For senior Mindi Giroir’s 22nd birthday, she didn’t throw back a few margaritas with friends. She didn’t even eat cake and ice cream. Instead, she ate chicken and asparagus.
With five days left to compete in the 2012 National Physique Committee Ronnie Coleman Classic, Giroir didn’t want to do anything that would derail her 12-week progress. She knew that nutrition played about 90 percent of the role in her success. Veering off the path, even for her own birthday cake, would cost her a chance at winning.
Ultimately, her restraint paid off, and she earned a second place trophy in the figure competition on March 31 in Mesquite, Texas, earning a national qualification. So, chicken and asparagus turned out to be the better choice for this year’s birthday.
“This is by far the hardest work out I’ve ever done,” said Giroir, who competed for the first time. “Holding tight on stage for that long is not easy.”
Fourty-three women competed in Giroir’s height class and did a simple pose, front pose, back pose and model pose for the judges. Giroir said confidently that nobody had a back that looked as good as hers did.
“There is no day that could compensate for how good I felt.”
Giroir, a Thibodaux native, came to ULM to play soccer in 2008, but after two seasons with the team, she decided to quit and move on. Now, she works in the ULM Activity Center, and through a co-worker she found a new passion – getting shredded.
“It’s completely different from soccer because you are on your own,” said Giroir, a radiation technology major. “You don’t have a team backing you up. You have to go after it for yourself because the girl next to you certainly is.”
Giroir’s co-worker, graduate student Blake Laliberte, sparked her interest in the competition. Last year, Laliberte said he wanted to take it a step further and compete, and Giroir decided to join him. However, Laliberte didn’t compete in the men’s division of the competition. He said he wasn’t as lean as he wanted to be.
But as for Giroir, Laliberte said, “She is a beast.”
“The toughest part is the dieting,” said Laliberte, who graduated with a degree in kiniseology. “That’s something most people don’t see. They think it’s more lifting.”
Giroir agreed and said getting in the right mindset about dieting was the hardest part of the process, not weight lifting.
“Muscle rest is definitely important in this process,” said Giroir, who lifts two days straight, then two off. “Progress made in a week depended on the amount of cardio work I did.”
She said the amount of weight she lifts doesn’t matter either so she doesn’t know her exact limits.
“That’s really not important to me,” Giroir said. “I come in and throw weights on and push it as many times as I can.”
Originally, Giroir said she didn’t plan to compete. She just wanted to “shred” down with Laliberte during his training.
“And then I thought, why not make it all worth while?”she said.
In November, she decided to compete and soon started a 12-week diet preparation plan. She hired a training coach, Shannon Dahlum from the Monroe Athletic Club, who helped her get below eight percent body fat for the competition.
“She did a phenomenal job coaching,” Giroir said. “I really got a good package deal on her, and I can’t say enough good things about her.”
During Giroir’s 12-week training, she weighed her food out daily, reducing her carbohydrate intake each week. On the last week, Giroir said she was just “running on desire.”
She said she drank tons of water, clearing her body of all glucose. And the day before the competition, she went into “carb overload.”
“Sitting there, I could literally see my muscles growing.”
On competition day, the competitors eat some kind of sweets or candy before going on the stage. Many chose things like honey, but Giroir chose Mentos. She said she had a big box full of a variety of candy to choose from, but Mentos looked best to her.
Despite Giroir’s healthy preparation, it still didn’t prevent cramping. On the stage posing for 30 minutes with a dehydrated body was no fun. She wore $500 worth of makeup and hair accessories to look good on the outside, but on the inside, she felt priceless.
“From head to toe, you’re in pain,” Giroir said. “But, I would do it all over again 10 times if I had the chance and wouldn’t change a thing.”
Giroir said she will compete again, especially because she did so well in her first outing.
She said she wants to get her professional card but knows how mentally tough it will be to advance that far.