My First Women's Physique Competition

I did it! I competed in my first Women's Physique competition. I have been delaying writing this because I have so much to say, and so little time to say it! 

So I decided I need to do what I do in life everyday, and just jump right in! I have lots of pictures to share, and then I will write more each week about certain parts and events.

I must start with the fact that this was so different than Figure, words can barely describe it. Figure had become easy to me, it wasn't a challenge. Sure, I always had to work on my physique, try to look better each competition, but I knew what to expect each time, there was not much of a challenge.

This was a big challenge, the posing (real posing, not just "model" turns"), flexing, a routine to music. And it's odd, but I moved up in the hierarchy! Not something I intended to do, it just happens I guess.

Bikini is at the bottom, then Figure, Women's Physique and then Bodybuilding. Many women look at each as a step up, you add more muscle and move up the ranks. Now not everyone wants to move up, I have no desire to be a Bodybuilder or as big as one, and many women have no desire to be a Physique competitor, but they all know how much more work it takes to get there, they respect that.

Some of the women, women I have known from previous competitions, would look at me in awe and ask how it felt to be a Physique Competitor! There are not many of us you know! Below are pictures of my class. Class "A" which is up to and including 5' 6". No age group. I felt very proud to have come in 3rd, especially considering I am old enough to be the mother of most of the gals I am standing next to! 

Unlike Figure and Bikini, where they compare and also judge individually, they only line us up together, to compare us all, we never pose on our own, that is reserved for the posing routine at night, and it's purely for entertainment. 

The mandatory poses are Front Double Biceps, Side Chest, Back Double Biceps, Side Triceps, and Ab/ Thigh. The head judge calls them out and we pose, it's hard, you need to be sure everything is flexed and showing at it's best, it takes a great deal of practice. I had fun as we would pose I could see the other gals out of the corner of my eye, and we would each flex harder and harder. 

 You can see how much more muscle we all carry if you compared us to a Figure competitor. These gals here are ripped! (Oh! I'm one of them!)

My absolute favorite part was my posing routine a the evening show. I had so much fun performing it. I had the music mixed by Mastermindz Productions and the routine was choreographed by Michelle Brent. Michelle has been a Bodybuilder for 26 years and she has a protein cookie business too! Both my music and routine were upbeat, fun, and entertaining. I am not overly fond of slow routines, but super fast would be hard to perform in a depleted state, so I think I had a happy medium.

Here is a Youtube of my routine, crank up the music! (Email subscribers will need to navigate directly to the blog link at the top to view the video).

Here is a link to all my photos from my Facebook  album.  You do not need to have a Facebook account to view these. Click on the first picture to make them all larger and click on through. You will see my day as it progressed  Sakura (in a red suit) is in many of them.

If you have any questions, ask away! I have so much to tell to recount the fabulous time I had with my friend Sakura and other women I met and interacted with along the way. I hope to find some time to write in the near future  until then, enjoy the pictures! 

Women's Physique or Bodybuilding

Many people don't see the difference: "All y'all have way too many muscles!" I have heard. Well, there is a huge difference between Bodybuilders and Women's Physique competitors and I have found a couple videos for you to watch that will enable you to immediately see the differences. 

Email subscribers will need to navigate to the blog (Dad- that means you, I want you to see the difference!)

Here we see a female Bodybuilder performing her routine. This is Lisa Giesbrecht.





Lisa looks great- but this is not what I will be doing, not what I want to do, not how I want to look and frankly, I don't think I ever could look like this. She has some major muscle there!

Notice the "separation", the muscles all have distinct outlines, not one big smooth muscle, but you see each individual one clearly. The body looks "hard", there is no layer of fat covering the muscles.

Below is a "pose down" of three Women's Physique competitors, they are "pro's" so they can compete for money. Although they can win cash prizes, the amounts are minute, nothing really, you can spend more than what is awarded for the first prize on one posing suit. 

A pose down is where they will have the top three vie for the audience approval and create a little fun and excitement, only one will be the first place winner! This is standard "bodybuilding" showmanship.



You can clearly see that these women demonstrate a more "feminine" look, less androgynous, less muscular, more body fat, less muscle separation, their bodies are not as "hard". Although they carry a lot of muscle, much more than your average woman, and more than the typical Figure competitor, I think they have as close to the "ideal physique" as I could ever imagine wanting! 

As you can see, the Women's Physique look is that of a slightly more muscular Figure competitor, and there is the individual dance or posing routine that must be performed of course. In Figure you stand there....in those darn heels just smiling and looking pretty!