Greetings and hello! I am so stoked to be freshly home after spending two days at WNBF Worlds Seattle: Kaged! I brought my journal with me and had lots of deep thoughts, but for today’s post, let’s stick to the overall experience of attending the most elite natural physique sports events in the world.
WNBF Worlds was a two-day event, with world-class amateurs competing Saturday to get their pro cards to qualify for Sunday’s all-pro showdowns. These competitions included women’s and men’s bodybuilding, women’s fit body, figure, and bikini, and men’s physique. Competitors were truly from all over the world, and in the audience it was common for me to hear Italian, French, Japanese, and many accented versions of English at the same time.
This was my first in-person bodybuilding competition, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. My impression from attending this weekend is that bodybuilding is a fairly closed community–they weren’t working terribly hard to keep us non-competitors in the loop. I’ve known for a month or so now that I wanted to go, and while planning my trip, there was no information on the WNBF website or venue website to help me know about show times, ticket prices, or other basic information necessary for a spectator. Nervous about my hotel booking, I called the venue the week before Worlds, and they didn’t have that information, either! Five days before show time, Federal Way Event Center finally had some details on their website about tickets.
As it turned out, competition started at 9am each day and ran “through” (meaning there was no intermission) until competitions of the day were finished around 5pm. My two-day pass cost $160, and I was allowed to come in with my own food and water bottle, but I wasn’t allowed to use my camera. This was a real bummer for me, as the camera on my phone is truly abysmal (as you can see from the photos I’ve included for this post), and my 15-year-old digital camera likely takes poorer quality pictures than the latest iPhone. Ah well. At least I have some pictures for memories! I wasn’t sure I’d be allowed to take pictures at all and didn’t take any until I started seeing other people holding up their phones.
So, what’s a bodybuilding competition like? The competitors walk out on stage in a line. The line of competitors are then given cues: front double biceps, relax, quarter turn, side chest, relax, face the curtain, lat spread, and so on. There’s a lot of shuffling bodies around, getting them to spread out or step back or whatever. My sense was that the athletes were aware of where they were on stage, how good the light was in their particular location, whether they were in front of or behind the athletes next to them, possibly making them look comparatively bigger or smaller. Any edge was sought out to help themselves to look their best. The judges would frequently switch athletes to new locations in line, clearly with the intent of equalizing these factors.
After the entire group has been evaluated, a smaller line of the athletes may be asked to step forward for final judging. This was true of the most competitive classes, and at WNBF Worlds this weekend, no question the most competitive class was Pro Lightweight Men’s Bodybuilding. This amazing group included Jeff Alberts, who placed 5th, and I thought looked like an absolute monster. The men were on stage, shuffled around and compared for nearly an hour. This is not a passive process–the men were constantly presenting themselves, flexing their muscles and doing their best to look good the entire time. If you haven’t tried posing before, take a moment right now and give it a go. Hold up a strong double biceps, spread your lats and see how long you can keep your muscles popping before fatigue forces you to put your arms down. No question, it’s less than an hour. Of course, they’re not holding one position the entire time, and “front relaxed” is a bit easier on the body than a double biceps, but you could see the strain was getting to some of them. After more than forty minutes, a few of the men asked for water on stage, and even the head judge instructed them to fully relax if they were feeling dehydrated. The last minute or two on stage, the music is brought up and they do a pose down, vying for attention and just having a lot of fun crowding the front of the stage.
After judging, another class of athletes would go up on stage for the same process to begin all over again. Once points were tabulated, the top five athletes from the previous group would return for their individual routines. These are not judged, and they were no question my favorite part of the show. Each athlete gets a minute of music to pose. Nearly every one of these presentations were true works of art–beautiful, graceful movements highlighting their incredible physiques and physical abilities.
Aside from women’s bodybuilding, the women’s divisions don’t look like they’re having nearly as much fun as the men’s. There are no individual routines for the top five figure or bikini athletes, just strutting on stage and posing, and they don’t rush the stage in the last few minutes to do a pose-off. There’s also a general vibe to the other women’s competitions that I want to get my head around more before I write about it, but basically felt less empowering and more submissive. All the athletes are there to display their bodies and their hard work, but it was the difference between personal expression and seeking external approval. In any case, once I put my finger on what was bothering me, I found myself taking breaks during more of the women’s events as the whole scene just turned me off.
Did I have a good time? Would I go again? Absolutely. I know it’s totally burying the lead, but in addition to getting to enjoy these world-class athletes, I succeeded in connecting with the 3DMJ crew, of which I have so much respect. Alberto Nunez looked deeply into my eyes as we talked about finding a higher purpose in the pursuit of bodybuilding. I commiserated with Jeff Alberts about being an awkward introvert. Brad Loomis seemed over the moon to get the rockstar treatment when I asked him to sign my shirt. And of course, connecting with Dr. Eric Helms was one of those bucket list experiences for me as an evidence-based fitness nerd.
Moreover, watching these athletes and talking with some of the competitors after their events helped me to connect with my own lifting in a new way. I LOVE to lift. I do it for my health, sure, but also because it helps me live a meaningful life. I find purpose in active self-care, in creating routines that lead me to feeling better in my body and my brain. I don’t have anyone directly in my life who enjoys lifting the way I do. I’ve found community online, and now I found them at WNBF Worlds.
Progressive Strength 