Local and Overseas Bodybuilding Competition

First of all, the history of building competition between local and overseas is totally different. In 1904, the first large-scale bodybuilding competition held at Madison Square in New York. In 1944, the first bodybuilding competition named Shanghai men’s bodybuilding competition held in Shanghai YMCA auditorium. It is the first bodybuilding competition held in China. It shows that the history of overseas bodybuilding competition is more longer than local’s.

Overseas bodybuilding competition divided as two types, professional and amateur level. But local bodybuilding competition did not divide people as professional or amateur.

According to overseas bodybuilding has decided as two types, there are some different competitions for different kind of competitors. For example, the amateur competitors can take part in IFBB (the International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness), when the competitors get the IFBB pro-card, then this competitor can participate in more professional bodybuilding competitions, such as Arnold Classic (The Arnold Sports Festival), the Olympia bodybuilding contest.

For local people, the bodybuilding competition has no a specific name. Because there are some different associations organize different competitions every year. Such as HKCBC (Hong Kong China Bodybuilding and Fitness Association), this association will organize a bodybuilding competition for bodybuilders every year. But most of time, this kind of association just give a sign up way for the bodybuilders who want to join the bodybuilding competitions in mainland china or overseas.

The qualification of participating in competition between local and overseas bodybuilding competition is also different. For the overseas bodybuilding competition, only the people come from the member states (and which must be paid the annual fee) and also received the invitation card, they can take part in the competition. But for the local bodybuilding competition, there are only one qualification had been requested, the competitor must be a Chinese citizen.

There are some strict and special rules for the competition. For example, competitors can wear their wedding ring in the overseas bodybuilding. But competitors should not wear it in local bodybuilding competition.

The sequence of between local and overseas bodybuilding competition is not the same. According to the provisions of the International Olympic Committee, the first English letter will be the sequence of each member state. The competitors will draw lots to get their sequence in local bodybuilding competition.

Because of different regions, the competitors’ physical qualities are different. Competition level for adult men can be changed for different regions. For instance, in overseas bodybuilding competition, the level for adult men will be divided as 60 kg, 65kg, 70 kg, 75 kg, 80 kg, 85 kg, 90 kg, 100 kg and 100 kg or more. But in local bodybuilding competition, that will be divided as 55 kg, 60 kg, 65 kg, 70 kg, 75 kg, 80 kg, 85 kg, 90 kg and 90 kg or more.

For grading the competitors, in the international bodybuilding competition, all of the competitors who have same qualities stand together. Then, the judges can compare the same qualities competitors. It is more equitable. But, in the local bodybuilding competition, all the competitors will line up according to their sequence. It is more difficult for the judges to observe, compare or give a grade.

The winner who won the overseas bodybuilding competition can receive a high financial reward. The highest financial reward is Olympia bodybuilder contest organized by the World Bodybuilding Association in 1998. The total prize money is 310,000 dollars, and the final winner got 110,000 dollars. But the winner who won the local bodybuilding competition can only get the Medal and Trophy. Sometimes maybe the winner can get around 1000 to 3000 Hong Kong dollars. These are the differences between local and overseas bodybuilding competition.