Blog Post by Clare Ross: INBA Figure Superstar As some of you may know I spent a large part of last year’s INBA competitions sitting on the judges table as a trainee. It has been a wonderful experience learning what to look for and being able to truly appreciate all the amazing physiques on stage. Many times I have wanted to spend more time looking over the competitors but the next competitor is called out and you are forced to shift your attention. A few seconds is all the time you get before you are put into the line for the comparisons. So little time to shine and so little time to be appreciated you might wonder if a blip in your presentation may distract the judges from your physique? Spending a little time in the weeks leading up the competition may prevent the judges first thought being ‘I think her boob is going to fall out’. If you think we don’t notice these things you are wrong. You may have the most wonderful physique but remember we start judging you from the moment we see you. If you have something that distracts from your physique from that first moment you have lost the first opportunity for the judges to see your physique. There may be some things you would like to check before getting on the stage or in the weeks leading up to competition. As mentioned above, there is often nothing worse than watching a train crash and sometimes it feels like that when you are watching a woman about to drop out of her competition bikini top. Sometimes the...
Blog Post by Chris Jenkins, IFBB Bodybuilding Champion This months blog is coming at you from one of the many places I find my topics from … Facebook. Some twit has just posted he has spent near $1000 on supplements… So, curiosity getting the best of me, I took a look at his pictures…. Needless to say why I’ve felt compelled to write this blog. So let’s take a look at some of the things that the foolish, misinformed or OCD (I might be in this category) spend their hard earned cash stupidly thinking that they will soon be a Mr Olympia contender!!! Drugs … Honestly some of the numbers I hear people spend on drugs is absolute rubbish! I’m not here to give an opinion on whether or not you should use drugs, or advise how to use them… But I am here to say that if you need to spend a small fortune on them to have a respectable physique then maybe you should just try something else! When your spending money on bodybuilding related drugs, instead of paying bills or paying rent … I’m sorry … BUT DUDE YOU HAVE A PROBLEM! Supplements … Now I know a lot of people out there will be mad at this! But let’s be honest! There are some dud supplement products out! I was never a fan of this crazy full of stimulant pre workout products … Taking something that puts you in such a wired and drugged out state CANNOT BE GOOD! But at least they did what they were supposed to… Had you jumping round like 5 year old who’s had too...
Blog Post by Sam Attrill: INBA Figure Champion When I first came into the world of bodybuilding and competing, I was very naive to many aspects of the sport. I guess this was due to lack of knowledge. I relied on others to help, support and direct me to where I was supposed to go. The person who made a massive impact on me was my trainer. He is at the top of his game and over the many years he has been training, produced many world champions. He is a very giving man that loves to see his clients train hard and achieve their goals. He has mentored me through my five years of training and competing. He pushes me harder than I ever thought I was capable of, and the whole time, encourages me with support and praise. I was also very fortunate to have also been taken under the wing of Christine Hajjar. She showed me how to bring elegance and grace to the stage. She was my rock when I first started competing and she had an enormous amount of knowledge that she shared with me. She knew how to bring the best out in me. I will be forever grateful for everything that I learnt from her and her support was always there when I needed it. When I first started competing it was about doing so for me. It was about my personal journey and growth. I like to think that not only have I grown physically but mentally as well. I have become a better person for experiencing both highs and lows. So now I am in a position to be able to pay it forward and start giving back to the sport...
Blog Post by Jill Taylor – Owner/Director of Activewear Online and IFBB Physique Competitor Well it is about 8 weeks post contest for me now and I am so elated at having finally made it to the stage! It has been a long journey for me and the experience of being on stage was just incredible! It definitely made all those long hard weeks of dieting and training worth it! Some of you may already know that this wasn’t my first crack at getting up on stage. Even though I had made some big changes in terms of my approach to a host of aspects including dieting and cardio for contest this time around – I knew a challenge that was going to be just as big was what happened after the “after” (if you don’t know what I mean by this, I am referring to “after” as in the before and “after” photos you usually see people posting). I’m not sure about where you are at in your journey, or what your goals are. I know that mine have changed at different times throughout my life but when it comes to weight loss – it is generally the same outcomes. A particular weight, dress size, body fat percentage, competitive goal… sound familiar? Then let me ask you this. What then? What are you going to do then? Because for a good portion of my weight loss journey it was “then I will eat normally”. Well, you know that that gets you? That plan makes you put back on all that weight you just worked so hard to get off. I love that people get inspired by my transformation...
Photo by Matt Knappick Blog Post by Victoria Misitano – IFBB Figure Athlete As I sit here contemplating what to write about me, I figured I should probably start with what got me into competing. I’d always liked sports during school and played competitive tennis on and off for about sixteen years. I was not exactly Serena Williams, but I held my own on the court. While I liked giving most things a go, I was never into the “girly” sports, and have never even touched a netball in my life. When I left school one of the jobs I had was working in a gym for an old school, ex-bodybuilder. I played around with the weights a bit and he showed me a few things training-wise and before I knew it, I was training almost daily. My body responded quite quickly to weight training, and he suggested I compete. I was really interested as I loved the look of fit (but not over-the-top) women – but let’s face it – I was 18, busy partying, and not at a stage where I was willing to give up nights out with my friends. The idea was set in the back of my mind though, and never really went away. When I was 20 I was involved in a major car accident, which left me with lots of injuries, including a number of fractured vertebrae. I was warned early on that this would lead to arthritis in my spine, and that going on, I should try my best to keep my back and core strong. About 3 years after the accident I got back into the gym during rehab for some of the injuries from...
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