Yep, I’ve decided: I’m heading back to the competition stage in November, at the tender age of 51.

After coaching thousands of women on the benefits of fitness and on creating concrete, workable goals to get you there, I’ve decided to take my own medicine and head into competition again…..

Doing a competition is the ultimate motivator. When you have to get up on stage in a teensy-weensy bikini in front of 500+ people, believe me, you’re going to stay on track with your training and eating! And I’ve seen it with dozens of women over the years who have trained with me, then gone the ultimate step and competed. Regardless of their placing, they all walked away changed women for life.

It all kinda started with the 10 Week Challenge which I created in 2010, in which I pulled from my years of training and some competition stuff, and we transformed how they train, ate, and thought about life.  Then they wanted more, so I created the 12-Week Advanced Challenge where I went deeper into competition-style stuff. We’re in Week 3 now, and everyone’s loving the process!

Then last week I helped a former Challenger winner – Deanna Pfeifer – with her posing, and it all came rushing back to me: I wanted to head back to the stage one last time.

What awaits me? I have no idea. I haven’t competed in 18 years, and back then, I was in bodybuilding (that’s all there was back then) and I did ok at that, winning the Overall Alberta Provincials. 

Now I am heading into Figure, and I have to start over again, at the novice level. I don’t get to take any of my national standings with me because I’ve switched categories, but I’m not interested in body building anymore…this 5’2″ 115 pound gal just can’t compete against the likes of those ever-muscular women and the additives they often take to get there. To me, it’s always been about health, dedication and excellence.

Never mind what they say about the sport of physique building, it’s one of the toughest sports I know, but also one that builds health on all levels, and helps us older gals stay shapely and strong well into old age, long after our counterparts are complaining about how their bodies have changed with age, how shifting hormones results in extra weight, and how beauty and grace is wasted on the young.

Don’t buy into it. Train heavy, eat clean and have goals.  Always strive for more. Never give up!

Watch for The Real McCoy video series to see how I train and prepare for competition, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll get the bug too!!

karen