Finishing second at a given sporting event can elicit a wide range of emotional responses from those who find themselves coming up short in their aspirations to reach the top of the awards stand. The reality of missing out on the top spot can include a broad spectrum of feelings ranging from a joyous outpouring of happiness to deep-seated anger and frustration. And, depending on the level of importance the competition carries with it, those feelings can be profoundly mind-numbing when the expectations of the athlete are not met.
In women's bodybuilding a second-place finish can be notably distressing considering the tremendous pressure the judging system places on each contestant with regard to a shopping list of considerations in what goes into the making of the eventual winner of a contest - with so much of which existing at the subjective level.
Put simply, Lori Steele is not your garden variety bodybuilder - far from it. And due in part to the fact that she is the reigning national lightweight champion, having won the 2009 NPC National title last November, Lori Steele's ‘bigger picture' paints a colorful mural of noteworthy accomplishments mixed with a day-to-day lifestyle that would bring many to their collective knees.
In fact, it is the demands of Steele's daily life that makes one wonder where she finds the time to train with the consistency necessary to reach the level of becoming a national champion.
Any aspiring bodybuilder worth their weight in protein powder will tell you the primary goal on an annual basis is to make steady improvements in their physiques. Even the best of the pros would admit the same. Some competitors take that desire seriously, while others fail to follow any organized plan of attack.
But when it comes to New Jersey's Lisette Acevedo, the desire to improve could hardly be more at the forefront of what she has accomplished since entering her first NPC Nationals in 2008. As it is, Acevedo only began entering bodybuilding contests in 2006, and to date the sum total of her contest exploits includes just four events.
Short of authoring an entire book on the subject of outstanding lightweight bodybuilders, the following should be considered as, at the very least, a spirited effort to salute a cross-section those women who have left a mark on the sport of women's bodybuilding while laboring under the perceived disadvantages due to their physical stature.
In a sport that has, for the most part, long rewarded the look of those contestants who are larger than life, lightweights have endured a struggle for recognition as each decade in the sport's history has passed.
Before anyone gets their undies all in a twist, rest assured I have no desire to push women's bodybuilding towards pag
eantry status. But such was not the case back in 1982 when the Miss (yes, Miss) Olympia event (which was held at the Playboy Club Casino in Atlantic City) was being unmistakably touted as a "Pageant".
I was reminded of this moment in the history of women's bodybuilding when I recently found the original copy of what was to be the "script" used by the emcee for the 1982 Miss Olympia. It was a script that would thankfully never see the light of day.
Subscribe to RxMuscle on Youtube
