Healthy Lifestyle and Prep Tips and Tricks!!

Backstory!

I am so excited to be bringing you guys along on this journey with me!! For those of you who are new here, WELCOME! My name is Sammy JO, I have been into fitness and bodybuilding for about 5 years now. I competed in my first Bikini Bodybuilding competition in March of 2022! I placed first in my division which qualified me to go to nationals to compete for my IFBB pro card! I am going to be competing again in a local show on November 5th 2022 to get my jitter out before stepping on the National stage in Vegas for Olympia Amateur to get my pro card. I am so grateful to document this journey for you to give you a little insight on the fitness world specifically competitive bodybuilding

WORKOUT TIME!

I trained with my trainer Kyler Jackson today and got in a KILLER back workout!! Kyler has been my coach for over a year now and I am so happy with my progress over the last year! Mentally and Physically I have grown sooo much and so has my passion for Fitness and Competing! I was on a slight time crunch because I had a posing session right after with my posing coach, but BOYYYY was it a good workout! My back was nice and pumppped and sore the next day!! Best feeling ever!! Workout is listed below for you, give it a try!!!

BACK WORKOUT ROUTINE:

• Lateral Pull Downs
• High Cable Rows
• Low Machine Rows
• Straight Arm Pulldowns
• Double Bicep High Cable Curls
• Alternating Bicep Curls

POSING PRACTICE!

After my workout we headed over to meet with my posing coach IFBB Pro Laura Moore-Shay! I connected with her by happenstance when purchasing my bikini from Toxic Angels, and she was the one that assisted me with my in person suit fitting! I desperately needed a posing coach at the time and she was available and taking clients!! It is super super important to practice posing as much as possible! So to have her guidance through both of my competition to fine tune my poses, posture and make all the adjustments has been a HUGE help! Posing is the MAIN thing you’re doing on stage to show off your physique to the judges. So to have make sure you have a confident presence on stage to present your muscle definition and overall package you’re bringing! During my routine you can see 2 main pose that a NPC Bikini competitor focuses on. This is going to be the front pose and the back pose. This is standard for all division, and those are the official poses the NPC judges focus on and really take a look at the competitors shape, muscle definition and body symmetry. Once you have your tan and bikini, which is a must to compete, you’re able to see the muscle definition a lot more! Every division has slightly different posing but overall the judges are looking at the competitors muscle definition and symmetry in every women’s division. With being only 2 week away from the show at the time of meeting her for this VLOG it was crunch time to critique and make minor details in my posing. TUMMY TIGHT is the biggest aspect especially the one that I struggle with the most. Posing may look easy at bodybuilding competitions but it is by far a workout in and of itself! You are constantly keeping your core tight, while ensuring you symmetry is on point, your muscles aren’t looking flat and being presented in the best way possible. The judges are looking at everything from the way you carry yourself, to your walk, to your overall presentation look (hair, makeup, tan) the WHOLE 9 YARDS!! You can have a great figure but if your posing needs work you will not be presenting it to your full capability and that can be crucial! Making minor adjustments closer to the show is very common and normal since your body is constantly changing before you bodybuilding competition!

TIPS AND TRICKS!!

tip 1: Planning ahead

This can honestly go either way. If you’re a prep client, if you’re a lifestyle client or someone just trying to make healthy choices in life, planning ahead is always going to be a number one priority for you, especially when it comes to food. There’s are a few different options that you have here. Online meal prep companies that send meals to your house, a local meal prep company where you can go select how many ounces of protein, carb and vegetable you want or prepping your meals at home. So what this is going to do is allow no room for error. You’re spending money, you’re buying your meals ahead of time. All you have to think about when you’re hungry is to grab a meal, put it in the microwave and eat it. So if you are counting macros, if you’re a little bit more strict like a prep client, you can adjust all of this to your macros. Specifically, if you’re a lifestyle client tracking macros, or the same thing if you’re just trying to make healthier choices, again, these options are going to work for you because they are portion controlled, they are health conscious. Again this is not really time consuming. So regardless of what path of life you’re walking on at the moment, prepping ahead and planning ahead is always going to be the number one thing for you.

Tip 2: Drinking enough water!!!

It is so hard and probably the number one thing that most people struggle with, prep client lifestyle or just a day to day person is getting your gallon of water. So number one for me is always carrying my jug around. I use hydrojug and I have the insulating sleeve with the straps that allows me to easily carry it around everywhere I go and keeps it nice and cold! I also have their new straw. For me, personally, drinking out of a straw allows me to drink my water faster and get more in. But I know that there are a lot of people in this world that do not like drinking water. They don’t love the plain flavor of it, and they want they need flavor or some type of consistency to their beverage. So I have an answer for you; amino acids, BCAAs are GREAT options!! Your body natually produces amino acids, but can be depleted during a work out or just from being active in general so its a great supplement to take! It aids in muscle recover, fatigue and much more! Add a scoop or two to your water, drink it throughout the day, gives you a little bit of flavor, gives those electrolytes the hydration and all of the health benefits as well. I use C4-Xtend BCAA in my water and their flavors are amazing!! If you use CODE: sammyjofit you can save some moneeey!!!! In addition to that, I would say flavored waters are always a good alternative. If you are a soda drinker, diet sodas are helpful as well. I would say kind of mitigating that if you are a prep client closer to your show is going to be beneficial. The carbonation does cause bloating, but that would be for prep clients only, but something to keep in mind for lifestyle clients or just someone trying to make a health conscious decision. Diet sodas or seltzer waters are great. In addition to that, I am a sucker for juice!! So my go to is the minute maid zero sugar juice. They also have zero sugar lemonade and pink lemonade as well. So I’ll do a small glass of this before bed just to get that sweet tooth curbed, but also a great alternative. So these are my go to for getting that water in and curbing that sweet tooth during the day.

