I am relaxing before starting to get ready at 7 am.
Makeup, hair and styling team.
Fixing my bikini and glueing it to my body with bikini bite.
Front pose.
Side pose.
Back pose.
Warming up before stage time.
Glazing my body.
My coach. The best!
My teammate.
Ending the day with a late dinner at McDonalds on our 3,5 hour drive home.
Tag: diet
Newcomers 2015.
I didn’t write on my blog for a while because I have been busy studying, working and working out. However, much has happened and I have a lot on my mind, which I want to share with you all. I want to tell you about one of the most amazing experience I had this year, which was my first competition as a fitness athlete. The competition was in the weekend from the 11th-13th of September and it was worth all the hard work. People have been asking me many questions about the competition and what you need to do on stage. In this post, I want to share my experience and try to give some answers to some of the questions.
What kind of competition is it?
The competition is called New Comers and is the competition all new athletes need to take part in and get a certain score to be able to compete in further competitions. I am competing in the category called Bikini Fitness, which is the most feminine kind of bodybuilding for women. Inside the category there are different senior height classes (+172, -172, -169, -166, -162 and -160), as well as two junior (under the age of 23) classes (-163 and +163) and a master class (over the age of 35). I was competing in the junior +163 class. Other than Bikini Fitness, women can compete in Body Fitness, Athletic Fitness, Bodybuilding and Physique.
How are you judged?
On the stage, you need to show four different poses. A front pose, a side pose, a back pose and another side pose. It’s called a quarter turn every time you go from one pose to another. The judges are judging the different poses by looking at the symmetry of the body, but also the charisma and charm is very important. In Bikini Fitness, you need to be fit, but feminine at the same time.
What is happening on stage?
There can only be 15 girls in the competition, which means that if there are more than 15, there will be an elimination round.
Elimination round
All girls enter the stage, and everybody will go to the front of the stage in small groups and do some quarter turns until the judges have made a decision. This takes about 10 minutes, and the athletes are leaving the stage again.
Pre-judging
All the athletes enter the stage and the girls, who are not in the top 15, get an applause and leave the stage, while the rest stays. Then everybody need to do quarter turns again before leaving the stage. There is something called ‘call-outs’. If you are one of the best athletes, you are in the first call-out, where four-five girls are called out in the middle of the stage. Next is second call-out etc.
Finals
Backstage, the athletes who are in the finals are informed. The top 6 is in the finals, which is a bit different from the elimination and pre-judging rounds. In the finals, the girls enter the stage one by one showing the t-walk. In the T-walk, you can decide yourself, which poses you would like to show. You walk in a ‘T’ shape form the middle of the stage to the right side of the stage, then to the left side of the stage (or the other way around), and back to the middle. In the T-walk, you have the possibility to show your best sides.
My experience at New Comers 2015
Friday was registration day and in the morning, I met with my team in a big house, we rented for the weekend. Here we all got the first layer of tan, before we drove to the place where the competition took place. When we got there, many athletes were already waiting in a line for the registration. We joined them and stood in the line for a couple of hours before finally reaching the registration room. Here they measured my height (168 cm), approved my shoes and bikini, and handed me my athlete number 88.
Most of Saturday I relaxed, and I practiced my posing one last time. A few people from my team were competing, and we went to watch and cheer, but most of the day was just waiting for Sunday.
Sunday morning, we had to be at the competition at 5.30am. Athletic fitness was the first category, which had to go on stage at 7 am, and backstage we all started to get ready one by one, in the order of who had to go on the stage when. We had to get spray tan (I was so pale I got three layers) and get our hair and makeup done. There were around 24-25 athletes in my class so there had to be an elimination round. We went on the stage and did quarter turns before leaving the stage again. Backstage we waited five minutes while the judges where deciding the top 15. I was in the top 15, and I was so happy, I still had a chance to get to the finals. Again, we did the quarter turns a couple of times, before leaving the stage.
Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the finals. Instead, I went home with my family and we ordered burgers and fries for lunch. Afterwards, I went back to the place of the competition to watch my teammates and enjoy the rest of the day.
I placed 9 in the competition, which meant I qualified for the Danish Championship last weekend. I will tell about this and show pictures in another blog post.
Family dinner.
I had my family over for dinner last Monday, and I decided to make baked salmon with honey, ginger and garlic spices. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the salmon, because we were so hungry, that I forgot to bring out the camera. It was delicious! Salmon is my favorite fish, and I can’t believe I didn’t like it once. Actually, I didn’t like any seafood at all, but well, luckily that changed.
For the main dish, I also made two rucola pesto and mozzarella bread, and a salad. It was hard to make the bread as I realized, I didn’t have a rolling pen halfway through the making, which is also the reason the dough is a too thick and messes up the braided look a little bit. Most importantly, my family told me the bread tasted well. I am still on my healthy competition diet, so no bread (or dessert) for me this time.
We had strawberries, grapes, small Nutella bread, and Malaysian fried banana cake for dessert.
Healthy nuts every day.
I love nuts. They are an easy healthy snack, and nuts covered with chocolate are just too delicious. For obvious reasons, I am not allowed to eat the ones with chocolate at the moment, but I eat raw nuts on top of my oatmeal every morning and as an evening snack. I like to have a whole collection of different nuts in my kitchen, so I have some different variants to choose from. This is my top five favourite nuts, but I must say it is extremely hard to decide which I like better than the other.
1. Macadamia nuts. Macadamia nuts are the best! They are very expensive though, which is the reason why I am not really buying them that often. They are for special occasions.
2. Pecans. I have been eating these for the past couple of days, and I am not getting tired of them at all. I definitely need to buy more.
3. Pine nuts. These are especially good when they are roasted on the pan. Perfect for topping or in a salad.
4. Brazil nuts. These nuts are huge, but easy to chop into smaller pieces more appropriate for topping.
5. Cashews. These nuts have a kind of buttery taste, which is why I like them better roasted, as it gives them a soft crunch instead.
I use almonds quite often because they are cheaper than many of the nuts listed above.
These are my top five favourite nuts, but there are lots of other nuts to choose from if you don’t share the same taste as me, for example hazelnuts, peanuts, chestnuts, pistachios, and walnuts.
Morning oats with almonds and blueberries.
Skyr (Icelandic dairy product, similar to strained yogurt) with brazil nuts and blueberries.
Update + Jewellery.
Progress update from today’s coach meeting. Even though I ate a bit more food this week, I am still loosing weight and my body fat percentage is now down at 9,7 percent. This means that my coach will (again) add more food to my diet plan, which is perfectly fine with me.
After the meeting, I went to buy jewellery for the competition. This is what I found. I wouldn’t wear the bracelets in my every day life, but for the competition I need a lot of ‘bling’ to attract attenton.
Cravings.
When you have been following a strict diet plan for four weeks without any cheat meals you start to crave something else than what’s on your plan. So far, I haven’t found it very difficult to follow a diet plan because it has become a habit to eat healthy and weight all my food. BUT I am craving Indian food. Seriously Indian food!? I didn’t eat a lot of it before, except when I was on exchange in Vietnam last year, but now I want to eat it every day haha. I have self-discipline enough to keep it to looking at delicious Pinterest photos and scrolling through the recipes, but still, it’s strange. I would have imagined the craving for nutella, cake and candy would come first.
Countdown.
Ten months ago, I sent an application to become a part of Denmark’s best fitness team, Team Fisker Performance. Back then in October/November 2014, the New Comers Competition 2015 seemed so far away, but now ten months has become less than 30 days. The time has passed so fast, and 30 days will probably become one day just as quick.
