Female bodybuilding

Erica Ortensie is training weightliftig, to prepare from a competition. Photo taken in 2010

Female bodybuilding is when women do bodybuilding. It started in the late 1970s when women began taking part in bodybuilding competitions.

Before 1977, bodybuilding was a male sport. The first official female bodybuilding competition was in Canton, Ohio, November 1977. It was called the Ohio Regional Women's Physique Championship. It was judged as a bodybuilding contest.

In the 1980s, female bodybuilding took off. The National Physique Committee and Ms. Olympia held many bodybuilding contests for women. Later in the 1980s, Ms. International, which was in Atlantic City, New Jersey, came into the picture. In the 1989 Ms. International, the runner-up, Jackie Paisley, received the 1989 title. The original winner was disqualified because she used a surrogate during a drug test.

The International Federation for Body Builders made several changes for the Ms. Olympia contest in 2000. The first change was the Ms. Olympia contest was no longer being held as a separate contest. It became part of the "Olympia Weekend" in Las Vegas. The second change was when lightweight and heavyweight classes were added. The third change was for bringing in new judging guidelines.