Deep Thoughts (Not really but it got ya didn't it?)

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful week!

It was a busy one for me which I know you guys know already since I was not around much in blog land. Here is a quick update: rode my bike an hour both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Mom and sister drove up from Louisiana after the funeral and stayed with us on Thursday so I left work around 3pm and got to hang out with them for a few hours before going to our Annual Fundraiser auction on Thursday night then had to be at the golf course Friday at 6:30am to work a hole until noon and then change and play with our CEO. For some reason he requested I golf with him and two other guys so that was interesting. I haven't really golfed in about two years and couldn't find my shoes so just golfed in my black Nike Shox. :) Who cares! It was a really good time - he was very laid back and didn't care about how any of us shot....just that we had a good time. And I made him laugh a bunch which I realized is a passion of mine. I am not as good as Cynthia at being funny in writing though - gotta work on that.

Have some interesting thoughts to share today....

Below is a post from Body Sport:

June 23/08
Erin Sits Out!

With the Jr. USA and Jr. Nationals now recent history NPC National figure fans may be wondering where was Erin Heath? Last year Erin set herself up for a huge run at a pro card in 2008 with a win at the Emerald Cup, a 2nd place finish at the Jr. USA, a 3rd place finish at the Figure Nationals and another second at the USA Championships in Las Vegas. It seemed that picking up a pro card this year would be a mere formality for the beautiful Northern California native. Life however often divides itself into two separate paths; the way we plan for things to happen and the way the actually unfold.

"I have been forced to take the year off,” said Erin recently. “After a year and a half of dieting, it seems I am unable to lose weight right now regardless of what kind of exercise and diet manipulations I try. So, I am really sad about it, but I am going to have to take some time away from competitions to get healthy. But, I will be even better next year. ;)"

Erin will certainly be missed on stage this year by everyone except her competition. But don’t feel too sorry for Ms. Heath, a pro card is still very much in her future, in her own sweet time. In fact, expect this young lady to be a smashing fitness industry success both on and off the stage. Stay tuned to Bodysport for more on Erin in the near future.

So, my thoughts on this.....I find the most interesting quote in this to be: "After a year of dieting, it seems I am unable to lose weight right now regardless of what kind of exercise and diet manipulations I try." The more and more I read about Metabolic Damage, the more I am absolutely certain it is an issue and a bigger issue in the figure community where girls but their bodies through torture and hell to get to the look they have on stage. It saddens me to see that someone with so much hope and future in the sport is starving herself and doing hours of cardio in order to lose weight. I know there is a better way.

What do all of you think about this?

On another note, I am back to training with a fully recovered foot and in preparation for my October trip to Mexico. :) It will be FUN to prepare for the vacation - I am going to consider it competition prep. :) Competition for sitting on the beach with a cocktail! Hee hee.

Hope everyone is doing well! I am gonna get lots of workouts in this weekend so keep your eye out for workout updates!

Jess

Paying the Price and Motivation

As I stated on my Monday night blog, running 9 miles was not smart. I didn't and don't recommend it to friends or family. Or enemies for that matter.

I did 1/2 mile repeats last night and am now paying the price - majorly (which isn't a word btw).

Here is the math: 3 weeks not running + 9 mile run + 1/2 mile sprints (7) = tendinitis & a cranky me.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. I should have worked up to the 9 miles. I have had his happen before so I know I need to just let it rest a little bit and it will heal - just stinks cause I had a mileage goal for the week and now it is going to be near impossible to get it in. :( Scratch that, it is impossible otherwise I will injure myself even more and be able to run even less. Bummer but I have no one to blame but myself.

But, did want to share with you what my nipples looked like after my run the other day:

For those ladies out there, running can cause chafing. If you run long distances you have to be careful of the more sensitive areas like the nipples and I didn't put on band aides. Rats. So when I did sprints last night my nipples were on FIRE!

Was also talking to the hubby about how I wouldn't be able to compete right now with my work load the way it is and he said "You were just on a different level then" and he is right. I had a goal, I had set my mind to it and I was going to do it. And I did. And what is weird it that my motivation for my workouts is now weak - weaker than it has ever been. I don't get it....but I need to figure it out because I think when I do it will be the key to me getting back into it. Don't get me wrong, I have little bursts of motivation and excitement about working out but then it seems to stall out - I am tired and working out just isn't what I want to do.

