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Fitness Guide to Physique Contest Categories

In the past 20 years bodybuilding has seen many changes. In the days of Arnold and Lou there was only bodybuilding as an option for 'legitimate' physique contests leaving the good old wet T shirt contest at drunken bar gatherings as an option for women! When I say legitimate I use that word loosely because at that time there was no such thing as a natural contest. This only narrowed down the options even more leaving women left to choose bodybuilding as their only physique option. This also meant that most likely, these women had to delve into some type of anabolic drug in order to keep up with the other women competing.

As time progressed, natural competitions started to arise at novice and amateur levels for local contests bringing in a few more women but the others were not competing because they just did not want to get muscular even at a natural level, nor did they want to diet as hard.

Coming into the 90s Fitness Competitions started to show up but because this was meant for a softer look, there was a routine element to the category. This opened doors to gymnasts and dancers who were once considered over the hill in their sport by age 20! The body types of these sports are well suited to the physique needed for a fitness contest so the athlete only had to diet down a fraction of what a bodybuilder does.

With Fitness there were still a number of women being left out, who wanted to compete in the physique portion only but not the routine. Then Figure was born. The late 90s was the beginning to Figure competition and soon to follow was Fitness Model which looks for a smaller less cut body. Figure began with a routine as well since Bodybuilding and Fitness both had a routine element, so this was only fair to add a routine to Figure.

With Figure routines, inverted movements were not allowed and you had to incorporate open handed bodybuilding poses as well as using high platform heels for the physique round. This came about due to the compliment it gives the legs and tush. Still leery of routines, many federations decided to keep a Figure contest with only the physique portion, similar to the Model category but with a more serious physique with cut and muscle yet not as serious as bodybuilding.

Now when you go to a contest you will the most popular classes with the most entrants are the Model and Figure categories. So much so that some believe we need to 'save Fitness'. There a few IFBB pros out there such as Tanji Johnson who are making a serious effort to recruit more fitness competitors and really spread the word that gymnastics are not a MUST in fitness, helping open the doors for more women to come back over to Fitness.

So when you go to one of these contests and are not sure which class is which because of the many women's categories now available as well as many women cross competing in more than one class, you can better understand who you are watching. Morning shows do not normally have any announcements but the night show will tell you which category is on stage as you are watching. Morning shows are more of a family event meant for pre judging so that by the night show the decisions are made, the trophies come out at night and in cases where there are larger numbers of entrants, they only allow top 5 or top 10 to come out.

By Linda Cusmano