Enter the Amazon: Book Two: Fitness and Figure

by Bill Dobbins

Enter the Amazon is a series of books exploring in text and photos the phenomenon of women who develop their muscles for aesthetic purposes - female bodybuilders, fitness and figure competitors, fitness models and modern Amazons. Book Two: Fitness and Figure looks at how these categories of competition originated and have evolved. Fitness contests started as a way of entertaining the audience and participants at fitness expos. Fitness involves judging the physique - although the bodies are much smaller and less muscular than bodybuilders - plus some kind of gymnastic, dance or other athletic performance. Figure started out as fitness without the performance, but the judging standards soon evolved away from the more compact fitness bodies to a physique that was longer and more elegant - the "fitness supermodel." The sanctioning federations now include categories of women's physique and bikini - and in Europe there are other divisions such as Body Fitness. But although there are thousands of women who train and compete in some kind of physique contest, and you often see huge crowds coming to see them at the major contests and fitness expos, the general public seems relatively unaware of these "bodies of the 21st century," and they get very little recognition as being pioneers in showing how women - in this age of too much food and too little exercise - can become fit and strong, look better and feel better, improve their health and drastically slow down the aging process. This book discusses all these aspects of fitness and figure, contains photos of some of the most important women in the industry and tells their stories.

88 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 19, 2012