Black History Spotlight for February 23, 2009-Cassandra Floyd

Believe it or not, Cassandra Floyd has been competing for quite some time now. Her first competition was in 1989, where she competed in the NPC Midsouth Bodybuilding contest. She entered her first national show in 1991, where she competed in the Jr. USAs. She placed thrid in the lightweight division. At that time, she felt like she was too small to compete with the big girls, so she started to compete in different divisions, such as the NGA (National Gym Association) and the WNBF (World Natural Bodybuilding Federation). She would win titles from those divisions before returning to the NPC after not being recognized as a top bodybuilder or model. All the hard work would pay off in 2008, as she earned her IFBB pro card, and will now be competing with the best the world has to offer.

For more on Cassandra, go to http://www.cassandrafloyd.com. (WARNING: This site is intended for adults ONLY!)

Black History Spotlight for February 18, 2009-Kim Perez

Kim Perez is one HUGE female bodybuilder. Known for her massive size, she has gained quite a following in such a short amount of time. Minus her first (and so far only) Arnold Classic in 2007, she had placed in the top ten in each of her pro contest, and in the top three in her contest last year. Many are saying that she could be a top contender for the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia titles one day. With her recent streak of luck, she just might find herself with the big girls sooner rather than later.

I'm unaware of Kim having an official website, but she does have a profile at AMG-Lite which is a cool read: http://www.amg-lite.com/kim_perez/

Black History Spotlight for February 1, 2009-Tanji Johnson

Time to kick off Black History Month with one of the most influential fitness competitors in history, regardless of race...Tanji Johnson!



Tanji has an unbelievable passion for the sport that rivals most people. She's always been an athletic person, competing in track and field and being captain of the dance team in high school. She joined the U.S. Air Force Academy. Those folks don't play! You've got to have what it takes to make it throught the training, and she had it. She ended up graduating from the Academy with a B.S. in Humanities and a comission as an Air Force officer.

She started to compete in 1998, making this year her 11 year in fitness and her eight as a pro. She has competed in numerous Arnold and Olympias, has won two fitness titles so far, and appeared on NBC's American Gladiators as "Stealth". Something tells me we've not seen the last of Tanji, not by a long shot.

For more about Tanji, check out her website at http://www.tanjijohnson.com.

Physique judges are people, too...

I’m about to piss some people off and become a wanted man among some fans and schmoes (and maybe some competitors) for saying this…but at times, I feel bad for the judges of this sport; I really do. Now, I know what you’re thinking…why would you feel sorry for these morons? First and foremost, they are not morons. They are just like you and me. They have to make hard decisions. And for them, they have guidelines they have to follow. To the best of my knowledge, there are people above them that decided the guidelines of the physiques in their federations, and all the judges can do is judge from what they see right in front of them on that day.

I'm not being a kiss-ass to them; I'm just stating the obvious. Am I saying that all judges are fair? ABSOLUTELY NOT! In life, you’re gonna have those corrupt people in everything, but there’s not as many as one might think. But in all things, it’s the bad that overshadows the good in any sport, event, or job in the eyes of the average person. And judges are not immune to this. I don’t know how they are individually, but when you talk about judges as a whole, at times they are like Rodney Dangerfield; they get no respect, and that’s just wrong.

To the competitors out there who are blaming the judges for their placements, could you think that you might be doing something wrong? Take your loss as a learning tool and learn from it. If you didn't place where you wanted to, go to them and ask them face to face what the problems was. Trust me, I’ve had to deal with some trial and error trying to get my FitGems Nation site up and running (still learning). To those that think the judges just don’t like your favorite competitor(s) and are only picking who they like personally, I’ve got some words for you…GROW THE HECK UP! Last time I checked, the world didn’t revolve around just you. Your favorite competitor just didn't have the right package to get that certain placing you felt like they deserved. I'm not going to claim that I've never thought bad about judges. I was one of those people that thought that they are only awarding certain people based on sponsor or their name, or blah, blah, bla-dey blah. However, I realized that I was just being selfish and stupid, and realize that the judges aren't to blame.

I’m gonna tell you right now, I don’t think I could be a judge. I don’t have what it takes to make a major decision on hand like the physique judges. My hat is off to all of them. Bottom line, if you don't like what is being judged, contact the federation and let them know about your displeasure. Don't take it out on the judges; they are just doing their jobs. Judges, keep doing your thing and remember why you are in that position in the first place. You have my respect.

There you go...my honest take on the judges, and why they should be respected by all members of the industry (especially fans) rather then ridiculed. You may now leave all complaints, hate messages, and wedgie threats below. Thank you.

My thoughts on the state of women's bodybuilding

Well…I’ve talked about my personal state on fitness and figure. Now it’s time for me to talk about the oldest and arguably the most prestige of the female muscle divisions: Women’s bodybuilding. I discovered this after I found out about women’s fitness. This category is basically a toss-up; either you love it or you don’t, plain and simple. I personally LOVE it. The dedication of these women to take their bodies and put it to unbelievable limits is unlike anything else in the world. You must be dedicated and motivated and be prepared to make sacrifices in order to achieve your ultimate goal. The sacrifices that are made differ for each female, but the ending result remains the same: to achieve the best possible physique you can, and by best I mean the body YOU want.

The first female bodybuilder I looked at and instantly loved was Cory Everson, which turned out to be one of the pioneers of the sport and someone that I believe 95% of all female competitors today (regardless of category) respect. Her and the first Olympia champion Rachel McLish put the sport on the map. Both are in their late 40s-early 50s now, and they continue to practice what they preach and look absolutely fantastic. For anyone that wants to look amazing long after their competition days are over, take their advice seriously. They know the sport like the back of their hand. I mean, they aren’t hall-of-famers for nothing, ya know.

Back in their prime, their bodies would be what most bodies of fitness/figure athletes are considered now. Boy, have times changed. As the sport got bigger, so did the bodies. What decreased though was the attendance of the Ms. Olympia competition. At one point, the physiques got so big, according to IFBB standards, that they was thinking about getting rid of the Ms. Olympia contest altogether. Ouch! But that didn’t happen; instead, it got moved to the Expo part of the show back in 2002-2003 (someone correct me on this, please), which is obviously a far cry from the main stage. But hey, having the show at a expo hall is better then not having the show at all, or at least that’s how I see it.

After the 2004 Olympia, a new rule was put into play: The 20% rule. This meant that the women had to decrease their muscularity by 20 percent. (This rule applied for female bodybuilding, fitness, and figure). This was supposedly created for safety reasons for the women. But…if that were the case, wouldn’t the men be applied this same rule as well? I know men and women are made differently, but still. Basically, most fans of the female muscle athletes saw this as IFBB’s way of saying to the fans, “We know you better than you know yourselves”. I’m just calling it like I see it; my words are not law, remember?!?

Anywho, according to what I’ve seen on the boards and judging from the competitions in the past, the support amongst the competitors of this sport has never been stronger. Every way they can, you see the competitors and fans finding simple ways to keep the sport alive. There are shirts made that say “Support Women’s Bodybuilding”. Some competitors have found ways to get on mainstream television to promote the sport, more mainstream than ever before. Colette Nelson, for example, has become quite the mainstream “leader”, sorta speak. She, along with Vicki Nixon, Sheri Owens, and Nicole Bass were part of the Montell Williams show on July 4. Colette also teamed with Jamie Reed, Lena Squarciafico, & Antonia Schmitt for “Flex and the City”, a parody of the widely popular series and movie “Sex and the City”. And most recently, Collette was part a very popular campaign video supporting Republican presidential nominee John McClain as she portrayed Incredbile McCain Girl, which also promoted the very successful summer movie “The Incredible Hulk”, which has close to 2 million hits so far on Youtube. Speaking of Youtube, this has seemed to become a female bodybuilder’s best friend. Female bodybuilding clips are among the most popular clips on the Internet video website. I’m not kidding; I can’t go to the top favorites section without seeing at least one FBB clip in the top 100. Yep, it looks to me like as long as there’s support from the true fans and women who are willing to go the distance, I don’t see women’s bodybuilding going away anytime soon.

I’ll end this blog with a great quote I saw on Siouxcountry’s board (a board that I’m begging you to join!). This is on side of his board, but I’d thought I’d share this with you as I thought this sums up my entire blog about this division (I’m just posting this, I take no credit for coming up with this at all):

Bodybuilding is an art

Of the body

Designed by

Yourself in time and it is

Beautiful because you are

Using your body as a sculpture

In a pure state of

Living for a

Dream from within and

Inside your heart and soul it is

Never to be compromised, because there is no

Greater feeling then that moment

Well, I’ve covered my state on all the current female muscle divisions (fitness, figure, and women’s bodybuilding). Coming soon: my proposal for a possible physique/classic bodybuilding division, and the women who I think would be perfect for it(some of the names might surprise you). One last thing: Thank you to everyone who has supported this blog. This means more to me than you know.

By the way, good luck to everyone competing at the NPC USAs this weekend!