Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 1, 1993 TAG: 9308010163
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The second thing is the mass of muscles - chiseled like stone.
And everybody is so serious. So tanned and so serious.
But then, to the 29 women who competed Saturday in the Jan Tana Classic body-building competition at the Roanoke Civic Center, this was serious business.
A shot at the Ms. Olympia competition in November in New York was at stake. Three shots, actually. Saturday's top three pro-women finishers, Denise Rutkowski, Nancy Lewis and Tonya Knight, got automatic bids. Rutkowski also took home $4,000.
With what these women endure, you would be serious, too. Years of training are involved, plus months of dietary torture before each meet. And backstage is like cattle-call time on the Pump-You-Up muscle ranch.
In a gray and unglamorous cinder-block hallway, they line up first for the swimsuit inspection. Fairfax Hackley, an official for the International Federation of Body Builders, barks orders.
"Please have your numbers on the left side, ladies. Let's go."
"Ladies, please, let's get this over with."
The women wear swimwear designed to expose a maximum amount of flesh without being indecent. They want the judges to see their muscle, but nothing more. Hackley surveys the suits to make sure none of them cross the line.
A single light moment: "He's got roving eyes," someone cracks.
Here and there, he tugs at the suits. They are supposed to be glued down, so they don't pull away from the skin when the women pose on stage. Hackley has to send a few back to their dressing rooms for more glue.
Husbands, boyfriends and other supporters aren't allowed backstage for this.
The women are deep bronze, the color of well-oiled baseball gloves. Color is important. Without the dark hue, muscle definition gets lost under the harsh stage lights.
Their tans are bottled. A coat was applied Friday night. Another was applied Saturday morning. A few were adding last-minute touch-ups where needed. Most of the women were using Jan Tana Competition Tan, a product developed specifically for pro body building by Jan Tana, the event's sponsor. She runs a tanning-products company out of Lynchburg.
The tans will wash off with soap and water.
Lined up, they wear an odd assortment of shoes, from flip-flops to gold sandals. Some wear white tube socks. Others are barefoot, the way they will appear on stage.
Finally, Hackley dismisses the group.
"Fifteen minutes," he warns.
The women scatter. Some duck back inside their dressing rooms for more glue, makeup touch-ups, or to oil themselves. Most of them, however, head down the hall to the pump-up room.
There, they add the last touches to their chiseled frames. There is little talking. Their faces are grim and determined as they pump free weights and flex and practice the five poses they will be judged on.
"Ladies, slow it down a bit. The judges are late," Hackley announces.
It has taken these women years to get here. The Jan Tana Classic is one of only two pro-women body-building events that qualify women for Ms. Olympia. The second is sponsored by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The training is intense. Some of the women do aerobics two hours a day, in addition to their regular weightlifting routines. They eat blander-than-bland food. No sweets. No fat. No frills. Lots of water - as much as two gallons a day.
Then, a week before competition, they go through nutritional hell.
It starts with three days of eating nothing but protein and vegetables. No bread and no carbohydrates. The next three days they load up on carbohydrates. The final day, they starve themselves.
All of it is designed to etch their bodies better. This "carbo-loading," as it's called, exaggerates muscle definition and lessens the amount of water between the muscles and skin. The result is a sharper-toned muscle shape.
"They're trying to create human sculpture," said Kenny Kassel, another body-building federation official. Steroid-use is prohibited in pro competition, and the federation randomly tests its professionals throughout the year.
The food part is tough. Most of the women said they couldn't wait until the post-competition banquet, where body builders traditionally reward themselves with everything that has been off-limits.
Pizza was a particular fantasy in this group.
From the pump-up room, Hackley herds the competitors to the stage. One woman says she didn't get any time on the weights. Hackley doesn't seem to be listening.
"This is freaking me out," she says.
"Give her a set of dumbbells," he eventually tells a gofer.
Saturday afternoon was pre-judging, where the women were scored on five mandatory poses and overall muscle tone. The final judging was Saturday night, with free-style posing, in which the women perform individually to music.
Before sending them on stage, Hackley offers good luck and a last instruction:
No gum.
"And God bless," he says.
by CNB