THE FEMALE PHYSIQUE WEBZINE/GALLERY


NPC NATIONALS 2002
Dallas, TX – Nov. 22-23

FITNESS COMPETITION REPORT

By Bill Dobbins

Since the inauguration of figure competition in the NPC, the ranks of fitness competitors have been shrinking.  Both at the USA and the Nationals there were far more women entered in bodybuilding than in fitness.  At the local level, where figure contests are now a normal part of the event, this lack of fitness contestants is even more pronounced, with some contests featuring 50 or more competitors in figure while only 5 or so are entered in fitness. At the 2002 NPC Figure Nationals - where there was no figure - there were more than 50 competitiors. But there were considerably fewer fitness women than female bodybuilders, which itself has become something of a trend.

The reason for the drop off in interest in fitness is obvious.  The format for fitness was copied by the NPC from the Ms. Fitness and Fitness America events, both of which are essentially television shows that need to fill up an hour with some kind of performance suitable for the TV audience.  From almost the beginning, the highly-trained gymnasts in the contests have held a virtually insurmountable advantage.  Without this kind of training, fitness competition is frustrating, much too difficult and often dangerous.  So if there is an alternative contest in which all you have to do is quarter turns, no wonder so many women are abandoning fitness for figure.

Of course, nowadays – whether concerning bodybuilding or fitness – there is always an ongoing debate about how hard and muscular the women should be.  At the IFBB level, the fitness women have continued to get more muscular and defined over time.  This is the opposite of what the situation was when the IFBB began sanctioning fitness and NPC competitors moving into the pros were frequently considered too extreme to be suitable to IFBB competition.  Todays' IFBB fitness competitors like having this kind of "hardbody" (otherwise they have to go to great lengths to lose muscle, which is very frustrating) and the audience seems to like this look as well.  After all, the audience for fitness competition is drawn from the ranks of contest ticket buyers more than from those who enjoy lingerie pictorials in the physique magazines. At actual contests, almost everyone likes defined muscle and muscularity on fitness women except some federation offiicals.

On the subject of objecting to muscle, there has been a rumor going around recently that the NPC was going to take steps to scale back the muscular development of their fitness competitors (some people just never learn) but the fitness line-up in Dallas could hardly be considered as too muscular, especially in comparison with the pros.  Although there were a lot excellent bodies on stage, by current standards there wasn’t a fitness competitor in the show who could be described as being “too extreme.”  Any attempt by the NPC to make these women lose additional muscle or muscularity is simply going to frustrate both them and the audience. The NPC has a different fan base than the Fitness America or Ms. Fitness TV shows, and any promoter can tell you, frustrated fans result in a loss of ticket sales.

The overall winner of the 2002 Fitness Nationals was middleweight Lisa Uzzle.  Her quads weren’t particularly defined, but she had a lot of torso detail and a very highly developed back.  Excellent, in fact. While the entire level of muscularity was not that extraordinary in the contest, Lisa was one of the more muscular women on stage.  She also has a very beautiful face and figure.  Her success is the contest is one more proof of Dobbins’ Rule of Muscle Women – “Everybody likes muscles on women providing the women are really beautiful.” When judges tell women they are too muscular, there's a good chance what they really mean is "you aren't attractive enough." Or else they are suggesting she is in the wrong contest, which happens a lot when genetic bodybuilders think they can slim down and compete successfully in fitness or figure.

Interestingly enough, while the IFBB has added weight divisions to pro bodybuilding it has done away with height classes in pro fitness.  The NPC still has fitness competitors divided into classes but you have to wonder exactly why.  If fitness isn’t a physique competition, a smaller kind of bodybuilding, then what is the advantage of being in one class or another?  Who cares how tall you are? This does raise the question once more as to exactly what this kind of competition is all about.

In regards to routines, having just been at two IFBB pro fitness contests the level of performance at the Nationals was mildly disappointing.  The best were pretty good but there were a lot of competitors who were obviously struggling to get through their routines.  It is a little unfair to make the comparison between the amateurs and the pros, since the best of the pros are good enough to do their routines as acts in Las Vegas.  But it does serve to point out the difficulty of doing a performance at this level, which is yet more evidence that the routines expected in fitness are too difficult for most competitors and change the event from a physique competition to a gymnastics contest.  Even professional dancers, for example, have little chance against the lifelong gymnasts.

In conclusion, the fitness women at the Nationals looked fine, a lot of them did effective routines and the audience seemed to respond. This was not a contest that will go down in history but it provided the showcase for national amateur competitors it is supposed to. Whether fitness at the national level will continue to draw sufficient and talented enough competitors in the future, given the presence of fitness, and what audiences will feel about it as more women abandon fitness for figure is still to be decided.

 

 

 

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