On a Positive Note

When I wake up in the morning, I enjoy reading a quote or two before starting my day. I went and chose a few quotes that I would like to share with you. These are some of the few that inspire me in my everyday life.

"The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur." -- Vince Lombardi

“What does not kill me makes me stronger.” --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil." --James Allen

I am a very lucky individual/athlete. God has blessed me with great genetics and has created a path for me to follow. This path is bodybuilding. It grew on me over time. When I was younger there where times when I wanted to stop, but I didn't as I loved what I do and would not trade it for anything in the universe. Its a blessing to have the genetics that I have. Of course I am a baby in this sport and still have some muscle maturity to gain. But that comes in time. Each year my body gets better and better. I work very hard at trying to perfect my body at its full potential. My goal is to come in as a heavyweight with a total package. Mass with class....lol.

Unfortunately I am choosing not to do Nationals. I made this decision a few weeks ago. Its not in my best interest right now. Or I should say its not what I want. What I want is USAs in 2008. This is what has been on my mind. I cant tell you how confident I feel about this show. There's 7 months to go. I start my diet next week. I had a great conversation with Tim Gardner the other day who is very dear friend, Dad like Figure and Coach. We talked for a good hour and half on this decision and what can and will be mine next year. I also had a wonderful conversation with the greatest Historian of the sport Steve Wennerstrom, who is getting a recognition award in Dallas. He has been covering female bodybuilding for 30 years. WOW! Anyway, i am blessed to have the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people.

On my goals as you know last year I weighed 134 lbs at the North American. This year I gained so much size it was crazy. I think if I would have done what I had originally planned to do the USAs I would have weighed in between 155-160. Next year, I will be totally awesome, and competing as a heavyweight where I belong. I love my muscle too much and will not sacrifice it to drop down a class. LOL

I know the potential I have when I step on stage. Lets just say next year I will be one to watch, as I am bringing the best I can. I know that their will be doubters and that's fine. I am doing this for me and not for them. People will always talk. So let them. LOL. It makes my work more fun. No worries on my part. I have a mountain of positive energy on my shoulders. I will be happy to share my positive sunshine rays. :)

“In life you can never be too kind or too fair; everyone you meet is carrying a heavy load. When you go through your day expressing kindness and courtesy to all you meet, you leave behind a feeling of warmth and good cheer, and you help alleviate the burdens everyone is struggling with.” -- Brian Tracy

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." -- John Ruskin

"Everything I need to know is revealed to me. Everything I need comes to me. All is well in my life." -- Louise Hay

Lastly, God has blessed me with a great friends and fans who have supported me in whatever I do. God bless you guys. As you have stood by me through thick and thin.

I will be back on Cam in my off season state as of tomorrow on herbiceps and Ft video.
SO be around for that. I will give you guys an update on my weight in a few days. But I did enjoy my Birthday finally. Yesterday I went to Bahama Breeze and had the Dulce De Leche Cheesecake which is off the charts. :) I was a very happy camper.

Next week I will be in St. Augustine for the All South. Which is the last National Qualifier in Florida. After Thanksgiving I will be doing some traveling. New York In December. I will be attending several Pro shows next year. And of course I am going to the Arnold Classic. But anyway I will keep you posted.

Updates.......
I am going tot be doing some lifting/training video clips for members and of course for You Tube. :)

I will be sure to keep you posted next few days. Oh and i do have good news as we are in the process of moving the gym to a bigger location. We are getting way too many clients, and its time to move forward. WE have a location in mind that in a great area where there is alot of good traffic, and they are building a huge Super Target right across the street.

Anyway, time for me to go and have a fillet Mignon and some mashed potatoes loaded of course :)

Love you guys

Ladies in the Industry Beware of this photogragher

Here is an email I received today. It was in my spam folder so go figure. Anyway, apparently the guy claims to have done work for Bill Dobbins and it is false as I know Bill personally and asked him about the guy. When I first read this email I immediately thought this guy was just trying to to lure girls in however he can .

