Lean Bodies - Noel Clark

This is probably the hardest and easiest part of contest prep. Yeah, I know, doesn’t make much sense. When you only have 10 more days you think ” I can do anything for 10 days, this is going to be a cake walk” BUT you are also ‘feeling it’ the most right about now. Maybe a little tired, a little achy, a little hungry and some…a little crabby (but not me of course LOL ). I think my emotions go back and forth from these two things a lot during the last bit of a prep. When I get tempted to eat something or just don’t really feel like going to the gym, you can psych yourself up knowing that you only have a few more days! Again though, these are a hard ‘few more days’.

In the end, you suck it up because you are so close to your goal. It is very close and I am REALLY excited!

FACE EACH DAY WITH THE EXPECTATION OF ACHIEVING GOOD, RATHER THAN THE DREAD OF FALLING SHORT

So how many people’s houses look like this:

Now multiply that times 3 and you have my house! And as everyone knows by now..I love candy. So now what? How do you NOT eat it? I was thinking about this when my Sister in Law called and I could hear my 2 year old niece in the background asking for a Kit Kat for breakfast. And she was MAD because mommy was saying no! Why no? Well, you don’t eat that for breakfast, you don’t eat it for lunch either, but you can have a piece at some point–get that I said A PIECE. Not 6 pieces or 12 pieces or 20 pieces. Why? Because it isn’t good for you. That is what we tell our kids right? “You can’t have all that junk girls, it isn’t good for you.” Maybe we should take our own advice. Have a piece every now and then, but not a ton. IT ISN’T GOOD FOR YOU. Start looking at this ‘healthy’ eating differently. Doesn’t mean you can’t have ANY it means you can’t look like this:

(great shot by Isaac Hinds)

This one really touched me!

This may seem like a very long story - but it is well worth the read and Noel needs to be praised throughout! Noel was the college roommate and soccer teammate of one of my best friends. My friend Jill has hands down one of the most physically fit bodies I have ever seen -and she always has. However, this past Spring, when my family and I went to visit Jill and her family in Florida she somehow was in even better shape than usual and that is when she told me about Noel. The last time I had met Noel was at Jill’s wedding when she was pregnant with her third child. However, over the years Jill had filled me in on Noel’s competitions and her training. After that visit, I was motivated - however, I was not going to bother making contact because I did not think “I had the time.” After a few weeks of thinking about it -I decided to email Noel - that was the single best decision I could have made. I am honestly shocked at the results, especially in the training circumstances that I have been working with…

- Nicole Masella, Somerset, NJ

Well, it is now 7 weeks out from Nationals and I am really getting excited. I am definitely in the groove with the diet and training and feeling really great about where I am. There are going to be so many people coming to this show in support of me that I just can’t wait….nervous-YES! but very very excited. So…today is a free day for me! Erik was sweet enough to send me KETCHUP CHIPS YUM!!! Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would like these LOL. And I will definitely have a nice juicy burger today.

Training is going great. I am throwing around weights that are PRs for me. I hit my 70lb One Arm DB Snatch that I was after. My Rack pulls are up to 335. My pull-ups are coming along nicely ever since I have been using my bands instead of the Assisted machine. If you get a chance and have chins or pullups in your training, you should get a set of mini bands. They will make a world of difference for you! Here is a great place to order them if you are interested: http://www.ironwoodyfitness.com/index.html
Here are a couple of 7 weeks out shots.

Prep is going well. Training is always good I hit a PR today in the gym with DB Snatches-70lb! Things seem to be coming along like usual–leaning out from the top down. I have seen some nice measurement changes the past several weeks but minimal scale change. This is a good thing (I tell myself over and over and over ) I am predicting a typical big scale drop soon. That seems to be what happens with me during my prep. I think I am just living for all day cheats again LOL. Man, I think I am spoiled.

This show is going to be a ton of fun-especially since it is here in Atlanta. This will be the first show that my girls will get to see me in, as well as other family members and a ton of friends. This will be the most in-house support I have ever had–sooooo exciting. That just makes me work that much harder!

8 weeks! You can do ANYTHING for 8 weeks. Especially since I still haven’t even started Cardio yet :shhh:

This past week has been a rough one. I jacked up neck and back and shoulder pretty badly. UGH. Now I HATE Doctors. I avoid them at all costs, but I have to say that I would go to my ART doc anytime! So basically what ART does to help treat injuries:

Injuries to soft tissue (ligaments, muscles, nerves) due to acute trauma or overuse result in inflammation and swelling in the area. This inflammation and swelling causes an increase in tension and internal pressure on surrounding structures. In order to stabilize the area, the body lays down scar tissue cross fibers. Scar tissue:

Restricts motion between muscle layers and nerves
Decreases circulation
Increases internal pressure and tension on the structures in the area
With nerve restriction, pain, numbness, and tingling can occur
Shortens muscles which tends to make them weak
This altered tissue tension and texture leads to pain, faulty mechanics, and a frustrating decrease in performance. A.R.T. removes scar tissue thereby eliminating pain and restoring normal muscle and nerve function

I am telling you they are the greatest. And mine especially. He has done everything possible to keep me in the gym and I have bruises to show for it LOL. I also had some Acupuncture done. I am feeling a ton better–not 100% but getting there! So just in case you are in the Atlanta area…look him up Dr Stephen LaScala at the Soft Tissue and Chiropractic clinic! He was actually referred to me from Erik’s ART Anthony Lombardi–I have also been to see him, but he is in Erik’s neck of the woods.

