2018 Moscow cup of bodybuilding

[Timmon]

Physique.
Winner  Anna Kislyak
http://saradas.org/index.php?topic=421689.0

 

[marco76ers]

Good to see that women in physique division are getting bigger, just like bodybuilders. That is, until IFBB comes up with some new guideline to make them smaller again...

[Timmon]

I have always said "Give Physique time" and it will deliver.
However, I agree with marco76ers , that Physique needs to be careful, because some woman are getting very large, and this seems a normal progression, a bit like telling female runners not to run too fast, they always will run as fast as they can, and why not.

I think FBB needs to be there for the big women. Physique was brought in to enable more athletes to compete on stage, not less. We saw welcome progress, with FBB's who no longer wanted to be massive, to be chasing Iris Kyle etc, still able to compete in Physique, which is better, in my view, than losing them forever.

But already, Physique competitor numbers are declining, some contests had to cancel that category due to no entrants or only one, and it is early in the season.

Regarding Russia, FBB is extinct in Russia, in terms of contests, only Physique survives. Some Russians are in the USA because of this, and throughout Europe. Russia has always produced some great athletes, and continues to do so, but sadly, they must go elsewhere to compete, making it hard for new competitors to enter a contest and be seen.

But as we see here, great athletes exist in Physique, which is virtually Female bodybuilding as it was at Amateur International levels 8 years ago.

[oriander2000]

I have always said "Give Physique time" and it will deliver.
However, I agree with marco76ers , that Physique needs to be careful, because some woman are getting very large, and this seems a normal progression, a bit like telling female runners not to run too fast, they always will run as fast as they can, and why not.

I think FBB needs to be there for the big women. Physique was brought in to enable more athletes to compete on stage, not less. We saw welcome progress, with FBB's who no longer wanted to be massive, to be chasing Iris Kyle etc, still able to compete in Physique, which is better, in my view, than losing them forever.

But already, Physique competitor numbers are declining, some contests had to cancel that category due to no entrants or only one, and it is early in the season.

Regarding Russia, FBB is extinct in Russia, in terms of contests, only Physique survives. Some Russians are in the USA because of this, and throughout Europe. Russia has always produced some great athletes, and continues to do so, but sadly, they must go elsewhere to compete, making it hard for new competitors to enter a contest and be seen.

But as we see here, great athletes exist in Physique, which is virtually Female bodybuilding as it was at Amateur International levels 8 years ago.

I agree with this by timmon; Physique was needed. Figure competitors were getting too big, and associations allowed more and more mass in that category, rendering Lightweight and Middleweight fbbs inexistent.

The problem arised when it turned into a refuge for "failed" bodybuilders. This brought heavily ripped bodies into a category that wanted precisely to avoid this. Add the fact that Figure competitors haven't downsized, and also Fitness started to show big bodies, and you get 4 categories that are very hard to tell apart.

"But they flex with open hands! So feminine!" Okay, keep that thought, but don't whine when the attendance drops. That's precisely why Europe has so many competitors: they leaned towards more svelte categories, like Bikini, Fitness and Figure. If you check their galleries, you find a lot of sub categories for each one: Bikini Classic / Fitness, Body Fitness, Athletic Figure, Toned Figure...these bring not only much more competitors that don't want to change their bodies in such excess, but also more people to watch the shows. As unpleasant as it sounds, their athletes are more attractive to the "common" eye.

[ravi777]

I have always said "Give Physique time" and it will deliver.
However, I agree with marco76ers , that Physique needs to be careful, because some woman are getting very large, and this seems a normal progression, a bit like telling female runners not to run too fast, they always will run as fast as they can, and why not.

I think FBB needs to be there for the big women. Physique was brought in to enable more athletes to compete on stage, not less. We saw welcome progress, with FBB's who no longer wanted to be massive, to be chasing Iris Kyle etc, still able to compete in Physique, which is better, in my view, than losing them forever.

But already, Physique competitor numbers are declining, some contests had to cancel that category due to no entrants or only one, and it is early in the season.

Regarding Russia, FBB is extinct in Russia, in terms of contests, only Physique survives. Some Russians are in the USA because of this, and throughout Europe. Russia has always produced some great athletes, and continues to do so, but sadly, they must go elsewhere to compete, making it hard for new competitors to enter a contest and be seen.

