the rumors are flying..big changes for Womens BBing

[Ibarramedia]

Without athletes where is the NPC and IFBB? The competitors need an actual union. With teeth.

Be careful what you wish for. The 'family' may yet attach itself to a FBB union if you get my drift. Say, they may never find Jimmy Hoffa now that the Meadowlands has been made into a parking lot.

[Carolyn Bryant]

maybe your stupidest statement/comparison you have ever made .... don't hold me to it, I said "maybe", you say alot of stupid things so I am giving you the benefit of the doubt that it might not be

Simma down young fella.

Looked up stupid: very dull in mind. Me, dull? Nah. Never that. But now right above it was stupendous: causing astonishment, tremendous, monumental. BINGO!! That be me.

[Ibarramedia]

Couldn't agree more w/ everything in Zoa's post. I started kicking around in the gym when I was 15. I was 34 before I even knew you could compete at the amateur level. Meaning I spent nearly 20 yrs going into the gym just because I enjoyed it and never associated it w/ competition goals (i.e. what judges were judging for). It has always been about the time I spend in the gym and the immediate result of that - physical outlet from a day of sitting in front of a computer, trying new exercises, improving my form, lifting more weight... some "win" every day. Shows give a particular goal and a timeframe to go after it, get some great pictures and improve over previous showings (competing against myself).

I guess I don't get too excited about what the NPC / IFBB does anymore. Some basic truths, as I see it, are:
- "bodybuilding" only exists because the federations support it.
- therefore the federations define what "bodybuilding" is.
- the federations, despite being stated as "non-profit organizations" still need money to continue to exist and make it worthwhile for anyone in the industry .. therefore the content of what the federations sponsor need to promote revenue... thus Figure, thus Bikini.... .. .thus whatever this Physique thing is.

I'm ok w/ whatever they come up w/ - I'll continue to hit the gym and continue to compete until either of these is no longer "fun". The only thing I ask is some sort of CLEAR statement of the judging criteria (i.e. why the hell are we doing this??) and with this many divisions, I think it dilutes all of the divisions if it is not clear the differences between them. And just for practicality, and to enforce these differences, some sort of limitation about crossing over.

So rock on NPC! If you want to make changes, I wish you the ability to give consideration to the purists and stay in the tradition of the sport and also give consideration to all the people who give so much of themselves to compete, and make it clear what it is they are supposed to be competing for and getting judged on.

I'm with you on most of this Sassy. It's not like I'm going to stop training b/c someone says 'you have to look like this'. In fact, I have admired many of the women across the history of BB, of various sizes and degrees of conditioning. I wouldn't be unhappy as long as the changes didn't involve what I see a lot of my pro figure/amateur friends doing -- NO TRAINING 3/4 of the year in order to compete on the figure stage.
I love to train and train hard and nothing will change that. I do favour the extreme look, but I also don't mind if they say HEY YOU LADIES DON'T HAVE TO BE QUITE AS BIG...in a way it does lower the threshold of difficulty to some extent...but if it means the athletes are healthier and there is a place for more women to compete, then these are not all negatives.
Let's just see what the final announcement will be...do wish they would do more of the height/weight classes to bring more specific guidelines...but don't think this is in the forecast based on what we're hearing.

Do what makes both of you happy. We will support you.

[Carolyn Bryant]

The players yelling "It's fookin football." How can you penalize a guy for a hard hit. The game is violent. Sounds just like "It's fookn bodybuilding." How can you penalize a female for wanting to get as big and as ripped as possible. The solutions from the people on high sound the same, too. It's not good for the sport.

Whack comparison my ass.

[flexingtonsteele]

I went to a local npc show earlier this year where there were about 10 female bodybuilders total!! Then in figure and bikni there were over a hundred women total....

Like Bob said, female bodybuilding is just phasing itself out. Its not the fault of Chic, Betty Pariso, Jim Manion or anyone else. Female bodybuilding makes zero positive cash flow for the npc/ifbb.

How many fbb'ers do u see in magazines? NONE!

