The first IFBB Women’s Physique competition is in the books and it left many scratching their heads. Shocking that a show would have some controversy (note sarcasm). Every show has some unhappy fans and someone upset at the outcome, it’s been that way for decades so why would it change now? It hasn’t and it won’t. Eleven IFBB Women’s Physique Pros took the stage in Mesa, Arizona and only a couple of people saw the inaugural winner coming, one of which is women’s bodybuilding historian Steve Wennerstrom. If anyone knows how to size up a women’s physique competition it’s Steve as he’s been covering competitions for decades. Did he know something others didn’t by predicting Karina Nascimento as the winner before the show? It’s a little thing called experience.
In today’s online world many people mistaken a bit of a fan base as being the odds-on favorite to win a show. Sorry folks but having more “likes” on facebook and more views on Youtube than another competitor doesn’t make you the winner of a physique competition. Competitors should without question build their own brand and create a fan base however the fans need to remember the judging takes place on stage and not facebook or a forum. Let me preface this by saying I was NOT at the Phoenix Pro show and having covered hundreds of shows and photographed thousands of physiques over the years, I know photos are not an accurate depiction of a show. If you’re judging a competition by photos then you’ve never sat at a judged table or directly behind it. It looks very different than photos and even different then a few rows back. As I wrote in my Desert Muscle preview, I didn’t think we’d see “the ideal” in this show and more than likely most women would be too ripped and too muscular for this new division. What happened? The women were told by IFBB Pro athlete rep Bob Cicherillo that they need to tone it down as they were looking too big and too ripped for the division. What does that mean? He shared they (the judges) don’t want to see excessive muscularity and don’t want to see striations. Bob shared in his wrap up video that people need understand that this is not women’s bodybuilding and it’s not Figure.
So what is it?
It’s something in between.
Am I a fan of the division? Well, I’m all for giving women an opportunity to compete so from that standpoint, yes. While the division is new and will certainly evolve, I don’t see what it will do except confuse fans and participants along the way. It appears that Figure competitors with more muscle will likely fair well in this division. Bodybuilders bringing it down a notch apparently are still too big. So what does that leave? Confusion. Despite what the criteria may be on paper we haven’t seen an ideal in the NPC or Pro ranks to point to. What should the women’s physique competitor look like? At the inaugural IFBB show the judges felt Karina Nascimento fit the criteria the best. Does that make her the standard? On that day, at that show it did. Does that mean she is “the look” for the division. It points to what type of look the judges will reward however it doesn’t make her the Women’s Physique ideal.
Everyone has a different view on what they think the WPD should look like. Some think the first NPC Pro card winner of the division, Dana Linn Bailey is the look. Others have thrown out names like Larissa Reiss and Juliana Malacarne. I personally think the ideal could be past Figure Olympia champion Jenn Gates as she looked at last year’s Figure International. She was obviously too hard and too muscular for the current Figure division. She has the looks, the muscle and the shape/structure. Will we see Jenn compete in the division? I asked her and she said, “I love my life and there is no diet in it! It would be hard to give up my social life!” She went on to share that she has no desire to compete again and is enjoying her home life away from the stage. So don’t count on seeing Gates on stage again.
So where does that leave this new division? It’s best described as Under Construction. Will it eventually be worked out and a clear distinction of what is going to be rewarded? Ya, it likely will. Will we see people up in arms over what is rewarded along the way? That you can bet all your chips on. There are several more shows with women’s physique in it and the winners will likely vary along the way given who competes on that day. I’m personally conflicted over the division as it’s trying to appease a very small section of an already niche industry. Women who are told they are too muscular for Figure enter and then are knocked down because they are “too hard” and then women from bodybuilding enter and are told they are “too muscular”. It’s understandable that fans and participants are confused over the new division. The best advice I can offer is to give it time and see how it works out. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea but then again what is?
What are your thoughts on the new division? Share them in the comments below and all opinions are welcome.
photo by dan ray.
I was there. I am thinking about starting to compete and needed to learn about this new division. My body is starting to tranform and I am getting muscular. I don’t want to get too muscular. I want to be able to keep my body looking sexy and femenine but very fit. I do think that this new division will be a good start for people like me who are just starting to build muscle but don’t want to compete in figure or bodybuilding yet.
I like the division & will follow it but have no desire to compete in it as probably many figure girls who don’t want to get rid of their heels & do bodybuilding poses. Im not familiar with Jen Gates but I think Gina Aliotti would be a good Ideal for womens physique. I would’ve liked to see Jilly take it home yesterday she was graceful, feminine, & not too muscular although she was a bit shredded up top. All the girls need a big Congrats for being the 1st to step on that stage.
I think it is hilarious that you said this in your article. “Figure competitors with more muscle will likely fair well in this division.” I say that because I competed in the NPC Florida Nationals last year and after the show, I had a head judge from back home tell me I looked more like a muscular figure competitor and if I toned it down just a bit, I would do better in figure. LOL!
