Nine Weeks Out

Peek at the bottom of this post for pictures of my progress so far.
I am really starting to lean out nicely. I'd hoped results would come quickly since I have been training so hard beginning the first of this year. I decided in March to compete in the October Bluegrass show and have been dieting for about 20 weeks now. The diet wasn't so bad at first. I could cheat just a little but now at nine weeks out. No Way! Not gonna chance it. I have worked too hard to get this far.

I was definitely tested today with birthday cake. Yum!! It looked really good and tasty. I love cake and icing and ice cream. It was tempting and hard to take my eyes off of but I sat like a good girl and ate my packed meal of chicken breast and green beans. Wow! I conquered the enemy!


I weighed in today at 117lbs. A total loss of about five pounds since starting my lean out phase.


Here are some new pics:












My focus for this week forward is to practice, practice, practice posing. It's not as easy as it looks and remember, gals. We are expected to hold our poses on stage with poise and confidence. No shaking allowed in front of the judges. I am still having trouble hitting the poses from time to time. Some days I can go right into them and some days I fidget alot. When you begin it feels awkward but the more you do the more natural feeling it becomes. I promise! I still need to remember to relax my face and smile. My plan is to practice three times a week for 15 minutes holding each of the four poses for at least 20 seconds.

The four mandatory poses are the front, side, back, and side. In the first picture I am in the back pose. The most important thing is spreading the lats and getting them stretched as far out as you can. The key is leaning forward and getting a deep breath, inhale, lift your chest up and really focus on pulling your lats out.

• Lean Forward
• Take a deep breath
• Inhale and suck stomach in
• Lift your chest up
• Spread your lats as wide as possible

For your legs, flex everything as much as possible.

• Push through to your toes
• Squeeze your glutes in tight
• Flex your calves by pushing up on toes

In the second picture, I am in the front pose. Use the same techniques for the back pose they are very much the same. And also:

• Heels are together
• Knees can be turned slightly out to pop the quad
• Knees can be turned slightly in
• Legs are long and tight, squeeze everything
• Push through to the toes
• Hands are relaxed but I find pointing my index finger and pushing back my thumb help tighten the arms

Remember, I am just an amateur and my poses aren't perfect. Yet! But hopefully by reading this, it will help you discover what works best for your physique, as well. So now posing will be an important part of my preparation from here forward.