*sigh* What are the judges looking for? Symmetry/balance, beauty, confidence, posing (booty out, hand on hip), evidence of someone who knows what the inside of a gym looks like and what to do with all the stuff in it... for starters. Beyond that, I don't know because there have been a few local shows now where I have looked at the competition and thought "WTF?" In this case, I do agree that number 4 should have been 1 or 2. Thankfully, the national-level shows seem to have a good handle on selecting winners that appropriately represent the division.
OM, I understand your pain... I dieted 16 weeks for my first show and an additional 8 after that for my second show. The thing is, at the first show there were one or two girls who looked like they just threw on a bikini and showed up... whereas I had busted my ass for 4 months eating egg whites, limiited carbs (mostly just oats), chicken, tilapia and veggies, lifting 5 days a week and cardio 6-7 days a week... all while working fulltime, going to school fulltime and STILL making it to the gym every damn night. I worked my ass off, literally... and I was a little bothered that some girls could just put on a bikini and stand there like it was a beauty pageant. Thankfully, the look being rewarded at the shows that count are the girls who DO train and hopefully that look will come to be more defined as we see the bikini pros set the standard in 2010.
Personally, I'm working on building muscle now so I don't look so "skinny" (bleh!) when I diet down again in the spring. I'm just going to roll with it, have fun and see where it takes me... although I'm considering jumping into a local figure show before Junior Nats just to see how I do. My ultimate goal is to have more muscle. I love to lift and train hard and I want my body to display my hard work... if one day that means I'm "too hard" for bikini, then I will have met my personal goals... and for that, I'll be ecstatic!
