The history of female bodybuilding
The first unofficial female bodybuilding competition took place in Ohio, the United States, in 1978. The advertisements suggested the contest would have more to do with general fitness than bodybuilding, however, the assessment of participants was based merely on muscularity appearance. Two years later, the first official competition took place, and it is still quite popular now. Early contests encouraged many young women to start training in the gym, work on their muscles, start special nutrition programs and compete professionally. At the end of the twentieth century, the first ‘fitness and figure" contest was held. These events soon became much more popular than female bodybuilding competitions. Fitness and figure competitions are actually shows combined with athletic performance and they do not require extreme muscle development. Participants must wear swimming sits or similar outfits and give a short performance which involves dancing, gymnastics, or other kind of activity necessary to present figure and muscle development. The discipline is considered quite difficult as it is necessary to present a well-developed body, physical fitness and flexibility at the same time. In recent years, fitness and figure competitions have become a much more popular alternative to female bodybuilding contests.