakes a go. If you’re not sure which to try – here’s a handy guide!

Keep an eye on Sativa Shakes on Facebook as they often run offers and discounts. There are some special offers here, too.

Thank you, Sativa Shakes people! Find them online here Sativa Shakes website or on Facebook Sativa Shakes on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Now I’ve made myself hungry so excuse me – time for dinner!

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Sativa Shakes non-dairy protein powder is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

I suppose it’s a good mistake to make – better that way round than thinking I’ve got longer than I really do have.

So – 11 weeks out tomorrow (unless deemed not ready in which case I’ll do a later qualifier).

I’m still training really heavy and low (for me) reps – for example, today’s session:

Conventional deadlifts: 100kgs (8 reps), 110kgs (6 reps, 3 reps), 100kgs (6 reps)
Sumo deadlifts: 80kgs (10 reps), 90kgs (10 reps, 10 reps)
Glute bridges: 60kgs (3×10 reps)
Pulls ups
Standing calf raises

Heavy, compound lifts will remain for another three weeks or so, and then I think things will change to higher reps, more volume and probably more supersets etc to bring in a bit of a cardio/conditioning element (since I don’t do any actual cardio, other than twice-daily powerwalks with the dog).

In terms of diet, I’m carb-cycling, with my high carb days seeing me eat more carbs than I did at any stage last year (including – gasp – a bowl of porridge just before bed, yep carbs well after 6pm ) There’s loads of variety, from oily fish to red meat, whole eggs, white potatoes, nuts, poulty and game. About the only thing missing from the diet which might surprise you is dairy. We took it out a few weeks ago and I don’t miss it.

I’ve got a good weekend of bodybuilding-related events planned: I trained this morning with my friend Sophie, who’s a powerlifter (and fellow journalist), I’m seeing a lot of fellow competitors tomorrow, and then on Bank Holiday Monday I’m seeing a load of local bodybuilder girlfriends for a bit of posing and routine practice (and probably a good chat over a coffee, too).

Tomorrow is BNBF posing club/meet at Body Bionic gym in Thatcham – these are held every month (and there are others held across the country too) – a great resource for posing practice, feedback, support, Q&As and advice from other competitors and BNBF Pro bodybuilders. It’s brilliant to catch up with everyone every four weeks and so useful to be able to get regular responses from people who only see me at “club” – four weeks is a long time in prep, so I’m always hopefully that people will have positive and constructive feedback about my progress between meets.

Bodybuilding prep update (11 weeks out?) is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

DEADLIFT PB all up in your face!

I hardly ever post about training and that’s largely because I don’t have performance-goals at the moment. I train for physique reasons and with a long-term end goal in mind: the bodybuilding stage.

I’ve never done 1 rep max attempts on any lift and really only know what I lift for 6-8 reps at a minimum. That’s just how I train.

Yesterday, I was down at The Training Lab (thefitdog’s favourite gym) to cover a workshop run by Andy McKenzie of IronMac Fitness and Andy Bolton of… well, of the first bloke to deadlift over 1000lbs (does he need a label?)

Andy Mc and Andy B have joined forces to deliver a series of workshops called “Brutal Strength and Explosive Power” (maaaaaan). Muscle & Fitness sent me along so I could write an article about it for the magazine.

After a lot of movement preparation to mobilise the shoulders, activate the hips and glutes and improve speed and movement across the entire body, we had a chance to be coached through the squat, deadlift and bench. When you have the opportunity to be coached and spotted by Andy Bolton on deadlift, you take it, am I right?

We warmed up with 60kgs, 70kgs, 80kgs and 90kgs and then Andy Mc and Andy B looked at me and told me to stop messing around.

They slapped a few extra bits of iron on the bar. I avoided the temptation to look at how much was on there and chalked my hands up, took hold of the bar and pulled.

It moved to about knee height and then I felt some peculiar sensations emanating somewhere deep within my soul (or bowels perhaps) and thought “nope”. End of a full-on day, plenty of reps already done, I trained deadlifts two days ago, today is a low carb day. Leave it.

The rest of the group got on with their deadlifts. Some PBs were smashed. I eyed up my bar. Andy Mc looked at me quizzically.

