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new@gettinbig
Guest
Ok Fennec must be at the waffle house or something?? Maybe the ER...sick? Enough waiting already tell us
The story that had to be told....
Okay, okay! (laugh)
Lots to tell! I was waiting to get the pictures back, just got them today and put them up.... so here they are (pages 2 and 3):
http://content.communities.msn.com/FennecPics/shoebox.msnw
Lessee.... First of all, no, I didn't place in the top five, and neither did either of my friends. I was really proud of us though; I thought we all did great for our first show.
We got some really nice compliments backstage, especially from the Bodybuilding gals: Several stopped by and said things along the lines of, "A lot of the Figure competitors have an attitude, but you three were really nice and friendly to everyone." That made us all feel really good. We particularly wanted to have people see that you don't have to be catty to eachother, but can have fun and be supportive. One of us girls was interviewed in her neighborhood paper the weekend before the show, and she made a point of mentioning our names (myself and my other friend) and saying how we were doing this together and encouraging each-other, etc.
Cuts:
I ended up coming in too cut, I think. I was as cut as many of the bodybuilding competitors, and I think I should have come in a bit softer for Figure. Judging from the pics, I also need more mass in my glutes and hamstrings, but it's hard to tell what I would have looked like if I had been posing right.
Posing:
Our trainer taught us to pose WRONG!! I was very upset about that. We found out in the mandatory meeting before the evening show. The producer made a point of showing the right Figure poses. Such small changes, and we could have done better. So for everyone's future reference: Your feet should be in a V, no matter which direction you are facing, and your head is supposed to face the same direction as your feet! Our trainer had us place our feet with the heel of the front food in the arch of the back foot, and this was dead wrong. He also had us twist to face the upper body (and head) toward the judges in the quarter-turn-to-the-side poses - also dead wrong - we should have been in profile, facing toward the wings of the stage. Toward the rear, once again, feet should have been in a V, but he had us tuck the heel of one in to the arch of the other. People backstage told us that this information is available "in the NPC rules" but it was not in the contest packet, and we are all three novices, and didn't know where to go look, even though we were suspicious that our trainer was telling us wrong. I even told him, one day, that when watching the 98 Ms Fitness Olympia, the poses looked different from what he was teaching us, but he insisted that "that is 3 years old, and things have changed now". I know that it is not "the whole reason" why I didn't place higher, (and I'm not making excuses) but it sure didn't help.
Tanning:
I was on the lighter side, but not the whitest of the bunch. I had been tanning 20 minutes at a time, 3 days a week, and still didn't get dark. Finally, I used Jan Tana show tan for 2 nights before the show. I wasn't the darkest, but at least my cuts showed, and I didn't look too out of place. I am SUCH a white girl! I don't know what I could have done to get darker, but if I ever do this again (okay, okay, quit laughing at me!) I will have to try, 'cause I could have used another shade or two of color. Maybe start with the Jan Tana 3 or 4 days before the comp, and hope it doesn't dry out and start to slough off.
Best Laugh:
When they introduced the mandatory meeting before the evening show with: "Obsessive/Compulsive Club.... is everyone in the right place?"
Second Best Laugh:
The Emcee couldn't help bouncing to the music, and one of the Figure Tall girls goosed him on her way by!
Oh Yeah:
There were so many of us (28 in Figure, only 3 in Fitness) that they divided us into a Tall, Medium and Short class.
Guest Poser:
Our guest poser was Greg Kovacks.... and he stood up the show!! Our producer was NOT PLEASED and made it VERY clear to the audience. How unprofessional!!
First Food:
Can you believe they had tons of food backstage on a table set up for the competitors? I was one of the only people who held out and didn't snack or pig out between the prejudging and the evening show. I just ate my beef and yams, and peanut butter and honey right before going on stage. (I had so many yams the three days before the show when I was carb loading and water depleting that my eyeballs got tinged orange like an oompa loompa!) I waited until after we finished the One-Piece round and my husband came backstage and took our pictures together (See page 3 on my link) and then I finally had brownies from the care package my Mom sent me, and shared them with the girls. After the show, I went with my family and some friends to Chevy's and had a strawberry margarita and stuffed my face with salsa, chips, and a big honking platter of mexican food! Boy did my stomach hurt Sunday!
