We asked our Angel Athletes Community what tips they had for women who are competing for the first time. Even if you’ve competed 20 times, you might still find these helpful. Please contribute to this list by commenting in the comments section of this blog. You never know who will find your unique tip helpful! Definitely hire a coach. Practice posing until that's literally the only thing you see when you close your eyes! Believe in yourself and truly understand the reason why you have chosen to compete Practice posing! aside from the normal practice - try without a mirror and record it from the judges angle :) it’s a really nice way to feel the movements and not depend on seeing it. Trust trust trust the process!! And don’t pee on your spray tan!! Always remember your why.... it’s a privilege to be able to compete and if it was easy everyone would do it Understand that hunger is expected. There will be hard days and there will be great days. Enjoy the process because it goes by fast. Get a coach you trust and feel comfortable asking questions. Be honest with your coach. Posing is crucial so get a posing coach in person or online. Utilize coffee and tea when you have cravings. Know that the scale will fluctuate but as long as you trust the process, you’ll be ready for the show! Training for a show is HARD...when you’re not training find time to relax, put your feet up, soak in a tub, smell calming essential oils...whatever helps you remain calm. The calmer you are, the better your body responds to fat loss (even when it doesn’t want to) Help your loved ones understand the process. And give people a heads up when it’s ‘not a good day’ Get your tan done by the show provider! Don't hide your hard work with a bad or off-colored tan! Also, bring a stack of cups or Angel's pee cup because your tan WILL smudge if you aren't careful! Practice posing, practice peeing in cups, find a coach that works for you or at least get an accountability buddy to keep yourself motivated, and 👏🏼 all 👏🏼 of 👏🏼 the 👏🏼 above 👏🏼Don’t forget that you are doing this for you! Let your hard work and confidence shine! For backstage, take a pillow, blanket, and even a full length mirror if you can. Backstage sucks sometimes! The floor is cold and hard, it’s crowded and smelly, and everyone is fighting for a mirror! Give yourself enough time to be 100% ready. -Start posing no later that 10 weeks out and video yourself without looking in the mirror. It feels way different to pose when you can’t see yourself -Trust your coach, but understand that this is an extreme sport and will require extreme sacrifice -Get a list of show day needs early and pack before peak week brain fog sets in -Pack everything in a rolling suitcase so you don’t ruin your tan. -Speaking of tan, get the pro tan overnight tan and do a first coat at home the day before you get your spray tan. -Make sure you pick out a suit that looks good on you and won’t clash with show backdrop. get the angel fabric sample, rub on a bit of self tanner and tape the fabric to your body and take some pictures. Things can look way different in pictures than in person. -Lastly- enjoy show day, there is nothing like your first show, that moment you step on stage 💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼 will never be forgotten. Don’t compare yourself to others!!! Trust you put in the work and ROCK IT on show day ! Your body is the most important piece! Of course a killer suit from ACB and good posing help show it off 😉 having a posing coach completely changed my stage presence. She was able to look at me from the judges’ perspective and gave me so much confidence! It’s the only extra that I sprang for and I’m so glad I did! Something to lay on back stage and a pillow, loose sweats cause it can be cold back stage, a robe, back up shoes, suit and jewelry. Also extra backs for earrings. Pump bands or weights they provide at venue but I like having my own I bring a small foldout chair to sit on backstage (lots of waiting around!) and a roller bag to carry my food and things so I don’t smudge my tan! 💗 Where do I begin! -Get ready to make sacrifices. Outings and social events might be put on hold, people may not understand it. Do it for you -It’s not easy: around 4-6 weeks out, you are in a battle with yourself, doubting your progress, hangry! -Practice practice and practice : soooo important; if you look like bambi on ice on stGe, you will not place well -Get a coach: don't train yourself - you need a second pair of eyes so that you don’t stress during the last weeks. -Look at past winners, gives you an idea what the judges are looking for -Look at MUAH/tans and reviews : so important for your overall look ( I don’t always pick the promoted artists) -OF COURSE get your suits from Angel Competition Bikini 💁🏼♀️ -HAVE FUN ❤️ Thanks to everyone who contributed and future contributions. If you would like to join our Angel Athlete Community click here.
Bikini, Figure, Fitness, Women's Physique, Bodybuilding... find out the difference between physique divisions and which competition division is best for you
When you see those fitness bikini models you probably wonder how they eat and train? Learn in this article exactly how to prep for your own competition!
Learn how to start preparing for the Wellness Division in NPC Bodybuilding. This covers the top 3 things to look at to ensure you are successful when you go to step on stage for the first time.
