It's one thing to look great. It's a whole other deal to look great and perform an acrobatic routine while carb and water depleted. But that's what Fitness competitors do each and every time they hit the stage. It's a sport that combines the aesthetics of physique with an entertaining twist. If you like looking at fit women doing insane tricks, then you need to sign up for the Fitness division fan club.
Cassie Smith, Bodybuilding.com
It's been a while since FMS last celebrated the power and flexibility of Fitness competitors and muscular women in general. In fact you have to go back almost exactly two years to 16th October 2012 for our last Gymnastic Fantastic post. Watching this year's Fitness Olympia routines with our collective jaw on the floor convinced us it was high time we celebrated such dynamic athleticism once again.
Don't cha wish your girlfriend had moves like these? read the tagline on our very first Gymnastic Fantastic post in 2011, and on another early post we (somewhat more crudely) invited readers to imagine the possibilities. As Tuco might have said in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: "There are two types of men in this world. Those whose women are this gymnastic, and those who wish their women were this gymnastic."
I was once fortunate enough to actually be with a couple of extremely flexible women. One was an ex-gymnast, the other a dancer. And yes, it is as good as you imagine it is, better, in fact. Legs all over the place. The ability to achieve positions previously undreamt of and, more importantly, maintain them. Those were, indeed, the days!
But it's not just the sexual fantasies of men that this kind of strength and agility appeals to. It was the sight of a fitness competitor performing her routine that originally aroused Dr Tanya Bunsell's interest in muscular women. As she recalls in her wonderful book Strong and Hard Women - now available in paperback remember - The first time I saw a female bodybuilder I was 7 (at a ballet class). I looked up and saw a woman doing a gymnastic routine on a muted television screen. I watched her do the splits, one armed press-ups and even a back flip. I was awestruck, not so much by the routine, but by the combination of her skills and her appearance. I had never seen a woman look like that before. She was wearing a shiny bikini, displaying her tanned, muscular body. She had lots of make-up on and styled 'big' hair. She looked so happy, independent, strong and carefree. I know now that the woman performing the routine was a fitness competitor. Unlike the majority of people who immediately react with repulsion at the mere sight of a muscular woman, her appearance, demeanour and capabilities immediately appealed to me. Even at that young age I was drawn to and fascinated by a woman so apparently possessed of herself.
Really the prowess of these amazing women can only be partially appreciated in photos like the ones we've selected today. While they may capture something of the "insane tricks" Fitness competitors perform, what they don't capture is the speed at which they perform them. The transition from one almost impossible move to the next almost impossible position happens in the blink of an eye, and what's more, there are no let-ups - at no point do they pause and catch their breath. They're relentless.
We noted on Saturday that it was thought Oksana Grishina's routine was just so far ahead of everyone else's that she had moved up the judges' scorecards from 4th (or even 5th place) in the first ("physique") round and into top spot because of it. But quite honestly, the flexibility, the acrobatics, the strength and the sheer energy displayed in every single one of the routines at the 2014 Fitness Olympia left me quite breathless.
Nevertheless, I did especially enjoy (former gymnast) Myriam Capes' strength in her "Angel & Devil" routine - and she even treated the audience to a most impressive most muscular at the finish. As well as Capes' routine, I enjoyed her fellow Canadian Fiona Harris flinging herself around the stage, and another woman that caught my eye for her acrobatics was American Whitney Jones. And some of the positions 4th place finisher Bethany Cisternino and Uruguay's Marta Aquiar managed to get themselves into had my eyes popping out of their sockets (among other things).
All in all, I'm left wondering why the Fitness division bothers with any other round, so much have I enjoyed the rare treat of watching all the routines in full. Heels and quarter turns are fine and all, but the Figure and Bikini divisions already cover that. And given the routines already count for 66% of the total scoring, it seems a bit unnecessary to put these fantastic gymnastic athletes through the heels and turns thing when it is clear to all they are best appreciated flying through the air, twisting and landing into a one-armed press-up... then taking off again!!!
You can pick your own favourites, and see these amazing women in motion, here.
Enjoy!
