 January/February 1995 issue | |
| Categories | Female bodybuilding |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Women's Physique World, Inc. |
| First issue | Fall 1984 |
| Final issue | 2006 |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Midland Park, N.J. |
| Website | wpwmagazineonline.com |
| ISSN | 1069-4927 |
| OCLC | 25289389 |
Women's Physique World was a magazine covering female bodybuilding and fitness and figure competition, published from 1984 to 2006.
The first issue was dated Fall 1984, and featured Lori Walkup on the cover. Subsequently, the magazine was published with varying frequency, ranging from two to six issues annually.
Women's Physique World also produced documentary style videos that featured the women posing in non-contest settings in bikinis, dresses, and other outfits. Most of the videos feature bodybuilders or fitness and figure competitors, but athletes from sports such as arm wrestling and track & field were occasionally featured. The videos often included footage of the subjects performing gym workouts, as well as interview segments. Women's Physique World also produced a number of contest videos. These typically featured NPC level shows, though the magazine also produced the video for the 1999 Ms. Olympia contest.
Human sexuality scholar Cindy Patton observed that the female bodybuilders in Women's Physique World are shown as "fresh-faced girls who seem to have accidentally produced their specialized shape". [1]
Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's musculature by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses on physical appearance instead of strength. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In professional bodybuilding, competitors appear in lineups and perform specified poses for a panel of judges who rank them based on symmetry, muscularity, size, conditioning, posing, and stage presentation. Bodybuilders prepare for competitions through the elimination of nonessential body fat, enhanced at the last stage by a combination of extracellular dehydration and carbo-loading, to achieve maximum muscular definition and vascularity; they also tan and shave to accentuate the contrast of their skin under the spotlights.
Lenda Murray is an American professional female bodybuilding champion.
Beverley "Bev" Francis is an Australian gym owner and retired professional bodybuilder, powerlifter, and national shot put champion.
Shawn Ray is a former professional bodybuilder and author.
Pavla Brantalova is a female bodybuilder and session wrestler born in the Czech Republic in 1977. She achieved acclaim in bodybuilding circles by competing successfully at the international level from 1990-2000. Brantalova won the lightweight division at the European Bodybuilding Championship in 1998. She placed third in the lightweight division at the 1998 IFBB World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships and second in the lightweight division at the 1999 Jan Tana Classic. She also placed 7th in the IFBB World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships in 2000. She competed at a weight ranging from 115-125 pounds at a height of 5'3" and was known for a physique that was particularly well-developed for someone of her age, as she was in her twenties. At a weight of 125 pounds, Brantalova was able to bench press 180 pounds for eight repetitions.
Sharon Leigh Bruneau is a model and retired professional Canadian female bodybuilder and fitness competitor.
William Arnold Pearl is an American retired professional bodybuilder and athlete. During the 1950s and 60s, he won many titles and awards, including winning the Mr. Universe contest five times, and was named "World's Best-Built Man of the Century." He later became an expert trainer and author on bodybuilding.
Joseph Weider was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider. He was also the creator of the Mr. Olympia, the Ms. Olympia and the Masters Olympia bodybuilding contests. He was the publisher of several bodybuilding and fitness-related magazines, most notably Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Men's Fitness and Shape, and the manufacturer of a line of fitness equipment and fitness supplements.
Rachel Livia Elizondo McLish is an American female bodybuilding champion, actress, and author.
Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.
Mary Roberts was one of the top professional female bodybuilders of the 1980s. She possessed a classic short (5-3), thick physique featuring an overwhelming upper body even as a lightweight. Roberts big arms, deltoids and chest with her mature looks and flashing, almost challenging dark eyes projected a very powerful, confident aura onstage.
The IFBB WOS Ms. Olympia is both the highest ranking professional female bodybuilding competition and the title of the winner of the competition. It was first organized in 1980, and was held as part of the Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend from 2000 to 2014 and relaunched in 2020.
Fitness and figure competition is a class of physique-exhibition events for women and men. While bearing a close resemblance to bodybuilding, its emphasis is on muscle definition, not size. The class was originally introduced when bodybuilding's popularity began to noticeably decline, in terms of both fanbase and number of participants.
Beefcake or physique magazines feature photographs of "beefcake": muscular men – typically young and attractive – in athletic poses, usually in revealing, minimal clothing. During their heyday in North America in the 1940s to 1960s, they were commonly presented as magazines dedicated to fitness, health, and bodybuilding, with the models often shown demonstrating exercises or the results of their regimens, or as artistic reference material. However, their unstated primary purpose was erotic imagery, for gay and bisexual men and straight women, skirting mid-20th-century censorship laws which prohibited depiction of full nudity, and cultural taboos against homosexuality.
Kay Baxter was a pioneer female bodybuilder.
Paul Dillett is a retired Canadian IFBB professional bodybuilder and current owner and CEO of the World Beauty Fitness & Fashion Inc. He resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Dona Oliveira is a former professional female bodybuilder from the United States. She competed from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s.
Theresa Jean Bell, better known as Pillow, also known as The She-Beast, was a United States bodybuilder in the early 1980s. While competing in bodybuilding, she was also an exotic dancer in Alaska. She was crowned Miss Exotic World 1995.
Kathy Segal is an American bodybuilding champion who rose to the top of the amateur ranks by winning the Ms. International Bodybuilding Championship, which was generally considered to be the second-most prestigious competition for female bodybuilders.
Aye Aye Soe is a Burmese female top professional bodybuilder.
 | This sports magazine or journal-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See tips for writing articles about magazines. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |
 | This bodybuilding-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |