Cheerleading competitions for potential fitness competitors?

This has been brought up a few times, so I'd thought I'd bring it up here. How many of you have looked into high school/college cheerleading competitions to recruit potential fitness competitors? The numbers have increased in cheerleading big time, and weight-training has become more of a staple for cheerleading than ever before. From what I've seen personally, some cheerleaders wouldn't look out of place whatsoever in a fitness show. What are YOUR thoughts on looking at cheerleading competitions for potential fitness competitors?

Fitness Week on Promoting Real Women Blog/Fan Page (Day 2)

Blog by LeslieRae Newton called Sacrifice:
http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2011/01/sacrafice-by-ifbb-pro-leslierae-newton.html

Stacy Wright films a short video:
http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2011/01/stacy-wright-fitness-week-video.html

Blog by Debbie Fowler titled Fitness At Any Age:
http://promotingwomen.blogspot.com/2011/01/fitness-at-any-age-by-ifbb-pro-debbie.html

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!!

Pledge for Pushups (Stacy Wright's Fundraiser)

Stacy's going to be "pleding for pushups" to raise money for the 2011 season!
Photo credit: Muscular Development

To help raise money for the 2011 competition season (her first as an pro fitness competitor), IFBB Pro Stacy Wright has created her own fundraiser, by pledging for pushups! She's challenging herself to see how many pushups she can do, and you out there can pledge any amount per pledge. 10 cents per pushup, 10 dollars per pushup, 50 dollars per pushup...whatever you can pledge will do. This is definitely one way to put the FUN in FUNdraising.

My hats off to Stacy for coming up with a unique way to not only get money to compete, but to establish herself as someone who's willing to go the extra mile to make a name for herself and stand out. 

To get involved please email Stacy at Stacy@StacyWright.net with your pledges! She will be post the final pushup video on her website blog. When that happens, we'll let you all know when that will take place.

Good luck to you, Stacy!

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.