Did anyone here see it and think it was weird? Monica Brant easily had the most incredible physique on the stage and when they announced the top 5 she didn’t even make the cut. We were stunned. Even Monica herself, ever the professional, seemed to be struggling to hide her surprise. When the woman next to me said “They must be going for the super soft look this year” I said “Soft AND SKINNY.” Those chicks should have all been Bikini competitors.
Strange.
Well, I’ve heard from figure friends for years that they are trying to discourage the barely-smaller-than-bodybuilder look. Maybe this show is just a statement.
I’d like to see pictures of the top 5.
Yeah, somehow I’m not all that surprised to hear it. A similar trend has been arising within the OPA here in Ontario (the only organization we have that’s affiliated with the IFBB).
At my entry-level show a year and a half ago the posing rules were changed the morning of the show, and we were lectured by the head judge about how they “weren’t looking for a bodybuilder” and that “the girl (yes, he called us girls) who put in the most work, and is the most conditioned, will not be rewarded”. We were then instructed to stand on stage “as if you’re waiting for the bus”. A skinny, brunette barbie with fake lips & boobs took home the overall. Don’t get me wrong, she was stunning, but why the hell did the rest of us just spend months preparing for this thing, if it didn’t count for anything?
/rant
In any case, that trend has continued since.
I just checked out the site, no pics or deets as of yet. I’m also interested in seeing the pics of the top 5. I find it the judging of these competitions fascinating, its seems so arbitrary.
[quote]Mascherano wrote:
I just checked out the site, no pics or deets as of yet. I’m also interested in seeing the pics of the top 5. I find it the judging of these competitions fascinating, its seems so arbitrary.[/quote]
Pics are up. 
Placing was as follows 1-5, Nicole wilkings lee, Erin Stern, Heather mae french, mindi smith, Felicia romero.
They’re all so beautiful and sexy, just like you ladies who posted ^^^^ above. I would have a hard time designating them places because they all look like winners to me.
The webcast replays are up as well.
[quote]Heracles_rocks wrote:
I would have a hard time designating them places because they all look like winners to me.[/quote]
That was exceedingly ghey.
Anyway, 1st place did look soft then scroll down to 7 and Monica looks pretty good to my untrained eye.
What’s w/ the 1 piece posing suits as well. You are on stage showing off your body, yet your whole torso is covered. Maybe they were trying to hide their conditioning?
[quote]theuofh wrote:
[quote]Heracles_rocks wrote:
I would have a hard time designating them places because they all look like winners to me.[/quote]
That was exceedingly ghey.
Anyway, 1st place did look soft then scroll down to 7 and Monica looks pretty good to my untrained eye.
What’s w/ the 1 piece posing suits as well. You are on stage showing off your body, yet your whole torso is covered. Maybe they were trying to hide their conditioning? [/quote]
I’m fairly sure Figure is the competition that involves a 1 piece and a 2 piece(2 separate walkouts obviously). Maybe that’s fitness though, one of the girls can correct me if I’m wrong?
Brant’s delts are huge compared to her arms. And her legs are small. I think the placing was fair, based on the pics.
[quote]red04 wrote:
I’m fairly sure Figure is the competition that involves a 1 piece and a 2 piece(2 separate walkouts obviously). Maybe that’s fitness though, one of the girls can correct me if I’m wrong?
[/quote]
I was wondering why some pics had a 1 piece and others 2 piece. I thought they may have had a choice.
A guy that goes to my gym said when he lived in Austin Brant worked out at the same gym and she’s way hotter in person. That’s my contibution to this thread.
^good job
it’s kind of nutty, my women is doing her first natty bb show in the summer, she’s like 5’3" and 150lbs in the off season, she’ll likely compete at around 125-130lbs.
my point the figure girls are looking more and more bikini like, even the fitness girls are getting smaller. my girl doesn’t the like the pageantry nails, heels, glitter, quarter turns of figure, it undermines the hard training.
natty BB is a better deal for women who like muscle, even the National women’s BB are toning it down trying to be more feminine. except the reward Iris Kyle for being a brick shit house yet tell the other women to tape their thumb clits and tone it down, so they do and Iris still wins big dick and all. i agree w/ this ideology but for fuck sake let the figure/fitness chicks keeps some muscle and conditioning.
the bikini models are hot in the fuckable sense of the word but they hardly look like they train or eat food.
