2010 New Beginnings - June 1

Hi Everyone-

There are so many good things going on, that I am not sure where to start.

Spray Tanning Services-
My friend and I are doing Spray Tanning backstage at shows and for regular spray tans in the Sherbrooke area in which we live. We did the FCPAQ Est show here in Sherbrooke (CBBF stream), and received great feedback from the promoter and he has already booked us for next year.
It was a busy day, but I loved seeing all the athletes performing and being apart of the atmosphere without any pressure to compete.

Sophie Charpentier, an athlete who I helped train competed in her first show. She is 18 years old and a former math student of mine. She did an amazing job - I could never have imaged myself at 18 years old competing onstage.

We have some photos online - where you can see the before and afters.

We will be at the 2010 CBBF Fitness, Figure and Bikini, Junior, Masters, and Grandmasters National championships in August in Toronto.

If you would like spray tanning services, you can sign up from my website - sign up here - and then we can make sure to take care of you for the event. We are still seeing if we can get backstage at the event as the CBBF has expressed interest in supporting our endeavors. We will update all our athletes of the final decision, however, we will be at the host hotel for the event in August.

Along with that we will be at our 3rd event - the New Brunswick Provincials in November. Information is available on my site - under 'services'.

Teaching & Beyond
Summer is almost upon us, and school for most students is coming to an end. Although I did not finish out the school year I know that I would not have made it to the end of the year. Teaching is one of those things that is so hard nowadays. It is unlike the way the education system was even 10-15 years ago. Expectations are different, students are different, administration has more pressure on them to implement changes quickly and effectively, and the teachers are expected to do more work than is humanly possible. This June try to thank the teachers of your children. High school might be tough but maybe you can thank the homeroom teacher or that teacher that takes the most care of your child. It is not an easy job at times, and even just a small note is enough encouragement for those great teachers to stay in the profession a little longer.

For me, I am so blessed. I did apply for a parental leave of absence in March, and luckily it was approved. This now leaves me the time to pursue being a personal trainer, teacher, and coach.

Personal Trainer & Teacher
I have finally decided on a gym that I will be working at for the next year - ProGym in Sherbrooke (Fleurimont) location. I already have an office, and a few clients under my care. I am very excited to what changes I can help them make. So if you are in the area, by all means stop in and see me or contact me at - contactallison@yahoo.ca

ProGym is a great environment for me. I had a decision to make as the other major private gym in my area also expressed interest in me. Although I would love to work at both gyms, I don't think either one would be happy with that arrangement. I have a great relationship with both gyms, and this was a tough decision to make. Did I mention that I am also trying to tackle this new position all in French? I will be learning a lot this year.

My goals include teaching my clients - (as that is my background) I want to help teach those who just don't get the gym to at least feel comfortable in the gym, stay motivated, and keep them on track when those times get tough. I find it tough every now and again, and it is always good to have someone in your corner to help pick you up when you need it.

Presentation & Posing Classes
Along with my gym, I also have a great working relationship with other community areas in Sherbrooke/Lennoxville area. I do my presentation classes at University of Bishops - they have an amazing dance studio that I can use for routines, and presentation/posing classes.

I know some from the Maritimes have contacted me about having seminars etc on this, and I will be home this summer in July - so if you are still interested, contact me and we will see what we can do.

Studying
I am currently studying for the CISSN sport nutrition exam in June - I will also be attending the ISSN Conference in Clearwater Florida at the end of the month. It is a very challenging exam as I have forgotten a lot of my chemistry and biology, but bit by bit it is coming back to me. I will be glad when this exam is over as it is occupying a lot of my time. I just don't want all this time and energy I have been putting into this, (plus the expense) to go to waste. I am very excited for the conference though. I like being the student as well as being the teacher.

