It has been amazing to sleep longer in the morning and I can begin to feel my thoughts becoming more clear as well as increased energy levels, already. A lighter "circuit" for resistance training is being incorporated 3 times per week, every other day. On alternate days, cardiovascular work is performed (with a great deal less intensity than for contest prep). The resistance training circuit being used right now is a sample of the Vitalizer Program right from How to Eat Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek. This type of training is relaxing and just feels completely different. More of a focus is placed on balance and coordination than some other types of training. Eg: "bodybuilding" type training with more specific muscle group isolation. This can be a beneficial way to train for different goals and for enjoyment as well, but the Vitalizer program is a nice change, for now, and I believe it will allow for more recuperation at this point.

Here are sample movements from Monday's session. Each is performed immediately after the other, resting for 3 minutes at the end of each circuit. This circuit was completed a total of 4 times: 

1. Multi-Directional Lunge (4 times per side)

2. Single Arm Cable Pull (12-15reps)

3. Single Arm Cable Push (12-15reps)

4. Lateral Ball Roll (8 reps per side)

5. Forward Ball Roll (12 reps)

As the movements are quite "fluid," this allows for more of a "stretching" type feeling with an overall feeling of relaxation following the sessions.

The meal plan is very much the same as it was beginning 4 weeks out from the first of the two shows. Slowly introducing options feels so much better than the huge dive into a "normal" diet which has been done in the past. Yesterday I began introducing a little more heavy or "high purine" meats. This not only tasted awesome but may be part of the reason why sleep came so easily last night. This morning fruit was reintroduced with breakfast (1 cup of mixed berries) but I felt a little bit of a "crash" feeling about an hour later. This could be too much carbs for me or it could be something else. I'll try again and see what happens. If the same feeling results then I'll try less fruit and maybe a bit more fat to help "slow down" the effect of the fruit.

It's fun playing around with things like this :) 

I hope you're having a great day.  

Hello :) I'm back from Mom and Dad's and the end of show season 2010. A big huge congrats goes out to Meaghan Terzis who looked so incredible. Meaghan placed first in Bikini Tall Division and also first Overall. She works so hard and is such an incredible mother, athlete, client and friend. I am so extremely proud of her. Her caloric intake was the highest it's been out of any of her show preps, with more calories coming from fruit and healthy fats than ever before. Meaghan transitions very well to offseason, maintaining a bodywieght of no more than 7 or 8 lbs above contest. She also continues to make improvements to her, already beautiful, physique. As Meaghan continues to improve muscle tone and athleticism, her metabolism increases even further. Pictures to come soon!

Show day was a lot of fun and the pre-show nutrition, water manipulation seemed to work well. Everything came together a little bit "tighter" than UFE (whether or not that was "good", I'm not too sure but it was interesting to see what things look like in that condition). I came in 7th out of 12 girls in the Medium-Tall Figure class. This was the feedback given: Stage presence and posing are good, conditioning and overall proportions are good with improvements from last season, the fallback being lack of natural feminine curve accompanied by a smaller waist as compared to the top placing physiques. The feedback in regards to body shape are comments that I have heard before, but you cannot change your natural structure, nor should you want to. This is also the part that can rip you apart if you let it. Different body shapes and looks are one of the things that make this sport so cool to see. I will keep striving for personal improvements from show to show, while getting enough rest in between. That really is the most important part; for us to aim for personal gains, working to bring our best to the stage, while allowing ourselves to recover properly. However things work out in regards to placings and the feedback given,always keep your head up and keep moving forward. Allow yourself to use these things as tools for improvement, whether it be through a better outlook, physical improvements or both.

The transition to "off season" will be a more gradual one than in the past. This weekend allowed for so much nice relaxation and delicious meals with the family. The plan beginning today is the removal of morning cardio sessions, but maintaining night time resistance training. These sessions are not as "intense" as contest prep training, and will follow more of a lighter circuit type format. Samples will be included soon. The meal plan will be an even slower transition by gradually increasing calories from clean carbohydrates, good fats and different options when it comes to condiments and supplements.This week a whey isolate will be reintroduced along with condiments like mustard, hot sauce and stevia. Food portions are not being increased at this point, to allow my body to adjust to a less demanding training regime and the condiment choices, first. Being safe rather than diving head first into a large caloric increase feels more comfortable at this point. This will help bring everything back into balance gradually instead of shocking my system. 

Here is another shot from Grant sent over the weekend. More information will come shortly and I hope you have great day!

