Mindi O'Brien Retires from Fitness

Fitness lost one of its top competitors today, as Mindi O'Brien announced via Youtube today that she is retiring from fitness competition. It sucks to leave a sport or anything you love for so long due to an injury. She's had a great career spanning 14 years, with great routines and what some people call one of the best physiques in fitness history, capped off by her trademark arms that would give any female bodybuilder a run for their money. Some of her highlights include competing in 6 straight Fitness Olympias (although she was qualified for 7, but skipped out of this year's show due to injury) and 5 straight Arnold Classics. She would finish her career at the first-ever Arnold Classic Europe, placing 6th.

Photo credit: RxMuscle.com

Here's a video of Mindi during her trip to Spain (including her fitness routine and posing round) and announcing her retirement from fitness:

What does the future hold for her? We're unsure, but we think she will stick around in the fitness industry in some form or capacity. We over at Save Women's Fitness Now congratulate Mindi on an incredible journey, and we wish her the best of luck in the next chapter of her life!

Tanji Johnson Wins Arnold Classic Europe Fitness

Photo credit: Rx Muscle

History was made this weekend at the first-ever Arnold Classic Europe took place. Tanji Johnson, one of the top competitors in fitness and according to many a future Fitness Olympia and/or Fitness International champion, will forever be in the history books as the first-ever Arnold Classic Europe Fitness champion. Bethany Cisternino took 2nd, Regiane DeSilva took 3rd place. Here are the full results as well as scorecard for this historic event:

1. Tanji Johnson
2. Bethany Cisternino
3. Regiane DeSilva
4. Myriam Capes
5. Tina Durkin
6. Mindi O'Brien
7. Diana Monteiro
8. Kayde Puckett

Photo cradit: IFBBPro.com

Congrats to Tanji on the win, and to everyone that competed at the Arnold Classic Europe! You all made history this weekend!

IFBB Advisory Rule about Competition Contracts and No-Show at Finals

This was released last week, from the IFBB:

Credit: IFBBPro.com

Let's start with the athlete competition contract ruling. There are those that take their time and want to see who else is competing and maybe they will wait until the very last minute to send in a contract. With this new ruling, that will be reduced dramatically as competitors MUST submit their contracts no later than a month (30 days) before the competition they plan to enter. And if they DO wait, they gotta pay up to the tune of 200 dollars. So make up your mind early, folks, and go ahead and submit those contracts.

As far as the no-show at finals are concerned, good ruling on that as well. If you make it, don't bail out unless you have a legitimate excuse. If you're literally feeling like you're gonna pass out, then you clearly excused from the finals. Your health is more important than a trophy and a spot at the Olympia. But if you're skipping to be skipping, you better hope it's a VERY GOOD excuse, because it's gonna cost ya $1,000. And until it's paid off, you will be kept from competing elsewhere.

While I personally love these rulings, some of you might not. What are YOUR thoughts on the new IFBB rulings? Post them below.

NPC Fitness Spotlight for October 2011: Amanda Hatfield

This month's NPC Fitness Spotlight belongs to someon who has returned to the scene after being away from the fitness scene since 2004, Amanda Hatfield!

Photo credit: Fitness Rx

Looking at the picture above, some of you think you might have seen her before. If you were following this sport around 2004-2005, chances are you have. She used to go by the name Amanda Swallow. She was ALL OVER the paysites with her explosive biceps and overall muscularity. She was doing exceptionally well during her first run, then out of nowhere, she disappered, not to be seen until now.

With a new name in Amanda Hatfield, she didn't waste any time in making a name for herself in the fitness division. In her first show back from a five-year hiatus, she won first place at the NPC Julie Palmer Ultimate Showdown this past June in Toledo, Ohio and qualifying to compete in Fitness Nationals at Team Universe, where she claimed fifth in the short class. She recently competed in the North Americans, where she won her class and ALMOST won her pro card that night as well. She did more than just win her class at the NAs, she she restored her status as one of the division’s top contenders, and she's currently on Kriv Studios and HDPhysiques, with her biceps as impressive as ever. Expect more sites to feature her and quite possibly a pro card in the VERY near future. I think I can speak for everyone when I say...WELCOME BACK AMANDA!!!

Photo credit: Fitness Rx

COMPETITION HISTORY (as Amanda Hatfield)

1st Place Short Class-North Americans 2011
5th Place Short Class-Team Universe 2011
1st Place-Julie Palmer Ultimate Showdown

IFBB Fitness Spotlight for October 2011: Kayde Puckett

This month's IFBB Fitness Spotlight belongs to one of the newer competitors in IFBB, Kayde Puckett!

Photo credit: Muscular Development

Kayde is from Northern Virginia, now residing in North Carolina! While her parents wanted her to do dancing and piano, she wanted to do martial arts when she was little. Her parents decided to let her do martial arts, and from there was the beginning of what would be the start of a great fitness career ahead of her. It was during her martial arts days that led her to discover weight training. She began to pick up weights at age 14 ana hasn't looked back since. That and her martial arts training (which she continued through college) paved the way for her to become a fitness competitor.

When she moved to Raleigh, I was unable to find a martial arts school that would fit her needs. It turned out to be a blessing in disquise as she focues more on weight training anf found fitness in the process. When she saw her first fitness show, she was instantly hooked. She began to train for fitness in April 2008, and a year after that, at the NPC Team Universe in 2009, she won the overall fitness title and her pro card, and she's now an IFBB Pro.

Kayde will be making history this month as she will participate in the first-ever Arnold Classic Europe. With her successful track record, the sky's the limit for what she can accomplish in the IFBB fitness division.

Photo credit: Lift Studios/Isaac Hinds

COMPETITION HISTORY:

10th Place - Europa Show of Champions, Orlando, FL (April, 2010)
8th Place - NY Pro Fitness Classic, New York, NY (April, 2010)
14th Place - Fitness International, Columbus, OH (March, 2010) - Pro Debut
7th Place - IFBB World Championships, Como, Italy (October, 2009)
1st Place Tall Class and Overall(Earned IFBB Pro Card) - NPC Team Universe and National Fitness Championships, New York, NY(September 2009)
3rd Place - NPC Jr. Nat's, Chicago, IL(June 2009)
4th Place - NPC Jr. USA's, Charleston, SC(May 2009)
1st Place - Carolina Clash, Kannapolis, NC(Oct 2008)
2nd Place - SC Excalibur, Charleston, SC(Aug 2008)

For more on Kayde, visit her website at http://www.kaydepuckett.com/.