Competing....? Again?
Yes. Yes please. I will be competing again this summer - crazy I know. I told myself not this summer, no more dieting in the summer, not any more summers, but here I go again. I don't find the diet as restrictive as I used to. Actually when I eat those 'bad' foods, I don't feel well, and my skin does not cooperate well to the change in foods. I am 33 and sometimes have the skin of a 14 year old. I don't realize how good I feel on the good food, until I start eating the bad food. (or too much of the bad food).
So I will be going to the Europa Texas this summer. Very excited, as I have never been to Texas. I do have a family vacation in there, but it is on the beach, so it is manageable.

My goal is to make it to the Olympia this year. Top 3 I need to make, or if the top 3 are already qualified, then the 4th place will be qualified. I will keep visualizing (a hint from Kary Odiatu), and then go out there and do my absolute best. I can only control me; not the outcome.

Along the lines of competing - how do I manage to compete year after year, and still enjoy it. My prep is not THAT difficult. Really. There are times when I want bread, and butter, but other than that I enjoy working out, I enjoy performing the routine (the practices are killer though...especially after a break), and I like the travel and seeing the girls. The summer I know it is about beer, and food, and friends. So I can have the friends, and the BBQ (with selected foods), but not the beer.

Is socializing with my friends going to be any more/less fun if I ate the non diet food? Probably not. I still talk and drink (water etc) and have a good time. I think it makes the people around me (or those who don't know what I do) more uncomfortable than it makes me. I do have tricks to mask my dieting, but my closer friends know when they see the blue cooler it is time. Time for the diet. They just don't even ask anymore.

Metabolic Damage
Although I never suffered any of this myself, I do feel that I could have been one of these girls. I ended up having my son at a time that if I continued competing this would have been me. After having my son in 2006, I did not have the time to spend doing endless hours of cardio, so trained smarter, more efficiently, and worked on cleaning up my diet more. In March of 2008, I connected with Erik Ledin and well, he wrote an excellent piece on this heated topic of debate - Metabolic Damage - all you who compete should read this.

Contest prep should not be a part time job. If your trainer is doing any of the mentioned things...you might want to rethink your trainer - or perhaps get a second opinion.

I would love your feedback -

A.

Update - April 2010

Hi Everyone-

Yes it has been a long time since I have updated. There is so much going on. I am thrilled to be embarking on some new challenges this year.

Before I left for the Arnold, I had put in for a leave of absence from teaching for the following school year. I have to make a decision in March for something that is only going to happen in September. Perhaps that is why I am such a planner. In teaching you always have to plan way in advance.

I am looking to spend more quality time with my son, and have a bit more time for myself, and pursue some interests that I might not otherwise. Teaching has been very good to me over the years, however, I am very unhappy with the direction the education system is headed. I do not feel that my own personal expectations of students are in line with what I am being told to do in the classroom. I know that I am able to 'close my door' and still do my own thing, yet, ignoring what is happening is no longer an option. My colleagues are able to deal with the situation much better than I. Hopefully my leave will be approved, as my love of the students and my fellow teaching staff is what I felt has kept me teaching for almost a decade. The amount of work required of me as a teacher has tripled over the last 3 years, and I am unable to do the job that I am feel that I am qualified to do, as the amount of preparation, planning, correcting, and daily administration duties are beyond what is humanly possible in the span of a 8-12 hour work day. And if I am going to be putting in that many hours into something that I am not 100% passionate about, I might as well be giving the same amount of effort into something that I would anyways - fitness.

I feel that at this time in my life, choosing to do something 'different' and for me that would be pursuing training others, helping with their nutrition, and helping them change their lives for the better is something that has interested me since I was a little kid. I am willing to face my fears of changing my job in order to do something that I never viewed as 'work'. I love learning, and am willing to do the work required to get better. I am more motivated than ever at the prospect of being 'superior' at my job.

Teaching I always felt as though I was lacking, as there were too many variable that continuously changed. With a constant change in workload/subject area, I never felt as though I was progressing. Every year I felt as though I was starting over, and never had a chance to be 'great'. For me it was important to be able to add to my resources, not scrap everything and have to start over. I always felt like I was starting over.