How many figure/fitness athletes do u see? Not alot, but theres alot more than fbb'ers.

Female Bodybuilding isnt lucrative whatsoever.

By making this new division ( which is basically a more muscular figure competitor ) the npc/ifbb will be making alot more money, there will be a more appealing look. AND! there wont ever be a special on HBO about drugs in womens bodybuilding like there just was a few months ago on real sports with bryant gumbel.

Believe me, this was going to happen for years now, but the real sports special was the straw that broke the camels back.

And in the end, this will be a much healthier option for women who decide to compete. Which is the most important thing.

[sassy69]

I went to a local npc show earlier this year where there were about 10 female bodybuilders total!! Then in figure and bikni there were over a hundred women total....

Like Bob said, female bodybuilding is just phasing itself out. Its not the fault of Chic, Betty Pariso, Jim Manion or anyone else. Female bodybuilding makes zero positive cash flow for the npc/ifbb.

How many fbb'ers do u see in magazines? NONE!

How many figure/fitness athletes do u see? Not alot, but theres alot more than fbb'ers.

Female Bodybuilding isnt lucrative whatsoever.

By making this new division ( which is basically a more muscular figure competitor ) the npc/ifbb will be making alot more money, there will be a more appealing look. AND! there wont ever be a special on HBO about drugs in womens bodybuilding like there just was a few months ago on real sports with bryant gumbel.

Believe me, this was going to happen for years now, but the real sports special was the straw that broke the camels back.

And in the end, this will be a much healthier option for women who decide to compete. Which is the most important thing.

10 is a good turnout for a local show. You're talking about getting a geographical concentration of enough women who are committed to and interested in doing the work (not just a season but years) to compete. There are vastly larger numbers of figure & bikini because the barriers to entry are pretty flippin low. Big difference - they are different categories that have very different requirements.

I realize its hard to talk about the numbers of women competing at the local level, but I believe, excluding this year (economy?), the number of FBBs at the national shows has been consistent over the last 5 years. I don't know that I believe that FBB is "dying" - as people have been saying that for years. In fact we're seeing more figure girls starting to cross over to BB.

Just like FBB, you don't see many fitness girls anymore. Fitness has relatively high barriers to entry and also I have yet to see a competition (given I've been watching them since 1999) where there was an appropriately safe floor and area for fitness competitors to execute their routines. IMO this is also a contributing factor.

I frankly don't think the Real Sports thing really did that much for / against FBB. As per usual, the mainstream has very little idea of what FBB is. If they can get past all the stereotypes, how interesting would it be if they did more research into the stacks that figure girls and even bikini girls are using..... Hmmmmmmm. That discussion will come up regardless. If FBB disappears and this physique thing takes over, I guarantee it will still go thru the phases of finding its starting point to see where the judges start rewarding, and then continue to trend towards harder until someone decides its "too hard" and then the backlash in the other direction to where it makes the rest of the world "more comfortable" w/ women look "acceptably fuckable" again, and then you'll end up w/ more wishywashy, watered down competitoins where most of us just sit there and wonder wtf all the girls w/ the squishy asses are doing on stage.

It would be really nice if they stated the judging criteria and committed to it. Then maybe I'd believe all the stuff you say about how great this whole new category is going to be - its going to go thru all the same phases Figured did, we're watching Bikini go thru now, and in fact will add a dimiension of blurring the lines between all these different categories even more if there is crossing over allowed, esp at the local level, and inconsistent judging.

I can tell you personally, every time I'm out dancing or not covered up, I get more women stopping and telling me how much they love my physique and ask all sorts of health /diet / training questions. Guys always want to have a posedown or arm wrestle I've frankly never gotten a bad response from what I do.

[powergirl]

I can tell you personally, every time I'm out dancing or not covered up, I get more women stopping and telling me how much they love my physique and ask all sorts of health /diet / training questions. Guys always want to have a posedown or arm wrestle I've frankly never gotten a bad response from what I do.

