I wasn't wondering about the bikini other than wondering if that was what you wore to do your housework

Hi Lisa,   Sure this is going to be a a great journal, I saw you at a NABBA England  in 2009 and i remember when i got back telling James about you!        
Good luck with the IFBB Worlds 
Look forward to seeing Bedford show 

Hi Lisa,
 
Great to meet you the other week down Temple, You looked fantastic at Nottingham, Best of luck for the worlds and your pro card. No doubt we will see you at one of the shows soon!
 
Simon
 

hi everyone,
 
it is the end of my first week of prep and to be honest there is not that much to report. I will weigh myself first thing tomorrow morning (sunday) and if i have lost a pound i will be happy. All i have done this week is clean up my diet and seen as i eat pretty clean off season anyway i am only looking at losing a pound.
 
Daz - you asked me whether i was looking to improve my conditioning or add more size in the future.
Obviously i wouldnt say no to adding a bit more size in certain areas i.e arms but when i have met some of the top pro fbbs i have found that there is not much difference size wise between us. On the other hand the level of conditioning and detail they bring to the stage is unbelievable
The pic below is of me and Brigita Brezovac at the British GP. When Brigita competed in her first two pro shows in the states last year she won them both and qualified for the Olympia. She is about to compete at the Tampa pro again in a few weeks time.
I met up again with Brigita at FIBO and we were talking about conditioning. She couldnt stress enough how important conditioning was. I am hoping that the more times i diet the better condition and detail i will get.

certainly not lacking in size next to Brigita
 
i definatley think the more times people diet the better condition they are able to achieve, and i guess every time you do it, you will learn a bit more about how you respond! i think often its just as simple as knowing how long you need
 
 

i have just finished my first week of prep. i weighed myself this morning and had dropped 2lbs which was primarily from just cleaning up my diet. i checked back over my records and i am 6lbs lighter than i was at this stage last year and i am eating more food - no complaints there then.
so the plan for next week is to keep the diet exactly the same and introduce half an hour of cardio each morning. i like to introduce cardio as soon as possible into my prep.
To answer your question Welshy - for cardio i like to do the step machine. This is the machine i have got set up at home and by taking long strides on the step machine i feel like i am working my glutes. At the gym where i was training during my off season i found a machine like the stepper which was angled at 45 degrees. I really did love this machine.
And as for what i hate about comp prep time - it has to be when it starts to affect my sleeping in the final few weeks. Even South Park stops being funny when you are starving hungry and wide awake at four in the morning. My dog also winds me up in the last stages of my diet beause no matter what i am eating or how little i am eating she sits there drooling and looking at me with those puppy dog eyes.
How can u say "no" to this

Great work Lisa,
 
The begining of any prep is always a little slow and changes are very small at first. At what stage do you start to see any real changes in your physique?? ie fat loss, increased muscularity?? The worse I feel the better I look

JUST SAY NO!!!!!

Hi Good luck lisa!
Will be following this journal and you are an inspiration to us all!
I know what you mean with the puppy eyes!
Do you add dog walks as cardio or just as extra walk time? x

I can't count dog walking as CV, I've got 3 to walk and they're so flippin' disobedient! If I just walk the teeniest one (who would probably fit in your dog's mouth by the way Lisa), she'd run with me on the lead or powerwalk but the other two are lost causes!
 
It must be nice knowing you've not got to worry about size, just condition - most people always have to worry about both :-)

Top Female Bodybuilder Lisa Cross joins Team MuscleTalk

Good luck with the preps for the worlds lisa!!

I'm not great on the stepper, find it too easy to ' cheat ' and also get bored silly :/ .. I go outside for powerwalks, I HAVE to walk all the way or else I'm screwed so that prevents cheating LOL!
 
Cute doggy !!
 
