Dayana Cadeau may be making the switch at the right time and announced it last month on her Facebook page:

“I would like to thank all my fans for their support for all these years of my bodybuilding career. This weekend was my last Olympia show as a bodybuilder. I’m gonna do Women’s Physique as an IFBB pro. Much better for me.”

Throughout her 16-year bodybuilding career, Cadeau has competed in numerous shows each year and was a regular at the Arnold Classic and Ms. Olympia. As recently as the last Arnold, she finished in the top 10, and was in the top six at the 2010 Olympia.

But now she is delving into a new class that people are still curious about. Physique is said to be in between bodybuilding and figure, so someone with as much muscle mass as Cadeau will have to a lot of modifications to her routine and diet in order to bring it down.

It remains to be seen the effect that WPD will have on the industry and if other female bodybuilders will follow Cadeau. And then there is the question of how many amateur competitors will go into physique instead of bodybuilding. These are all things that will play themselves out.

But for now, it will be very interesting to see the transformation of Dayana Cadeau.

“I’m excited that I found someone that believed in me,” he said last September. “I truly feel that I can get into the top 10.”

Although he did not fare as well as he liked at the O (15th), Alves was still on the map and a threat against a line-up that didn’t include the Jay Cutlers and Phil Heaths of the world. He proved that he still has what it takes by winning July’s Europa Show of Champions and tasted victory again this past weekend at the Phoenix Pro.

Alves, 43, was able to hold off a top-heavy line-up that included Hidetada Yamagishi (second), Ed Nunn (third) and Marcus Haley (fourth) and celebrate a key win in his home town.

After turning pro in 2002, Alves has competed in multiple shows each year. In 2003, he donned the posing trunks on 10 separate occasions and although he hasn’t kept that pace up, Alves is a regular at all of the top IFBB contests. In his rookie campaign, he finished in the top 10 at both the Arnold Classic and Mr. Olympia.

Now the real test comes for Alves to see if he can maintain the proper conditioning to have an impact in Las Vegas in two weeks. He has proven that he can rise to the top in that second tier-level contest, but he’ll need something extra to do that at The Orleans Arena.

TROY ALVES CONTEST HISTORY

Samuel was set to compete in the upcoming Pro Bodybuilding Weekly Tampa Pro and has yet to qualify for this year’s Mr. Olympia, a show that he makes an annual appearance at.

Known for competing in multiple contests per year, Samuel may have burnt himself out in doing so. In 2007, Samuel was on stage eight times and won the Europa Super Show. The following year, he cut it down to five and did the same in 2009. Samuel came out of the gate strong with an impressive win at the Iron Man Pro but finished out the calendar year by placing 11th at the O.

Perhaps all of the dieting, training and preparation needed at that level has taken its toll on Samuel. Putting your body through that once or twice a year is difficult enough, but more than doubling that can be downright hazardous. That appears to be the case here and Samuel is most likely done for the year and perhaps beyond that.

Prior to being felled by illness, Samuel did not have his contract renewed by either FLEX Magazine or MuscleTech. Perhaps they saw the handwriting on the wall and noticed that he was beginning to lose some of his qualities that have made him one of the regulars on the pro circuit, albeit one of the top second tier competitors. Samuel has been a highly regarded bodybuilder in the smaller shows, but has not had been able to break the top three in either the Arnold Classic or Mr. Olympia. With a mysterious malady, missing time and losing his sponsorships all in one fell swoop, that may be too much for even a warrior like Samuel to overcome.

It would surprise no one if Samuel decides to hang up the posing trunks. His health is paramount and once he recovers, he may not risk doing what he needs to do to become a top tier competitor. Samuel was a fringe player before this setback and what happens next remains to be seen.

“A co-worker at Bally’s Total Fitness, Jimmy Amalino, encouraged me to enter my first contest when I was just 17,” Jean recalled from that day when he stood in the winner’s circle at the Bally’s “Best of the Best” competition. After tasting victory, Jean was inspired to forge ahead with this new endeavor.

“I next competed in a show run by the All Natural Physique and Power Conference (ANPPC) and won,” said Jean, 38. “Then I joined the NPC in order to test myself against some of the best competitors in the nation.”

Jean had a homecoming of sorts when he competed at the 1991 Bev Francis Atlantic States, which was held at his alma mater, Hofstra University on Long Island, a place he resided in for the majority of his young life. “I took second place in the teenage category, which qualified me for the Nationals that year.”

A series of personal issues, including the death of his mother and father’s wife, sidetracked Jean’s bodybuilding career. Over the next 14 years, he continued to maintain his physique with a personal training business and as a member of the United States Army, which he joined after working as a corrections officer for three years in Nassau County.

Then in 2005, Jean got the itch to don the posing trunks again after meeting IFBB pro bodybuilder Darrem Charles at the gym. “With his support and guidance, I turned my focus to bodybuilding with full determination to become an IFBB professional,” Jean said.

After preparing with Charles, Jean entered the NPC Southern USA in Panama City, Florida and won the lightweight class. He then took a full year to add some mass and move up a class to the middleweight division. Another victory awaited Jean at the 2007 NPC Shawn Ray Pro/Am Classic and he then set his sights on the newly-formed welterweight division.

