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The Star Wars I Know And Love

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star-wars

I fully realize that the new Star Wars film “The Force Awakens” has stirred up quite a frenzy, especially with Disney at the helm to drive the hype and the commercialism behind it and the entire new Star Wars franchise. Since I will always be a Star Wars fanatic, I make every effort to support new films, video games, or television animated series which carry the Star Wars moniker. However, I will always regard the original vision (A New Hope 1977, Empire Strikes Back 1980, and Return of the Jedi 1983) as the best. I know many of you will argue that the special effects in the newer films far surpass those found in the original trilogy, and that the acting in the first three films left a bit to be desired, but the sheer fantasy aspect of Star Wars, along with the action and adventure presented, was so incredibly thrilling to my eleven-year old brain that I can’t help but remain faithful to the original three.

Mark Hamill Luke

Another thing which impacted my young mind was my strong crush on Mark Hamill. For whatever reason, I was so infatuated with Mark Hamill as a pre-teen that I not only saw all three original Star Wars films with my eyes fixed on the actor, but also made sure to see “Corvette Summer”, a film released in the summer of 1978 in which he was the male lead. Oh yes, to be young and crushing on boys…I will admit that this is a bit embarrassing, but at least I can laugh about it now.

Corvette Summer 1978

The original three Star Wars films dared to tackle film-making in a different way, and as a result impacted a whole generation. As one of the people coming from that generation, I will also admit that I have seen episode 4 about 60 times, and have seen episodes 5 and 6 about 40 times each. I was still enough of a Star wars fanatic to go to movie premiere day for episodes 1, 2, and 3. However, episode 1 left me feeling like I had walked into a kid’s movie, so I was a bit wary of the cinematic strength of episodes 2 and 3. Fortunately, episodes 2 and 3 were far more satisfying for me as a whole.

However, the films from 1978, 1980, and 1983 continue to exert a stronger pull on me than anything else following them.

the-original-star-wars-trilogy-releases-in-china-for-the-first-time-ever-461040

The $4,000 Cape Coat I Tried On

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IMAG0546

Two weeks ago, I found myself in the Beverly Center, a high-end shopping mall near restaurant row in Beverly Hills. Though I hate shopping, I went there to kill some time (three hours to be exact), since my acting class wasn’t starting until the evening, and I didn’t want to brave L.A. traffic to drive home, only to turn back around and sit through two hours of traffic to go back over the hill again.

Memories of shopping trips I had taken with my mom back when I was a teenager flooded back as I walked through the mall. We used to go into the swanky stores, try on beautiful designs, and wish we had the money to buy them. As usual, the Beverly Center was filled with designer boutiques which displayed beautiful items with hefty price tags. Since I had no intention of shopping, I simply strolled by the stores to familiarize myself with them. Fendi. Louis Vuitton. Gucci. Prada. Dolce & Gabbana. Tiffany & Co. Versace. Burberry. Henri Bendel. It was an impressive display of ostentatious style.

2016-Fall-Fashion-Woman-Gareth-Pugh-Collection

I settled onto a bench in the middle of level six of the mall with a cup of coffee and relaxed for a bit. Then as I was sipping my coffee, my eyes alighted upon THE COAT. There it was, just beyond the entrance of Traffic Los Angeles, a cape coat like none I had ever seen before. It was Goth, vampire-ish, Sith Lord-ish, high fashion, and utterly exquisite. It completely took my breath away. I averted my eyes as if I had been caught staring at a human object of lust. I drank my coffee, but was so compelled to stare at the coat that I finally allowed myself to do so, unabashedly. I stared at the lines of the coat, the fall of the cape, the leather piping, and was in love.

I finished my coffee, then walked into Traffic, straight up to the coat. I fingered the asymmetric neckline, then the looped belt, then the cape. A saleswoman approached me. “Would you like to try this on?”, she said with a smile. “You’re damned right I would!” was what I was thinking, but instead, I just said “Yes.”

As soon as I felt the heft of the coat sliding across my shoulders, I knew I would love it on me. It was INCREDIBLE. It fit me perfectly too.

I looked at the price tag: $4,078.

SERIOUSLY????

