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Love all the divisions, but women's physique, figure, and fitness have my heart. Wellness has crazy physiques as well.
For those sleeping on the figure and fitness divisions, STOP. They are NOT playing these days in terms of their muscularity these days, especially with whose been winning these shows. If figure were to change their presentation, they would be THE division of the sport (not including women's bodybuilding, IMHO).
I like them all but i don't know what it's called but the one with the Russian woman that dressed up like the joker i can't spell her name it's something like oskanka grisha i think it's called fitness but i am not sure sorry for my stupidity
That would be the Fitness Division and you are referring to Oksana Grishina. She's a real sweetheart if you ever get a chance to meet her.
That's also my favorite, and by far, the most difficult of all the divisions, male or female. There are mandatories, just like in BB, but they are "skills" like in gymnastics. One-armed pushups, press holds, for example. Jodi Boam was explaining this to me at one of the Arnold Classics many years ago. There are 5 or 6 mandatory skills a competitor must perform in their routine, and their routine can be absolutely anything. Yenny Polanco (who is blacklisted here) had a boxing background and was very skilled with a jumprope, so that's what she incorporated into her routine. And her incredibly strong arms and shoulders allowed her to do press holds pretty easily. Keep in mind that they have to do these elaborately difficult routines while depleted. If any of you have cut down for a competition, then you know the feeling. I competed in Men's Physique and I know the depletion all too well.
The difficulty of the Fitness division made it very entertaining to watch, but the difficulty also prevented many women from succeeding. The vast majority of successful Fitness competitors had a gymnastics or dance background, or both. That gave them the strength base to perform the mandatory skills as well as experience to choreograph an entertaining routine...
That's why the Figure Division was created. It allowed the athletic women, or the ones "just starting out" to compete without having to choreograph a routine. In other words, it was the same feminine, athletic bodies of fitness, just without the routines. And there were two rounds, one-piece and two-piece suits, just like fitness. But as the division grew, the one-piece suits were eliminated.
Since the Fitness Division quickly died out in my area, the Figure Division became my favorite, and it was by far the most popular in the 2000s up to about 2010 when the Bikini Division was introduced.
I have a love-hate feeling for the Bikini Division. When it began, it was treated as a stepping stone for Figure. By the 2010s, the girls who had been competing in Figure for many years had built up considerable muscle. For new girls "just starting out" they just couldn't compete. They were outclassed; there was a large discrepancy in muscle development, posing, and stage presence, so this new division would allow new competitors to compete and learn as they go before moving up to Figure. Well, we all knew how that went. Bikini quickly became the new hot thing and everyone wanted to compete there. Figure was losing its popularity. Meanwhile, the longtime Figure competitors who built amazing muscularity were placing lower and lower and being told they are "getting too big." When they tried Female Bodybuilding, however, they were quickly outclassed by the Female Bodybuilders who had gotten huge by the end of the 2000s.
Enter Women's Physique (WPD). This division was created for the Figure girls "too big for Figure but too small for Bodybuilding." Many people, myself included, called it "Figure with flexing." WPD could wear Figure suits, and some even "crossed over" in the early days, meaning they would compete in both Figure and WPD and see how they would do in each division and then focus on whichever they scored better. Crossing over was eventually disallowed because the same girls were winning both divisions and there were complaints that this negated any standards, and they were right.
So it seems that every 10 years or so, a new division is created for the females, now "Wellness" is the newest thing. I haven't been to a competition or expo for many years now, so I know nothing about this new division that, to me, seems like "Bikini with bigger thighs."
I'm all for females building up their muscles, but for me, I still prefer the functional bodies of Fitness and the feminine muscle of Figure. And I love it when the Fitness competitors move up to WPD (Jodi Boam).
The NABBA federation was running the best competitions. Way ahead of their time.
They had women in figure or physique type muscularity but even more ripped, posing in stripper heels and thongs with actual posing just like the physique category. They also had female bodybuilding category in thongs but no heels.
They were very popular in Brazil, UK, Australia and Europe but unknown in the US. They are the original bodybuilding federation together with the Weiders.
You can find many videos online from the 90s up until 2018. Search NABBA Universe (Olympia equivalent) or NABBA Worlds. They lost the battle against the IFBB due to bad management. Have a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwsqEOGlKpc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDfnqgPoFlY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDX-Y9oJRLI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Gj-PAnxZQ
The NABBA federation was running the best competitions. Way ahead of their time.
They had women in figure or physique type muscularity but even more ripped, posing in stripper heels and thongs with actual posing just like the physique category. They also had female bodybuilding category in thongs but no heels.
They were very popular in Brazil, UK, Australia and Europe but unknown in the US. They are the original bodybuilding federation together with the Weiders.
You can find many videos online from the 90s up until 2018. Search NABBA Universe (Olympia equivalent) or NABBA Worlds. They lost the battle against the IFBB due to bad management. Have a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwsqEOGlKpc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDfnqgPoFlY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDX-Y9oJRLI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Gj-PAnxZQ
If the IFBB/NPC would incorporate that in figure, the figure division would be (to me) unrivaled. The bodies in figure are incredible but the posing is just...there, and the fact that that's all they have makes it to me the most boring division for the women.
In Europe / UK some things are different. "Figure" f.e. shows smaller bodies than in the US, but they flex and pose barefoot, while "Fitness" is like US' "Wellness", where they mostly do quarter turns ans the occasional "Superhero Pose".
F.e, Zoey Wright competed in Figure, where her routines mirrored old school fbb:
Then she moved on to Fitness and finally into Bodyfitness where, although these being "smaller" divisions and she being even more muscular than before, still won titles.
Figure and Bikini are pretty non existant for me, and Wellness confuses me (bigger legs but less uppper body ?)
Bikini with bigger thighs
I like them all but i don't know what it's called but the one with the Russian woman that dressed up like the joker i can't spell her name it's something like oskanka grisha i think it's called fitness but i am not sure sorry for my stupidity
anyway i really like that one in the competitions it looks epic compared to the other classes they put up a real show but all classes are very good.