So you are thinking about competing? Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you take the plunge.
1. Can you commit 100%?
It is a huge committment, time-wise, mentally, and physically. Make sure you can commit to it.
2. Can you be alone and sacrifice social time?
This sport is an individual sport unless you have other competitor friends and even then, you are working on your own goals. You WILL spend 5 days a week lifting and even up to 7 days a week closer to show day doing cardio (depending on your coach). You will miss social engagements because you can't stray from your meal plan and you give up alcohol too. It is tough. I spent all day at a Halloween festival eating from tupperware I packed in my cooler. Make sure you are ok with this.
3. Can you afford it?
Those cute little bikinis aren't cheap. The cost of the registration, spray tan, nails, make-up, heels, supplements, and even the food on your plan can add up quickly but you don't want to skimp so plan for it.
4. Do you have a support system?
It is going to be tough. If it wasn't, everyone would be competing. Make sure your friends, family, and coworkers are onboard. They may not understand it, but having support helps when it comes to lunches, dinners, etc. where you may be living out of tupperware.
5. Do you have a post-comp plan?
A lot of people try to go back to eating the way they were prior to the compeition immediately afterwards. This can make you gain the weight back quickly because your metabolism doesn't have time to catch up. Having a post-comp plan can help you transition to off season weight easier while allowing you to make improvements. (More on my post comp experience later)
I started training on my own and eating super clean. After talking to a few people who have competed in the same federation, I hired a coach (shaunnamariefitness.com) to help me with my compeition prep because it was clear to me that competing was a different beast and at this point I only had 8 more weeks to go. One week into my comp prep with Shaunna and I could already see a huge difference. I followed my meals and training perfectly but there were still some weeks when my body was being difficult. This was a huge hurdle. I am not going to lie, there were days when I wanted to give up but I didn't. I was very fortunate to have a fantastic support system at home and at work.
During peak week, I was so excited to see how far I had come, that I didn't even care about winning. Don't get me wrong, I was definitely in it to win it but I knew that no matter what happened, I had already won! I met my goal, which was to get into the best shape of my life. The day of the competition was hard for me. I was by myself surrounded my a whole bunch of bodybuilders, figure compeitions, and bikini girls, who were all strangers. I met an amazing figure competitor name Elaine who talked me through the whole process and hung out with me backstage. I can't tell you how grateful I am for that. It took forever to get to bikini in prejudging (or at least it felt like it in 5 inch heels) and when the time finally came we went on. I was waiting for the "rush" that everyone kept telling me would happen and it didn't come. I wasn't particularly nervous, but I felt like my posing was off but I pretended like it was awesome. After prejudging I called my coach and my husband and told them that it went ok but that I didn't think I placed. I was very proud of myself for reaching my goals and it didn't matter to me that I didn't do as well as I thought I would. I even told my husband not to bother bringing the camera. At this point, I just wanted food (and a margarita).
Just before the night show started, I started to get excited. A few of us talked backstage about where our meal was going to be and what we were having. You would have thought we were literally starving ourselves with all the talk of a cheat meal. Judging was over and it didn't matter anymore. I could go out and have fun. The girl in front of me in line who I had been talking to on and off all day, Alex, turned to me and said "let's just have fun." And that is exactly what we did. I quickly found out that I didn't do as bad as I thought. I won first place and overall in the novice category and first and overall in the open bikini as well, winning my SNBF Pro Card. I was shocked. Actually, shocked is an understatement. There were so many women with amazing physiques at this show. So many girls that worked their butts off too!
This experience changed my life in so many ways but not because I won. I learned a lot about myself through this process, gained some new friends, and have a new found respect for obtaining a balanced life. Having competitor friends has made my transition easier (not easy- more on that in later posts). I talk to Alex almost daily now. We have shared fit tips, struggles, and successes. I only wish I had this prior to the competition! Will I compete again? Yes, I plan to compete in my first pro show in June. After that we will just have to see.
If you still want to compete, here are a few pieces of advice:
1. Get a coach! Don't try to do it alone, especially if this is your first competition.
2. Pose, pose, pose. Practice your posing often. Most coaches offer posing as part of the package.
3. Don't skimp on your swimsuit. I used Barelyvisible.com!
4. Don't skimp on your tan either!
5. Plan all the time. Plan ahead. Meal prep. Prep extra in case you are out and about and forget something.
6. Trust the process. This was my biggest problem when I didn't see my body doing what I thought it was suppose to do. As soon as I trusted the process, my body started changing. Trust it!!!!
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