“I then consulted some friends, including Charles, WWE wrestler Kenny Theissen, IFBB pro Petra Mertl and former NPC competitors Brian Lederman and Adam Honowitz,” said Jean. He went for his pro card at the 2007 NPC Nationals in Dallas, Texas and finished fourth. “Shawn Ray offered me some comforting words, ‘you did the best that you could; the rest was up to the judges.’ “

Jean was in full preparation mode for the 2008 North Americans when he learned that one of his uncles was tragically killed in New York. “He was like a father figure to me,” Jean admitted. Even with the tragedy, Jean placed third but was still on the outside looking in.

A few months later, Jean’s hard work would finally pay off. “With the help of my very close friends, I was able to refocus and prepare myself for this show, which I won,” he said. “Kristen Cabibi became my training partner and best friend I needed at the time. She became my right hand and kept me focusing during such a difficult period of my life.” After turning professional, Jean was signed by MuscleTech, which afforded him the opportunity to advance his career.

In 2009, Jean competed in his first two shows as a professional and finished ninth at both the Jacksonville and Tampa Pro shows. After getting his feet wet, he has a goal for the new calendar year coming up. “My plan for the 2010 season is to qualify for the 202 Olympia,” Jean said. “The route to this goal starts in my home state of Florida in Jacksonville at the Dexter Jackson 202 on August 7. The following week, I’m off to Dallas to compete in the Europa Super Show 202.”

Hoping to qualify for the Olympia at one of these two shows, Jean has a back-up plan in the event that things do not go well for him. “I can always depend on the John Simmons 202 premiere show a week before the Olympia as a birthday gift on September 16,” Jean said with a laugh.

Photo by Dan Ray

MuscleSport Radio can be heard live every Tuesday from 1:00 to 2:00 PM Eastern time on www.blogtalkradio.com and all episodes are archived on Blog Talk Radio, MuscleSport Mag and iTunes. 

Please feel free to join us and give us your opinion, ask Kevin a question or make a comment. Our call-in number is 347-884-8157.

 Levrone  

A Look at the Life and Times of Professional Bodybuilder Dena Westerfield - 

For IFBB professional bodybuilder Dena Westerfield the seeds of a career in health and fitness were planted when, at the tender age of 4 years old, she became involved in gymnastics. By the time she was 8 she traded gymnastics for distance running and then, during her senior year at high school, Dena took a weight training class…and her life as a bodybuilder began.

On leaving high school, Dena continued her education at the University of Florida and, while working on a Bachelor of Science degree, used what spare time she had working as a personal trainer in addition to conducting spinning, kickboxing and strength/conditioning classes.

With her eyes firmly focused on a career in health and fitness she then became a neuromuscular therapist at the Humanities Center in Pinellas Park Florida.

Her contest history began in 2000 when she placed third in the Women’s Tri-Fitness show. She followed this up with a heavyweight and overall title at the NPC USA Coastal championships in 2001. By the time 2002 rolled around, Dena moved to St. Louis to attend Logan Chiropractic College where she graduated in April 2004 and went on to open her own practice – Westerfield Health Center. In between this she managed to secure the overall title in the Junior Nationals as a middleweight and then, moving up to the USA Championships she gained a 7^th place in the middleweight section.

As if opening her own health practice wasn’t time consuming enough, Dena managed to fit the 2004 Nationals into her calendar, placing fourth in the light heavy weight section. However, it was on November 21, 2005 that her bodybuilding career really turned a corner, when she won the light-heavyweight class at the Nationals and won her IFBB Pro card. Her pro debut quickly followed, with a second place in a hotly contested open class in the Europa Super Show, which in turn qualified her for the Ms Olympia.

More contests and more successful placings followed, taking us right up to the present day where Dena is now in her final weeks of preparation for the 2009 Arnold Classic (March 6-8).

Sponsored by SPECIES NUTRITION (the brainchild of Dave Palumbo and Colette Nelson), Dena makes full use of their range of state-of-the-art supplements in her contest diet and is currently using ‘Isolyze’, ‘Omegalyze’, ‘Fibrolyze’, ‘Lipolyze’ and ‘Somalyze’ from their range.

Talking to me recently about her pre-contest training and diet Dena seemed pretty happy with the way things are going and is setting her sights on entering the show at 140lbs of lean, compact muscle.

Given her past history and achievements I have no doubt that she will achieve this goal and, in so doing, will pose a serious threat to her competition. In the meantime, Dena will be making a guest appearance on Musclesportmag.com radio. Stay tuned for more details!

N.B. You can find out more about Dena by visiting www.denawesterfield.com and to learn more about the supplements mentioned in this article go to www.speciesnutrition.com

Leigh Penman, in addition to be a staff writer at MuscleSport Mag, has been writing for bodybuilding magazines, websites and nutritional supplement companies since 1985. Whilst residing in the UK, she earned the reputation of being one of the top female writers in bodybuilding-related media. Her credits included being a contributing editor on all the magazines in production as well as filling the shoes of Ladies Editor and Showbiz Editor on two publications (the later being on Arnold’s sanctioned magazine, ‘Bodypower’). During this time she also competed successfully on four occasions (placing in the top four in all contests).

Relocating to New York in the late 1990s she focused her writing attention to crystal healing techniques and metaphysics – however, she still maintained a five day workout schedule during this time and gained her personal training certificate.

Having also studied pharmacology in relation to sports performance, her writing began taking her in that direction until the present day which sees her embarking on a return to the magazine world, as well as extending her web-related work in the bodybuilding and fitness field.

Leigh has been working out for close to thirty years so she is clearly a writer who ‘walks her talk.’
She can be contacted personally at zeal2heal@yahoo.com.