3 Tips for Competing on a Budget

The life of a fitness competitor can be a tough one. It's something that takes over your life and you have to be OK with that in order to be successful in the fitness industry. Besides a lifestyle change, competing can be quite expensive. BUT, where there is a will there is a way.  There are things you can do to keep your competing expenses at an all-time low. Here are the top 3 things you should be doing to get more bang for your buck.

1) Food

So, pretty much every neighborhood has multiple markets. You need to be hands on and visit them all. Grab the magazines from each and compare prices. If you have to make multiple stops to each market to get the best price, DO IT! There are places that sell packs of meat or yogurt for example, at cheaper prices based on their stock and other reasons. Have a day you set for meal prep that includes shopping. The extra one it might take is worth the extra bucks you will have in your pocket.

2) Supplements

The first thing to remember is NEVER BUY SUPPLEMENTS IN A STORE. supplements are just too expensive at any store. Buy online! There are websites that sell supplements for a lot cheaper than stores. Some examples are allstarhealth.com and drugstore.com. I buy a 10 lb bag of protein from allstarhealth for the price of a 5 lb bag in store. Also be strategic when you buy online. Things take a couple days or more to ship so when you see you have about 5 days left of something, order asap so by the time you run out, your new stock is at the door.

3) Gym Membership

Gym memberships are expensive. Sometimes out of budget after all the money you spend on good and supps. One way to get around this is to work for one. Either as a trainer, a floor instructor, front desk person. These kind of jobs give you a free membership where ever you choose to work. Now let's say you have a full time job already. Apply to be a sub instructor or sub front desk. Maybe work one day out the week at the facility just to claim the membership. Now if you have virtually no time to spend as an employee at a gym but still can't really afford a membership, you can get savvy. There are so many gyms out there and most of them have free week trials or day trials. With so many of them, you can work the system for a while until you save up money to get a membership or just work for a gym.

Remember, you are not doing this because you want to. You are doing this because the passion inside says you have to! Don’t let anyone or anything make you think you can’t achieve your dreams.

THE S**T THEY DON’T TELL YOU

3 things your trainer doesn’t tell you about the competition life.

When you plan to compete in a fitness competition, the first step is to hire a contest prep coach.

This coach will provide workout and diet plans that cater to your specific goals of getting on

stage. Now, there’s only so much you can learn from your trainer before you hit the stage. Other

things are best learned the hard way. SO. Here’s my attempt to make your competition lives

easier.

1) SHAVING: Couple things regarding shaving. First, all you really have to do is your legs and

pubic area. They tell you to shave your arms and practically any other piece of skin but in reality

you don’t have to. You do not see the arm hair or the natural little hairs we have all over our

bodies when you are on that stage. Save yourself time and only shave what’s necessary.

Second, you are supposed to shave at east one day before getting the spray tan done. What I

learned the hard way is that the pores in your legs after shaving stay open for more than 24

hours, resulting in little dots of tan all over your legs. BADDDD. At least 2 days folks.

2) OVERNIGHT TANNING: Avoid the “black hands” you get when sleeping with a layer of tan. I

will admit, tan is going to get in the inside of you hands at some point in this process. If not from

the spray tan gun itself, then from when you are getting ready backstage. BUT. Your hands are

fair game when you’re sleeping. Wear disposable gloves at night that are light, you don’t want

your hands to get sweaty either. But this will curb the dirty hand look.

3) FOR MY FIGURE GIRLS: On the mandatory side pose and back pose, you want your

hamstrings to really pop out. Especially in that back pose because you want to show the

definition that separates your glutes from your legs. One great way to help the hamstrings say

HELLO to the judges is by placing your weight on the heel of the foot. So first set up each pose,

side and back then dig those heels in the ground. It should be the last thing you do before each of

these poses. If you are conditioned enough, then your hamstrings should respond to this trick.