Again, I gotta figure it out. Once I get to the bottom of it you guys will be the first to know. :) Or maybe the second to my hubby.

Until then, I will keep on posting. Keep on sharing.
Jess

P.S. Food was ON today. Yeah!

P.P.S. Did you SEE Craig Ballantyne posted on my blog yesterday??? BRAG, BRAG, BRAG.

Article from NPC Texas

Hey guys...

Monday, Tuesday, Wed - NUTS. But saw the below article on www.hardbody.com today and HAD to post. I promise more tomorrow.

Have a great rest of the week!!
Jess

NPC Figure Letter Clarification

isaac | News, misc | Wednesday, 21 May 2008

A letter went out after JR USA to the NPC competitors in Texas. See the letter below:

Greeting All TX NPC Figure Competitors,

This update is specifically for you as it pertains to the new judging criteria we at the NPC are judging. For the past year you have been hearing rumors or directly from me that judging will move toward a softer athletic look in figure instead of the muscular, lean look. Well, we kicked off the national competition year with the Jr. USA in Charleston and true to our word we set the stage for local and national level judging. The look is soft and athletic. I suggest that you go on-line to examine pictures of this past weekends competition.

With the exception of Figure Class D as it was too lean and hard, but we didn’t have anything else to judge in that class. But all others are representative of the new look.

We look forward to seeing you in the near future.

Train hard and demonstrate sportsmanship always,

Lee Thompson
N.P.C . Texas District Chairman/IFBB Judge

This has caused quite a stir on a few message boards and I checked in with J.M. Manion, who updates npcnewsonline.com, to get clarification. J.M informed me that this IS NOT a letter from the NPC National Office. If there is an official letter, you will get it from him or the NPC National Office & it will be posted on NPC News Online.

My two cents… A good reference what figure should look like see the top 6 at the IFBB Pittsburgh Pro Figure. You’ll notice how different Amy Fry looked from the Arnold to Pittsburgh. Many women are thinking that by the words “soft” that they can slack on the diet. This is simply not true. You need to still show a muscularity, symmetry HEALTHY and athletic look. Women will be marked down for separated quads and looking “too hard”. That means your level of conditioning is the dry, hardened look that works for male bodybuilders but not the females. This usually happens when a competitor is training with a trainer who doesn’t know what he or she is doing. Don’t overdue the contest prep but at the same time don’t think this is an excuse not to diet and train. Women should pay attention to their entire presentation. Hair, makeup, suit cut and color, shoes - it’s the entire package. Lenay Hernandez won the JR USA because she possessed that. Some women are bitter and feel that they are loosing out to a better looking woman. You choose to participate in figure, no one is holding a gun to your head. Don’t hate on the women who possess the healthy, attractive, feminine look that is going to help the industry.

Long Weekend

Hey y'all,

Had a long weekend - very productive but long. Got in a couple good workouts and a bunch of yard work done. Went to see Stomp with the hubby and went to a fun party...good times.

But I am super happy with how I ate this weekend - had a few opportunities to eat bad (restaurant meals) and I made good choices. Dinner tonight was salad and boiled shrimp. Yum. :)
I am noticing that the UFP program is great for me during the week but on the weekend, I really struggle to get these workouts in....with all of the activities we have going on, it is tough. I gotta figure out how to make it happen. And it also means that if I do Day 5 on Sunday, I certainly can't bike for 2.5 hours. :) But I am enjoying biking. And running. Especially with the hubby - I am getting bit by the bug.

Tomorrow I will have a new VLOG and also the weekly recap along with a stat update. :) You know you can't wait...YOU KNOW IT!

To all the girls out there who participated in the JR USA's - congrats! You all looked WONDERFUL!

Jess

Roses are Red....Violets are Blue....And It's Time to Rock the Competition Boat

Bad poem in the title but had to give a shout out to my hubby who sent me 12 GORGEOUS long stemmed roses today COMPLETELY out of the blue....no holiday, no special occasion - shocked the crap out of me actually. I am actually not a flower type person and I have made that clear to the DH so he has never sent them to me (at my request). Except for today:

This is what the card said:
"You are the sexiest woman I have ever met. I love you with all my heart. Your Cherub"

How awesome was that????? It might have had a little bit to do with a small melt down I had last night over how I am feeling about my body right now (hey, I am definitely feeling better but still have my down days!). Anyhoo, he took it upon himself to make me feel like the only woman in the world. I love that guy.