When I decided to undergo my first competition prep, I literally had no clue what I was getting into. Scared is an understatement of how I felt. People kept trying to tell me what to expect, but honestly, there was no way to anticipate what I’d experience until I actually went through it. Now that I can look back at the process, I am so thankful for every second. In six months, I was able to go from being ashamed of my appearance, to being 40lbs. lighter and PROUD of how I looked. The process was much harder than I could’ve ever imagined, but it showe d me just how much I was capable of achieving, mentally and physically, and taught me way more than I expected. Throughout my “prep” process, I picked up a few mental nuggets of knowledge that I’ll leave here for anyone currently prepping to compete or considering competing: Don’t go at it alone. Make sure you have a sturdy support system backing you up because at some point, this sh*t will get real, and you WILL want to quit. These times are when you’ll need someone to pick you up and remind you of all the reasons you started this journey ( < and yes, it is quite literally a journey). You will also need these people to kick you in the pants when you feel like being lazy. Know that these people only want the best for you, so make sure you show them some love, even when you want to set everything in your world on fire. Maybe it’s a trainer, spouse, parent, or random Twitter/Pinterest/Facebook/Instagram friend you’ve never met but somehow just click with. Find that support system and never take them for granted. The struggle is real, but it’s oh-‐so worth it. Competition prep from a distance is a little misleading. At first it seems like it’s people becoming beautiful Glamazons posting lots of motivational memes who never have an off day and can make any meal magazine-worthy. Make no mistake about it though, competition prep is honest, gritty, hard work. You will spend more time training than you ever imagined. Your wardrobe will eventually become nothing but sweat shirts and leggings. Makeup will become a thing of mystery. And showering will become the most tedious chore where you seriously debate on its necessity because you know you’ll just be working out 8 hours later. All-in-all, competition prep is a struggle. But know that it is a struggle for everyone, no matter how seasoned they may be. The reason to push through all the pain is the reward. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing you made it through YOUR struggle and gave it YOUR all. Trust the process. After about week 3 in competition training, your mind will start to wonder if any of the hard work you are putting in is really paying off or not. You may have seen the scale move some or noticed a change here or there, but it isn’t the Earth-shattering changes you are striving for or see on all the body-transformation pages and blogs. It’s at this point when you just have to trust the process you are going by. Know that with each small change, it is working, and even though it may be slow progress, it will all add up in the end. Don’t lose faith and just maintain consistency. Be happy. Competition prep is like anything else in life. If it truly does not make you happy, then it may not be the thing for you. Now I don’t mean, if you don’t like cardio or dieting then you shouldn’t do it. I have yet to meet a soul who lived for endless hours on the treadmill and choking down fish. But if you truly, deep down, feel unhappy throughout the process, then don’t keep doing it. This lifestyle should be something that ultimately you enjoy so if you aren’t enjoying the ride, get off the roller coaster. There is no shame in saying it isn’t for you. Many people live the “fit” lifestyle without ever competing and are very satisfied with their life. Remember to always do you. These things are just a smidge of what I learned during my first competition prep but hopefully they may help anyone who is looking to compete or is in the middle of that process. I would hands-down do it all over again to gain the confidence and excitement for life I now have today.
If you want to enter a bikini competition, or just look your best in a bikini, then you better have some glutes! As a matter of fact, in this day...
Are you interested in doing a Fitness Competition? Learn how I set up my Bikini Competition Diet and Workouts, what I did for Peak Week and more!
If you want to enter a bikini competition, or just look your best in a bikini, then you better have some glutes! As a matter of fact, in this day...
If you're new to the fitness lifestyle, here's what you need to know to make a body transformation. Tips and tricks for beginners in the gym and newbies to dieting.
The hardest part about being a bikini competitor can be to understand what the judges actually want to see in your physique. Angel Competition Bikinis is here to help with what we think the NPC judges are looking for in 2018.
This blog post covers all the basics you need to know to ace your first bikini competition prep. Find out how to diet and train most effectively for the bikini stage, what the bikini judging criteria looks like, what to bring on show day, and how to save money where possible.
How did Brooke accomplish a 22 week prep? It wasn’t done off of motivation or thinking about the end goal, it was taking each day as it came. If you truly love a sport, you’ll prep for however long that is needed. Find out how Brooke lost 37 pounds before she was ready to hit the stage and win Second Place overall!
Having round, tight glutes with a strong glute-ham tie is so crucial when being a bikini competitor. Of course it is important to bring a lean overall package when getting on stage but your back shot is what can make you stand out among the other competitors. It’s important to remember that having a “big butt” is different than having a stage ready booty. I thought since I’ve always had a bigger butt that this would be a piece of cake. WRONG. The picture on the left is my first progress picture ever, and the picture on the right is exactly one year later where I ended up taking my overall title. A WHOLE YEAR it took for me to mold, sculpt and round that booty. Patience is key. Your body is so complex and amazing. The things it can do are endless so when it comes to changing it it takes time. With that being said here are some of my favorite workouts and awesome tips for creating a round, tight and lean booty. My Glute Training Tips:1. Always activate your glutes before starting your workoutActivating your glutes are sooo important. Glute activation exercises wake up your muscles and allows them to work hard during the rest of your workout.I like to do this by taking a resistance band and putting it around my ankles. Then I’ll do bodyweight squats, side steps to the left and right, and toe taps to the front and back on both sides. 2. Keep your weight in your heels In almost all glute exercises I perform I keep my weight focused in my heels. This ignites your glute muscles, Where if your weight is focused more in your toes you ignite your quads. 3. Feel the burn and squezzzze Squeeze your glutes when coming up from a lift or when hitting the top of your lift. Ex: when doing kickbacks, squeeze your glutes at the end of your kick. When doing sumo squats squeeze when coming up and when you’ve reached the top. By doing this you should feel a burn. The best kind of burn Follow Jessica on Instagram for more tips and glute training videos: @jessdabaddest
IFBB Pro Julie Lohre shows you how to pose for NPC Figure and all natural organizations with the NPC Figure Posing Guide for Figure Competitions
Bikini Competition Diet - Here are 3 different ways to set up your Bikini Competition Diet for maximum results in minimum time.
By Victoria D'Ariano. Read to learn Victoria's 8 tips to a successful reverse diet after a competition. So you just completed a 12-16-week long prep where the focus was to get as lean as possible and each day you focused on how your body was looking and changing. It starts getting very lean, you see abs for the first time, and you fall in love. You enjoy looking like this and feeling like this. You like the way people compliment on you're physique and how “toned you look.” Stage day comes and you show off this beautiful physique you have just worked so hard for, and are so proud of. The day after you get to eat lots of treats because heck you earned it. Monday comes and it all sets in… what’s next? For many competitors the post show aspect isn’t talked about or even thought about until BAM you are post show. Additionally for many competitors if they aren’t with a proper coach he or she doesn’t put anymore focus or time into you because his/her job is done. They got you to stage looking the best you have ever looked so their work has been complete. However, for you, you feel lost, abandoned and unsure of what is next. You love the way you look and the way it makes you feel but staying that lean all year round IS NOT HEALTHY. Some people can, due to their genetic makeup, but for most this isn’t a possibility. Added fat needs to be added as hormones need to be regulated and for most women they need to start menstruating again., as losing your period is a consequence of low levels of body fat. The only way to get your period back is to increase that super low body fat percentage to a normal, healthy range for you and your body. For most people you took the wait off SLOWLY and that his how you want to put the weight back on. The best way to avoid the “REBOUND” which we all know is a competitors worst nightmare is to add in this SLOWLY. If you were on only 50g a carbs for the last few weeks jumping up to 250g a day isn’t going to go well… TRUST ME. The REBOUND – that one word, scares almost all of us. You have heard stories or seen it first hand. And it can be a real issue. Not only does this have a tremendous negative aspect on your body physically, the effects emotionally can be far more severe. Many competitors will fall into depression due to their physique softening up. Another huge concern is that for the last 4 months you have been focused so hard on a goal of hitting stage that your life was all about that goal. You trained for it, ate for it, slept for it. It was all about the final outcome in 16 weeks. And now that, that has come and past you feel lost. It’s as if you’ve lost something. And then here we go again, depression will sink it, because heck you feel like you have nothing to look forward to. So why am I telling you all this? What does it mean? There are some things that occur at a physiological level within your body when you diet. For women, your thyroid slows down. Thyroids are what regulate your metabolism and with this slowing down your metabolism slows down, and now you are burning less calories you would normally burn. Testosterone also goes down and if you know anything about muscle mass and what is does for your metabolism you know that you want to hold onto as much muscle as possible to burn as many calories at rest as possible. With this dropping you are no longer holding onto as much muscle mass as prior and thus again a negative effect on your metabolism. This concept also applies to protein synthesis which also decreases due to dieting, therefore an increase in muscle breakdown. For most individuals the intense training and dieting you have been doing has put your body under stress. And that means that cortisol levels have increased. This puts added stress on your adrenal glands and again slows down your