NPC Fitness Spotlight for October 2011: Amanda Hatfield

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight belongs to someon who has returned to the scene after being away from the fitness scene since 2004, Amanda Hatfield!

Photo credit: Fitness Rx

Looking at the picture above, some of you think you might have seen her before. If you were following this sport around 2004-2005, chances are you have. She used to go by the name Amanda Swallow. She was ALL OVER the paysites with her explosive biceps and overall muscularity. She was doing exceptionally well during her first run, then out of nowhere, she disappered, not to be seen until now.

With a new name in Amanda Hatfield, she didn't waste any time in making a name for herself in the fitness division. In her first show back from a five-year hiatus, she won first place at the NPC Julie Palmer Ultimate Showdown this past June in Toledo, Ohio and qualifying to compete in Fitness Nationals at Team Universe, where she claimed fifth in the short class. She recently competed in the North Americans, where she won her class and ALMOST won her pro card that night as well. She did more than just win her class at the NAs, she she restored her status as one of the division’s top contenders, and she's currently on Kriv Studios and HDPhysiques, with her biceps as impressive as ever. Expect more sites to feature her and quite possibly a pro card in the VERY near future. I think I can speak for everyone when I say...WELCOME BACK AMANDA!!!

Photo credit: Fitness Rx

COMPETITION HISTORY (as Amanda Hatfield)

1st Place Short Class-North Americans 2011
5th Place Short Class-Team Universe 2011
1st Place-Julie Palmer Ultimate Showdown

NPC Fitness Spotlight for September 2011: Babette Mulford

The NPC Fitness Spotlight for September 2011 belongs to Babette Mulford!

Photo credit: FitnessRx

Babette is an NPC Fitness Competitor from Iowa. She was, as most competitors were back in their days as a child, and active person, doing water ski, soccer, track, flaggirl, and cheerleading, among other things. Prior to becoming a fitness competitor, she competed in figure and bodybuilding. In fact, she started out as a bodybuilder (as it was the only thing offered for her at the time), then she went into fitness, then did figure for a while (as well as a few marathons) and now she's back home in fitness. Her journey started when she was part of a dance team and danced at an intermission of an area bodybuilding competition. She stayed after the intermission and totally fell in love with the sport. Her love has transformed into a lifestyle that has seen her place very well in several competitions, as she strives to one day become an IFBB Fitness Pro.

Photo credit: FitnessRx

COMPETITION HISTORY
2011 IFBB North American Championships 3rd
2011 NPC Team Universe & National Fitness Championships 6th
2010 NPC Junior USA Championships 1st
2010 NPC Team Universe & National Fitness Championships 4th
2010 NPC Junior National Championships 3rd
2009 NPC Team Universe 6th
2009 IFBB North American Championships 3rd
2009 NPC Junior National Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure Championships 5th
2008 NPC Junior National Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure Championships 5th
2007 NPC National Championships 8th
2007 NPC Junior Nationals Bodybuilding, Fitness And Figure Contest 4th

You can learn more about Babette in an interview she did with Jason Adams of Promoting Real Women at http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2010/12/babette-mulford-interview.html.

NPC Fitness Spotlight for August 2011: Alissa Carpio

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight belongs to Alissa Carpio!

Photo credit: Fitness Rx

Alissa has been a certified personal trainer since 2002. A year after she became a personal trainer, she decided to enter the world of physique competitions. She has went on to compete in fitness, figure, and bodybuilding. She has placed in the top 5 at five national competitions, including a win at the 2010 Jr. USAs in Fitness. Her main goal is to one day earn her pro card in fitness.

In addition to fitness competitions and personal training, she's also a freelance writer for health, fitness, pregnancy, and babies. You can view some of her work on Bodybuilding.com, MAX Sports & Fitness, Pampers.com, Bodysport.com, Fitness & Physique, and Faith and Fitness.

