Day After The Show

Dear Fans,

I am all boggled up inside this morning. I went out to the Cheese Cake Factory for the after dinner. I had the tex mex egg roll for appetizer and the chicken & Biscuit dinner, and 2 large diet cokes. I stopped before I exploded... I learn this by past experience believe me. Couldn't leave with out at piece of cheese cake. I took the peanut butter rippled cheese cake, and ate almost all of it. Got to bed @1:40 am and began to toss and turn @ 4:30 a combination of a huge mass of food in my stomach and a mind and heart full of uncomfortable feelings. All of this has left me in the hotel lobby @ 5:30 am coffee, ipod, and you my sounding board.

I'm not really sure where to start, or even what is REALLY bothering me. I guess I will start with the show and work back through this... I must say I was surprised with the turn out of the show. The main and influential aspect is that no one would ever think Sarah would weigh in at 134 lbs. I haven't seen any pix yet, but understand the differences in mine and her physique.

Really all the judges could tell me is that I was perfect, could have done nothing else, that I was just out muscled, which becomes just an ego smasher when it starts boiling down to my legs. I told myself that I needed one more year on my legs, even before the show. Now understand I have been focusing on my legs since the 2004 Nationals, after placing fourth in a class of Quad Monsters. So to hear that your legs need to be bigger is like pouring alcohol on an open wound. I have always said I wanted quads that made you cry when you looked at them. Cry because of all the hard work they took to build and maintain. BETTY V quads. I guess this was just the realization that I still have work to do.

I am very happy for Sarah. She deserves it as much as I do..Her birthday is Monday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL. Now the second thing bothering me is that honestly...I am disappointed in my unsportswomanly post show conduct. If my body language didn't speak for me then believe me the thoughts in my head were burning holes. I have to realize that I am human also and in the heat of the moment emotions are difficult to control, especially after what I have been through. I am speaking specifically about my post contest interview with Muscular Development and Dave Palumbo where I had not much good to say. Dave is my nutritionist and I didn't represent myself as well as I would have liked as one of his athletes. SORRY DAVE...I appreciate your help and friendship. You/We did a wonderful job. All of this has been a great learning experience for me, 20/20 hindsight of course. All of these experiences will help mold me into a better person and hopefully teach me how to handle something like this better next time.

OK, now for the 3rd thing bothering me. My options now....I had planned to do the Europa Supershow August 10th in Dallas but with the Jan Tana opportunity and the hopes of placing high enough for an Olympia qualification, I started planning extra things in July, not with a contest in mind. Hopefully having qualified I would just work the booth for MHP and train for Ms. O. I have one guest posing here locally NPC Caveman classic July 28th and I judge the Kansas City show Jun3 30th. There go two weekends in July. My mother's 60th birthday is July 12th and I haven't been home to Florida for 5 years. I said I would surprise my mom and show up for her birthday, if I qualified and was not in contest mode. Now seven weeks from the Europa and the increased pressure now of this being my last chance to get my O qualification and having to place first 1st to go is going to require an immediate change of focus. The judges told me I was right on in presentation and flawless condition....just smaller than the winner. Okay, in seven weeks I cannot make the SIZE improvements. It brings tears to my eyes to be told your size is still not big enough, so all I can do is try to dial in the same condition or better and fix a suit problem I had in the evening. I didn't glue down my and I hear it was totally wedged up my butt.

Now, looking ahead positively...that will then leave 7 more weeks of dieting for the Ms. O on September 29th equalling a 30 week diet in total. More than half a year. and then it gives me 5 months to make the physique changes and get the invite to the 2008 Arnold..If they have a lightweight class I know I will make waves. However, all of this physical and mental stress that is surrounding me also effects the next issue...my Chiropractic practice....that which pays my bills and puts food on the table. LOL..My productivity really goes down when I am preparing for a show..Thank god for my members and HERBICEPS webcam or I would weigh like 100 lbs on stage..LOL..Anyway I stop taking new patients, get too tired to work so I cut down to three day weeks and plainly just close down and shut off. I can only do so much. I will NOT do anything half-assed. I do it the best I can or not at all. My Mom says I get that from my DAD. Putting all of this into perspective, it comes down to my heart and soul and what I really want out of this journey. We will have to discuss that when I can rationalize my thoughts and answer that question. Until then here are my thoughts....When I planned my season for 2007 the Jan Tana was not scheduled I planned to hit the Europa first anyway. I placed 2nd there in an open class and took a wonderful ROOKIE trip to the Olympia. I will fulfill, all my commitments on my Events calendar.

