Are you a HATER?

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you are very aware I write from my own experiences. Today's blog is meant to cause a reaction within your soul. You will either completely "empathize" not sympathize, with me or you will feel as if you have been CALLED OUT. That's right! Be prepared to feel something. If you are honest with yourself you will find out if you are "that" HATER!

As an NPC competitor I endure all sorts of reactions for what I do. Some are encouraging while others are not. Your first thought is that this will be about the girls I meet at the competitions. Quite the opposite. Those girls are usually very nice and supportive of one another. We understand the hard work we have put into these shows and that respect shows in most cases. I decided to write this when I had had enough. When I recently uploaded a video to youtube lifting my max weight on dumbbell chest press, I did so mainly for my friends to see. I had no idea it would bring out the haters. Accusations that I wasn’t lifting the weight and that my workout partner was helping too much became a big issue to someone. Ugly comments and banter continued before I finally had to block him from my site. What was the point in that? I meant this for fun and someone was missing that. Why? Probably because hating on others made him feel better about HIM. I, being a bit naive I suppose, was a bit taken back by how quickly someone was willing to say something that would insult me instead of build me up. But then again, as I got to thinking, this has been going on in different forms my whole life.

Most of my criticism comes from females. Jealousy amongst us females is and always will be present. I think it's very hard for females to truly be happy for those of the same sex. I remember being that way myself. I think with age and doing these shows I have gained the confidence I never had and learned to be happy with me. Now I can truly say I enjoy seeing other women succeed. It actually empowers me. If she can do it, then so can I.

One example of being "hated" on occurred last year. After my show, my workout partner hung some pictures of me from my competition at the gym. Boy, the uproar that caused. They were up less than a week. I am sure some insecure woman was threatened by my pictures being up for her husband to see. She probably buys magazines with photo-shopped movies stars on the front of them, but heaven forbid you put up a picture of a "real" woman. You are a HATER! You just disguise it as "morals" "values" or some other name that makes you feel better. Get over yourself.

Don't forget about the "silent hater". Let me tell you what they look like. They are one of your 350 + friends on facebook who won't even "like" you winning a show or tell you congrats. Don't want to do that. If you "like" it, one of your friends will see it (probably a male) and how will that make YOU feel? You are a silent HATER. Get over yourself.

That's not the worse silent hater. How about that person (usually a woman) who knows and is aware of your success or training for a show but offers no Good Luck or Congrats! She will look you square in the eyes and think about it, but nothing. Sorry to say it, but you too are a HATER.

These HATERS will preach love and kindness, but when your success forces them to look at themselves and face their own insecurities, then you become the bad guy. Let's face it. I am an easy target to hate. I am young (ok maybe not so young), attractive, and having some success. What is there to like about me. I am everything you want to be...at least that's what you think.

Don't forget that I am human just like you. I have had and continue to have my own insecurities and struggles. Naturally I want people to like me.........just like you do. So the next time you whisper something negative about me because of what I do as a competitor, STOP and think, am I being a HATER? Instead perhaps, offer me some encouragement. Don't assume I get enough, because as my first example shows, there is always someone willing to HATE. Don't be "that" HATER.

And the Winner Is........

We all want to hear our name being called out as the winner....no matter what it is. Whether you are a seven year old hoping you won a coloring contest or you are 38 and competing in a NPC bikini competition.
" CANDACE HARMON!" Whooh! First place in master's, now I just have to wait and see how I did in the open (all ages) division in my height class. "And the 1st place trophy goes to, with her second win of the night, CANDACE HARMON." Wow! I am feeling good. I won the Optimum Classic back in 2010 and here I am again repeating in 2012. At this point I am excited, but no time to celebrate. I have only a few minutes then I go back on stage to compete against the Class B winner. A lot of things are going thru my head at this point. I have never competed for overall and really want to sweep this show. I am motioned to join the class B winner on stage at which point the head judge takes over and tells us to do our front pose, back pose, walk 5 steps, then walk back. "Swagger" I think, "I have to bring my swagger". I have no idea what this chic brings to the table so I have to leave everything on the stage. After a very brief minute of posing, the judges make their decision and the results are announced. " the  winner of the overall trophy and title of Optimum Classic's 2012 Bikini Champion goes to CANDACE HARMON".
 I am thrilled! My first overall win could not have come at a better time. Jr. Nationals is only 5 weeks away and this will just boost my confidence. Granted the show was small, but the competiton was good. My trainer and I did so many things different with this show and it was either going to fail miserably or hit the mark. Well, it hit the mark. I could not be more satisfied with the way I looked regardless of the competition. I received some good feedback from the judges and will hopefully take this version of me to Chicago. I would love nothing more than to have a top five finish there, but I am going in to WIN!

Here are some pictures from this weekends show.

How much weight can you move?

You have probably heard the saying; Big things come in small packages, or Don’t judge a book by its cover. That could not apply to anything more than weight training. We all assume the biggest guy in the gym can lift the most weight. Or perhaps the guy who is in the best shape (ripped abs ect.) is surely stronger than the other guys. Not always so...and I am living proof of that. At 113 lbs I recently did my max of 65lb DBs in each hand for chest press. Yep that's right. I can push some weight around.

So the question I get a lot is "Do I have to lift heavy?" My answer to that is...only if you want to see some physical changes. What's the point in going in to lift weights if the weight you are doing does nothing to challenge the muscles to grow? "I just want to tone" I hear some of you saying. Well you get the tone look from decreasing your body fat not by lifting light. Now don't misconstrue what I am saying. Rotating in higher reps is a great way to challenge your muscle endurance from time to time. But higher reps means you go as heavy as you can to get 12-15 reps and getting number 15 took all you had. Doing a weight where you are pushing out 20 reps is not going to initiate any major physical changes in your physique.

