Bodybuilding and Fitness show photography

Strong Bad

I went to the Maryland Bodybuilding and Fitness show yesterday and took the camera gear. It's always inspiring (atleast to me) to check out these kinds of shows. Made me feel guilty about being a lazy slug for the last several months.

The guy in the first set of photos (with the glasses) won it all. Freakishly lean and ripped!

The women looked great for the most part. They did have their share of dogs, but overall it was nice to see some disciplined chickies do their thing. The girl with the long straight black hair rocked! What a body! May not do it for alot of you guys, but i'm all about that body she had!

http://strongdigitalart.smugmug.com/gallery/2092877

Enjoy!

p.s.

Working on more PF 2006 photos also.

John

MacLeod

Very cool!

Ive always been more of a weightlifter than a bodybuilder but I am still a huge fan of bodybuilding. Ive been lifting for 16 years but have never been to a competition. I should go to one someday. I hear the Arnold Classic is pretty inexpensive to get into.

I think the 2nd dude, with the black trunks looked best. More mass but ripped to shreds! The striations on the side chest pose are awesome!

Demiurge

Good pictures, but them folks are gross looking.

mrbigbluelight

Demiurge wrote:

Good pictures, but them folks are gross looking.

I don't know, Demi. Speaking strictly of the female bb'ers, to steal a phrase of one of our other posters:

Strong Bad

LMAO!

Damn right I'd hit some of those chickies. The ones I have posted right now were the fitness competitors. They were not way over-developed like alot of the female bodybuiulders you see.

I'm all about a sweet fitness chickie!

Where is Univera, our resident personal trainer?

Ron-P

May not do it for alot of you guys, but i'm all about that body she had!

Put me in that camp. Give me a petite, feminine looking women any day over that manly-woman look.



But, yes, I'd hit a couple of those once.

Early B.

Ripped women ain't sexy, IMO. I prefer them with a thin layer of fat all around, with a couple of extra fatty deposits where it counts most.

Strong Bad

They're only like that for 4-6 weeks leading up to contest time. After that, they're so damn hungry they pig out and return to normal. Like I said, the girls on my site are the fitness competitors, not actual bodybuilders. They have nice muscle size, but are not all grossed out.

Several of them at the show...I'd hit again and again and again....i dig a nice fit chickie!

Demiurge

By hit them, whatever do you guys mean?

Damn female abusers. :mad:

Early B.

Strong Bad wrote:

They're only like that for 4-6 weeks leading up to contest time. After that, they're so damn hungry they pig out and return to normal. Like I said, the girls on my site are the fitness competitors, not actual bodybuilders. They have nice muscle size, but are not all grossed out.

Oh, OK.

I'd like to see some before/after shots.

Strong Bad

Early B. wrote:

Oh, OK.

I'd like to see some before/after shots.

Yeah, and I'd like to take them. Maybe if they contact me about getting some of their photos from the contest, i'll ask if they want to do some photos. What the hell, might as well!

pearsall001

"Roids anyone???

univera

Nice pics. Fitness chicks rule. The only thing I don't like about them is sometimes their faces get "hard" looking because they are so lean. I don't mind a little baby fat on some girls, but these women in person are usually pretty fine. What's not to like? Most have artifical additions to enhance their look and make up for small, natural ones from being so lean. They aren't always that super lean and actually look better with a higher body fat.

Body building women are not my thing. Too much muscle and many are juiced up.

I actually did a natural contest in '97 and was super lean. It's fun to do once, but it is very obsessive and there is no true reward. It can really mess up your head. I don't want to obsess over my body to that extent.

Being that lean is not really healthy. It nearly always involves bouts of water restriction and carbohydrate restriction to lean out. Most of the guys take diuretics which results in a very dehydrated state. Unless a contest is drug tested or stated as being "natural," most guys are taking something illegal. Even some of the fitness competitors take a drug that speeds up the metabolism to lean out. Sometimes when they loose the fat in their face it doesn't return.

There have been many documented cases of guys getting muscle implants. That is crazy. I've been to the Olympia and as big as those guys look in a magazine, until you see them up close, you can't really appreciate the mass. Most pros make very little money or have alot of money due to the fact they literally spend thousands of dollars on steroids. They have to in order to hang with the other guys. Human growth hormone is a big one, as well as taking insulin, which is very dangerous and can induce coma. Many of the steroids convert to estrogen in the body and result in feminizing characteristics such as "**** ****" which you can see when you look in the mags at the store. Guys also shoot a drug called "esiclene" into muscles before a contest which causes the muscle to swell to unnatural proportions.

The whole 'roid rage thing, IMO, is not real. I have been around plenty of guys juicing, and if anything, it just made them cockier since they were stronger and bigger, but not really meaner or "raging." It's just a mental impetus for guys already prone to go off to become even cockier.

No one should doubt the widescale use of steroids in bodybuilding of all levels. I have been around several guys competing at the National level and all were taking juice year round. There is no other way to make it bigtime. While I enjoy the freakish propotions and development, bodybuilding should never be considered a sport. The competion involves genetics and luck of the draw in terms of proportion and ability to build muscle. The rest in hard work for sure. Just a little info for those who are interested...

MacLeod

What I hate about the fitness chicks is when they start doing roids and not only do they get horse faced but their voice drops. We've got 2 chicks in my gym that have done fitness stuff and roids and when theyre standing together talking you cant tell which is which. Yuck.

Ive been into weightlifting half my life but I have never found ripped chicks sexy. Chicks shouldnt have abs. Thats just a little too manly for my taste. But what ever turns ya on.

I agree that roid rage is more of an urban legend as well.

As for roid use, Id say 100% of bodybuilding competitors are using it. The signs are always easy to spot. Huge **** neck, bloated belly, canonball shoulders, zits.

Its a shame too. You read the magazines nowadays and these pro's workouts are a freaking joke. If I worked out like they did Id way 150 pounds. But when youve got chemicals doing 90% of the work for you and EVERYTHING you do in the gym works because of it, it cheapens it.

Schwarzenegger and his ilk had juice but all they had was Dbol which is like comparing a T model to a fully loaded 2007 BMW 7 series. Those guys worked their asses off! 6 day, double split routines and hitting each bodypart 3 times a week! Insane! But they also looked the best.

Here is a comparison of the Arnold era bodybuilders as compared to the bloated chemical bags of today.

Here is Arnold. King of his era. He's freaking huge but he still looks like a man. Not bloated or deformed but a work of art.



Here is Ronnie Coleman who is the current man on top and is touted as the greated bodybuilder ever. Yeah he's 5'10" and 300 pounds at 2% bodyfat but he looks so bloated and artificial.

Strong Bad

It's absolutely nuts the amount of stuff guys and gals take these days. Yeah, Arnold had D-Bol and I believe some basic testosterone, but thats about it. Look at the whole Balco scandal. They were a lab on the cutting edge of chemical assistance. The guys today are like lab rats testing whatever these chemists can brew up.

There were a few female bodybuilders in the audience Saturday. I looked at a couple and wondered if they could still be considered part of the human species. Was freaking crazy!

I still dig a sweet fitness chickie though! The blonde on page 2 of my site in the green bikini (last photo) was a hottie. Not too hard and had it going on!

mrbigbluelight

pearsall001 wrote:

"Roids anyone???

No, the applications of Preparation H seem to be doing the trick. But thanks for asking ..... I think.

cmy330go

Sorry, but in my book, that is straight up disgusting.:eek: