My Decision

Hi. Welcome to my new blog. I’ve made a decision and I’m quite terrified about it so want some friends to come along for the ride.

The Decision

I have decided that, in 2012, I will compete in a body building competition. There. I’ve said it. I can’t go back now. So what’s the big deal? Maybe as we go along, you’ll get more of an idea about why this is so huge for me. At this point it’s sufficient to say that I’m really terrified about it – of course it’s in a good way…well partly. The other part wonders if I’m setting myself up for a big embarrassing fall. It’s reminds of those celebreties that suddenly become walking-ads for Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, and you just know they’ve done it for a) the money, and b) the accountability. Whether it actually works or not can be judged by the longevity of their association. Sigh. But I’ll never know what I’m made of unless I take up the challenge. So here goes……

About Me

I consider myself completely and totally ‘average’. I’ve got guts. I’ll give anything a go … once… and I’ll generally fight to make it work… but I truly have never excelled at any one thing. I’ve always wanted to excel but never quite had the skills in anything to ‘make it big’.

I like to keep busy and I have a husband and three children who just about take up all of my spare time.

I’ve lived most of my life in New Zealand. Moved to the Gold Coast in 2006 and then up to Cape York in 2009. Here in 2012 I find myself in Katherine, which is in the Northern Territory of Austrlaia.  I became a very proud police officer in 1998 and only stopped in 2011 when we came to the NT. I hadn’t really considered any other occupation because I’d been very happy with my policing role on the whole.

Over 2009/2010 while in Cape York, I struck up a friendship with a colleague’s wife. She is one of those women that you look at once and you just know she’s a gym junkie! Anyhow, we hit it off and began training together. While no stranger to the wonderful world of cardio and weights, I had never ‘got’ the whole resistance training thing. I believe it was partly due to the terribly boring and generic programs supplied by gym instructors with the only instructions being, “come back in 6 weeks and we’ll change it for you”. Now I dare anyone to do the same program three times a week for six weeks. I’d rather chew my arm off and eat it for brekkie!!

So this new friend of mine, Kylie, taught me a huge range of techniques that made it possible to incorporate resistance training into cardio routines. She dropped curve balls every so often such as; pyramid training, matrixes, crossfit, supersets, dropsets and more that I’ve blanked out due to psychological damage I suffered completing them! I grew to love our training sessions and quite quickly became hooked on both the sessions and also the way my body was reacting to the training. I had always ‘poo pooed’ muscles and swore I’d hate to look masculine. But as my body responded, I noticed a lot of changes occurring eg; I literally halved my cardio sessions (which normally consisted of an endurance style of running) yet didn’t put on a kilo – actually dropped weight! I became physically stronger, more confident and very proud of what I was achieving. And I must point out that all of our training sessions (3-4 per week together) were carried out in a garage – nothing flash, nothing electrical, no big machines, just plain old dumbbells, barbells, the odd bench and a few miscellaneous items, like besser bricks for higher lunges.

Kylie and I had spoken about body building competitions because she had competed once and done well. The idea of competing myself honestly never entered my mind.

Me & Competitions

I guess it’s relevant to point out here just how terrible I am at competing. I don’t do it. I avoid it like the plague. I have never been in a race, a triathlon, a city-to-sea fun run or anything similar. In 1998 I had to complete the NZ police entrance test. I ran 2.4kms in 11:15. All potential recruits had to line up and take off together. I was the only female and the 8 fellas had to do the run in 10:15 so I knew they had to go faster than me. However, when we all started out and the guys took off at a near sprint, I was so discouraged that I actually considered crossing the road and running straight home, and may have done so if I hadn’t left my bag at the starting point. I cried with relief when I finished the run and I was eventually accepted into the College. It’s a pattern - I choke on competition day and have been known to pull out part way through or simply not turn up at the starting blocks. I’ve always been this way and never addressed it. I believe it’s not healthy to be so afraid of being measured against others. I know that no one likes losing but you also can never win if you don’t give it a go.

So this is my year. It’s time. I don’t want sympathy I just want some company along the way. I promise it won’t all be this heavy. I can be quite funny at times and I’ve always been very honest.

I can predict that the next 9 months will bring laughter but also tears. I’m ready for the pain and I can’t wait to see what I can achieve.

Thanks for coming……