Placement:
If you weren't in the top five for your class, they basically just said "thanks, you did great, we don't need you anymore so you can get dressed now" so we don't know what our final placement was. I wanted to stay and talk to the judges after the show, but our families dragged us off right after the overall winner was picked, because they wanted to miss the crowds trying to get out of the parking lot. So I called and left the producer a message to ask if there is any way to find out where we placed if we weren't in the top five. I have not heard back yet, but he's really nice, so I expect him to call in the next couple of days. I'll let you guys know if I find anything out.
Did I miss anything??
Sorry I couldn't bring ya home a trophy - I did my best, though, and felt real good about it!! Thanks for being so patient and waiting for the story! You guys are the best!
Fennec
Okay, okay! (laugh)
Lots to tell! I was waiting to get the pictures back, just got them today and put them up.... so here they are (pages 2 and 3):
http://content.communities.msn.com/FennecPics/shoebox.msnw
Lessee.... First of all, no, I didn't place in the top five, and neither did either of my friends. I was really proud of us though; I thought we all did great for our first show.
We got some really nice compliments backstage, especially from the Bodybuilding gals: Several stopped by and said things along the lines of, "A lot of the Figure competitors have an attitude, but you three were really nice and friendly to everyone." That made us all feel really good. We particularly wanted to have people see that you don't have to be catty to eachother, but can have fun and be supportive. One of us girls was interviewed in her neighborhood paper the weekend before the show, and she made a point of mentioning our names (myself and my other friend) and saying how we were doing this together and encouraging each-other, etc.
Cuts:
I ended up coming in too cut, I think. I was as cut as many of the bodybuilding competitors, and I think I should have come in a bit softer for Figure. Judging from the pics, I also need more mass in my glutes and hamstrings, but it's hard to tell what I would have looked like if I had been posing right.
Posing:
Our trainer taught us to pose WRONG!! I was very upset about that. We found out in the mandatory meeting before the evening show. The producer made a point of showing the right Figure poses. Such small changes, and we could have done better. So for everyone's future reference: Your feet should be in a V, no matter which direction you are facing, and your head is supposed to face the same direction as your feet! Our trainer had us place our feet with the heel of the front food in the arch of the back foot, and this was dead wrong. He also had us twist to face the upper body (and head) toward the judges in the quarter-turn-to-the-side poses - also dead wrong - we should have been in profile, facing toward the wings of the stage. Toward the rear, once again, feet should have been in a V, but he had us tuck the heel of one in to the arch of the other. People backstage told us that this information is available "in the NPC rules" but it was not in the contest packet, and we are all three novices, and didn't know where to go look, even though we were suspicious that our trainer was telling us wrong. I even told him, one day, that when watching the 98 Ms Fitness Olympia, the poses looked different from what he was teaching us, but he insisted that "that is 3 years old, and things have changed now". I know that it is not "the whole reason" why I didn't place higher, (and I'm not making excuses) but it sure didn't help.
Tanning:
I was on the lighter side, but not the whitest of the bunch. I had been tanning 20 minutes at a time, 3 days a week, and still didn't get dark. Finally, I used Jan Tana show tan for 2 nights before the show. I wasn't the darkest, but at least my cuts showed, and I didn't look too out of place. I am SUCH a white girl! I don't know what I could have done to get darker, but if I ever do this again (okay, okay, quit laughing at me!) I will have to try, 'cause I could have used another shade or two of color. Maybe start with the Jan Tana 3 or 4 days before the comp, and hope it doesn't dry out and start to slough off.
Best Laugh:
When they introduced the mandatory meeting before the evening show with: "Obsessive/Compulsive Club.... is everyone in the right place?"
Second Best Laugh:
The Emcee couldn't help bouncing to the music, and one of the Figure Tall girls goosed him on her way by!
Oh Yeah:
There were so many of us (28 in Figure, only 3 in Fitness) that they divided us into a Tall, Medium and Short class.