(Good thing i saved the link)
Hm. Interesting. I will say, some of those girls do look strong. Definitely more muscle than Rachel McLish. But they’re just so lean!
The hair and razzle dazzle is also a little bit ridiculous.
[quote]Mascherano wrote:
(Good thing i saved the link)
Hm. Interesting. I will say, some of those girls do look strong. Definitely more muscle than Rachel McLish. But they’re just so lean!
The hair and razzle dazzle is also a little bit ridiculous.
[/quote]
I’m with ya on the hair and stuff. Tacky as all hell. Also in agreement with Cyruseven. I thought about figure a bit but I was really put off by all of that. And those shoes. Ack. The getup reminds me of figure skating.
What’s weird is that I was always down on the too-muscular look and now I’m ticked that there isn’t ENOUGH muscle. It was just that Monica was so smokin’ (sitting pretty close to the stage her legs were NOT small, and her figure was balanced, especially compared to everyone else) while the others almost looked like they barely trained - until you saw their lats, where you could see SOME development. A lot of spindly arms up there.
Next year, I’m catching everything, including amateur and bikini, so I can maybe get some perspective on what the heck is going on. Gina Aliotti placed 2nd last year but didn’t compete this year. Even Jen Hendershott was missing from Fitness. I guess last year was her retirement because she did have a booth at the Expo for her Phatt Camp…
In the past it always seemed to me that the forms of the Fitness and Figure women were similar but now it’s as if they’re trying to further delineate a difference between Figure and Fitness so everyone fits neatly into a category. I always thought the difference between Fitness and Figure was gymnastic ability! I’m betting Bikini is nothing but skinny chicks, but I didn’t see that competition so I couldn’t say.
What a drag.
[quote]SirenSong61 wrote:
What’s weird is that I was always down on the too-muscular look and now I’m ticked that there isn’t ENOUGH muscle. It was just that Monica was so smokin’ (sitting pretty close to the stage her legs were NOT small, and her figure was balanced, especially compared to everyone else) while the others almost looked like they barely trained - until you saw their lats, where you could see SOME development. A lot of spindly arms up there.
Next year, I’m catching everything, including amateur and bikini, so I can maybe get some perspective on what the heck is going on. Gina Aliotti placed 2nd last year but didn’t compete this year. Even Jen Hendershott was missing from Fitness. I guess last year was her retirement because she did have a booth at the Expo for her Phatt Camp…
In the past it always seemed to me that the forms of the Fitness and Figure women were similar but now it’s as if they’re trying to further delineate a difference between Figure and Fitness so everyone fits neatly into a category. I always thought the difference between Fitness and Figure was gymnastic ability! I’m betting Bikini is nothing but skinny chicks, but I didn’t see that competition so I couldn’t say.
What a drag.[/quote]
Re: the figure and fitness, I also thought the same.
Its just interesting in general that women would have all these classifications. Bikini, figure, fitness and then Body building (i think that’s all of them right?). But I suppose it makes sense that there are categories for women based on varying degrees of muscularity since its still not normative to have women looking to build muscle in this way.
Perhaps this is the way we compensate - by classifying them into categories and saying, well here’s what a ‘toned’ lady looks like, and here’s what a jacked lady looks like.
I wonder if there are any set guidelines for these categories set by the organizations - maybe in the registration section?
I swear, last comment. Also interesting in all this discussion are female power lifters - what is the the difference between women who lift for strength and those who lift for aesthetics. Or is there no difference? Is it the same for men? I don’t really know enough about power lifting to opine.
Have y’all ever watched Pumping Iron 2? An interesting look back at female competitors. Its not a documentary, but its still pretty interesting. (let’s see if I can get this to work)
[quote]Mascherano wrote:
Also interesting in all this discussion are female power lifters - what is the the difference between women who lift for strength and those who lift for aesthetics. [/quote]
They eat and look happy.