metabolism. AS you can see from the above information provided your metabolism isn’t a revving, fuel burning machine like it was before. And you know this because as dieting progressed you had to work harder to burn fat that came off at the start a lot easier. These are all adaptations our body has made to keep us alive. So lets go back to the topic of MONDAY… two days post show. Some people now think they can go back to eating “anything they want” because the show is over and heck adding in some extra food won’t do a thing! These people are WRONG… very WRONG. And this is where that dreaded word comes back in “REBOUND.” So now you have someone who is done their show, wanting to keep their physique, but yet wanting to eat “normal” again and regain balance within their life, all while working against a slower metabolism. This outcome isn’t looking too promising. SO WHAT DO YOU DO? Well there is a way to avoid this dreadful rebound but you will still add on extra weight. This is NORMAL and HEALTHY. And as much as you want to stay as a super-shredded super human all year round your body wasn’t made to and it can have a severely negative impact on your body physiologically and even eventually mentally. Also if you want to make improvements for your next show you know that you will have to give your body enough food to increase your muscle mass, and therefore make improvements. It’s called REVERSE DIETING, and if you have spent 16 weeks or longer prepping for a show this is a term you NEED to educate yourself on. Dieting into a show is important, obviously to get the outcome you want. But dieting out of a show is where it really matters. This is where damage can occur if you aren't careful. SO WHAT IS REVERSE DIETING? Basically it is what the name implies… reversing your diet. And if you are planning on doing a show for the first time you need to be fully aware that you will need to put as much time and effort post-show as you will for getting to the stage. 8 TIPS ON HOW TO REVERSE DIET: 1. ADD IN CARBS SLOWLY each week (20-30g each week) Example: follow 2 weeks out plan for the week following, then 3 weeks out, then 4 weeks out…etc. 2. ADD IN HEALTHY FATS to help with hormone regulation, cravings and satiety therefore helping you to avoid snacking or binging 3. SLOWLY REDUCE CARDIO - each week reduce your cardio Switch to doing mainly steady state cardio if you were doing a lot of HIIT cardio to reduce some of the stress put on your body, again giving your adrenal glands some rest. 4. WEIGHT TRAINING- depending on what you're peak week protocol included (water cutting/manipulation) your body is still going to be dehydrated therefore joints, tendons and ligaments are at a higher susceptibility to injury. Make sure to listen to your body and don't push yourself too hard within the gym following a competition. Yes, you will hear that optimal gains can be made post-show but also injury. I recommend switching up your training to reducing the weight load and increasing the reps. This will be easier on your body, decrease chances of injury and also gives your central nervous system (CNS) a bit of a break from the heavy lifting you were potentially doing prior. 5. SET NEW GOALS - you have just completed a HUGE accomplishment of competing in a fitness competition which is not something everyone can do, you should be proud. The goal you had set has been surpassed, and now it is important to set new goals. Focus on what you would like to improve on and make small goals to accomplish these. 6. ACCOUNTABILITY - during contest prep you are constantly sending your coach updates which holds you accountable to the plan. During offseason and more importantly post-show, continue on with weekly to bi-weekly updates. Take progress pictures and provide feedback to either you're coach or for yourself. This will hold you accountable to the post-show plan you have set in place. 7. CHEAT MEALS - Start incorporating cheat meals into your program. One a week is what I recommend and I suggest having it post workout to ensure the extra food is being put to good use. If you find having one cheat meal a week leads to binging and over-eating I would suggest having a few small treats throughout the week instead of one larger cheat meal. For example: have a muffin or higher carb treat pre-workout or a bowl of pasta for a post-workout meal. 8. GET BACK ON THE HORSE - If you fall off track for one meal, don’t sweat it. Just make sure you get right back on the horse. The common mistake people make is when they use “all or nothing” thinking. “That wasn't on my meal plan, I wasn't supposed to eat that, so now the whole day is ruined. I might as well just make today a cheat day and start back up tomorrow.” This is the type of thinking I DO NOT want you to use. If you mess up with one meal or have something not on the plan, who cares… just make sure your next meal is back on track. Don’t let one mistake lead to a full day of eating. One treat won't have a negative impact, but a full day of binging will. Competitions are FUN and a huge accomplishment, but what is most important is YOU'RE BODY and HEALTH. After completing a competition, be smart. Educate yourself prior to entering a contest and also make sure you understand the importance of post-show. Once you have followed a post-show protocol, you're body will be better regulated and this is when you can really focus on having more balance in you're life. For coaching email [email protected] Don't forget to follow on Instagram: @victoriadariano Photography: Bryce Murdoch, Jason Lynch
Kyle Hunt Hunt Fitness You just did a physique show or completed a long diet. Now what? The urge is to immediately binge on all of the food you have been missing out on the last 3-5 months. Intuitively you know that is not the best way to go. What if there was another […]
Hi everyone! I apologize I have been MIA from blogging for a while, I was preparing for the largest competition I have ever had the privilege in competing in. The Arnold Classic, aka the Arnold S…
