The brand new division can have a professional class in 2026.
Final up to date on December 18th, 2024
The Nationwide Physique Committee (NPC) and NPC Worldwide have introduced the formation of a brand new division on the newbie bodybuilding degree, the Match Mannequin division.
On Dec. 17, 2024, IFBB Professional League and NPC Vice President Tyler Manion launched a video saying the creation of this division, which can start within the 2025 season. The video could be seen in its entirety beneath.
Manion described this new class as a girls’s “entry-level” division, with many requirements just like these beforehand held for the Bikini division. He pinpointed Ashley Kaltwasser’s physique on the 2015 Olympia as the usual search for this new class. Kaltwasser received her third Bikini Olympia title that 12 months.
The athletes that compete on this division can have their very own requirements, however they aren’t as lofty as these of the present divisions. Opponents won’t must showcase as a lot muscle and definition.
We’re on the lookout for much less muscle and fewer improvement than you’d see within the Bikini division.
—Tyler Manion
Manions acknowledged that athletes ought to nonetheless have some degree of muscle, form, and stability between the higher and decrease physique. Nevertheless, conditioning shall be lower than the present Bikini division requirements.
“We don’t need roundness and capped delts,” Manion expressed. “We don’t need etched-in midsections from the entrance. For the again, we’re on the lookout for full glutes with no tie-ins — principally, what you’d see on an old-school health journal cowl of a health mannequin.
Different particular necessities of the brand new division embrace no bling on the fits, reasonable protection on the underside of the fits, and the fundamental back and front poses that Bikini rivals used to do within the early years of the division, such because the entrance pose with hips tilted.
Manion emphasised that the rivals who win their courses will carry out the identical mannequin stroll that judges name for within the present Bikini and Wellness divisions.
Match division competitions shall be featured worldwide. Athletes competing within the Match Mannequin can enter a number of courses inside that division, reminiscent of True Novice to Open, however received’t be permitted to enter different divisions, reminiscent of Wellness or Bikini.
Professional-qualifying occasions shall be held all through the 2025 season, and the professional Match Mannequin division will launch in 2026. On the time of this text’s publication, there isn’t any phrase on whether or not the Match Mannequin division shall be featured on the Olympia or Arnold Classic.
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Featured Picture: @t_manion on Instagram