Photo credit: Fitness Rx

COMPETITION HISTORY:
2011 Team Universe, Fitness 6th Place, Class C
2010 NPC Junior, Fitness Tall Class (2nd)
2008 Junior Nationals, Fitness Class C (4th)
2008 Junior USA, Fitness Class C (1st)
2008 NPC Pittsburgh, Fitness (3rd)
2007 NPC National Fitness Championship, 6th Tall
2007 NPC Maryland Grand Prix, Overall Women's Bodybuilding
2006 NPC Team Universe Championship, 8th - Fitness Tall
2005 NPC National Fitness Championship, 3rd Tall
2005 OCB Battle of Blacksburg, 1st - Women's Novice, 2nd - Open
2005 NPC Junior USA Championship, 1st - Fitness Tall
2005 NPC Pittsburgh Championship, 1st - Fitness Tall
2004 NPC VA/DC State Championship, Overall Fitness
2004 NPC Bethany Howlett Classic, Overall Fitness
2004 NPC Tournament of Champions, 1st - Figure Tall
2004 NPC BodyRock & Monica Brant, Overall Fitness

For more on Alissa, visit her website at http://www.alissa.net/.

Jenny Worth Returns to Her Roots This Weekend!

For those attending the NPC Southern States Championships this weekend (July 8-9) are in for one heck of a treat. Jenny Worth will be guest performing at the show! For the first time since having her child, she will be back on stage to perform a fitness routine.

According to Jenny, she's doing it for the love of the sport that's made her a star in the first place, women's fitness, and with this performance, she hopes to put women's fitness back on the map and hope to get people talking about Jenny again. During her interview with FitGems Nation earlier this year, she mentioned that she wouldn't mind returning to compete when she felt the time was right. Could this guest appearance be the beginning of a comeback for the 2001 Fitness International champion? I wouldn't put it past her, as many people have said that she's among the best to never win the Fitness Olympia title. That will remain to be see whether she returns to competition, but it will be great for those attending the Southern States to see an IFBB Fitness legend on stage.

The show will start at 7PM Eastern time, with her appearance taking place around 9pm July 8th. Below is the location of the show and where and who to contact for tickets and more information about the Southern States:
WAR MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM
800 NE 8th Street
FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
TICKETS AND INFO: contact
PETER W. POTTER, USA SPORTS PROMOTIONS OF FL
phone: 954.763.2718 - email: usasports@juno.com

We wish Jenny the best of luck in her return to the stage and hopes this could lead to bigger things in the future! For more on Jenny, visit her website at http://www.jennyworthfitness.com and visit her Yahoo fan club at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jenny_worth, and "like" Jenny Worth Fitness on Facebook.

NPC Fitness Spotlight for July 2011: Jennifer Bishop-Kernaghan

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight was chosen from the Facebook fan page, Jennifer Bishop-Kerneghan!

Photo credit: FitnessRx

Jennifer is a NPC figure turned fitness competitor from Mississippi. Sdisplayed a penchant for ambition and She began entering and won quite a bit of beauty pageants near her home in Mississippi. But she wanted to expand her horizons, so she decided to move to Jupiter, Florida. It was then that her life would change forever.

Jennifer went into in the mortgage industry but found out quick that she didn't want to do that for the rest of her life. Out of nowhere, she applied for a position at a gym in Jupiter and quickly realized her passion: health and fitness. She started as an aerobics and spin instructor and quickly moved into full-time personal training.
She began to get attention from the gym-goers there, and after some talks here and there, it was clear that she was destined to compete in physique competitions. She has dabbled in a few figure shows, but most of her career has been in fitness competitions. She has competed in quite a few fitness shows, with her recent show (Jr. Nationals) placed 4th. Each competition moves her one step closer to every National competitors dream: becoming an IFBB Pro.

