BIKINI PREP | 9 & 12 WEEKS OUT

Hey y'all! Thank you for coming to check out my first blog post EVER! I'm starting a little late, but I'm going to blog about my contest prep over the next 12 weeks. I'm actually participating in two competitions within a few weeks of each other, so if you stick around long enough, you'll find out how I drop my calories, change up my exercise plan, when I throw in cheat meals, etc. I've only ever competed once so I have yet to experience going through peak week, re-feeding, jumping right back into my diet and training, and then peak week all over again. I'm super excited to see how this goes!

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Recap of My First Show | Nov 10, 2018

How did I get started? Funny story... my boyfriend (now fiance) and I were planning a trip to the beach with our friends so he decided he needed to get "beach ready". Well wait a second. He can't look beach ready if I don't. So, I got my ass back in the gym! I made some really great progress over just a few months and had a couple people tell me I should consider competing. I did a ton (I mean A TON) of research every day for days and I decided to go for it. I got help from a few friends and the internet to help me with dieting and how to train. At 6 weeks out, I decided I needed a coach, someone who's actually done it.

I took those last 6 weeks as serious as I could, trained hard and trained hungry, and gave it my all. I was doing 30-45 minutes of cardio 5-7 days out of the week on top of super intense training sessions. I had some bad days and I had a lot of really good days, but in the end, it all paid off. I placed 2nd in my novice class (novice is for anyone who hasn't won a competition) and 5th in my open class. I was nothing short of proud of this accomplishment, but I am HUNGRY for more!

Nov 10, 2018 - Beech Grove, IN

Feedback: grow the delts & glutes

Did I mention you meet some really awesome people backstage?

POST-SHOW

My prep ended at the worst possible time... the holidays. I swore up and down I would indulge for my multiple Friendsgivings and Thanksgivings and then get right back on track... that didn't happen. Finally having the freedom to eat all those yummy carbs and fats that I couldn't have the months prior got the best of me! No worries though, I put those carbs to use in the gym!

CARBZ = GAINZ

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9 & 12 Weeks Out

I felt a flame light inside me at the beginning of this week. I'm going coachless this time and I am nervous as hell to tackle this by myself but I'm ready to beat that girl from November - me. I've been following some of the workouts of one of the most inspiring IFBB Pro's that I follow, Ashlyn Brown (ab_bikinifit). From watching her, I have learned so much and pushed myself to new limits and have truly seen growth in a short amount of time!

Diet:

This will always be the most difficult part for me. For one, I work in a call center. And for whatever reason, call centers LOVE to have carry-ins. On top of that, it can get so boring throughout the day and my first instinct is always to snack. What helps the most with this is WATER! I definitely don't find it easy to consistently drink a gallon a day (I think I spend half my day in the bathroom LOL) but it always tends to help when I start to get cravings. Two weeks ago I started my calories out at about 2000 cals a day (40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat). A normal day for me primarily consists of eggs or oatmeal for breakfast, some chicken and turkey burgers throughout the day, rice or sweet potatoes for my carb source, and fat-free greek yogurt for bed. I actually really enjoy my meals... it's those fatty snacks throughout the day that I crave so bad.

turkey burgers, roasted garlic sweet potatoes, broccoli

Training/Cardio:

Going to the gym is rarely a struggle for me. No matter what kind of day I had, I'm usually always excited to lift! My training hasn't changed much from what it was before. I'm putting the most focus on my delts and hamstrings but still making sure to hit my entire body. I don't have a set split yet. Right now, I'm working out either whatever isn't sore OR which body part I haven't worked in awhile. I typically hit shoulders and triceps together, back and biceps, and legs. Some of my leg days are more quad focused but I ALWAYS work my hamstrings/glutes. Very rarely I will throw in a few chest exercises on my shoulder/tris day and I always hit rear delts again when I hit back.

Now cardio is a different story. I absolutely despise cardio. I basically stopped all forms of cardio in my two month "off season". I did a few HIIT circuits here and there but that was it. My goal is to get back up to 15 minutes a day for now and go from there. I accomplished doing so three times this week so that's a start! I prefer saving my energy for my lifts and doing cardio AFTER.

Supplementation:

I started taking my CLA again from Bucked Up (use code "Adrionna20" for 20% off your total purchase). My one protein shake a day is Mucscletech's RIPPED formula, flavor triple chocolate fudge. I'm also using Muscletech's VaporX5 pre-workout and Creactor HCI creatine, both in the flavor icy rocket freeze (the best in my opinion). I take one scoop of pre-workout when I need it and two scoops daily of the creatine. I ran into the Vitamin Shoppe (my favorite place to shop for supplements) on Thursday to see what deals they had going on and I left with a bottle of Kaged Muscle L-Carnitine. I did not use any form of fat burner on my last prep and I'm hoping not to need one this time either. I'm also taking biotin but that's not relevant to my competition life.

Life:

Overall, this week has been a wild one. The end of the month at my job is always hectic so I've been super busy between work, being on prep, a full-time mommy (always), and keeping up with my Spring Challenge. Normally I try to meal prep on the weekends but I didn't have time this weekend and it through me off all week. I still stuck to my meal plan the best that I could.

Saturday, the 26th, was my 23rd birthday and I ate way too much at my local hibachi restaurant. I have NO self control when it comes to hibachi! On Tuesday I finally took the next step and signed up for a personal trainer certification class through NASM. I've been putting off starting for a few months now but up until recently I was totally set on ACE. After asking around, doing some research, and making a poll on Instagram, I finally decided on NASM. I went with their top option including fitness nutrition course and a business course. I'm super excited to get this started and further my knowledge in the industry!

Let's not even talk about Wednesday... actually, let's. It was such an awful day. The weather here in Indiana was terrible, the coldest it's ever been in my lifetime. I was running late only to find out my job was delayed an hour and I could have slept more (the worst). All I wanted was some coffee and I tried twice to go and they were short staffed and when I finally got my drink it was wrong! My gym was closed due to the cold so I paid $10 to workout in a gym that was only open for another hour by the time I could get there... talk about dedication haha. To be honest, I only actually went because I had already taken my pre-workout and didn't want to be up all night haha. Like I said, not all days are good days but the bad ones are usually the most important! Those are the days that push and test you, test your self-discipline. Those are the days to go HARD!

Over the weekend I went to TWO country concerts, Morgan Wallen and Craig Morgan, both of which were FANTASTIC! I boot stomped a little too hard ;) Then, of course, watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. Who were y'all rooting for? Hopefully NOT the Patriots, haha! That was probably the most boring Super Bowl I have ever watched... plus I'm sick of seeing the Patriots win.

8 Seconds Saloon - Indianpolis, IN

My goals for this next week are to meal prep ahead of time and keep up with my cardio!

Please subsribe, like, and share and be sure to comment below whatcha think or any questions! See ya again next week!

Xoxo

Adrionna