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Or perhaps other life changes come along, like college, job, marriage, children, etc. :)
I am disappointed that Cass Martin slimmed down so soon. Once her business took off she dropped the regiment completely. I get that larger FBBs may find it difficult to sustain the routine, but Cass was never very big, and only in peak condition for like two years.
Maybe she responds poorly to gear. Or just doesn't like the lifestyle.
Before:
Now:
The best example : Danielle Reardon "Lil Monstar". For me, the best body, who could keep growing. The best arms and shoulders too. Why she stopped? Don't know.. Maybe to be "Zen".
This could be a very long list that goes on forever. Just go back five years to the start of this site. I bet more than 80% of the women are no longer Fbbs or competing. This is mostly due to changes in life priorities that are incompatible with the singular focused lifestyle needed to have physical perfection. Hopefully many of these women still value being fit and regularly work out.
I remember Ali Huston from a while back. As far as I'm aware, she's not into it any more either, hasn't been for many years.
Don't discount the long term roid effects, smart women don't want to deal with them long term. I saw a thread on a different web site a Then and Now thread of what FBBs looked like in their prime and what they look like now. Some who kept at it just looked absolutely nasty. They kept a good amount of muscle size but everything else looked horrible. Often that was combined with other unfavorable appearance features as well. Facial distortions, ugly snake and skull tats blasted into droopy sun bleached skin, shaved heads. Most women don't want to end up with that look and almost no one finds that attractive.
But there are some that have figured out how to make it all work over time. They are in their 50s and 60s and can still put on a pair of leggings and look good, flex a biceps that gets noticed, they own calves that are still full and round in heels, they are healthy and strong and aren't on 10 prescriptions for everything from bone loss to depression. Girls With Muscle, and a life. Sustainable and maintainable and can still turn heads. That is the long term sweet spot to end up at. They are here on this web site, they don't get 100 upvotes but they are worthy of applause.
This could be a very long list that goes on forever. Just go back five years to the start of this site. I bet more than 80% of the women are no longer Fbbs or competing. This is mostly due to changes in life priorities that are incompatible with the singular focused lifestyle needed to have physical perfection. Hopefully many of these women still value being fit and regularly work out.
Yeah, this is true. Plenty of women manage to keep it up for much longer though. Juliana Malacarne, Palomma Parra, Aleesha Young, Margie Martin, and so on.
It tends to be the younger women who give it a go, then stop. The older ladies seem to have a greater desire and incentive, due to bodybuilding helping with aging, to keep going.
Debbie Minsky from the mid 90s. At Women's Physique World there is a description of her video 282, states that she left the bodybuilding scene due to a severe injury. The posing scene of her in that vid wearing cowboy boots, cut off denim shorts and sleeveless top is great. Her side chest pose is epic, deep set striated pecs and no implants. Big biceps, quads and calves. Plus she is gorgeous.
If you've been around for 15 years, you might remember the name Jaymie Piper. She was a teen powerlifting champion with an amazing body, especially quads. Could bench over 200 when she was 16. She gave it up for some reason.
A few years later she resurfaced as a crossfit girl and was looking mighty fine there, too. Then she quit that, apparently because she got huge breast implants and was more interested in showing those off.
Jenna Opel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2NKy1OdjLU
At one point her biceps were nearly as big as her thighs, and she was curling 45lbs dumbbells for reps.
But one day she decided to "get leaner."
Still a cute girl with some great tone, but lost most of her upper body muscle.
That Cass Martin transformation is shocking.
Although I feel like she was probably fine with her build before--she was big before she got the attention, but when the sponsors started rolling in she made her adjustments.
Of course I don't begrudge any of these women their choices--being happy and healthy is always the #1 priority, but as a fan it sucks.
I was thinking on this recently. I used to run Girls Who Flex on instagram--honestly a front to get more photos and videos of buff women. This was now 7 years ago? There were a lot of women I just didn't want to post because they weren't currently jacked--7 years later and quite a few of them look incredible. One of the problems with the industry is that it doesn't always lend itself to long-term. One GREAT (ish) example is Gillian Ward, who didn't step on stage until she was 38? 39? She had been training all her life to build that physique. Many go too hard too fast and drop out. Or find other priorities because it was just a flash in the pan hobby
I am disappointed that Cass Martin slimmed down so soon. Once her business took off she dropped the regiment completely. I get that larger FBBs may find it difficult to sustain the routine, but Cass was never very big, and only in peak condition for like two years.