When did you start to get into lifting weights and what made you start ?

hi everyone,
sorry i have not posted much this week but i have been away for a few days. I try to stay at home as much as i can when i start my comp prep but if i do have to travel i make sure my VW van is loaded up with my microwave and fridge so that  i dont have to compromise on my diet.
So i have managed to get all my cardio, training and food in this week despite being away.
So far this week i have trained rear delts and back and abs and calves. I train abs during the off season but whereas i will train them about twice a week off season, i train them every other day as soon as i start comp prep. I do love training abs though whereas with calves i have to remind myself to train them. Naughty of me i know!
 
I also managed to get a Deep tissue massage in this week on my legs. I had trained legs last friday and they were so tight that they were giving me a lot of pain in my knees. Although the lad who gave me the massage had me in agony and i think i called him every rude name going (and a few new ones that i invented), the day after the massage my legs felt brilliant. I started having regular deep tissue massages this year. I know they are supposed to encourage muscle growth but the main thing i feel that i get from them is that they aid recovery. I am pretty much converted. No pain. No gain. 

@ Simon - Hope your training is going well.
I know what you mean about the changes being barely noticeable at the beginning of the diet. At the moment though with regards training and diet, i am not doing anything that different from what i do off season.
I have only done two comp diets and they both differed in a number of ways so i cant really say at what stage i see significant changes. I have areas that get more defined and vascular quicker than others and areas that are more stubborn. My lower back, hamstrings and glutes are the last areas to respond because that is where i mainly hold my fat. So these are the areas i take as indicators as to where i am with my condition. I tend to go off the mirror rather than body fat monitors and calipers.
Looking at myself at the moment i think in about three/ four weeks time i will see some changes and post pics up then.

Kels and Flick - my dog has to be the laziest dog in the world. I have to drag her out for walks and can never get any kind of pace going with her. She is a bit of a lost cause.
 
Welshy - cardio can get tedious so u have to find something that u like. If you cheat doing stepper then that renders it pointless. Do you do your power walks outside or on a treadmill?
I have a room set up at home of cardio and ab equipment. So when i am on the stepper i have my music and computer in front of me. Am sure the neighbours love being woken up to Whitesnake blaring out first thing in the morning!
 
As for when  did i start lifting weights and what made me start  - that is a difficult one. I started lifting weights about 2004. Prior to that i had gone to the gym but i was a cardio freak ( now i am just a freak). I used to do hours of cardio and did lots of road running but it was all about burning calories. My diet at the time was pretty atrocious and i got frustrated by doing all this work and not seeing any changes. I couldnt understand it.
I then went to live in Japan. My boyfriend at the time had been a Japanese body building champion and he gave me some of the best advice i could have been given at that time. He could see that i enjoyed training with weights and he told me that if i wanted to take it seriously then i needed to read up on it and learn about it. I did because it was a topic i found fascinating. He also took me to my first Golds gym - i thought i had died and gone to heaven. Also it was pretty easy to eat healthily living in Japan as they have a much healthier attitude in general to food than we do.
So it was while i was there that i seriously got into training. I did though over train - i would go every day without fail and stay there for about three hours and still do all the cardio on top.
Feels like i am telling you my life story!

Thanks for the answers Lisa
 
I do my morning cardio outside and my PWO cardio on the dreadmill, both with ankle weights on. Actually really enjoy my morning cardio, I just don't like the getting up part most of the time !
 
Didn't know you lived in Japan! What part ? My brother is living out there and has been for the last 7 years - he's in Osaka
 
I went out to visit in 2005, I loooove Japanese food.. oh and the hot coffee cans from the vending machines
 
Your cardio room at home sounds awesome! The closest I get is a mini stepper in the kitchen ! ... I use the mini stepper in the winter when it's really pitch black outside but really do prefer getting out in the fresh air.
 
I love the fact you have a fridge and microwave in your van, superb

its great to get an insight to what makes you tick!!carry on!!

loving the posts Lisa!  great to hear a little background and how you do things!
 
LOVE the van with microwave and fridge in the back, i want one!!!

Welcome to MT Lisa. Great journal, all the best with your prep for the worlds. Hope to see you soon.