I realize full well that it is a designer cape coat, by Gareth Pugh. Incidentally, the saleswoman wrote down the designer’s name as Garrett Pugli, which meant that I went through a maddening search to find anything on him online. That seems very odd, coming from a high end boutique where the salespeople should be very aware of the designers, especially if they boldly throw the snobby high-pressure sales pitch on potential customers. But, let’s get back to the price of the coat. I am not even in the vicinity of being able to afford such a thing, so my heart broke. Despite my disappointment, I tried it on a few times, even after walking around the mall for an hour and a half and returning to try it on again. The salespeople there told me they could give me a 45% discount on the coat, as if that made it somehow affordable for me. At $2,242, it was still about $2,000 out of my budget. Oh well.

My love, the Gareth Pugh cape coat, is most likely still hanging in Traffic, waiting for someone with wads of cash to give it a home. Alas, I will not be the person to grant it a forever home.

A New Christmas

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christmas

I used to love Christmas, with all its twinkly lights, wonderful-smelling trees, and presents. However, once my mom’s health began declining (brought on by a brain aneurysm in 2004 which almost killed her), my attitude towards Christmas changed dramatically. Though her cognitive abilities are markedly improved now, she doesn’t care about her personal appearance, nor does she get excited about opening up gifts which I wrap carefully for her.

Another thing which happens every year, and has occurred for the past several years, is that people leave town, and I find myself alone on Christmas Day. I remember spending the Christmas of 2011 and 2012 moping about the fact that I was alone, but then in 2013, I sort of gave up and decided to use Christmas Day as more of a personal day, to catch up on projects and cleaning, or to spend part of the day with friends who might be in town during that time. This year, I will spend the early afternoon sitting in a movie theater by myself and watching “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, and I think that is absolutely perfect.

Another Christmas tradition which I had abandoned in 2012 was getting a tree. From 1997 through 2010, I would get a 7-1/2 foot Noble Fir for the living room and decorate it along with the rest of the house. In 2011, I still bought a tree, but I put it in a different room because my cats were so rambunctious that I was concerned that they would destroy it. Then we moved in 2012, and I didn’t even make an effort to buy and decorate a tree. We had no tree in 2013 or 2014 either, and to make sure that I didn’t go hog-wild with other decorations, I got rid of a bunch of lights and other decorations at a garage sale I had earlier this year.

This year, I was completely torn. I put wreaths up on the front door and the back door, but didn’t put any lights up on our patio. Almost daily, I would toy with the idea of running to a tree lot and buying a tree. But here’s the thing: it’s not exactly fun to think about picking out a tree by yourself, loading it up onto the roof of your car, lugging it up a flight of stairs to your house, pulling out all the lights and other decorations from the garage, and decorating the entire damned thing yourself. The cat factor also really bothered me, because I didn’t exactly relish the thought of coming home to broken ornaments or chewed up light cords. I thought that if I could test the cats’ behavior with a smaller tree, that I might buy a tree, but that it wouldn’t happen until next year.

Then I found myself in a Rite Aid on December 20th, and saw a 4 foot artificial Noble Fir for sale for $10. That was my chance to finally get a tree. Ten bucks was cheap enough for me to take the plunge without feeling like I had made a huge commitment. I purchased the tree, and as soon as I got home, I decorated it. My cats looked at it with great curiosity, but they didn’t bat at the ornaments or chew at the tree (well, Shima chewed a bit on the tree, but I’m watching her!). I have enjoyed the tree so immensely that I have decided to get a 7-1/2 foot Noble Fir next year, and I will also put up the artificial 4 foot tree. I am even considering putting lights out on the patio next year.

In many respects, Christmas is just another day for me, but it doesn’t mean that I have to avoid enjoying the decorations which the holiday brings. My Christmas gift to myself is a nice little movie date which I am sure I will enjoy as well.

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Grinch’s Medical Maladies

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how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-post1
I recently watched “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” as part of my yearly Christmas ritual, and made several observations about the Grinch. For those of you who are reading this, please bear in mind that this is totally tongue in cheek, and meant to be a playful, albeit odd, interpretation of the 1966 animated classic. Sometimes my medical mind kicks in, and I think of silly things like medical diagnoses which could explain a fictional character’s behavior. Yes, I am a bit of a nerd that way!

We all know that the Grinch is a thief:

Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!
Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!
Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Whos’ feast!
He took the Who-pudding! He took the roast beast!
He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash.
Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!
Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.