I am actually a protege of Dana Linn Bailey. Well, what I mean is that I hired her to help me with a diet and tweek my workouts since it was my first show! I wish I had gotten to actually workout with her, but unfortunately we live states apart. I have been told a few times our physiques are extremely similar. In fact, I was told last night, by someone at the show, that if I was in it I would have been standing next to her for comparison.
So where does this leave me? What look do I go for the next cometition I do? The fans aren’t the only ones confused. Infact, at the NPC Florida Nationals, myself and one other girl were the smallest out of the 33 in our height class! I’m not sure how she placed, but I placed 6th and I know she didn’t place above me. So I guess you could say in that show they were looking more toward the bodybuilder look.
I have always been told I should compete in something. I never got into it because of things like this. I only started competing last year because my ex boyfriend convinced me to try it and because of what the division itself offered. I never competed in figure because I was always told I was to muscular and I stay the way I am year round for my career so losing muscle is not an option. I never was to interested in bodybuilding because, well let’s face it, to do well in that division no woman can get the look without “help”; we all know that. That is one place i REFUSE to go. When physique came out I was under the impression that the standard would be to get as muscular as possible, naturally. I don’t necessarily mean big. I mean muscular. I am very muscular, a lot like Dana, but I am a small girl. In the Florida show I competed at 5’5″ and 122lbs.
I just hope they figure it out. It is disheartening that we spend so much time and money on something of unknown status. I don’t know about all the other competitors, but being a single mother, that gets no financial help, it can be a huge chunk out of an already empty wallet.
I’m looking forward to following the WPD through its metamorphosis. It might be a division I would consider above figure, but all that depends upon what we see in the IFBB judging this season.
Not everyone thought Dana should win simply because she is, “DLB.” There were videos of the comparisons….and many thought there was no comparison. I would like a point by point on why the winner was chosen. The winner and Dana had similar Physiques, however I thought Dana had a smaller waist, better abs, and better color. If the 2ndright or third place were chosen as winner, I would have accepted Dana’s 4th place finish a little easier. Well those are my thoughts.
I was in attendance yesterday and I am a little stumped as well. I have competed in figure for 2 years and have always been “big” for figure. A lot of it is my frame, but seeing Jillian do so well as a tall female gave me hope…..except that she is very tiny….darn near skinny, but very lean. She looks great, but I have always had to kill myself to get ‘small’ enough for figure and I am wondering if WP for me will be more of the same…..I guess time will tell like you said!
Good points Isaac. I think Jen Gates and Gina Aliotti are prefect examples of the type of look of the division. But the fun is just starting, this is the first of many going on this year, all of the girls who just turned pro on the national level last year haven’t even hit the stage (and there are a number of them who have even better structures and balance than some of the current favorites of the division), so we’re just about to see the best that the division has to offer. I think that the show yesterday sent a blaring warning to those competing of what NOT to do as far as conditioning is concerned.
And I do agree, this will likely not bring droves of new viewership or fan base per se, but neither will any other division for that matter. This sport is no longer able to pull the masses in the way it did in the golden era. I do however think it will create some new stars and add a nice niche for women who like to add muscle and don’t want to have to “do what it takes” to be competitive in the bodybuilding division, and give a place for women who want to compete and don’t fit into figure. At the end of the day, more money in the Federation’s pocket.
Hell or they can just scrap all of this BS and just put classes back into Pro FBB, make figure hard again aka. circa early-mid 2000s, and keep bikini where it is. Problem solved, haha.
Hey y’all. I’m confused, yet relieved at the same time, with Karina’a win. I am a WPD girl, too and I also competed in short class at Nats in Miami and my class winners were big-boulders-for-shoulders BB physiques. I personally did not want to put that much size on my 5’0 frame, so seeing a leaner and more full physique on Karina makes me smile a lil bit
. Im hoping that is the look they will start awarding at local and national level shows bc it seemed like they wanted BBers at Nationalsl but awarded a much smaller look at pro level. As i said before…Confused!! Lol
Nevertheless, I will keep training and keep bringing what I like and hope the judges do too.
The physique class should be generally defined so that everyone knows what the judges are looking for. I thought DLB had a better upper body then the top 3 placers (especially her abs) but what separated Karina Nacimiento from the rest was probably her presentation. She was feminine, sexy (really sexy) and her posing routine was fluid and effortless. She caught everyone’s attention with that sexy dance at the start and by immediately starting instead of just walking out like the rest. Femininity, sexiness, and presentation are defining elements of the Physique class. Legs obviously made the biggest difference. Physique seems to be calling out for full muscular shapely legs and sexiness and femininity. Thoughts?
The thing many people keep forgetting is SHAPE & SYMMETRY. These along with femininity are wanted. Overly shredded and ripped are not what they are after. It’s also not a body part contest.
Eva, I’m not sure if you understood. This is in between the other two categories…so you’d have to surpass the muscle in figure to be in this one