Thunder Cat 2013 Contest Thread

Training
21

[quote]lemony2j wrote:

[quote]super saiyan wrote:
Putting in work! I like the shirt too. [/quote]

X2 just seeing that brought back some brilliant childhood memories :slight_smile:

Cat, apologies if it was already mentioned in one of stu’s threads but how long have you been training, and was it stu that got you into it?
I only ask because my wife has recently got into weight training and it’s great because it like she finally UNDERSTANDS :)[/quote]

I started going to the gym in 2007, at the time I was 128 pounds (the heaviest I ever weighed). Once I hit my 30s my metabolism slowed down a lot. I did mostly cardio and a day or two of weights. Once I met Stu (New Years Eve 2008), and he burst many bubbles I had about working out, I switched to mostly weight training with a day for cardio, not too long after that I actually developed some tricep definition. However, my training has really slacked this last year :frowning: It feels good to consistently train again and be eating better. It’s funny, the more changes you see in your physique the more you want to go to the gym!

22

[quote]coyotegal wrote:
Cat what are your stats coming into this if you dont mind sharing?[/quote]

I’m 5 feet, 2 inches tall, and at the very start of my contest prep (5 weeks ago) I was 124 pounds. Currently, I’m 119 pounds and I’m hoping to consistently lose 1 pound per week until the first contest.

For my first contest (2 years ago) I probably weighed about 100 to 102 pounds (I actually forgot to weigh myself the day of the show). I’m thinking I should probably weigh close to the same for this contest, however I do have more muscle definition than I did last time, so maybe I should weigh a few pounds more.

23

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

[quote]Thunder Cat wrote:

Awesome! I thought we might have similar proportions. I’m not quite 5’2", or glass half full, I’m 5’6" in heels. :wink: And that’s great that shoulders and lats come easy for you. I think the only thing that’s come easy for me is calves (which I don’t have to train), and TRAPS - ugh. I’m focusing hard on building more shoulder. Despite all my lifting, I still wear the smallest size I can find in a jacket.

Nice to see the training pics. I never do single leg glute bridges. I think that’s what that is. Nice. It’s all about activation. And you are now a month or so into your cut? Keep us posted and best of luck. You’ve done this before. Go to it!
[/quote]

Laterals are my favorite shoulder exercise!! Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. My hamstrings and glutes are MAJOR weaknesses, and difficult for me to make the mind/muscle connection with those body parts.

I was doing glute bridges a with 100 pound barbell across my stomach, it was really awkward to do. This woman Debbie at my gym (she is a former professional bodybuilder from the 1980s and is in AMAZING shape) told me about the single leg glute bridges. I like them better because I don’t need a weight and if you use a step stool or something you get a larger range of motion!

24

I’d like to say that Cat held up like a champ during her sister’s Superbowl party this past Sunday. It’s amazing, but I think I’m bothered a lot more watching my girl go through this than when I’m doing it to myself.

All in all, she’s doing her thing in spite of the crazy schedule she’s always dealing with. Getting the cardio in, downing all her supps (gotta remind her about that a lot -lol), carrying tupperware every place she goes… ahhhh good times, good times! I did manage to perk her up a bit yesterday when she was surprised by a gift wrapped box of Red Velvet Pop Tarts upon returning from the gym :slight_smile:

S

25

[quote]Thunder Cat wrote:
Laterals are my favorite shoulder exercise!! Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. My hamstrings and glutes are MAJOR weaknesses, and difficult for me to make the mind/muscle connection with those body parts.

I was doing glute bridges a with 100 pound barbell across my stomach, it was really awkward to do. This woman Debbie at my gym (she is a former professional bodybuilder from the 1980s and is in AMAZING shape) told me about the single leg glute bridges. I like them better because I don’t need a weight and if you use a step stool or something you get a larger range of motion!
[/quote]

About BB glute bridges, awkward for sure and they can be a pain to setup. I did some minor nerve damage laying 150 lb BB across my hips and ending up with numbness on one of my thighs for a couple of months. I like this idea better. I’ll try them with a stool. Thanks.

About ham activation - me too. We’re all different, but being quad dominant is a pretty common complaint. Ham and Lat activation are both a constant source of frustration for me.

I was going to add about dieting, I’d assume you might get to be a little heavier for your competition this time. You can keep your fingers crossed. Going from 124 to 103 would be tough. That’s not an ordinary, “I need to loose 20 pounds” on someone with your frame. I’d guess that after your show, your maintenance weight will be somewhere in the 108-112 range. It will be very, very fun to see you progress.

Good for you for going for it, even though life is so busy right now. It will be worth it.

26

First and foremost, red velvet pop tarts are WONDERFUL! I don’t know where Stu found them, but they are so good, probably the most pastry tasting pop tart I’ve had so far.

