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Ann-Marie Crooks Female Bodybuilder Interview

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Posted by John

NBAF Interview with Ann-Marie Crooks

NBAF: Ann-Marie, you are rapidly becoming a 'name' in Womens Bodybuilding, have built a fantastice body, and you are withing striking distance of a Pro card - what are your current goals?

Ann-Marie: After being out the entire 1995 competitive season, my immediate goal is of course to return to the stage in 1996, and earn my pro card! I intend to do so at either the USA's in June or the Nationals later in the year. I won't make up my mind definitively for the USA's until the end of January/early February.

After my 2nd place finish in the heavyweight class of the 1994 Nationals, I feel very confident in my pursuit of my pro card at any of the pro qualifiers I chose to enter.

NBAF: We'll be watching for you in the up coming contest, and wish you sucess. What do you see as being your long range plans?

Ann-Marie: I would like to market myself outside the realm of female bodybuilding. I have already started to do so by appearing in a music video ( not out yet) for an artist by the name of "Romeo".

I have had several requests for videos of myself, and I would like to put a video out on the market by the end of 1996. I have also had a tremendous response to my "nude" photo that appeard recently in Flex ( the same on featured on my web page); and I am gong to market some additional "tasteful nudes" in 96.

I am actively pursuing an endorsement deal, and would like to see that become a reality in the near future. I also want to help make bodybuilding more acceptable to the masses. I have seen how quickly the fitness competitors have been accepted and embraced by the masses, and I think fbb's can also have that type of acceptance if more care is taken in the way we present ourselves to the public. I work part time for the Boys and Girl's club of America and my presence there is a beginning toward achieving that goal.

I am also a member of the internet community, and have been online for almost 2 years now. I want to show people that bodybuilders are more than just one - dimensionals people who have nothing else on their minds, or no other skills, except working out. I have constructed and maintain my own web page: (http://www.geopages.com/Colosseum/1125/); and I have several diversified interests ranging from motorcycle riding to exotic pets. I am also actively involved in discussions on many newsgroups and mailing lists dedicated to the sport, so that I can interact with my personal fans and fans of the sport. along the way, if I can help to dispel some of the myths and rumors about female bodybuilders, I try to do so.

NBAF: Sounds like you have a pretty good picture of the future in your mind, and many active interest. You mentioned 'acceptence' of womens' bodybuilding - how do you feel about Womens' bodybuilding as it is now?

Ann-Marie: Well, that's a very "hot" topic these days. And of course, I have several opinions and thoughts on this. First of all, I must admit that I am a bit envious of the amount of publicity, acceptability, and marketing/income opportunities that the fitness women are getting compared to the fbb's!

I am not naive, and I KNOW that the fitness look is certainly more acheivable by the average woman, and more appealing to the average man. However, I also think that the powers that be in the sport have somehow forgotten that fbb is what started this whole thing. Without female bb's there would be NO fitness competitors! And if they gave as much effort to promoting the fbb's as they did to the fitness women, there would be plenty of opportunties for both of these types of athletes.

I have watched over the years as the covers of the mags stopped using fbb's, and even more devastating is the amount of space now being allocated in the mags to the fbb's. I also have seen the interest in the Ms. Olympia decline to the extent that it HAD to be combined with the Mr. O to make a profit and to get an audience.

The Ms. Olympia winner still isn't getting a check equal to even 1/2 of the men's winner; while the Fitness Olympia winner's check will probably equal the Ms. O in NO time!

I would like to see the compeititors get back to the "look" of an Anja Langer, Cory Everson, etc. I know that drug use is to blame for a lot of what the public "sees" as "unattractive" about the sport. I am not saying that I don't like the big, muscular look, because after all, I fall in that category at 5'11, 215 pounds(offseason). But I think that a woman should carry musculature that is "fitting" to her particular frame, and not just try to get as big as possible just for the sake of being the biggest woman with the most muscles on stage.

The problem is no one wants to take the time to train for YEARS anymore to achieve that look. So, pharmaceutical aids are the only other way to get there in less time. The women who want to take their time, are not able to compete against the drugs users of today, and hence we are losing some very good athletes and future representatives of the sport. Every day at the gym, I see women who are gaining tremendous muscular size in less than 2 years...rivaling the 12 years of training I have under my belt. But the side effects that go along with this "gain" is what is killing our sport.

Please dont get me wrong, and think that I dont know that some of the top fitness competitors are also using drugs...just not the "anabolics". They arent "showing: the undesirable features of the "harder" drugs taken by fbb's and so they are able to surpass the fbb's in less than 3 years with the public!!

With all that happening, I must be honest and say that the sport may be dwindling to its final days. I dont want to use the word "dying" because I think that is too strong of a word, and not exactly the case. It would also mean that I would be pursuing a goal of attaining professional status for naught. I also think the sport can rebound if the competitors AND the people involved in the upper echelons of the sport WANT to see that it survives.

NBAF: Well you certainly have managed to 'carry musculature that is fitting', and retain your Female beauty. You've made some good points and we hope that things will improve as there are many of us who are still big fans of Womens Bodybuilding.

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