Maybe she responds poorly to gear. Or just doesn't like the lifestyle.
Before:
Now:
I mean, she’s still really hot though... & you can always go back to the gym :)
& also if she’s doing this to maintain an image for sponsorship, I can’t be mad at it.
I mean, she’s still really hot though... & you can always go back to the gym :)
& also if she’s doing this to maintain an image for sponsorship, I can’t be mad at it.
As far as I know, she no longer has sponsors and now has her own supplement/fitness business. I'm guessing that this is simply what she wants, without having to cater to anyone else.
I am disappointed with her choice. Previously she pushed an image of work ethic, strength, beauty, and pushing boundaries. Her idea was that muscles, construction work, or anything seen as "manly" in fact belonged to anyone. That people could do anything they want and own it. From what I see in her latest posts, she doesn't seem to showcase this anymore.
Now, she’s just another unremarkable IG personality. A massive step backwards.
to put it more plainly, following some of these athletes over the years is like watching your favorite shows. Sometimes they get canceled early even though you liked them. some are great and last the right amount of time. some are terrible and go on far too long, or were once great and passed their heyday and should have been canceled long ago.
Jessica Williams (not to be confused with Jessica Booker Williams) comes to mind. I remember her coming onto the scene with her youtube channel when she was 18 or 19 (the fact that she was also around the same age as me made her all the more appealing (I'm now 33). She started off pretty big and not very lean, but when she started to lean down she just exploded in muscularity. Her most muscular pose was her specialty, and you can tell she loved to show off her traps. She was also a session wrestler for a bit
I think she did a couple contests, but then her father unfortunately fell into ill health, and I believed he soon died. The updates stopped, and she made her youtube channel private. I found her facebook, and it looks like she isn't into bodybuilding anymore. It's also possible she hit the PEDs too hard too soon; her jaw definitely shows the effects of them, and you can still see them in her current pics.
The best example : Danielle Reardon "Lil Monstar". For me, the best body, who could keep growing. The best arms and shoulders too. Why she stopped? Don't know.. Maybe to be "Zen".
Supposedly Dani really fell hard into depression after placing 6th at the 2017 Olympia. Prior to that, she always placed in the top 5. Placed 2nd at the 2016 Olympia and Arnold Sports Festival, took 4th at the 2015 Olympia, 1st at the Greater Gulf States, 3rd at the St. Louise Pro. Either way she looked incredible! Gorgeous girl next door looks and charm combined with a killer but still feminine muscularity. Absolutely shredded pecs and abs and huge arms! But that 6th place at the 2017 Olympia really jacked her up mentally. It's why she went MIA for nearly a whole year and then suddenly reemerged smaller, retired from competitive bodybuilding, and was now a yoga instructor/personal trainer. Albeit she was definitely much happier. But I think she came to the realization that other young female bodybuilders like Hayley McNeff, Rosanna Harte, and Cindy Phillips came to: this shit just wasn't fun anymore and it's not worth the health risks to compete at a very high national level.
That and I think Dani also realized that it would be unbelievably hard to keep up with the competition while maintaining her Vegan lifestyle.
Yeah, just peeped her IG, it’s pretty upsetting. She wasn’t even crazy big before, I wonder if she’s just trying to “appeal to the masses” or something.
More than likely. I stopped following a lot of fitness "influencers" (except for crossfitters and powerlifters, because those are my two main sports), because their pages seem so fake and manufactured. Nothing wrong with showcasing your physique, but is there really a need to couple that with motivational quotes? And saying things like "your body is perfect the way it is, love it" when it's accompanied by a picture of a model who is almost in contest-shape with perfect lighting, angles, posing and presentation just feels very contrived.
Personally, I think she's doing the opposite of catering to the masses. She got famous for her physique in the first place, and only slimmed down sometime after she reached 2m followers and launched her business. Once she made good money, she had no need to keep training. She most likely hurt her career, but if you already "made it", why continue if you don't like the regiment?
In my opinion we are seeing the true version of her, which disappoints me since the message she was pushing wasn't something she actually believed in. Otherwise she would have kept training even after she got successful.
On a different note, motivational platitudes that virtually all social media models post irk me. The advice they imply is almost always bad.
The teen phenoms rarely last long. Too much too soon I guess.