Speak it, believe it, achieve it!

In this corner, weighing 182 pounds, in the black gym shorts, is Curt James. Over there, mowing his yard with a push mower and wearing - izzat an orange jump suit? - weighing 315 pounds is Al…

(name withheld to protect the GUILTY AS SIN)!

Al in the stars and stripes (left), our gorgeous ref (center) and yours baldly!

The renewed, revised, and revisited FITNESS BATTLE has begun! Known as The Official Bigal33 vs. curt_james Battle to the Death Workout Journal!!!  the battle has taken on new interest by its participants and has picked up a referee along the way. Thank you, bull.dogz! And a few spectators for the “title” round: Janet and there was at least one appearance by BRUTUS!

Fellow BodySpacer, the former Big Al and currently known as Big Daddy wants to become Not So Big Al. I’m looking to cut my gut while putting on some healthy and useful muscle (something I’m sorely lacking, dammit). LOOKING DIESEL is always the goal but as Dirty Harry said in those old Clint Eastwood movie, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”

Anyway, I’m not limited to the amount of cardio I can complete and not to the amount of weight workouts I can endure. And with that, hey, my competitor is going down. That’s right Big Al is going to be down for the count, lights out, knock out!

Every 20 minutes of cardio is counting as one point and every weight workout is counting as five points. Currently the score is Al 14 and yours truly 13. Al’s perhaps unwisely decided to take a rest day while I’m planning on a ten-point afternoon! That’s right, one workout and 100 minutes of cardio!

The points will be totaled to see who “wins” each round. And, though it hasn’t been finalized (where’s Don King when you need him?), I believe we’ll be totaling our scores each week to see who wins that week’s round.

I believe we’ll both be winners by being more consistent in our workouts and the time spent in the gym or being active! This challenge will help.

It is ON! 

Check it out HERE! 

I just PMed this to a fellow BodySpacer and thought I’d include the rant in my BodyBlog:

First they were saying she was disqualified and then the scorecard shows her as 7th place. I read in the one thread a speculation that with the Mitchell Report and all the anti-steroid hub bub that Schwarzenegger was under pressure to show his show is aware of the steroid problem and is doing something about it.

The theory is that they threw Iris under the bus as a show that the powers that be in the IFBB are taking action, however that’s a bullsh!t theory because they can’t do that visually or see if someone is 100% using steroid, right? You would need a drug test as with Floyd Landis, the cyclist, or Marion Jones, the track star.

They didn’t just say, "Oh, we THINK you’re doing drugs, Floyd."

And also they didn’t say to Marion, "Well, we know you’re doing drugs so we’re going to take your gold medal and give you 7th place instead." No! They took her medals and bounced her from the competition entirely. So that "proactive ant-steroid" justification doesn’t wash.

Another idiot said that, "Well, I think when you see the photos you’ll know why she was placed as she was and I’ll let that speak for itself." What the hell does that mean? If it’s site injections they’re pointing out then bounce her and ALL the competitors from the show. What, we have a natural competitor in the lineup? Any of the ladies not juicing? Given the sport and its acceptance of AAS as an integral piece of the puzzle, I don’t see how the IFBB can criticize one athlete.

I do believe that Iris didn’t bring the same conditioning she has in past contests, so let it just be that. Forget about "lumps" on her glutes and delts. Just point out that she was out of shape. If she wasn’t out of shape then place her accordingly.

Was a seventh place position appropriate? Were all of the top six deserving of being placed above Iris? I don’t know.

Really looking forward to the expert commentary on this topic.

Edit: Although they can’t penalize her for steroid use if they’re not testing, I suppose it’s acceptable to keep Iris out of the media limelight by placing her that low. Unfortunately, this might not be about Iris’ condition or about reining in rampant steroid use. It could easily be about preserving the Arnold Sports Festival’s image.

I enjoyed the contest courtesy of the BB.com webcast! Thanks!

Ms International

01. Yaxeni Oriquen - Amazing. I love her structure - major X. And her abs are dynamite. She brought conditioning to this contest. Seek out her hamstrings immediately! Congratulations to Yaxeni!
02. Dayana Cadeau - Sensational, but I honestly wonder what she has to do to win. Dayana is stunningly beautiful and in fantastic condition, so I’m just trying to rationalize or figure out what the judges might have been thinking. What separated Dayana from Yaxeni? There’s height and overall physical size. What else stands out?
03. Lisa Aukland - Tremendous. Cut, muscular, incredible.
04. Betty Pariso - She’s 50? Amazing delts and veins in her abs? Zoinks!
05. Brenda Raganot - Nice to see her return!
06. Cathy LeFrancois - Riiiiiiipped. Just fantastic shape!
07. Iris Kyle - Penalized for lumps on her glutes and deltoids???
08. Betty Viana-Adkins - One of my favorites.
09. Anne Rivieccio - Incredible posing routine and physique. Check out the webcast replay!
10. Rosemary Jennings - She won the New York Pro in 2005, placed 9th in that year’s Olympia, 12th in 2006’s Ms. International, and a disappointing 15th last year, so a top ten finish is a nice jump.
11. Tazzie Colomb - Another favorite and sporting a cute short hairstyle. This is the Arnold Classic’s 20th Anniversary and Tazzie has been competing just as long!
12. Debi Laszewski -
http://www.debilaszewski.com/, http://contest.bodybuilding.com/bio/8862/
13. Antoinette Thompson - Super abs and she did a front flip as part of her posing routine. That was a surprise.
14. Kristy Hawkins - Her Nationals conditioning was missing. No abs this time. Gorgeous competitor in her first pro show.
15. Colette Nelson - I missed her routine, but I read that she was obviously off her best condition.
16. Tracy Beckham - I missed her routine, too. She was the 2007 Team Universe Championships overall winner.

ifbbpro.com/results/

I watched the women compete in Fitness, Figure, and Bodybuilding. Amazing contests and deserving winners in each of the sport’s variations.

I’m floored that Iris Kyle wasn’t in the Bodybuilding finals, however.

Dayana must have been devastated being the bridesmaid AGAIN.

Yaxeni was in incredible condition with absolutely spot-on posing!

FREE LIVE Webcast - Finals Tonight: 7:00 p.m. EST!

2008 Ms. International, Fitness & Figure Int’l pre-judging webcast is being broadcast NOW!

Check it out NOW!

Arnold Classic Schedule of Events

Edit: Dayana looked awesome, Iris may have actually dropped from her typical razor-sharp condition, and Yaxeni is looking INCREDIBLE! I’m going with Oriquen for the win.

Edit again: Dayana places second and Yaxeni takes the win! This is her fourth Ms. International title!

And Iris is NOT in the top six??? I’m not sure what happened there. I’m hoping it’s explained in the aftershow interviews and commentary. Holy crap.