My First Meet Prep

*sigh* Where to begin?

At the beginning of my contest prep last year, I had told myself that I wanted to try power lifting, after my show. I thought it would be fun, plus it would give me something to work towards during my off season. I was right! But what I never would have thought that I would love it this much!

About a month after my show, I met my love. That is when it all started. Tony was amazing, and didn’t push me into anything. He was just there to help me out, and teach me new things. The more time I spent with him at CSA, the more I became interested in power lifting. It was so cool watching everyone lift, and the environment was amazing. I love how everyone supports each other and gets amped up for each other’s lifts. As much as I love bodybuilding, I really like the power lifting community (at CSA anyways, I haven’t been to any other gym).

*Click picture to watch video.

Then we moved to Portland. That is when my meet prep started. We decided that I would do the meet at Kabuki Strength Lab mid April. I was pretty much up for anything.

Training started off pretty good. Each day of training I would learn something new about the form and technique… Thanks to Tony, Chris, Rudy, and the rest of the Kabuki Crew! I never knew that so much goes into the form and technique of power lifting. There are so many ways to use more of your body to lift more weight. And WOWZERS, when you can get that technique down, the lifts feel so much easier! But of course, I eventually hit a bump in the road.

Being a figure competitor I always want to maintain a decent look and shape. And after my show I had lost that due to binge eating... So I started to work with Jason Theobald (<-click for website) in December. I quickly learned that dieting and power lifting does not really go well together. As I started to lose weight, and my waist became smaller, my squats started to suffer (sad face).

I went from squatting 225 for a triple to 205 feeling heavy for a double. I was so pissed. Fortunately for me though, I had Tony there to not only be the amazing man he is and comfort me; but also be the amazing coach his is and make small tweaks to my warm-up, stance, and form. BOOM BAM! Just like that, the next day I squatted, everything felt amazing! I was back up to 225! During all this I was also emailing Jason like crazy about my diet. He also made some tweaks to help with my strength, and it also helped me lose more weight. The body is such a weird thing (giggles).

I am now four days away from my meet. All I can think about is stepping on that platform and giving it my all. I am trying to do everything possible to set myself up to be at my best. I am such a little weird-o when it comes to competitions. I get so immersed in what I’m doing. Bodybuilding, power lifting, when I was younger it was cheerleading. Especially the week right before! I wake up thinking about it, I think about it during the entire day, and then I go to sleep thinking about it (but then I turn my focus to my breathing so I can get some sleep, haha).

Well, to wrap this up, this first meet prep has been nothing but AMAZING! I will most definitely continue to do power lifting. And no I am not switching from bodybuilding to power lifting. I am still a bodybuilder (figure competitor); and I love prepping and being on stage. I love BOTH, bodybuilding and power lifting! They each will have their time to shine in my life.

Thank you so much for following my on this journey!

Oh and, I forgot to mention that I have been training at Kabuki Strength Lab (<-click for website) in Clackamas, OR.

Such an amazing gym! Chris Duffin, Rudy, John, and the rest of the crew are all so nice!