The Evolving Sport of Bikini

By Camen Haenggi

The Sport of Bikini is evolving continuously from the arrival on scene as an amateur making an entrance in the sport all the way to the professional field of competitive athletes that compete the whole year round. Introduction to the physique of our Ms. Bikini Olympia winners have changed almost every single year. The Competition Bikinis, the make-up and posing styles have changed from a small addition to the industry to now basically creating entire businesses and careers for some ladies. This article will highlight certain areas that show the immense changes to the industry.

As an NPC Bikini Athlete, I have been involved in the Sport since 2016. I started competing in the USA and later moved to Europe which showed me that there are significant differences in the athletes physiques, show organizations and the look of Bikini Divisions, Muscularity, Fitness and more. From looking like a fitness model to the girl next door that lifts weight to show streamlined quadriceps and well-defined shoulders. The goal nowadays is to create a V taper, thick bubble butt, lean legs and show nice lines throughout the whole body which all love and admire while keeping feminine looks with slight conditioning.

One huge mark was left last year in 2019 with the winner Elisa Pecini, from Team Pannain. This Brazilian Bombshell had excellent shape and was nicely defined throughout her tiny waist, streamlined legs, round shoulders and a high set V taper in comparison to our original Ms. Bikini Olympia winner Sonia Gonzales way back in 2010.

Conditioning: The «beachy» look is not so popular nowadays in the IFBB Pro League Bikini Contests anymore, athletes conditioning has to be on point to get to the final comparisons. Of course, judges don’t want striated glutes or a sixpack that sticks out however, hardness and dryness of the Bikini athletes has definitely gotten to a higher level. The balance between soft and hard muscle has to be on point and judges are immensely concerned that the level of conditioning is still marketable within the industry of fitness modeling.

Posing: Hour and hours of posing, different poses, hands down, side poses like the one from Janet Layug to last year’s typical “old school” pose by Isa. The poses and presentation in general has made a huge jump.

Whole businesses have evolved around the presentation of Bikini Athletes now using Posing Coaches offering packages and services that include; Make Up, hair, posing, suits and shoes. The industry definitely has a big addition financially through the evolution of the Bikini division. Many of the IFBB Pro League Pros compete year round, work at several expos, run their own in-person or online businesses utilizing clothing lines and gyms that target the girls especially. As a Bikini Pro you represent the IFBB Pro League, your sponsors and the sport in general but also I hold myself to a higher standard of one day being and hopefully soon, becoming a professional athlete.

The sport of bodybuilding has many divisions Bikini is but one, if not the fastest one growing within the industry. By being the one division that may be the easiest to maintain the physique conditioning year round, it has potential to attract bigger masses and therefore account for higher financial rewards, as well as target more viewers.

Carmen Haenggi is an NPC Bikini Competitor, 24 years old Switzerland: https://instagram.com/carmen_annah?igshid=wb6wq123ct32

 

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