blog
Welcome to my blog. Thanks for being here.
I like to write a lot. Mostly about powerlifting, strength training, body image + women in sport. They’re kinda my things.
If you ever have questions or want to learn more, please reach out. I would love to hear from you.
Billie x
What Living On The Other Side of The World From My Brick and Mortar Business Has Taught Me About Business.
I’ve spoken reasonably openly about how much work was involved in setting up TSF for us to be able to step out for a year. It’s no exaggeration when I say it took us all of 2022. Now I’m not dumb and I’m not completely ignorant, but nothing could have prepared me for how hard I found those initial months away from TSF. I knew this year would be a huge year of growth, but I didn’t quite anticipate the growth I’d move through as a business owner, and as an employer too which is still a reasonably new role for me. So here’s a couple of key lessons in business that have been pretty fucking life changing for me this year.
Should I Cut Weight For My First Competition?
Anytime anyone considers their first powerlifting competition one of the questions they are most plagued with early on is which weight class to enter. At a local level (which is what your first competition will be), the weight class you register for literally does not matter. IE, if I register for the 67.5kg weight class, but on the day I weigh in at 68.0kg, it bears no implication. I will simply be entered in to the weight class above (75kg).
But Billie, won’t you be less competitive in that weight class? Well yeah, but also, not important. Or at least, this is much less important than a stack of other factors that I consider in the context of a first competition.
So should I cut weight for my first competition? My answer to this question will almost always be no. Here’s why.
What I’ve Learned and How I’ve Grown in 10 Years in the Fitness Industry
I completed my fitness certs in 2012. That’s 10 years ago. I remember back then reading the Fitness First personal trainer bios: “10 years industry experience” and thinking “man this guy is a veteran”. lol.
My career has evolved a lot in that time. As I’ve chased curiosities and interests; my work has reflected that. I’ve learned a lot in my time in fitness and I feel my biggest challenges and lessons are only coming now.
10 years in, I still have a very fulfilling career in a pretty brutal industry, I am still learning and I am still having fun. I think there’s something in that worth sharing. So here goes — lessons I’ve learned and lessons I’m still learning in my 10 years in the fitness industry.
What it’s taken to spend a year abroad.
We started assembling the pieces of the “year in Spain” puzzle in January of this year. Setting our lives up to permit us to step away for a year has been so hard.
I wanted to write this primarily for my own reflections. I’ve stared down unreasonably long to-do lists every day for the last eleven months. It’s easy to never look back and see that you’ve actually completed each item on them, so I did want to do that for myself. Secondly though, I love hearing insights from other business owners, the behind the scenes stuff that is rarely shared. I suspect that someone will enjoy or get something out of this, so why not make it public.
So here goes, what we’ve done in 2022 to permit us to spend 2023 in España.
How To Get The Most Out Of A Coach
The relationship between coach and client can be a pretty damn special one. I’m fortunate to work with some damn wonderful people among my team with whom I have really beautiful connections and achieve some pretty awesome outcomes. I also have a wonderful relationship with my own coach. He is a great friend to me and has and continues to play a huge role in shuttling me towards my own goals. But none of this has happened by accident or without significant effort from both parties. It takes a lot from both coach and client to move towards the desired outcome in a way that is enjoyable and at a rate that is deemed acceptable.
Which raises the question — as a client, how do you get the most out of a coach?
Post-Competition Reflection
Despite that fact that I compete in powerlifting very recreationally, I do take my preparation and performance quite (very) seriously. I really love powerlifting as an avenue of self improvement. While the objective goal is more weight on the bar, to me the more meaningful goal is becoming a better person in the pursuit of that — and that comes from self reflection and holding myself to a consistently high standard.
After each comp, I send my coach a debrief on everything I thought I did well, could do better, what went well, ideas I have, things I want to do for fun, etc. It’s positive for me personally in getting some closure on the day and identifying areas and means for improvement, but it also gives coachy guidance too. He knows where I want to go, what I’m willing and not willing to do to get there and demonstrates that I want to collaborate with him.
In this article I share here how I personally reflect on my competition preparation and performance in the hope that it may prompt some thought in you on how to get more out of your training and competition experiences.
Dealing with Your Self
I recently has the pleasure of co-writing an article with my own coach Lyndon Purcell over at his online space ThereforeThink. We spoke about a broad range of topics from self-acceptance to self-love, the ego, how self-acceptance and personal development relate and what we think would make a personal unaccceptable. I really enjoyed writing this piece. You can read it over at ThereforeThink.
Body Image Distortions
A negative body image is often accompanied by substantial negative self talk. Most of our self talk is completely irrational, which we can notice if we take a step back and break it down. The problem is that we get so emotionally involved with our appearance that it can be hard to take that step back. Instead, we make these wild mental mistakes that steer our self talk down dark and dangerous paths. The good news is though that we can turn our self talk around by recognising and eliminating these destructive mental mistakes as we make them.
Moral Licensing - Why Telling Yourself You've Been Good Is F*cking You Up
Anything you moralise is fair game for moral licensing. So when you refer to your diet as good or praise yourself for being good because you’ve consistently hit the gym, you are fair game for moral licensing. If your diet has been good, you’re entitled to a little bad. And if you’ve been good with the gym, baby girl, you deserve a day off. But isn’t this just balance you say? Hear me out.
How to Warm Up for Barbell Training
There aren’t really any hard rules when it comes to warming up for barbell training, which is why it can be hard to understand at times. There are however considerations and guiding principles which can help you to make better decisions when it comes to warming up and improving your preparedness for the session ahead.
So You're Thinking of Entering a Powerlifting Competition?
I never set out to coach powerlifting. I just love training with a barbell and I share that with my team. But naturally, training in a powerlifting gym, watching powerlifting competitions and generally being surrounded by the sport, you start to get curious. And now, a number of my team are getting ready for the competition debuts.
They have a lot of questions though. A powerlifting competition is not the same as maxing out in the gym. Powerlifting is a sport and has rules that govern it. What are the rules? What do I need to wear? How much does it cost? What does the belt do? What’s with the suit?
This is not a comprehensive guide, nor is it designed to replace the role of your coach in educating you on how to prepare and what to expect. Rather, my hope is that this article will give you a little more insight in to how competitions run, and some things to consider in preparation.
![Tracking Your Macros [Accurately]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62fb3bfe41f3053b73c1217e/1662630792313-VPYP9UB6QAZA2TSP502D/image-asset.jpeg)
Tracking Your Macros [Accurately]
Macro tracking is not the be all end all holy grail of weight management. But it is a really powerful tool when used correctly. When being mindful about the data you enter, you are able to develop quite a thorough understanding of the nutritional value of the various foods that you eat. This practiced over a period of time will enable you to make informed food choices for the rest of your life, long after you stop using the app.
If you are relatively new to tracking your macros or have never really been shown how to use a macro tracking app such as MyFitnessPal effectively, the following article will provide you with some helpful practices that you can apply right away to improve the accuracy of your tracked data and ultimately your success with any nutrition intervention going forward.