On to the rockin the competition boat: if you haven't already, check out Krissa's blog (check out the link on the right hand side of my blog) for her (and my) thoughts on competing. Overall, I am not sure why we do it with all of the negative side effects.

Like I said in yesterdays blog, it is about having FUN! Not obsessing. Enjoying life and not thinking about how you can rearrange your entire day (and others in it) so you can workout when you have already worked out that morning! Enjoying life and not passing on a meal with friends because you are afraid you can't make good choices.

For those of you who do compete out there - BE SMART and listen to your body. Do it because it is fun and you are healthy enough (mentally) to deal with the fallout of post competition. Do it because you love to compete and you are ok with going through the struggles you will have with how to adjust to "regular" eating again. I am still in the undecided camp about competing again but I do know if I do it again, I will do it a COMPLETELY different way.

In the interim I will train like an athlete, focus on looking like an athlete - YEAR ROUND.

The week has been good so far - took today off. Much needed. :)

This posting every day is kind of fun. I know it may just be worthless babble for you guys, but it is fun for me.

Oh, and I am tracking my food again. I didn't track it for about 2-3 weeks but here is the link if you want to check it out. I am staggering calories right now (1300/1600). Would love your thoughts if you wanna share them. :)

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=jess%2Ebutler%40gmail%2Ecom

Jess

Great Post Competition Thread

Body Sport (company owned by husband and wife photographer and Pro figure athlete Terry and Elaine Goodlad) just launched a forum on their website. They are very specific and clear that the forum is positive and a place of support for girls in the industry.

Here is an awesome thread on Post Competition blues. Very good information about the psychological affects of competing.

Click here:
Body Sport Thread on Post Competition Blues

Happy Monday!
Jess

Mangitis

P.S. I lost my voice today around 10am. I sounded like Kathleen Turner going through a sex change for about two hours and then lost my voice completely. I call it my Mangina voice...like Gina from the 40 year old virgin. :) My DH is happy for a break in silence. :)) Hee hee.

If only I could RECORD my sexy voice for you guys..... :) Krissa, I posted on your blog asking for the exact model number of your video camera. No more excuses! :))

Jess

P.P.S: I removed my countdown to Figure Nationals. And I felt good about it. I'm not ready to put a date out there yet....if at all. :)

Epiphany and Announcement! It's a Long One!

First of all, you guys are all awesome! Thanks for checking up on me! I have had a crazy week with work and worked about 43 hours Mon - Wed. Which is awesome since I have two more days left in the week! Regardless, you guys have been in my thoughts and when I have a spare moment or second in my day, I hop on Cynthia, Krissa or Cathy's blog sites to see what's happening but haven't had time to blog (much less sleep!).

I remember when I read Krissa's post from the MWA forum where she "came clean" about how she was feeling about her body, her eating habits and her decision to not compete. What she shared was the deepest part of her and was completely honest. I hope the following will be viewed the same. Krissa and Cynthia - you guys are such a great example of being true to yourself and listening to your psyche and your body.

As most of you know, I just got married in August and am just about to hit my one year anniversary with my job. When I started my job, I was still ramping up and didn't really feel the full level of work that would be required of me until around October or November. My hours picked up dramatically and then I got sick...got better...got sick a couple more times....had an injury and was still working crazy hours. While all of this was happening, I was continuing to work toward my goal of competing in a national show in September knowing full well that I would need to add some serious mass (hence the continued mention of the bulking plan). Over the last few months by body fat has gone up, my tone has gone on vacation :) and my attitude about myself has gone way down. My negative self talk and frustration is something I deal with multiple times throughout the day and it has probably bordered on depression. I had essentially taken off 3 months from training!!! My eating is at about 80-90% - I pack clean food every day but I wouldn't make as healthy choices while eating out.

Well.....I was walking my dog the other morning thinking about competing in November (the last pro qualifier of the year) instead of September to give myself those three months back. And then I started thinking through bulking plan and then I started to beat myself up over not getting to the gym and how yucky I felt trying on clothes, etc.

And then it hit me.