So please beware of this guy, or any person for that matter that makes false claims.

Here is the email

Hi, I am Robert Kershner professional photographer, I’ve been into fine art photography for years
but lately I am focused in female fitness and bodybuilder photos.
I made some woks for ftvideo, oxygenmag, ironmagazine and some unpublished shoots for Bill Dobbins.
And because of the high demand I am always needed of models.
I see that you are into muscle stuff and maybe you are interested in some shoot.
Hope you write me back.
and don't forget to visit my site:
RobKershner.photo
Regards.
Rob K.

AHH my butt and legs are sore

My body is very sore especially my legs as last night I took my little sister and her friend ice skating. I haven't been ice skating since I was 11. It was so fun. I only fell once..haha. My sister fell about 9 times. Now her friend Lexi was a pro skating and she is 10.It was so nice to get out and enjoy myself as I have been very busy, and have had no time for fun. Now I am going to sign up for some ice skating lessons. LOL. I really had fun. Now I need to video tape me ice skating. Maybe I might go back tonight.

Tomorrow I am going to Universals Halloween Horror Nights. http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/ I may be a little pussy cat going to this place tomorrow as they really know how to scare the crap out of you. Oh yeah Leather face from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre will be there, and he freaks me out...BAD! I remember watching the older versions of the movie and I would have horrible nightmares where i wake up screaming. Gives me the willies thinking about it. I am going with my sister, so we will both be scared out of our minds. haha. Well actually I probably wont be that scared as I am a HUGE horror film fan. I am a huge fan or gory. I used to collect Fangoria. Which is a horror magazine. One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. The last horror film I saw was Wrong Turn 2 which was better than the first one Wrong Turn. I also saw Dead End which was okay but not my cup of tea. I am waiting on Hostel 2 as I havent seen that yet.

Training has been awesome.You can make alot alot of gains if you focus and concentrate on feeling the muscle. Some people fail to do this, and wonder why they dont get results. Form is also very important. You have some people who try to lift heavy wait WITHOUT A SPOTTER, which is a big no no as you never know what can happen. So to be safe always have someone close by. Anyway yesterday I was watching this KID do a heavy bench with no spotter and he was barely and I mean barely getting the weight up the bar looked like it was about to flip over based on his imporper form. I got scared for he guy as I have seen some nasty injures from benching. Luckily he got 3 painful reps out and stopped. Another thing to keep in mind is always wear a training belt especially if your doing squats, dead lifts, etc. You want to protect your back at all times.

Anyway, I have been trying some new techniques and it seems to be working. I am looking forward to Nationals. I just want to compete as it is fun for me and I love what I do. Cardio has been fun as I have been watching movies. One I liked the most is the Transformers. Ever since I was a kid I loved watching Transformers, Voltron, He-man, Thunder Cats, etc. I used to build tree houses and climb trees. So I guess you can say I was a bit of a tom boy. LOL. Now I am just super girlie with a lot of muscle. LOL I collected the transformer toys too, and I always loved Optimus Prime. Micheal Bay did an awesome job with the movie. I loved the Camero, and now I have my eyes on one of these babies as it would make a sweet ride. Nothing like a muscle girl in a sup up muscle car.

Okay I am on my way to the gym. Pray for me LOL.

Before I forget I want to say thank you to everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes as I have had lots of friends and fans send me wishes. It is so thoughtful and sweet!

"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are." -unknown

"This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life." -unknown

Nothing like Family

I wanted to share some great news! A while back I had mentioned my aunt and that she was sick. This bothered me very much at the time as what she had was HIV that turned into A.I.D.S. My grandmother went to NY and brought her back home around a year ago. When she arrived here in Orlando, she weighed 98lbs and her t-cell count was 05. At the time, she had lost hope, didnt take her medication, and just didnt care about herself anymore. Things changed as she realized she had people that cared very much for her and her well being. She started going to church and praying to God asking him to give her the strength to be strong through this tough challenge and to have faith that everything will be okay. Her regained her faith and confidence and started believing in herself. I recently found out that she is doing very well. She got back on her medication, her weight is currently 154 lbs and before it was 98 lbs, and her t-cell count is now 162 where a few months ago it was 85 and before that it was 5. I am so proud of her and I thank God for everything he has done.

