Are you curious about entering your first competition?

Are you just curious about all the crazy thing fitness competitors do before a show?

Are you just curious about what I’ve put myself through the past three weeks?

NO? then move a long. This blog will bore you. Leave now! 😉

Step 1: Ensure your meal plan is the cleanest it’s ever been. Some people have to follow a strict diet 12 weeks or 6 weeks out from the show date. I have managed to stay fairly lean for the past few months as I was training for Tough Mudder. I eat clean year round and have fun with my diet but focus on getting 5 evenly portioned meals in a day so I don’t really measure out my macros. I train once a week with Amer “The Hammer” Kamra so I entrusted my 3 week out diet to him. If we can make miracles happen with my body in 3 weeks then I’ll be excited about that. Every competition I try something different. You just have to choose something and stick to it. Please note that I hate hate cold egg whites as the last meal of the day. Barf city. Other than that it really wasn’t that bad. I feel a bit deprived but I was mentally ready for that and glad I only had to truly deprive myself for only three weeks.

Step 2: Order a competition bikini. I like simple bikinis on stage. Choose a great colour, shiny connectors and I’m set. I also wanted to see where I could save on costs this competition so I could share where I saved with others. I’ve worn black/silver, purple, yellow, turquoise and red on stage so far in my competition career. Since I’m blonde and have blue eyes I wanted to try out a blue suit this time. I post 6 options on my Instagram and the dark royal blue at the bottom left was a winner but I wanted to add a bit of edge to mine so I chose a spakle colour (bottom right). I bought from Ravish Sands. Stay tuned for pictures! I spent less than $100 which is a save vs. other years where I’ve spent over $200.

Step 3: In the past I’ve bought a more expensive suit and skimped on hair & makeup. Booking hair only and doing makeup myself. I love and adore the Valeria Nova. So she got to beautify this face and head last Saturday morning. She did the hair and makeup for the picture of me holding a kettle bell on my About Me page.

Step 4: Tan! For my very first show I bought Pro Tan & Dream Tan for my tanning colour needs. My mom came to stay with me and I painted my front and she painted my back (got over being embarrassed pretty fast – after all she changed my diapers!). In 2010 & 2011 I hired airbrush tanning masters but here is where I wanted to cut costs as I have 3 Pro Tan containers sitting in my bathroom. I knew they’d come in handy sometime! Scary that they haven’t “gone” bad but that’s another blog post all together. This year I’m trying one new thing. I purchased trial sizes of Glo Primer and Gel. The three weeks leading up to prep I mixed one eyedropper in with a 100ml container of moisturizer and my skin has been beyond happy. Each night last week as I put Pro Tan on my skin it would just evenly soak it up. I can’t wait to see what the Gel mixed with the dream tan will do for my skin!

Step 4: Packing to travel to another city for a competition and for show day is an experience in itself. An amazing thing that SAF offers it’s competitors was a free checklist & packing list that you could download from their website.

Step 5. Visualize success. Some competitors talk about actually picturing themselves on stage in a certain placing or winning. I’m choosing to visualize having an amazing day smiling, meeting new women and having fun strutting on stage.

Step 6. Let go of any mental stress. It will only make your lower belly bloat with the stress hormone cortisol. So be proud of what you’ve done up to this point. You can figure out new goals post comp. But in the moment revel in what you did. What you accomplished in whatever time you took to get there. I have been competing since 2009 and I have to force feed this thought into my brain. I’m just as mentally unsure of myself as anyone else.

I had an amazing time at the show. I did not place but I am so proud with the package I brought to the stage and the changes I’ve made over the past year.

Enjoy the Process of a Competition! If you have any questions about competing I would love to answer them! Leave them in the comments!