Wikipedia:Hooked: Muscle Women

Hooked: Muscle Women was a 2008 MSNBC documentary focused on professional female bodybuilding. The primary focus of the documentary is on two International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) pro bodybuilders, Colette Nelson and Kristy Hawkins and their competing in the 2008 Ms. International. The documentary also features Teresita Morales a World Natural Bodybuilding Federation (WNBF) pro natural female bodybuilder who competes in the 2008 World Championships.

Kristy Hawkins
Kristy Hawkins, of Pasadena, California, is a 27-year-old professional female bodybuilder. Since she was 17 years old, she had competed as an amateur bodybuilder. In November 2007, she won the light-heavyweight and overall at the NPC Nationals and received her IFBB pro card. There is only around 85 professional female bodybuilders in the entire world that are part of the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB). She can bench-press 225 lb and squat around 350 lb.

In elementary school, Kristy described herself as very heavy. She took dance lessons and became a twirler, but she said she wasn't active enough and didn't have proper eating habits. She suffered from anorexia nervosa, which led her to starve herself. She eventually got into the gym to burn calories. At first she started with cardio and then weight training. At the age of 15 years, she got her first gym membership. Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering at Caltech.

Dr. Harrison Pope, a professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School; based at Harvard McLean Hospital, has published several studies of bodybuilders. He found that bodybuilders tend to suffer from eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia. Muscle dysmorphia is a syndrome in which individuals develop an unrealistic occupation with obtaining muscularity or fitness.

After finishing working out in the gym, Kristy starts striking poses for a photo shoot. After turning professional, she was invited to the 2008 Ms. International, the second most prestigious female bodybuilding competition of the year. She is one of only 16 women in the world attending the competition that year. The show is 13 weeks away. After her photo shoot, she sends her photos off to her nutritionist in New York to critique them. At the gym, an older woman commented that she was crazy and that no man would want to marry her with a body like that. She replied that she had guys lined up to marry her. She said her strict diet and her training regimen have gotten in the way of a relationship, which is why dating a bodybuilder who is equally hooked on building muscle makes a relationship easier.

Colette Nelson
Colette Nelson is a 33-year-old professional female bodybuilder. She has been competing as a bodybuilder since she was 19 years old. At the age of 12 years, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Her doctor told her that he would start her on insulin and she has to exercise to keep her blood pressure under control. In high school, she became obsessed with exercise, teaching up to 20 aerobics classes a week. In college, she started weightlifting and fell in love with bodybuilding. In her freshman year, she went from 120 lb to 145 lb that summer. At the age of 26 years, she started competing as an amateur bodybuilder.

In 2004, Colette won the light-heavyweight and overall at the IFBB North American Championships and received her IFBB pro card. She kept her diabetes a closely guarded secret. She has to stick to a strict bodybuilder diet, while taking insulin to manage blood sugar. Insulin tends to make people with diabetes to appear bloated. She is currently a certified diabetes educator and nutritionist. She is qualified for the 2008 Ms. International and will be competing against her friend, Kristy, in 11 weeks. She is training at the gym with her workout partner, fiance, and retired professional bodybuilder, Dave Palumbo.

Colette had breast implants in order to counter the effects of intensive weightlifting. She described herself as a "total girl." With the Ms. International only a few weeks away, she has to drop about 25 lb quickly, which can be dangerous if not done with proper medical guidance. She is also dealing with a tear in her left shoulder, a potentially career threatening injury. After her workout, she heads over to her physical therapist, Michael Camp, to inspect her for torn ligaments.

Dr. Pope said that when individuals have a regular workout regimen, but sustain an injury, they can't wait to get back to working out and that it has a psychiatric protective effect for them. He also said their instincts are to get back to work and if they allow their working out to lapse too long then bad things may start to happen.

Steroids
Bodybuilding requires strict discipline and hard work, but many assume that bodybuilding also requires performance-enhancing drugs aka steroids. Teresita "Terry" Morales is a 35-year-old attorney and a professional bodybuilder, but opted to go with the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation (WNBF), that performs drug testing on all athletes before all competitions. In a couple of days, she will compete in the biggest show of the WNBF, the WNBF World Championships. She must first pass a urine test before the show, to test for drugs. If there is any evidence that she has done steroids or any other performance-enhancing drugs she is prohibited from competing in the WNBF for 7 years. Charlie Carollo, vice president of the WNBF, said it creates a level playing field so natural bodybuilders can compete.

Terry had to drop a couple of pounds in the last couple of hours to make her desired weight class, which has taken a toll on her. If she can come in at 118 lb, she can compete as a lightweight and put her up against women her size. If she comes in at over 118 lb, she will compete as a middle weight, which is not her desired weight class. She never said what she did in order to get down to her preferred weight, but she said that she had to do what she had to do.

Dr. Pope, who has studied female bodybuilders for years, found that many women use diuretics to drop weight, which can be harmful to the kidneys and even fatal. He said that bodybuilders take diuretics so they are dehydrated so all of the definition of the muscles are enhanced and thus giving them the "cut up" look.

Terry said she was feeling sick, having dropped too much water weight too fast. The WNBF consists of a urine test that is highly accurate, but there are ways around it. In addition, there is also a lie detector test, though it's only about 90% accurate. After taking the lie detector test, she waits till she has to go to the bathroom to take her urine test.

