Random thoughts from 24 hours out

With less than 24 hours to go til I’m on stage at my my first bodybuilding competition of the year, I thought I’d share some thoughts. Except, I’m not sure what they are. I’ll start writing and see where this goes… Bear with!

“How are you feeling?” This is what I’ve been asked by friends and family on text and via Twitter etc all day. My answer… apart from a bit bored and twitchy (like on Christmas-Eve-Eve when you’re excited, but it’s too early to cook the canapes, and you’ve got a lot to do, but can’t start some of it yet, and you just want to get on with it cos it’s Christmas, dammit!)… I feel “OK”.

This might sound boring. It’s not. OK is great. OK is calm, balanced, peaceful. Of course, I’m very excited, and quite nervous, and fending off a bit of self-doubt. But I’m not experiencing (or entertaining) any wild swings of emotion, and that’s… OK!

I was talking to former-coach-turned-wonderful-friend Kat Millar on Skype this morning and decided that this is all part of our inner competitors “growing up”. Gone are the tantrums, cravings and wild toddler-terrors of the first year competitor. Gone is the bolshy, crafty teenage competitor whose emotions seek to “try it on” at any given opportunity. That was year one and year two for me.

Here we are in year three of prepping/competing and maybe my inner competitor has reached her early 20s (it’s a bit like “dog years”).

It’s not just the “feeling… OK” which got me thinking about this. It’s everything about this prep. I haven’t hoarded any food (don’t laugh – if you’ve dieted for a show or a shoot, chances are you know what I’m talking about). I don’t have a “treat box” (you should have seen it in previous years!) I don’t think I’ve even dreamed about food!

Cravings? Honestly – none. My fellow competitors will know how significant this is. If you’ve experienced wicked cravings on a prep diet (whether or not you find yourself falling head first into a binge as a result), you’ll know how strong they are.

This time? None. I honestly mean it. Coach Vicky Bradley and I discussed my post-comp eats the other day (yes, I have a plan for what I’ll eat after the comp – my choice, my decision, and I like it). I could really have had anything. What I chose might make you laugh but it really is what I want and I know it’ll hit the spot in terms of tastes and textures I’ve been missing.

Once I get off stage: cottage cheese with some granola and frozen berries mixed in (OK, some dark chocolate or nut butter might find its way in there too) When I get home: a hearty but quality meal (I’ve chosen one from Kezie’s Wild Gatherings meals) with some mash or something like that.

You’d have to come backstage at a comp to put this into context against the muffins, cookies, Pop Tarts, doughnuts and signature-cravings (most of which will have been built up in the competitor’s mind for weeks if not months) you’d see being treated with reverence. And I’m not in any way saying I haven’t been part of that in the past. Good grief, have I. But… I don’t feel the need this year. And it’s really quite freeing to know that I don’t have to. Just because the post-comp eatathon is a traditional and time-honoured part of competing, it doesn’t mean I have to indulge if I don’t want to.

It’s very strange, I can’t explain it, but I’ll definitely take it. Prep just feels like “what I do”. It’s fine! It’s a challenge, and gets difficult, but it’s not horrible or awful.

Isn’t that how it should be? After all, this is a hobby. A tough one, but a hobby. Challenging can still be enjoyable.

Little victories

Here are a couple of small, but significant “victories” from this past week which I help me thihnk perhaps my inner competitor is growing up

1) The grocery shop
I went to Tesco this week to get the bits I needed for carb up and comp day and, of course, for my post-comp treats and meals. Normally, a supermarket shop for me is a very quick dash around the outside: veg, some fruit, some frozen stuff, the fish counter. I honestly haven’t been down the cereals, biscuits, packaged goodies aisles for months (no point testing my will power during prep!) This time, I did let myself wander those aisles, partly as I needed some things from there, and partly because I felt different, I knew I honestly wouldn’t want to get anything, and I was fascinated to see my reaction. Apart from being amazed by the new products on offer since I last paid attention, I noted… nothing. Sure, I was tempted by some stuff (I am human, and food packaging and marketing is clever stuff!) But I knew that honestly and deep down, I did not want anything. I don’t want to eat it, I don’t want it in the house. I don’t need it. It doesn’t serve me in any way. I’ve been there and done that and not one thing you can crave honestly tastes as good as you think it will. So I bought the stuff I’d planned, knowing that will taste as good as I think it will, and went home. I hope some of you out there can appreciate how meaningful this experience was!

