The 2005 Miami Beach Fitness Festival
After a 15 minute drive to South Beach followed
by a 45 minute hunt for a parking spot (Note to self: buy a parking
lot in South Beach, will be rich within 3 weeks), I descended
on the 2005 Miami Beach Fitness Festival. It was a great day to
be on the beach and the atmosphere was lively with a mixture of
fitness people, leftover Spring Breakers from the Northeast &
Midwest, and the usual tourists from around the world. The festival
is a 4 day event, held right on the sand and offers something
for every kind of fitness enthusiast: A 5k Beach Run, Bodybuilding
& Fitness Competitions, Aerobics Classes (ranging from Beach
Yoga to Zumba, to Cardio Striptease) and various fitness related
booths offering a variety of free goodies to take home.
When I arrived there was a large crowd with multiple activities
going on simultaneously. I headed over to what seemed like the
largest crowd in the festival, “The Foot Volleyball” competition.
Now, if you have never heard of Foot Volleyball, or futevolei,
is played on a beach volleyball court, and you score the points
as in a volleyball match. The only difference is that you are
not allowed to touch the ball with your hands. You have to count
on your head, chest, feet, legs, and creativity. At this event,
there were national teams from Brazil, USA, Thailand, Argentina,
Colombia and Germany. To see this game played at this top level
is truly amazing and you really get an great appreciation for
the skill, control and soft touch this players have. Argentina
kicked ass.

Foot Volleyball
Next, I checked out the “Nike RockStar Workout” that was being
held at one of the outdoor “aerobic studios”. The festival imports
the top level aerobics instructors from across the world and while
I am not a big fan of aerobics classes in general, the level of
creativity and fitness leadership was quite apparent with this
injection of top-notch instructors. They will extremely creative
and really got the crowd into the workout. I should mention that
these classes were not little demonstration or introduction courses.
The instructors came out full force and for the most part the
crowd responded. You can imagine for someone who is really into
aerobic classes or even for the newbie, taking a class outside
on South Beach from a world class instructor with the sun on their
back and the wind in their face is quite an experience.



Various Aerobic Events
MuscleMania decided to piggyback on the Fitness Festival this
year and hold their South Beach MuscleMania competitions at the
festival. Smart move; this opened up competitive bodybuilding
and fitness to a whole new market and exposed it to a wide variety
of people that normally would not even know there was a competition
going on if it was held inside an auditorium or theater (the usual
venue for contests). Unfortunately, competition is by invitation
only. MuscleMania sends out special invitations to past winners
in order to show case a top of the line “product” to the public.
But this strategy back fires as the top competitors blow off this
show in order to prepare for the “real” shows later in the season
and as a result you get a total of 4 bodybuilders in the Mens
Open Division (the lightweight won….he was ripped to shreds),
1 Master and 1 Grand Master (he was 77 years old). Luckily, the
ladies came out in numbers in the fitness division and saved the
day. Women’s Fitness Competition is tough for me to judge, but
there were some impressive routines and some impressive bodies
to back them up. Most of the crowd there was just happy to see
hot chicks in bikinis, but their routines did show they were much
more than a pretty face, that stuff takes some skill, strength,
flexibility and endurance. Hats off to the ladies.




Fitness Competion
At these types of fitness/bodybuilding events, one thing is for
sure: If you are a guy in good shape, some “photographer” is going
to approach you wanting you to “model” for his website or calendar.
Now, that may sound like a great opportunity but once you look
a little deeper you quickly realize that 90% of these websites
and calendars are soft-core gay porn. If you are into the sort
of thing, then more power to you. I personally passed on 3 offers
at the festival. Bodybuilding and fitness does have a dark side
that involves money, drugs, sex and muscle. Stay far, far away
fellas.

Could gay porn be in this guy's future?
Brazilian Capoeira teams to perform demonstrations for the crowd.
“Capoeira was created by African slaves, in Brazil, approximately
400 yrs. ago as a martial art. Capoeira possesses a very unique
style that brings together beauty and power, developing mental
balance, physical conditioning, self-defense, music and a profound
sense of art, all at once. Capoeira can be done by anyone of any
age or size. More than a martial art, Capoeira is also a social
event filled with tradition and history.” (http://www.capoeirasj.com)
This see the body move in rhythm with such power, force and grace
was a sight to behold (check out the pictures below).



Capoeira at its best

The ladies go at it
I would definitely recommend to anyone to check out the Miami
Beach Fitness Festival next year. If you live outside the USA,
check out the festivals that will be held in Italy, Moscow, and
Germany later in the year. For more information go to http://www.fitnessfestival.com.
Mark-Anthony Bailey is the Editor-in-Chief
of MostMuscle.com. As an Exercise Physiologist and competitive
natural bodybuilder, his goals have been to ensure that his clients
get the latest information on training techniques, nutritional
guidelines and lifestyle modifications needed to obtain optimal
health. He can be contacted at: markanthony@mostmuscle.com