It’s the final countdown with IFBB Figure Pro Erin Stern as she heads into Columbus. We’re just days away from the 2010 Figure International. A new champion will be crowned, might it be Erin Stern?

I finished up the last of my heavier weight workouts today..with less than a week to go, it’s time to cut carbs and start some high-rep burnout workouts. I’d rather go through the toughest leg workout, or do 200M repeats on the track than these depletion workouts…but it’s all about gutting it out now! I haven’t started packing for the trip yet, or done any cooking. These things are best done when in a diet-induced, zombie-like state, right??

This week I realized (again) that no one can prepare for a show alone – we need feedback, reassurance, and support. I’m good with doing my own workouts and diet…but the finer details…not so much! My parents’ neighbors, have volunteered to help me with posing and presentation. They helped me get ready for NPC Nationals..and it has been a while since they had seen me pose. “She’s walking like a football player again,” I heard Chuck say. Oh boy, we have some work to do. Even though I have developed my alter ego, Egylo, she hasn’t really made her way from my imagination to practical application! After a few sessions, I’m feeling much better about my stage presence.

I have been experimenting with my stage make-up, and I probably should do this at night…when I’m not leaving the house. Instead, I wake up, and paint up my eyes…you know, to try it out. Maybe this is part of the dieting, to try and keep my mind off of cutting calories? Whatever the reason, I’m pretty sure I’m scaring the people at my local gym. I forget that I’m all painted up, and I go in for my weight workouts – I am getting leaner, and now…I look like a vampire. Fantastic.

This week I’m also reminded that I’ll get feedback from good and bad sources. It’s up to me to choose what information I keep in my head. Dieting makes dealing with things more difficult…if I let it! I decided to write down something else in case I get forgetful (again) – the main reason why I compete – because it makes me happy.

The last two weeks of contest prep are the toughest…mentally and physically. I cut calories this week, and my brain feels fuzzy. I’ve been writing down tasks, so I don’t forget..and I’m feeling tired. The weight workouts have been mostly super-sets for upper body, though I’m still doing a heavy leg day and a functional lifting/plyo/power leg day. I am working toward maintaining more size in my legs..and yes, fighting the urge to roll out of bed to do steady-state cardio for 45 minutes on an empty stomach. I have been eating a small meal, like a shake and a few rice cakes, then heading to the track, a field, or running stadiums in the mornings. With the two-a-days and dropping a few pounds, I’m not as strong in the weight room…and I feel like a wuss (even if I am starting to look shredded)!

With training seemingly in check, I thought it would be smooth sailing until the show – wishful thinking! I’m 5 egg whites away from just flipping my head upside-down and “Aqua Netting” the crap out of it on competition day! I have scoured every beauty supply place in town for hair extensions, barrettes, or some way to style my hair, and nada…no luck. I spent an hour and a half in one store, going outside with “the hair” and a mirror to see if I could find something that matched. The girl behind the counter held up a weave and said, “no problem, this is the color for you..all you have to do is sew it in.” Seriously? Where’s my can of Aqua Net? It shouldn’t be this difficult!

I received my suits in the mail on Saturday…I eagerly ripped into the package and…they’re gorgeous! After the hair fiasco, I breathe a sigh of relief. The two piece fits like a glove. The one piece (panic attack in 3…2…1) is too small!!!! On the verge of tears, I email the girl who makes the suits and we’re trying to figure out what to do. She reassures me it’s going to be ok, and that she has time to fix it. The rational non-dieting person in me believes her…but the dieter in me is freaking out. It’s crazy how calorie-cutting can create life or death situations out of minor issues. It’s going to be an interesting week…

IFBB Figure Pro Erin Stern checks in once again with her Coundown to C-bus. Erin’s a few weeks out from her second trip to the Fitness International in Columbus.

I tell myself I probably shouldn’t be stepping on the scale – but I walk into the locker room…and there it stands, beckoning me to step on. And, like most girls, my mood can swing either way by pushing that little slider. It hasn’t budged in a few days…great. My workouts have been intense, I started super-sets to keep my heart rate up in the weight room, and the hill, track, and field workouts have kept my muscles full. I am doing one to two long duration cardio days (around 45 minutes), to give my legs a little bit of a recovery. The progress pictures and the measuring tape confirm my progress… so why am I so stuck on the number on the scale?

Thankfully, I didn’t chain myself to the treadmill (which was my first response to the number on the scale). Few things in training are a complete mystery – later that night I got out of my funk and realized that I had done legs the day before. I’ll hold a pound or two of water after a hard leg day. I think about my meals: canned tuna, egg whites…Sriracha sauce..ummm..sodium! Although I don’t have a written workout or meal plan, every day I follow my calories in vs. calories expended, make sure I’m getting enough quality sleep, and structuring my workouts to where I’m able to continue to shape the muscles and get leaner.

My posing is getting better, and I’m visualizing myself on stage – every step, every turn, the suit, hair, and the makeup. For a shy girl, I’ve heard it can be good to create a stage persona. Beyonce is “Sasha” on stage – she is glamorous, sexy, and full of attitude. I’ve been working on my “Egylo” (Eej-Lo); a nickname my sister gave to me when I dyed my hair darker and discovered eyebrow shading… she said I look like an “Egyptian Jennifer Lopez.” After much giggling over the nickname, we decided it would be the perfect stage persona. Egylo saunters in the yoga room, flashes a confident smile, and nails the poses…she’s getting good!

Another week has past and IFBB Figure Pro Erin Stern shares her second part in the Countdown to C-bus.

It just isn’t enough – the extra hours in the weight room, early morning cardio, or even the weeks of dieting. It isn’t enough to win a show. Often times in figure, we talk about bringing “the total package” to a show. Going into my second year of competing, I now realize that the total package is made up of more than just the physical appearance. It is stage presence, confidence, posing the body in the most flattering way and making the presentation look comfortable and natural.

Let’s face it, we all train to win. No matter what a competitor says, she doesn’t enter a show in hopes of 10th place. But… do we all go into the show believing that we will win? Do we lie in bed at night, visualizing the trophy presentation – down to the last detail?

Last year, I couldn’t see it. I didn’t believe that I would win, or that I could win. I had no stage presence. In looking at some of the pictures, my smile is strained and I look a little frightened. Track and field prepared me for grueling workouts, taught me to love the discipline, and how to shape my body…but, it taught me nothing about strutting on the stage in heels. So, for the next month, I am working on conditioning myself mentally for the show…bringing that “total package.”

I realize that our sport is subjective, and as competitors, the final outcome is out of our hands. But when you give something 100% – with body, heart, mind, and soul – how can you lose?