MFC client Sandy Doud competed in the Ironman Natural Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure and Bikini in Michigan this past weekend. She made some great improvements from a previous show that she did last year. Her goal with me was to bring a tighter lower body then she did at the last show and we definitely accomplished that! She walked away with 3rd place in Maters and 4th in Open.   A HUGE congrats to her. She definitely made Maximum Fitness Proud!!

This was her comp pic from last year–

And here are her shots just before her show this past weekend!

I definitely think we accomplished her goal!

She did a great job from start to finish with this prep-I believe she took 2 vacations in the middle!  Here are her starting and finishing shots.  Sandy is looking to compete again in September.

There is constant talk about the scale- I didn’t lose enough WEIGHT.  what am I doing wrong?  How can I get the scale drop more!!!  I think everyone has heard it by now, but I am going to say it again-THE SCALE IS NOT THE ENTIRE PICTURE. I am going to show you what I mean.  I have a relatively new client that I have been working with for about 10 weeks or so.  During this time she also took a vacation to Hawaii ( and did amazingly well!).  She is also rather new to training.  And since i am not mentioning her name, I will tell you she is 44 (and doesn’t look it AT ALL).  Now I posted her starting pictures and her last biweekly photos on my forum to ask my members how many pounds on the scale did they think she had lost.  Here are her photos:

The guesses were around the 15-25lb range.  I am not counting those that knew I was trying to make a point and guessed low LOL.  Now in the grand scheme of things does it really matter how MUCH weight that scale has said that she lost?  Especially if after 10 weeks, she looks like this?  That is my point everyone!  You cannot base all your progress on that SCALE!  you have to take into account measurement changes and WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE!!!

Her first comment in her biweekly to me said it all- “I feel amazing!”

And the coolest part is we are just getting started!

oh and by the way-she lost 8lbs!

I just posted a great new testimonial on National Level Figure Competitor Lisa Peper HERE She talks about her difficult prep this go around and finding out about her thyroid condition.  I am hoping that she chooses to compete again this year because she definitely has the body and the work ethic to do well.  Now that her health is in check, I think this year will be so much easier for her!

I have always had trouble getting my glutes to fire and have been working a ton on glute activation.  I have added Barbell Glute Bridge to my program and WOW!!!!  This is the movment:

Not the most fun to do in a gym full of people BUT I do love the fact that I can really contract my glutes and not feel it just in my hamstrings!  There are many different progressions from this as well.

Barbell Hip Thrust:

And these are great too. Single Leg Hip Thrust:

Put one of these in your plan or at least try it out and tell me what you think.

Had another great showing at the Las Vegas Classic.  Brandy placed 5th in her first NPC show and came a long way.  Here are some photos and her testimonial:

These are before shots:

Below are some of her taken at the Las Vegas Classic.

This is Brandy’s first show in the NPC and plans on competing again in May of next year.  She was able to get 5th place here in Vegas out of 11 competitor’s.  You can read about her journey and testimonial here

Here are some before and after shots of a client of mine Shelley Cook and a link to her testimonial.  You can also check out more photos from her recent show the Sandra Wickham Fall Classic HERE

Shelley came a long way in the 6 months that she worked with me.  She even went through a back and shoulder specialization that I think was very successful before we dieted for her competition.  Here are some shots of that:

Shelley talks about her fitness journey and working with me on the testimonial page.

The NPC Coastal is going to be this weekend here in Georgia.  This is a great show and is held at the Gwinnett Center – Here is a link if you are planning on going and need tickets COASTAL

This show usually has a great turn out with good competition.  I will definitely be there helping out – so hopefully I will see some familar faces there!