Hey gang! Y’all are probably wondering where I went! Between a crazy hiring season at work, a move to Fort Worth, and a spontaneous trip to Vegas for the hub’s birthday, I have been one BUSY girl!
We’re getting settled into our new neighborhood—it’s so nice to be closer to family and for Shane to not have an hour and a half commute! We found a great gym here in Fort Worth and have been busy getting our workouts in and exploring our new city. Getting away to Vegas for the 4th of July weekend was awesome! I had so much fun gallivanting with my favorite person. Even after being together for 10 years, we still have so much fun spending time together! Although this was our sixth trip there together, it was the first one we’ve taken to Vegas by ourselves—every other one we’d been with friends or family. It was a quick 2 and a half days but we managed to see all of the beautiful hotels, had a couple of great meals, took a ride on the new High Roller, and caught the most AMAZING Cirque Du Soleil show, “O”! If you haven’t seen O yet, you MUST! It’s one of their older shows, and it’s at the Bellagio. I’ve seen several Cirque shows, and this one blew them all out of the water—literally! My jaw was on the floor for most of the show.
Since it’s been a little bit since my last post, I thought I’d just give you all a general update about how offseason is progressing. My last couple of check-in meetings with my coach have been great! We’re both pleased I’ve finally “stabilized” with my weight for a while, and have put on quite a bit of muscle mass in the 3 months post show. I’m having a blast training hard and heavy, and enjoying my weekly cheat meal! That said, I’ve known for the last few weeks that if I really wanted to do the show in November, then I would go back into Contest Prep in August. Man that got here FAST! A little too fast actually. 3 months just flew by, and I just now feel sort of settled into my post-show body. After much deliberation, I decided I really want to take the rest of the year to really grow and have a true “off season”, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice. My coach and I both feel like this will give me a GREAT change in my physique since it will roughly be a year between shows. I will now start prep January 1 for a show in early/mid April, likely Better Bodies here in Dallas. If I had done the show in November, I would have just gone right back into off season, and would have to put my body through another prep quickly to do an early show next season. This can be dangerous and wreak havoc on your metabolism, and we don’t want to risk that. By finishing out this year in off season, it will set me up to do more shows if I need or want to next season. Additionally, I already know what it’s like to be in “prep mode” for January, February, and March, which is when I’d be doing it for the April show. To me, that means a lot. I was already questioning how I’d get through an August, September, October prep when it’s football season and pumpkin EVERYTHING for Fall!! You’d best believe I’ll be catching me some TCU football games this season since we’re back in Horned Frog country over here, and the pumpkin everything— gosh that would be hard to avoid!
Anyway, I’m excited to have a few more months to get some work in and make more changes! I know 5 months sounds like a long time, but if you do the math it’s only 25 weeks, which is essentially 25 more workouts per muscle group the way my split is set up. Not long at all! But, with the 3 months I’ve already put in, it makes me really optimistic about what’s going to happen. I can already see so much more muscle in my legs, and my strength now is awesome too! I’m doing lat pulldowns at 115lbs. When I started training over a year ago, I could barely do 70-80lbs! I’m really enjoying lifting to lift and grow, and the clean eating part, well, it’s just how I eat so I’m used to it. This is a lifestyle, and I’m really remembering what it felt like to workout because you really are doing it solely out of choice, because it’s part of your lifestyle and you really want to, not necessarily because you really have to with a show goal you’re working towards, even though most of the time I really wanted to workout then too. Waiting a little longer to get back on stage will be worth it when I bring a much better package as a competitor, and I’m sure by then I’ll be SOOOOOO ready to lean out and get back out there to smile, sparkle, and strut!
Coach is going to put together a “mini project” for us to focus on through the rest of this year, so I’m looking forward to finding out what that is. Rest assured, you’ll be along for the ride! Hope you all are doing well!
Till next time,
-Mere