Third Time’s A Charm

I now have 3 fitness competitions under my belt. 8 months of experimenting with fitness training, meal planning and supplement taking to achieve a goal.

Contest #1: WBFF World Championships – Mississauga, Ontario – September 19, 2009

I decided to enter one of the biggest competitions in Toronto, let alone Canada as my first competition. Ok so I aim high! I was nervous, crazy excited and had no idea what to expect. Thank goodness I was able to experience the competition with a fellow Hourglass Workout girl, Chivon John and my personal trainer Lyzabeth Lopez. They kept me sane, gave me pep talks, took pictures with me for our standard facebook picture albums and kept me calm in the change-room.

I was competing in the Diva Bikini Model category. When I first registered for the contest I was under the assumption that there would be a pro category and an open (amateur) category. Although I may have a lot of  self-confidence competing against fitness models that have been on the cover of Oxygen Magazine several times is a tiny bit intimidating. Ok so it caused me to have a slight panic attack. They had merged the category together and I found out the night before at the Athlete’s Meeting. So I think I psyched myself out a little bit. Ok I totally psyched myself out of the competition.

I tried my best to rock it on stage but I knew that my attitude had changed. It showed in my walk and on my face and I was further disappointed to find out that I didn’t place top 10 which had been my goal. I could’ve given up at this point and said meh I competed on stage. I have changed my fitness and health around. I have a great new body and I conquered fears of appearing on stage and rocked the stage in an itty bitty bikini. I licked my wounds, got some much needed confidence back and set my sights on my next competition.

Contest #2: Flex Bikini Contest – Las Vegas, Nevada – September 25, 26, 2009

Ok so the Hourglass family decided to head down to the Olympia weekend in Vegas. If you know bodybuilding this is one of the events to be at during the year. Flex Magazine hosts a Bikini Model Search every year so I thought sure! Why not! I arrived to find out I was competing against 90 other competitors. Gasp! And there goes that twinge that is telling my confidence to drop. Pause. Take a deep breath you can do this. I had already paid my entry fee, booked a spray tanning w/ Pro Tan and brought my bikini with me. No way was I backing out on this one. The best part of my experience was having my girls Chynna Chung and Chivon John smiling up at me from the stage. They snuck into VIP seating (shhh!) and sat right behind the judge’s table so I couldn’t miss them. It’s thanks to them I was able to beam on stage. I found the girls in this competition quite tight in their physiques. I also wasn’t aware of the online voting part of the contest so I have a better strategy for next year 😉 No top 16 placement but still a great experience, hot photos from the stage and a great chance to meet girls backstage from all over the world. The competitor behind me was from France so I got to practice my bilingualism backstage. Time to head back to Toronto and re-focus for my 3rd competition.

Contest #3: UFE Halloween Mayhem – Hamilton, Ontario – October 24, 2009

My experience at UFE Halloween Mayhem was a positive, fun, learning, exhausting and overall great experience. I had returned from Vegas having caught a nasty bug on the plane ride home. No more red eye flights for me. I wasn’t able to workout for a week after returning and was scared I wouldn’t be ready in time. I had 3 weeks to revamp the bod for Oct 24 and I trained hard. My first week back in the gym I had a weird time training certain muscles. I would work out my back and my shoulders would hurt the next day. Focus on my glutes and have inner thighs screaming. The last two weeks before UFE went by smoothly. The meal plan was back in effect, the muscles were hurting in the right place, I had a great costume idea being made and my focus and goal of placing top 10 was still in my brain.

I was able to experience this contest with my training partner Gule Sheikh. We met this summer during a Fitness Model Workshop, ran by, of course, the lovely Lyzabeth Lopez, and started a couple of personal training sessions with Lyzabeth together. We drove down Friday morning, had fun getting spray tanned together, making jokes about being water depleted and had a great chance to enjoy the experience. The atmosphere at UFE was so much different than WBFF and Flex. There were friendly faces backstage, great friends competing together and an organized show with a schedule that all competitors were made aware of well in advance. I felt confident knowing what was going on and could focus on performing well onstage. I rocked the Bikini Model round in a butterfly costume and was able to stand out on stage enough to place number 9! I don’t really care what number it was. It was Top 10. My goal accomplished. I could smile and enjoy the placing!