Thought we could help out the ladies !!!

[JMP]

Follow the link .......:tu

http://savewomensbodybuilding.com/

[Not2Big]

It is an unfortunate truth. You will very rarely, if every, see female bodybuilding featured in magazines, never see female bodybuilders endorsing supplements or products. The money surrounding female BB is all but gone. Without the sponsors, endorsements and media, they don't have much of a leg to stand on. I remember back in the day when the Olympia was a stand alone show for the ladies and it would sell out. Now they have to prepackage it as part of the expo.
Many ladies are opting away from the androgenous look and leaning towards figure and bikini. It's a sad day when your IFBB Pro card holder doesn't work out very often but looks great in a two-piece.

[Maria]

What about all the natural ladies out there? Going to through them under the bus too? It doesn't have to be that way.

[Not2Big]

It's not me throwing them under the bus, it's just the bitter reality of where the sport is going. It's the whole fitness culture who have moved away from female bodybuilding. If it had the market appeal, the gals would have more coverage, better prize money and continued endorsements. Why isn't that the case? It's lost it's steam unfortunately. I appreciate a woman with muscles as I know the hard work, commitment and dedication that is required to attain that; even moreso than the guys in most regards. It would seem that the fitness masses want to see bikini ladies and figure girls but not the bodybuilding. Not too sure if it will ever come back.

[JMP]

I think the sponsers should take on sponsership of the "show" not individual classes. You are correct NOT2BIG when bikini takes over BB , its will be just that. IMO i think there is merit to keeping both and would love to see it continue. Truely good friend of mine competes and works her ass off to do so , wouldnt like to see this thrown away.

[Maria]

It's not me throwing them under the bus, it's just the bitter reality of where the sport is going. It's the whole fitness culture who have moved away from female bodybuilding. If it had the market appeal, the gals would have more coverage, better prize money and continued endorsements. Why isn't that the case? It's lost it's steam unfortunately. I appreciate a woman with muscles as I know the hard work, commitment and dedication that is required to attain that; even moreso than the guys in most regards. It would seem that the fitness masses want to see bikini ladies and figure girls but not the bodybuilding. Not too sure if it will ever come back.

I'm not saying it's you throwing the women bodybuilders under the bus.

In all the years, you can't really say that many female bodybuilders ever had endorsements like the guys, etc. In fact many of the magazines, if they put someone on the cover, it is always a guy. Even years ago!!! How many covers did Lenda get on her own? Not enough. Usually if a female bodybuilder is on a cover she's usually there with some guy.

There never was better prize money even in the day when Cory competed.

It's funny how the blame is always put back on the women of the sport and not the actual federation. The federation allowed it to get that way. Hmmm, what a novel idea to have judging criteria and actually stick to it!

JMP that's an excellent idea to actually sponsor the "show" and not just a division.

I'm tired to hearing how money is lost on tickets sales when in actual fact the ticket sales are not sold primarily on buying a ticket to see just one class but the whole show! Unless it is split up of course and that isn't the case at the lower level shows or national shows.

My little rant. I could go on about this but I won't. Nuff said.

[mouth]

I still don't have a huge post count so, maybe I'm speaking out of turn here but, I've discussed this on another board that I'm on.

While I appreciate all the dedication and hard work that the ladies put into bodybuilding, there isn't the same amount of money in it as there is for the guys....or the bikini folk. That's why it's being phased out. The people responsible for arranging/hosting the shows will only let it slide for so long before they axe it. How big is the fan base compared to the other divisions?

I get that you don't buy tickets specifically for each division but, that's not the only place money comes in. Sure, you could try to get advertisers to sponsor entire shows and not the specific divisions but, what if the sponsors don't want to do that? What if the event people don't want that? Being able to sponsor specific divisions increases the amount of revenue streams.

Having said that, I don't think it will "die." As long as there are fans for it, people will find a way to put shows on. However, I think the shows will be much smaller than what they are now. I'm not saying that I prefer the bikini competitions but, at the end of the day, it's a business to the people putting on the shows...and if the bikini people put more butts in the seat and bring in more dollars...are you surprised they made the choice?

