The Fitness Atlantic event officially started in 1999

 

The first Fitness Atlantic event was held in 1999 at the Palace Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut on May 1st, 1999.  This event was sanctioned with Fitness America Pageant, which aired on ESPN and ESPN II and the winner Dawn Butterfield qualified to enter the National Championships.  This show had 98 contestants.
 

2000
 

The Fitness Atlantic was once again held at the Palace Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. Dawn Butterfield returned and the fitness division had grown from five contestants to eleven contestants in fitness.  In this year the natural bodybuilding event drew the best and most competitive of Connecticut bodybuilders and Morris Mendez showed up and really became a star at this show. This event aired on ESPN’s American Muscle television show.
 

2001 

 

In this Fitness Atlantic held at the Palace Theatre, the women’s fitness division continued to grow and sixteen women entered and the winner was Michelle Freeman. The Top Five women qualified for nationals on ESPN.  Highlights from this event aired on multiple news networks throughout New England.
 

2002 

 

The Fitness Atlantic in 2002 was held at the Palace Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. This year the women’s division grew to 21 female contestants! This was the first year introducing Ms Bikini, which only had two contestants.
 

2003 

 

In the 2003 Fitness Atlantic held at the Palace Theatre ended up with 22 female bodybuilders and 16 in Fitness and 21 in Bikini, which is unheard of… this was 59 women in the show! This show felt like an end of an era with the closing of the Palace Theatre and a new venue the following year. Out of all of the years of the Fitness Atlantic, this may just be the best bodybuilding of all of the shows.

 

2004 

 

This Fitness Atlantic was moved to East Haven Performing Arts Center at East Haven Connecticut and in a way was a good move. The Palace Theatre had something special about it being downtown New Haven yet East Haven had much more room backstage and was more modern and updated. This was a year the female divisions really started to match the male divisions. There was a total of 63 women in Bikini and Fitness and plus 8 female bodybuilders for 71 female contestants. 

 

2005 

 

This Fitness Atlantic at East Haven, Connecticut Sean Larson returned after a year off and won the overall men’s divisions. These were the years the female contestants like Alicia Marie were getting a lot of coverage and landing covers in Oxygen Magazine. At this time it was no longer about being on ESPN and the airings of fitness shows on television basically went away and being on the cover of Oxygen Magazine was the main focus. Modeling Agencies showed up these years looking to recruit female contestants. Some of the contestants would get modeling jobs for companies like Under Amour.

 

2006 

 

This Fitness Atlantic was again at East Haven Performing Arts and this was the largest Fitness Atlantic to date with 250 contestants. The show ran from prelims to finals as one long show. This was the year the women took over! A total of 97 female contestants so even though there were more men in the show it was the most women compared to other physique events. This was also the year we introduced Male Fitness Model. 

 

2007 

 

Fitness Atlantic was at East Haven Performing Arts and Bikini and now Female Fitness Model was taking over. Lindsay Messina returns for a 2nd win and Nicole Costa takes 2nd in both Bikini and Female Fitness Model.  

 

2008 

 

This Fitness Atlantic was held at East Haven Performing Arts and Tiffany Tillinger Larson entered and the female winner was Kelly Shreck for both Bikini and Fitness. Lindsay Messina also entered women’s fitness and placed 2nd. 
 

2009 

 

Fitness Atlantic was held at East Haven Performing Arts and many familiar female names still around today were in this show including Janelle Nicolo, Jennifer Prete, and Brittany Couto.
 

2010 
 

In this final year at East Haven Performing Arts Fitness Atlantic teamed with the WBFF sanction out of Canada. Tiffany Tillinger Larson and Brittany Coutu became the first WBFF Pros in the United States. This was the last year for women’s fitness routines and female bodybuilding.  This was the first World Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation event in America. Today WBFF stands for World Beauty Fitness and Fashion.
 

2011 
 

Fitness Atlantic makes the big move to the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Connecticut. This was also the first fitness celebrity workout featuring the creator of P90X Tony Horton. 

 

2012 
 

Fitness Atlantic was held at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford. The featured celebrity trainer was once again P90X creator Tony Horton. This show had a great women’s figure division and the theme wear for Diva Fitness Model really stepped up.  The biggest names, however, came from the men’s fitness model and new Muscle Model Division. 

 

2013 

 

Fitness Atlantic was held at Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, CT. The even hosted Shaun T the creator of Insanity as the fitness celebrity trainer workout. This year Janelle Nicolo won Diva Fitness Model and Amy Diaz won Diva Bikini. Amy Diaz then went on to be on the television show The Amazing Race and her husband won the entire TV show. Janelle now runs one of the largest competitive teams and coach’s women for Fitness Atlantic and other shows.

 

2014 

 

A large move for Fitness Atlantic in 2015 to move to Mohegan Sun Resort Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut for the 2nd largest show ever. Over 200 contestants entered and this show sold out a week in advance. This year was the introduction of the new Transformation Division! Transformation was a large hit. Shaun T LIVE was held on Sunday and had 960 attendees for the massive workout and motivational talks.  

 

2015 
 

Fitness Atlantic was another two-day event at Mohegan Sun Resort Casino and Shaun T LIVE was now called, “ShaunTervention” and the large workout hosted 1004 attendees for the motivational workout. 
 

2016 

 

Fitness Atlantic once again held at Mohegan Sun Resort Casino had an incredible production year. The show ran incredible and flawless. Many people recognized the difference in the stage and lighting. Fitness Celebrity Shaun T returned for “ShaunTervention” on Sunday.  The Transformation contestant numbers grew again and CKO Kickboxing promoted an 8 Week Challenge to lead members to use the Fitness Atlantic as the finale of the challenge on stage at Mohegan Sun.
 

2017 

 

Fitness Atlantic once again held at Mohegan Sun Resort Casino. Fitness Celebrity Shaun T returned for “ShaunTervention” on Sunday.  The Transformation contestant numbers grew again and CKO Kickboxing promoted an 8 Week Challenge to lead members to use the Fitness Atlantic as the finale of the challenge on stage at Mohegan Sun.

 

2018 

 

150 Participants come from all over the world to compete for the prestigious titles and prizes offered and the opportunity to shoot with some of the most published fitness photographers in the country including meeting Rodney Jang Editor of Status Fitness Magazine features more and more contestants in the magazine. 

 

2019 

 

On Saturday, April 13th, 2019, Nearly 170 female and male fitness models from around the world gathered at Mohegan Sun. The Finals of this glamorous fitness pageant had 1,000 spectators.

This year’s Transformation division had 81 participants becoming the largest in history!

 

2020 
 

The show had 156 registered contestants and was canceled due to Covid 19 quarantine. 

 

See you in April 2021