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2002 Virginia State Body Building Championships [Events] 1st June 2002 On first of June, we had a friend competing in the Body Building Championships, in her first competition. We went along to see what it was all about. I had never been to one before, so it was due to be an interesting experience. The lead up to the competition was interesting too. I heard all about the special diet, the water restriction, the food restriction, the vitamins and minerals, all applied at specific times to reduce the surface body fat, raise the veins, and have the whole effect peak on the day of competition so that the muscles can be presented in clear definition. In other words, cut. Debbie's been working on this for a year, and the results are marvelous. To show the other side of her, have a look at the wedding day photos. The competition went all day with the heats and preliminary events. Originally I had planned to get there early and make a day of it, but gardening and digging events conspired against me. We arrived in time for the finals, and our friend was still in the competition. I was there to take photos. I used the little digital camera and found that the stage lights were so good, I didn't need flash. First up were the older men's divisions. I found it amazing to see men in their 50s and 60s with such well developed bodies. As each one came on and flexed and posed and tensed, I found I was flexing and tensing with them. Later, Anne admitted she had the same reaction. It was exhausting just watching them. After their competitions, the guys would appear in the audience and sit with the wives and families, dressed normally, looking like anyone's dad. And then when it was prize-giving time, they would disappear and re-appear on stage all brown and shiny and glistening. Then came Debbie's turn. This was her first competition. When they announced her name, I wasn't ready. I had to get the camera out, turn it on, wait for the batteries to charge and then start filming. I missed the bit at the start, but once I got going, I was so busy taking photos of her session that I didn't get to see any of it. I had to review the photos when I got home. Each competitor gets a very short amount of time on stage to show the definition of the muscles of the body. I had never seen this before, and now finally I understood what they are doing. They stand and pivot and flex to show how much development has been done with the individual muscles. Here, I think it's upper body, triceps and the abdomen. And here it's an awesome abdominal area. Look at the muscle in that belly. I was in awe. After posing, comes the judging. Debbie did well. Here she has her medal, and is welcoming one of the competitors on stage. I'm not sure if she's sad at her placing, or jealous of the other competitor, or just glad that it's all over. Here are the three place-getters in Debbie's division. Sonya is getting her medal for first place. If you're wondering about those large black blobs at the bottom, they're judges' heads. I was taking these photos sitting down and didn't realise that the judges were obscuring so much. After the medals and statuettes were presented, there were the posedowns. In Debbie's division, there were two sections - short and tall. The winner of each section went up against each other and had to do a series of poses for the judges. Sonya (on the left) and Tia (on the right) were the opponents. I was very taken with this section of the competition and took a lot of photos. Here's just a few of them. At intermission we met up with Debbie, who was painted a deep brown, even the palms of her hands. She was happy and proud. And she was hungry. She was off to eat. I wanted to go back inside for the second half to see the open competition, and see the really big women, but in the end, we were tired and hungry and we went off to eat too. There are several more competitions before the end of the year, and I hope to make it to them too.