“I want to get it,” I said. So, I chalked up my hands, stepped up, grabbed the bar and pulled.

It went up.

140kgs.
(308lbs for my American friends)

HAVE IT.

No photos, sorry, but plenty of witnesses.

The online info for the workshop series does say “Who knows, it could be PB time”. Thanks, Andy Mc and Andy B!

I’ll leave you with a photo of thefitdog’s latest addition to his paw-tograph book (groan)

So, I deadlifted 140kgs. No biggie. is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

What better on a warm day than icecream? Or sorbet? Or a tall glass of slushie? Yeah… except that I’m dieting for a bodybuilding show.

Hang on… there’s a way to get your aminos in and enjoy a summertime slushie treat, y’know. Just make a BCAA (or iBCAA in this case) ice slush drink! It’s easy as 1-2-3.

Gather your ice, your water, your BCAAs. I used these iBCAAs from myprotein, they’re a new product and in “berry blast” flavour which is a sweet/sharp berry combo taste.

Put it all in your blender.

Blend it up.

Pop it in a glass, grab a straw, take a break in the sunshine and enjoy.

Return to work feeling refreshed and full of amino acids. (And ice)

The myprotein iBCAAs are basically instantised BCAAs (branch chain amino acids) which you mix in with water – easier and tastier than taking a load of tablets/capsules and very refreshing in this weather. If you’re watching your sweetener intake, you should know that it’s sweetened with Sucralose.

You can have them during the day, intra-training or they’d be a great choice if you’re someone who does fasted training/fasted cardio, too. On days when I take the dog out for a powerwalk before breakfast, I make sure I have two things: BCAAs, and a black coffee.

This product gives a 2:1:1 ratio of isoleucine, valine and leucine (the current mega-star of the amino world) – amino acids which can’t be synthesised by our bodies.

How do you beat the heat?

BCAA slushie (iBCAA from myprotein) is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Hey gang!

So today I am writing a blog on the topic of WALKING. Nic did offer to do it but I said leave it to me. If you want to know about walking, ask a dog!

Did you know that May is National Walking Month? Well, every month is walking month as far as I’m concerned, but next month is going to even better.

I’m going tell you all about it so you can join me (in a virtual sense, at least) and we can all walk together.

First up, my manifesto for walking. I have spent a lot of time on this so please don’t laugh. I already have a touch of alopecia and I don’t think my nerves could take it.

Here are some stats for you sporty folk. Did you know that 40% of adult humans who go to the gym less than two miles away actually drive there? And 13% of the ones who have to go less than one mile drive. You humans are so silly! Walk!

The charity Living Streets asked me to ask you to walk more during May – National Walking Month. There’s Walk to Work Week (13-17 May) and Walk to School Week (20-24 May) so don’t say they haven’t tried to tempt you!

Living Streets is the national charity that stands up for pedestrians (mostly humans, but they care about dogs too). They’ve been the national voice for pedestrians for 80 years now and it’s them we have to thank for the introduction of the driving test, pedestrian crossings and 30mph speed limits.

Check out the National Walking month website and get signed up before May. I’ve had a look (with Nic’s help) and it’s really good, there are virtual challenges, log books and route planners, it’s really fun to use and there’s so much on there. Registration (which is free) is open now. You can also like Living Streets on Facebook and follow Living Streets on Twitter.

TheFitDog’s manifesto for walking (for National Walking Month) is a post from the Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

I even got a badge and everything, look! ;D

Head over to Julia’s own wonderful blog to read about her other favourites – and, of course, to have a nosy around her blog content.

Favourite female fitness blogger is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

This is a blog post which took me a year and a day to write.

You see, a year ago yesterday was the day that life (as I knew it) fell apart suddenly around my ears. I’m not going to go into details (there’s no need – and those in real life who need to know certainly do know) but it’s no secret that I have recently gone through a divorce, house sale, relocation.

The reason for this blog post? Very simple – although it seems very silly to me now, with hindsight.

I feel the need to blog a response to the question “can I prep for a bodybuilding comp whilst I’m getting divorced?”

I know… it sounds so silly, but I can’t tell you how many times last year I googled that exact same question, or variations on a theme, hoping to find some disembodied answer which would placate me, direct me or fast-forward me somehow through what was a truly awful time.

