I am a bit late on this weeks blog. It has been a busy week. It has been a week of head games and struggles with the scale until Jo reminded me we are trying to build some muscle. ;) This is hard for me to wrap my head around since I have always dieted for fat loss. I keep getting comments though that I am looking really good and like I have a lot of weight and though it is hard for me to see it I will take it! It is so important I know to remain focused and positive so that is what I am striving to do. My upper body is becoming more and more defined. And my legs seem to be taking shape, I don’t notice it as much but I have gotten a fair amount of comments about my legs in particular. This time next week I will be preparing for the Warrior Dash, I am excited and a bit nervous! I will have pics to share for that. I need to start practicing my posing but I was trying to show a friend the poses and I realized I can’t remember anything! I’ll…

19 Weeks Out! 25.1.12 It is amazing how fast the time goes. I had a successful week last week. I ate completely on plan except for one day when I missed a meal. This plan is really agreeing with me! I lost a nice amount of fat AND gained a smidge of muscle! It is amazing what having a coach to keep you accountable will do. I am so totally focused where just last month I was trying so hard to get motivated and eating everything in sight meanwhile! I have to say though Jo’s leg workouts are INSANE! What a difference though! I thought I was training hard before. I must be building the best legs and butt EVER. LOL So on the competition prep front I have been trying to find a song for my routine. This is really difficult. I want it to be something I love, something that will entertain the audience as well and easy to pose to. I  am still working on that. I think the problem is that I have never posed to a song before so I really have no idea what I can pose to. I want some awesome song with…

Hello Everyone! My name is Yvette Rowe. I am a personal trainer in New South Wales Australia. I am actually an American, from California, but married to an Aussie. I am so excited to be sharing my journey to my first figure competition with you. I should give you a little bit of background on myself. Wow where to start. Well the first time I remember being impressed with muscle was when I was about 10 years old. My mom had some books with pictures and some of those plastic weights with concrete in them. I loved reading the books and trying to do the exercises. I have always loved anything to do with health and fitness, although everyone told me I was going to get big and bulky. LOL I was in ballet as a child and then gymnastics for about a year. My mom was a single parent and we could not afford to keep up with the classes. As I got older fitness kind of just got put on the back burner, I started having children, and was just too tired or busy. I am also an emotional eater. I ate when I was happy; I ate…

Hi Jo and friends,   It’s been awhile since iv updated. I have been busy preparing and the time just fly’s by. Picture a Hamster in an exercise wheel!! That is me!  It doesn’t matter what time I get up in the morning, I can’t seem to get it all in before I run out of energy for the day.  So my house is not as tidy as usual and my car not as clean, my family is not getting many extra yummy meals right now. They have been great by the way. My little team here at home. My husband cooks fish and makes Salad to that I’m never without food, my son Vaughn has been cleaning his dishes so that there are no leftover pancakes for me to be tempted by whilst I’m in the kitchen. They also are champs when I’m feeling really crabby!! And I hope they forgive me when this is all over..:) These next 10 days are a flurry of making appt. for tanning and hairdresser for the show. I got artificial nails put on this week (I have never done this) they look lovely! I have 2 photo shoots to prepare for, so…

30.6.11 Hello, Well, I have 5 more weeks to prepare for my physique comp. I am feeling good and can say I have had to slow down the diet a wee bit. I am used to the stringent diet of bodybuilding prep, which requires you to come in extremely lean and ripped, but not for this division. Physique competitors look softer and less defined, fuller in muscle and face, but not jiggling!! This is the part I’m puzzled about. I will need to lose a bit more fat to show some abs and stop the jiggle from the bum side. My guess is that if I come in looking like I usually do, it will be fine. I’ve never nailed the conditioning that bodybuilders like Jo have at comp time. I have been tanning this year too, which is different for me. I don’t like to get a suntan for fear of wrinkles and cancer, but for this show, I wanted to do my best in all areas. I usually come in too light in color, but with a solid base tan, I will look chocolate brown. Today we even went to the beach which was lovely and relaxing, even…

Good morning, Today I have 8 weeks left to prepare for the competition. I have 4 weeks to decide on which division I will enter. This morning looking at these attached photos, I’m leaning to Physique Division. I only have photos to compare myself to. There are no other women in my area who compete in muscle events. Kristen competes in Bikini and Milay and Judith are preparing for figure. I am weighing in at 138lbs, and would like to get to 130lbs, but I would be happy enough at 133. I have started spinning classes a few days per week to help burn more calories. Some days are hard with low energy. I would rather take a nap than workout. But then after a high carb day, I’m ready to go again for a couple more days..:) The last tool in my bag for lowering my body fat is to cut out Salad oil and I will do this now. I eat Salmon and have a wee bit of Almond butter once per day and I have not yet given up my one egg yolk in the morning. I should perhaps give this up first and leave the oil…

Good evening, Well it has been an interesting few weeks. As with all great accomplishments, there are setbacks. My great accomplishment has been my vision of my bigger hamstrings and glutes. I have spent the last year killing my glutes and hammies and I feel as though they are finally an asset to my physique instead of a weakness. 2 weeks ago while finishing up my hammies with a magnificent set of Stiff Leg Dead Lifts, I hurt my lower back. Wrought with fear of derailing my training, I sought the help of a chiropractor who re-set my 5th lumbar vertebra and has been ordering a lot of electric and ultra sound therapy. I feel much better and can see progress daily. So with that being said, I’m on the mend and still doing well on my diet and looking more like a physique competitor every day! Wait!! I don’t know what a physique competitor looks like yet…. But by this time on Sunday, we will all see the results of the First Women’s Physique division competition in South Carolina. The Jr. USA is this weekend and I’m on pins and needles waiting to see what the judges will come…

Hello, Well this week marks the 12 week out from competition and as usual I begin to freak out a little when I look at my progress. The scale is not budging and neither is skin caliper (although I only test one site on my body, right hip, right where the bone ends). I must not do this to myself. I start to do crazy stuff like question my diet plan and over analyze my plan. I start to ask everyone I know what they are doing and how they prepare. I do this every time…But I will get my shit together and stay the course which for me is carb cycling and decarbing as I see that I need to. From today on out, my low carb days will not be more than 50grams per day. Every 3 day I will eat up to 100 grams to shock my system into thinking I’m not going to starve it to death. This works the best for me. I have tried oodles of diet methods, Keto being the worst for me. I just don’t have the digestive system for this. Too bad, because I see how it works for so many…

Hope everyone enjoyed the Easter Holiday weekend. I have been training hard and been real good on my diet, but I must confess to you now, I had a cheat day!! My Husband Michael and I had the opportunity to go up the coast to Monterey this weekend without our son. My mom was good to watch Vaughn while we had a night out. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Monterey California, but it’s a lovely place to visit if you get the chance. I didn’t travel with my Ice chest this time, but ate as good as possible with what I had available. I had a lovely Halibut prepared with roasted fennel and artichoke and a few baby potatoes here and there. I also had a glass of wine..:) we stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast right across the street from the beach. Lucky for us, the bay seals were having babies this month and we got to watch the little cuties being born. Not too many things in life as wonderful as babies. No matter what specie they come from, they are pure and unspoiled from the harsh realities of life. All in…