Before I go I want to share some pictures of some people who are a very big part of my life. I never really talk about my family. Here are some pictures of me and sister Erica. She is 13, and we are so much alike in many way. I love her very much. Also in the pictures is my grandmother who means alot to me. I was not raised by my mother but by my grandmother. At the time my mom was not able to take care of me as she had some personal issues going on. I was lucky to have my grandmother take me under her wing. WE have had our disagreements here and there, but she has always been there for me through thick and thin. She is my best friend and I love her with all my heart. She is raising my sister Erica too.

Thank You Sherry Smith

I wanted to share a picture of me and IFBB Pro Sherry Smith. I happy to call her a friend. She is so funny, and sweet. If your in OKC be sure to check out her store the Supplement Shack! SHe has a huge selection of proteins and supplements. I am happy to say that Sherry and Carrie will be helping me out in Dallas with my girly things lol.

Posing with Joey In OKC

I didnt know what was in store for me. Its amazing the big differences he made in my physique. Joey is also choreographing my routine for Nationals as well. Joey has a real gift and is very talented at what he does. He has helped many female bodybuilders, and I now right now He is helping his main squeeze Britt Miller and myself. If any of you girls are interested, Joey works with Bodybuilders, Figure and Fitness. He is very good at what he does, and has a great eye for making your presentation top notch.Joey goes over all mandatories, free posing, routines, adjustmets along the way, posing conditioning (which many people neglect), and he can also do your color/coat if desired as he has become quite the picaso with that as well lol. If you want to email him you can at perfectfit2u@yahoo.com You will be very impressed!

Got Muscle?

Here are some great pictures of IFBB Pros Sherry Smith and Carrie Ledford-Baldwin along with the great Britt Miller.

Day One OKC

Oct 1 day one
I arrived to Body Tech, and immediately feel in love. What an amazing training facility. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Didn’t know which piece I wanted to try first. Howard has lots of unique pieces. By far it’s a bodybuilder’s dream gym. In Orlando, we have the big name gyms like Gold’s, Bally’s, La fitness, but they are not bodybuilder friendly. Now I see why everyone says the people at Body Tech are like family. Everyone is so friendly and polite. Again in Orlando, and a lot of places I have been to, people tend to give me the death look. LOL. I just put the hater blockers on and do my thing. I am so in love with the gym haha. I think I might move here J
Now when I made my way to the back of the gym where Howard has this huge juice bar set up. There was a girl in a sports bra and posing bottoms. She looked like she was ready to step on stage today! She turned around and it was Britt Miller. What a beautiful girl and what a body. I am not going to give away too much but WOW, I am inspired. I feel so fat around her ha-ha. Britt Miller is bringing her A game. Way to go Britt!!!!!!!!!!!!
I finally got the opportunity to meet IFBB PRO Carrie Ledford Baldwin. Her website is http://www.okfiregirlz.com/ . She walked in with her gallon of Sugar Free tang and her “save the drama for your mama” t-shirt, and Victoria Secret “Just Pink” sweats. It was great to finally meet her as we have chatted online several times. I just found out she is Native American Indian which explain her beautiful features and terrific genetics. We chatted for a little and then it was onward to train ***drum roll*** “LEGS”! I can’t tell you how excited and thrilled I was after a very long day at the airport and then having very little food to eat…lol. I thought I was going to get a break. Was I wrong…ha-ha! So Big Daddy H took me through the workout. I am not going to go through too much detail as some of you already know and some of you just have to come down to OKC and see what training is really about. Ha-ha. I was not a happy camper as I could not move my legs AT ALL. During my exercises I saw flashes go off, and I thought the workout was playing with my head. Well it was Carrie taking surprise shots of me with my game/pissy face on! I was in sooooo much pain! I told Howard I had to puke a couple of times and we still kept on training. LOL. Well it finally happened I had to run to the bathroom and puke my brains out! Never have I done that before. Carrie was awesome as she stood by and talked to me about the training and made jokes. She was also helping unload the weight which was very sweet. Well she had told me her best friend and fellow firefighter IFBB Pro Sherry Smith was coming by the gym Tuesday. I was very excited t meet her. We did the North Americans last year where she won her pro card and looked absolutely beautiful and flawless. If you haven’t seen her website check it out because the design is awesome. http://www.sherrysmith-fbb.com/
Before I left the gym on my first day, I had to do my posing with the posing artist and Britt’s main man Joey. I was a bit scared to see what he was going to say about my posing as I know it needs a lot of polishing. Well he looked at me and made some adjustments, and what a big improvement. He made my physique pop out even more. It’s amazing what you can do with a little hand positioning and feet placement. Now I know why is known as the best posing master.

