Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Tara Ballard's Contest Prep Journal

1/31/10- 10 Weeks Out!

It's hard to believe yet another week has gone by.... that means I am officially 10 weeks out from the NC State Championships on 4/10/10/10. There have been several times during the past few weeks when I questioned whether or not I will compete in this one, or wait until May and/or June. My head wasn't quite yet in the game, and doubts and questions took over.... will I be able to add enough muscle by then? Will I start cutting too soon and look tiny on stage? The list goes on and on.

BUT, just in the last two weeks, I started to feel like things are starting to click- diet, training, attitude, metal focus- all of it came together, and I feel like I'm back in my groove. So much of this process is mental, if you aren't in it mentally, then you're not really in it. You can train and diet and look the best you've ever looked, but without that mental determination and toughness, it's all for naught. Think about how many times you may have talked yourself OUT of going to the gym.... "oh,, I'll go tonight", or "I'll get up extra- early and go in the morning". If the right mental attitude is there, then it's not about putting it off- it's about telling yourself " I AM going to the gym". Not "Maybe I will...." I AM- plain and simple.

So, my head is in the game now; I have the mental 'tude going ( I AM going to do well this season, I AM building awesome muscle, I AM focused, driven and determined), and I', starting to see results from training. What now? Do I do the show in April?

Jill and I discussed this earlier this week. She feels that I need to stay on my hypertrophy diet for another 4 weeks, which puts us 6 weeks out. At that point, I will go on a pretty strict cutting diet for 6 weeks. If I am lean enough, and have enough muscle by 4/10, then I'm in.... if not, I will most likely wait and do a competition on 4/24. I usually have no problem getting lean quickly (my problem can be getting too small), and am still pretty lean right now (even with all of this food I'm eating :-) ), so I think 6 weeks of cutting might just be perfect. My goal is to continue to put on good, quality muscle over the next four weeks. It will be interesting to see what happens in that time!

On to training this week:

Monday:
5:30am: 45 mintue Advnaced 15% incline walk/Abs

Tuesday:
Bikram Yoga
30 minute incline treadmill HIIT/Abs
Back/Biceps with Jill

Wednesday:
30 minutes stepmill HIIT/Sprints
Heavy Abs

Thursday:
Off

Friday:
30 minutes incline sprints
Abs
Legs/Shoulders/Chest/Triceps with Jill

Saturday:
Heavy Abs

Sunday:
Light Legs/Plyometrics
Heavy Abs

It was an extremely busy week, but I enjoyed every minute of it! Training was amazing- at every workout I felt more and more empowered and in my element. I am excited to see what the upcoming week has to offer!

Until next time- train hard, and find happiness in every day!

Tara

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