Gina LaSpina, the champion, is considered the first recognized winner of a woman's bodybuilding contest. It was judged strictly as a bodybuilding contest and was the first event of its kind for women. The first official female bodybuilding competition was held in Canton, Ohio, in November 1977 and was called the Ohio Regional Women's Physique Championship. Henry McGhee, described as the 'primary architect of competitive female bodybuilding', was an employee of the Downtown Canton YMCA, carried a strong belief that women should share the opportunity to display their physiques and the results of their weight training the way men had done for years.

Prior to 1977, bodybuilding had been considered strictly a male-oriented sport. It was not until the late 1970s, after the advent of the feminist movement and female powerlifting events that women were seen as capable of competing in their own bodybuilding competitions. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a judge at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York when Maria Elena Alberici (aka) Maria Lauren won Miss Americana. in 1972, promoted by Dan Lourie and Miss Americana in 1972, promoted by Joe Weider. Maria Elena Alberici, as listed in the Almanac of Women's Bodybuilding, won two national titles in one year: Miss Body Beautiful U.S.A.

These shows 'had little to do with women's bodybuilding as we know it today, but they did serve as beginning or, perhaps more properly, as a doormat for the development of future bodybuilding shows.' Physique contests for women date back to at least the 1960s with contests like Miss Physique, Miss Body Beautiful U.S.A., W.B.B.G. The contest formats of men's events during the 1950s to the mid-1970s had often been supplemented with either a women's beauty contest or bikini show. 6.1.1 Surveys and studies on side effectsįemale bodybuilding originally developed as an outgrowth of not only the late nineteenth-century European vaudeville and circus strongwomen acts, Bernarr Macfadden's turn of the century women's physique competitions, and the weightlifting of Abbye 'Pudgy' Stockton, but also as an outgrowth of the men's bodybuilding.3.3 National Amateur Bodybuilders Association (NABBA) Competitions.3.2.2 Qualifications for national level competitions.3.2 National Physique Committee (NPC) Competitions.3.1.1.1 Qualifications for IFBB Pro Status.3.1 International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (IFBB) competitions.

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