But as we see here, great athletes exist in Physique, which is virtually Female bodybuilding as it was at Amateur International levels 8 years ago.

Thanks to Timmon, marco76ers and oriander2000. Maybe site like Saradas could help more in Popularising Real Bodybuilding and physique in  Russia a country which has great potential, and which has produced loads of female athletes in other sports. Well, just a thought. If the moderators agree, maybe we could get some Billionaires' companies and FBB supplement producers interested in sponsoring more of these Real FBB contests in Russia.

[fyss]

I really appreciate the admirable post above by timmon. Russian sites are full of treasures but so tiresome to look around. 
And here are the results and the names of these beautiful women.
But I only know few words in Russian so I can't assure you the information below is precise and correct.

from l to r : place, number, name, name in English, topic in saradas.org I could find

1   348    Анна Кисляк         Anna Kislyak      http://saradas.org/index.php?topic=421689.0
2   344    Екатерина Мазур      Ekaterina Mazur   http://saradas.org/index.php?topic=467333.0
3   349    Елена Лазарева      Alena Lazareva      http://saradas.org/index.php?topic=424424.0
4   345   Ольга Щербатых      Olga Sherbatykh
5   346   Наталья Галкина      Natalya Galkina      http://saradas.org/index.php?topic=422964.0
6   350   Алиса Потехина      Alisa Potekhina      http://saradas.org/index.php?topic=498636.0
7   347   Галина Швыркова      Galina Shvyrkova   http://saradas.org/index.php?topic=498632.0
8   356   Евгения Терюкалова   Evgeniya Teryukalova

[marco76ers]

By the pictures you really have to think twice whether these are physique or bodybuilding girls.

IFBB standards, as well as other federations, really keep changing because the girls keep changing as well. See figure girls from Nabba of the 90´s and today´s. They are bigger, more muscular. In the other hand, Nabba physique (their bodybuilding) almost disappeared. When a girl starts training and start to get more muscle, obviously they will keep improving, getting bigger, and needing to elevate the category. Juliana Malacarne was a fitness girl before bursting as a top physique.

It´s hard to keep pace with the evolution of the sport. Same goes for guys (they created the 212, the classic, etc). Different types of bodies get grouped together, and in various stages. It´s a trend that will continue. Sure most of us prefer the packed girls of bodybuilding, but we need to realize physique is good also, and the more categories, the more girls will show up, and the sport will keep living.

[Timmon]

It is a sore point in Russia amongst the athletes, that there is no female bodybuilding in Russia now.
Russians must go to Europe for the few FBB contests remaining there, and to the USA.
So, we are seeing excellent Russian Physique women developing their skills in Russia, and Physique at the top in Russia is knocking on the door of the old FBB standards of 2010 era.
Women like Valentina Mishina, are being encouraged by athletes like Alina Popa, to move to FBB. Valentina loves her shape at the moment, but is concerned that she is still not big enough for FBB, and too muscular for Physique.


I write to her and encourage her, because she gets shit from folk back home, but in the USA she has been made to feel welcome. She may move to the USA, even though she loves her country, because in the USA she can be herself without having to fight negative comments once she leaves the gym.
This surprised me a little, as eastern European countries love strength sports. It is OK to armwrestle, and do strength things, but not look muscular, it seems.

So, why I say all this, is, we can all do a little to just write occasionally to congratulate and encourage the athletes we admire. Although you have to be very independent to build a mighty physique, the words fans say are important too. And it helps to be interested in her sport, leave any fantasy locked away, or you will be blocked fast by many! And rightly so.

With Valentina, I used to say she looks pretty etc, just as an ice breaker, and learnt she is not interested in that! When she saw my name come up on a live feed, her eyes rolled upwards!  . It is OK  now, because she knows I am not just another schmoe wanting to ask if she wrestles etc! For an athlete who is asked this every day by some stranger or another, SOOOO Boring.
She wants to know what her we think of her physique as an athlete. Any suggestion that you just write in lust is a massive  no, no with many athletes.

To most of us, no surprise there, yet, it happens everyday, they get some weird request from a fan they wish they didn't have. So make friends, not foes, if you can.