This year's IFBB Atlantic City Pro is no joke. The prejudging has given us a peek of what's coming tomorrow night and so far, things are shaping up to be very competitive (SEE FULL GALLERY). Today featured the Men's 202, Fitness, Women's Bodybuilding and Master's Figure pre-judging; tomorrow morning (10am) we'll see the Men's Open and Pro Figure pre-judging. The NPC show will then run straight through (starting at 12noon)-- prejudging and finals-- with no break; then right into the evening finals for the pro show. 
The Men's Under-202 was dominated handily by James "Flex" Lewis and Jose Raymond. Raymond was huge and hard but lacked the deep cuts and detail one would expect with someone so big and ripped. Flex Lewis hit the stage bigger and in better condition than we have ever seen him, but his color was horrible. His wife posted on line that Flex had been up all night sick with some kind of stomach problem and fought his way to the stage. She is aware of the color problem, which she says was due to a reaction Flex's skin had with the dye he used. These problems are under control and Flex will be bringing his A- game tomorrow night. If that happens, I can't see Jose beating him. But, as you all know, this is bodybuilding and anything can happen.
Women's Fitness was a tight battle so far with Tracy Greenwood, Tanji Johnson, and Laticia "Action" Jackson looking like they are going to bring home the hardware. As far as routines go, Laticia is tough to beat, so tomorrow she could certainly cement a top spot. However, both Tracy and Tanji are seasoned pros with several wins under their belts and no one will complian if either takes the title. Look for some high flying routines not only from the three I mentioned, but the entire field.
Masters Pro Figure presented a deep class of beautifully fit women. We all had our favorites, but in the end it looked like Tivisay Briceno, Shannon Meteraud and Marie Ann Newman would be the top three. Of course we could be wrong, but I doubt it.
Women's Bodybuilding was dominated by Lisa Aukland. There were several good competitors up there, but Aukland was clearly in a class by herself. She has won this show the past 3 years and it looks like she's going to make it an unprecedented 4 in a row tomorrow night. I was disappointed that with 25 women there was only three callouts for comparisons. No women got a chance to fight their way up through any kind of change in the grouping. Apparently the judges have it figured out and we'll see what they thin
k tomorrow night.
Until tomorrow, check out the post prejudging wrap up video with Dave Palumbo, Sean Andros and myself for a more in depth analysis of today's prejudging for all the classes judged. And, of course, look for tomorrow's post show wrap up for a full rundown of the finals.
