"MD Supports Women's Bodybuilding!!" - Steve Blechman

Siouxcountry · #1 05-29-2009, 07:54 PM

Steve Blechman:

Quote:

I am pleased to announce that the new Women's Bodybuilding column in MD is being received quite well which is written by Cheri Owen.

I am also pleased to announce that for the next two months (Sept & Oct 2009) we will have a 15 page feature profiling a woman bodybuilder and we will continue to feature them in the future!!

MD always supported Women's Bodybuilding. It was time for a change and I believe that Cheri being a great writer, a woman, and a competitive bodybuilder with an incredible passion for the sport will help MD present Women's Bodybuilding in a way that will be of the utmost interest to our readers.

I can assure you that MD will continue to support Women's Bodybuilding in its magazine as well as online.

I personally have the utmost respect for women bodybuilders for their dedication, sacrifice, and hard work.

My 25 years and one of the founders of TwinLab, I was one of the only corporate executives in the industry that provided supplement contracts to women bodybuilders!!

Moving forward we need to present Women's Bodybuilding in a way that can appeal to a larger audience if we want to be successful. Yes it may always be a niche sport but bodybuilding is a niche sport. I still believe we can create more interest, grow, and be extremely successful.

http://forums.musculardevelopment.co...ad.php?t=62782

Siouxcountry · #2 05-29-2009, 08:05 PM

Cheri Owen's new monthly column, FEMALE MUSCLE COMMUNITY: WOMEN'S BODYBUILDING...........

June 2009

dvsness · #3 05-29-2009, 08:09 PM

15 pages = very good.

**Michelle Brent** · #4 05-29-2009, 08:35 PM

I was very happy and honored to be part of the first article! I hope to bring the Gold home after all these years. I truly want to keep on representing our sport, no matter what happens, and am blessed that I can still do what I do!!

Musclepapa John · #5 05-29-2009, 08:46 PM

Congrats to the ladies!

**LIFTstudios** · #6 05-29-2009, 08:47 PM

Nice for the female bodybuilders. Still makes no sense to part ways with the most knowledgeable, passionate, writer/photographer in Female Bodybuilding, Steve Wennerstrom.

**Steve Wennerstrom** · #7 05-30-2009, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LIFTstudios

Nice for the female bodybuilders. Still makes no sense to part ways with the most knowledgeable, passionate, writer/photographer in Female Bodybuilding, Steve Wennerstrom.

It's what you can expect from someone who is clueless. 15 pages of coverage on women's bodybuilding?????? FAT chance.

**janelleg** · #8 05-30-2009, 01:13 AM

It's awesome! We are finally getting the coverage that we need.

**Betsy** · #9 05-30-2009, 01:26 AM

great exposure for them.. its about time!!!

**Steve Wennerstrom** · #10 05-30-2009, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Betsy

great exposure for them.. its about time!!!

It's about time?????!!!!!!!!!! What is it that I was doing with the Muscle Diva section?

Musclepapa John · #11 05-30-2009, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Betsy

great exposure for them.. its about time!!!

Betsy per Steve's inquiry would you clarify please? I suspect you meant it is about time they TRY to get back to where they were prior to shedding themselves of THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE writer on women's bodybuilding, in fact the female bodybuilding historian of the IFBB himself, Steve Wennerstrom.
I know we are very excited about Steve being here and on Siouxcountry radio to share his wealth of experience that spans the globe over many decades in working with the greats from the early days to the current line up of female bodybuilding greats

**hansk01** · #12 05-30-2009, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LIFTstudios

Nice for the female bodybuilders. Still makes no sense to part ways with the most knowledgeable, passionate, writer/photographer in Female Bodybuilding, Steve Wennerstrom.

Exactly. Steve has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport going back to the beginning of the sport and beyond. Firing him doesn't exactly suggest that MD is committed to covering women's bodybuilding.

Hans

**Steve Wennerstrom** · #13 05-31-2009, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hansk01

Exactly. Steve has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport going back to the beginning of the sport and beyond. Firing him doesn't exactly suggest that MD is committed to covering women's bodybuilding.

Hans

Hans.... to clarify. I wasn't fired. I was never an employee in the first place. My section (Muscle Divas) was simply discontinued and the reasoning Blechman gave me was that their "readers survey" showed there wasn't interest in the women.....which, of course is pure BS coming from someone who has never liked any discernible muscle on a female. Further, I happen to know several individuals who were subscribers to MD and they NEVER received any form of reader survey. Bottonline though.....it's his magazine and he can certainly do what he pleases. What is pathetic is that a 400+ page publication devoted to bodybuilding doesn't give competitive women's bodybuilding even four pages. MD doesn't even cover the Ms. Olympia (check your back issues). Can blowing off coverage of the sport's most prestigious and important event be considered "committment" to the sport? Nope, sorry. Where Blechman is concerned there is no fairness doctrine and more specifically, and absolutely no sense of journalistic responsibility.