[faller]

All by her lonesome :)

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o113/faller11/bodybuilders/fl0205.jpg

[razorsedge]

It's funny how the blame is always put back on the women of the sport and not the actual federation. The federation allowed it to get that way. Hmmm, what a novel idea to have judging criteria and actually stick to it!



As posted above, the women kept getting bigger as the judges were rewarding that. It's a competitive sport dictated by judging..when that huge physique is rewarded, next show everyone has it and then once all the pros had it, how do you go in reverse. You can't.

It's a very unfortunate situation but it is reality. The women work damn hard to build their physiques like the men and now, after doing what they had to as dictated by the sport, they're getting kicked in the crotch. The womens side is goping to be like a beauty pageant with skin exposed...young bikini girls with naturally great racks plus / minus implants, winning without ever hitting the gym (very possible) but they still have it under a BB federation..they get endorsements, photo ops etc..figure girls being judged on their athletic physiques but when is the last time you saw an overall winner of a big show without implants and being pretty damn attractive...comparable physique without the real attractiveness unfortunately didn't place despite the same work and "physique"...

It's sad. The physique division, when it arrives in Canada, will be interesting. Watching closely as the first US shows with it and the mens physiques (board short guys) are quickly approaching. Who knows what it will bring...it's sad and I feel for the ladies. What do the present high level pros do now....where do they go with the physiques they built....

[Not2Big]

I think what a lot of the women are doing is 'scaling it back' somewhat and trying their hand at figure. Some are dropping out altogether. It is true that the criteria over the years has changed. When you look at a Cory Everson, Gladys Portuguese (sp?) or Rachel McLish (pic above), their physiques in bodybuilding back then are pretty much the norm for figure girls of today. Yet what has changed really? The short and fast answer would be dosages... Women have taken the 'bigger is better' route and bodybuilding for the gals has turned into a side show that many sponsors and fans choose not to endorse. Many of the top national and Pro BB ladies have physiques that would probably win over most amateur MALE contests. I think this is what they didn't want to have happen but unfortunately due to judging, misconceptions, whatever...it's happened. Figure and Bikini have become the 'new' bodybuilding for females.

Personally I'd like to turn the clock back about 15 years for BOTH the men and women and get back to the physiques then... Not that I don't appreciate the freaks lol

[Maria]

Thanks Faller, that is one cover but if you read my post I did say "not enough". There are some. :)

It's funny how most of you lump ALL the female bodybuilders together. There are those who clearly aren't as big and yet still have feminine physiques and still compete in bodybuilding.

Everyone seems to jump right away on putting down female bodybuilding rather then coming up with solutions to improve it or help it along. It's just easier to get rid of it. If you had a child and later that child became ill for whatever reason are you just going to kill that child? Um, no, you would find ways to help that child and deal with the problems. That's essentially what many of you are doing here, killing it!

Yes, it can be fixed by judging it the way you want it judged not by how much bigger the women are and not rewarding it! It's funny how most of the judges are men too!!! Looks like they wanted the freaks! LOL

Hey, they stopped women's figure when they felt it was getting too crazy. Yes, you can fix it by reversing it. Yes, it is going backwards. But you don't have to look at it that way, look at it as a change or think of it as that it has reached it's potential and keep it there and don't let it progress any further.

[massabsamurai]

Nasser's view on female bodybuilding:

Is women's bodybuilding moving more and more away from the mainstream?

Definitely, I think so. We have to give all these women all the credit in the world for training so hard and getting their bodies to that ultimate physical degree. They definitely train way harder and way longer than the figure girls. But at the end I don't think they will get more acknowledged in a verbal way or in a financial way to where they are reimbursed for their efforts.
Regardless of how much they do and how big their backs are and how hard their legs are most guys, including the judges, will still go with the softer, more feminine figure look.



