Tag bodybuilding

My First Free July 4th Weekend Since 2009!

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TU Overall Winners

Pictured above are the division Overall winners from NPC Team Universe last year. That’s me in the tangerine bikini third in from the right. I took home the following placings last year from the NPC Team Universe (you can click on the image to enlarge it):

Overall Master’s 40+ Bikini
1st Place Master’s 40+ Bikini B Class
1st Place Master’s 35+ Bikini B Class
4th Place Open Bikini D Class

I just realized that for the first time since 2009, I am not slated to travel to New Jersey to compete at the NPC Team Universe! No wonder I feel a bit out of sorts. I had grown so accustomed to flying to New Jersey and missing the July 4th festivities in the Los Angeles area, lugging bags full of food and competition gear and stressing out over whether I am dialed in sufficiently to do well onstage. It truly is an odd feeling not to be wound up like that!

It’s also bizarre to regard the NPC Team Universe as an event which is dear to my heart, because prior to 2013, it had always been an event in which I never placed very well. No one wins a Pro Card by placing 14th, 11th, 12th or 8th. There was something magical about the first week of July last year, and by the time I arrived in New Jersey, I knew that I would finally attain my goal of winning my Pro Card.

The NPC Team Universe is a fantastic event, and I am so excited for every single person who is competing this weekend! Best of luck to all athletes who are competing this weekend!

Too Many Cooks

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Adult female with personal trainer at gym.I am getting pretty tired of clients who think they are suddenly fitness authorities, or who think nothing of following the advice of 52 different people on what to do about diet, exercise after signing up for a comprehensive training and meal plan which I customize for them. Honestly, why hire me if you’re just going to follow whatever your whim decides is cool at the moment? I don’t get easily insulted, but it’s more that I put time into customizing plans and don’t appreciate it when a client reads some silly excerpt in Shape magazine and decides that it must be better than my advice because it was in a women’s magazine.

I deal with know-it-all attitudes as a fitness professional and as a physician. Let me be very clear. I have a four year college degree in Exercise Science from a well respected college. I have over twenty years of experience with weight training, and have done contest prep coaching since 2010. I am a professional athlete.

As a physician I have over a decade of experience, am board-certified and fully licensed. Yet I am challenged on a regular basis by people who think that because they looked up something on WebMD that they are suddenly more knowledgeable than I am. In fact I am not sure which bothers me more: the disrespect I get as a doctor, or the disrespect I get as a fitness professional?

The BEST advice I can give to anyone who is looking for a comprehensive plan in fitness, nutrition, or hormone balancing is to pick ONE expert and stick with that person’s knowledge instead of second guessing the individual by throwing other mostly uneducated opinions on what to do. While I give people a lot of credit for knowing their own bodies. I think it is important to remember that contradicting your coach, physician or mentor is a study in animosity that will pitch you in poor stead with that person who is trying to help you.

Gamma Linolenic Acid

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GLAOne supplement which has gotten attention from Dr. Oz lately as a potential fat buster and weight loss aid is gamma-linolenic acid. Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) is an omega-6 fatty acid which stimulates the brown fat in the body and trigger utilization of white fat for energy. GLA also raises serotonin levels in the brain, creating a feeling of satiety sooner. There have been numerous studies to suggest that GLA can be an effective weight loss aid. Another nifty benefit of GLA is the body’s conversion of it into dihomo-gamma-linoleic acid, which is a precursor of the anti-inflammatory prostaglandin E1.

The Dr. Oz website recommends taking 1,000 milligrams of GLA before every meal for one week to mobilize fat stores for energy, while other sites recommend anywhere from 500 to 2,000 milligrams daily split into several doses. However, many studies state that the effects of GLA can only be seen after prolonged supplementation. GLA derived from black currant seed oil is a bit safer to take since the GLA derived from evening primrose oil may have estrogenic activity in some individuals.

GLA can also help with symptoms of PMS, rheumatoid arthritis and high blood pressure, and it can be excellent for the skin and hair. I am actually quite intrigued with the benefits for skin since I work extensively in the field of aesthetic dermatology and am always searching for skin cures. Of course this means that there is a chance that I will give GLA supplementation a try so that I can report my individual findings in a later blog post.

Make sure that if you decide to supplement with GLA to take this supplement with food to enhance absorption. Also make sure to allow several weeks for the effects to manifest. Lastly, bear in mind that this supplement tends to be very unstable and can turn rancid, so store in a cool, dry, dark place.

Back To The Drawing Board…How I Plan To Sculpt Myself For the Next Contest

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glass-female-body-sculptureEvery time I step onstage I am acutely aware of what I bring, and my research on what needs improvement begins the day after the event, during which time I scrutinize my images to determine where to focus. I am CONSTANTLY punishing my gluteal region in an effort to make it as round, high, and tight as I can possibly manage despite my ever advancing age and the ravages of gravity. Unfortunately, my glutes began to deflate a few weeks ago, just in time for me to compete in two back to back events! It was frustrating to say the least.

I have already implemented a new regimen which should serve to plump up my rear view and lift everything up in time for my next competition. Another issue which I now struggle with is increasing deposition of fat in my inner thighs which makes my thighs look thick. This will be addressed with adjustments to my routine so that I can “run down” my legs a bit. Because I have been competing for a while, and because of my background as a trainer and coach, I know what I need to do to get myself dialed in. You had better believe the race is on to see how much I can accomplish and how quickly I can do it! Though I make my own adjustments, I do not recommend this to the average competitor. Invest in the advice and guidance of an experienced, practiced eye that can direct you to specifically correct or improve on weaker areas.

I honestly think it is important to always make a post-contest assessment, even if you get an overall win. You never know who will be at your next contest, so if you have an area which could use even the slightest bit of improvement, or if you need to make an adjustment on posing, suit color, or some other detail, make sure to address those issues in advance.

How I Select Pro Contests To Compete In

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DJ ClassicYou 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.