12 weeks left eeeeeek!

Most often I talk about my journey through this fitness industry.  The ups and downs of competing and training and dieting and bulking, but I want to talk about a client of mine:  Cara Richman.  She has been with me several months now and has just really made some great changes.  She started out doing both Olympic lifting AND Cross-fit.  Two very different goals.  Overall, she wanted to shed some bodyfat.  Wait till you see the progress that she has made.  I think one of the things that I like about Cara is that she has a great attitude about all of this and it has rubbed off on many people.  She has become a huge contributor to our forum www.leanbodiesfitness.com as well as getting her husband and several friends to get fit!  Cara started this weight loss journey on her own and once down about 14lbs, hired me to help out.  Overall Cara has dropped about 23 1/4 inches and come down from 135 lbs. to 107 lbs.  Her plans are to finish off the ‘diet’ phase in the next couple of months and then go into the fall with the focus on adding some nice muscle.  I think there might be a little bit of the figure competition bug in her for next year :)  She definitely has the drive to get it done.  Congrats to you Cara, your hard work has definitely paid off in many ways!

 These are Cara’s before pics.

Here are her afters:

Amazing!

Since I am getting back into contest Prep mode, I sent my pics and measurements into Erik–for accountability.  I am about 15 weeks out from Nationals and it is time to start making sure I am cleaning things up and getting more focused about what i am going to need to do.  I was concerned that I had let things go too far these last couple of months, but Erik says that I will be ok.  I MIGHT try to get some pictures up of what I look like at this point.  Scary though LOL

 Spent the last weekend before the girls start back to school in Charleston with some good friends-the Perez family.  The girls had an absolute blast at their house.  We went to the beach and to the water park and they were the best hosts.  Our kids got along really well and it was just a really easy weekend.  I got to see Amy kick butt at her boot camp!  And then we were able to train at her gym.  That was fun as well.  I was able to hit my wave of push press: 135 X5, 140X3, 145X1 then 140X5, 145X3 and my old PR of 150X1.  I am really excited that at the end of this training period before I get knee deep in my diet, I will have surpassed my bulking PR on both Bench and Push Press. I think Scott is going to try to video the Push Press this next weekend–that is IF I survive my 8 turning 9 yearolds SLUMBER PARTY!

I have really been bad about keeping this up to date.  Life tends to get in the way sometimes.  Training is going really well.  I am loving it!  We have incorporated some of my favorites back.  I am building up to pass my previous PR in Push press and will definitely be hitting some numbers that I haven’t seen before on Bench.  I was working with 140 on Push Press yesterday and it was nice and smooth…pretty easy which surprised me considering that I hit a PR of 150 at the end of my bulk.  I will be working in the 140 range with bench as well this coming week which will be new territory for me.  I have always been uneasy about benching but now that I have the form down, I am feeling a bit more confident.  I am planning on getting some more video up hopefully hitting some of these goal numbers.  As for my diet, well, I have been pretty loose with that.  I am hoping that with seeing progress in the gym, I will get my head back in the game when it comes to nutrition–but then again, who knows.  I do know that when it comes time to buckle down for prep time for Nationals…I WILL be ready.  I think watching USAs last night, today and tonight is getting me excited about going at this again.  I think I need a little push.  I look forward to seeing who our new PROS will be after tonight!

Hard to believe that I will be flying out to chicago for the Jr Nationals on Thursday.  These last 5 weeks have flown by.  I am definitely as ready as I can be for this next show as well as the break that comes after it.  There are some changes that I have made these last few weeks and I hope that they help make the difference for me.  This is definitely a much larger show than the Jr USAs (if that is possible) and I am sure the competition will be that much better.  Hopefully I can just continue to improve the package that I bring as well as a higher level of stage presence to show off my hard work.  I have been wearing those heels all over the house in hopes that it is just THAT much easier on stage.  I will have another great support system there because I am lucky enough to have my hubby coming as well as Erik and Amy.  They were all able to help out at the last show and I just am so thankful that they will be coming along to Chicago as well.  I know that we will definitely be doing a little celebrating after the show (my birthday was Friday and I missed out on cake :(  )  Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me that I get through these last few days of what I would say has been the most difficult diet and training thus far.