50’s, fit, and utterly fantastic…

Another flashback entry to The Void – the in-between OD period.

Lady Wife has always been an active, fit individual.  She is one of those people who enjoys going to the gym.  She has also mastered the art of eating well, enjoying life without feeling she is denying herself, while staying in shape.

One of her trainers at the gym is a former Miss North Carolina.  In 2016, she said that Lady Wife should enter a fitness competition.  So in December, she entered a natural competition, meaning that the participants don’t use any supplements, steroids, hormones, etc.  Everything is accomplished strictly through diet and exercise.  The competitions for women are divided into three categories:  Physique, Figure, and Bikini.  Or as I think of them, Scary, Kind of Scary, and Hot.  Luckily for me, Lady Wife competes in the Bikini category!

The women who compete in the Physique and Figure categories are just too much.  Many have lost all feminine traits completely, with over-developed muscles.  The Bikini category is a more natural look, and the judging criteria reflects that:  “Judging is based on having an overall healthy looking toned body with good symmetry, fullness, balance, shape and proportion with good posture, poise, confidence, and stage presence. Other factors that can affect overall appearance are suit fit, hair and make-up, skin tone, and complexion. Bikini competitors should not display deep muscle separation, muscle striations or an abundance of muscle size.”

All of this was completely new, and like any group or sub-culture, there were aspects that are quite odd.  For example, the competitors are spray-tanned the night before and the morning of the competition (regardless of skin tone).  The stuff looks like a mahogany wood stain for furniture.  And getting it off requires coconut oil and is a messy process!  Based on the judging criteria, I would have expected the competitors to be in very simple, identical, swimwear, like a basic black or white bikini.  But no, there are purpose-made bikinis for the competitions, and $600-900 is what you plan to spend.  And for that money, it can’t even get wet!  Throw in the hair styling, makeup artist, shoes and jewelry required for the competition, and you were looking at close to $2,000.  (Granted, I went a little overboard on the jewelry with Henri Bendel.  She said get sparkly, so I obliged.)

In any case, she had fun training and preparing for the competition.  This was her at the hotel the day before, just before she had to go for her first spray tan:

Not bad for 51, right?  And this was at the competition, with two layers of  spray tan:

She went into this in the spirit of fun, just wanting to show that you can look great at any age, and that the effort doesn’t have to be extreme.  She ended up winning a medal (a rare occurrence for a first competition, we discovered), and was coming out ahead of women half her age.

Since then, she has done two other competitions in 2017, winning medals in both.  This year she plans to do one more, then call it quits.  But she will continue to look amazing!