Bikini Division for NPC- What do you think?

[nikhi19]

What do you all think of the NPC adding in a "bikini" division to it's competitions?

[the id]

Is it a bikini, or like them eyepatch things?

The only problem I see is if it doesn't increase ticket buys, which I would assume is the reason they added it, get drooly guys to come check out the bikini girls.

Or is it because there are girls who don't hit the gym as much as figure competitors, and they needed a place for the whimpy?

[CTri17]

I dont know why in the heck they are making a bikini division if they want figure to be "softer" anyways?

[SarahPT]

I think it's cool. Yeah, attendance at shows will go way up! Even if NPC figure is softer, it's still a long ways from bikini. Bikini is what my physique is made for.

[Yettamae]

I dont know why in the heck they are making a bikini division if they want figure to be "softer" anyways?

I agree! I thought figure was going bikini anyway. I think it's just a way for NPC to get more money off people.

[CTri17]

I think Bikini as large boobs little waist skinny legs no rear ..... maybe I'm a bit cynical? no?

[SarahPT]

I think Bikini as large boobs little waist skinny legs no rear ..... maybe I'm a bit cynical? no?

It's still an athletic physique that the competitors work very hard for.

[CTri17]

http://contest.bodybuilding.com/gallery/contest/6432/event/2/division/121/photographer/9/

This is from the olympia...what they are mimicking the new bikini division after

[CTri17]

Sarah I am by no means putting down your physique and I know that you work out hard and look fabulous.

I just see this as even more subjective than figure with it having no rules, just like figure.

Also, To me these girls are in pretty good shape, they look good, they are pretty. For the olympia it was 50% beauty/conditioning, 40% Stage Presence and 10% audience personality (how much they liked her). To me it sounds like miss america without asking the questions. It's not that those girls dont have to work out, they do. I'm just not seeing the athleticism in it.
But, that is just me.

JMO

[SarahPT]

Sure, it will be very subjective. I just feel they are athletes and deserve the same respect as the rest of the athletes. We have all complained about people putting down figure/fitness/bodybuilders physiques, so I just don't want to see any put downs toward a bikini physique either. Their daily life revolves around their workouts and what they need to eat, getting frustrated with families not understanding, etc just as much as a figure athletes life. Stage presentation is a big part of figure too, the percentages are just slightly different. I don't think that makes someone less of an athlete.

[nikhi19]

I think that adding Bikini in was a way for the NPC to get more money and to attract the men who were put off by muscular women. Even tho it comes down to money and money always talks, I think it's silly for them to add that into an NPC show because I think it defeats the purpose of having a "physique show". I could walk onstage right now and compete in the bikini division and I wouldn't have to: deplete, dehydrate, practice posing, make a music tape, get a suit made, cut for 2 months or more, endure a near starvation diet to get the cuts to come in deeply or complete hours of cardio to get the body fat into single digits. So then how could NOT having to do all that be considered training hard for a physique show? If women want to compete in bikini, then go to a bikini organization. If you want to bust your ass and show off your hard earned muscle then you enter a physique competition.

Sarah, I am in no way putting you down or trying to put down anyone who does bikini. I understand where you're coming from but I just don't agree. I suppose it is similar to how bodybuilding used to feel about figure...that we just didn't want to work as hard so we can take the easy way out and do figure instead of bodybuilding.

But I don't think that figure is to bikini what bodybuilding is to figure. In both bodybuilding and figure, the emphasis is on the musculature and conditioning. In bikini its just being based on whether the girls "look good" or "look pretty" or "are in bikini shape". I'm sure you can agree that it is easier to train to just look good in a bikini than it is to shred to low teens or single digit bodyfat for your muscles to be visible and cut for a figure/fitness/body building show.

My problem is that, in my opinion, this NPC bikini division would not be not keeping the sports credibility because their bikini division has nothing to do with muscles: not with showing them, building them or dehydrating to reveal them. So if I am struggling to bring my quads in for my figures show and I just can't do it or I give up and aren't as strict on my diet I can then still go to my show and just enter the Bikini division instead. Where is the challenge in that? Where is the discipline? I'm afraid that's what's going to start happening, especially with the NPC wanting figures girls "softer".

Once again, I'm not trying to insult or offend any ladies who want to do this. I'm just stating my opinion. The NPC should stick with muscle and physiques and let the bikini organizations keep their bikini contests.

[SarahPT]

You're right that the same thing was said about figure when it was getting started. I remember that.