He went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!
Then the last thing he took was the log for their fire!
Then he went up the chimney, himself, the old liar.
On their walls he left nothing but hooks and some wire.
And the one speck of food That he left in the house,
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.
Then He did the same thing To the other Whos’ houses
Leaving crumbs Much too small For the other Whos’ mouses!
It was quarter past dawn… All the Whos, still a-bed,
All the Whos, still asnooze When he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings!
The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!
Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit,
He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it!

The Grinch is also quite a liar:

The Grinch had been caught by this tiny Who daughter,
Who’d got out of bed for a cup of cold water.
She stared at the Grinch and said, “Santy Claus, why,”
“Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?”
But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick,
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
“Why, my sweet little tot,” the fake Santy Claus lied,
“There’s a light on this tree that won’t light on one side.”
“So I’m taking it home to my workshop, my dear.”
“I’ll fix it up there. Then I’ll bring it back here.”
And his fib fooled the child. Then he patted her head,
And he got her a drink and he sent her to bed.
grinch noise

But the poor Grinch also seems to have suffered from a couple of medical disorders. Based on the fact that he complains about the noise, I bet he had a wicked case of misphonia:

And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise!
Noise! Noise! Noise!
That’s one thing he hated! The NOISE!
NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

It could also be that the Whos were so darned loud that anyone outside of Whoville would have flipped out in anger over the constant cacophony. Where were the cops when the noise was so deafening? Add to that the Grinch’s likely diagnosis of misphonia, and you have a perfect explanation for why he couldn’t take it anymore.

At the end of the animated film, the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes in one day. Since time is deranged in the world of animation, let’s just say that his hypertrophic cardiomyopathy finally became symptomatic, especially after all the physical exertion he went through when he tried to stop Christmas from coming. He developed chest pain and shortness of breath, and imaging studies taken at the end of that big day revealed the hypertrophy. Since it is likely that the Grinch also suffered from valvular disease and hypertension, that roast beast isn’t the best choice of food for him either. So he might be better off avoiding the Whos and their roast beast until his health improves!

Grinch heart

Those Darned Machines! Technology And The Elderly

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oldcell

Many elderly individuals are completely baffled by electronics devices like cell phones, DVR’s, and microwaves. My mom will stop using her microwave when the power goes out and the clock resets, even though I have told her numerous times that the function of the microwave is not affected by the clock’s function. I bought her a pre-paid cell phone (her very first cell phone, by the way) for her birthday in November, and am scratching my head trying to figure out why she won’t use it. She keeps it turned off during the day, then when I visit her, she complains that no one calls her on her new cell phone! I have made sure to tell her numerous times that there is no way that anyone can reach her on the cell phone if it is turned off.

There are times when I go to visit my mom when she asks me to help her dial numbers which I have already programmed into quick-dial. This is sort of pointless, since I prefer to use my phone to make those calls when I visit. I keep trying to encourage my mom to use her cell phone when I am not visiting, and honestly don’t know why she isn’t excited about having a means to communicate with her friends. I know that her macular degeneration is robbing her of her vision, and that her arthritis is so bad that it can be a challenge to hold things, but my mom exhibits a complete refusal to accept gadgets from the modern age, and has done so for as long as I can remember.

I remember when my mom got a Mac computer in 1991, and was so afraid to use it that she never turned it on. She would wait until I came over, then would ask me to turn it on and show her how to perform the same basic functions that I would show her every single time. When she got a VCR, she asked me to show her how to use it every single time she wanted to use it, despite the fact that I wrote down detailed instructions on an index card and taped them to the front of the VCR!

Recently I came across an interesting article, which was featured on theguardian.com and which discusses the difficulties which elderly folk have with modern technology. The original link can be found here: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2007/aug/21/technology.news

What I find totally fascinating is that there is research which backs the claim that frontal lobe changes and degeneration occur in the elderly, and that those changes render older people helpless and confused when it comes to figuring out how new tools and gadgets work.

Does that mean that younger generations will also exhibit the same confusion regarding new technology when they become much older? Are we all doomed to scratch our heads in confusion when the iPhone 35 comes out in thirty years?

Evolution Of The Lightsaber Duel

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Just to show how much of a Star Wars geek I am, here is a link to a SportsCenter special program which originally aired on December 15th, 2015. This program discusses the foundation of the lightsaber duels which occurred in the Star Wars films. I was obsessed with watching this, but ran into a glitch when my DVR wouldn’t set up to record the program. So I did an online search and found this link. Those of you who are Star Wars fans will enjoy this!

