The Fitness Industry Still Doesn’t Understand Women Over 40 — But This Stage Does
The WBFF Orlando 2026 Is Happening Right Now — And Nobody Is Talking About the Real Story
By Rafael Moret — Head Coach, Team NXT LVL | WBFF Pro Coach
The WBFF Orlando Fashion & Model Spectacular is underway this weekend at the Caribe Royale Luxury Resort in Orlando, Florida. Hundreds of competitors from across the country are stepping on stage, picking up their numbers, and walking into one of the most visually stunning fitness competition formats in the world.
But here's what the highlight reels won't show you.
The Women Nobody Is Talking About
This weekend, Team NXT LVL has eight competitors stepping on the WBFF Orlando stage.
Seven of the eight are over 50 years old.
Let that land for a second.
In an industry that has spent decades telling women over 35 to shrink — smaller goals, smaller presence, smaller ambitions — seven women over the age of 50 are standing under stage lights in front of judges, in competition bikinis, having done the work that most people half their age won't commit to.
This is not a feel-good story about "aging gracefully."
This is a story about refusing to disappear.
What It Actually Takes to Step on This Stage
The WBFF is not a typical fitness competition. It combines athletic conditioning with fashion, presentation, and stage presence. Competitors are judged not just on their physique but on how they carry themselves, how they move, and the overall package they present. It is, in every sense, a full transformation — body, mind, and identity.
For a woman over 35,40 and 50, the preparation is not easier than it is for a 25-year-old. In many ways it is harder. The hormonal landscape is different. Recovery takes longer. The margin for error in nutrition is smaller. Life — careers, families, responsibilities — doesn't stop to accommodate a competition prep.
And yet.
They show up. They do the work. They step on the stage.
As Head Coach of Team NXT LVL, I have watched this process up close for eight years. What I can tell you with certainty is this: the women over 35,40 and 50 on my team are not competing despite their age. They are competing because of it. Because they have earned the right to take up space. Because they have spent enough years being told what they can't do. Because this stage, for them, is not about winning a trophy.
It is about becoming the version of themselves they always knew was possible.
Why the Fitness Industry Has It Wrong
The fitness industry has a 35-year-old problem.
The moment a woman crosses that threshold, the messaging shifts. The ads change. The programs change. The tone changes. Suddenly everything is about "maintenance" and "realistic expectations" and "age-appropriate fitness."
As if ambition has an expiration date.
What I have learned coaching women in this demographic for three decades is that women over 35, over 40, over 50 are not less capable. They are not less committed. They are not less deserving of a transformation, a stage moment, or a team that genuinely shows up for them.
They just need a place that actually sees them.
That is what Team NXT LVL was built to be.
What Lais Villamur Brings to This Process
Lais Villamur, our Head Posing and Styling Coach and WBFF Pro, understands this from the inside. As a WBFF Pro competitor herself, she knows what it feels like to stand on that stage — the preparation, the vulnerability, the transformation that happens in the process of getting there.
Her work with our competitors goes far beyond posing. It is confidence coaching. It is identity work. It is the process of helping a woman see herself the way the stage will see her — before she ever steps onto it.
That female-to-female connection in this process is not a small thing. It is everything.
The Bigger Picture
This weekend at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, while the WBFF stage is lit and the music is playing and the competitors are walking out, there is a story unfolding that is bigger than any single competition result.
It is the story of women who were told the window had closed — and decided to open a door instead.
It is the story of what is possible when you stop waiting to feel ready and simply begin.
It is the story of what transformation actually looks like — not the filtered version, not the highlight reel, but the real thing. The early mornings, the hard conversations with yourself in the mirror, the moment you stop negotiating with the person you want to become.
Seven women over 50. One stage. This weekend in Orlando.
If that doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will.
Rafael Moret is a 30-year fitness industry veteran, WBFF Pro Coach, and founder of NXT LVL Transformation Experience and The Modern Alpha Society. He coaches competitors, entrepreneurs, and everyday athletes through physical and identity transformation.
Lais Villamur is a WBFF Pro, Head Posing and Styling Coach for Team NXT LVL, and a specialist in stage confidence and competitor presentation.
Team NXT LVL competitors are competing this weekend at WBFF Orlando, April 9–12, 2026 at the Caribe Royale Luxury Resort, Orlando, Florida.
Follow the team: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teamnxtlvl_/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rafaelmoret6773
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soyouthinkyouwanttocompete
For competition coaching inquiries: https://www.soyouthinkyouwanttocompete.com/wbff-prep-and-posing-coach