Constest prep is still chugging along. I’m down 7.5 lbs in 6 weeks and my abs are back!! I had 10 hours of sleep last night, so today I feel pretty great! We got a lot of snow, and it’s kind of nice being limited in what you can do for the day. Since I couldn’t get to the gym to do intervals due to the snowstorm, I walked on the treadmill for an hour, which goes by pretty quickly when reading my Kindle.

The most difficult part about this is trying to still be social while dieting. We went out with my family for a birthday dinner for my dad & sister (their birthdays are a few days apart) at Majors Steakhouse, and it was a low carb day for me. I ended up eating talipia with lemon, it was good… and 1 little calimari ring (which I ate quickly on the sneak while Stu wasn’t looking), of course I told him and he made me feel guilty about it, “when you’re on stage you may think back to that 1 calimari…” It really wasn’t so bad, I had pickles and salad as an appetizer, and felt good about myself - I was able to go out and celebrate while still staying on my diet as best I could.

We also went to my sister’s superbowl party, which was a little more difficult - there was junk food EVERYWHERE (cupcakes, chips & dips, heros, macaroni & potato salad, alcohol, etc). I also had family members asking, “why can’t you just go off your diet today” - it’s weird, because you look okay for “regular person” standards, but for a show I’m nowhere near where I need to be, and it’s tough making people understand you can’t “just go off your diet for a day.”

Once I explain, my family gets it, but I always feell like a weirdo explaining. My sister is the best though, she prepared a specially made grilled chicken salad just for me. My sister & Stu are the 2 most supportive people I have - they push me when I need to be pushed and they help me out when I need a hand.

27

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

[quote]Thunder Cat wrote:
Laterals are my favorite shoulder exercise!! Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. My hamstrings and glutes are MAJOR weaknesses, and difficult for me to make the mind/muscle connection with those body parts.

I was doing glute bridges a with 100 pound barbell across my stomach, it was really awkward to do. This woman Debbie at my gym (she is a former professional bodybuilder from the 1980s and is in AMAZING shape) told me about the single leg glute bridges. I like them better because I don’t need a weight and if you use a step stool or something you get a larger range of motion!
[/quote]

About BB glute bridges, awkward for sure and they can be a pain to setup. I did some minor nerve damage laying 150 lb BB across my hips and ending up with numbness on one of my thighs for a couple of months. I like this idea better. I’ll try them with a stool. Thanks.

About ham activation - me too. We’re all different, but being quad dominant is a pretty common complaint. Ham and Lat activation are both a constant source of frustration for me.

I was going to add about dieting, I’d assume you might get to be a little heavier for your competition this time. You can keep your fingers crossed. Going from 124 to 103 would be tough. That’s not an ordinary, “I need to loose 20 pounds” on someone with your frame. I’d guess that after your show, your maintenance weight will be somewhere in the 108-112 range. It will be very, very fun to see you progress.

Good for you for going for it, even though life is so busy right now. It will be worth it.
[/quote]

Wow, that’s really scary that you had numbness in your thigh, I would have freaked out! I’m glad it went away! I had a squat bar pad around the barbell so it was somwehat cushioned, but still too awkard to setup. I’m really liking the 1 legged glute bridge - the other day someone had the step stool I use, so I just used a bench which worked just as well.

My weight is currently 116.6, which was about where I stared for the last contest… however, my abs are back now, last time my abs didn’t come in until about 111 pounds. My glutes are another story, ugh…

28

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
^I know we’ve got a bunch of the pro photographers pics from the 2011 show, as well as some that Cat’s sister snapped backstage. Just gotta dig a bit for 'em!

I’m also going to try my best and grab shots of Cat doing her thing at the gym, praticing posing, eating, whatever else I can get away with before she gets annoyed and smacks me. :slight_smile:

S[/quote]

Thanks!

Sounds like you are super busy Cat, its nice just even hearing about this second hand
“Stu style”.

Are you also doing weighted BB hip thrusts? Glutes/lower seem to be the last to come for a lot of women, would you say your glutes were better pre 2011 prep or pre this prep? Just curious.
Thanks :slight_smile:

29

[quote]Thunder Cat wrote:
Wow, that’s really scary that you had numbness in your thigh, I would have freaked out! I’m glad it went away! I had a squat bar pad around the barbell so it was somwehat cushioned, but still too awkard to setup. I’m really liking the 1 legged glute bridge - the other day someone had the step stool I use, so I just used a bench which worked just as well.

My weight is currently 116.6, which was about where I stared for the last contest… however, my abs are back now, last time my abs didn’t come in until about 111 pounds. My glutes are another story, ugh… [/quote]

Yep. I had a pad on the bar too, so go figure. Strange.

