Womens Body Building
Womens body building evolved.
It went from early contests where the ladies had physiques akin to beauty contestants in bikinis and high heels, to the true competitive sport it is today.
The first womens body building contest was held in Canton, Ohio in 1978.
The U.S. Women’s National Physique Championship changed the criteria for the competitions by judging them on their muscularity.
In addition to the second U.S. Women’s National Physique Championship in 1979, promoters added the International Federation of Bodybuilding’s (IFBB) Womens Body Building Championship and The Best in the World contest.
In the events before 1980.
Womens body building events before 1980 did not allow them to use the more familiar men’s bodybuilding poses, including the crab, the lateral spread, and the double biceps.
Interested In Womens Body Building? Click Here
Womens body building gained a governing body.
The governing body was the National Physique Committee (NPC), and held its first women’s Nationals in 1980.
The American Federation of Womens Body building, which also started in 1980, was acquired by the NPC, to make sure two separate organizations weren’t representing amateur womens body building.
The same year, the Ms. Olympia competition began.
Many may recall one of the most famous Mr. Olympia’s was Arnold Schwarzenegger, seven-time Mr. Olympia winner, and in later years, action movie star and governor of California. At the inaugural event in 1980, Schwarzenegger was the featured speaker, but the crowd was more interested in the new Ms. Olympia winner Rachel McLish!
The first World’s Couples championship also debuted in 1980 in Atlantic City.
The Women’s Pro World Championship began in 1981 (winner Lynn Conkwright) and the Ms. International contest in 1986 (with winner Erika Geisen).
A new talent emerged in 1984 in Cory Everson who went on to win the NPC Nationals and became a six-time winner of Ms. Olympia.
As the sport gained popularity in the 80′s with the help of televised competitions, weight training also experienced technological advances, both of which possibly helped evolve the more defined musculature of womens body building.
A few of the athletes were crossovers from power lifting.
Womens body building was becoming more mainstream with athlete appearances in television commercials, movies, and glossy magazines.
Unfortunately, the new fame of this physique also may have led to abuse of performance enhancing drugs including steroids.
In fact, the 1989 Ms. International winner, Tonya Knight, was stripped of her title for using a stand-in for her drug test at the 1988 Ms. Olympia contest.
Ultimately, this “over-musculature” led to ill-received “femininity” requirements by the IFBB, and the protocol was evident at the Ms. International competition in 1992.
The IFBB Chairman of the Professional Judges Committee Jim Manion said womens body building would be judged on the contestant’s healthy appearance, face, makeup, and skin tone.
Although symmetry, presentation, separations, and muscularity would be favorably judged, Manion was clear, “but not to the extreme!”
The rules on physique later changed.
The stipulations on aesthetics remained, particularly as it related to extreme musculature.
In 1999, due to financial reasons, the Ms. Olympia competition was incorporated into the Women’s Extravaganza and then, in 2000, the contest became part of the Olympia Weekend.
For Our Womens Body Building Recommended Program Click Here
Muscle size remained an issue in womens body building.
The IFBB requested that womens body building “decrease the amount of muscularity by a factor of 20%.”
In 2005, the IFBB abolished the weight class system that began in 2000.
In addition to physique criteria, there is another issue that continues to affect womens body building, unequal sponsorship and prize money for competitions, compared to male body-building.
