Pro Cards

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.

what really really irritates the piss out of me about it is that you dont even have to win your freaking class. i can see giving them to the overall and winners of classes but that's not the case at all. they give them to up to the top 5 in some of the physique and women's divisions. i have some local men's and women's physique pros that no way in hell they should be pros and were not even top three. two of the men where dead last in their tiny classes and got them. so things that make you go hum. me personally and i will never get one but i would like to at least be able to say that i won my class to turn pro. look at the rules and how they hand them out. it will blow you away

Yep it's crazy. I see some of these guys' social media and they have their name, then IFBB pro next to it. I'm like what?!?!? They're handing this status out like candy. Pretty soon the phrase "IFBB pro" isn't going to mean anything.

What do you think about people being able to cross over to a different division after winning a pro card? Like switching from open to compete in classic physique after becoming pro, or vice versa.

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Originally Posted by Yohimbe

Yep it's crazy. I see some of these guys' social media and they have their name, then IFBB pro next to it. I'm like what?!?!? They're handing this status out like candy. Pretty soon the phrase "IFBB pro" isn't going to mean anything.

What do you think about people being able to cross over to a different division after winning a pro card? Like switching from open to compete in classic physique after becoming pro, or vice versa.

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kind of a double edged sword and cheating to me but then again think about this. for a bikini chick that has out grown that division and the judges tell her she needs to either down size or move up to figure to do well. then again if you turn pro in whatever division you are in then that's supposed to be what you are best at and should stay there. the only thing i think that makes it different is for some of the way light bodybuilders moving to classic because with their frames their is no way to be competitive in the 212 or open, but on the other hand if they win at bodybuilding and turn pro, then stick with it. they dont make the rules to strict when it comes to pros. maybe they should say that once you accept pro status in a division you are a pro in that division only. you would think they would because they arent making any money off of you once you turn pro

I agree, It's turned into a situation like we see in the school system now where all competitors get their "participation" trophy:-) Sign if the times I guess.

Stacker...

Yeah it's pretty crazy how things have changed. Makes you think about some of the guys back in the late 90s/early 2000s that were really good, but not quite good enough to turn pro. Now days they'd be walking around with pro cards, as well as the guys that were a placing or two behind them.

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Originally Posted by Yohimbe

Yeah it's pretty crazy how things have changed. Makes you think about some of the guys back in the late 90s/early 2000s that were really good, but not quite good enough to turn pro. Now days they'd be walking around with pro cards, as well as the guys that were a placing or two behind them.

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yeah man, their were a bunch that were 2d and 3d place for years and years that would have made outstanding pros but just hung it up and disappeared

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Originally Posted by Yohimbe

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.

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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.

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Originally Posted by guns01

yeah man, their were a bunch that were 2d and 3d place for years and years that would have made outstanding pros but just hung it up and disappeared

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Just check out how long it took Dexter Jackson to turn pro. He actually had to take the "easy" way out. By winning the North American. That was always considered the easiest way to get a pro card. I do think he did it on purpose because he just could not get over the hump otherwise, that's how difficult it was.

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Originally Posted by pgc640

Just check out how long it took Dexter Jackson to turn pro. He actually had to take the "easy" way out. By winning the North American. That was always considered the easiest way to get a pro card. I do think he did it on purpose because he just could not get over the hump otherwise, that's how difficult it was.

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i know exactly what you are saying. hell look at jose raymond. he won his class a bunch of times at nationals but wouldnt take the card because he didnt feel ready.

then go back and look at guys like trey brewer and all the other dudes that seemed to always land in 2d place year after year. some crazy quality across the board. now these fuckers like i said can turn pro and never won their class at the local regional state or national level. it's a freaking joke. only reason i still chase the dream is because i enjoy the process and it keeps me somewhat healthy. i know i will never turn pro but i still have fun bumping elbows on stage here and there at all levels

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Originally Posted by guns01

i know exactly what you are saying. hell look at jose raymond. he won his class a bunch of times at nationals but wouldnt take the card because he didnt feel ready.

then go back and look at guys like trey brewer and all the other dudes that seemed to always land in 2d place year after year. some crazy quality across the board. now these fuckers like i said can turn pro and never won their class at the local regional state or national level. it's a freaking joke. only reason i still chase the dream is because i enjoy the process and it keeps me somewhat healthy. i know i will never turn pro but i still have fun bumping elbows on stage here and there at all levels

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It's still a great sport and I love it but the last contest I did was the NPC USA, came in 6th). I was only a middleweight so I knew I wasn't making any money bodybuilding but that damn pro card was so hard to get it made you strive for it. If it was now. I could have half assed it a few more years, took second somewhere and been a pro.
I'm not sure how old you guys are but back then there were some awesome, big name bodybuilders who it took forever to finally get a pro card. Craig Titus was one, although being a murder kind of trumps that, Beau Matlock like I said Dexter. Won his class at USA but not the overall, no pro card. Then he went to nationals and somehow placed 7th.Even Ronnie Coleman, look how long it took him.

Yeah there were quite a few great guys who took a while to get their Pro cards. Some guys that never got one would definitely have one now. I guarantee Palumbo would be walking around with a pro card if he was competing today.

This is a hard subject for me. I can not understand why the NPC just decided to make a pro card totally meaningless.
I dont know how you turn pro now but i know 1st and 2cnd in contests turn pro.
In the 1990s even if you were like me, knew i could never compete with guys like Flex wheeler, Ronnie, whoever. There was still that pro card, so fuckin hard to get to chase. Just getting it meant so much even if you did nothing as a pro. Now its a joke
In my day these were the ways to get a pro card. Win class at NPC nationals. Do you realize how difficukt that alone is to do? Last time i went a friend was competing as a middkeweight. 52 guys in his class. 52, all who have already won almost everything else they can. This was 1996 and my friends name, we went to 4th grade together, Andy Dinetta. The best he had done to that point was 5th in the Jr USA. He went in there, in Dallas, and beat all 51 guys with straight 1s. I was in total shock because no one knew who he was and he destroyed guys who dominated magazine covers at the time. You can look it up on you tube, it was on espn. Just search Andy DiNetta 1996 nationals. We were all in shock after actually. Willie Stalling won the overall and Jay Cutler won the heavyweights. He never did anything as a pro but like i said, what he accomplished that one night was enough he had the pro card at 24 no less.
That was one way or the overall at the USA, not your class, the Overall. The Overall at the North American. Overall at team universe and that was it.
Now, do you know how difficult doing that is? Now, like i said, its worthless.

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Originally Posted by pgc640

It's still a great sport and I love it but the last contest I did was the NPC USA, came in 6th). I was only a middleweight so I knew I wasn't making any money bodybuilding but that damn pro card was so hard to get it made you strive for it. If it was now. I could have half assed it a few more years, took second somewhere and been a pro.
I'm not sure how old you guys are but back then there were some awesome, big name bodybuilders who it took forever to finally get a pro card. Craig Titus was one, although being a murder kind of trumps that, Beau Matlock like I said Dexter. Won his class at USA but not the overall, no pro card. Then he went to nationals and somehow placed 7th.Even Ronnie Coleman, look how long it took him.

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Remember Edger Fletcher? Always wcn, 3rd, 4th. But could never win.

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Originally Posted by pgc640

Remember Edger Fletcher? Always wcn, 3rd, 4th. But could never win.

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yep sure do. matt duvall eventually got his but damn he chased it forever. didnt last long for him either