Posts Tagged ‘Physique Competition’

Sports is Sanity

Wednesday, March 11th, 2015

by Justin Bankers

JB

 

 

 

CK

I don’t know about anyone else’s reasons for loving sports. Entertainment? Passion? Competitive nature? Living a dream that never turned out vicariously through these men/women? Everyone has their reasons. Mine lately, has been sanity.

I’m currently on the home stretch of preparing for my first physique competition. For anyone who has no idea what that’s like, I’ve dropped 23lbs in the past 8 weeks and haven’t consumed a single carb in the last 3 days. The mental determination it takes is more than I thought it would be. I have just over 2 weeks until the competition, which brings more cardio, fewer carbs, and more stress. Which brings me to the topic of this writing. Sanity.

At this moment, sports is what is keeping me sane, keeping my mind off of the stress. Start with the NBA. The storylines are wonderful, but let’s discuss the MVP race. It’s currently more diverse than it has been in years. There are 6 men with legitimate claims to that award, when in years past it’s generally been a 2 man race. Steph Curry, James Harden, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, and creeping in the shadows (although he is highly unlikely) is Marc Gasol. I actually saw a comment on an ESPN article that made me laugh. All of the first 5 guys have different “political” claims to the award. LeBron is the “Mass Media” MVP. Curry is the “New face of the NBA” MVP. Harden is “The People’s” MVP. Westbrook and all of his controlled raging glory is the “Writer’s” MVP, while Davis is the “Real” MVP. It all fits when you think about it. My personal pick is Harden. LeBron spent too much time coasting, Curry has alot more help than most people seem to realize, Davis probably won’t make the playoffs, and Westbrook has been insanely good but hasn’t sustained it as long as Harden. Harden is taking a team that really isn’t very good (watch them play, just do it) and dragging them to the top end of a loaded Western Conference. The only way my pick changes is if the Pelicans snag the 8 seed from the Thunder, because that will mean that Anthony Davis just dragged a steaming bag of garbage into the playoffs in the most loaded conference I’ve seen in quite some time.

Then you have the NFL. Holy offseason storylines. I’m not used to NFL offseasons being this crazy. McCoy traded away, the Patriots lost Revis already and are potentially losing Brandon Browner too. Big names who were the faces of their franchise for so long are no longer with those franchises, and Chip Kelly is slowly turning the Philadelphia Eagles into the Oregon Ducks. I wonder how many Red Bulls Adam Schefter is surviving on right now.

On top of those 2 monster sports, we are entering Tournament time in the NCAA with a potential perfect season on the way from Kentucky, and any wrestling fan is excited about this road to Wrestlemania with good matches lined up and finally a strong talent pool. Not to mention MLB Spring Training starting up and the NHL rolling in full force.

All of this excitement could not come at a better time for me. The next 2 weeks are going to be stressful, but I have ALOT of fantastic things to look forward to.

And Dwight Howard is a walking vagina. You’re welcome B.

 

Justin Bankers, for War Room Sports

The Subconscious Prejudice

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

By Maggie Mangiel

A physique competition is a different ball game altogether, aside from the non-existence of the ball of course.  I stepped on stage and basked in that limelight for the fourth time on October 15.  It was my second time as a bikini competitor.  My first two times were in the fitness model category.  But I chose to change to bikini model because I prefer the softer, more feminine look as opposed to being more muscular.  First time competing in bikini, I placed top 10 and second time top 5.  So, it seems to be the perfect category for me since I did not find much success in the fitness model category previously.  I’m happy with my results and I’m looking forward to my next competition, and to more improvement in my physique.  For some of you who are not familiar with physique sports, the bikini category is the division in which the female competitor is judged on her beauty traits, facial and physical, stage presence, and marketability.  Each time, I was the only black woman in a sea of bleached-blonde, super-enhanced barbies.  I have no problem with “purchased” beauty.  God created plastic surgeons, and we sure as hell do not want them to starve.  Thanks to Baby Jesus, I will not be spending my hard-eared money on them, so power to the barbies.  Back to what I was saying, I know I’m not the only black woman with good looks, beautiful physique, and enough courage to flaunt what she’s got.  So the question arises, where are the rest?  Why aren’t there more Black Canadian females competing in the bikini division?  I thought I would share my feelings and opinion on the subject with you and let us consider them for a second.

First of all, the weather sucks up here and black people prefer to live in warmer climates.  The population of black women is very slim in comparison to the other races.  Well, there’s nothing we can do about the Canadian cold, so I’m going to leave that alone while sighing deeply with disappointment.  I basically think many black women would like to compete and have what it takes to step on the stage, but the truth of the matter is the bikini division is not “black woman friendly”.  This is a beauty contest, plain and simple.  With people like Satoshi Kanazawa on this planet, black women have some hurdles to clear.  In case you have not heard of him, he is an English psychologist of Asian descent who has written one of the most hurtful pieces of work toward black women, and some people have considered his paper to be the worst thing since slavery.  Good thing someone locked his lips and threw away the key (muahahahaha!).  I think the judging panel has to be diverse.  In my opinion, you cannot put a black woman against 30 white women to be judged by 3 white women, 2 white males, and 2 Asians (well sometimes there’s one black guy or a racially ambiguous “black” woman), and expect a fair judgment.  I’m not calling them racist but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and people tend to identify with people who are similar and closer to their likeness.  So for the improvement of the sport and the advancement of the black woman, I would like to see a panel that resembles the UN and hopefully North Korea does not join (jk…hahahahahaha, nothing against the Asian but Kanazawa just made it so hard for a black woman to look at Asian men without contempt).  This way I feel that my beauty is being assessed fairly, and would not second guess the judges’ integrity and ethics.

In addition, we as black women always think we are better looking than everyone else.  We overestimate our beauty.  Hell, I think I have the nicest “tush” and legs in the whole world, but I’m sure some of you reading this beg to differ.  So, before stepping on stage, we need to logically asses our physique and beauty and compare it to the judging criteria.  We need to be honest with the person looking back at us from behind the looking glass.  Once you truly know your worth, nobody can knock you back, and you can deal positively with people’s opinions and views of you.  Competing once and quitting because you think you “got robbed” or switching to a category such as figure or bodybuilding in which your facial beauty is not considered, or even going as far as traveling to compete in the United States or the Caribbean is not the solution.  The solution is for us to come out with our best, be humble about our looks, and  showcasing them in front of a diverse panel of judges while saying, as Sojourner Truth has neatly put it, “Ain’t I a woman”.

Maggie Mangiel, Fitness Model & Personal Trainer, for War Room Sports