13 Rules For Eating Well While On The Road

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Please read my latest article for Oxygen Magazine online! Original post can be found at:

13 Rules For Eating Well While On The Road

staying-fit-on-the-go

Sticking to your diet and training schedule can be tough this time of the year. We share some tips for staying fit and eating well while on the road.

Dr. Stacey Naito | November 16, 2015

The holidays are here and for many of us that means traveling to see family and friends. It also means being tempted with less-than-healthy foods, and foraging for fitness resources like a gym to train in and places that carry clean food selections. All of these challenges can make it extremely difficult to adhere to a regular training schedule and healthy eating habits.

However, with a little determination, it is definitely possible to stay focused when you’re on the road. The guidelines listed here will give you a blueprint that you can use to manage and stay on track with your fitness goals.

On-The-Go Training

With a little creativity you can do your daily workouts while on the road. Here are some suggestions for making the most of what is available to you when you’re traveling.

1. Search for gyms in the area before you travel. Once you know your destination, you can do an online search of the area to find gyms and fitness centers. In some cases, hotels have very nice fitness centers, which are fully equipped with free weights and exercise machines.

2. Try hotel room workouts. It is always possible to create intense workouts in any location by performing body-weight exercises, exercises with resistance bandsand mat work. Resistance bands are lightweight and won’t take up much room in a suitcase.

3. Train outdoors. In most cases, you should be able to find a local park or school where you can perform body-weight exercises, plyometrics, calisthenics, stairclimbing or running. You can use park benches or ledges for your workouts as well. Get creative, and keep up the intensity to get your body moving and the blood pumping!

Fit Foods On-The-Go

Whether you’re a seasoned competitor who is accustomed to following a strict meal plan, someone who wants to adopt healthier eating habits, you may find it very difficult to pass up regular restaurant meals, fast foods and holiday treats when you’re on the road. The holidays can be especially brutal, since evil culinary temptations abound and threaten to sabotage any efforts at maintaining clean eating habits.

If you aren’t on prep, you can still indulge in small amounts of rich foods as long as your other foods are healthy and clean. This means that your abs don’t have to hibernate during the holidays. However, if you compete and are getting on stage soon, you can’t exactly throw caution to the wind and consume whatever you want. You will need to keep a tight reign on what you consume while traveling.

Here are some tips to keep you in line with clean eating while traveling.

1. Invest in a great food cooler bag. A food cooler bag will enable you to enjoy your trip without having to worry about what you will eat throughout the day.

2. Prep your meals in advance. That way you’ll have total control over ingredients, cooking method and portion sizes. Once you have prepared your food, store single-serving sizes in individual containers or bags, which are easy to pack. Freeze the food you will eat during your trip, and refrigerate the food you will eat on the day you travel to your destination.

3. Ask the hotel for a refrigerator in your room. In most cases, hotels can supply a refrigerator upon request.

4. Consider a meal prep service. Meal prep services can be a blessing because they take the hassle of having to prep food out of the equation, and they can deliver directly to your destination.

5. Pack emergency fit foods. Non-perishable foods like protein powder, protein bars and nuts can be easily packed into your luggage and will ensure that you have backup food.

6. Consider staying in a room with a kitchenette. You can visit a local market, purchase fresh food, and prepare it in your hotel room.

7. Consume a small amount of lean protein right before you have a carb cheat. This will slow down digestion so that the carbs aren’t stored as readily.

8. Drink at least eight ounces of water before you indulge in a decadent treat. This will help to fill you up so you consume less food afterward.

9. Eat smaller, more frequent meals. If you have a holiday feast to attend, make sure to eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours beforehand to ensure that you won’t be ravenous come party time.

10. Don’t cave in to peer pressure. Sometimes family and friends can sabotage clean meal plans by convincing others to eat forbidden foods. If you find yourself in such a situation, you need to ask yourself if it is worth unraveling your healthy eating habits in order to appease a relative or buddy.

Acting Chops

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comedy and tragedy

Most people who know me would never guess that I have flirted with the world of acting for decades, because it just isn’t something I talk about very much. But from the time I was a child, I have been surrounded by actors, producers, writers and directors. While I don’t live, breathe and eat acting, I respect it and have a keen interest in it.