I am so excited for tomorrow!!! Tonight is the athlete's meeting/registration so I'll be headed up there and completing all of the tanning afterward :)

The end of carb depletion yesterday was very different, you could say. Feeling a little antsy, anxious, emotional, scatterbrained,etc.! As wierd as it may sound, this was actually really interesting. I have felt carb depleted for prior shows but never like that! It definitely gives a different perspective on why being properly balanced through sufficient nutrition, rest, recovery, and adequate bodyfat levels is so extremely important. No, these wierd feelings aren't "enjoyable" in a sense that they feel good while they are going on, they don't, but if you take on a different view and become more of an "observer" of what's going on, instead of letting yourself become "stuck" in feeling overpowered by the emotions, etc. they are amazing in the sense that they help you learn so many things. With the show being so close, excitement definitely helps, too :)

Carb loading began this morning! This is the same approach that was used for the previous show, accept carb loading is beginning right from meal 1 (3 meals earlier than the UFE show). Meals are scheduled 3 hours apart and today looks like this:

Meal 1: 1/2 cup of oats

1 cup egg whites with 1 full freerange organic egg

Meal 2: 4oz baked sweet potato

4 oz baked chicken breast

1 cup steamed asparagus

1 tbsp omega 3.6.9 oil

Meal 3: 4oz baked potato

4oz baked chicken breast 

1 cup steamed asparagus

Meal 4: 4oz sweet potato 

4 oz chicken breast 

1 cup steamed asparagus

Meal 5: 4oz baked potato 

4oz extra lean ground turkey 

Meal 6: 4 oz baked potato 

4oz extra lean ground turkey 

1 tbsp omega 3.6.9 oil 

The idea behind using more fibrous carbs earlier in the day (oats, sweet potatoes) is to ensure there is still fiber included, but to taper them off later on in the day to reduce any bloating for the show. The same idea is behind the reduction in veggies.

Water will be cut at 12PM.

Starting at 11PM the 3 rice cakes, 1tbsp Natural Peanut Butter and 1tbsp of honey will be eaten every 3 hours.

All measurements and numbers have remained the same besides waist, which measured to 24" this morning and I was so much more vascular! So wierd. It will be so interesting to see how it all comes together after the water cutting, tanning and carb loading.

I can't wait!!!! This has ended up being the best season yet! :)

Here is another picture from Grant! I get so excited wondering when the next ones will come in :)

Speaking with Steph the final plans have been set for how the rest of these final days will go. Tomorrow instead of having a carb with breakfast, there won't be any at all to further deplete glycogen stores. The idea is that the more depleted you are, the better you will react to carb loading. Friday, instead of beginning to carb load at 2:30, they will be eaten all day starting with breakfast :) This sounds like an exccellent plan to me. A sample of the eating schedule will be added soon.

Water will be cut at noon on Friday, then start just sipping so that 1 L will last until after the show. Cutting water completely can make you appear flat.

So here I go for the final workout :)

Have a great night!

Hi there!

So today being the last training day before the show makes it the last day of prep until most likely next year. That is a really wierd thought :)

Watertight was started this morning and today 6L of water will be consumed. Water intake was decreased from the 8L taken in at this point for this past show since it left me feeling pretty bloated by the end of the day.  

Measurements and weight were taken this morning and compared to the 11 week out from UFE numbers (13 weeks out from OPA Stratford).

Jan23/10              March 20/10                                                                             

11 weeks out      3 days out from

from UFE             OPA Stratford

(13 weeks out

 from OPA)

weight: 145lbs      weight: 130lbs

chest: 36.5"          chest: 33.5"

bicep: 11.5"          bicep: 10.5"

waist: 27.5"          waist: 24.5"

hips: 36.5"            hips: 33.5"

thigh: 21.5"           thigh: 20"

This leaves weight 4lbs less than it was for the UFE show in Mississauga with all measurements being the same as 3 days out from that show besides waist which is 1/2 inch smaller and hips which are just short of 1 inch smaller.

I was not expecting this much of a change at all and it seems a bit crazy, actually. Steph's reassurance that these changes are fine is very helpful at this point.

It's a little hard to believe that tomorrow is the last training day before Stratford. Things have crept up so fast and I'm looking forward to everything more and more each day:) 

Today was depletion workout number two and tomorrow will be high incline walking in the morning with the final depletion workout at night. I'm not really too sure when to start carb loading this time. It seems like my metabolism is a lot quicker now than it was for UFE and I have heard of people needing to carb load a bit earlier or with larger portions for the second show. Not wanting to mess around with this last little bit of prep, I'm just going to wait and do what I'm told lol. 

Measurements and weight will be checked in the morning and Watertight (natural herbal diuretic) will also be started at full dose in the morning.

Today Grant already sent a picture from the shoot on the weekend!!! Holy frig he is so talented!