It wasn’t that I wanted someone to tell me for sure either way. I just wanted to know. Was it worth it? Prep is hard. Divorce is harder. Put the two together and, well, I can’t actually remember much of last year.

So what was I looking for when I googled over and over about the topics of divorce, separation, upheaval, trauma and bodybuilding competition prep? I was searching for someone, anyone, who’d been through this and would share their experiences. I didn’t want someone to tell me “yes you definitely can and you will place second and your posing music CD will play just fine and you will remember to pack your bikini top and bottom.” Nor did I want someone to say “no, don’t do it, it’s too much and you will implode.” I just wanted to read some shared experiences because, frankly, I felt so lost.

I didn’t find a single thing. Not a blog post, not a forum thread, not an article.

To illustrate just how bad I was feeling, here’s an excerpt from an email conversation with Kat Millar, my 2011 prep coach who valiantly stepped back into the role when I was also suddenly left without coaching support.

Me

Up and down, up and down… keep thinking “I’ve got this” then something knocks me for 6 and I react badly even though I so desperately dont’ want to. Can I really do this? Should I be sensible and accept that this year might not be my year? Put it off for a year and compete in 2013? Do you really think I can do this Kat?

Kat

…yes I absolutely, totally without a shadow of a doubt know (not just think, know) that you can do this. I don’t doubt you at all, whatsoever! You are the same person who stood on stage last year… that same winning spirit is still in you, whether you feel connected to it right now or not, it’s there – it’s always there to draw upon, and no one can take that away from you.

My only question to you would be – do you want to? Do you really really want this? Because if you don’t, you won’t fight for it and nothing me or anyone else says will help.

Whatever you decide, your worth doesn’t come from what you do or whether you compete – and if you do, where you place.

As your coach and friend, I want what’s best for you… But from a physiological perspective, you do have enough time and if you believe you can do this and want to, you can.

Could you take a day or two just to forget about it and see what your subconscious decides? Would writing all the reasons for and against be helpful? What would you regret/not regret?

The bit in bold was such a relief to read. Sounds crazy now, I know! But that right there was what I was so desperate to hear. That is was physiologically possible to prep during a time of crisis. I did not know.

So, here’s my blog post, written in the genuine hope that one person, one day, at some point, will find it when they are feeling as desperate as I was.

Can you prep for a bodybuilding comp when your world has collapsed around you? I’m sure you can. I did, and I’m nothing special.

Am I glad I did?

Yes. But it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and there were days when I thought about jacking it all in. After my atrocious performance at the UKDFBA, I thought very hard about carrying on for one more show, and asked a lot of people’s advice. Some of them kindly and constructively said no, stop now, start off-season and move on. I do wonder if that might have been a good idea. But, I didn’t, and no harm done. However, I can remember the moment that my place (… last place!) was called at the NPA Finals (my final show of last year). The thought process immediately went “OK, right, fine, next up is moving home.” I was ready to move on, get my bodybuilding season over and done with because I finally felt a furious need to physically move away and get on with my new life.

I can’t tell you if you should compete or carry on with your prep, only you know that. But can you? Yes. You can, and maybe it will give you something to hang on to, something for you when everything else seems to be shitting on you from great heights and draining your emotions and energy.

I remember coming to the conclusion that, yes, prep and competing was a stress, but it was a stress that I wanted. It was all the other stresses that I didn’t want. So, by deciding not to compete, I’d have got rid of something I actually wanted to do, but I’d still be left with all the other crap.

Things which might help

If you do decide to carry on, these things may help. They certainly helped me:

- good friends. Goes without saying but honestly you are about to find out the power of true friendship. You are also about to discover who your true friends are. It may surprise you, in good and bad ways. The people you turn to first may end up screwing you over (happened to me) and the people you thought had forgotten about you completely may end up a year later being back in your life in big ways (also happened to me).