For the rest of this weekend and week...I have an 11am photoshoot with muscleangels.com and then plan to have lunch with my great friend Tony and see him off to the airport. I then shift gears to a bit of a play mode. I will shoot back to Fort Lee, NJ where I will stay with my manager, Joel Goldberg and get my tour of NEW YORK FOOD STYLE this time..LOL. Monday I have a long shoot with Women's Physique World so look out for that to come.

Wow! I feel much better and more clear..Thank you for listening!!! My manager is also a numbers guy so his comment was "If you really want something to bitch about, bitch about the fact that you were closer to 3rd than 1st. Sarah had 1's across the board every round. He is also a mean bastard so his next comment was " If you are looking for sympathy, you will find it in the dictionary between shit and syphillis!!!!!" I guess that is saying something.

I am in a good place surrounded by people who love me..What more could I ask for? ...To be #1?? to many I already am... THANK YOU!!

Still Your IFBB pro

Dr. Dena

Friday Night Before Show

Dear Fans,

Well here it is Friday night. i WAS TOLD WE were going to have an early weigh in tonight, but that is not the case. i will not be weighed until like 1:00pm tomorrow. I'm @137 this evening, so I am sure to make weight by tomorrow. I'm dehydrating right now, which is my least favorite part. It sucks sitting around not being able to drink. I look really good and tight. I felt a little more striated before I started to fat load..., but we'll see.I have all night to lose water and tighten up even more. I'm a Little out of energy, but it's expected. I feel great overall. the weather is wonderful. Cool and breezy.. It's really nice here. I'm excited to be here and looking forward to have a good time. I will be spending a few extra days to enjoy the town and EATS!! This a pix we took at the room. Hope you like. Keep up the support.

Your Pro,

Dr.Dena

Week of 2007 Jan Tana

Dear Fans,

First I must say that I think the aliens are coming.. My computer has lot its mind. My windows XP shuts down all the time. I've talked with others who say the same thing. What about you??? Anyway, it just makes things more difficult to get done. See I have 2 speeds.. super fast and dead!! lol. I hate to be slowed down.. it makes me feel like a turtle on its back. Well, I have an extremely busy week planned. Today is Monday and I just got off the phone with my hair girl Becky. I'm going to her at 10:30 am to get my hair looked at. She just did it a couple of weeks ago for my shoot with Barry, but she wants to look it over and see what she can touch up. It's all the behind the scenes people that help makes this work too. I have soo many people helping me right now, and I appreciate everyone of you. I'm shooting video of some of the prep, so you can truly appreciate it. Gary T. did gym video all weekend of me, and today starts the GIRLY STUFF. Wendi and Patty are coming over at 9:00 pm. one will help me shave the annoying little blonde ( thank god) hairs I can't reach. You can't really see them, but they do glisten in the light and can cloud definition... we don't want that. This is a new step for me.. I hope I don't break out like a teenager!!!lol. Ok , so one of them will shave the other will record. It should be fun. All of this is new stuff coming out on the site. Oh and I'll prob get my nails done today too. On top of that, 2 hr of cardio ( (2) 1 hr sessions), 2 posing sessions, and abs, start packing, make a Sams run, and see a couple of patients.. I'm finished training at the gym.. or weight training. Now I have to unwind and relax, let my body rest. Tuesday morning will be my last cardio session. Making today and 2morrow my 2 last days to burn fat. After cardio on Tuesday I will meet Wendi @ the gym and she will apply my first coat of paint, and we will record this. It will be fun. She has gotten AWESOME @ my color. Just look @ it in the pix I posted. A canvas from Wendi..lol.. anyway she can apply a great coat in 20 minutes.. which makes things a lot easier on me not having to stand in strange positions for a long period. I am still using the Jan Tana product ans liking it. After that I have a couple of patients to see and plan to get what ever little details together, finish packing and going through my don't forget list I have made up. Tuesday evening, Back to the gym for another coat of color. I usually wouldn't Begin my color this early.. but I have a shoot on Wednesday afternoon with http://www.johnstutz.com/ so my color has to be right. SO there ya go.. I guess I gave Wednesday away already.. I'll be shooting in the afternoon, and preparing myself in the morning. Possibly Wendi can video my makeup and hair process. We'll see... I don't like taking up every ones time. Wednesday night I plan to cook up all my food. and have it ready to be packed up and put in the cooler and out the door. My flight leaves Thursday morning 11:20 am. I'll be New York bound by 7:30 pm.

