Competitor Blog: Practice Posture

When I first starting posing I would get scolded for looking down. Sand, my posing coach, would ask me what I was looking for on the ground. When you walk on stage you want to have your head up and look the judges right in the eye with a look that says “this is my stage and I am the best thing on it”. You can’t do that with a rounded shoulders and eyes averted.

Over time, I think a lot of women learn this unconscious habit of casting their eyes downwards and slumping forward. It’s as simple as avoiding dealing with other human beings or appearing “too inviting”. If you don’t make eye contact you don’t give another person a chance to try to grab your attention and interact with you. Slumped over you try to make yourself look less noticeable and unassuming. A lot of people will accuse you of “sticking your boobs out” simply from having your shoulders back. If you have ever had to fend off a person’s unwanted and over-zealous attempts at wooing, you totally understand. If you have yet to experience this yet in life, I envy you. 

I also would be scolded for walking like a lumberjack. I can’t help it! I have places to go and no time for a sassy little sashay. But when you step on the stage that is EXACTLY what they want. You can’t stomp out to your spot on the stage, rigidly do your turns and stomp off. Well, you can but it won’t place you very well.

I practice my “girl walk” up and down the straight stretch of hall at my work. It’s relatively low traveled and it’s nice and long. Here I practice how the “girl walk” feels and try very hard not to overthink it. It’s a gentle sway, almost drop of the hip. It is a weird thing to try and explain and I imagine everyone feels it a little different. Once you start focusing too hard on the walk you will lose it.

So I started to make the effort to improve my posture and exude self confidence. Throughout the day I try to correct my posture. I do stretches to help loosen up the front muscles that have been shortened from years of crap posture. I do exercises to fire the back muscles that help pull the shoulders back. When I walk down the street I send mental feelers out to my body; are my shoulders back and posture decent? Do I have my head up? When I am at the gym walking through the floor I give myself a little pep talk “Are they looking at you? Damn right they are looking at you! You own this place. You are the winner of this day and you keep that tiara up high!” It sounds ridiculous but it does really help get you in the brain space you want to be in when you step on stage.

By working in these little bits into my day I am practicing portions of my posing. It is important that you practice posing until it is automatic. That way if your brain tries to freeze come show time your muscle memory will show you the way. If you are not practicing for a show practice for life. Fix that posture!

Competitor Blog: Changing Protein

My favorite thing to hear at the doctor’s is the phrase “as we age”. Thanks jerk face for yet another reminder that I am getting older. The ever increasing collection of white hair that rivals a unicorn wasn’t enough or the fact that I feel 9:00 pm is going to bed late. But lately I experienced one of these conversations when I went to the doctor for my skin that was breaking out like a pubescent teenager. It seems, as we age, our hormones change and that could be the cause of my breakouts. The doctor prescribed some medicine which is supposed to help (and keep me from clawing my skin off my face) and also recommended that I switch from whey protein to a vegetable based protein. Of course because I just opened a brand new bag of whey protein open.

So I journeyed down to the supplement store to see if I could discover a vegetable protein that was: 

• High in protein without requiring a million servings 
• Didn’t taste like crusty tree bark 
• Wouldn’t cost me my first born

Now as you can imagine the vegetable protein section of the supplement store is fairly small but there was about 7 or so different types of protein there. I chose to select mine based off protein amount, then fat amount, then carb amount. I wanted to get the most protein for my buck. I selected the Vega Sport in chocolate. One full scoop supplies you with 30 g of protein. 

So off I went, new protein in hand and a heart full of hope. I really didn’t know what to expect. The guy at the store had a sample of another brand and it didn’t leave me with a longing for more. But this is protein powder. I don’t think I will ever be sitting at home and think “Dang! You know what I could use? A refreshing protein shake.”

Here is my experience with it thus far. Do not let it sit around, you will regret it. I mixed up a shake and then my youngest wanted some snuggles before bed. I had drank about half of it and left it for maybe 10 minutes. When I came back and gave it a shake it felt weird but my brain was like “nah, girl you are good”. So I take a big ol’ swing. Mother of God! My “drink” has turned into a thick gelatinous mass. I choked it down because, well, it’s weighed and in my food tracker so I have to. But every time I have to try I gag and die a little inside.

Even though I bought it reading the 30 g of protein I usually only do half a scoop, which is also listed on the label. I feel like the listing of the 30g was a sneaky way to get suckers like me looking for a high protein point reeled in. This is 9 under my previous whey protein and leaves my a little more prone to needing a second protein shake. Which for weird reasons I never want to do.

The flavor is chocolate-esque. In my opinion it is a little sickly sweet. I imagine that is because they use stevia to sweeten it. I HATE stevia in most things but I digress. I usually will drink my protein with my fiber supplement. Believe it or not I like this protein way better with the fiber then I did my other shake. The fiber supplement mellows out the over sweet and the texture seems to improve.

My husband has remarked how big of a mess I seem to be making with this new powder. Be warned: vegetable based protein powder likes to go EVERYWHERE. It seems to clump in the scoop and even cling to a spoon. So you end up trying to dislodge a significant portion of the powder from the scoop and subsequently flinging it. Or not realizing there is more in the scoop that decides it will dislodge midway between shaker cup and container. It isn’t just this brand either. I purchased another brand without flavor to try baking with and it does the same thing.

All in all I will survive with my vegetable protein. I have figured out some tricks like: 

• Use more water than I am used to 
• Always drink it with my fiber 
• Drink it quick, this isn’t a shake for savoring 

I hope my trials and tribulations in the protein kingdom has helped you should you decide you need to branch out to a different supplement type.