- an inner circle. It’s always a good idea to only listen to one or two trusted advisor-types during prep but when you’re also trying to deal with the exhausting noise of divorce and house sale etc, you’ll probably only have energy (and trust!) left to listen to one or two

- training partners. Again, often helpful but a wonderful support at this point in time. You need to find the right person but, if you do, they will play the part of mentor, coach, accountability partner, sounding board and much more

- getting in to a routine. If you suddenly find yourself alone, prep can go very screwy. Meal times? What are those? Bed time? Oh I suppose that was a few hours ago. Get up? I suppose I should, I mean it is 10:45am. You get the picture. Do try to carry on as normal, even if inside you feel far from normal.

- a dog (if you like dogs, that is). If you’ve got one, fight to keep it. If you haven’t got one, get one to celebrate your new life. Your pup will get you outside on days when you don’t want to go anywhere, will make you smile and will remind you daily about trust, love and the power of living in the moment.

Pros and cons…
…of competing and prepping last year at the same time as going to Relate sessions, getting divorced, trying (endlessly) to sell a house, planning a relocation and dozens of other frustrating and upsetting things

Pros
- Sense of pride at a time when my confidence was on the floor
- A positive, healthy distraction/set of habits at a time when I honestly could happily have ended (or started) some days with gin
- Maintaining contact with a very tight-knit and supportive community online and offline
- Routine, habits, structure
- A goal which was nothing to do with anyone else, just me
- A high point or “good thing” in an otherwise shit year

Cons
- Often very stressful
- Physically and emotionally exhausting
- Pressure (on myself) that I often didn’t need
- Kept me in one place long after I wanted to move away
- Change in lifestyle (single person with dog to walk/house to run) meant sudden change in energy output
- Change in lifestyle meant sudden change in routine, meaning I could (and did) very easily eat/sleep badly

Lessons learned
- let yourself feel whatever you need to feel. There’s nothing wrong with being sad, angry, mildly hysterical or anything else you care to feel. I can tell you right now that over the past year I have cried in Tesco supermarket, in the Post Office, and walking down the High Street on a Saturday afternoon. Oh well. You have to let the feelings out, and then sort of past. They won’t stick around forever I promise. Just because you spent all of yesterday crying it doesn’t mean you’ll spend all of tomorrow crying (although if you do that’s OK too)

- spend time on you. This one really helped me. I don’t mean having bubble baths and going on a silent retreat. I mean really digging about and getting to grips – for the first time ever – with who I am, what makes me tick and why I really am quite awesome thank you very much. I went to some therapy/counselling (not sure what you’d call it). I read a lot of self-help/emotional intelligence books. I watched my Google reader’s contents subtly shift from food and fitness blogs to sports psychology and emotional wellness blogs. One of the most valuable things I did was sit and write down my own personal values. This might not work for you, perhaps you’re not as driven by words as I am. But I found it interesting, enlightening and very strengthening to know what’s important to me, so I then had a kind of values blueprint against which to align my life.

- go with your gut. This kind of links to the values thing. If last year taught me anything, it was to trust my gut instincts. I no longer care very much what people think of me (not in a callous way, more in a “look I know I’m a good person, if you disagree or come to some odd conclusion about my life then that’s your issue not mine” way) I am much happier to trust gut instinct and do things (or not do things) that I know are right for me and for the people I care about, probably because I have a much better idea now of who is worth caring about. Do listen to what your gut is telling you. Good and bad. If it’s telling you that person is slightly odd and probably a bad influence in your life, get rid now. It’ll happen one way or another anyway. If it’s telling you that person was amazing all along and you really should get back in touch with them, give them a call. They’ll be back at some point anyway!

- nothing’s set in stone. If you do decide to compete, remember that you can stop any time. That might help ease the pressure. Obviously it doesn’t quite work the other way around – if you decide not to, you’ll probably find it hard to jump back into it if you change your mind. But if you do take the tough decision to carry on, don’t be proud enough to stop if you no longer feel prep/competing is doing anything positive for you. I promise you that nobody will think any the worse of you (in fact they may be relieved, or may not notice at all!)

Oh, and one last thing? You will be OK, and whatever happens/wherever you find yourself, things will be better. Maybe not in the ways you expected or predicted (or even wanted) but they will be.

There.

In signing off today I’d like to say the hugest and most heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped me through the past year. You know who you are. And to the people (because there were a few) who didn’t help me, well, thank you too. You played a part in getting me here, but I’m afraid you won’t be the ones who get to play a part in celebrating it.

