Quote Originally Posted by Yohimbe View Post
Seems like so many people today are getting a pro card. I remember back in the day when it was something coveted. Few people had one and you had to really work your way up the ranks to earn the damn thing. Nowadays it seems like everybody has one. They hand them out like candy at all these competitions. With all these new divisions, you can earn a pro card in one and cross over to another.... It's insane.

Curious what everyone thinks about it. Do you like the way it is now, or would you rather it be more like it was back in the day. Don't get me wrong, I like some of these new divisions, but the amount of pro cards they hand out now just seems crazy to me.
It pisses me the fuck off. I competed from 1990 as an 18 year old until 2000 when I was 28. Back then the only way to turn pro was win your weight class at the nationsls(not easy is an understatement), THE OVERALL at the USA or North American (winning your class did not turn you pro) and possibly the overall at the team Universe but that's it. It was hard as hell and youre right, just getting it meant something. Even if you never did anything as a pro. Now you are exactly correct, why I have no Idea, but it's like they just hand them out and they mean nothing. A friend,good friend who is the same age as me. We went to high school together started bodybuilding together. In 1996, out of no where, and that was hard to do as you said you had to climb the ranks, he won the middleweight class at the Nationals beating 43 other guys. Some who had been on magazine covers. I just remember it being a big deal, just that he turned pro that young. He never did anything as a pro but just winning it meant something. Now they cheapened the whole thing to mean nothing at all.