Today... I jumped on the scale @ 140.4?? I was 137.4 yesterday morning. I'm just hanging around there. I figure with these next 2 days of cardio really focus on burning fat.. and maybe cut back to 1 bowl of ice cream at night instead of 2. I think this will do the job. I've been really hydrating also, so that will make me a little heavy. I do have a standby hair appointment with the local salon in case we need to shave my head to make weight!!! I think I'll make it. I feel great, look amazing, I really couldn't ask for more. I've made incredible improvements from last year... It makes me feel great to see that I can still get better. I'm getting a late start on my day today.. so have to run. Thank you for your support. I will try to blog from the hotel, so check here for updates, if there is nothing here b/c I may be too busy... check http://www.musculardevelopment.com/ go to women's BB forum and you can read the hype!!! Keep your fingers crossed!!!! 1St Place goes to the Olympia Stage!!! I hope I'm there!

Your Pro,

Dr.Dena

Home For A Weekend!

Dear Fans,

Here I am 1.5 weeks out of my first Pro Show of the year. I'm very pleased with the way my physique has come around. I've made small but important changes most specifically larger thighs, deeper hamstrings, tighter glute ham tie in. I've noticed just amazing improvements in the detail of my muscles. My rear bicep has taken on a much more defined delineation b/w the bi and tri, with a much more dense triceps all together. I have worked all year on pulling my lats all the way to the hip.. that shows on my back poses. I'm still dangling in the low 140's right now, but continuing to get leaner. I really don't have to much more to give. I'll squeeze out 5 lb somewhere...lol.

This week is going to be a bit crazy for me. I'm fairly busy in the office. I'm taking off the week of show, so lots of patients want to get in before I take off. the problem with that is I have to still fit everything in for my prep ( cardio especially) I'm @ 2 hrs/day.. I've been trying to get around and pick up wardrobe and things I need for the show now because it is coming up fast. Wednesday June 20Th I have a shoot with http://www.johnstutz.com/ , so that leaves me only Mon and Tues to pack, cook my food up to bring, work on color and plan a shoot. He is coming into town to see me, on his way back from the Jr. Nationals in Ohio. I've had to pick a location, I hope it works well for him. We are trying to capture a particular look. What that is I'm not certain right now..lol

I am having some administration issue with my website. I have put together some great ideas that have been brewing in my mind. I have lots of fresh, new, sexy content coming shortly. We have been working hard to bring lots more excitement to my site. Please be patient with me. Keep on pushing me to the top. I appreciate your support.

I named this shoot "Teachers Pet" let me know what you think. Just some sneak previews to what is coming.

Your Pro,

Dr. Dena

Shoot in Indianapolis

Dear Fans,

What a great weekend I've had. I took off on Thursday to shoot with the infamous Barry Brooks. He and I get along great, and do some amazing work together. We took 1,520 pictures this weekend, lots of good stuff for the website. Keep looking for all new and fresh content in the galleries. For those of you who don't know Barry " Butt man" Brooks, he is an icon photographer in women's bodybuilding. He makes up part of the Women's Physique World posse. He has a beautiful home set up perfectly for shoots. His studio is equipt with everything. I never had to leave. I was able to walk around his neighborhood for my cardio, it was just perfect. He is great to just sit and talk to about the history of women's bodybuilding. He has the whole collection of old WPW ( women's physique world) mags. I just thumbed through all of them. I got great motivation seeing all the women who have paved the way. Where are they all now? I saw young pictures of Juliette Bergman, Lenda M., Cori Everson. I loved looking at all the different poses and how different their physiques looked back then. the time frame was late 80's early 90's when women were really hitting the scene. Barry has seen me, but not photographed me since 2003. He was quite impressed with my improvements. It was exciting coming from someone of such an eye for the sport. We laughed and had a great time. Thank you for the great pixs and hospitality Barry!

Crunch time for me. 3 Weeks out of the Jan Tana. Dave said I looked incredible in the pixs I sent, but upped my cardio 10 more minutes equalling 110mins a day. He says he's not worried about me making weight... I just better have my glutes in...lol He is critical and can be hard on me at times. I think I look better than I ever have, so I can't ask for more except to dial in and show a chiseled, symmetrical, pleasing package. I plan to really buckle down, tie this diet in tight, practice my posing and focus on staying calm while trying to do the 1,000 things I have to do everyday. Only I can make this happen, that's what I love about the sport. Hope you like the pix I chose to post.. Keep up the support I need my fans more than ever right now! Let's get me to to "Rock Status" @ the Ms. Olympia. 1st place @ Jan Tana goes to the Olympia.

Y0ur Pro,

Dr. Dena