2010 New Beginnings – June 1

Hi Everyone-

There are so many good things going on, that I am not sure where to start.

Spray Tanning Services–
My friend and I are doing Spray Tanning backstage at shows and for regular spray tans in the Sherbrooke area in which we live. We did the FCPAQ Est show here in Sherbrooke (CBBF stream), and received great feedback from the promoter and he has already booked us for next year.
It was a busy day, but I loved seeing all the athletes performing and being apart of the atmosphere without any pressure to compete.

Sophie Charpentier, an athlete who I helped train competed in her first show. She is 18 years old and a former math student of mine. She did an amazing job – I could never have imaged myself at 18 years old competing onstage.

We have some photos online – where you can see the before and afters.

We will be at the 2010 CBBF Fitness, Figure and Bikini, Junior, Masters, and Grandmasters National championships in August in Toronto.

If you would like spray tanning services, you can sign up from my website – sign up here – and then we can make sure to take care of you for the event. We are still seeing if we can get backstage at the event as the CBBF has expressed interest in supporting our endeavors. We will update all our athletes of the final decision, however, we will be at the host hotel for the event in August.

Along with that we will be at our 3rd event – the New Brunswick Provincials in November. Information is available on my site – under ‘services’.

Teaching & Beyond
Summer is almost upon us, and school for most students is coming to an end. Although I did not finish out the school year I know that I would not have made it to the end of the year. Teaching is one of those things that is so hard nowadays. It is unlike the way the education system was even 10-15 years ago. Expectations are different, students are different, administration has more pressure on them to implement changes quickly and effectively, and the teachers are expected to do more work than is humanly possible. This June try to thank the teachers of your children. High school might be tough but maybe you can thank the homeroom teacher or that teacher that takes the most care of your child. It is not an easy job at times, and even just a small note is enough encouragement for those great teachers to stay in the profession a little longer.

For me, I am so blessed. I did apply for a parental leave of absence in March, and luckily it was approved. This now leaves me the time to pursue being a personal trainer, teacher, and coach.

Personal Trainer & Teacher
I have finally decided on a gym that I will be working at for the next year – ProGym in Sherbrooke (Fleurimont) location. I already have an office, and a few clients under my care. I am very excited to what changes I can help them make. So if you are in the area, by all means stop in and see me or contact me at – [email protected]

ProGym is a great environment for me. I had a decision to make as the other major private gym in my area also expressed interest in me. Although I would love to work at both gyms, I don’t think either one would be happy with that arrangement. I have a great relationship with both gyms, and this was a tough decision to make. Did I mention that I am also trying to tackle this new position all in French? I will be learning a lot this year.

My goals include teaching my clients – (as that is my background) I want to help teach those who just don’t get the gym to at least feel comfortable in the gym, stay motivated, and keep them on track when those times get tough. I find it tough every now and again, and it is always good to have someone in your corner to help pick you up when you need it.

Presentation & Posing Classes
Along with my gym, I also have a great working relationship with other community areas in Sherbrooke/Lennoxville area. I do my presentation classes at University of Bishops – they have an amazing dance studio that I can use for routines, and presentation/posing classes.

I know some from the Maritimes have contacted me about having seminars etc on this, and I will be home this summer in July – so if you are still interested, contact me and we will see what we can do.

Studying
I am currently studying for the CISSN sport nutrition exam in June – I will also be attending the ISSN Conference in Clearwater Florida at the end of the month. It is a very challenging exam as I have forgotten a lot of my chemistry and biology, but bit by bit it is coming back to me. I will be glad when this exam is over as it is occupying a lot of my time. I just don’t want all this time and energy I have been putting into this, (plus the expense) to go to waste. I am very excited for the conference though. I like being the student as well as being the teacher.

Competing….? Again?
Yes. Yes please. I will be competing again this summer – crazy I know. I told myself not this summer, no more dieting in the summer, not any more summers, but here I go again. I don’t find the diet as restrictive as I used to. Actually when I eat those ‘bad’ foods, I don’t feel well, and my skin does not cooperate well to the change in foods. I am 33 and sometimes have the skin of a 14 year old. I don’t realize how good I feel on the good food, until I start eating the bad food. (or too much of the bad food).
So I will be going to the Europa Texas this summer. Very excited, as I have never been to Texas. I do have a family vacation in there, but it is on the beach, so it is manageable.

My goal is to make it to the Olympia this year. Top 3 I need to make, or if the top 3 are already qualified, then the 4th place will be qualified. I will keep visualizing (a hint from Kary Odiatu), and then go out there and do my absolute best. I can only control me; not the outcome.

Along the lines of competing – how do I manage to compete year after year, and still enjoy it. My prep is not THAT difficult. Really. There are times when I want bread, and butter, but other than that I enjoy working out, I enjoy performing the routine (the practices are killer though…especially after a break), and I like the travel and seeing the girls. The summer I know it is about beer, and food, and friends. So I can have the friends, and the BBQ (with selected foods), but not the beer.

Is socializing with my friends going to be any more/less fun if I ate the non diet food? Probably not. I still talk and drink (water etc) and have a good time. I think it makes the people around me (or those who don’t know what I do) more uncomfortable than it makes me. I do have tricks to mask my dieting, but my closer friends know when they see the blue cooler it is time. Time for the diet. They just don’t even ask anymore.

Metabolic Damage
Although I never suffered any of this myself, I do feel that I could have been one of these girls. I ended up having my son at a time that if I continued competing this would have been me. After having my son in 2006, I did not have the time to spend doing endless hours of cardio, so trained smarter, more efficiently, and worked on cleaning up my diet more. In March of 2008, I connected with Erik Ledin and well, he wrote an excellent piece on this heated topic of debate – Metabolic Damage – all you who compete should read this.

Contest prep should not be a part time job. If your trainer is doing any of the mentioned things…you might want to rethink your trainer – or perhaps get a second opinion.

I would love your feedback –

A.