AMEN about social situations being tricky. When attending a party or even my book group, I sometimes plan to arrive late or leave early to avoid all the munchies.

Hey, it looks like your weight is coming down like it should. That’s a good sign that you are looking more defined through the abs at a bit higher weight than last time.

You mentioned trying to bring your glutes up. You’ve probably seen this video, but if you haven’t it’s a good one.

30

I just watched your 2011 vid on your old log :slight_smile:

What a nice package you had!! That had to be Stu screaming when he realized your fist place win.
Hope everything is moving along nicely.

31

So I haven’t had a chance to update in awhile… had a major project due for my grad class and finally finished it. Training has been going well and weight loss continues at about 1 pound per week. I had to skip a day a the gym last week to work on my project, but made up the workout the following day. I missed about 2 or 3 days of training in about 8 weeks (not bad), so for the most part I’ve been getting to the gym everyday.

@ Up - Thank you! :slight_smile: The day of the contest I felt really good, just finishing a prep knowing I did everything I could made me happy, regardless of placing, I felt proud. To be perfectly honest, my glutes are my weakest body part and looked bad at the beginning of both contest preps. I don’t have a lot of muscle there and although I do squat

32

oops, for some reason the rest of my post didn’t go thru…

I don’t have a lot of muscle there and although I do squats and deadlifts, making that particular mind/muscle connection is difficult for me. Glutes/thighs are also the very first place I gain weight, so they never really look good. I’m hoping a specific day training glutes

33

oops, for some reason the rest of my post didn’t go thru…

I don’t have a lot of muscle there and although I do squats and deadlifts, making that particular mind/muscle connection is difficult for me. Glutes/thighs are also the very first place I gain weight, so they never really look good. I’m hoping a specific day training glutes

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3744×5616 2.97 MB

2011 contest pics

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3744×5616 2.99 MB

2011 contest pic

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3744×5616 3.13 MB

2011 contest

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Thanks for checking in, i was wondering if you were still hanging in there.

It has to feel good to know exactly what to hammer this time around! I cant imagine Stu complaining about poking your glutes to help with engaging that mind muscle connection :wink:
I know you might have mentioned not training directly with Stu…, but i keep envisioning him helping you push out those last few reps, so dont burst my bubble and say this isnt so.

The second day glutes has got to help…, hopefully you enjoy training them, and everything else is on track.

Would you say that your eating is pretty much in line with the last prep diet?

38

[quote]Up wrote:
Thanks for checking in, i was wondering if you were still hanging in there.

It has to feel good to know exactly what to hammer this time around! I cant imagine Stu complaining about poking your glutes to help with engaging that mind muscle connection :wink:
I know you might have mentioned not training directly with Stu…, but i keep envisioning him helping you push out those last few reps, so dont burst my bubble and say this isnt so.

The second day glutes has got to help…, hopefully you enjoy training them, and everything else is on track.

Would you say that your eating is pretty much in line with the last prep diet?

[/quote]

LOL, Stu & I do have fun when we work out together! Although, Stu has a tough time going from “coach” mode to “husband” mode, he’s always worried about my reaction to a comment and then me letting it spill over into real life… occasionally certain comments bother me, but most of the time any constructive criticism makes me work harder. My diet is similar to last contest prep, except my carbs are lower this time around, we realized I’m carb sensitive. My appetite & metabolism have finally kicked in, it’s taken 10 weeks, but I’m finally at the point where I’m hungry and look forward to every meal rather than forcing myself to eat… unfortunately, we may have to lower my calories soon, LOL :slight_smile:

39

I suppose one would have to be made of cast iron to be able to do what you and the people that “compete” do to begin with. Im so hard on myself as it is, let alone getting on stage.

So speaking of diet, what are your thoughts on the saying I seem to be hearing more, “If it fits your macros”, maybe Stu could chime in here?
Not sure if it works during prep but just curious.

40

Cat, the pics from your last contest are inspiring! You should be so proud.

Glad to hear you are still going at it. Eating at a deficit for 10 weeks is no joke. A lot of people have never stuck with a diet that long, much less doing it while training hard. I usually hit the “I’m hungry” point in about 3 weeks, so I’m impressed that it’s taken this long for you to feel it. Keep it up! Looking forward to seeing you as you get closer to goal.

Oh, and I wanted to mention something I just picked up about single leg glute bridges. This will work if your gym isn’t too busy, since you need two benches next to each other. Your upper back rests on one bench. Lay on it sideways, and hold on to the ends of the bench with your hands. The arch of one foot goes on the edge of the other bench, with the other leg up. Now you can get a nice full stretch at the bottom of each rep, dropping your booty below bench level then bridge up.