Photo credit: FitnessRx

COMPETITION HISTORY

2011
Jr. Nationals- 4th Place Class C

2010
Fitness Team Universe - 6th Place
Fitness Jr. Nationals - 9th Place
West Palm Beach Anna Level - 1st Place Fitness Medium and Overall Winner
Diamond Classic - 1st Place Open and 2nd Place Over 30

2007
Sunshine Classic - Fitness Overall Winner and 2nd Place Figure

2006
Sunshine Classic Fitness - Fitness Overall Winner and 2nd Place Figure

2004
Florida State Figure - 5th Place

2003
Gold Cup Figure - 3rd Place

For more on Jennifer, visit her website at http://www.jlfit.com/.

NPC Fitness Spotlight for June 2011: Lishia Dean

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight belongs to Lishia Dean!

Photo credit: Fitness Rx Magazine

Lishia Dean is a fitness competitor from Greensboro, North Carolina. She's been part of the fitness industry most of her life, whether it be competing, or being a personal trainer, or being a powerlifter. Somehow, someway, Lishia has seemingly always dedicated her life to fitness.

Her journey began when she took a group exercise class for a PE course at Western Carolina University. She became certified to teach and was promoted to the Coordinator and went on to be certified in Personal Training. After graduating college, she started to do some powerlifting, and did pretty well for herself, as she reached a deadlift max of 370lbs raw at a weight of 139lbs in 2004. So yes, she's one of those competitors who really IS as strong as she looks. That same year , she decided to compete in her first fitness competition, the Elite Muscle Classic, and would win the Overall there. Two weeks later, she was part of the NPC Nationals in Dallas, TX. From that point forward, she's been competing in NPC Fitness hoping to one day get her pro card.

Her personal journey to one day be part of the IFBB has allowed her to help many people along the way. She was a Wellness Director at the YMCAs for a number of years in NC and FL, as well as venturing out as far as Canada and Australia. With her dance background, she has been able to help choreograph routines for many competitors, pro and amateur. With her accomplishments thus far, it seems like the next logical thing for her is to finally get that pro card and take her talents to the pro stage.

Photo credit: Muscular Development

COMPETITIVE HISTORY:

2011
Jr. USAs: Fitness Class B (2nd)

2010
Team Universe: Fitness Medium (3rd)
Jr National Championships: Fitness Class B (4th)

2008
Team Universe: Fitness: Medium (3rd)
Junior Nationals Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure Championships: Fitness: Class B (2nd)
Junior USA: Fitness Class B (4th)

2007
National Bodybuilding & Fitness Championships: Fitness Class B (3rd)
Team Universe Bodybuilding & Fitness Championships: Fitness Class B (5th)
Junior National Bodybuilding, Figure & Fitness Championships: Fitness Class B (3rd)

2004
National Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure Championship: Fitness: Medium (10th)

For more on Lishia, go to her website at http://www.lishiadean.com/.

NPC Fitness Spotlight for April 2011: Meredith Miller

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight belongs to Meredith Miller!

Photo Credit: Muscular Development

Meredith Miller is a fitness competitor from Ohio. Like many competitors, she works a very active job. She is a competitive gymnastics coach for Integrity Gymnastics in Plain City, Ohio, and also dopes personal training on the side. She loves dogs, in fact she has two dogs by the name of Pudd and Elvis. At times, they would actually sleep on the bed while she would sleep on the couch! No, I'm not making this up!

With her physique, she could have easily done figure, but chose to go the fitness route mainly due to her gymnastic background and her love for performing on stage. She's an international competitive gymnast.

Meredith has consistently placed in the top 3 in her National competitions thus far, with a top five finish at the Arnold Amateur this year. It wouldn't surprise us to see her nail that coveted pro card and compete with the elite ladies of the IFBB.

Photo credit: Fitness Rx Magazine

COMPETITIVE HISTORY

2011 Arnold Amateur, Fitness Tall Class (5th)
2010 IFBB North American Championships, Fitness Class B - Fitness (2nd)
2010 Team Universe, Fitness Tall (3rd)
2010 Jr National Championships, Fitness Class C (3rd)
2009 Arnold Amateur, Fitness Med Class
2007 NPC Ohio State Overall Fitness Champion

For more on Meredith, check out her interview with Physiqueness here.

