08.04.2004:NPC Southern States Fort Lauderdale Aug.6-7

Here is how a bodybuilding/fitness contest looks in the eyes and the pen of a non-bodybuilding writer:  From the Broward New Times, perhaps a bit of sarcasm is healthy.

"Our friend, a fitness director, was talking about a hard-core female bodybuilder he'd seen. "She looks like one big catastrophic vein. She's gotta be hard on some people's eyes, you know?" We know. But one man's idea of a catastrophic vein is another's idea of hotness. And it's for those others that the 2004 NPC Southern States Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure Championships comes to Fort Lauderdale August 6 and 7. This marks the 25th year of the amateur contest, during which Myoplex-addled gym rats strut their rock-hard stuff in the 0 percent-body-fat zone surrounding the Broward County Convention Center (1950 Eisenhower Blvd., Fort Lauderdale). The agenda includes showdowns in 20 divisions, from teenage women to men over 70. There is a distinction between the bodybuilding competitions -- which are all about the bulk -- and the fitness and figure competitions, which require contestants to perform fitness routines to music. (Sorry, "due to the danger of slipping, no body oil is allowed.") Fitness competitors must also pass the crucial test of walking around in high heels and a bathing suit. Judges will be looking for strength moves, athletic coordination, and that favorite criterion of all pageants -- personality."