Peace out

When tough times get tougher is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Cision, the media monitoring company, publishes a social media index and released the list last week. There I was (or rather there was my blog) – in second place (damn you, Julia B! )

When I started this blog in April 2010 I had no idea it would grow this much, in fact I had no idea that I’d still be blogging three years, 366 posts and 2,138 comments later.

And, just because it’s always funny, here are some of the recent weird search terms which have led people to my blog:

lucy biceps girls flexing (well, I suppose I do know some Lucys)
disapproving look (what I do when I look at my wordpress search terms)
amateur swimsuit (how does a swimsuit become Pro?)
black dog with one ear bent due to lack of muscles (eh?)
how to cheat on myzone mep points (tut!)
huge sledgehammer (rargh!)
cake aisle in tesco (who… me?! )

Anyway – thanks for reading, sharing, commenting, liking, Tweeting and coming back for more!

thefitwriter blog is number two in the UK! is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

I had a face-to-face catch up with coach Vicky Bradley yesterday – she hadn’t seen me for a few weeks and was delighted with the changes. We speak (text/whatsapp/tweet/instagram/facebook – haha!) most days but of course seeing me in the flesh is different.

I’m currently either 16 or 18 weeks out from my first show, depending on which qualifier I do. I’ve had my wibbles and wobbles (of confidence, as well as glute-fat ) but I’m starting to think I’ll be in good shape for the earlier of the two.

Vicky calipered me again yesterday, and I do my measurements: in 12 weeks of working with her, I’m down approx:

6kgs
We think about 7% body fat from Vicky’s calipering.
5.1cms hips
8.2cms waist
5.9cms chest/back

Here are comparison pics two weeks apart (although the most recent of these was taken three weeks ago now)

I’m still training the same split
Saturday – deadlifts, hamstrings, glutes, back and calves
Sunday – chest and triceps
Tuesday – back and shoulders
Wednesday – squats, quads and calves

And doing posing practice, stretching, foam rolling and postural/remedial work a couple of times a week at home. Still no cardio (other than two fast dog walks every day – which are getting longer now there are more daylight hours).

My training has changed (at least once) since I last blogged about prep – still low reps (or what I call low reps anyway!) but with a bit of a conditioning element in there now, supersets, walking lunges, weighted steps ups etc. Every time my programme changes, the specific exercises I do aim to correct an imbalance, fill out a slightly lacking area or bring an area up so the final “package” I reveal on stage is as complete and as “Physique category” as possible.

My shoulders seem to have taken on a life of their own

Diet has changed a little bit: we are now carb cycling and we’re about to really go for it, with much more carbs than I’m used to on training days. This is partly as a result of a total diet-wobble I had a couple of weeks ago, where I careered off-piste without Vicky’s blessing (or knowledge). Not good, but (there’s always a positive!) we did discover than I’m pretty carb-tolerant. After two days of over-eating, one of which involved a family party, and undisclosed amounts of cake, brownies and mini-scones (very nice they were too), I put on…. 0.5kgs. So, we’re going to be playing with more carbs, and different sources of them. Now’s the time to do it – if it’s doesn’t work, we can change again.

As I said to Vicky today, I feel as if the next 2-3 weeks will see some exciting changes in both my fatloss and my shape. I don’t know why I feel that way but I do! It’s exciting. This period of prep – when there’s months and months to go, but you know you’ll wake up one day soon and only have 4 weeks left – is a funny time. But I’m definitely seeing very good changes and I’m really excited to get closer and closer to competition condition!

A couple of pics from a week ago: posing in the gym with Figure competitor Karen (right of the pic) and Physique competitor Kathy (left). I love this pic, we’re so smiley! We’d just had an awesome deadlift session together – I’d never met either lady before but have emailed and chatted to them both online for over a year now. Brilliant training partners!

And lastly, Karen and I did a bit of posing practice after training and I borrowed her Figure shoes for a bit. Once I’d got myself upright (and stayed there!), I tried out a few Figure poses. What do you think? Shall I switch divisions?

Anything in particular you want to know? Let me know & I’ll attempt to answer!

Bodybuilding prep update (16 weeks out?) is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.