First Figure Season is over - onto 2014 NATIONAL PREP

[fitdebbieob]

transformation.jpgA year ago I decided to make some serious changes in my life. Let's see if I can recap in a nutshell: Girl was a competitive bodybuilder...gets married at 20 (dumb as shit, i know)..has kids at 22, 26, 28 and realizes at 30 WTF did I get married to this idiot 10 years ago. Divorce. meets tall and handsome drummer in a rock band - Fun....too much fun. seems this drummer truly lives the life of "sex drugs and rock and roll"...in every sense of the term including the nasty emotional and physical abuse of an addict (yes, dumb as shit again)...girl sticks up for herself and kicks the big A$$ out, police and restraining orders involved....girl meets mr. wonderful - 3 IVF cycles and failures later and one major dose of depression sets in girl decides to find something to dig her out of this nasty hell of emotion - back to bodybuilding. And so it started.

I started a clean diet, hard core lifting, plenty of cardio and got the metabolism revv'd. I had NO muscle left from the old days, but plenty of knowledge to get back to basics. In 6 months I dropped 30 pounds of bodyfat and put on 12 pounds of muscle. not to bad for someone who just finished pumping their body with female hormones to try to get pregnant 6 months prior. try bouncing back from that shit!

Entered my first show: NY Metropolitan. Not one I would recommend to many first timers. Very crowded, lots of NY attitude (I'm from NY so I can say that) and really good competition. 8th place in the open. top 10 for my first time in the NPC - not bad I think.

Second show: Mid Atlantic NPC. 4th in the open and felt much more confident. Let my competition coach go after this show since he felt I couldn't keep competing unless I packed on substantially more muscle even though the judges didn't agree with that. riding solo now

Third show: Garden State NPC. Interesting to be backstage alone for the first time. No coach to grease me up. No one telling me to eat this carb or pump up this way. Funny enough, I loved every minute of it and made some of the greatest friends this way. Second in masters, third in open. and on my own. Not bad for a first year finish.

I will tell you I was scared sh!t to go off season. It took me too many hours of lifting and cardio and no cheat meals to get nice and lean....what would off season do? would I look like my old fluffy self within 3 weeks? I read horror stories of women who bulked up within a month of competing and looked like jabba the hut - I was petrified. so i built myself a clean little diet, got right back to the gym and I am proud to say that four weeks later and little to no cardio - I still have abs. ABS People!!!!! From a girl who had no confidence to do any of this alone, I am trucking through my off season, growing not bulking, and looking forward to my next big milestone - national level.

Next up: JR USA in May 2014. Follow my progress here......

[nic902]

Hey Debbie! Great to see you here, welcome to RX

[apolizzi]

Hey Debbie! Awesome job in your placings! I know what you mean when it comes to being scared to get big big after a show (did that after my first year) still out on quite a bit of muscle but blagh I was not happy. The next time around I did much better, much cleaner. (Definitely the way to go) So props to you for still having abs! Keep it up! Look forward to following you!

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[MichelleMosher77]

Hey Debbie!!!Great job and congratulations in your placings. Your hard work definetly shows!!! Looking forward to following your journey!

[The Prodigy]

Welcome to RX Girl! Great transformation! I know you will love this forum! Tons of great girls and knowledge here!

[tekcrna]

What an inspirational story! I am training for my first figure competition in October and I will be alone backstage and am very scared/extremely nervous. I hope this sport isn't one that eats it's young. I look forward to following along on your new journey!

[fitdebbieob]

What an inspirational story! I am training for my first figure competition in October and I will be alone backstage and am very scared/extremely nervous. I hope this sport isn't one that eats it's young. I look forward to following along on your new journey!

I wouldn't say they eat their young but I have had very different experiences at the different shows. Some people avoid others. Other people are super friendly. Stay in touch as ou get closer to your show and I can give you some suggestions on things I forgot and wish I had and tips on things how t apply your own bikini bite lol

[fitdebbieob]

Welcome to RX Girl! Great transformation! I know you will love this forum! Tons of great girls and knowledge here!

Thanks Gail!

[fitdebbieob]

I bounce back and forth in my confidence in my own ability to manage my off season. Some days I think "I'm a personal trainer, I've had formal training in this, I've done this in some shape or form for many years, I know what exercises build which muscles and I can calculate macros for growth like anyone else". So as long as I watch my body weekly and ensure that I'm not putting on too much bodyfat..I should be ok. But then the word "potential" kicks in. So, maybe all of those things are true. Maybe I did build a great diet with the right macros. Maybe I am 4 weeks post my last show and still have some striations and a little abs when I flex. but what if what I'm doing isn't maximizing my potential. What if I could get my lats a little wider with something else that I'm not doing. What if I could build out my quad sweeps if I at 20 more grams of carbs and squatted just a little heavier. OH THE MIND PLAYS ITS ENDLESS GAMES! and then of course, when I try to banter a little with my training partner (aka, husband) he rolls his eyes and says "can't we be done with this nonsense for a little while??" yes, he trains. yes he follows a meal plan. no he doesn't carry tupperware in his bag and is perfectly happy waiting 5 hours to eat if he's out and will grab a slice of pizza. and yes he rolls his eyes when I pull out a ziploc with tuna when it's 3 hours since my last meal. dammit....I need those quad sweeps and lats!! ok, seriously, I'm not that crazy (although, yes I will pull out a ziploc with tuna on an airplane when it's time to eat) and I do believe the plan I've built is the best it can be for the moment and yes looking in the mirror I think I'm staying lean enough to enable growth without excess. But I can't help but think, what haven't I thought of? In the meantime, keep my head down and ask my husband about the cilantro growing in the garden rather than the size of my quads so he doesn't think his wife has jumped off the deep end of insanity (have I? LOL)

[fitdebbieob]

Trained back today with a whole new program and LOVED IT. here's what it looked like:
- Wide Grip Pullups
- Seated Rows
- barbell rows
- dumbell rows
- close grip pull downs
- high pulley rows

because I pulled out bi's and put them with tri's on a different day, I was able to focus on overloading my back instead of holding out some energy to train bis at the end. I also took a good look and realized its time to add in one cardio session a week (HIIT for the anabolic and EPOC effect) since IMO I've settled into a pleasant puffy off season look and don't want to go overboard with body fat. I find I'm hungry during the day (not cravings, truly hungry) so I know my metabolism is still strong. So I think this one HIIT will keep things at a consistent level. Also stopping the bite of ice cream and oh sure I'll try the cookies you baked my dear daughter nonsense. (just being honest here).

Off to the beach tomorrow, food is all prepped and packed for the day (except for my casein which is on order because hubby took the last scoop last night and didn't reorder it ) have a great day y'all!

[tekcrna]

I had to laugh when I read the post where you talk about your husband, I can relate. This lifestyle seems to test you in many ways, and in every area of your life! My husband is my training partner too. He helps me tremendously and supports me 100% but I can definitely tell when I need to back off and interject some "real world" conversation! Good luck with your new training program and keeping hunger at bay! I find I am becoming addicted to sugar free gum, can't get enough!