You know, I started in this game much like you.
Excited about the sport. In LOVE with the thought of training, eating and prepping in a way that would have me looking exactly like the women in the magazines I so admired.
Maybe unlike you, I was already a fitness professional, so I KIND OF had an idea of what I needed to do…
Kind of.
If you’re a fitness professional yourself, then you know what I mean. It’s one thing to get in the gym and train to be in shape, and a completely different thing to train for the stage.
I mean the diet, the training, the cardio, the POSING, the suit, the make up, the hair, the presentation. It was all so much! And it really becomes hard to know where to turn or what you should be doing first to look your best.
Now, imagine, I felt this way as a fitness professional, so I can only imagine how those who don’t this for a living must feel.
I can relate…
(Video of me during my VERY FIRST WORKOUT for my first show as an amateur figure competitor!)
And what I knew I didn’t want was even bigger than what I knew I wanted…
Tilapia, Cardio, and Metabolic Damage…Oh My!
Before doing anything at all, I did a lot of research. I joined a few message boards, one in particular that was a well known (now defunct) forum for female competitors.
The things I saw online were horror stories. Tales about eating only tilapia for WEEKS on end almost every meal. Paired with asparagus and little to no carbs, of course, and very little fats.
I saw women saying they were doing 90 mins to TWO HOURS of cardio a day! This ON TOP OF WEIGHT TRAINING…
I mean seriously, who has time for that? And then even further, these plans were paired with no rest days, and super low calorie diets. I’m talking sub 1000 calories day. I’ve even heard of women just eating 800, 700, 600 calories PER DAY…
As a fitness professional this just never sat well with me. Ever. And I knew in my gutt that there had to be a better way.
One of the things that came to light eventually was the real occurrence of what was coined “metabolic damage”, from all of that bad dieting and training. These competitors saw their bodies stop responding to their plans. The weight loss would halt despite all their efforts. What’s even worse…
The moment they stopped the diet, they would almost INSTANTLY gain 20, 30, 40 POUNDS, and end up way heavier than they ever have been in their lives.
As a professional, I had seen this before in women who were huge exercise and cardio abusers in the gym, and athletes who pushed things to far. I knew the road back would be hard, and so I vowed to start creating a way to prep clients so that they look their best, and do it with ways that were sane and most of all – healthy.
What I Did I do to Fix the Problem – In MY OWN Way…?
That’s a good question!
And in tomorrow’s post I’ll explain exactly that! Check out your email and I’ll share with you my exact blueprint for how I almost completely revolutionized how many of my clients prep for their show… Leaving them with amazing results, confidence, and that winning look that has gotten them class wins, overall titles, top 5 on the national level, and even that coveted IFBB Pro Card.
What I want you to walk away with from today’s post is keeping in mind that this game CAN be done in a very healthy and sane way, and still have you walking away feeling and looking your best yet. You may even walk away a winner like many of my other clients…
P.S. Tomorrow, I’ll shoot you over my exact approach and method completely spelled out! And show you exactly how I took myself – and my clients to the next level!
