Just got done entering the info from the official 2012 NPC schedule into the lucas-photo.com searchable database.
I tweaked the input mechanism several times too, so things did go comparatively quickly, but a lot of the information is already slightly out of date, and where the promoters had an active website for 2012 I tracked down additional information that the official page doesn’t have yet.
With the addition of yet another set of classes– Men’s and Women’s Physique– I am envisioning a grid format for both display and input of the information, but more on that when I have a chance to play with it.
Speaking of…
I saw the women’s physique class for the first time at the Orlando Metro show this weekend. While men’s physique has much more of a latent GQ quality about it, women’s physique appears to have the exact format as women’s bodybuilding– presumably the judges are using just using different criteria.
They certainly looked like local-level bodybuilders to me.
Me, I don’t really know what to make of it all. In the short term, the new divisions might increase participation and attendance.
At the same time, though, there’s no question that it’s further diluting the product. (There were zero female bodybuilders in this show. I counted them. Twice).
One has to wonder about the condition of that product when someone gets inspired to slice the cake into still thinner slices. Considering that there are already competitors out there who could successfully cross anywhere from bikini up to physique, or from figure to bodybuilding, what factors are left to differentiate them?
As I said, I don’t really know what to make of it.