So… aside from dance I have recently been very into fitness. After being an elite competitive gymnast, a track and field competitor and a rock climber, I really enjoy working out, challenging myself and pushing my body (and subsequently my mind) to see what it can do. I have had it in my head for a while now that I want to compete in a body building competition, particularly in the figure category. So, after some truly Divine help bringing some incredible people into my life with incredible ability, desire, and compassion to help me accomplish that goal, I made the plunge.
I’ve been lifting three times a week for about six months now with a wonderful woman, Marci Anderson, who is now my dear friend. I love her so much! She is so fantastic. Without her, this really wouldn’t be possible. At any rate, It has only been in the last week that I have had to kick it up a few notches in order to really prepare for the show. As of last week, I was 11 weeks out (from the date of the comp) and as such I began adding 4 days of cardio, an extra training day with Marci, as well as an extra workout on top of that with a woman named Lu Ann Van Akin. Lu Ann won the overall in the figure category last year in the same show I am preparing for (which, by the way is the NPC Utah March Open). All of my training is done on top 6 hours a day of dancing 5 days a week, 17 credit hours, and 22 hours of work. …Pretty much, I think I must be crazy.
Lu Ann is giving me good tips and added insight as to how to prepare. Which, as the days go on I find there is much more to this body building stuff beyond just the training and diet than I had imagined.. such as the gear: a figure suit that must be fully equipped with rhinestones that has to be a certain cut- aka 80′s work out style v-front – not my favorite 
… the 5 inch clear heels (preferably with rhinestones of course), the blingin’ bejeweled earrings and bracelet, the spray tan, the wax that must come to pass as a result of the 80′s frontal cut suit the nails, the make up, the posing classes (because I don’t know yet how to access some of the muscles in my body to engage and flex them in seemingly normal positions), the NPC membership card, the registration fees, etc. etc. etc. !!! I’m not really a girly-girl so all of this excess jewel and tan business is kinda weird for me. But alas, it is the aesthetic of these types of things and comes with the journey.
Thankfully, Lu Ann and Marci are so willing to help me find the best way to figure all of this out and the most cost effective way to do it. For, being the still fairly newly wed and student that I am, I am limited on funds. Marci, bless her wonderful heart, is doing a trade out with me so I can work out for free and in return, I teach her daughter Miria dance lessons. Lu Ann is going to help me with posing so I hopefully don’t have to pay for classes, and thankfully she knows many people in the fitness world who are willing to rent their things out for very low cost. I am also finding people who are willing to lend me things for free so I don’t have to buy so much. All of this is truly a blessing, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to afford to do this. The Lord is definitely looking out for me. I feel extremely grateful.
Lu Ann is also helping me with what to further implement into my training with Marci. She has started me on meal plans, aka a diet- I just don’t prefer to use that word because it has negative connotation. So, I’ve been on a particular meal plan for a week and a half now (next week it will change, and every two weeks after that), and luckily I enjoy healthy food so it’s not hard for me to eat the food and like it. It’s just hard for me not to eat other things! Haha! No, I actually do pretty well with it, except when my husband sits down next to me with something that smells real good and then I feel like bagging all my progress just to have a bite. He won’t let me though, he is very adamant that I stick to this goal I have, knowing full well that if he lets me “cheat” I will just beat myself up about it after the show wondering why I didn’t try my hardest… he is a wise man. (Although I’m not sure if it’s really because he wants me to do my best or because he just wants to save himself the anguish of having to listen to me stew about it and complain to no none else but him if things go poorly as a result of me not following through the way I will say I should have haha). No, he is so great, he really wants me to do the best I can because he realizes how important this is to me, and without his support I’m not sure- actually, no, I am positive I wouldn’t be able to do this as successfully.
Well, as part of his support tactics, after I got done telling him one day that he couldn’t let me cheat no matter what, he pulled out his I-phone and made me record myself repeating what I had just told him. This included that no matter what I say or no matter how mad or frustrated I get, I will not allow myself and I give him permission that he too, will not allow me to stray from my meal plans. I thought this was a good idea at the time, but now every time I want to eat something that is not in my current repertoire of foods, and no matter how I try to justify it, even if it’s super small and seemingly innocent! (can you tell I’ve already tried to use these arguments?)- much to my dismay, Jeremy will pull out his phone and play my message and say, “Just take a listen to this… or allow me to remind you…” It frustrates the heck out of me some days, but it makes me smile at the same time. He knows me way too well. Hehe.
All of this is a bit crazy but at the end of the day I feel I will find it very satisfying to have set a goal, and worked hard the entire way through to achieve it. I guess well see.
