One of the greatest pleasures of being a writer is that I get to be snoopy!  So when a former colleague of mine told me she was seriously into female body building, I got interested.  In my book, Flashover, I have a character who is a strong female that I also decided would be a female body builder.  But I needed to learn more about the sport.  See an example here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhEmDtTgewc

I met my friend, Rachel.  She’s a tall, fit, and attractive woman—nothing like I imagined a new female body builder would look like.  I worried that he might have turned into a woman with gnarled, bulging muscles who was permanently bent over because of the crippling size of those new muscles.  Rachel explained that in female body building competition, there was a category for women with purely big cannons for muscles.  When she showed me images of these women, I couldn’t tell much difference between them and their male counterparts.

Instead, Rachel competed in a category called figure female body building.  Although she worked to build muscle mass, she also wanted to remain graceful and work toward an over all female body building fitness.  It combined strength, shape, diet, and fitness.  I could understand that.

What is a female body building workout like?  Rachel described her exercises.  She uses weights and stretching for almost every part of her body with a primary goal: the ability to execute specific poses during the competition.  Dressed in a one-piece swim suit, she sprays her body with a “fake tan” substance twenty-four hours prior to the competition.  She can’t use under arm deodorant because the spray will react and turn her skin green.  Once she goes on stage, the lights blaze hotly and three male judges scrutinize her every move and twitch.

I asked her if there was a female body building diet that she uses before competition.  Over-all, she tries to eat healthy: plenty of protein, low fat, low salt, low alcohol, and lots of vegetables and fruits.  She drinks at least one gallon of water a day.  But when the competition approaches, she does a “sodium load” seven days earlier.  Then, she increases her water load three days earlier—all designed to accentuate the shape of her muscles.  She also carbs-up on potatoes and sugar.

On stage, she must move gracefully from one pose to another.  With each pose, she pops her muscles out, waits while the judges stare, and then tell her to go on to the next pose such as the front double biceps, front lateral spread, or the side triceps.

What does she use for female body building motivation?

“I want a healthy, strong body and life style.  When I reach that point, I’m proud to share it with others,” she said.