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Thinking Out Loud

Jan 23, 2022 - permalink

M76, you make interesting comments, so I'd like to use each of your points to make my own statements and agree/disagree given the case (in good faith).

Bodybuilders from the early 1980s look like bikini girls from the early 2000s

Mass-wise, yeah...but Bikinis have different proportions (bigger upper bodies, mostly) and are much more conditioned. If you put the two examples side by side they are easily distinguishable. And imho, early 80s fbbs had much more stage presence...they knew how to put a show instead of a pageant.

Bodybuilders from the mid 80s look like Fitness girls from the mid 90s.

I'd say that they look like Figure girls from the early 00s, but to each their own impression- remember, the mid 80s had Cory Everson and Bev Francis, after all.

And the list goes on. Now even bikini fitness competitors are as conditioned as Fitness competitors were in the 90s during the heyday of fitness.

Most figure competitors now are more muscular than bodybuilders of the 90s.

Totally - I'd say most of them. Lenda Murray would be an average Figure (mass-wise) today.

They introduced physique class for women who don't want to get that big, but today's physique competitors would easily fit in the bodybuilding category from those days.

That's because Physique went from, like you say, "Women who got too big and ripped for Figure but not enough for Fbb", to "Fbbs that just couldn't cut it", resulting in Physique getting flooded with former Fbbs, upping the average size, and forcing former Physiques to go to Figure, upping the average size, etc, etc. The results? Figure, Physique and Fbb now look like Midweight, Heavyweight, and Super Heavyweight FBB.

I don't necessarily see this as a good thing as I think this phenomenon is what caused female bodybuilding to go more and more fringe. Until the mid 90s female bodybuilding was regularly televised and a big fuss was made about it. But I think the last time I saw even a fitness competition on TV was in 2003.

I couldn't agree with you more. The "More is better" mentality has overtaken the sport, and those 3 categories mentioned are insdistinguishable sometimes. And it's not a matter of "science and training methods advance, so it's logical the women are getting bigger"; it's a matter of wrong assigning categories; I think everyone should get a place.

Jan 23, 2022 - permalink

I think simply put, pick a class, physique, wellness whatever... if you look at the class winner of a particular division, at a particular show from 5 or 10 years ago, and look at the most recent winner, more than likely the winner today will be more muscular.

Why? Because in bodybuilding you try to improve yourself, and if competing, improve on the last look that won. So, it only makes sense that the winner today will look bigger and or more muscular than the winner a few years ago. The governing bodies can't and really don't have a hard cap on what disqualifies one from competing in a class.

So it's up to the judges and judging is very subjective, so though it does happen occassionlly, it's rare that someone is told you've really outgrown this class, thus the physiques in all classes below bodybuilding keep getting bigger and harder.

When bikini started, I hated it because the girls looked like barely fit Hooter Girls. Now a lot of bikini girls have really nice, muscular physiques.

Jan 23, 2022 - permalink

I've always hated the jewel'd up bikinis the women wear in the competitions. I hated them even more after I found out they can cost as much as an Apple laptop. As if women don't have enough expenses to worry about in prep. You don't see the guys having to wear jewel'd up jock straps. What's the benefit? Not a damn thing that make-up and a hair stylists didn't already accomplish.

The jewel'd up bikinis look like their made out of candy. This is more than enough to get the job done.

They wear jeweled-up bikinis because it's easier to hide the bulge in their crotches with them.

That's literally it.

Jan 23, 2022 - permalink

I think a woman needs to have both muscles and fat to reach her peak feminity. Bikini fitness or wellness girls in off-season are a good example how a woman should look like.

Jan 23, 2022 - permalink

Classes, shape and Taste change over time and so ist necessary to reorganize classes too. The boarder between classes are diffuse now what gives the athletes more possibilites and the chance to compete in more than one class, something i really like. At some classes the presentation really got excesses, at figure just this endless stupid quarter turns without clear muscle poses and this lean forward like a old Lady just for strike butt out and so onIt is really time to bring back more classic elements back to the presentation. Loved the last Miss Superbody contest i did at expo, a great mix between classic call out poses, quarter turns and a free posing routine what hat to including clear poses and modern moving on stage.

M76
Jan 23, 2022 - permalink

I think simply put, pick a class, physique, wellness whatever... if you look at the class winner of a particular division, at a particular show from 5 or 10 years ago, and look at the most recent winner, more than likely the winner today will be more muscular.

That was my point, duh.

Why? Because in bodybuilding you try to improve yourself, and if competing, improve on the last look that won. So, it only makes sense that the winner today will look bigger and or more muscular than the winner a few years ago. The governing bodies can't and really don't have a hard cap on what disqualifies one from competing in a class.

I think the problem is the judging. Bigger shouldn't mean better, well except for actual bodybuilding class. But in figure, physique and bikini class size should not be rewarded. These competitions need to be judged as beauty pageants rather than trying to hold on to some imaginary notion of objectivity. That's hypocrisy, there is no objectivity in competition where the deciding factor is aesthetics.

So it's up to the judges and judging is very subjective, so though it does happen occassionlly, it's rare that someone is told you've really outgrown this class, thus the physiques in all classes below bodybuilding keep getting bigger and harder.

It would not be that hard. Judges should just look at last year's winners, and anybody bigger can be told to get to the next class or bulk up less next time. Just as in economy infinite growth is not sustainable. Or what, 20 years from now we end up with bikini girls that look like today's figure competitors? if the sport doesn't completely implode before that. Which is much more likely. I don't know about you, but I love women's bodybuilding, or rather I should say I used to. But not today's mass monsters, I stopped watching FBBs over 10 years ago. And I'm very close to loosing interest in physique as well. So this pursuit for more mass is killing the whole sport. Even for someone like me who is on this site. No wonder it's off mainstream TV.

When bikini started, I hated it because the girls looked like barely fit Hooter Girls. Now a lot of bikini girls have really nice, muscular physiques.

And that was exactly the point of bikini class. To be a low barrier to entry. And girls who want to get bigger could move to fitness or figure. But what you see as "bikini girls having really nice physiques" is raising the bar to entry to the sport of bodybuilding, which inevitably means less women will become competitive. Which is a horrible thing imo. You have to look at the big picture.

fp909
Jan 23, 2022 - permalink

bikini girls are so funny to me because the stage look is so different from how they look in the prep weeks--like they are actually JACKED and would be way to big for bikini when it opened. some girls with really big delts and arms

Jan 24, 2022 - permalink

Why? Because in bodybuilding you try to improve yourself, and if competing, improve on the last look that won. So, it only makes sense that the winner today will look bigger and or more muscular than the winner a few years ago. The governing bodies can't and really don't have a hard cap on what disqualifies one from competing in a class.

"Improve" doesn't necessarily mean "bigger"; that's subjective. If you treat Physical Culture like a sport, Improve = Bigger. If you treat it like a pageant...not so much.

And I'm not saying "women shouldn't get bigger", I'm saying "classes shouldn't get bigger".

And that was exactly the point of bikini class. To be a low barrier to entry. And girls who want to get bigger could move to fitness or figure. But what you see as "bikini girls having really nice physiques" is raising the bar to entry to the sport of bodybuilding, which inevitably means less women will become competitive. Which is a horrible thing imo. You have to look at the big picture.

Precisely. I've chatted with other members about how in Europe and Russia the "smaller" divisions get a lot of participants, simply because they are not so demanding size-wise. You get women who train for less than a year, that want to "give it a try", for lack of a better word, and if they succeed and find out they like it, can move on to the bigger divisions. In short: more competitors, more entry, more money, more populatiry for the sport.

In the US, the women in Bikini are already so muscular and ripped that drive many newcomers away. and that's how you get women with decently sized and defined muscles, stuck in the "forever amateur" class.

fp909
Jan 24, 2022 - permalink

I’ve watched plenty of women size out because of two things:

1) they love the way they train and don’t want to cut back for the sake of their class. That’s how you get a Michaela Aycock or Amandine Kolly.

/) they like the class but keep getting notes to tweak this and bring up that and the power creep catches up with them. Pretty soon their on the large fringe of figure or something and dabble in the larger class and do well. They hear it from friends and fans too. I’m a bit guilty of this. I always though Jenny Gray would be great in WPD because of her biceps and shoulders, and I was right. But she had a while to go to get there

cgsweat
Jan 24, 2022 - permalink

I've always had a lot of respect for women that train and do their own thing, judges be damned. They enjoy getting out on the stage and showing off the body they worked hard for, and they're not all that concerned about placing. Of course for many others, placing high is everything and it shatters their whole world if they don't win.

Jan 24, 2022 - permalink

I wonder if there's a group of women who admire male muscles, as much as we do females here. I wonder if there's a male version of this website where women share male bodybuilder photos with eachother, comment, discuss about physiques.

fp909
Jan 24, 2022 - permalink

Il sure, but a lot of it is feelings. They could be jacked AF but if they don’t make them feel the way they want to feel they aren’t into it. Hard to get that emotional input from a website.

Much easier to get it from men in your life. I had one friend who had been dating the “man of her dreams” but he wasn’t giving her the emotional validation she needed and started talking to some other guy. Relationship imploded.

We are totally different creatures. It’s why the vast majority of porn users are men.

