SirenSongWoman
Cathlete
I just got back. Here are the first place winners:
Figure: I went for this but cannot recall the name of the winner. But she was blonde (surprise), average height, and had a strong foreign accent. She said her focus is 3 to 1 Cardio, over weight training! Arnold joked that she was the only contestant with a stronger accent than him. He also joked it was a relief to be in Columbus (Ohio), away from the California budget negotiations for a while.
Fitness: Jen Hendershot, who now ties for the lead in most wins. She also won at the last Olympia. She's been at this for a long time, had a funny routine (ending with her sitting on her butt, eating chocolates from a heart-shaped box, which she had to be loving being finally able to do!), and clearly still deserves to be The Queen. She mentioned that her preparation leading up to competition involved "eating A LOT of tuna..." I always root for my kind. I rooted for the Cardinals in the Superbowl because the QB was old(er), I rooted for the old dog at Westminster (who DID win)... If you're too old to still be doing what you're doing, I'm on YOUR team, baby!
Body Building: Iris Kyle, whom I rooted for. When Arnold asked her about her routine she surprised the heck out of us all by saying she only does about an hour workout. She couldn't stress enough that virtually everything you were looking at on stage was attributable to DIET, not her workout! And she reiterated this information TWICE. Talk about food for thought.
This was my first time watching a competition. Everyone seemed to love watching Fitness because it's so show-biz (entertaining and original acrobatic routines from the contestants) but, ultimately, most were there for FIGURE. I never wanted to be quite as buff as the typical professional figure competitor but I think now, having seen these women on stage, I might reconsider. Those women were GORGEOUS! I was doubtful when I read some month's ago about how "glamorous" these events are and that you have to actually SEE an event live to really get it. I get it now.
The caveats (or my personal issues...): I STILL think the whole tanning thing is ridiculous. Funny as Hendershot's routine was (and thrilled as she was to win the big prize) I couldn't help but think I was watching a minstrel show while watching her. The woman was D.A.R.K.... with bright blonde hair. Oh wow. The few competitors who weren't wearing quite as many layers of that browning sauce looked so much better, but even they were too dark. Whatever that sauce is, it has a reddish cast and looks so unnatural I feel the black women, especially the dark one's like Iris, have a real edge here. They just LOOK better because their skin color isn't reddish. But I'm so biased against the tanned-to-the-max look so maybe it's just me. I always say nothing screams Stuck-in-1977 like a too-tan body and pink frosted lipstick. It makes the women look like they've led hard lives, even the women in the audience mostly adopted that look. Also, the way the competitors had to constantly adjust their long hair (hanging down over their greased-up shoulders, ew) was annoying. This happened every time the women had to show us their backsides. To see the musculature of their upper backs they had to lift their hair and place it forward, over their shoulders, sweeping their hair back-and-forth through that oily muck... Honestly, they ought to require them to wear their hair up if it's too long to see what's going on back there... It would certainly get a lot less greasy.
All in all, I'm glad I finally got to see a competition (a HUGE one, at that) and that I had a nice seat. Lots of very buff, VERY attractive men present... though most of them were too tan, as well. Maybe it's because I'm an artist. I grew up loving the paintings of pale (glowing) depression-era boxers in the ring, painted by George Bellows so I think you can be sexy, buff and pale. I actually prefer it in men. Still, very attractive men were present everywhere. Ummmmm.
Figure: I went for this but cannot recall the name of the winner. But she was blonde (surprise), average height, and had a strong foreign accent. She said her focus is 3 to 1 Cardio, over weight training! Arnold joked that she was the only contestant with a stronger accent than him. He also joked it was a relief to be in Columbus (Ohio), away from the California budget negotiations for a while.
Fitness: Jen Hendershot, who now ties for the lead in most wins. She also won at the last Olympia. She's been at this for a long time, had a funny routine (ending with her sitting on her butt, eating chocolates from a heart-shaped box, which she had to be loving being finally able to do!), and clearly still deserves to be The Queen. She mentioned that her preparation leading up to competition involved "eating A LOT of tuna..." I always root for my kind. I rooted for the Cardinals in the Superbowl because the QB was old(er), I rooted for the old dog at Westminster (who DID win)... If you're too old to still be doing what you're doing, I'm on YOUR team, baby!
Body Building: Iris Kyle, whom I rooted for. When Arnold asked her about her routine she surprised the heck out of us all by saying she only does about an hour workout. She couldn't stress enough that virtually everything you were looking at on stage was attributable to DIET, not her workout! And she reiterated this information TWICE. Talk about food for thought.
This was my first time watching a competition. Everyone seemed to love watching Fitness because it's so show-biz (entertaining and original acrobatic routines from the contestants) but, ultimately, most were there for FIGURE. I never wanted to be quite as buff as the typical professional figure competitor but I think now, having seen these women on stage, I might reconsider. Those women were GORGEOUS! I was doubtful when I read some month's ago about how "glamorous" these events are and that you have to actually SEE an event live to really get it. I get it now.
The caveats (or my personal issues...): I STILL think the whole tanning thing is ridiculous. Funny as Hendershot's routine was (and thrilled as she was to win the big prize) I couldn't help but think I was watching a minstrel show while watching her. The woman was D.A.R.K.... with bright blonde hair. Oh wow. The few competitors who weren't wearing quite as many layers of that browning sauce looked so much better, but even they were too dark. Whatever that sauce is, it has a reddish cast and looks so unnatural I feel the black women, especially the dark one's like Iris, have a real edge here. They just LOOK better because their skin color isn't reddish. But I'm so biased against the tanned-to-the-max look so maybe it's just me. I always say nothing screams Stuck-in-1977 like a too-tan body and pink frosted lipstick. It makes the women look like they've led hard lives, even the women in the audience mostly adopted that look. Also, the way the competitors had to constantly adjust their long hair (hanging down over their greased-up shoulders, ew) was annoying. This happened every time the women had to show us their backsides. To see the musculature of their upper backs they had to lift their hair and place it forward, over their shoulders, sweeping their hair back-and-forth through that oily muck... Honestly, they ought to require them to wear their hair up if it's too long to see what's going on back there... It would certainly get a lot less greasy.
All in all, I'm glad I finally got to see a competition (a HUGE one, at that) and that I had a nice seat. Lots of very buff, VERY attractive men present... though most of them were too tan, as well. Maybe it's because I'm an artist. I grew up loving the paintings of pale (glowing) depression-era boxers in the ring, painted by George Bellows so I think you can be sexy, buff and pale. I actually prefer it in men. Still, very attractive men were present everywhere. Ummmmm.
.
