Time for a change

If Bahamians were frustrated with the unremitting length of Bodybuilding and Fitness shows last year, they will have something to look forward to in 2004.

The International Federation for Bodybuilding introduced four changes at their congress meeting in Mombay, India from the 6-9th of November last year, which should have a tremendous effect on the length of Bodybuilding and Fitness shows.

Most notable among those changes are the reductions in the compulsory poses for males and females. The two relaxed turns during the pre-judging have been eliminated (back spread and the relaxed spread from the front) as well as the side triceps pose for the men.

The four compulsory poses that remain are: The double biceps pose, the side chest, the back double biceps, and the abdominals and thighs pose. They will still be in place for the male and female and will be called in that same order. The men compulsory poses were reduced from seven to four and the female will have one less, from five to four.

Also in the female category, the length of their posing routines has been reduced from 90 seconds to 60 seconds.

In a third change implemented in November and active for this year worldwide, the posing routine for Mixed Pairs has been reduced from 120 seconds to 90 seconds.

Finally, for Fitness, all of the Fitness competitors will be on stage at the same time when making their quarter turns and all will be compared the same time.

Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation President Danny Sumner said that he is 100 percent behind the move and he feels that it couldn't have come into effect at a more appropriate time.

"Bodybuilding is a growing sport and I think what the congress is trying to do is to eliminate some of the time. All of the changes they made are geared toward time consumption. Even with the changes in the posing routines, everything boils down to time," Sumner said. "In some of the international contests, you can have up to 100 athletes and that is probably the primary reason for the changes. With the sport being so popular, you don't want to make it boring to your audience by having such a long contest."

Sumner also said that the changes should help the athletes to direct their training toward specific areas on their bodies.

"For the males, rather than concentrating on showing seven major muscles groups, they can concentrate on showing only four and with the females, they will have one less area to concentrate on," Sumner said.

He further said that the elimination of the back spread, the relaxed spread from the front and the side triceps in the male category is the best move for the sport and he is not worried at all that some of the more crowd-pleasing poses will be taken away.

"The four major muscle groups that remain are the four most popular muscle groups that people look at anyway," said Sumner.

"Not only that, but it will assist the judges in coming up with quick and accurate scores," he added.