Jan 24, 2022 - permalink

I wonder if there's a group of women who admire male muscles, as much as we do females here. I wonder if there's a male version of this website where women share male bodybuilder photos with each other, comment, discuss about physiques.

What did your google search reveal? My prediction is that you found groups largely focused on male muscle - bodybuilders, crossfit, other athletes - and that the vast majority of participants were also male.

Jan 25, 2022 - permalink

What did your google search reveal? My prediction is that you found groups largely focused on male muscle - bodybuilders, crossfit, other athletes - and that the vast majority of participants were also male.

Yes, exactly. There are some subreddits where women admire attractive males but none of them are based on muscles. I've found 2 subreddits based on muscles: r/BigAndMuscular and r/Muscular_Men. But most of the comments and posts are from gay males.

Jan 25, 2022 - permalink

Yes, exactly. There are some subreddits where women admire attractive males but none of them are based on muscles. I've found 2 subreddits based on muscles: r/BigAndMuscular and r/Muscular_Men. But most of the comments and posts are from gay males.

Haha, yes. I’m a MP and CP competitor and of the ~10k or so IG followers I have, I think over 90% are gay men. Are there women that love it? Sure. They’re just outnumbered 10:1 by gay men.

Feb 21, 2022 - permalink

One thing I always found amusing about bodybuilding competitions is they are probably the only socially acceptable time/place in the world for darkening your skin by several shades.

Also the beach? I live in southern California.

cgsweat
Mar 19, 2022 - permalink

Just thinking about top competitors in bodybuilding contests... You can only "improve" your body so much. At what point does it become more about maintaining a winning physique and less about improving upon it (adding size/definition)?

Mar 20, 2022 - permalink

Is anybody going to the fibo guys? Because I will be there. If somebody joins we can meet up and helping the other ones to get cool pictures or videos for example:-)?!

Mar 27, 2022 - permalink

I made an account on Instagram in 2019, used it a few times to look at muscular women. I noticed what kind of comments they get usually and its fetish stuff, or treating them like objects. Just guys saying she is pretty, her muscles are pretty, asking questions about muscle size, height and weight... you know the usual fetish stuff. I was like that also but during lockdown when pandemic started I had chats out of boredom with muscular women on instagram. But I had chats like with any other women and you would be amazed how much women kept responding to my messages after they realize im treating them normal. I had a lot of chats and It changed my perspective.

What I learned from those chats is that most muscular women (like 80% I had chats with) said they like average guys, dont mind if they are stronger or bigger than their partners. Most men that positively interact with them turn out to be weird, look them as objects and you know how. It also changed my perspective and I learnd a lot. Most guys dont like big and strong women and treat them bad, but guys who like muscular women also treat them in a bad way. Chatting with those women made me stop acting like an idiot. I had a ton of great conversations and still a dozen women messages me on instagram after all this time and consider me as a friend. Guys that like muscular women should support them in a different way, not just satisfy their fetishes.

Mar 28, 2022 - permalink

What I learned from those chats is that most muscular women (like 80% I had chats with) said they like average guys, dont mind if they are stronger or bigger than their partners.

I'm glad you had that experience, but every single one of the women I've met who are very fit or muscular has a partner who also is.

cgsweat
Dec 30, 2022 - permalink

There's a recent clip posted to Lola Montez's IG page (she's blacklisted so I can't post it here) where she's at a convention and pulls down her pants and flexes for the camera.

It just got me thinking that anywhere else in the world this would be considered "indecent" or "taboo," but at a convention you can do that. Also, what she was wearing was extremely skimpy, likely a thong, although we didn't get a rear shot.

I've never been to a convention myself, but this definitely provides some motivation to go!

Dec 30, 2022 - permalink

Waking up to that video was a nice surprise. It is hilarious how no one batted an eye. "Well, that's just what you do here."

cgsweat
Feb 04, 2023 - permalink

The "pants around your ankles" look is embarrassing for most, but for bodybuilders it's a common thing:

cgsweat
Sep 28, 2023 - permalink

Margie Martin has a teenage son, although she's been active on social media and bodybuilding for most of his life. Sometimes I wonder if he gets harassed at school or bullied because of some of his mother's nude posts on her public Twitter page. But then again maybe he gets congratulated.

[deleted]
Sep 28, 2023 - permalink

Margie Martin has a teenage son, although she's been active on social media and bodybuilding for most of his life. Sometimes I wonder if he gets harassed at school or bullied because of some of his mother's nude posts on her public Twitter page. But then again maybe he gets congratulated.

I went to her Twitter page to see what you're talking about since I don't follow her, and I'm sure her son's school friends haven't said anything or he doesn't care. Me personally, I would at least want her to make the page private at the least, but that's just me.

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