Bodybuilding is the sport of developing muscle fibers through the combination of
weight training, increased caloric intake, and rest. Competitive bodybuilders display
their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points.
In the 1980s women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.
There are three major difficulties that female bodybuilders have to deal with.
The standards of judging for women bodybuilders change almost every year.
Female bodybuilders often are viewed negatively for not conforming to traditional
ideas of a feminine gender role.
The money needed to fund the sport is very limited for women. Some female body
builders get financial support through being involved with female muscle erotica
activities. But many female body builders do not want to be involved with erotica and
only persue body building for a few years.
The sport is not to be confused with strongman competition or powerlifting, where
emphasis is on actual physical strength, or with Olympic weightlifting, where
emphasis is equally split between strength and technique. Though superficially
similar to the casual observer, the fields entail a different regimen of training,
diet, and basic motivation. Bodybuilders aspire to develop and maintain an
aesthetically pleasing (by bodybuilding standards) body and balanced physique. A
bodybuilder's size and shape are far more important than how much he or she can
lift.
The main organization that promotes, funds, and judges body building competition is
the International Federation of Body Builders (http://www.ifbb.com/).
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