2011 Arnold Amateur Fitness Results

Congrats to all the fitness competitors at the Arnold Amateur this past weekend! Diana Alemida was your overall Arnold Amateur fitness champion (winner of short class), while Aguiar Fernandez won the tall class. Here are the full results for them:

2011 Arnold Amateur Fitness Results

Short Class

1. Diana Alemida - Overall
2. Guryeva Olga
3. Paula Williams-Gulman
4. Shalimar Wilder
5. Samantha Kinnish
6. Maria Laura Cervelli
7. Stephanie Yu
8. Gloria Mohninger
9. Toni Wheeler

Tall Class

1. Aguiar Fernandez
2. Czine Szilvia
3. Dvortsova Tatiana
4. Jayla McDermott
5. Meredith Miller
6. Tiina Kasvi
7. Valeria Cristiane Aprobato
8. Angela Beavers

2011 Arnold Amateur Competitors List (Fitness Division)

The 2011 Arnold Amateur list has been released. Here's the list of fitness competitors that will compete at the Arnold Amateur. There are 10 competitors in the short class and eight competitors in the tall class. Congrats to everyone that's on the list (in ALL divisions)! :)

Fitness Short Class (10)
Diana Paula Monteiro Noronha de Alemida (Brazil)
Maria Laura Cervelli (Argentina)
Samantha Kinnish (Australia)
Gloria Mohninger (Calgary, Canada)
Guryeva Olga (Russia)
Dawn Scholey (United Kingdom)
Stephanie Yu (Rochester Hills, Mich.)
Toni Wheeler (Morehead, Ky.)
Shalimar Wilder (Charleston, W.V.)
Paula Williams-Gulman (Hayden Lake, Idaho)

Fitness Tall Class (8)
Valeria Cristiane Aprobato (Brazil)
Angela Beavers (Smyrna, Ga.)
Tiina Kasvi (Finland)
Jayla McDermott (Trophy Club, Texas)
Meredith Miller (Westerville, Ohio)
Deborah Sizemore (Charleston, W.V.)
Czine Szilvia (Hungary)
Dvortsova Tatiana (Russia)

NPC Fitness Spotlight for February 2011: Shelly Howard

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight goes to figure competitor turned fitness competitor, Shelly Howard!

Photo credit: Muscular Development

Shelly is one of those individuals who lives and breathes the fitness lifestyle. In 1992, she began helping overweight individuals pass their Physical Readiness Tests (PRT) while serving in the U.S. Navy. After 4 years in the Navy, she ended up becoming a personal trainer at Gold's Gym Hawaii. After marriage, she was hired as Fitness Specialist at the Naval Hospital, where she helped active duty and post-rehab patients get back on the road to fitness after injury or illness.

When she moved to Japan for a while, that's when the fitness bug kicked in. She's one of the few competitors to have competed in fitness, figure, AND women's bodybuilding. In addition to competing, she's a personal trainer and fitness coach. She's also coached a few figure competitors here and there as well. She's recently returned to fitness after competing in figure for a while. Fitness is where she can showcase her physique a bit better, as she tends to come in a bit harder than what is preferred in figure these days. Should she continue to stay in fitness, expect her to make a major run in attaining that exclusive pro card that few have been able to earn.

