Baby steps

It has now been 6 weeks since the comp and that is how long it is taking for my body and mind to slowly return to some sort of normality. My cycle is almost back i can feel it, but most importantly I am easing off the obsession with food a little more each day.
It really takes time to get back to normal after putting your body through all that stress. Reducing your body fat to the extreme's that we competitor's do goes against everything the human body was designed to do to survive.
We start our prep around the 16 week mark (even longer sometimes) and it really isn't surprising that it take over 6 weeks to get back to a normal and happy functioning body and mind.

I think one of the major hurdles post comp is the fear of weight gain. But once it slowly starts to creep back on wheather you like it or not, it just becomes something that you have to get used to because we all know it had to happen right? We all know this and expect it, we just don't like it ;-)

Now that I have added some body fat back to my physique I have overcome the fear of doing it, it's done! Now i'm in maintenance stage, I am happy with this weight for the off season and plan to keep it around this level whilst eating clean but still having "enjoying life" moments.

Post comp has really brought on some great gains fairly quickly, this is due to a change in training e.g: heavy weights, low reps and it's due to the fact my body and muscles are soaking up everything thing I eat after the big shock of reduced calories etc during comp prep. I'm taking advantage of this big time!!

I'm not completely out of the water with all this but as my heading suggests *baby steps* is still moving in the right direction.

Did anyone see the interview on Geoffrey Huegill on t.v. the other night? He being an Olympic Champion swimmer with a ripped physique is now overweight and very unhappy and trying to take on a challenge to lose weight again. This sort of thing seems to be very common amongst most athletes of all sports and both genders. I hope he succeeds in his new challenge :-)

Have a great week.

Deb xxx

Not just part of the furniture!!

Dips, not the type you dunk your cracker biscuits into. I'm talking about those parallel bars that stick out from the wall at the gym, the ones I always walked past but never even had a second thought about, the ones where you see a group of BIG guys training on, you know the ones??

Well let me tell you the other day a guy at the gym (who regulary spots me when i need it) was watching me do weighted dips across two benches. He said why don't you use those (pointing to the parallel bars bolted to the wall)? I literally laughed at him and told him i couldn't do those!! I hated admitting to that BTW lol.
He said have you tried them? My response was "no". He rolled his eyes and asked me to follow him to the dip bars.
No points for guessing he wanted me to try it, and there not exactly tucked away in the corner of the gym where noone could watch me struggle, freeze, then fall through without any success.
I stood on a bench so I could get up and I was in position and ready to lower myself for the first rep. I slowly lowered myself until he said I was deep enough (this was the easy part), then it was time to push myself back up. I pushed and before I knew it I was back up, so I keep going until I pushed out 8 reps. woohoo, I was so happy.

Now dips are a part of my tricep program and I will soon be doing weighted dips (next week) *grin*

Why the heck after all these years did I not try this exercise before? I always had it in my head it was for the guys (I have not seen a female use it), and I thought I wasn't strong enough...silly.

I have learnt I need to try things before saying "I can't do them".

So now i am looking around the gym to see what else I can do LMAO.

A fleeting moment of thought

I find I am analysing my food intake way too much these days. The feeling of a "need" to eat for a purpose (other then to live), such as a competition is what i'm missing. So now that I have no comp to eat for I am looking for something else, a reason to eat or not to eat certain foods.
I guess it comes back down to goals, motivation or direction, I "need" a reason not to over indulge, to keep me on track as much as possible.
So what it comes down to is that it really doesn't have to be a goal as big as a comp, it should be motivation enough to eat to be healthy, to maintain a weight that i'm happy with, to eat for energy so I can train hard and see great results. This is what I will work towards from now on.
It really does take time to switch over from on-season comp to off season.

I guess it's like with anything in life, if you don't have an aim or a passion for anything then it would be very difficult getting out of bed each day. We all set ourselves goals be it work or fitness etc, it is that drive that gets us out of bed each day and ready to take a step forward in our chosen direction closer to our goal.

I think to much!!!!

Awesome Picture

This is Helen White, we do a bit of cardio together at the gym when we can get our timing right :-)

The picture is fantastic and I'm hoping to see more of these soon *hint hint*

All The Best For Tomorrow Lia

I love this photo :-)

Lia I will be thinking of you tomorrow during your operation. My wish for you is for a very speedy recovery.

Hugs,

Deb xxx

Gloomy Day, Gloomy Mood

The overcast weather always effects my moods, makes me feel down, like today. But today I think steams a little deeper then that.
With a mixture of a gloomy mood and me struggling with head games and (hopefully) the onset of my cycle starting up again I am not best company at the moment.
I feel a little lost, neither here nor there type of feeling in relation to my weight and nutrition. I'm getting that "i'm not happy with what I see in the mirror" feeling.
So I start questioning my food intake and my exercise regime. I have been 100% consistant with weight training, cardio is now only once a day five days a week which is great for off season. Food intake, clean, not as strict as when i'm in comp prep (and shouldn't be).
So why do I feel like this???
I haven't put on much weight and I know this by the clothes I'm still wearing.
Perhaps it's the fear of gaining more weight? Not being able to maintain the weight I am at now, I month after comp, this is a scarey thought. I shouldn't let it take over me though, I should get on top of it and not let it control my daily thoughts and send me into a spiral downhill fall.
I feel that tomorrow is a new day, I will wake up feeling so much more positive and in control of this negativity that creeps into my head every now and again.
Deb xxx

What's Deb up to now???

Breast Augmentation......It's been in the works for a while and now that my comps are over for the year I have decided to look into it more seriously.
Last night Lia asked me if I was going to blog about it and I said no lol....but it's no big deal. The only reason i said I wouldn't was because I wasn't sure if I would go through with it.
I had an appointment at the surgeon's this morning and let me tell you after seeing pictures of them at different angels I now know I really need to get this done lol.
I learned so much about all the choices that are available to me and we went over the best course of action for my condition. Because i have "dropped" quite a bit I am in need of a lift as well as the implants.
My hubby was there with me and he was wonderful and supportive. I tried on the bra and implant for size to get an idea of what it would look like, that was the exciting part.
The details so far (which haven't been finalized by a discussion with the surgeon) are: textured bag, this is best for implants that are placed above the muscle. Size would be 320cc (340cc if my hubby has anything to do with it), this might seem alot but due to the amount of "drop" I won't actualy be that big, perhaps a C/D cup. The shape will be round and not tear drop again due to my "drop". And they would be inserted through the areola due to this being where the lift insertion will be.
So i'm not the standard normal case unfortunately but can get this to work regardless.
I have been given the weekend to think about this and then get back to my doctor with a date. I am looking a Feb at this stage.
Now if anyone has questions or better, advice, please comment :-)
Deb xxx

Some comp pics (not professional one's though)

During my routine - look, no heels ha ha!!



Routine!!



More of my routine ;-)



Routine still going. You know I was shaking through the entire 60 seconds of this song, good thing it doesn't show in these pictures.



Front Double Biceps....and strike!!!







The Line-up!

I had to extract these pictures from the DVD that arrived a couple of days ago as my professional pictures haven't arrived as yet.
I have to say this is the first time I am really happy with my physique, this is the best condition since I first stood on stage a year ago as a novice. I have achieved more then I could have dreamed of in just one year and I still can't believe it.

Also, I have learnt so much about myself, this has been such an amazing journey for my mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I know I will go into 2008 with even more motivation to achieve even greater results.
The key for my success in reaching my new goals for next year will be, support, motivation, planning, focus and consistancy.

HAve a wonderful day!

Debs xxx