The International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) does not routinely drug test its athletes. Kristy and Colette are both IFBB pros and don't like talking about steroids, along with most in the IFBB industry. Colette said that it was unfortunate that in today's environment that if you are a successful woman athlete that they must be on steroids. Kristy said that it was prevalent in every sport, but much more obvious in female bodybuilding. Steve Wennerstrom, long time supporter of female bodybuilding, is editor in chief of Women's Physique World and historian of the IFBB. He said he would be naive to say steroids don't exist in female bodybuilding, because athletes will do whatever it takes to win, but said not every female bodybuilder is taking steroids.

Kristy says most people don't realize how many hours bodybuilders work out in the gym and how much protein they consume to build muscle. There was no way to be sure if IFBB pro female bodybuilders take steroids, due to there being no evidence of women taking steroids or any of them admitting to doing so. However, the prize money of the IFBB is up to $30,000 a win, while the WNBF prize money is only $2,000 a win. There also seems to be a different level of muscularity between the two leagues. Dr. Pope said that he heard a story that a group of athletes were asked if they were given a drug that would guarantee them a gold medal at the Olympics, but would also guarantee they only had 5 years to live afterwards, would they take the drug? He said a large percentage of them said yes, despite the consequences.

Dieting
On Wednesday, at 5 am, in Queens, New York City, Terry is headed to the gym. This is her last workout before her big competition that weekend. As a young teenager, she had to take care of her sick mother, who was suffering from cancer. She died while she was a junior in high school. She ended up in foster care. Her experience in foster care led her to be an attorney so she could represent children in the New York City foster care system.

Dr. Pope said that going to the gym for bodybuilders had a psychiatric therapeutic benefit and that in some cases they are self treating an underlining depression or protecting themselves against a depression. Two days before competition, Terry is tanning, buying a costume for dance routine, and getting her hair and nails done. In between errands, she stops to eat. The most important thing in bodybuilding is dieting. Most bodybuilders say that dieting is 80% of being a successful bodybuilder. She said that when she went to her best friend's wedding in Texas, and took 101 pieces of frozen chicken with her, it lasted for about 4–5 days. She also said she brought her own water and made her own meals.

Dr. Pope went into how the micro-management of diet is an obsessional symptom, because it impairs the individuals social and occupational functioning. Many female bodybuilders decline going out to eat, because it is a deviation of their dieting plan. In a few weeks, Kristy will attend the Ms. International, but today she is posing in a photo shoot for photographer Bill Dobbins to upload on his website.

2008 WNBF World Championships
After months of training, Terry is attending the WNBF World Championships. The most important part of the show is the pre-judging. In the backroom, she is preparing for the show and checking out the competition. She felt like she didn't look as good as she could have, which affected her performance on stage. Many bodybuilders tend to choose to hide their body's until they are on the contest stage. Dr. Pope said that in a study of female bodybuilders, he found that female bodybuilders would apologize for their current appearance and said that their stage appearance was the real them. One said that they feared sun tanning because a plan might notice them looking down.

Before showtime, some women work out seconds before going on stage. Terry, number 4 on stage, is eventually called up on stage. She said that she doesn't like to dress revealingly and likes to dress modestly. She said that in her first show she was embarrassed to wear a bikini on stage, because she felt naked. She did end up making her preferred class, the lightweight division. She is trying to remain on center stage during the competition. During the pre-judging she was moved constantly, which she felt was confusing.

Terry was less than pleased with her performance on stage and had to wait till that night to see if she made it into the top 8 in the final round. She said that the main reason she didn't do so well on stage was due to her cramping and that she didn't do her poses quick enough. That night, during the announcing of the finalists, she did not advance to the final round. Steve said that if a female bodybuilder feels down about how they placed in a competition, that they should remember they are in remarkable condition compared to most women.

2008 IFBB Ms. International
After 16 weeks of training, Kristy and Colette have landed in Columbus, Ohio to attend the 2008 IFBB Ms. International. Before big competitions, female bodybuilders go through a series of beauty treatments. Along with hair, nails, and makeup, they also hairbrush their body's from head to toe.

Kristy and Colette are about to take the stage at the Ms. International competition. Kristy is backstage with her bodybuilding boyfriend, Branden. He will be cheering Kristy on in her first performance as a pro. Dr. Pope said that bodybuilding might be a healthy outlet for some people in order to save them or prevent them from performing other more dangerous activities. Eventually, Kristy, number 13 on stage, and Colette, number 11 on stage, take the pre-judging stage for individual posing.

After individual posing, the comparison round began. Kristy, Colette, and 2 other female bodybuilders took the stage to compare individual body parts among each other for the judges. In the end, Kristy and Colette did not win or even place in the top six. Despite the loss, both are still committed to female bodybuilding and will try harder next time. Kristy commented that it was the usual veteran competitors in the top six and she would just have to work her way to that level. Dr. Pope commented that there was two groups of female bodybuilders, with one being in total control of their lives and the other being in profoundly compromised in dealing with the regular world. Kristy stated that while you have to be a little nuts to be a bodybuilder, she won't change it for anything else.

The final results for the 2008 Ms. International:

Cast

 * Kristy Hawkins
 * Colette Nelson
 * Teresita Morales
 * Betty Viana-Adkins
 * Tracy Beckham
 * Rosemary Jennings
 * Harrison Pope
 * Branden Ray
 * Dave Palumbo
 * Michael Camp
 * Lisa Aukland
 * Dayana Cadeau
 * Iris Kyle
 * Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia
 * Betty Pariso
 * Cathy LeFrançois
 * Betty Pariso
 * Brenda Raganot
 * Annie Rivieccio
 * Charlie Carollo
 * Tazzie Colomb
 * Steve Wennerstrom
 * Bill Dobbins
 * Antoinette Norman
 * Debi Laszewski