The Year That Was 2011

Once again, we’ve had a fairly eventful year; that’s life really, hey!

Thought I’d share a few highlights of this past year, and plans for 2012.

2011 started off with us purchasing a new property about 13 hours south of Tully, out of the tropics near the small coastal town of Agnes Water.

Whilst in between settling on the new house and selling the old house, we were bid farewell at the end of February by another category 5 cyclone.  Yassi wreaked havoc up and down the entire Queensland coast; as most Aussies know, lots of flooding and tragedy occurred before and after Yassi.

After two weeks without electricity, it was time for us to move into the new house, thankfully! We spent the next few months just working our buns off on the new property; trimming, weeding, planting.

At the end of March I thought I was done with blogging and signed off as I just didn’t think I had much to say anymore.

During April, John’s daughter Rachel came over from the states to spend a week with us.  Had a good visit and gave us a chance to do some touristy stuff in the area.

June and July we received news of close friends dealing with cancer, then my sister-in-law also diagnosed with cancer.  Both had the cancer surgically removed and have basically received the all-clear from their doctors-yay!

August I went to the states for my yearly visit and went to Atlanta GA for the first time to visit my baby brother who just moved there the year before. Again, a good visit.

 

  

Around September, I started blogging a bit again and by November I was back in full swing. I also decided to compete again in 2012, which I still can’t believe I’m so excited about as I really and truly thought I would never compete again. Never say never!

Over the last few months, we've also completed the studio so it's up and running. During January we will do a bit of a mini marketing blitz to get some more clients in.

 

And to end the year, we’ve been adopted by a lovely stray dog. Scruffy (I know, not particularly creative-but he was REALLY scruffy!) was sleeping under one of the tractors behind the shed one night, and over the course of the past few weeks, we’ve been slowly earning his trust and now he’s well and truly one of the family. He’ll make a superb watch-dog too as he really doesn’t seem to trust anyone else.

 

Other than getting the business going, as I said, I’m going to compete this year; I’ve set my sights on the All Females Classic at the end of June and I am absolutely amped, stoked and just excited as fox in a hen-house! All of my workouts have been energized by my motivation. This year I am working super hard at presenting a whole new package when I hit the stage and I can’t wait!

I’ll visit the family again over the Aussie winter. And there is a chance of John competing this year as well. We’ll see!

That’s it as far as our plans go at this point. I’m ready to rock 2012 big time. I can feel it! How about you? Got big plans? Have you started on them yet or waiting for the grand Day 1 of January 2012? 

Happy New Year All! Stay safe; don't drink too much and Rock On! Bring it!

Pint Sized Powerhouse of the Week

This week I'm highlighting Australia's very own Donna Jones. Donna actually hits on two of my soft spots as not only is she a shorty at 5'2" she's also only a year and a half younger than me at 42.

Donna started working out in 1989 with an eye towards "toning up" until someone suggested competing-which at that time was just bodybuilding and she won her first title; there was no stopping her after that!

In order to compete better in the "fitness" competitions, she took her first gymnastic class at the age of 32 and has mastered the back flip.  Fitness shows are getting even harder to compete in, and Donna has announced that this year was her last for fitness and she's contemplating the new Women's Physique Division in 2012. 

Here is a list of most of her very impressive competition history with national and international titles to boot! 

1991 IFBB Dubbo Classic 1st under 52kg bodybuilding
1992 Nabba Premier Classic 2nd Figure class Nabba NSW Titles 1st Figure Class Nabba Nationals 2nd Figure class
1993 Nabba NSW Titles 1st figure class Nabba Nationals 4th Figure class
1995 IFBB Brisbane 1st Fitness class World Qualifier 2nd fitness class
1997 IFBB Queensland State 1st fitness class IFBB World Qualifier 2nd Fitness class IFBB World Titles
1998 IFBB Queensland State 1st Fitness class IFBB Nationals 3rd Fitness class
2000 IFBB Queensland State 1st Fitness class IFBB Nationals 1st Fitness class
2001 IFBB Queensland state 1st Fitness class IFBB Nationals 1st Fitness class IFBB World titles
2002 IFBB Nationals 2nd Fitness class IFBB World titles
2004 IFBB Pro card awarded New York Pro Show Southwest Pro Show
2005 Europa Pro Fitness 10th; Charlotte Pro Show 10th; Sacramento Pro Show 8th
2006 The All Star Pro Fitness, Atlantic City Pro
2008 Europa Pro Show, New York Pro Show, Atlantic City Pro Show - 6th

2009 New York Pro Show, Europa Florida - 7th

You can find out more about Donna HERE (all photos and information from the Donna Jones website)

Ciao for now!

