The Next Leg of the Journey

May 28, 2012 Memorial Day Weekend & There's No Place I'd Rather Be
It is now 6 weeks out from Team Universe, and time for a visit to my trainer to go through posing and work on presentation because it doesn't do any good to have the "package" but not be able to showcase it to your best!

The drive was only a few hours away, but I thought it best to drive up the night before, get a good night rest and be ready to start fresh with posing on Monday morning. Besides, its all about enjoying the journey & I don't want to miss a beat!

I am participating in Skip LaCour's Mass Machine Bulking & Cutting Challenge, and we have weekly homework assignments and progress photos due Monday mornings before 8 AM. I made sure to get my photos taken and my assignment complete and emailed out before I left for my trip on Sunday, but I wanted to expand on the homework assignment, which was on goal setting. Previously, I had purchased Thinking Big, which includes a chapter on goals setting, so I already had some goals set but with my switch to Physique, those goals now needed updating! So, I took my 3 must have books with me and after I arrived at my hotel & got settled, it was the perfect time to work further on my goals and the development of my "dream life".

After I finished my 10 year goals, it was time to hit the hay! Set the alarm for 5:30 to hit morning cardio in the hotel before hitting the road for my posing session. This was a good jump start to my morning & a good way to get the muscles loosened up & my mind prepared for the flexing and the day ahead!

After that, it was shower, pack up & hit the road! I knew I had up to a 3 hour posing session ahead so I planned to arrive to the studio early and eat my meal in the parking lot while I waited for the studio to open, but was just a hair behind & had to get the meal in while driving! I arrived at the "studio" with a few minutes to spare, so I decided to do a quick Video To Start The Day! Can't you just see the excitement in my eyes!

When I saw the blue Corvette rolling up, I knew my trainer arrived! Lisa told me there was another Physique Competitor, Toni, coming so we would be posing together. She would also be competing at the Team Universe. This worked out great. Toni was a former Figure competitor transitioning to Physique so the poses were quite different for her. On the other hand, I am a bodybuilder transitioning to Physique, so the poses are different for me as well but from a different light. We also had different Physiques, each with our own assets. She had amazing leg size, which she attributed to training with her boyfriend, IFBB pro Jose Raymond.

We had a great posing session, learning the poses that look best on each of our physiques. In Physique Competition, there is a lot more variety in posing, so finding the pose that looks best on you is all that much more challenging & important. One thing that I was glad Lisa reminded me is that some of the judges call poses different names. For instance, I am using to hearing a head judge call out "Front Double Bicep". Lisa informed me that some of the head judges are calling this pose "Front Overhead Pose" which would have really thrown me for a loop if I would have heard this called-out and not been warned. The smallest things can mean so much, which is why I made this drive!

After a great posing session and discussions on contest prep, there was just one more thing I needed before hitting the road - a photo!

The studio was closing at noon, and it was time for me to move on to the next leg of the journey. I had previously located a Gold's Gym in Dundalk, MD just a few miles away and in the direction I was headed home. I called the day before to check their hours and I was in luck, they were open until 4PM which gave me plenty of time to get in a great workout!

The gym didn't look like much from the outside, but was actually very nice inside! Its always great to visit different gyms. As I started my calve workout, I really enjoyed the variety of calve equipment & the different feel I was getting.

Then I moved on to shoulders and finally to my second cardio session for the day, 30 minutes on the stepmill. Then it was time to shower, & hit the road home!

All in all, my trip went great and so did my travels. That is except for the excitement I had when I had to wait in line at a toll plaza on I-95, right before the tunnel, and the Jeep began to overheat & the the check-engine light came on. Son of a brick! And the worst part - its meal time & this is the one-hour post workout window! I can't miss this meal! What am I to do, lets get through the toll plaza & into the tunnel, no other option. Thankfully when I began to move, the Jeep cooled off quickly. Seems my water was low & as long as I was moving I was fine! A little worry in the back of my head all the way home, but no worries, God can part water so He can put water in my Jeep too to get me through until I get home!

Growing up, my brother always got to be the driver & navigator during our family vacations. It has taken some getting used to traveling alone & being self-dependent but fear will only limit you and the only way to overcome it is to walk through it.

Traveling during competition season, carrying all my meals, staying on schedule, and finding gyms. These are all challenges as well that can limit you if you if you steer clear from them due to fear of failure of not accomplishing your daily disciplines to meet your goals. Don't let fear limit you - know, you can & take advantage of every opportunity!

Until the next leg!

NPC Pittsburgh Bodybuilding Championships, May 5th 2012

Had a great trip to the NPC Pittsburgh Bodybuilding Championships this past weekend. I competed in this show for years before winning the overall in the women's bodybuilding class in 2008. Since then, I have encouraged many competitors in my gym to compete in this show as it is one of the largest shows within a few hours driving distance. It also hosts the top Olympia competitors as guest posers each year which makes it a great experience and opportunity to meet and talk to the best in the sport.

This year, my friend Cyndi Detwiler was competing in the  Physique Division. Ever since last year when she decided to compete in the show again this year, I had planned to attend & lend support. Long before it had crossed my mind to compete in Women's Physique this year at the Team Universe, Cyndi had decided to compete in the Physique class verses Bodybuilding class at the NPC Pittsburgh. It was the perfect opportunity for me to watch my first Physique show!

