Professional muscle competition for women is held in a number of categories, allowing competitors a fair chance to excel in whichever division best suits their genetic potential. There’s women’s bodybuilding, physique, figure, fitness, bikini, and most recently, wellness.
To compete successfully in any category, you have to have an athletic body. But bodies, in general, including athletic ones, can be quite different. So the various criteria for competing in each division aim to produce a lineup that’s relatively homogenous. This allows the judges to compare apples with apples.
A standard way to characterize the genetic potential of different body types is as below:
Ectomorph: Ectomorphs are lean with long, thin legs and arms, narrow chest and shoulders, and little-to-no body fat.
Endomorph: The endomorph body type is the polar opposite of the ectomorph body type. Generally shorter and rounder, with more body fat and compact proportions.
Mesomorph: Mesomorphs are generally predisposed to have very muscular bodies with strong arms, strong legs, and very little body fat.
Of course, nobody is purely any one these. We’re all combinations of the types, such as ecto-endomorphs or endo-mesomorphs. And while it’s possible to change body conformation with diet and exercise – that’s what bodybuilding is all about— everyone is going to be limited at some point by their natural genetics.
Not everyone is going to be able to develop really large muscles or a great deal of muscularity, sculpt six-pack abs or build huge calves. You can change the expression of your genes, turn some on and some off, through activity over time. But you can’t alter your basic genome.
Over the years, I have worked with a lot of women I call “orphan amazons.” These are women with remarkable, impressive physiques who don’t fit into any specific competition category and are therefore unable to compete successfully in muscle contests. They have muscles and muscularity but are not big enough, or they are too big for figure.
There are also a number who look great off-season but when they diet down, they lose shape or body parts like the legs just shrink without getting hard and defined. A competitor might look great in the gym but lose a great deal after dieting to get in contest shape.
Sometimes, women competitors might simply have chosen the wrong category. Judges are always advising women that they should think about switching from one category to another. Sometimes this results in great success, but other times there is simply no category a specific physique is suited for. A given competitor might be spectacular, develop a big fan following and be a terrific model, but still not be able to get high scores from judges in competition.
One other problem is that standards change, and a woman who fits into a category today may find the judges are looking for more muscle or less muscle down the line. The first Ms. Olympia, Rachel McLish, was perfect for female bodybuilding in 1980, but within a couple of years competitors were showing up with a lot more muscle and winning shows.
As I said, there are a lot of women who qualify as orphan amazons — women for whom there is no suitable competitive category, no matter how hard they train, diet or prepare. There are a few who have been among my favorite models, and I’d like to share their stories and photos.
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Bill Dobbins
Tatianna Butler
Tatianna, who competed as a bodybuilder, is so physically impressive and beautiful that the publishers of my book Modern Amazons (Taschen) chose her to be on the cover. I thought that Tatianna, off season, looked incredible and I did several photo shoots with her. But when she dieted down to compete, she just got smaller, without increasing muscularity, and her shapely, dramatic legs just shrank.
It might have been some mistakes Tatianna made in dieting and preparation that yielded this result. But I’ve seen this happen to others, as well. So, the bottom line is that this amazing amazon turned out to be an orphan amazon when it came to competition.
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Bill Dobbins
Amber DeLuca
I was sitting in a restaurant in Albuquerque waiting for Amber, and when she walked in, I saw a woman who was beautiful and larger than life.
Amber had competed in figure in Hawaii and been told she would have won the bodybuilding category if she had entered it. Later, she entered and won a national qualifier in New Mexico against very weak competition. But as big and muscular as she was, Amber did not have the conformation and muscularity of a national-level bodybuilder.
I don’t know how much potential in competitive bodybuilding Amber might have had, but it would have taken more years of very dedicated training and I suspect her long, lean muscle structure would not have allowed her to rise to championship level. But Amber was way too big for any other category of competition. After going to the Nationals and being disappointed, I don’t think Amber ever tried to compete again.
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Bill Dobbins
Viviana Soldano
I saw Viviana on stage in a figure contest, and she seemed to shine as if lit by a spotlight. She was an obvious star, but her full, shapely physique was too big for the category. Even so, she also wasn’t muscular enough for bodybuilding.
Later on, Viviana continued to compete in figure, dieting hard and doing cardio, in an attempt to suit the judging criteria. But she simply shrank and lost a lot of her beautiful shape. I don’t know if some other approach to contest dieting would have given her a better result, but it seemed to me her genetics did not allow her to fit into the established judging criteria.
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Bill Dobbins
Kerstin Schulze
If you look up “amazon” in the dictionary, you might find a photo of Kerstin as an illustration. Kerstin is more than six feet tall and has calves like a Samoan. She’s an extremely impressive, athletic and powerful-looking young woman. If you want an example of genetics, check out her twin sister, who has an almost identical body.
Despite her impressive physique, Kerstin is simply too tall for bodybuilding. Her muscles, though big, are too long and lean. She has competed in figure, but she’s just too big to fit into a figure lineup. So, Kerstin is an orphan amazon, who concentrates on personal training and acting in movies from time to time. She’s one of my all-time favorite models.
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Bill Dobbins
Milamar Flores
Milamar competed for many years and continued to gain size, though not to the level of a pro bodybuilder. I photographed her last after she competed in figure in Culver City and was super impressed with the size, shape and beauty of her physique. But she looked too much like a bodybuilder for the judges, and they didn’t place her well.
I thought she was a fantastic example of beautiful female muscle, which is why I invited her to my studio for photos. Judging criteria count on stage, but what can’t score well in a contest may be a fantastic example of how a human being can look in real life.
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Bill Dobbins
RhondaLee Quaresma
RhondaLee is a Canadian-Indian who has not been competitive as a bodybuilding pro, mostly because she is just too small – only 5’1”. She qualified as a pro by winning the Canadian Nationals, middleweight class and overall.
Dayana Cadeau, who is also very small, won two Ms. Olympia titles when there was a lightweight class. With no such class to compete in, women like RhondaLee are often overpowered on stage by women who are much, much bigger. I have watched RhondaLee work extremely hard to get in top shape to compete and look excellent on her own, but not big enough to compete against the heavyweights successfully.