Photo credit: Muscular Development

COMPETITION HISTORY
2010 4th Place Fitness, Class B, IFBB North Americans
2010 2nd Place Fitness Over 5'3", 3rd Place Masters Figure 40+ Tall, Emerald Cup

2009 10th place Figure Class F, 3rd Place Masters Figure, Class D, IFBB North Americans

2008 6th place Tall Class, NPC Nationals, Atlanta GA
2008 4th place Tall Class, NPC Jr USAs, Charleston SC
2008 1st place Tall Class, NPC Metrolina

2007 Figure Nationals, New York, tied for 16th
2007 Jr Nationals, Chicago, IL, tied for 16th

2005 3rd place Masters Figure Tall, North Americans, Cleveland OH
2005 5th place Figure Tall, Body Rock, Fairfax VA

2004 8th place Figure Tall, North Americans, Cleveland OH
2004 11th place Figure Tall, Junior Nationals, Chicago IL

2003 5th place Figure Tall, Sacramento Championships, Sacramento CA

2002 5th place Figure Tall, Emerald Cup, Bellevue WA

2001 1st place Fitness Tall and Overall, Okinawa Japan

2000 2nd place Bodybuilding, Okinawa Japan

1999 Top 15, Galaxy Competition, Venice Beach CA
1999 Bodybuilding, Springdale MD

1996 Galaxy Competition, Venice Beach CA

For more on Shelly, visit her website at http://www.trainingbyshelly.com/index.htm.

Fitness Week Kicks Off on Promoting Real Women Blog/Fan Page

Today began Fitness Week at the Promoting Women fan page and blog. Big ups to Jason Adams on creating this special week, as the fitness division is one of the most exciting parts about this business and they deserve as much recognition as they can get.

Jason kicked it off in a big way with an interview with the one and only Carol Semple:
http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2011/01/carol-semple-interview.html

Seriously, how big is that to get a former Fitness Olympia champion to kick off Fitness Week?! :)

He also posted a poem by fitness competitor Babette Mulford:
http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2011/01/poem-by-babette-mullford.html


To close out Day One, he posted a You Asked It segment with one of the youngest and most talented IFBB Fitness Pros in the world today, Victoria Larvie:
http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-asked-it-with-victoria-larvie.html

If you haven't join his fan page and are following his blog, you might need to start doing that. As I've mentioned in the past, Jason's a great person to know and is one of the guys who truly respects this industry. If you think the kickoff of Fitness Week was impressive, just wait until you see what happens over the next six days. You might get a special treat from yours truly "Hint Hint".

Anyways, hope you all enjoy Fitness Week on Promoting Real Women!!

NPC Fitness Spotlight for January 2011: Paula Williams-Gulman

The first NPC Fitness Spotlight of 2011 goes to Paula Williams-Gulman!

Photo credit: Bodybuilding.com

Paula is among one of the must muscular fitness competitors in the NPC right now. Her muscle maturity is nearly second-to-none in the sport, which has helped her out in her fitness routines. Showing off her biceps has become somewhat of a trademark in her routines as of late. Her muscle maturity should come as no surprise as she's been competing and being a fitness instructor and personal trainer for 15 years. She was part of the Ms. Fitness USA federation for 10 years, and then moved to the NPC and has competed for 5 years. This year will be her sixth year in the NPC, as she aims to earn her pro card and join the IFBB elite.

In addition to being a NPC Fitness Competitor (as well as a Judge), she's a wife and mother of two girls, a PTA member, a soccer mom, a small business owner (She runs Paula's Personal Training) and a dog lover.

In 2010, she came ever so close to getting her pro card, placing in the top 3 at the Jr. Nationals and North Americans, and winning a couple of shows in the process. 2011 might be the year for the self-proclaimed "Firecracker" of the NPC Fitness Division.

For more on Paula, visit her website at http://www.paulaspersonaltraining.com/.

Photo credit: Muscular Development

COMPETITION HISTORY:
2010 IFBB North Americas-3rd
2010 NPC Junior Nationals-6th
2009 NPC Junior Nationals-9th
2009 NPC Jr. USAs-3rd
2008 NPC Team Universe Fitness-5th
2008 NPC Northern Classic-1st Figure Masters, 2nd Fitness
2008 NPC Junior Nationals-3rd
2008 NPC Bill Pearl High Desert Classic-1st
2008 NPC Empire Classic-1st
2008 NPC Emerald Cup-1st, 5'3 and Under Fitness, 4th Masters Over 35 Figure
2008 NPC Vancouver USA Natural Classic-5th Figure Short, 2nd Fitness
2007 NPC Emerald Cup-5th Figure

Jason Adams to Dedicate Blog/Fan Page to Fitness Division in January

For one week in January, Jason Adams, founder of the Promoting Real Women blog (http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com) and fan page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Promoting-Women-In-Bodybuilding-Fitness-and-MMA/112681648755406), will dedicate his blog and fan page solely to the NPC/IFBB Fitness division.

As part of this special occasion, he will be doing a section on his blog called You Asked It, with IFBB Fitness competitor Victoria Larvie. You Asked It is a section in Jason's blog where you get to ask competitors questions and they will respond back with their answers to them.

So for all fitness competitors, If you have some ideas for Fitness Week on Promoting Real Women or want to be involved in some way, shape, form, or fashion, please let Jason know by adding him to Facebook under Jason Adams or emailing him at elway78@netzero.com.

I'll be letting you know more details about Fitness Week on Promoting Real Women in the coming days.

NPC Fitness Spotlight for December 2010: Lena Squarciafico-Mishin

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight belongs to one of the top fitness stars in the country right now, Lena Squarciafico-Mishin!

Photo credit: Muscular Development

Lena's an amateur competitor from New York (Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY now living in Long Island). She's been in competitive gymnastics since the age of 11. Like a good deal of fitness competitors, she was into competing in many sports and staying fit. After retiring from competition, she decided to coached part time and played around in the gym with her students.

In November 2002, she was convinced by a friend at work into joining a gym in order to break up the work day and relieve some stress. Lena headed straight to the weight room. As she started to lift,  her body responded very quickly and developed fast. Her muscle began to explode like crazy, and then she made that decision to compete.

Up to this point, Lena has done it all in the female muscle industry. She's competed in bodybuilding, fitness, and figure competitions. She loves to show off her physique and routines, whether it's on stage, webcam, or paysite, Lena has developed quite a fanbase. With her incredible muscularity, figure didn't seem like the ideal competition for her, as she would place low in the figure events. She's also gave a try at bodybuilding as well. However, it seems like fitness could be her calling. In 2010, she had one heck of a breakout year, as she won her class a couple of times and only a point or two shy of becoming a pro this year. With 2011 just around the corner, you can rest assure that Lena will be aiming to get that pro card that she rightfully deserves. And with her success in fitness these days, it seems to be that NPC fitness will be her ticket to IFBB stardom.

Photo credit: Muscular Development

COMPETITION HISTORY:


2004 - (March) NY Metropolitans - 1st Place Fitness and Figure (Tall class)
2004 - (June) Atlantic States - 2nd Place Fitness 3rd Place Figure (Tall class)
2004 - (July) Body Rock - 2nd Place Fitness (Tall class)
2004 - (July) Kim Klein Empire States - 1st Place Figure, Fitness (tall class) and 1st Place Heavy weight Bodybuilding
2004 (August) Team Universe (Figure Nationals) 11th Place (class E)
2004 (September) North American Championships (National Show) - 3rd
Place Figure Masters - 10th Place Figure open.
2004 (November) Eastern USA - 1st Place Fitness and Figure (Tall class)
2007 NPC Junior Nationals Bodybuilding, Fitness And Figure Contest-3rd
2007 NPC Team Universe Bodybuilding, Fitness And Figure Championships-8th
2008 NPC Junior National Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure Championships-6th
2009 NPC Team Universe-3rd
2010 Team Universe,Fitness Tall-5th
2010 NPC Junior USA Bodybuilding Championships, Fitness Tall Class-1st
2010 IFBB North American Championships, Fitness B-1st

Changes to IFBB and NPC Fitness

There are some changes being made into the fitness division beginning for the IFBB in a few short weeks for the NPC next year. Personally I think they are for the better, and I'll explain why below the official advisory notes (from IFBBPro.com)

 CHANGES TO NPC FITNESS:
Beginning in 2011, the emphasis in Women’s Fitness will be the fitness routine and will be scored as 1/3 on Physique/2-Piece Swimsuit and 2/3 on the 2 Minute Fitness Routine. The 2 Minute Fitness Routine scores will be doubled. The mandatory movements within the routine, in no specific order, in Women’s Fitness are as follows:


* Push Up (of any kind)
* High Kicks
* Straddle Hold
* Side Split


The Physique/2-Piece Swimsuit round will be judged during prejudging and the 2 Minute Fitness Routine will be performed and scored during finals. It is suggested that finals begin with the 2 Minute Fitness Routine.


All trophies should be awarded to Fitness athletes in their routine outfits.


The Overall comparison will happen immediately after all awards for each height class are given out.


For the Overall comparison, Fitness athletes will be judged wearing their routine outfits. 

Source: http://www.npcnewsonline.com/news_2010BOGnotes.cfm

Honestly, I think it's great that the fitness division has mandatory moves again and I also agree that the majority of the fitness judging needs to be from the routine, yet it doesn't make the physique round seems unneeded at the same time. Having a routine is a major part of fitness, so having it count more makes a lot of sense. Bottom line, you can have a VERY nice physique, but if you're routine isn't up to snuff, you could be on the outside of the top 5 easy. We'll see this take affect at the Ft. Lauderdale Cup on November 20th and in the NPC next year.

Good luck to all fitness competitors with these new changes! :)

NPC Fitness Spotlight for November 2010: Viko Newman

Save Women's Fitness Now is kicking off our monthly NPC Fitness Spotlight with someone who I feel will be a future IFBB Fitness Pro: Viko Newman!

Photo credit: Muscular Development

Viko is a NPC Fitness Competitor from Olympia, Washington. In 1983 after her high school graduation, she went to live with her father in Japan for a while. For those wondering, yes, she is of Japanese decent. She met my husband Mark there who was in the US Air Force, who taught her how to work out. She was training in a gym on base with all guys. Being the only female, she was taught how to lift heavy and eat heavy int he process. I was soon squatting 200 and benching 145. She was a pretty strong individual at the time (she still is, but in a different way) After gaining a good deal of weight (not all of it was muscle), she decided that the look was not her thing and decided to find a way to obtain a "fitness" look. Needless to say, that look was better for her in the long run.

She started to compete when she turned 30 years old. Hey, you're never too old to start, as long as you are committed. She entered a local fitness show in Florida and won in fitness and in bodybuilding, in addition to wining in benching the most reps with ½ my weight. For that, she did 93 reps with 60 lbs! 2nd place girl only got 71 reps! From there, it was the beginning of more and more shows.

In her quest to becoming a pro, she is a part of IFBB Pro Tanji Johnson's Save Fitness team, which Tanji put together to help reignite the fitness division. With Tanji by her side, and the constant improvements that Viko has been making on her routines and physique, it's only a matter of time before Viko gets that rightful IFBB Pro card and compete with her idols. Who knows, we might see the teacher and the pupil share the stage at a future Arnold and Olympia soon!

Photo credit: Muscular Development

COMPETITION HISTORY:

• 2010 NPC Junior USA Bodybuilding Championships, Fitness Medium Class (3rd)
• 2010 Team Universe, Fitness Medium (5th)
• 2010 Emerald Cup, Figure: 5'3" to 5'4" (4th), Overall Fitness Winner, Fitness > 5'3" (1st)
• 2009 Team Universe, Fitness Medium Class (5th)
• 2009 Washington State, Figure Overall, Fitness (1st), Figure Short Class (1st)
• 2007 Emerald Cup, Fitness Class B (2nd), Figure Class C (4th)

For more on Viko, check out her interview with World Physique at http://www.worldphysique.com/vikonewmaninterview.html?reloaded=true

IFBB/NPC Fitness Competitor Monthly Spotlights Coming Next Month

On the first Monday of each month, beginning in November, I'll be highlighting a fitness competitor from the IFBB as well as the NPC. They can be competitors from the past or present. I'm hoping to try and highlight as many fitness competitors as I possibly can. This was supposed to have started last month, but didn't happen due to personal reasons, and I apologize for that.