Happy Leg Day!

Well, Christmas is done, New Year's celebrations next then it's onto 2012-woohoo! Regardless of holidays, I'm still working out; how about you? Personally, I can't imagine not working out just because of a holiday-I like taking care of my body. Heck, I even figured out a way to work out on the sailing yacht we had a few years back...LOL!
Right now I'm loving it even more with the All Females in my sights. Completely focused-love it! Yesterday was leg day and on top of the regular dead lifts I'm doing these days, I've added these Sarah Picken Brown Geisha Lunges shown below. They are awesome! If you want a good bite in the quads, I highly recommend them.



Train on and train hard!
Ciao for now!

Happy Holidays!

Just want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday! Enjoy-but don't overdo it!

                                                              Do a bit of this:

and not too much of this:

and you'll increase your chances of achieving this sooner:

Ciao for now!

Pint Sized Powerhouse of the Week

At only 5'3", this week's shorty is thirty-six year old Fitness pro Tanji Johnson.

Though she's been in the fitness industry for over ten years, is currently ranked Top 2 in the world in IFBB Pro Fitness and has earned 6 professional IFBB fitness titles in her career, Tanji started out as an army brat born in Germany. She went on to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy where she went through basic training, became a varsity cheerleader and a member of the cadet Honor Guard. She also went through several intense military programs like survival training and marine corps officer training.

As an officer, she served as an admissions officer in the minority enrollment department of the Air Force Academy and as the head cheer leading coach. Her next assignment was to Fairchild AFB in Spokane WA in 1999 where she served as an aircraft maintenance officer responsible for the management and maintenance of the KC-135 Aerial Refuelers.

She broke away from the Air Force seeing that Fitness was an entertaining and challenging way to promote a healthy lifestyle as well as help change society’s concept of a “real woman”. She began competing in fitness in 1998. Since then, she has competed in the Fitness America Pageant, Women’s Tri-Fitness, NPC, and now IFBB.

Tanji is known for performing flawless routines that are full of energy. With her athletic build and superb conditioning; she consistently lands in the top three of her competitions.

Below is a list of highlights from her Fitness competition career:

2011 Arnold Europe Classic 1st
2011 Fitness Olympia 2nd
2011 Fitness International 2nd
2010 Fitness Olympia 2nd
2010 New York Pro Fitness 1st (6th Pro win)
2010 Fitness International 3th
2010 Arizona Pro Fitness 2nd
2009 Fitness Olympia 2nd
2009 Atlantic City Pro 2nd
2009 Fitness International 10th
2008 Fitness Olympia 5th
2007 Fitness Olympia 4th
2007 Europa Pro Fitness 2nd
2007 All Star Pro Fitness 1st (5th Pro win)
2007 Fitness International 4th
2006 Fitness Olympia 4th
2006 Europa Pro Fitness 1st (4th Pro win)
2006 All Star Pro Fitness 1st (3rd Pro win)
2005 Emerald Cup 1st (2nd Pro win)
2004 Fitness Olympia 8th
2004 Fitness International 9th
2002 Jan Tana Fitness Classic 2nd
2002 Toronto Fitness Classic 1st (First Pro Win)

Way to go girl!
You can learn more about Tanji  HERE!
Ciao for now!

Get yourself a healthy Christmas present

Most of you on FaceBook, or Lindy's forum would already know about Michelle's new cookbook, Healthy Helpings; but for those of you who don't know-here it is:

A fabulous new cookbook, written by Aussie figure competitor, and healthy chef Michelle Koen! Michelle was a 2009 Australian Masterchef semi-finalist, and is a regular contributor to Oxygen Magazine Australia.
It's the perfect gift to get for yourself or a friend to start out the New Year. I'll be buying my copy first thing next year (I'm a little over my budget at the moment-LOL!); but did have the privilege testing some of the recipes whilst Michelle was putting the book together and they are quite tasty, easy and of course healthy! Click on the picture above and it will take you to the site for further perusal and purchase.  Well done Michelle!