When all else fails, as I like to say, LOAD IT UP!

To check out my weight lifting go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApPEqw_I6Cc

Below is a picture from 2 weeks out.

Calories and Cardio

Wow! 3 weeks out already. Weighed in this week at 114 and 10.7% bodyfat. That's right where I need to be. In fact, I have never been ready for a show this for out. I usually come in right at the last minute. I will just try to coast in from here. Goal is to lose very little muscle and if my bodyfat does not change in the next two weeks that will be OK too. The week of the show I will probably drop another percent. I do not want to look too "skinny" or lean. I have more muscle this time and honestly just appear "fitter" this time around. Is that a word?

Anyway, someone asked me about my caloric intake. Believe it or not I have been taking in 2000 calories from about 6 weeks out and back. I was decreased to 1700 for a couple of weeks and then at 4 weeks out and continuing now, I am on 1650 calories a day. My breakdown is 60/30/10 carbs/protein/fat. Even on the 2000 calories I was losing fat. I was also gaining muscle. There is a saying that you have to eat in order to get lean...that means eating "clean" of course. You must journal your food or have a printed out meal plan when doing something like this. You think you are taking enough calories in but your not...or you think you are staying within your caloric range but you are greatly over consuming calories. You can't be for sure if you are not doing one or the other. It is science. I can figure out mathematically how many calories it takes to maintain my weight of 114. Guess what? Your trainer can also figure out how many calories it takes to maintain your 190lbs. So you might as well be truthful about it. You deserve to be honest to yourself. It's the only way you will change your eating habits.

I was also asked about cardio and whether or not I do any. Honestly, this time I have done no cardio at all in order to get where I am. Typically within the 6-week mark I will start doing 15 minutes of moderate cardio after each weight lifting session. This time however, since I have already reached my goal, there is no reason to do this. You should be able to, with proper diet and intense weight lifting sessions, reach your goal without cardio. I know I can hear it now..."What about your heart"? If you are working out hard in the gym, then your heart is being exercised. I realize I can't go run 5 miles without getting winded...but I'm not training for a marathon either.

If you have never read my blog about cardio vs. weight training you may want to do so to get a better of idea of how I fit cardio into my plan. Just go into my archives and check it out.

Next blog: How much can you bench? Updated photos to come.

Your suit is fine....No it isn't

Since I recently met with the woman who is making my suit I thought it would be appropriate to talk about what is and is not "suitable" for competition. Well, your guess is as good as mine. I have talked with several people, including the woman making my suit, and there is some confusion at the amateur level about what is and is not acceptable. My seamstress has had to redo several suits at the last minute because judges are throwing them out at weigh in. Can you imagine? Spending all that money only to have no suit for the competition. Well it's happening quite a bit apparently. One judge was asked about this and this was her response. It seems to depend on the head judge. So and So (I won't mention any names to protect the innocent) is more conservative and so and so lets just about anything go. But what are we supposed to do then? Well, I guess this brings me back to a previous blog I wrote regarding knowing who your head judge is. I would not hesitate if I had any doubt, to email the head judge a picture and get his/her feedback. Just don't alter the suit if you get the Ok...you are just asking for it to be thrown out. The NPC rules state the back has to cover 50% of the glutes. Bet you didn't know that. Especially since you have never seen 50% of the glutes covered since I competed in 2010. LOL That year I was told my suit needed to be smaller by one judge...the judge who tends to throw out more suits today. LOL Times change. My suits are less conservative today than when I started, but still more conservative than others today. I do not want to have to purchase an extra suit, so I am going to make sure I don't walk that line.

I have posted some progress pictures. My bodyfat is the same but my weight is down. This is not good. This means I have lost some muscle. Frustrating to say the least. But I just tweak things a bit and keep going.

6 weeks out!

So here I am at 6 weeks out. My water retention is better but I could tell some difference in the pictures. Not as good as I had hoped but not bad either. I met with the lady making my suit today. I know exactly what fabric I want. I just hope they make it in the color I am going with this year. While I am focusing on this show, I am already looking towards the Junior Nationals. I will try to get my flight booked and make hotel reservations soon. I will get quotes this week on my t-shirts. I have narrowed it down to a couple of different sayings but need to get that finalized as well. Six weeks out means workouts have to be even more focused than before. I throw in extra lunges and step-ups to lift that booty and I always LOAD IT UP! No time for slacking now. I'm just getting started.

I'm gettin crazy all up in here!

Wow! One week of my fat being cut back and I am officially "loco". I can't even think good enough to know if that's how you spell loco. I will never complain again about having to stuff my face because it is way better than lean out time. Usually I don't feel like this until closer to show time.... that’s when the calories are cut back which means the fat is cut. I am retaining fluid, but have no idea why. My trainer assures me it is probably from lack of water consumption, my lack of sleep, and stress. Apparently, I need to make some changes because I'm not coping well because I'm not thinking well. Guess I will increase my water intake, take more naps, and send the kids away until after the competition. LOL This is the hard part of preparing for a show. Everyday things that are typically no bigger deal than the last become enormous obstacles. I can see how being single and living alone would make it easier to prepare for a competition. But I play with the cards that are dealt and I deal with the choices I make and I choose to compete. I won't lose any money, but I may lose a few friends along the way. LOL.  I will admit however, sometimes I want to get away from myself, but no matter where I go, there I am.  I can be pretty contrary during this time. Once my body adjusts I should be fine.

 I am four days past due on a cheat meal...TONIGHT I am cashing in!

*no matter what I look like this week, I will post 6 week out photos....ACCOUNTABILITY*