Why am I doing this to myself? I don't HAVE to compete this year. WHOA. Big thought there. What I do HAVE to do is feel better about myself. And to do that I need to cut myself some slack and let go of the last three months. I need to focus on getting to the gym and not letting work get in the way of my training or my health (mental and physical!). I need to focus on feeling better about my body image.

So then I started thinking about the obstacles and barriers I have had recently:

1. Work: My busiest days are Monday and Tuesdays - why not take one of those as my day off and the other workout early am or at night and not try to go over lunch. Wed - Friday my schedule frees up tremendously as I don't have hardly any pre-scheduled meetings.
2. Training w/Debbie: I was training with Debbie at 5am which means I have to get up at 4am and means I usually get very little sleep the night before and feel exhausted for the next two days - sometimes even getting sick after a few days of training like that. Why not find another time of the day to train with Debbie?
3. Self Image/Attitude: Eliminate negative self talk. Period.
4. Adding Mass: I was struggling SO much with this - feeling like if I added mass I would become thicker and bigger than I already was and therefore be even MORE frustrated with how I felt about myself. I think this was actually the biggest reason I was struggling to get into the gym - I didn't want to add mass at 21-22% body fat. When I had the epiphany that I didn't HAVE to do anything but feel better about myself, it was like 1,000 pounds lifted off me.
5. Marriage: It is definitely important for me to spend quality time with my hubby and make our marriage as solid as possible. I am not sure I want to make those sacrifices so soon in our marriage.
   

I contacted the NPC and also asked Jenny Lynn and found out that I have two years to compete in a national show - actually until the end of 2009. This will give me an entire year to focus on getting my body fat to a level I feel good about myself.

Goals:

• Feel better about myself and my body.
• Get body fat to 16% by end of April. Will do the math later and share what that means for weight in fat lbs and lean mass.
• Determine by end of May what show to do.
• Be open to the possibility of not competing but STILL having fitness be an integral part of my life.
• Continue to blog to share my journey and lean on my blogger support system.
  

So my friends, there it is. I have talked through this with a couple of my friends and they all feel 100% on board with my thought process. Would love all of your thoughts.

Missed you guys.
Jess

P.S. And who knows - maybe I will still want to compete in November!! The point is - why paint myself in a corner??? The world should be my Oyster!!

Wiiiiiiiipe OUT and Arnold Classic

Happy Friday everyone!!!! I hope all is well with all my fellow fitness lovers and competitors! I am having a great week thanks to my awesome ski trip! :) We had a great time - spent four days on the slopes - about 5-6 hours a day of skiing and I burned between 2000 and 2200 calories a day skiing which was awesome! Talk about a great interval workout! :) We went with our friends Doon and Amber (yes, Amber the girl from my kick butt workouts!!). She is a snow boarder and my DH and Doon are skiers so I skied with them. Well, let me just say they really pushed me beyond what I would normally attempt!! This is what I looked like on the slopes! :) The reality is I picked up my game and became a better skier but on the second day I had a gnarly wipeout involving a super steep hill, a patch of ice and my tired legs. I caught an edge on my skis and did three somersaults down the hill and lost both skis, both poles and my goggles. I have a HUGE bruise (size of grapefruit) on my leg and have kind of messed up my hip but it was worth it! I love to ski and this trip did not disappoint. We got back on Wednesday night and since then I have committed to getting back to the gym on a consistent basis. I realized that no matter what I have to get my workouts in - that means scheduling them every day and not skipping them no matter what. I am trying to decide if I will workout in the mornings, afternoons or after work. There are benefits and drawbacks to all so I need to see what is going to work best!

I know I mentioned my bulking plan last weekend and still trying to workout the details. Thought I would have a chance over the vacation but was too darn tired! I will work on it this weekend and post for you all!

The Arnold Classic is this weekend - TODAY in fact!

You can check out the LIVE webcam by clicking here: Arnold Classic Webcast LIVE!

Schedule of events is here: Arnold Classic Schedule of Events

I will be watching Figure and Fitness tonight at 6pm CST. Won't you join me???? My votes are for Gina Aliotti for figure and Jen Hendershott for fitness!

Who has your votes?

