Hating the Figure Game

One of the topics that came up in the mudslinging fest that followed AR’s article on Rosanne was that posts attacking Figure Competition in general had no place on that thread, which was about Rosanne and her journey to first. “Don’t hate the players, hate the game” someone said. I agree.

So I’m attacking it here. I congratulated Rosanne on first place because of her champion mentality and hard work given the conditions it took to attain first place. The woman is a champion, with all the healthy and unhealthy traits that go along with it.

But if that is what it takes to win a figure competition, I think those competitions need a reassessment of priorities.

1)I thought the point of figure competitions was that they focused on feminine characteristics in a way “female” (ahem) bodybuilding did not. These competions have a shitload of problems, but number one is the obvious use (abuse?) of anabolics. Anabolic use in a woman is laughably obvious and it looks horrible.

  1. the bodyfat percentages are insanely low. Nobody down at concentration-camp bodyfat percentages should be eligible for winning a “figure” competition. I suppose their definition of what constitutes “figure” is different than mine, but I always assumed it included some measure of feminine curve.

I thought “figure” was supposed to be a sexy alternative to women’s bodybuilding; if I saw any of these women in competition shape on the beach, I’d be horrified. I’m sure this is an opinion that’s been expressed a thousand times before, but I thought it might make intersting discussion in the wake of the “Fat to Figure” article.

Discussion already taking place here:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1138566