And not to put figure down but so many girls are originally strippers, not all but many. They just go from the strip club on one stage to figure competition on another stage. The only difference is the figure girls will lift a few more weights and do a little more cardio which they already do in lots of cases so the transition is not that big physically.
I'm not saying that all the figure girls are strippers but a lot of them do come from an exotic dancing background. The funny thing is they can train for a year or two and they are already on the National level and if they have good genetics they can be on the international pro level in two to three years.
And as a female bodybuilder it takes you at least ten years to make it to this level and in doing this you will damage your body with drugs way more. And with fitness, if you have good genetics and you are in your early to mid 20s that is good but what if you are ten years older?
Are you going to do your jumps, your cartwheels at the age of 35? No. You will flip straight over to figure because it is less stress on your ankles and your tendons and it is less dangerous. Sooner or later everything will go in the figure direction and the promoters can draw lots of spectators just having the figure contests.
Every figure contestant can purchase a so-called NPC card for about 50 dollars to compete for a specific year on the amateur level so there are thousands of girls out there that could do this. So it is the biggest money-maker for promoters at both the amateur and pro level.

[faller]

Thanks Faller, that is one cover but if you read my post I did say "not enough". There are some. :)

.

Naw i read your post, i just post my Rachel up at every opportunity.. I know, i'm such a troll sometimes :D

[JMP]

I think what a lot of the women are doing is 'scaling it back' somewhat and trying their hand at figure. Some are dropping out altogether. It is true that the criteria over the years has changed. When you look at a Cory Everson, Gladys Portuguese (sp?) or Rachel McLish (pic above), their physiques in bodybuilding back then are pretty much the norm for figure girls of today. Yet what has changed really? The short and fast answer would be dosages... Women have taken the 'bigger is better' route and bodybuilding for the gals has turned into a side show that many sponsors and fans choose not to endorse. Many of the top national and Pro BB ladies have physiques that would probably win over most amateur MALE contests. I think this is what they didn't want to have happen but unfortunately due to judging, misconceptions, whatever...it's happened. Figure and Bikini have become the 'new' bodybuilding for females.

Personally I'd like to turn the clock back about 15 years for BOTH the men and women and get back to the physiques then... Not that I don't appreciate the freaks lol

"Dosages' - im pretty sure this has happened in both mens and womens....its a fact that all on stage have to deal with.

good feed back from everyone on this ......

[Not2Big]

"Dosages' - im pretty sure this has happened in both mens and womens....its a fact that all on stage have to deal with.

good feed back from everyone on this ......

Yeah, true enough. I've been in the game for over two decades and I remember back in the day, guys would laugh at the fact that some people were taking 1 gram of test. Nowadays life starts at 1 gram lol. Not to mention that guys with medical insurance were getting their gear covered by their plans. Oh how times have changed.

PS: I still think that Ben was the fastest human alive! :flagC

[mouth]

Didn't Donovan beat his juiced record?

[Not2Big]

not too sure but I know Donovan also tested positive before lol the 'Ben' incident is what kicked off the whole 'Dubbin Inquiry into Doping in Sports'...the start of a whole new era. Ah well..

[mouth]

Huh...I had never heard that Donovan tested positive.

[japh]

Unfortunately its not even about blame imo. The interest just isn't there by the masses plain and simple. Its NOT sustainable.

FIGURE is the bodybuilding of today for woman its just called FIGURE instead. Please compare any FIGURE athletes build with that of a female bodybuilder from the early 80's before all the adrogenics were introduced. You'll see what I mean.

I wonder how Cory Everson would have done by todays standards as a fitness athlete? ;) Probably pretty good! :)

Other than a couple years where she went for size and played that game briefly she would have only had to tone down a few things (biceps etc etc) and she'd have done well by todays standards as a fitness athlete.

[japh]

Check out the first vid at the 1 min 40 second mark in case anyone thinks I'm out to lunch. Definititley a fitness feel to it as well!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjOXjURfXo



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA6AyxH6oEc&NR=1

Thats what female bodybuilders used to look like. I believe as soon as they crossed over with the use of heavy androgenics that was the beginning of the end. History has shown this. I respect the female bodybuilders of today but have no urge to pay money to go see them like I do male bodybuilders and fitness, figure contestants.