This trip would be a bit different from past trips because I would be in contest preparation for the Team Universe which will be held July 6th-7th. This meant I would need to pack all my meals, make sure I had a great workout between prejudging and the evening show, and keep everything on schedule. There was quite a bit of packing to do Saturday morning including a cooler filled with nearly 14 meals and supplements to last the two day trip. Clothes were the least of my worries, but I am finding out that the longer I am in this sport, the more of a lifestyle it becomes and the more "normal" it seems to travel fully prepared and be able to carry out everything as scheduled.

Saturday at noon, my friend Kathy & I hit the road on our girls trip! Cyndi was headed down separately with her family.

I am competing in Skip LaCour's Mass Machine Bulking & Cutting Challenge. Mass Machines have a signature pose called MASS MACHINEING. In the photo to the right, me & Kathy surround Cyndi MASS MACHINEING in front of the venue, the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh, PA.

Another friend from the gym, Ben Broy, was also competing in the show for the first time. He was traveling alone so I filled in as camera girl and tanning support.

After Ben & Cyndi had finished the morning prejudging, the show continued with fitness & figure but I couldn't keep focus because I was dying to hit the gym & get my workout in to make sure everything stayed on track! It takes a bit of discipline to hit the gym between prejudging and the evening show when everyone else is relaxing & enjoying the break. However, if there is one thing Skip LaCour has taught us in the Mass Machine Bulking & Cutting Challenge, it is the importance and benefits of carrying out your daily disciplines in reaching your goals. I have always been a very disciplined person & I know it pays off.

Last year, although I wasn't in competition season, I wanted to make sure to get my workout in between the morning & evening shows. No one else wanted to work out, so I went alone. I arrived at the gym about 3:30 and was informed that they close at 4:00. However, I was later told that an employee would be staying late at the gym, so & I could continue with my workout. I found out why the gym was staying open late when then Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler came walking in with his trainer Haney Rambod, followed by IFBB pro Kevin Levrone, and Seth Feroce. They were shooting a video and I had the opportunity to be working out and later watch when I had finished my workout. I had no camera, only my cell phone. I had
never taken a photo with my phone, but quickly learned how. I managed to get these two photos saved to my phone:

Later I was told by someone at the gym that they had watched a video on the Muscular Development website (Jay Cutler & Seth Feroce Blast Back with the Pro Creator) and I was in the background. I looked the video up & sure enough, there I was doing hanging leg raises in the background while  the IFBB pros did bar rows.

This year, I headed to the gym alone again. Its a neat gym, very nostalgic, and as I trained I felt very blessed to be in that gym, training, in a place where I know so many champions have trained and do train. As I trained, I noticed a gentleman who seemed to be giving a tour of the gym to some folks, showing them some of the classic photos on the wall, etc. I went about my ab training. As I began my arm workout and finished my first set of tricep pushdowns, the gentleman walked over, grabbed my wrist, and as I took off my headphones said in a serious tone, "don't break anything".  I wasn't training extra hard, just training like I always do with intensity. It was nice to know that just training like the person I am gets noticed, and I thanked him jokingly for the concern.

No pros in sight when I entered, but later as I walked into another room I noticed a camera man filming IFBB pros Evan Centopani and Seth Feroce. One of the Mass Machines in the Challenge spotted me in this video at Muscular Development of their training session that day & sent it my way. You see me in the background (can't miss me in red) starting about 5 minutes in & continuing through to the end. The photo below was taken later that evening when they guest posed at the show.

After I finished my workout and headed for my post-workout shake, I checked my phone and found the photo to the right in my inbox. Seems my friend, Kathy, who decided not to work out and stayed at the hotel was outside when she noticed IFBB pro Kai Greene sitting alone on a bench outside the motel. She didn't have her camera, but knew this was the perfect opportunity to get a photo and tease me as she knows Kai is one of my favorite IFBB pros. She asked Kai if it bothered him when people came up to him interrupting his quiet time alone. He said not really. She told him she had a friend that was a big fan & all she had was her cell phone and no one else was around to take the photo. He suggested they take a photo of themselves and with a couple of tries, viola!

Later, as Kai guest posed at the show, we caught up with him again where we took the photo to the left. He showed so much energy and seemed to be enjoying every moment of his guest posing appearance, and the crowd LOVED him!

If you have never seen Kai guest pose, you should, here's a few of his outstanding moves!

Wearing His Signature Mask

 
 Other awesome guest posers at the show included reigning Mr. Olympia, Phil Heath, IFBB pros Dexter Jackson, Branch Warren, Evan Centopani, Seth Feroce, and Steve Kuclo.

From Left to Right, Dexter Jackson, Branch Warren, Seth Feroce, Kai Greene, Evan Centopani, Steve Kuclo pull some up & coming stars to the stage

Reigning Mr Olympia Phil Heath

 Another highlight was getting to meet the ProCreator, creator of the FST-7 training program, Haney Rambod.

Cyndi placed fourth in her first competition as a Physique Competitor and I was very proud of her. Ben placed fifth in the Masters Over 35 Division in his first competition ever. Just setting foot on stage for the first time is a success in itself!

There ends another great weekend. Only 9 more weeks until it will be show time for me.