You might be wondering what process I go through to determine which IFBB Pro Bikini events I will prep for, especially since there are a whopping THIRTY-SIX Pro Bikini events slated for 2014. Eight of these contests are outside of the United States (Australia, New Zealand, Toronto, Finland, Slovakia, Korea, Mexico, Russia), and I would very much like to do two of them, provided that sponsors would be willing to send me to the locations I have chosen.

Aside from the international events, I have zero desire to travel via plane to get to the U.S. based contests. That is partially due to the fact that air travel is less enjoyable than ever before due to all the TSA regulations. I would much rather throw my stuff into my car and take a road trip to get to a destination that is a reasonable distance away. I did this two weeks in a row recently, driving to Phoenix, AZ the week before last (400 miles each way), and then to Sacramento, CA last week (also around 400 miles). Through this process of elimination I have omitted the majority of events on the list, including all East Coast events. This means that several contests on my to-do list will either be in California or Arizona.

No matter where you are on your competition journey, it is important to map out a schedule so that you can establish clear goal markers. You may consider criteria such as geographic distance, getting in front of certain judges, hitting masters’ divisions, or pursuing that Pro Card. In all but the rarest of cases, try to avoid jumping into an event at the last minute, because chances are, you won’t come in at your best. Sometimes you’ll hear about a particular contest being so well-run or so much fun that you want to do it almost solely for that reason. This is what happened for me in 2010 as an amateur at the NPC Emerald Cup in Washington. I ended up having a fantastic time and won a tiara along with my second place finish and trophy. You can do this, but make sure that it somehow keeps you moving forward towards your competitive goals.