Guest Poser:
Our guest poser was Greg Kovacks.... and he stood up the show!! Our producer was NOT PLEASED and made it VERY clear to the audience. How unprofessional!!
First Food:
Can you believe they had tons of food backstage on a table set up for the competitors? I was one of the only people who held out and didn't snack or pig out between the prejudging and the evening show. I just ate my beef and yams, and peanut butter and honey right before going on stage. (I had so many yams the three days before the show when I was carb loading and water depleting that my eyeballs got tinged orange like an oompa loompa!) I waited until after we finished the One-Piece round and my husband came backstage and took our pictures together (See page 3 on my link) and then I finally had brownies from the care package my Mom sent me, and shared them with the girls. After the show, I went with my family and some friends to Chevy's and had a strawberry margarita and stuffed my face with salsa, chips, and a big honking platter of mexican food! Boy did my stomach hurt Sunday!
Placement:
If you weren't in the top five for your class, they basically just said "thanks, you did great, we don't need you anymore so you can get dressed now" so we don't know what our final placement was. I wanted to stay and talk to the judges after the show, but our families dragged us off right after the overall winner was picked, because they wanted to miss the crowds trying to get out of the parking lot. So I called and left the producer a message to ask if there is any way to find out where we placed if we weren't in the top five. I have not heard back yet, but he's really nice, so I expect him to call in the next couple of days. I'll let you guys know if I find anything out.
Did I miss anything??
Sorry I couldn't bring ya home a trophy - I did my best, though, and felt real good about it!! Thanks for being so patient and waiting for the story!
You guys are the best!Fennec
N
new@gettinbig
Guest
Well congrats girl!!! Your pics look great...my adivce to you would be you need a lot more color....I put on 5-6 coats of jantana the night before and 1 in the morning...The lighter you are it becomes difficult for judges to see you.. You have nice shape and you were lean Enjoy your grub and be proud you got on stage girl!!!!!!! Look towards your next one.
Enjoy your grub and be proud you got on stage girl!!!!!!! Look towards your next one.You're really amazing Fennec. What a great attitude.
I really hate it when friends all jump up and say "you should have won" so I won't, but I have to say, you were looking really GOOD! You may have felt that your glutes/hams were not developed enough just because you were so damn lean (and you did that naturally?!?!) where the other ladies from what I could tell were not nearly as lean and therefore had a little more back there. And they weren't as conditioned either. At any rate, I'm inspired and I think, not only do you have lots of potential, but if you give it another shot, you will feel SO much more prepared
I really hate it when friends all jump up and say "you should have won" so I won't, but I have to say, you were looking really GOOD! You may have felt that your glutes/hams were not developed enough just because you were so damn lean (and you did that naturally?!?!) where the other ladies from what I could tell were not nearly as lean and therefore had a little more back there. And they weren't as conditioned either. At any rate, I'm inspired
and I think, not only do you have lots of potential, but if you give it another shot, you will feel SO much more prepared Thanks! Yes, I wasn't taking anything special for fat loss. I even quit using thermogenics altogether, many months ago now, because they made my eye twitch? I used to use Xenadrine, but even that started giving me twitching problems after I used it for a while. And that was with me cycling off the thermogenics for a week or two every 12 weeks. I don't like ephedrine anymore. However, I have been using Gugglebolic regularly for six months or so, and it doesn't seem to cause me the problems the thermo's do.
I did 45 min cardio before meal 1, and another 30 in the evening when I got home from work. I started my contest prep eating 1200 cal/day and dropped to 1100 and then 1050 as my mass went down. I went back up to 1100-1150 the last 2 weeks because I just couldn't stand it any more. I didn't cheat at all, but I had a meal off about once every 2 weeks. I couldn't believe how steadily I kept losing weight - I ended up walking on stage at 110 pounds, Saturday morning. Of course some of that was from the water depletion in the last few days. I did not rotate carbs, because every time I tried to, I just caught whatever illness was going around the office. So I just stuck to no carbs after 3:00-4:00 pm, only protein type meals like eggs & cheese, or chicken breast.
