Go figure
Date: 26-03-2007
Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States |
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Carol Ruiz is among a growing number of women nationwide who participate in figure bodybuilding contests, which feature women with chiseled curves and contours clad in sparkly swimsuits and stiletto heels
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's 7:20 a.m. and Carol Ruiz rests a 50-pound barbell across the back of her shoulders. Her warm-up of squats begins.
Today, the 35-year-old personal trainer and mother of two focuses on her quadriceps.
Next, she loads three 45-pound weight plates on each side of a leg press machine and cranks out four sets of 12 reps.
By the end of her workout, she'll log nearly five hours -- split between morning and evening trips to New York Sports Club in Travis -- of lifting, stretching and back-to-back spin classes for cardio. Two hours more than her normal daily routine when she isn't gearing up for competition.
Ruiz is among a growing number of women nationwide who participate in figure bodybuilding. The competitions feature women with chiseled curves and contours clad in sparkly swimsuits and stiletto heels.
"It's like Miss Universe with a more toned look," says the buff and tanned Ruiz.
Introduced in 2001 as an amateur-level contest, figure generated about 300 competitors. Today, the sport draws more than 3,000 women nationwide who vie for a chance to turn pro with the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB), which recognized the sport in 2003.
"Figure just took off," says Jim Manion, chairman of the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based National Physique Committee (NPC), the amateur bodybuilding wing of the IFBB. The sport has since spawned several other amateur organizations that Manion sees as a form of "flattery" attesting to figure's popularity.
States such as New York, Florida, California, Michigan and Ohio are leading the way in churning out competitors, says Manion.
"Every time there's a competition you can see there's more and more girls," says Ruiz, a veteran of four NPC contests.
Naturally thin and athletic, she began seriously working out after the birth of her second child 10 years ago. At first, Ruiz exercised to videos by fitness star Tamilee Webb in her living room. As her children got older, Ruiz ventured into local gyms where she was told she had the "right genes" for figure.
At 5-foot-4, the Queens native and Grasmere transplant, needs to shave off 12 pounds to reach her goal of 130 for the NPC's Team Universe Figure Nationals in July in Manhattan. If Ruiz wins in her height category, she'll have a shot at the pro circuit with a move up to IFBB competitions.
To help her attain that goal, Ruiz treks to the Bev Francis Powerhouse Gym in Syosset, Long Island, once a week to get nutrition advice and train with IFBB figure pro Jennifer Searles.
"I'm very strict and very demanding in what I have to follow," says Ruiz, who eats five to six times a day.
Before a workout, she loads up on oatmeal. Afterward, Ruiz feasts on potatoes, yams or brown rice. For protein sources, Searles has her client consume white fish, skinless chicken breast, egg whites and chocolate-flavored protein powder shakes.
Processed foods and added fats are forbidden.
"I monitor her every week to make sure her body is losing the body fat it needs to lose and keeping the muscle it needs to keep," says Searles by phone from her midtown Manhattan apartment.
LOW BODY FAT
A figure competitor typically shoots for a body fat percent in the single digits to highlight her major muscle groups. In general, a healthy body fat range for women is between 18 percent and 25 percent, and 12 percent to 17 percent for female athletes.
Last year, Ruiz dipped down to 8 percent for competition.
"Its not a degree of leanness that can be maintained for any length of time," says Searles. "This is just for show. Your body fat really goes up the week after the show."
In addition to health concerns, such as a cessation of the menstrual cycle, losing too much body fat can cost a competitor points.
"Judges look for femininity with a degree of muscle development. They don't want overdevelopment of muscle," says Searles. "If the women start displaying lots of striations and a really tough, hard-as-nails look that gets them marked down."
In four months, Ruiz will have two minutes to walk on stage solo, and display her sculpted physique in quarter-turns for the judges, first in a one- and then two-piece swimsuit. Then she'll be brought back on stage with the rest of the women competing in her height category.
Beauty, choice of swimsuits -- which can cost from $150 to a $1,000 or more -- along with a woman's aesthetic symmetry can make a competitor stand out.
"They're looking for healthy hair, healthy skin, small waists, large shoulders with that nice V-taper," says the 32-year-old Searles, who took ninth place in the 2005 and 2006 Figure Olympia -- the Super Bowl of the sport -- in Las Vegas.
A win and move up to the pro circuit can mean prize money, corporate sponsorships, endorsement contracts with nutritional supplement companies and glossy spreads in fitness magazines, such as Oxygen.
Ruiz, who attends the competitions with her husband, Luis, and kids, Kenneth, 10, and Amanda, 16, sees the upcoming competition as the next step in her lifetime interest in fitness. Her first figure show was in 2005.
"If you think about it, not a lot of moms are into this stuff," says Amanda, who frequently finds herself explaining to peers what her mother does.
"My friends think of bodybuilding and a manly man. That's not how she is," says the Moore Catholic High School sophomore. "She's a beautiful woman."