Tip 3: SNACKING!

If you are a prep client, I’m sure the number one thing on your mind is what you’re going to eat the day of your show. The cookies, the candy, the sweet things that you’ve been depriving yourself of for 8 to 12 weeks! So for me in prep, I wait to buy my show day snacks until the day before, or I have a friend, a family member, whoever is going to be at my show, buy them for me and bring them for me! This is going to eliminate that temptation! For lifestyle or just someone who is trying to be health conscious, it is typically hard when you have children or a spouse or significant other, roommate, whoever you live with who is still snacking, but you’re trying to make healthy options. I have a big box of Rice Krispy treats sitting in my pantry, It is my child’s favorite thing to eat for lunch and to snack on, and I love them too. So clearly this big box of temptation sit here and looks at me and stares at me every day that I enter that pantry. So what I do, I have a door on my pantry with a latch LOL .So I basically lock myself out of the pantry and just try to mitigate the snacks and the temptations. Obviously, I have to pack lunches in the morning, so obviously I walk in the pantry. It’s just all about self-control and that is an acquired skill over time. My biggest thing, like I said, for my client, is having someone else buy your show day snacks or waiting until the day or two before your show so that they’re not sitting on the counter tempting you every single day to eat them. So again, just planning ahead and making sure all of your ducks in a row for your show and your snack.

Tip 4: Schedule

So my fourth tip for you guys is sticking to a schedule. This is super important, especially in terms of meals and timing for your meals when you wake up and when you go to bed, especially for my prep clients. The timing of your meals, your sleep schedule is going to be super important and the consistency is key in terms of progress and just over time, the way your body is adapting to everything. So for me personally, I utilize alarms on my phone, I have my morning alarm for when I wake up, an alarm for my 5 meals and then an alarm for me to get ready for bed at night. These alarms allow me to make sure that I am eating every 2 to 3 hours to keep my metabolism running, processing my food and keeping that energy up. I have my bed time alarm that prompts me to stop/wrap up what I’m doing, go into my room, do my nighttime routine and get ready for bed. This is important, I think for anybody really, a lifestyle client, a client or anybody just trying to make healthy choices in general as well. Sticking to a schedule is super important. It kind of just really runs your day and allows you to time things out properly, accomplish things that you need to accomplish, and then still make sure you’re eating and getting those nutrients in to fuel your body! I feel like people do not prioritize their food and when they’re eating, so they allow whatever activity or tasks that they’re doing to supersede eating food. Nutrition is NEEDED, and most of us dont prioritize it. So this is super important, like I said, for really anybody just sticking to a schedule and making sure they’re getting things done in a timely manner, especially eating your food.

Tip 5: Cortisol Levels

Our last and final tip and one that I feel like most people don’t think enough about, is your cortisol levels. You’re probably thinking, “what the HECK is a cortisol level??” Your cortisol levels are your stress levels. If you’re anything like me, you’re always stressed. Constantly on the go and constantly doing something and taking on new tasks at the same time!! That is LIFE and being busy!!! So I have a couple ideas/suggestions for you guys that will help to minimize your cortisol levels! Number 1: going out and getting sunlight there is a recommendation of about 20 to 25 minutes you should get daily of sunlight to get optimal vitamin D. This will really just changes your whole demeanor and aid in minimizing your cortisol levels. Another thing, would be grounding yourself, spending that time outside, grounding yourself to the earth, taking your shoes off, sitting in the grass, sitting under a tree just soaking in the quiet time and being in the moment. I’m sure you’re saying, “I don’t have time to do that, I’m so busy.” Well then my suggestion is to close the social media apps on your phone and replace that scroll time with OUTSIDE time! 🙂 That also goes back into tip number four; making that schedule, making time in your day for these things that are going to reduce your stress levels. If you guys didn’t know, the higher your cortisol levels are, the higher your stress is, the more prone to inflammation and bloating you are going to be. I will go into this a little bit more in detail in another video, but to keep it short and simple, these are kind of just some ways to mitigate that for you! Another thing that I’ve been taking is this supplement from Revive MD and it is a cortisol management supplement called Calm+. I take this before bed because it does have zinc and magnesium in it, which is going to promote a deeper REM sleep similar to melatonin. Ttake that time at the end of the night to just wind down, relax, put your phone away about an hour before bed, utilize blue light blockers if you are going to use your phone or be sitting in front of a computer. Just through, simple tasks can really mitigate those high cortisol stress levels for you and really keep your body in balance during a stressful period like prep or just lifestyle in general.

I am so excited to be sharing all of this journey and opening people up to Bodybuilding competition! I really hope these tips and tricks help you and I really hope you learned something new in reading these!! I am excited to share more information with you all as time goes on to just broaden your knowledge in healthy and fitness!!

If you have any questions or video suggestions feel free to reach out to me on my Instagram and I would be more than happy to help!! Many more videos and blog to come, keep a look o