Figure competitors are:

Sonia Adcock	Deborah Leung
Gina Aliotti	Juliana Malacarne
Paola Almerico	Kristal Richardson
Catherine Andersen	Chastity Slone
Natalie Benson	Brenda Marie Smith
Amy Fry	Briana Tindall
Bernadette Galvan	Latisha Wilder
Jennifer Gates	Nicole Wilkins

Fitness competitors are:

Regiane Da Silva	Kimberly Klein
Tina Durkin	Julie Lohre
Bethany Gainey	Tanya Merryman
Tracey Greenwood	Mindi Obrien
Oksana Grishina	Julie Palmer
Jen Hendershott	Stacy Simons

Good luck ladies and post your vote in the comments! :)))

Have a great weekend all!
Jess

Getting Big & A Champ Hangs up the Heels

Big news this week on the figure front, IFBB Pro Valerie Waugaman has decided to retire to explore her career as an American Gladiator. This was a massive news announcement considering how successful Valerie had been during her short 3.5 year career - winning three major pro shows. Due to the intensity of training and filming, she has decided to hang up her posing suit.

Check out Val as she does one of her unique and unprecedented figure posing routines. No body does it quite like Val. :)

A full article on Val retiring can be found here: http://www.flexonline.com/news/335

We will miss you Val and congrats!

In other news, I am less than 200 days out from the big day! Whoa. And I have one goal: ADD MASS and GET BIG. Trouble if you are a female - well at least trouble mentally. Get bigger - weigh more - eat more - lift heavier. Worked on my bulking plan over the weekend but not quite ready to post it.

Stay tuned for more. I am still not 100% healthy so I am taking a bit more time to feel better. Nutrition info/tidbits coming tomorrow.
Jess
P.S. Can you tell I figured out how to post videos?? :)

Goal Setting 101 and Fitness News

Let's face it, goal setting isn't fun. Often times when people set goals they don't map out what it takes to get to that goal. For example, today I had to sit down (again because of being sick on and off over the last few months) and map out my goal of acheiving my pro card. This is somewhat difficult because I know I need to add muscle mass and know when I need to start dieting down but there are a lot of other factors involved like how many shows I need to do to show the judges I am serious as well as how much weight I can reasonably add during that period of time.

I know I have about 30 weeks until show time. 12 of those weeks need to be for dieting down. So essentially I have 18 weeks for mass building. So I broke down my routines and my goals during that 18 weeks and then goals for that last 12 weeks. I have to then translate those weekly goals when I plan out my day. I started my goal setting today and will finish up tomorrow with a detailed plan that I will share here on the blog. A couple things I can tell you that WILL have to change - can't miss workouts. :)

Some fitness news....the season started today with the Ironman Pro in LA. You can check out the figure replay for this mornings replay here:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2008im_wcr.htm and go to the figure replay. You can watch the finals tonight LIVE! :)

I worked out today and did a full body core workout.

• Squats w/65 pound squat rack super setted with T push ups (push up and then raise arm to ceiling and twist in between push ups) - 20 reps, 3 sets though
• Step ups w/body weight on 23" step super setted with Olympic bar rows - 20 reps each leg, 20 total rows, 3 sets
• Hamstring curls on ball super setted with sit ups on ball

Pretty basic but I torched 450 calories. Also did 30 minute run. Slow and easy.

I am tired of having negative thoughts about how I look or feel - this is a process for me in reaching my goals - that may mean I have to gain some weight in the interim. Weight gaining is good.

More on specific goals tomorrow. Will keep you updated on other figure news.
Jessica

Legs and Visualization

Great leg workout today....

105lb squats - 4 sets, 10 reps
Triple Terrors - Smith Machine, 40lbs, 3 foot positions (wide leg, close leg and pile), 15 reps each - total of 45 reps each set for 3 sets (yes, 150 reps)
Super Set - 4 sets, 10 reps each exercise
70lb hamstring curls
70lb quad extensions
60lb dead lifts (someone was using the 80lb bar!)

I was dripping with sweat afterward - and I will tell you I am starting to love doing legs - I can see the definition forming.

This morning while running on the treadmill, I would read during my slow intervals and during the fast intervals I would look at my June 2008 future picture (see post below for more info) and focus on my hips being 34" and a small waist and bigger, full bellied shoulders and biceps.

I have to remember, achieving the physique I want takes time. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Clean eats, check. Water, check. Supps, check.
Life is good.
Jess