Ditto on this for me sassy, maybe it's our height, our attitude or the ability to smile and appreciate everyone for who they are but most people like what they see, and if they don't 'want to do it for themselves' can respect and admire where I've taken my body. I get many women saying OH GIRL I'D KILL TO LOOK LIKE YOU BUT I JUST DON'T HAVE THE DISCIPLINE!! LOL
They don't even realize the work it takes...and that's ok! I just encourage them to be healthy and eat right and not be afraid of the weights....just do their thing and don't be afraid of the iron
It seems there are fewer 'haters' then we think, that, or they're all concentrated in one location, for example various forums. LOL

[Catwoman]

OK so the national schedule is out for next year so wil this new division start with local shows in 2011 or does the whole division begin in 2010?

[Catwoman]

Oops, I meant does the new WPD begin in 2012.

[Swede]

agreed!!!!


hey Dave, do you think Iris would downsize or decide to retire b/c that look isn't for her? (assuming she doesn't want to downsize)

lol @ dont want to.

she doesnt wanna be more helathy? she doesn't wanna reduce all the Apparent sideeffects?


OFC SHE WANTS TO. IF everyone else does it also. because then she will still have the same advantage due to genetics. With the addition of being more healthy.

[tammyp]

i can relate to how the figure girls have felt these past few years. i am luckier than most i guess being a little girl i dont have to change as much as others. but i like training, thats the shitty part.

i guess we have to wait and see what the critieria and who can and will want to adapt to it.

[Swede]

i can relate to how the figure girls have felt these past few years. i am luckier than most i guess being a little girl i dont have to change as much as others. but i like training, thats the shitty part.

i guess we have to wait and see what the critieria and who can and will want to adapt to it.

I wish I could say what I want to say without getting banned even if it provokative. lets try and someone delete this post if its "offensive"

Isn't all a FBB has to do is LOWER the damn dosages to loose mass, and still train as hard, just pretty much just Lower everything? (same goes for the Big men)
A female body with natural levels of testo cannot hold anything remotly to "big" in good conditioning.

[Tre]

There are other reasons there are not 'huge' numbers in the classes in bodybuilding. It takes more years, more year-long effort and usually much more personal sacrifice (read: suffering) to get to that extreme look. You need layers and layers of muscle that has been added year after year (I've been training 17 years and have never been in a rush, I just like the lifestyle and the journey).

There are many of us who enjoy this challenge and the lifestyle (or why would we do it?) and I'm not saying that 'figure girls don't work hard' or any such ridiculous argument...just that it is a REALITY that it takes many more years to get the look of a professional bodybuilder (for most of us) than it would be be on-stage as a bikini or figure competitor, plain and simple you need more muscle and it takes time. So it's not just a 'numbers' game, as in, there are less competitors b/c people don't like it .... it's just a very challenging sport and the rewards don't come within 6 months. So not so many people want to make those kind of lifestyle sacrifices. At 2 weeks out I sometimes wonder why I do? LOL LOL

Anyone agree on this aspect here? I'm sure Tammy, Sassy and others can relate. That's also why many of the top FBB's are in their late 30's and plus...

You know I agree 100%.

And as for figure and bikini not having put in nearly as much work as female bodybuilders of equivalent IFBB Pro or top NPC/CBBF amateur status, you don't have to say it....that's what I'm here for.

[Tre]

i can relate to how the figure girls have felt these past few years. i am luckier than most i guess being a little girl i dont have to change as much as others. but i like training, thats the shitty part.

i guess we have to wait and see what the critieria and who can and will want to adapt to it.

Hold on...

Although it's certainly your prerogative, why would you leave the bodybuilding division? I mean, I could see you doing it later in your competitive career, but why do it right away?

[tammyp]

[QUOTE=Tre;1203577]Hold on...

Although it's certainly your prerogative, why would you leave the bodybuilding division? I mean, I could see you doing it later in oyour competitive career, but why do it right away?[/QUOTE
I will do bbing if its offered next year on the pro level. I am afraid the promoters wont bother to include us. Guess we will know when the schedule comes out.

And if we that want to adapt to new wpd when fbbing is gone we will have to downsize our muscle. That doesn't happen overnight.