Pago 12
Daily Ncbraskan Friday, October 5, 1034
n
V
o
1
r
. V",-.'
!V t
r'
' .'A
. . '
-4
i.
.,
5
I f ' :
if
I
1 1,1
Bodybuilder nei
kX.
""vN..
It was at least an hour until the Nebraska
Bodybuilding Championships would begin at Lin
coln's Pershing Auditorium Saturday evening. It
would probably be two hours until the women's
competition began.
Diane Smith, a senior at UNL, her fiance, Alex
Reifechneider, and her brother Dan sat in corner
of the warm-up room to the side of Pershing's
stage. The quiet, dark, chilly room was empty
excpet for some weights that were strewn about
the floor and some folding chairs.
Soon the room would be crowded with body
builders. They would be preparing to exhibit their
muscles before a crowd of more than 2,000 peo
ple. Yet for now, Smith who would be competing,
had the room to herself. She moved about freely,
first in her cotton warm-ups, then only in her
bikini. She casually posed to music in front of a
mirror, flexing the muscles she had spent so long
developing, Reifschneider and Dan looked on
from the corner.
Later in the evening the judges would be look
ing at the appearance, symmetry and definition
of her muscles. ,
"Sure they want you to have muscles, but . .
.they don't want you yukked out," Smith said.
A rush of bodybuilders arrived 30 minutes
before the competition. Some sat on chairs in the
room. Others stood in the narrow hallway outside
the room. A few men stripped down to their swim
suits and began prepping. Smith, the only women
ies lor crow
in the room, leaned up to a mirror and started
putting her makeup on.
Action inside the warm-up room got more
intense as the moment of truth got nearer. About
1 5 people were in the room, each one doing his or
her own thing. One person did the bench press.
Another did curls. A third bodybuilder did pul
lups in the doorway of the shower room. Others
were oiling down their bodies to give their mus
cles the right appearance under the bright lights.
Some flexed their muscles in front of the mirror.
The music coming from the corner was drowned
out by the loud huffing and puffing of the body
builders. A smell of Ben Gay spread about the
room.
Smith, still the only women in the room, was
being oiled down by Reifschneider in front of t he
mirror. It was a long process. The oiling had to be
done just right. After the oiling was done, Smith
started pumping her muscles up. First, she flexed
her muscles, then she did squats and curls. Peri
odically she glanced in the mirror to make sure
everything was right.
Finally, it was time for Smith's division, the
lightweights, to compete. Smith performed first,
posing to the theme song of "Jazz Singer." Her
routine went well. She won the division and the
right to compete later in a "posedown" against the
middleweight and heavyweight division winners.
The winner would become Ms. Nebraska. Smith
was runner-up.
Clockwise fossa top light: Diane Smith practices a pose.
Gosnpeting in the Nebraska Bodybuilding Chsmpicnships.
Weights used to pump cp. the lansdes before competing.
Pumping iron. Eeifschaeider applied oil to Smith's body.
The warm-up room.
Story and photos by Bill Conradt
i. ' -