Yesterday's photoshoot with Grant was so much fun. We did so many different types and it will be really cool to see what comes of it. He sends shots back as he finishes with them after you select some from the negatives. When he was time, he may also go through and pick out some that he would like to work with and does some really neat things with them. I just sent a few of my picks back tonight. I might have a shot or two to share within a week or two. Can't wait!!

It is now less than a week away from Stratford :) I am very very excited.

Since my family lives so close to the venue and don't have to work that day, they will all be there. It will be awesome to stay with them the night before and the night of the show. We have some excellent plans to bbq the next day if the weather is cooperative! Mmmmm Dad's marinated steak.

I actually feel fine for the most part, still having energy during the day and for training, but times have increased where I feel more tired and where emotions are a little "different." During these times, there's a tendency to feel more emotional and I am more likely to feel overwhelmed, especially while multi- tasking. Organization has never felt more important than now. I feel very fortunate to still be able to remain functional and am able to control it for the most part knowing that it's the effect of prep (hormones, training, sleep changes, etc). When things feel like they are "too much" and I can feel a little emotional overload coming on, it helps to remind myself that it's just prep, step back and see things a little more objectively instead of letting the emotion become overwhelming.  

Physical changes have definitely taken place since UFE. Before cutting water I weighed 134lbs, now I weigh 131lbs and haven't even carb depleted yet, which may result in things changing even further. It will be pretty interesting to see how everything comes together for this show. Measurements have remained the same for arms, chest, and legs but hips have gone down by almost an inch in size and my waist is now the smallest it's ever been for any previous show at 24.75".  

Beginning to think ahead to off season planning is super important to me right now as I really don't want to rebound a lot. The smaller everything gets, the more I think about this. I do know that as long as things are mapped out and there's a nice transition to offseason, that it will all be fine. Updates will be added as a plan comes together :) 

So tomorrow is carb depletion time!! All meals are still spaced 2.5-3 hours apart and all contain protein (approx 35g). 15g of fats are still eaten twice a day (from omega 3.6.9 oil), plus approx. 6g from free range organic egg yolk with breakfast. Veggies also remain unlimited (asparagus, cucumber and spinach). In the morning I will have 1 smaller serving of carbs (1/3 cup of oats (approx 20g)) to follow up cardio. This is to be the only starch serving for the day so we can begin further depletion of glycogen stores. In the afternoon will be a depletion circuit to accelerate this. Tuesday and Wednesday will both follow the same plan. Thursday will be a serving of carbs in the morning but there will be no training and Friday Carb loading begins!! 

Steph and I will be meeting this week so she can make final decisions on how this part of prep should be going. I'll update any changes that take place. 

Have a great night! 

My first physique shoot was with Grant Jones from Digiography (www.digiography.ca) in November 2008. Grant shoots out of Niagara Falls Ontario and is brilliant. He is creative, professional and a lot of fun to work with. So far, we have worked together twice and both times have just been awesome. This weekend we'll be shooting together again and I'm so excited!!

Shoots are so much fun. It's so cool to come up with ideas with the photographer and watch them come to life in the pictures. In the past two shoots we've just come up with vague ideas and let the rest come together at the shoot. This is what we're doing again this time, which makes me feel really excited about what we may create.

I was really scared to have cheats after this past show, considering the Stratford show is so close. Steph said it would be a good idea to have a couple of cheat meals since there haven't been any "bad" foods throughout prep and that it might have a positive effect within a couple of days. The suggestion was to take Saturday night and half of Sunday to have "whatever I wanted." I was curious about the concept but did not want to go too crazy with the food. Saturday night was delicious (breaded chicken, angel hair pasta and pecan pie!) and so was breakfast on Sunday morning (eggs bacon and toast), the rest of the meals after that were the same as the plan was at 2 weeks out. Monday and Tuesday I was holding water and I didn't weigh or measure, but a difference could be seen in my mid section for sure and in the way clothes were fitting. Today my weight is down to 134lbs (my weight before cutting water) and clothes seem to be fitting even bigger on me than they were before. Vascularity has increased a lot too, this is really wierd but pretty interesting.  

Training is remaining the same as it was at 2 weeks out from the last show (morning cardio, PM resistance training and stair sprints). The really great part about training right now is that it's not pressured at all, if I felt super run down and wanted to rest, it wouldn't be a big deal. So far I feel just fine and can't wait to see how things change. One thing that I noticed yesterday was that my joints didn't feel all that great during free weights or stair sprints. Maybe it's the way I'm reacting to the not so great food that was taken in (inflammation), maybe it's from having low bodyfat, or something else, I'm not too sure. I am being careful to listen to my body, though, and if there's a need to back off in weight and/or intensity I won't hesitate.