Editorial by Juan Carlos Lopez

It has been a long year full of shows, good and bad things have transpired. But overall it has been a positive year for HardFitness. We just do what we have to do and hope for the best. Without certain people we would have never made it, of course our sponsors www.muscletease.com and all the people that helped out with writing articles and of course the competitors that trained and dieted so hard. In particular thanks to Kaisa Piippo who has been a force this 2006 an assisting us me at the Olympia. Misty Green whose monthly column has been a great success. In general there has been a great amount of positive response to this website and it increases everyday. To all competitors: this is your website it is made for you and for all the effort you have done, enjoy free pictures and photoshoot.

Fitness is Dying?

So what exactly is happening to Fitness? It was first bodybuilding that was under the gun. Not only promoters, magazines and media in general that excluded female bodybuilding. Until 2007 was the decision to make IFBB Pro Bodybuilding a free sanction and this is when things are changing. Now Fitness after these National in Miami exposes the real story of what is happening. If you look closely at some NPC shows like the Emerald Cup or the California State shows their fitness portions are diminishing every year. Fitness is a classic in our industry but it has failed to attract new women due to its complexity. The fact that you have to learn some kind of routine and execute some mandatory moves with it might be an additional challenge on top of all the little details (tanning, suits, etc..).
Lately shows are having less and less competitors and the quality to be honest isn't as high as it used to be. At Nationals sitting next to Ruth Silverman (Ironman Magazine) and Sonya Bruce who assisted me with valuable notes during the routines both made me realize how the level has changed. It is true that the physiques have changed with less muscle and less conditioning so accepting this then the routines should be strong right at a National level show? It is a combination of all these factor that have decimated the interest in fitness. Also the rising of the figure category will probably put an end to fitness at least in very low level such regional shows. Having less competition will cause in general that competitors to put up less work in order to even achieve a decent routine. Think about Gretzky era Edmonton Oilers, Jordan's Bulls or Pele's 1970 Brazil. All these teams dominated their league's and surroundings, teams around them had to work extra hard to just avoid being humiliated. The comparison with today's fitness is that since we don't have a lot of competitors to begin with we probably don't have as many quality competitors. If you go and compete at the Olympia against Mindi O'Brien and get smoked wouldn't you work extra hard next time you compete? Canadian new Fitness pro Myriam Capes comes to mind as she can easily step on the Olympia stage and clean up the stage. Her routine is amazing and her moves powerful and clean. Maybe her balance on her physique isn't the best but she can come shredded and really defend herself well. The level in Canada clearly shows what I am talking about, but then again that doesn't mean their fitness routines are superior just their physiques.
Fitness is really hard though, both physique round and routine round are important rarely should a competitor not having both wins. We'll see what comes next in 2007, hopefully the level in general will be better.

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