NPC Nationals: Reflections - by Stephanie Ponce

   This past Thanksgiving break has been the best yet! I attended NPC nationals with my sister Kim and what an experience it was. I got to see and meet an array of highly competitive NPC athletes from around the country and see them strut their stuff onstage. I even got to meet Ms. Arnold Bikini International champion, India Paulino, about advice she might have for a first time competitor.

     Originally, I planned for this weekend to be my debut into the competition circuit, but I had a few hiccups along the way. Firstly, I had issues with my first bikini coach. In addition to communication problems via email and phone I felt she was unable to stand by the methods she had created for my plan. For example, there was ten days within the my training in which I had 700kcal to expend on fruits and veggies alone. I might add that I was doing about 1.5 hours of cardio and 45 min of circuit training on those days. When I asked the after about the reasoning behind the diet there was little explanation and as I pressed for future diets I got little response.  In a nutshell, I felt that was the tone of our relationship as coach/client. Looking back I felt I required more time and attention from a coach as well as better planning and reliability.

     Most importantly, I took my eyes of my goals and saw the challenges. As I missed my second weight loss milestone and had issues with my coach I chose to focus on the obstacles ahead of me rather than my mission. "What if I don't hit my goals? What if I am not working hard enough? Is this even possible anymore?" The aspect that I find is most difficult in competing is the continuous mental challenges you face daily.  I am sure many competitors have thought the same thoughts, but the only way they made it was to continue despite that fact. Looking back I might have been able to get an alternative coach earlier and continued my progression more steadily. Though I learned that by focusing on the next step at hand and choosing to continue you will see progress. That's precisely what I feel I'm doing now.

   

      By far, the highlight of my bikini escapades this break was meeting my coaches, Chris and Allison. They were supporting two of their clients at NPC nationals and are incredibly involved with the athletes they train. I am hoping their insight as competitors, NPC judges, and years as bodybuilding coaches help me on my path. However, what is necessary from me is sticking to the diet and plan they tailor for me. It is up to me to make the choices necessary to succeed when I don't want to eat on plan, exercise, or do cardio. But I gotta restart somewhere....till next time!