**Rob Roy** · #14 05-31-2009, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Wennerstrom

Hans.... to clarify. I wasn't fired. I was never an employee in the first place. My section (Muscle Divas) was simply discontinued and the reasoning Blechman gave me was that their "readers survey" showed there wasn't interest in the women.....which, of course is pure BS coming from someone who has never liked any discernible muscle on a female. Further, I happen to know several individuals who were subscribers to MD and they NEVER received any form of reader survey. Bottonline though.....it's his magazine and he can certainly do what he pleases. What is pathetic is that a 400+ page publication devoted to bodybuilding doesn't give competitive women's bodybuilding even four pages. MD doesn't even cover the Ms. Olympia (check your back issues). Can blowing off coverage of the sport's most prestigious and important event be considered "committment" to the sport? Nope, sorry. Where Blechman is concerned there is no fairness doctrine and more specifically, and absolutely no sense of journalistic responsibility.

Mike Yurkovic's "What's Hot" column has also been discontinued!?
Too bad! His pics (HOT) are half the reason I purchased the rag in the first place. . .

Siouxcountry · #15 05-31-2009, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Roy

Mike Yurkovic's "What's Hot" column has also been discontinued!?
Too bad! His pics (HOT) are half the reason I purchased the rag in the first place. . .

Mike's column is not in the July 2009 issue.

**Rob Roy** · #16 05-31-2009, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Siouxcountry

Mike's column is not in the July 2009 issue.

Really sad! His work is great and his girls are hot.

~Planet Muscle's gain!

**hansk01** · #17 05-31-2009, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Wennerstrom

MD doesn't even cover the Ms. Olympia (check your back issues). Can blowing off coverage of the sport's most prestigious and important event be considered "committment" to the sport?

Great point Steve. What you say also illustrates that it's not just a question of how many pages a magazine devotes to female bodybuilders but what kind of coverage they give the sport. Even when female bodybuilders appear in the magazines now, they are often presented not as athletes but as pin-ups. When I first started buying the magazines back in the late eighties, on the other hand, there were not just extensive contest reports (not just the Ms. O but also other pro and national-level shows) but also articles on training and nutrition aimed at female bodybuilders. In other words, women's bodybuilding was covered as a sport. I'd like to see the quantity of pages devoted to the women increase, but I'd also like to see the quality of the coverage of women's bodybuilding improve.

Hans

**big j1** · #18 06-01-2009, 06:01 AM

Well, time for me to get in trouble again......

This whole thread is baloney and should be deleted. Archive Steve Wennerstrom's posts and stamp them with the word TRUTH...delete the rest..This is not the time for the Sioux Country Forum rah rah rah...wow this is great.....gee whiz....stuff. This is serious stuff and the posts here should reflect it...thank you Steve W and Hans and MPJ

Anyone with knowledge of anything having to do with female bodybuilding can take Mr. Blechman's post apart and discern ulterior motives, insincerity and untruths...Please let us see what exists in the long term before we applaud. If coverage is restored, wonderful, and we can applaud then, but the members of Sioux Country, RX Muscle and other boards know that this Sept, Oct, 2009 nonsense is in response to ENORMOUSLY bad publicity stemming from the MD's treatment of Steve, Dave, John, Mike Y et al...
Touting the "column" from Cheri Owen (Michelle's coverage an obvious exception) by touting her background as a writer, woman and bodybuilder is interesting and a topic for a different conversation.

Focus on this.....if twinlab did such a bangup job in offering contracts to women, why did all that END when Mr. Blechman's focus moved to Muscular Development. Which female athletes are sponsored now? And if there are any, were they hired for the same reason as the two FIFTEEN pages of coverage, and will they be there for the long term....

But you know, if I in any way, direct or obtuse, had anything to do with the improvement of coverage, or sponsorship of women, then I am proud of it and if it is more than a sham, I will applaud it...

I will be glad to elucidate any point in private or through my email at joelgold1956@yahoo.com

Humbly,
Big J1

**jasons805** · #19 06-01-2009, 06:50 AM

I think for the most part people see anything positive as good news. Not knowing that they might be bashing all the people that worked their ass off in the beginning of fbbing. Whatever the reason; it's still a good thing for the most part right? In the end the women are winning, so lets just go with it for now.

Siouxcountry · #20 06-01-2009, 07:13 AM

I don't see many "rah, rah, rah" posts in this thread, Joel.

It will take a few years to know if Steve B. is sincere about expanding female coverage in his mag.

I didn't agree at all with MD's decision to discontinue Steve Wennerstrom's column. MD's loss, Iron Man's gain.