In-Season, Off-Season and Being Realistic: Part II

A few posts ago, I let you all know that I was having a couple of phtoto shoots done.  I also pointed out that from my personal point of view on my body I wasn't in the shape that I'd perhaps prefer to be.  A lot of this is because, as I mentioned, it is nearly impossible (at least if you want to be a healthy person) to maintain a physique contest body year round.  Women especially, whose healthy range of body fat is prescribed to be no lower than 18%, cannot realistically maintain the 10% (or lower in the case of me at my show last May) body fat that is pretty much required for stage success.

So I'm not mad ripped right now.  However, by my estimates I'm still probably sitting at a 13-14% range just over 11 weeks from from my first contest of the season.  This is a VERY good starting place and the closest to stage ready that I have started at; my last two pre-season body composition measures were both around 15.5%

The fact is that while I'm not as rock hard as I might appear at a show, I'm still pretty fit.  And while I'm a woman and as such it's pretty much my job to hate most things about myself, I'm actually pretty much ok with the way my body looks right now.  In fact I'd be totally fine looking like this all the time if I didn't have this strange fitness hobby and some big goals to go with it.  I'm pretty content with the fact that I'm learning the ability to appreciate my body all the time, not so much because of the way it looks, but because it's strong and fit and I made it that way.

So without further ado, here is a selection of images from my first shoot.  Darker and perhaps "sexier" than the second (think white backgrounds and Shape Magazine) I'm pretty happy with the images and can't complain too much considering this was my first time trying the modeling thing.  Obviously I'm a chick which makes me nit pick the shit out of everything in existence, but overall I'm content.  What do you think?

 

                                                  

Photos courtesy of Dax Photography. 

I'm actually even more excited to show you the second set of images, after seeing just the proofs of those I really like them.  I love these as well, but they're just a different feel that maybe is a little less reflective of my personality; I'm more fun than sexy in the conventional sense I think.  I guess all that just makes me look a little more comfortable and "me" in the images, but maybe that's just my perception.  I do have to say I'm really happy that I ended up with two sets of very different pictures!

For comparison purposes, here is a shot from my last NPC show (please also note that I still don't have a "six pack" because that's my hardest spot due to my height and individually defined abs are actually not common the national stage - my goal).  As you can see I'm leaner, but I don't so mind the softer look of these photos.  I still have a flat stomach and some mini guns which is fine with me.

Image courtesy of Mark Mason and Bodybuilding.com.