When I “went public” in October with my decision to compete and become a figure competitor, you can imagine that I got some mixed feedback. Unless you really know the sport, you have no idea what the NPC is, what “Figure” really means, or what the different categories are for women. Most people, quite frankly, just assume that bodybuilders (especially female ones) must take steroids and that they are all super jacked with mega-muscles. For women, there are 5 categories in the NPC or “National Physique Committee”, and they increase in muscularity beginning with Bikini which has the least muscle, then Figure, Fitness (which has the same judging criteria as Figure, but with a gymnastics routine), Women’s Physique, and finally Women’s Bodybuilding. They all, however, fall into the sport of “competitive bodybuilding”. There are a lot of misconceptions about women who compete, but I definitely got some raised eyebrows from friends and colleagues who thought that I was going to essentially end up looking like, well, a cute hulk. My really good friends and family, however, were very supportive and were thrilled with my decision. I’m so thankful that I’ve had their support and encouragement, and I can’t wait to make them proud when I strut across that stage in just a couple of weeks!
In my last post, I mentioned that after attending that first show, I knew that I wanted to compete, but I also knew the next step would be to find someone who could coach me, teach me, and train me to bring my best possible physique to the stage. I did some research, asked around at that show, and pretty much all roads led to the coach who I ended up working with. He’s extremely knowledgeable in the sport, an award-winning bodybuilder, and has also judged many shows, so he’s a guru. Many of his clients have placed very well at shows, and several have gone on to compete at a national level and won IFBB Pro cards as well. After our first meeting with him, Shane and I knew we had found the right fit for me, and were pumped (haha! Arnold joke there!) to get the process going.
Most of you may not know that I am pretty petite. I’m all of 5’4, and weighed about 120 pounds when I started training with my coach in October of 2014. At my highest recorded weight in 2012, I was in the low 140s and about 26% bodyfat. That being said, I was never fat or obese, and I had a good foundation of weight training from the 10 months or so that I had been training on my own before I started working with my coach. I still had a long way to go before I would be ready to get up on that stage. Especially in a figure competition suit—have you SEEN how small they are?!?
After I started working with my coach, I spent October, November, and December of 2014 “bulking”, which means that I was eating more calories, carbs, protein and fat than I had before to help my body put on muscle. My coach designed all of my workouts, so I just followed the plan, trained HARD six days a week (5 lifting, 1 free day to do yoga, or whatever) and did moderate cardio. My diet was very structured—I carefully weighed and measured all of my food, and was extremely cognizant to eat my six meals a day. Alcohol became limited, and I was a lot more aware of what I was eating for “cheat” meals. I was doing more than just eating clean; I was eating with the purpose of FUELING my body. If there is one thing I could tell girls who want to lose weight or tone up, it would be that proper nutrition is key to reaching your goals You can’t out train a bad diet, but you also need the RIGHT combination and ENOUGH protein, carbs, and fat to really reap the full benefits of the training you do in the gym. Nutrition is where I had fallen short, and poor nutrition (I wasn’t eating “bad” food, I just wasn’t eating the right combination of macro nutrients to fuel my body) is why I wasn’t seeing the best results that I could have for so many months. I was eating a TON under my “plan”—hooray for bulking and “offseason”! Needless to say, I could tell a huge difference in my progress within a matter of weeks, and others started taking notice too. My clothes were fitting better, and I kept getting stronger and stronger in the gym. I’ll admit, the compliments that I was getting certainly helped motivate me to keep going! I’m so glad that I have progress pictures and workout and food logs to look back to and see the path that helped shape me into where I am today. With my coach’s guidance, I became even more hooked on what we competitors and gymrats call “the lifestyle”!
In November, my coach and I picked a show—the Phil Heath Classic. Phil Heath won Mr. Olympia every year from 2011 – 2014. When my coach first suggested that show, I probably had that deer in the headlights look. I didn’t know a lot about the sport, but I knew that show is HUGE! It’s one of the biggest in the entire NPC. Held in Houston, it’s the first major show of the Season in Texas (which runs March through September or so), and draws a ton of spectators and people in the industry. I had a trip planned for my 30th birthday on April 1st, so we had to be careful to keep that in mind when figuring out a contest prep plan, but ultimately the decision came down to my coach believing that I had the foundation, genetics, and motivation to do well at the Phil Heath Classic. We were set—March, 28th, 2015!
That was just over 5 months ago. I’m about two weeks out from the show, and yes, I have put on quite a bit of muscle, but I’m not green, and I’m not going around smashing things like the Hulk. It would be pretty cool to be She Hulk for Halloween though, so that’s an option.
Till next time!
-Mere