Q&A INTERVIEW WITH JON LINDSAY

Promoter of the NPC USA Championships
www.lindsayproductions.com

Q: Jon, how did you get interested in bodybuilding?

LINDSAY: I was a competitor off and on from 1963 until I retired from the Navy in 1987.  While I was in the Navy I routinely competed in bodybuilding shows, but I was fairly mediocre.  I'm a much better promoter than I ever was a competitor.

Q: Has being a competitor had an influence on how you promote shows?

LINDSAY:  Definitely.  When you are up on that stage, after so many weeks of dieting, everybody looking at you critically, it can be very stressful.  I know what that that's like so I do what I can to make it easier for the competitors.  I've walked in their moccasins, I know what they're feeling.

Q: How did you happen to retire in the Los Angeles area?

LINDSAY: I 'm originally from San Diego.  LA was my first choice.

Q: Why bodybuilding contests?

LINDSAY: As I said, I had been involved in bodybuilding for a long time.  After I retired from the Navy, I was looking around for another career.  Bodybuilding was my passion and I found there was opportunity for me as a promoter.  Once I got into it, things went so well that I stuck with it.

Q: And when did you first get started as a promoter?

LINDSAY: In 1988, I began planning contests I was going to do in 1989 ' the Armed Forces, the Muscle Beach, the Border States and the West Coast Championship.  A couple of them I co-promoted with somebody who is no longer around.  The second year I did three of them.  Then, slowly but surely, other guys sold me their shows or brought me in as their partner and over time I got more and more involved. 

Q: Was the jump up to promoting the NPC USA Championships a big one?

LINDSAY:Well, it's bigger and more work, but the basics of promoting and advertising a contest don't differ that much.  I started doing the USA in 1995, and by then I had quite a bit of experience, so it was a natural progression.  I had a lot of support and encouragement from Jim Manion and that gave me a lot of additional confidence. 

Q: And nowadays?

LINDSAY: I'm doing 11 or 12 contests a year, including the USA.  Promoting has become what you might call a full time job.

Q: You've always been known as somebody who is very supportive of the women in the sport as well as the men.  Is this correct?

LINDSAY: Absolutely.  The women train and diet just as hard as the men do.  They deserve all the same effort when it comes to putting on a good, well-organized contest.  

Q: What is your opinion of Fitness?

LINDSAY: I think it has given women's physique a shot in the arm.  There are a lot of women in the audience who work very hard at developing their bodies, but don't want to take it to the extreme that the bodybuilders do.  Many of these women are outstanding athletes and their performances add a lot to the enjoyment of the audience.  And for those who don't have the gymnastics background, now we have Figure, so the NPC has given women with sculptured physiques a wide variety of choices when it comes to competition.  Now we cover just about everybody.

Q:  What about the women's bodybuilding 'guidelines' that came down from the IFBB a while ago?  How do you think they are influencing the sport?

LINDSAY: I believe the women themselves have a lot more control over the development of their own sport than they think they do.  Judging standards are set over time by what the bodybuilders are able to show the judges, not what the judges tell the bodybuilders they are supposed to do. This is true for both women and men.  Women shouldn't 'chase the rabbit.'  They should focus on being the best bodybuilders they can be and that's what they should show to the judges. 

Q: You think women are getting 'too big'?

LINDSAY: I know lots of men who have gotten too big.  Way to thick and blocky for their structures.  That can happen, whether the competitors are men or women.  You have to try to come into a contest in your best shape, size and condition.  Big enough but not too big for your skeletal structure. Ripped but not emaciated.  That's your job as a competitor - not worrying about guidelines or the judges.

Q:  And it's a fact that bodybuilders have no control over the judges, right?

LINDSAY:  Right.  Don't worry about what the judges are looking for at any given time, because that changes year to year.  And sometimes the judges are wrong.  But these things have a way of working out over time.  The NPC judges are very good at what they do.  If you keep showing them a good physique - whether you are a man or woman - eventually they are going to notice and give you credit for it. Maybe you are carrying too much mass. Maybe you aren't. That's up to YOU to determine. Deciding that is part of the process of being a competitive bodybuilder.  So I tell all competitors to just come in to a contest in the best shape they can.  Be a complete package.  Then, no matter how things turn out, you have the satisfaction of knowing you've done your job.

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