It had been so long since I had taken any acting classes or workshops that I decided to take an on-camera audition skills class during the months of November and December. In order to go to these classes, I have had to sit through two hours of rush hour traffic to travel 20 miles from my house to the class. The classes run until 10:30 pm, but always go late (usually 10:45 or 10:50 pm), which means that I don’t get home until 11:30 pm. Yet I am completely committed, have showed up on time, and have completed every exercise even if I felt incredibly uncomfortable doing so.

There are many areas I want to study: scene study, cold reading, on-camera, and voice-over study. I am also considering an improv techniques class further down the road. Because of my interests, I plan to spend the early part of 2016 auditing classes to see which ones grab me. Then I will narrow things down and figure out which classes fit my busy schedule.

For those of you who think I may be abandoning my medical or fitness careers to pursue a career in acting, don’t worry. I am simply exploring an interest I have had for a long time, and feel that the experience will make me grow as a person, and will take me out of my comfort zone.

Cursing Culture

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fuck cuss

I am very professional when I am in a work environment or situation. However, I will admit that I have been known to let some colorful language loose when I am at home or with friends. If I let myself indulge, I can be a bit of a potty mouth, but I don’t want you to think that I walk around all the time like that! I make sure to refrain from using profanity around certain groups of people. I will even omit more benign words like damn when I am around people who would be easily offended by such language.

My natural inclination if I do something like stub my toe is to mutter a cuss word out loud, and it is a total reflex action. It is somehow linked to the pain and makes it dissipate somewhat, especially if I continue with guttural intonations which are peppered with a number of forbidden cuss words. Does that make me a bad person? Not at all.

People are much more aware of how silly the censorship laws are in the United States. If you watch a show and hear certain words bleeped out, you can still figure out what swear word was uttered, especially since you hear the context in the framework of the dialog. That’s why cable TV and Sirius/XM satellite radio became so successful, because they cut through the bullshit and let the cuss words fly. The so-called “bad words” which have been demonized in our culture are just WORDS. They don’t hurt people unless they are used in a malicious fashion to insult others.

I stumbled upon this post recently and thought it was hilarious. It defends those of us who cuss in a rather amusing way, so I just had to share it. The original post can be found at:

http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/curse-best-friends/993819/


People Who F*cking Curse More Actually Make The Best F*cking Friends

By Lauren Martin

It f*cking feels f*cking good to swear. I don’t f*cking know where or when we f*cking started, but it f*cking happened. We’ve gentrified the F word, and we can’t f*cking stop.

Swearing is one of those things we can’t really figure out. We all do it, yet so many condemn it. We know it’s bad, yet we can’t help ourselves. We f*cking love it, but have no idea why.

Where did we learn it? When did we start? Why does it feel so damn good?

Timothy Jay and Kristin Janschewitz sought to answer these questions in their report “The Science of Swearing.”

In the report, they argued swearing’s negative stigmas stem from our court’s association with speech cases of discrimination and sexual harassment.

Their work, however, suggests swearing does not promote or produce negative consequences.

Their results come from studying 10,000 cases of public swearing. From those cases, there were no incidents of public swearing that led to direct violence or harm.

Another case against swearing is it corrupts children. Sociologists suggest there is no scientific or sociological proof a single word can cause harm.

They also found most public uses of swear words are not out of anger, but to produce positive effects, mainly humor.

Research does prove, however, swearing can lower physical pain. It has a cathartic effect that enables us to react and live through pain better.

It’s also used for stress management, storytelling, social cues and, most importantly, a replacement for physical violence.

Because does “f*ck” really cause more damage than a punch to the face? Does hearing your child curse hurt more than watching him hurt himself?

According to Jay and Janschewitz, while the everyday English speaker swears in 0.5 percent of his daily words, swearing occurs most in Type A personalities. Those classified as extroverted are known to swear the most.

Interestingly enough, women dominate in the most recent frequency count of public swearing. This does not mean women have become cruder; there’s just more of us. More of us watching TV, engaging in social activities and refusing to give a damn.

So after all this, what can you really say about your friend who swears all the time or your kid who can’t keep “f*ck” out of a sentence? You can say they’re good f*cking people.


They give it to you damn straight

Who wants things sugarcoated when you can have them on fire? There’s nothing better than hearing something straight up and full of emotion, as opposed to hearing it passive aggressively in pieces over the next month.

The best kind of friends are ones who aren’t going to hold back, but always show you their true selves.


They don’t water sh*t down

How is it the spice of life if you’re always watering it down? What’s the point in getting excited about something if you can’t adequately express it?

Friends who are always willing to beef things up, proclaim their excitement in profanity and off rooftops, make the world a damn better place to live. Why not be outlandish and brash? Why not be f*cking excited about stuff?


They’re cool with being the assh*le

If they’re cursing a lot, chances are they’re caring even less. People who introduce F-bombs into the fiber of their very being are usually people who have excluded public opinion from it as well.

They are spontaneous, wild and don’t give a damn. They are OK taking a few hits and have armor as thick as their vocabulary.


They don’t take things too f*cking seriously

There’s nothing that eases the tension more than a good curse. I mean, if they’re f*cking pissed, at least they’re f*cking something.

Things just seem less serious when there’s emotion added to it, less stale when there are a few profanities involved.

If you’re going to get yelled at, you want it to be by someone who can add some color to his or her emotion.

Besides, if they’re f*cking pissed, it’s probably nothing that can’t be alleviated by a good f*ck.


They’ll defend you against any d*ck or c*nt

If you want someone on your side, you want someone with a strong mouth.

What good are friends backing you up if they don’t know how to do it properly? They’re always ready with a sharp response and an even sharper tongue.


They know how to tell a damn good story

A story is never a good one without a few curses. I mean, what good is a punch line without f*ck? Why call it making love when you could call it f*cking? What’s the point in a story if you’re not going to go there?

Good storytellers are also natural cursers. They understand the power of a good F-bomb as much as the extremity of an evil c*nt or a huge d*ck. They know how to place things, where to put them, and they will always f*cking go there.


They’re f*cking open

Chances are if they aren’t afraid to drop an F-bomb, they’re also not afraid of other people dropping them.

They’re desensitized to language as well as most things this world will throw at them. They’ve got an open heart, mind and mouth.

Competing And Self-Worth

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Team U 35+ top 5

I had an amazing time competing as an NPC Bikini competitor, and also had fun competing as an IFBB Bikini Pro, despite the fact that I didn’t place well as a Pro. However, I don’t miss the maddening prep which precedes each competition, nor the constant self-scrutiny which always surfaces during prep. Though I always want to win, I am not going to have a nervous breakdown over the fact that my placings as a Pro have been underwhelming. I don’t feel pressured to step onstage, and I honestly wouldn’t have a problem with retiring completely from competing if that is what I decide to do. Yet I still get that question, “When’s your next show?”

A number of people have mentioned that the stakes have been raised lately, due to the more muscle-bound, newer Bikini Pros. They have told me this as if I wasn’t already aware of that fact! I am well aware of who is competing in the Pro ranks, and what the ladies are bringing onstage these days. Here’s the truth: I am tired of trying to balance a very busy schedule with two-a-day cardio sessions and double training in order to prep for a contest. My attitude is that I already won. My singular goal with competing was to attain IFBB Pro status, which I did. So should I feel that my value has somehow diminished because I am not one of the handful of IFBB Bikini Pros who have decided to continue competing in the Pro ranks? If you think about it, the majority of Pros do NOT compete. There are over 400 Bikini Pros now, but only a small percentage of them choose to keep hitting the stage.

What happens when a Pro chooses to continue with competing? The stakes are raised in the Pro ranks, with stiff competition from other Pros, and a more stringent judging panel which is necessary when assessing the best physiques in the world. It can be quite intimidating, which I think is a major factor for Pros who avoid the stage the minute they go Pro. It can be rather disappointing to achieve the crowning victory of Pro status, then get slapped down because you aren’t one of the best Pros. Basically, you go from being at the top of one heap, to being at the bottom of another one.

Since life is about balance, many Pros shift their focus to career, family, and other interests. The idea of returning to the stage can be downright repellent to some Pros who finally realize what they were missing when they were in the throes of competing during their amateur days. I have heard people in the industry talk smack about Pros who “let themselves go”, which in many cases is code speak for situations in which a Pro began to finally live like a normal person. In the world of bodybuilding, being “normal” is often regarded in a negative light.

For those of you who are IFBB Pros and are feeling some remorse over not stepping on stage as a Pro, you need to stop beating yourself up about it! As long as you represent the IFBB in a classy manner, and continue to inspire and motivate through your fitness lifestyle and whatever other respectable endeavors you are involved in, you don’t have to compete. You are still a Pro, always amazing, and one of the top athletes in the bodybuilding world!