The first IFBB and NPC Fitness Competitor Monthly Spotlights will be revealed on Monday, November 1. If you have any suggestions on who I should spotlight for in the future, please email me at save_fitness@yahoo.com with your recommendations, or leave me a comment below.

Stacy Wright Interview with Promoting Real Women

As you all know, NPC Fitness competitor Stacy Wright competed in the 2010 Jr. Nationals and placed 2nd in her class, just one place shy of a pro card. She was interviewed by a great supporter of fitness (as well as the entire female muscle industry), Jason Adams. He runs am amazing blog site called Promoting Real Women. I would highly suggest you bookmark his website and ladies, if you haven't done it yet, I would schedule to do an interview with him.

For Stacy's interview, go to http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2010/06/stacy-wright-interview.html. For the Promoting Real Women blog, go to http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com.

2010 Jr. National Fitness Results

This weekend was the 2010 Jr. Nationals, where 11 pros were crowned for fitness, figure, and bikini. There were three classes for fitness, and all the class winners became IFBB pros! Debbie Fowler (Fitness Short), Michelle Blank (Fitness Medium), and Autumn Edwards (Fitness Tall) won their respective fitness classes, with Autumn as your overall fitness champion. Here's the results of the event:

Overall
1. Autumn Edwards

Class A
1. Debbie Fowler  (New IFBB Pro)
2. Sandra Augustin
3. Babette Mulford
4. Amy Peterson
5. Tracy Winters
6. Paula Williams-Gulman
7. Sara Bankemper
8. Tracie Soder

Class B
1. Michelle Blank (New IFBB Pro)
2. Rachel Johnson
3. Cinzia Clapp
4. Lisha Dean
5. Michelle Yeager
6. Kristine Koontz
7. Leigh Ann Yeager
8. Danielle Delikat
9. Jennifer Bishop

Class C
1. Autumn Edwards (New IFBB Pro)
2. Stacy Wright
3. Meredith Miller
4. Tamee Marie
5. Sandra Fields
6. Heather Skaar

In addition, a HUGE congrats to Save Fitness Now contributor Stacy Wright on placing 2nd in the Fitness Tall class. Stacy has shown us her journey via the Save Fitness Now blog, and we hope she continues to share more fitness tip and discussion with us for the foreseeable future.

Personally, I'd thought the numbers were great this year for the Jr. Nationals. Next time the fitness competitors get to shine will be July 9-10 at the Team Universe, where the top 2 women in each fitness class will become IFBB Fitness Pros!

Congrats to all the fitness competitors that competed this past weekend, as well as all the competitors in the other divisions! :)

Fitness CAN return to Masters Nationals with YOUR HELP!

Help is SORELY needed!

Siouxcountry and FitGems Nation member Leslie Thompson needs your help in getting fitness back to the Masters Natiionals. She needs 10 committed ladies to pull this off. For those wondering, the Masters Nationals will be on July 23-24, 2010, but she needs an answer as soon as THIS SATURDAY if you can. Here's what she had to say on Siouxcounty:

Please help if you know of any Masters figure girls that want to try fitness or any Fitness girls that are over 35! This could be a huge step in getting us another pro qualifier back !

OH and remember there are no more Mandatory moves you have to do anymore! So if you have a dance background, or martial arts or are just strong or flexible there are all kinds of women and routines that will do well now!

If you are interested please do not hesitate, shoot me a mail at Lann1011@yahoo.com.

If you want to discuss it with Leslie, you can do so via her email (above), or via Siouxcounty. She goes by the name lann1011.