With the new focus, I started working out every second day for the first month, while I was still on exchange in Vietnam. When I got back to Denmark in December, I started working out five times a week, which I have done ever since. The last couple of months also combined with some cardio. The gym has been my second home and I don’t even want to count the amount of hours I have spent in there. I like working out and use my time in the gym, and that’s what matters. I am a spontaneous person but an amazing planner too, which results in the fact that I have never missed a single workout session.
It is important to reflect upon the things you do in life, and I have been thinking much about my fitness journey lately. Just by now, I find the experience has given me a lot. I have learned important things and strengthened some of my personal skills.
Workout: When I started in November, I was new to the whole idea of doing strength training by myself. I was more the type who was attending the different classes offered by the gym, such as cross fit, HIT and other strength and dance classes. I also enjoyed outdoor running.
The past ten months has given me knowledge about how to work out, and how to do the different exercises with the right technique. Now, I finally know the name of many exercises (I found this difficult in the beginning), and which muscle groups they are targeting. I can use this knowledge and self-confidence later on when I continue to work out without a coach. Now I would feel like I actually know what I am doing with the dumbbells.
Amazing people and experiences: As I am on a fitness team, I have met so many inspiring people. The coaches have learned me so much, and my teammates are a group of cool dedicated people. Every one of them has worked hard in the gym and has improved throughout this year. I have gained an insight into the fitness world, and gotten many new experiences related to this.
Cooking: I improved my cooking skills with 100%. Before, cooking was just something I needed to get over as quick as possible so that I could eat. Now, I enjoy cooking. All this amazing food you are able to make yourself in the kitchen – It is like an amazing new world for me, and I like it! When I am not on my diet anymore, I am going to cook so much delicious food, especially dishes from India, Italy and Mexico. My all-time favourite kitchens. My friends can definitely expect some dinner invitations later this year.
Nutrition: I know a lot about food now. I know what to eat in order to get more energy and built muscles, and I know what to eat to loose fat. I have seen the importance of a healthy diet on my own body, and I am fascinated about how you can transform your body by eating differently.
Extremely good habits: By following a workout and meal plan, I have become extremely good at planning my life to make it as easy as possible for myself. I am food prepping one-two days ahead, and every evening I am preparing my breakfast so it’s ready to cook in the morning. This way it makes it easier to follow my meal plan and it results in less stress.
Self-discipline and will power: I have improved my self-discipline and will power. For example, I don’t touch the Nutella I have in my kitchen, and people can eat candy, cake etc. in front of me without me caring much. I have been to many parties and social arrangements without eating unhealthy or drinking alcohol, always bringing my own food and drinks. Sometimes it was hard to say no, but it was necessary to do so.
No matter how the competition will turn out, the process itself has taught so many things that I can take with me further in my life.
Progress update.
I met up with my coach yesterday. It had been two weeks since last time, and we needed to do another measurement to check that everything is going in the right direction. My body fat percentage went from 10,7 to 10,1 in two weeks, which is good. What’s even better is the fact that I got a new diet plan with a little more food (carbs), starting from today. The food is highly needed now that the summer break is over, and uni has started again.
Saturday.
Hello mornings spent in bed, long time no see! A morning without the sound of an alarm had been needed for some time now, and I was surprised I didn’t sleep longer than until 9 am. I enjoyed my morning oats with some sparkling water before I went to the gym. I was full of new energy and today’s workout was amazing.
Midweek.
Most of today I spent at work. I was eating lunch at 11 am already, so I was starving when I got home at around 4.30 pm. Luckily, I did grocery shopping yesterday and my fridge was full of food. I made a delicous wholegrain wrap with vegetables and spicy minced meat. At the same time I food prepped some salmon, vegetables and wraps for tomorrows lunch, which I am already looking forward to eat. Actually, I am looking forward to eat all the time at the moment. I am really enjoying my food so it better be something delicious haha.
Today is strength training restday, but I went on a 30 minutes run. Now it’s shower time, and then I am going to the outdoor summer cinema to watch a movie with my friends.
Have a nice evening out there.
FITFLAMINGO 