Pint Sized Powerhouse of the Week

I saw this gal, Hungarian born Violetta Varga on FaceBook last week and was just gob-smacked. Talk about super-woman strength! I don't know how tall she is, but she really can't be too tall when you see the video and she only weighs 58k, 3.5k heavier than me, and she's only like 19. Here she is dead-lifting 182.5K-training for the record. She ended up dead lifting 200k for the record at the actual event.



And here is a pic; same gal on both sides.....gee look at those pesky, bulky muscles women are so afraid of getting by lifting weights...hmmmm.... I'm just sayin!

Best Pumpkin Soup

I made the yummiest creamy pumpkin soup I've ever made over the weekend; and it was super easy too!
I peeled and chopped part of a Japanese Pumpkin to make about 4 or 5 cups; put that into a pot and added about 2 and a half cups of water (to cover the pumpkin). You could use a veggie stock-I didn't have any on hand...I only use home made and hadn't done any in a while.
I added 2 teaspoons of ginger then chopped up 2 stems of peeled lemon grass and put that into the pot and brought to a boil then simmered until the pumpkin was super soft. I took it off the burner and put the contents into a much larger pot in order to let it cool quickly.
I put the soft pumpkin, spices and water into a blender to puree' (2 separate batches) then back into the pot to warm-added one 270ml can of coconut cream, heated through. A bit of salt and pepper and Voila! Super yum!
You could use low-fat or whatever for your coconut cream-I no longer use low-fat or reduced-fat; and I don't know the calories or fat content of this dish; I consider it a bit of a treat meal.
There ya go!
Bon Appetit!
Ciao for now!

If you want different results, you need a different plan

Or something like that..hehehe

Yes-I want different results for this next competition. You see the two pics below? The top one in black is 2008, the bottom in red is 2010....the bods look pretty much the same really.

Same plan, same result; 2010 did not yield any more muscle than 2008 and I had the same amount of fat on my hips and thighs as well. I had been on a quest for more muscle in 2010, but didn't change the plan much, if at all.

This time will be different. I'm focusing more on the macro nutrient split now. Oh, I worked on eating protein and some carbs before, but never worried about calculating the amounts, and now I'm realising that I probably wasn't getting the right balance. So, this time that is what I am zoning in on, plus some new variations in my strength building as well. I will also be adding more cardio on during the actual 12 week comp prep.

I might as well add  that I will only be consuming real food this time around as well; no protein powders or bars at all for this chicky!

Yep-2012 will be a year of changes and new plans!
How about you? Have you made all the changes you want, or have you been doing the same ol' thing that may need some revamping?
Now is the time to make the plan so you are ready to go on January 1, 2012! BRING IT ON!

Pint Sized Powerhouse of the Week

Adela Garcia!

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Puerto Rico, Adela loved sports and gymnastics, but her family's financial situation prevented her from really being able to get any formal training until she was older.

At the age of 17, she was introduced to weight training then joined the ROTC and got even more training in. By 1995 she had started teaching aerobics doing personal training at the military base gym and that was when she entered her first fitness competition and placed second; she was hooked!

Since that time, she's accumulated a whole stack of second place, first place and overall trophies for figure and fitness championships across the US and internationally.

At age 39, she stands 5'1" tall and is the only six time champion in the history of fitness competition; including the latest win at the 2011 Fitness Olympia held in Las Vegas in September.

Once again-Go Short Power!

Want to set fire to your workouts?

Pick a comp, any comp, and go for it!

I’m totally serious here folks; since I decided to do the All Females next year, my workouts have been jacked.  I thought my workouts were OK before-I mean, I always love putting in my weight sessions; but once I made that decision to compete again, it just put a big old spark into my training like never before.  

Having a big goal like a competition just puts me in that mindset to go the extra mile; so I’ve been coming up with some awesome routines and really whacking on that extra weight. Hopefully it pays off with extra muscle!

I highly recommend finding a competition of your chosen sport; could be anything! Swimming, triathlon, 5k, power lifting, figure/bodybuilding comp, tennis; something that you would love to excel at, then tell the world your plans and get at it! And being so close to New Years, what better time to start than now?!

Input Please; What's Your Fave?

Over the next seven months, I really want to immerse myself in everything figure, so I'd like to hear some of your favourite books, magazines, dvd's and websites about figure/bodybuilding competition.
I want it all! :-0

Have a great weekend!