Archives for January 2009

I receive a number of emails every day and a few of them are newsletters from competitors, models or trainers. A newsletter is a good idea to let everyone know what is going on in your world, what’s coming up, etc.

While sorting through hundreds of old emails that have been piling up in my inbox, I ran across one email that had a large PDF attached to it. Please do NOT send people HUGE pdf files. If you have a printed newsletter that is great but when sending it out via email, please compress the PDF and not have it be 10 megabites big. I’d suggest using an email program like Constant Contact or something similar to create a newsletter. Attaching PDFs is fine, just make them small in file size.

Another email, which also had a PDF, was more managable and I opened it out to have a read. It was laced with misspellings and grammatical errors. Do yourself a favor and have someone proof read your email before sending it out to the masses. This person has a “team” of competitors. Cool. Well no, not really cool at all when I read…

“XYZ competitor came in the best I have ever seen but at this level as we found out you must have more mass on your upper body to compete with some of these gorillas.”

I’m not sure if this trainer was attempting to be funny or if he really views the pro figure competitors as “gorillas”. Either way not a good idea. Publishing a newsletter that puts down the competition, when your competitor doesn’t place well, is not a good idea. Focus on the positives and don’t bother mentioning the negatives. It only takes away from the point of what you’re trying to communicate. The only thing I remember from this newsletter was the line above, nothing else sticks in my mind.

Is that the type of thing you want to have people remember you for? I’d hope not.

Care to guess which IFBB Pro has a pet raccoon? True story.

The 42lb. raccoon is 8 years old, gets bathed every other day, enjoys eating Frosted Flakes and sleeps in the owner’s mop sink.

News from Ms. Fitness Olympia and Bodybuilding.com…

Boise, ID – January 15, 2009 – Bodybuilding.com, the Internet’s most-visited bodybuilding and fitness site and largest retailer of nutritional supplements, has teamed up with 2-time Ms. Fitness Olympia Champ Jen Hendershott’s PHAT Camp (Power, Hard work, Ambition, and Triumph) to help women become the best they can be.

Jen Hendershott created PHAT Camp in 2002 because of her passion to help women reach their full potential in mind and in health. Hendershott believes in the power of helping others and has a strong faith in what each woman can do with her life if she is pointed in the right direction. Since Bodybuilding.com’s mission is to help their visitors reach their health, fitness and appearance goals through information, motivation and supplementation, joining forces with PHAT Camp is a natural fit.

“We are excited about the opportunity to be a part of PHAT Camp. Jen is an amazing role model in the health and fitness community, especially for women. She will be sharing her tips, information, and enthusiasm with the Bodybuilding.com community. The information women will learn from her articles on Bodybuilding.com and through her camps will be immeasurable,” says Bodybuilding.com P.R. Manager Crystal Matthews.

PHAT Camp is a traveling, full-weekend event for women of all shapes and sizes to learn new and exciting exercises, hear nutritional and motivational seminars, improve time management and commitment, and share stories of success and struggle. There will also be an emphasis on how proper supplementation can assist campers in their mind and body transformation needs, with specific product recommendations from Bodybuilding.com.

“I knew that if I could put together a program where women of all shapes and sizes could cometogether, get educated, and get motivated on the path to health and fitness that it would make adifference. Not only in their personal lives, but in the lives of all those around them—making the world a better place, one person at a time,” says Jen Hendershott.

For more information on PHAT Camp, visit: getphatwithjen.com

Bodybuilding.com offers more than 8,500 health and fitness supplements & accessories to help people achieve their fitness goals. They offer more than 25,000 pages of FREE bodybuilding & fitness information, including more than 12,000 articles (written by 525+ writers), video & audio segments, and new content added daily.

For more women’s health and fitness information: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/women.htm.

Ok, so Christine Pomponio-Pate isn’t stepping back on stage just yet. Don’t rule it out though, this hardbody momma has never looked better. You will however see her back in the fitness scene again. She’ll be working the IRONMAN booth at the Fit Expo next weekend. She’ll also be appearing in a number of magazines in the coming months and rightfully so. Don’t take my word for it, check out how Christine looks in a recent shoot with IRONMAN magazine.

The supplement industry spends millions and millions of dollars in advertising every year. (I’m mainly refering to print advertising.) Can you name ONE supplement ad that caught your attention and made you buy the product?  Makes you think, huh? Sure there are some ads with great photography but most lack even that. The ad typically has a dude lifting a weight and a nice, big product shot. If that’s not the ad it’s a girl in a bikini with a product shot. This type of advertising may work for a newbie consumer but what about the experienced competitor and a more educated consumer? Where’s the ads that cut the crap and have an actual message and concept? They may be out there but it will take some looking to find it.

I saw a new ad for a company who will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars this year in the bodybuilding community. They will sponsor shows, have booths at the expos, athletes on their roster and ads in the magazines. If you’re going to spend this kind of money wouldn’t you take the time to do distiguinsh what makes your product different then the competitors? Apparently not. Stick a no-name guy (who isn’t even lifting heavy weights on there) slap the product nice and big and call it a day. BRILLIANT! If this company continues with this type of advertising we won’t hear about them in another year or two. They’ll have spent their money with nothing to show in return. Why? Because they listened to some “expert” with no real marketing or branding experience. They didn’t bother to think about the consumer and what message they are sending. There will be no buzz about the product.

Let’s see if the supplement companies can do anything creative this year. While they are trying to figure it out, you can take note on your own personal branding. STAND OUT and think through your message – be who you want to be but don’t be another cookie cutter wannabe.

Rant over. Yes, I do feel better. That is all. Carry on.

Women ask me weekly how they can get noticed in the fitness industry. One of the things I tell them is, everyone has a story to tell; some are just a little more interesting than others. Think about why you got into competing and what makes you different than everyone else. If you don’t compete that’s ok, whatever it is you do there is an angle. Writers are always looking for an angle to a story. Don’t be afraid to tell your story. If you’re a personal trainer, great! Remember there are thousands of personal trainers, so what makes you unique and why should I care?

Use your local media to gain exposure, you never know where it may lead. Joe’s repair shop may be inspired by your story and end up sponsoring you. You don’t have to be endorsed by a supplement company to help pay for competition costs or defray your expenses. Think about what’s near you and the contacts you already have.

Check out a couple of the latest industry photo shoot videos. The first features the Fizeek Brazil clothing line, shot with Terry Goodlad. The second is for Better Bodies a clothing line out of Sweden, shot by Pavall Ythjall.

Fitness and Figure competitors take note… The 2009 Houston Pro has changed the date to August 29, 2009. For more information and the most accurate IFBB Pro League schedule visit IFBBpro.com.