Fitness Week on Promoting Real Women (Day 3)

Jennifer Nash interview:
http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2011/01/jennifer-nash-interview.html

Tips on Choreographing A Routine by Viko Newman:
http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2011/01/tips-on-choreographing-routine-by-viko.html

Also on the Promoting Real Women fan page, Jason has posted several Youtube videos of several competitors from the past and present of women's fitness. 

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!!

SAY HUH?!?! Less Pro Fitness Shows than Bodybuilding in 2011?!

he official schedule has not been released yet for 2011, but as far as things go for 2011, fitness might have a smaller presence in 2011 than in 2010 and in previous years. There's been a pretty lengthy discussion on Siouxcountry about this.

The shows that will take place next year are:
Fitness International (invite only)
New York Pro Fitness (open to anyone)
Canada show
Germany show
Olympia (invite only)
Chicago (open to anyone but qualifies for 2012)
Ft Lauderdale (open to anyone but qualifies for 2012)

So for Americans, your options are far less than they've ever been,unless you want to travel to Canada or Germany. IFBB Fitness competitors, if you don't want your sport to die out, I'd suggest you come out in big numbers at these shows. For most of you, the only main option is the New York Pro Fitness. As I've said over and over and over, I LOVE the fitness division to death. This division is what led me to the complete world of female muscle in the first place.

I can preach about this all day, but it doesn't mean a thing unless you stand up for your own division and compete! Promoters put out a lot of money to run shows, and when few enter to compete, the promoters feel like they wasted their money. That's a big reason why the Phoenix Pro (among others) will NOT be bringing back fitness next year; it's not worth the time. PLEASE prove them wrong and come out in strong numbers at the next few shows.

The fans and supporters of this division can only do so much. They are stepping up and standing up for the fitness division; it's time for the competitors to do the same...while they have a division to compete in.

Liza Hughes Speaks Out on Bodysport

Liza Hughes speaks on where the fitness competitors are. I'd highly advice you to read the article in full:

BodySport Article: "Where Are All The Fitness Pro's"

The entire article is definitely a must-read, but this line definitely hit home "It starts with leadership and ends with teamwork." Fitness competitors support the heck out of each other. It's apparent in Siouxcountry, it's apparent at pro/amateaur shows. Now it's time that that love, respect, and support back to them. If there are those willing to keep fitness alive, it's only right that we do our part.

List ways you can think of to help fitness strive in the comments below.

IFBB Fitness NXT?!

On Siouxcountry's Let's Save Fitness board, I brought up a suggestion on the board that I would like to share with all of you.

For those that don't know, I'm a HUGE fan of wrestling, and I'm hooked on their new show WWE NXT, where 8 "pros" are teaching 8 "rookies" the ways of the trade in WWE. It's actually not a bad show.

While I was watching it, I was wondering...what if some of the ladies did something similar to that, but, of course, tailor it to the fitness world. Take a NPC competitor or any female that wants to be a fitness competitor or even THINKS she wants to be a fitness competitor one day, and have them being taken under their wing by a IFBB Fitness Pro. Yeah, I'm aware of teams and support groups out there right now, such as Jacked Up Divas, Team Brownie, Performance Ready, etc. But here me out on this one.

For example, let's take about 10 IFBB Fitness Competitors (Pros) and 8 NPC competitors or women who would like to be fitness competitors that are NOT in any federation (Rookies). Show them what the fitness division is about, have them live together, train together, for about 16-18 weeks or so (estimated time). In between those times, they meet with other "Pros" and "Rookies" and be evaluated from time to time. After the 16-18 week training period, all the "Rookies" will compete amongst each other in a fitness competition. The winner would either a) qualify for NPC Nationals to get a pro card or b) go on to get a pro card and get an invite to the Arnold on the following year. Personally, I don't know which of the two options would be better would be better.

This is nothing more than a mere though I had, so feel free to chime in on your thoughts? Could this be something that can help boost the division and bring forth new blood to IFBB and NPC fitness? Sound off in the comments below.

To ALL Fitness Competitors...Let Your Voice Be Heard

As mentioned earlier, Save Fitness Now was created to help reignite the flame of the NPC/IFBB fitness division. Now, I'm calling for any and ALL fitness competitors to speak up. Let your voices be heard by becoming a writer for Save Fitness Now. You can submit writings as little or as much as you want to. This is YOUR platform to help spread the word about women's fitness and get it back to where it was once before. Fans and industry members, if you would like to write in your thoughts about fitness, you can submit them to me as well.

Please send all of your writings to save_fitness@yahoo.com, and put SFN Submission on the Subject line. You can write your submissions on the email or via Microsoft Word and send them to me as an attachment.

Hope to hear from many of you soon. Let's keep fitness alive! :)