This year's Fitness America was held at the Performing Arts Center in Redondo Beach, and the winner was 7-time German gymnatics champion Ruscha Kouril. Zwick admits the well-organized event we witnessed on stage was a far cry from the early versions of the competition. "It's taken us a few years," he says, "but instead of a small audience and even fewer competitors we now stage a very complex competition, with an international lineup of contestants that is televised by sports networks all over the world. "

Fitness America is expanding internationally as well. This year there were four international versions of the competition, and next year there will be 10 - giving winners of regional and national contests a world-wide stage to move on to.