The Female Bodybuilding World is abuzz with the amazing physical transformation of Pennsylvania’s Theresa Ivancik. While placing fifth in the heavyweight class at the 2011 NPC Jr. Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois, the difference between Ivancik, and the winner, Mary Toole, was all in the thighs, a change ivancik said she would work on for the future.
But for the present Ivancik’s enjoying the praise gained from two years of training to go from being considered a model to a fitness model. In 2008, she was a light 119 lbs, but with training from her boyfriend Jeff Harlan, she added 60 pounds of muscle. Theresa can curl 50 pounds in one hand and looks incredibly hot doing it.
As to how she’s able to gain so much muscle is so short a period of time, she points to her grandfather, who’s genetics Ivancik says “was the genetic side I took.”
Theresa, who loves the attention she gets from people, who ask her “do you work out,” has this objective: “To gain lots of size and become pro,” she says.
If more women like Theresa enter the sport, it could see a resurgence.
While some claim that Female Bodybuilding is on the wane due to a rumored lack of interest in women with muscle. But I really don’t think that’s the case at all. The problem with Female Bodybuilding is, first, men run it, and women let them. And the men who do so don’t know how to properly present strong women. It’s the same problem behind the reason a Wonder Woman Movie has never been successfully made for the big screen: some men just don’t know what to do with a strong woman.
The second problem is Female Bodybuilding contests are poorly presented and marketed. For example, while there are known stars in female bodybuilding, the website for the upcoming Las Vegas show fails to mention any names at all. No effort is put into marketing the female bodybuilding contest to capture the attention of the person who drives the generation of most sports revenue, the casual fan.
There’s no logical reason why the Miss USA Pageant is ran as a business, tied to a television production, and earns millions, but when muscle is added to the equation, we get an event that, in itself is treated as second to the male competition. There’s only one words for that, and it’s nuts.
A new model is needed, and women like Theresa Ivancik can be the key to its success.
But I digress.
Ms. Ivancik’s next stop along the way to what will be a certainty is the NPC Las Vegas Show in late July.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll