Gah! It has been so long and I am so sorry! I have successfully completed my first bodybuilding show and guys, it was a pretty awesome experience. I’m not going to lie and say it was easy or the best thing ever. It wasn’t. But, it also wasn’t the worst thing either. Let’s start with the good.
- Seeing your body change is really really cool and rewarding
- Meeting new people and being around like minded people is extremely motivating
- Meal prep is not hard
- Carbs make me happy
- Macro counting really intrigues me and the manipulation you can do to reach your goals
My prep was not all sunshine and rainbows. There were definitely a couple moments where the hubby had to tell me to get off of my prep pedestal and I did. Here are a few things that were a bit more difficult for me.
- Low carb days, meaning zero carb days one after another – like, hello mood swings!
- Cardio – so much damn cardio
- Hitting a fat loss plateau – this was definitely the most mentally daunting thing for me
- Getting my suit and freaking the f out because there was NO way my butt was going to fit into it – but it did
I am extremely humbled to have went through this process. If you have never done a show you might think that it would be easy to cut your macros for awhile and get “shredded.” Well, it’s not. I am a very determined person with a lot of motivation when it comes to health and fitness and to be successful in bodybuilding, you need 100x the motivation and determination you think you might have. You need to have a clear and focused mind. If you want to do a show because you want to look like someone on the internet or you hate the way your body looks, you shouldn’t do a show. I say this because this process is as mentally taxing if not more than it is physically and you need to already have a good relationship with your body.
From beginning to end, from trying to gain as much as I could so I could have more muscle when I cut, I gave my all and I am truly happy and proud about that. Everyone who bodybuilds has different experiences. For me, it wasn’t horrible and I actually liked having a goal and end date in sight. It was something I did for myself and no one else. I don’t care that I didn’t get first place or that I didn’t look as shredded as I was hoping. I worked my ass off, brought home a trophy and met some incredible people along the way.
So now what you may ask? Well, I just started my second week of my reverse diet. If you don’t know what a reverse diet is, it is slowly adding calories (mostly from carbs) back into your diet. It allows for your body to adjust to the changes and not gain a bunch of weight. I am actually excited to see how my body reacts to my reverse. As far as workouts, it is time to GROW! If I am going to do another show, I need to add some muscle. I have a strength program all set to go and starting it today! I also plan to have some fun with my workouts. I miss doing higher intensity workouts, circuits and HIIT and am going to start incorporating those type workouts again once or twice a week. I will definitely compete again. When, is the question.
Being on stage was actaully a lot less nerve racking than I expected. When I stepped out I seriously blocked everything out around me and was 100 percent focused on what I needed to be doing. Here are a few photos from the classes I competed in.
I had the best group of people there cheering me on and I couldn’t have done it without them!