2) The online window shopping
I’m sure I’m not alone in “window shopping” on the web shops of various health food stores, low carb food stores etc (those American import sweetshops are a common one). The other day, I found myself idly loading up an online shopping cart with all sorts of sugar-free products, some treats, a load of protein bars etc. All sorts of stuff I really don’t need, but I guess my mind was starting to wander. The difference between this year and previous years? This year… I logged out, closed the window, didn’t buy the stuff. Previous years I would have (and did) buy it, then it would arrive and I wouldn’t even remember half the stuff I’d bought, and then of course I’d eat it. Stuff full of rubbish and not anything I need – or want, honestly.

Tomorrow is one hell of a line-up. Eight women in my class. There has been one (yes one) in my category at every qualifier so far this year. Normal numbers are three or four. But what will be will be, and – to my mind anyway – if I’m good enough, I’m good enough, whether there are two others women or 200.

My goal is to qualify for the BNBF British Finals in September. Anything else will be the stuff of dreams!

Right, I’m off. Tanning to do, steak to eat. I’ll try my best to Tweet updates tomorrow from thefitwriter Twitter and/or pop some pics on thefitwriter instagram. My Facebook is private but if you’re a friend on there, you’ll no doubt see some updates too. And I’ll blog about it just as soon as I can.

Thanks for reading.

Random thoughts from 24 hours 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.

7 days to go!

…til my first bodybuilding competition of the year, that is.

Wow, hasn’t that time flown?

It really does feel like it has, but not in a bad way. Sometimes, when you realise it’s the 14th July and it feels like it ought to be somewhere circa early-April, it’s a horrible panicky feeling. Like time has whizzed past and OMG you can’t be ready and it’s all been a bit manic and a lot stressful.

Not so this year, not so this prep. Yes, time has flown – I can remember being “8 weeks out” – but here I am, a week exactly to the day, and it seems about right, really. Prep has been drama-free, hard but not difficult, challenging but not painful and… just kind of “what I do”.

This first competition is one in (hopefully) a long string of competitions this year, so I certainly wouldn’t want to be feeling at the end of my tether yet! If I need to feel like that at all, I’ll save it for the build up to the highlight of my season, whatever that turns out to be. This one’s a qualifier and, whilst I’m always “in it to win it”, the goal is to qualify (that being what a qualifier is for, after all).

So, with seven days to go, it’s all about keeping my head together, focusing, minimising stress, maximising sleep (!), and ticking off the little things which combine to make a big difference. Here they are, in no particular order:

– posing practice (there’s one pose in particular I need to work on to get just so)
– routine practice (although I think I could do it in my sleep by now!)
– dry body brushing, showing with PH-neutral shower gel, and all those other skin-prep details which really do make a difference to tanning
– finishing this bottle of Fushi’s Gotu Kola and green coffee body oil which I was kindly sent to try out and I added to my “let’s give it a go!” skin-prep – I like it and do think it’s helped slightly
– getting beautified (it takes several appointments throughout this final week, trust me on that one. I am quite old now)
– choosing my suit for pre-judge (“plain bikini round”) and sewing the straps up so it fits just so
– packing my little red wheely case for the day
– deciding on what I’ll eat when I get home late on Sunday night
– sitting with coach Vicky to come up with a sensible* plan for the days and weeks after the comp (mental and physical, mindset and socialising, diet and training)
– developing a strategy for show day itself (what I’ll eat, what I’ll drink, how much and when, how I’ll pump up, whether I’ll find a quiet corner and sit by myself, or head out front to watch some of the show)
– tanning! I know some competitors think it’s a pain in the glutes but I love it! I love the smell of it, I love the hilarious elaborate rigmarole of it, and I love the fact that my sister is my Chief Tanner these days – nothing will bond two sisters quite like the phrase “right, time for your boobaloobs – lean right back so they lift up” 😉 #sistamatic
… Sista, if you ever compete (Figure, natch!), I’ll tan your boobs for you xx

*(I’m loving “sensible” at the moment – amazing how calming and freeing it is to know that, actually, you don’t want to go mad and eat a load of random crap – and what’s more, you don’t have to!)

No progress pics, I’m afraid. They are saved for nearest and dearest – the rest of you can wait til I’m on stage. There are some on thefitwriter instagram but a lot of them have been filtered through artsy apps, or chopped into bits (usually minus the head 😉 )

Here’s to these final seven days! If you’re coming to the show, I hope you have a fantastic time and enjoy yourself. I look forward to updating you all… in a week!

Any questions? Leave a comment and I’ll do my best.

7 days to go! 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.

New moon, new beginnings

Lovely little new moon out there tonight; have you seen it? (This intro does not apply to anyone reading this from the Southern hemisphere).

It prompted me to tell you about the new start I made this week: with a new coach!

I’m very happy to have been taken under the lean and muscular wing of Vicky Bradley, a Personal Trainer and prep coach based not too far from me here in Kent.

I’ve know of Vicky for ages (she’s a BNBF Figure competitor, and actually won her Pro Card with them in 2010) and is very active on Twitter and Facebook. We started chatting a few months ago and then, when I realised that I was in the right place to start working with someone again, I approached her and asked her if she’d take me on.

A long phone call later, and I felt sure Vicky was the right coach for me at this time. She’s been there, done that, and gone through most if not all of the issues! She knows what it’s like to diet, prep, train and navigate off-season as a natural female competitor. And she came very highly recommended (not just for training and diet, but for “getting it”.)

So I went to see her last week, we had a nice long consult, she took my stats (and photos… in a competition bikini… !) and we chatted about everything I wanted to achieve.

So, I’m now working with Vicky in the long-term. We’ve got two distinct goals: firstly, to get me into a good, healthy, sustainable diet/nutrition routine which gives my body everything it needs to build and retain muscle whilst slowly dropping fat. Perhaps as importantly, Vicky’s diet plan challenges me to eat in a more structured way. Previously, I’d eat very well for a few days, then end up undereating either because I was busy, or preoccupied, or thinking I was eating enough (when I wasn’t) and then inevitably a few days later I’d find myself overeating. It was all very unstructured – which is fine, if you’re in tune with your hunger cues. And I’m not at the moment, and we need to train my body back into being in tune with itself.

And secondly, to prep me for stage later in the year! 😀 (More on that later but let’s just say – you ain’t seen nothing yet!)

So my diet for the next few weeks is small, regular meals, not leaving me long enough between meals to feel like I’m missing out, and reintroducing stuff I’ve previously been avoiding (“I can’t have peanut butter in the house!”) because I assume I’ll just eat it all in one go. I get to eat it every day now (just not very much of it), so I can chill out! 😉

Vicky’s also doing my training, and she’s challenged me there, too (<— sign of a good coach if you ask me). No cardio. Less volume. Lower reps. One less day in the weights room (to be replaced by postural work, which is badly needed). Vicky agrees wholeheartedly with my physique goals and thinks that what I want to achieve is perfectly doable, but she’s also identified key areas in which I’m weak, lacking or am just simply not connected.

We're approaching this year in three stages. First of all, a "lifestyle" diet, getting me into good habits and dropping some fat, and a consistent approach to training, using lots of compound lifts and lower rep ranges. After that will come prep, bringing me down from what will (hopefully by then) be not a million miles from stage weight and condition anyway. And after that? Yes, Vicky is already thinking about how she can help me with my next off-season.

Ah… it all feels very positive, calm and exciting!

Here’s to 2013. What plans have you got for fitness, training or competing?

New moon, new beginnings 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.