Choosing when to compete is the most important decision you  have to make at the beginning of the year.....  Otherwise your training may not benefit from the motivation which setting a date can create. Its ok to say "Oh  I might compete one day"  and keep plodding on,  but once you set a date then your training will advance hugely and you will begin to learn so much about yourself, your sport and nutrition and finally hit that stage. 

 Alot of people think that competing in a contest requires only 12 weeks preparation.. Totally wrong.. Ideally a competitor should have 6-12 months preparation...  It is definately different if somebody has competed before or has been training for a number of years and has a good knowledge of the sport but here I am talking about females deciding to compete with little background training or very limited knowledge.  

I met with a new client this week for a consult and we spent the first 1.5 hours talking about when she should compete.. Before setting a date ( that is if the competitor is not telling me which comp they are competing in)  I like to ensure my clients will be be ready well ahead of time...So I checked her body fat and lean mass.  Set the goal for her normal off season weight ( a few kgs to lose to get to that) and set the muscle mass goal which I would like her to reach...which involves adding at least 2kgs of muscle mass for this particular client. We then set the contest weight and goal mm's measures of all the sites we do in the caliper test so she can gauge how she is going along the journey..  We discussed the different federations, classes, routines, costumes,cardio, nutrition -  so we just about covered all our bases in that first appt..  

Breaking it all down,  I would like her to lose at least 4-5 kgs and add  muscle mass BEFORE  we start our 12 week contest preparation..then I would like her to lose a further 6-7 kgs while retaining her muscle mass to reach her contest weight..So next week we begin training hard out to develope the extra muscle.  She is already very fit so I am expecting the changes in her nutrition to drop her bodyfat naturally without increasing the cardio....   

After breaking down the figures for her, my  next job was to work out how many weeks it will take to shred the body fat while increasing the muscle mass to the desired goal we set today..  With all these details we were able to  target a competition so that is what we are now aiming for.  But we also have another up our sleeve if necessary but I know for a fact thisclient will succeed in the  goal we set today...  I feel she has the mental attitude to go hard with this... 

My next job was to  count the weeks till the contest date  breaking it into 6 week intervels.  I like to have a minimum of 16-18weeks  when starting with a client before contest date but we are just scraping it a little this time but she is in the fitness industry and I'm putting in 100% effort with her on this one.  We just got in at the right time this week as I think any shorter time than we have now,  then we would be scraping it to be ready in time so good timing.. There is nothing worse than having to diet on a very very low calorie diet with extreme exercise to boot the body fat down.. I dont believe in that anyway.... I believe in balance,  basically enjoying what you are eating - I would never eat anything I hated just cos someone told me I had no other choice..... so its all about portions and carb control.  Its always worked for me.. 

 Of course some clients do scrape the barrel  nearing the competition but ideally we should be ready weeks before or pretty much happy with their  present state...When deciding on my clients competition today,  we  decided to do a hard out 2 week diet blitz to kick start her into fat burning, also to get her into diet mode again,  and thirdly to get her feeling good about herself..  I know if she can get through these next 2 weeks,then she will succeed with the whole 16 weeks. 

After putting her training into 4 or 6 weeks blocks, I have been able to plan her perfectly to hit the stage in good shape..  I have asked her  to begin to select music and to begin looking at bikinis.... And we will contact the choreographer early to begin the routine before my client gets to busy, hungry, tired or stressed to be capable of learning and perfecting it..  

So now that the consult work has been done, what do I expect from my client... I expect her to eat & train like an athlete and to understand that this sport is very very hard.  I need her to accept that she will be hungry.... There is no getting around that fact - doing anything in a calorie deprived state is hard, and  determination must be high to succeed in this sport,  so she needs to  face the fact that being calorie deprived is a state she will be in for the next 16 weeks... . 12- 16 weeks x 7 days = 84 to 112 hungry tired days where she doesnt get to have peanut slabs or sugar donuts..  My client must try to put in 100%  daily even if she onlys feels like putting in 75%. To go to bed of an evening feeling like she couldnt of done any better on that given day...  To go to bed feeling like she could easily raid the pantry but is too much of a professional to do so..   To account her food diary honestly so if there is extra food eaten she is not scared to account for it..  To do the cardio as required and posing practice regularly without having to be nagged at.   Just a few things but each one is important for me to make my client understand the importance off.  Plus she has to handle all other aspects of life...  Sounds like tough work for sure!!!

My job is to keep her on track as best as I can...  To keep her motivated by designing exciting programmes and by adding the odd treats in her nutrition plan when things are going brilliant..  To motivate her with personal  pics, videos, weight loss graphs  and comments to let her know her progress and how determined and successful she is.. To be up front when things could be going a little better but to be understanding when occasions knock her back..  I have 100% faith in this girl and my other new clients as well and Im looking so forward to working with them all and steering them towards the NABBA/WFF event in Tauranga in May....  Now hopefully I can get them to write some blogs on here..   If you have any questions regarding competition help, then drop me a line..... and come and join the team... 

Luf and muscles Jo.