Muscle Ventures Podcasts

In this podcast (Quicktime, 12.7 MB; Google Video, no download), Nancy and I (Bud) close out our series on her prep for her April 29, 2006 contest. This podcast combines three video clips from Nancy's posing practices on April 14 (two weeks out from the contest), 21 (one week out), and 28 (day before). We follow this set of videos with a slide show of the different mandatory poses taken on each of the days. For those interested, Nancy is currently doing an exercise analysis series on bodybuilding poses.

It's interesting to note the progression in Nancy's physique and attitude during this period. The photos on the left show Nancy doing the Front Double Biceps pose. In the first photo in the series, Nancy is two weeks out from the competition. She was still in her heavy diet phase and had some fat left to trim. In the second photo, you notice less fat and some more definition. This is even more apparent in her back. By the third photo the day before the competition, she has really trimmed down.

I have to say, I had some concerns about Nancy during this period, she was losing weight so fast at the end. Some of that concern comes out in our final podcast before the show when we discuss her water depletion strategy.

Finally, I should point out that it is rare for bodybuilders to point up their imperfections in this way. They're in it to look perfect at the end and typically only want to put their best foot forward. One exception is John Hansen's decision to post weekly photos for 6 weeks leading up to his Natural Mr. Universe and Natural Olympia contests in 2004. That particular series shows a rather dramatic progression from someone who already looks very strong and fit to someone who is prepared to compete in a bodybuilding contest.

In this podcast, I (Bud) track Nancy at the mid-Michigan Natural Bodybuilding competition held April 29, 2006 (Quicktime 21.1 MB; Google Video, no download but much lower quality). Nancy competed in both the masters and open portions of the competition, taking fifth in the masters and first in the heavy-weight division of the open.

The video shows Nancy's 60 second posing routine in the masters competition (first photo on the left). In this routine, she did the seven compulsory poses: front double biceps, front lat spread, side triceps, side chest, rear double biceps, rear lat spread, and ab and thigh. Nancy is currently doing a series on compulsory bodybuilding poses in our video analysis section.

In the second segment of the video, we see Nancy's complete open, heavy-weight competition (second photo on left). This included quarter turns during which the judges evaluated her resting physique, her compulsory poses, and the 60 second routine.

In the third segment of the video, we see Nancy's freestyle performance, already shown here once by itself. In the fourth segment, we see the awards ceremony (poor video quality) where Nancy received fifth place in the masters.

In the fifth segment, we see Nancy in a posedown for the women's overall competition after she had won the heavy weight (third photo in the series). The posedown provided the judges an opportunity to see the two competitors, who had been in different weight classes, together.

Finally, we see a series of stills of Nancy with Mary, her coach, me, her training partner, and Jim, her husband.

Additional Links

Michiganbodybuilding.net covered this show extensively.

• Here are all of the competitor results.
• Here is a photogallery of all of the competitors.

In this podcast, Nancy Arnold and I (Bud Gibson) discuss the ideals women are trying to attain in bodybuilding and her will to compete. You can download the high fidelity 10 MB Quicktime movie by clicking on Nancy's picture or you can watch it without downloading on Google video (garbled for the first four seconds but afterwards fine).

In the series leading up to Nancy's competition, we have had several discussions with participants on the health of women's bodybuilding. The simple story is that women's bodybuilding is seriously challenged. At the highest level, it is taking a back seat to less rigorous competitions like shape or even model search. At the local level, shape competitors are outnumbering female bodybuilders by three to one, at least if Nancy's competition is any indication.

The rap against female bodybuilding, and now sometimes even the highest levels of shape, is that competitive pressures lead to unnaturally low body fat levels and muscular development. As a result, female bodybuilding in particular is less attractive to athletic women, and they choose not to compete in it. Since the number of competitors drives the economics of the local competitions, promoters are naturally driven to favor alternatives, contributing to the decline.

So, why does Nancy choose to compete in bodybuilding. Her reasons are complex, but at the simplest level, she is attracted by the extreme discipline and the sport's intensity. The video provides details.