In the last few years of teaching, I had a really difficult time of separating my two worlds - teaching and fitness. I felt as though I was not being authentic self when I was teaching. There were parts of me that had to be 'controlled' as certain aspects of the industry could be viewed as inappropriate. I am fully conscious of my role as teacher, and role model for the younger generation. I think that this move towards fitness is going to be more in line with who I am. I am still an educator - but one of health & fitness not just mathematics, science and ethics. (although I will always love math)

I will be training girls for shows to show them there is an easier way to contest prep. I am having more fun than ever preparing for my shows, dieting, and training than I ever have. I am to help those in need to achieve their goal of being on stage. It is such a wonderful time when the show finally comes around and you put what you have prepared for into action. I am following a few girls now, and am very proud and excited for them. Much more than I ever have been for myself. I love being able to 'teach' girls how to prep for shows, so hopefully they can take this knowledge with them for their next show (if they choose to compete again).

I am also starting a spray tanning service at shows (see previous post), for shows, and if I can - backstage. I want to be involved in many aspects of the industry and this just seemed like the next natural step. With a friend of mine, we are going to be attending various shows in my region (Sherbrooke, QC). Depending on the schedules of shows, and our schedules (she has 2 children, myself just one), we will be at various shows. Just check back here, or on my site for which shows we will be attending. The first one for this year is the FCPAQ show in Sherbrooke, on May 22nd.

On the competition front - lots of good things happening.
I placed 5th in the New York Pro show, and 6th at the Orlando Pro. I had a wonderful time at both shows. Really I just wanted to redeem myself from the performance at the Arnold. It was a better showing, but ultimately my goal is to make it to the Olympia this year. One more show that would allow me to qualify - the Europa in Texas in August. So I am 99% sure that I will be attending that show. I have a new suit in the works, and then I have to decide new routine, or just my Be Italian routine with a few modifications.

I did make it up to Toronto and spent some time with Liana Saadi - photographer extraordinaire, and close friend. We shot together. Images were amazing! While I was there, I was able to shoot with Oxygen and Inside fitness, visit with Erik Ledin of Lean Bodies Consulting and meet with my agent - Tereasa Panossa of the Red Group.

I have been traveling quite a bit in the last 2 months, so now it is time to take a break, and catch up with friends, and family. (and put the house back together).

I think I will be taking up golf this summer, take on a few clients (so you can email me), some vacation time, and we doing some alterations to the house, have plenty of visitors, studying (I am writing the CISSN exam in Clearwater in June), and prepping for the Europa Texas. There are plenty of things to keep me occupied since leaving teaching.

I have to say that I am super excited to get out of bed everyday. I really have not felt like this for a long time. I guess I never realized how unhappy I was teaching (or maybe just teaching the subjects I was teaching). Sometimes in life we do things that are expected of us. I am glad that I took the risk, and am taking the steps necessary to do what I really want in my life.

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together."
Vincent Van Gogh

Talk soon,

A.

Services de Spray Tan

Hi Everyone-

Long time since I have updated and I will. I have so many new things on the go and am very excited. I actually have too many things on the go, and really just have to sit down and focus on one or two things, set them up and then add more.

My first big project right now is starting a tanning business with a close friend of mine.

I will be offering back stage tanning services as of May 22nd starting with a local show that is going on in my area - Sherbrooke, QC.




It is the FCPAQ Est. Follow www.fcpaqest.com for more information on the show and times of prelims & finals.

For the tanning services I am listing both an English and a French writing of the service as my clientelle is primarily French. I am very excited to be helping the athletes present the best they can on stage. The tan is the final step to heading the stage, and can have affect on your final placing if things don't go well.

I will update further on my other events since the Arnold. I just have to say that I am in a very good place in my life right now, and having so much fun.

Talk soon,

A.

Click on image for English & French Version on Facebook




















Please do not hesitate to contact me for any questions on the tanning.
contactallison@yahoo.ca

A.