This was one of my all time favourite routines. I designed it for my Pro Debut in 2016. I had received my Pro Card when I placed first at the 2014 WFF Worlds in the Miss athletic class. That year i had won a miss Universe title and a Miss World Title! I had worked hard for 15 months improving on my size and symmetry. I wanted bigger glutes and a thicker upper back as well as fuller delts. I had watched the WFF pro scene closely, priming my mind and physique for my pro debut. I was determined to continue my unbeaten winning streak that I had for the previous 5 years (out of my prior 7 as an amatuer figure athlete) and now I wanted to smash the Pro Figure scene.
In WFF Pro division the Pro athletes perform their routine prior to the judging rounds. The routine is used as an intro to the physique of that competitor and so I was determined that this routine was going to be clean, sharp and exact posing. In the past I had made my amateur routines very showy and dancey, kind of just having fun on stage, performing and doing what I loved which was to be performing. – but now that I had moved up the ranks from being an amateur international athlete to being a Pro athlete- I knew that these routines in my pro career were required to be absolutely stand out. They had to showcase every detail of my conditioning, every asset of my symmetry and also to make my movement and posing very easy to see and pleasurable to watch. I wanted to leave a mark imprinted in each judges’ mind that I was an absolute standout- EVEN BEFORE I stood in a line up and hit them with my quarter turns and compulsories.
I had made a decision that I wanted a Michael Jackson song. The challenging bit was to find the perfect song. I used MJ playlists as my training music for several weeks until one jumped out at me. Some songs would stop me mid set as I paused and let images of traditions and posing float into my imagination.
One day on the lat pulldown “Jam” from 1991, just jumped out at me. Edgy and sharp, quite fast but not too fast. Sexy and mysterious. It was perfect.
I couldn’t wait to get home and start working on it in my studio! There were parts of the track I wanted to use and parts that I knew I didn’t need. So I contacted a friend who was a DJ and an ex bodybuilder and she edited the track to exactly my specifications. The track was incredible and the routine inspiration just flowed into my body. I wanted to accentuate every syncopated beat and totally do the music justice. The movement had to look like the music but had to also show off everything that I wanted to to the judging panel.
My pro debut was planned for the WFF Asia Pacifics in Adelaide in 2016. But I had had a big off season. I didn’t want to jump on stage there without having had a warm up show first and some feedback from the sharp, unrelenting eyes of our NZ Nabba-WFF Judging panel, so I entered into the Nabba -WFF Christchurch Grand Prix as the date one week before the Pro-Am in Adelaide.
This video is from that Christchurch show. Captured by the very awesome Defined Photography. He then came to adelaide with me to capture my pro debut there.
Here is the footage:
I won the Best Posing Routine award there and the Nabba Figure overall. The panel were very pleased with my condition and told me I would be again “very hard to beat” so I went to Adelaide feeling confident.
The WFF Asia Pacifics were held as part of the Adelaide Fitness Expo. The expo lighting wasn’t ideal as was the small stage with carpet on it! But as athletes we have to roll with the punches and still showcase what we can even if the environment isn’t ideal. (I have competed in Greece in 35 degree heat with no air con, frozen in backstage pump up rooms with no heating trying to get vascular, guest posed in outdoor venues in bright sunlight and 27 degree heat! The conditions of the venue can affect your tan and your water levels, your pump, your vascularity etc….the more we compete the more we learn to deal with these variations!)
There were only 3 of us in Pro Figure at the WFF Asia Pacifics that year there but I won the Pro Figure title and enjoyed this fun routine once again.
xxx Jo,
@#femalebodybuildingcoaching