New@: I need a tanning coach! How do you put on 5-6 coats of that stuff in one night? What am I doing wrong?? I must be losing my mind because the other girls didn't have the trouble with it that I did, either. (laugh) Is it just because I tend towards dry skin, or am I not applying correctly? It took me hours to get the damned stuff on. Also, the directions are confusing because it says not to get it wet or wash off for 6 hours, but then it seems contradictory because it says you can re-apply in 2-3 hours (which would obviously get it wet).
Here's what it was like when I put it on: Looked like runny furniture polish. I used a sponge and smoothed on using small circles as directed on the bottle but it did not look as though it was blending, looked like dried mud, even though I blended with the sponge. (And I use ordinary self-tanners all summer, never any problems with those.) Worried all night that it would look like s**t the next day. Slept in old sheets. Then when I woke up in the morning, washed in the shower, and all the icky, muddy looking stuff came off and washed away, leaving a nice well blended tan (but not dark enough).
Here's what it was like when the other gals put it on (same stuff, Jan Tana show tan, blue bottle): They poured it on their hands and rubbed it on - blended right in, no muddy look, no ugly grey stuff. They were still rubbing it on in between the prejudging and the evening show, and it just blended all nice, didn't even tan their palms! Meanwhile, mine was already getting patchy.
Maybe I should say "the heck with the directions and the sponges" and use my hands like they did?
We'll see about a "Next time".... I've got to get over the burn-out, first. But I'm not feeling as negative about it as I was 2 weeks ago! That last week with no cardio and finally getting some carbs in me made me feel a hell of a lot better!!!
Thanks again for all your support!!
Take care,
Fennec
P.S. When I said, "How unprofessional" I was referring to Greg Kovacks for failing to show up for his guest posing - I did not mean my show's producer (in case anyone was confused).
I did 45 min cardio before meal 1, and another 30 in the evening when I got home from work. I started my contest prep eating 1200 cal/day and dropped to 1100 and then 1050 as my mass went down. I went back up to 1100-1150 the last 2 weeks because I just couldn't stand it any more. I didn't cheat at all, but I had a meal off about once every 2 weeks. I couldn't believe how steadily I kept losing weight - I ended up walking on stage at 110 pounds, Saturday morning. Of course some of that was from the water depletion in the last few days. I did not rotate carbs, because every time I tried to, I just caught whatever illness was going around the office. So I just stuck to no carbs after 3:00-4:00 pm, only protein type meals like eggs & cheese, or chicken breast.
New@: I need a tanning coach! How do you put on 5-6 coats of that stuff in one night? What am I doing wrong?? I must be losing my mind because the other girls didn't have the trouble with it that I did, either. (laugh) Is it just because I tend towards dry skin, or am I not applying correctly? It took me hours to get the damned stuff on. Also, the directions are confusing because it says not to get it wet or wash off for 6 hours, but then it seems contradictory because it says you can re-apply in 2-3 hours (which would obviously get it wet).
Here's what it was like when I put it on: Looked like runny furniture polish. I used a sponge and smoothed on using small circles as directed on the bottle but it did not look as though it was blending, looked like dried mud, even though I blended with the sponge. (And I use ordinary self-tanners all summer, never any problems with those.) Worried all night that it would look like s**t the next day. Slept in old sheets. Then when I woke up in the morning, washed in the shower, and all the icky, muddy looking stuff came off and washed away, leaving a nice well blended tan (but not dark enough).
Here's what it was like when the other gals put it on (same stuff, Jan Tana show tan, blue bottle): They poured it on their hands and rubbed it on - blended right in, no muddy look, no ugly grey stuff. They were still rubbing it on in between the prejudging and the evening show, and it just blended all nice, didn't even tan their palms! Meanwhile, mine was already getting patchy.
Maybe I should say "the heck with the directions and the sponges" and use my hands like they did?
We'll see about a "Next time".... I've got to get over the burn-out, first. But I'm not feeling as negative about it as I was 2 weeks ago! That last week with no cardio and finally getting some carbs in me made me feel a hell of a lot better!!!
Thanks again for all your support!!
Take care,
Fennec
P.S. When I said, "How unprofessional" I was referring to Greg Kovacks for failing to show up for his guest posing - I did not mean my show's producer (in case anyone was confused).
