2015 Bikini Contest Prep

In October I was about 20 pounds over my most recent stage weight. Luckily I have a pretty healthy metabolism, and have been able to bring my weight back to a more comfortable ten pounds over.

Just last night I decided that I am going to commit to a competition that is coming up quickly. I have 7 weeks to prepare for my contest and feel confident that I can be ready with the proper preparation. For this competition prep, I would like to share everything I am doing with the internet :) Meals, workouts, and other contest prep thoughts.

I am starting my meal plan on a bit lower calories than I have in the past, mainly because I have a shorter timespan to prepare...and I don't want to do as much cardio (because cardio is the pits). This is my current meal plan:

AND:

1 gallon water

2 scoops scivation BCAAs

1000 iu Vitamin Shoppe Chewy Vitamin D3

VitaFusion MultiVites Daily Mutlivitamin 

1200mg Kirkland Calcium + D3

2000 mg Kirkland Chewable Vitamin C

Probiotic capsule

2 tsp Lemon Zest Omega Swirl Fish Oil

Now, I am a complete believer in IIFYM, and over the past few months I have definitely enjoyed A LOT of treats and meals out fitting [most of] them into my macros; however, in contest prep I generally choose not to eat out as frequently in order to keep my measurements more accurate (because most places aren't going to weight all the items and ingredients in your meals for you). I also like to eat more whole foods during contest prep, because if there are fewer ingredients, there are fewer variables to effect your macros (for example...my quest bar has relatively accurate nutritional information on the back, but who is to say that it is mixed exactly to the ratios listed on the back?...but, also I am obviously allowing myself a tiny bit of flexibility with my protein powder, bread, quest bars, and turkey burgers).  

*I may swap them for egg whites, ground turkey, and rice or sweet potato as I get closer to contest to simplify my diet further.*

I don't usually eat until around 10:00 AM and try to stop eating between 8-10:00 PM. I usually try to get to the gym between 12:00-2:00 PM and lift for about an hour and a half. My split is currently: 

Monday: Legs with quad emphasis

Tuesday: Chest and Arms

Wednesday: Shoulders and Back

Thursday: Legs with hamstring emphasis

Friday: Arms and Chest

Saturday: Back and Shoulders

I usually throw in some calves after legs...but only really when my brother talks me into it. I hate [working out] abs...so I rarely do isolation work for abs (but I probably will start adding them in once a week...maybe). 

This week, I am doing twenty minutes of post-lift cardio in sprint intervals. The treadmills have cool images of a track on them so I use that to determine my intervals. My sprint intervals are the length of the track and I walk the curves. Today I did 5 min warm up walking and 15 minutes of intervals. My watch said I burned 177 calories, the machine said I burned 260 (my watch should be more accurate). 

I started taking circumfrence measurements a couple of weeks ago, and Fridays are my designated measurement/progress picture days (so I will do them again tomorrow...and probably post as my 'before' pictures).

I sleep a lot. I do need to make my hours more consistent, but I definitely get enough sleep...generally I feel pretty good with 9 hours/night.

That's my plan currently. Hope you guys enjoy following my contest prep:)

Step Mill Interval Cardio Session #1

I have been incorporating a lot of intervals to help me get ready for my next show. I get bored with steady state cardio. I have a harder time feeling motivated to do ANY cardio, if I know that it is going to require more than probably 30 minutes. Luckily, I don't have to do more than that when I do intervals:) I really like the step mill for a few reasons: 1) Less impact forces 2) Lots of fun ways to target the bum 3) it will really get your heart rate going, without making you feel like you are going to cough up a lung. So, without further ramblings, here is an example of an interval session I would do on the step mill: 

25 MINUTES TOTAL:

5 minutes warm up (level 8-ish for me)

Repeat 5 Times: 

30 second step run (level 20)

1 minute right side skip step (back to level 8)

1 minute left side skip step

1 minute recovery skip step 

1 minute skip step with glute kick-back (level 7-8)

30 seconds right side skip step

30 seconds left side skip step

30 seconds recovery skip step

DONE! Give it a go! Good luck!

Legs, legs, legs...

One of my favorite workouts from the summer:

Each group is 12 minutes!
12 Rounds: 10 seconds rest, 50 seconds work
1. Santana Push-up Left & Right, Half-burpee
2. 2 Squat Jumps, Squat & Right, Left Side Leg Lifts
3. 10 Crab Kick-ups, 10 Mountain Climbers
4. Squat, Side Jump, Squat

18 Rounds: 10 seconds rest, 30 seconds work
1. Wall Sit with Knee Squeeze
2. Burpee, Side Jump, Burpee
3. Wall Sit with Knee Squeeze
4. Square Jump Burpee
5. Wall Sit with Knee Squeeze
6. 2 Jump Lunges, 2 Jacks

12 Rounds: 10 seconds rest, 50 seconds work
1. Mountain Climbers
2. Straight Abs
3. Cross-unders
4. Bicycle Abs
5. Knee to Elbow
6. Toe touches

4 Minute Cardio!
4 Rounds: 10 seconds rest, 50 seconds work
1. High knees
2. Low Jacks

When my husband has a minute, I am going to have him help me get videos started:) In the meantime, I will be messing around with the go-pro in hopes that I might figure it out myself first...wish me luck!