Waiting here in Houston till I board for OKC

Wow!! So I had a awesome morning >:(
My flight was to leave at 7:20 am. I got to the airport at 5:30am. I walked up to the ticket counter gave the lady my confirmation #, id, etc. Well, she tells me that I need my buddy pass. I am like HUH???. Apparently it was the pass that my friend gave me to fly. I also needed to bring it with me the day of flight/check in. I wish she would have told me that in advanced. I got annoyed as I hate it when things don't go as planned. I looked around for other flights which where about 700.00 a ticket. I didn't care paying that as this is something that is for my best interest. But something told me to be patient. I missed my flight and the other option was to go on the 10 am flight and not get into OKC till 3pm. The other problem was my food. I didn't bring much with me as I had planned to be in OKC around 10 45 am. Now I don't get there till 3pm. SO I have to try and survive haha. Lets say I feel really great, especially only getting 3 hours of sleep haha. Security was fun too. AS many times as I fly I don't have problems..today I did. lol. The TSA guy looks at my ticket and says to me "you have been randomly selected". For a minute I thought he was going to say "you have won a million dollars" and of course the balloons, and confetti will shower down, etc. In my dreams lol.
So I get searched, and my bags get searched. I took my jacket off and i am wearing a short tee shirt. So then all eyes pop. the TSA guy that was searching my bags was very nice and made me feel better as we talked about the Olympia and the placings. You know I cried when Ronnie was talking and everyone was going nuts. I am a huge fan of Ronnie as he has come a long way and made the impossible possible. God bless him. I also cried when Joe Weider came out with his wife Betty. He is sooo sweet. I'd give anything to turn back the clock and body build in that era just to be around him and people like Joe Gold. Sorry I just had to say that real quick.
So anyways,I found some good protein sources like eggs and chicken breast. I wasn't going to let my muscles starve. Its bad enough i was sick for a week lol. SO 10 am i get on the plane and go all the way to the back as in Southwest your not assigned seats and you can choose where to sit. I'm in a great seat, and then this lady sits next to me. Okay I have no problem with that. But she then had this huge cooler which she tried to get under the seat and obviously it was too big. Then she complained about it. In my mind I wanted to blow my top, I was cool and made a joke with her about it. So then she puts a whole ton of her stuff in the middle seat. I got mad but still kept my cool. I passed out and woke up later on. Then i saw the flight attendee walking around passing out drinks. So I was hungry and got my chicken breast I had bought at the airport. It was horrible. haha :P Okay so the lady next to me starts talking to me. She asks me if she can have my crackers and peanuts. I was like I'm sorry what did you say...lol. I have been passed out, and have no idea about crackers and peanuts. She then looked down and I saw in the middle seat peanuts and crackers next to all her bags of food. I said you can have it. Man, she grabbed that bag of crackers so fast. haha. I thought that was funny, as she had all these other foods she was eating. I thought I was hungry.
Well anyway, I am here in Houston and will leave shortly for OKC. Right now I could been training already and getting my ass kicked around.haha. Good things come to those who wait. ;) I just cant wait to get to OKC