The Italian-based International Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (IBFA) Universe will be taking place there, and includes a female bodybuilding category (as well as Fitness, "Shape", and the even less familiar "Miss Routine" and "Miss Fashion").
Representing Britain at the show (in the "Shape" category) will be a 33-year-old mother and personal trainer from Nottingham called Lisa Parker, who won the Trained Figure crown at last month's IBFA British Championships in Gateshead.
Once again, FMS is indebted to a local media source for this information, specifically the Nottingham Post, who last weekend ran a story about Lisa with the headline: Nottingham Mum and Champion Bodybuilder Shapes Up for a Universal Quest.
The article tells us, among other things, that Lisa has a two-year-old daughter, that Lisa wanted to go into bodybuilding as it was something a bit different, and that she loves getting up in front of the judges, and being picked out as one of the best.
The Post had in fact also reported the news of Lisa's qualification for the British Championships in a brief article back in April (Miss Universe Hopeful Lisa is Over the Moon) after she had won her class at an IBFA show in the south of England.
It's yet another example of a local media source doing a positive FBB story, being by far the best way for UK female muscle fans to keep up with their local muscle women - a phenomenon FMS noted first in a story about Rosanna Harte's journey to the Arnold Classic in 2013 (Rosanna Harte and Regional Love) - and with their achievements within less well-known bodybuilding federations such as the IBFA.
In just the last month, as well as Lisa's story, NABBA figure competitor Emma Gabbott appeared in the Hull Daily Mail (My Life As a Competitive Female Bodybuilder), and the Windsor, Ascot & Eton Express brought UKBFF bodyfitness champ Yoanna Zervides to the attention of its (no doubt very posh) readership.
We learn that Emma, a 39-year-old pole dancing instructor and mother of three, has been training for two years, and although she says that I never thought I'd become good enough to be able to compete, this is her first year of doing just that, and she has qualified for the NABBA Britain to be held later in the year at her very first attempt.
Yoanna, meanwhile, is 34 and has been training at a gym in Slough for a year and a half. Bodybuilding was something I had wanted to do for ages but there were never the right circumstances, she told the Express. When I finally took it up, it was a lot of hard work and I spent the first year building my body mass up as I was quite skinny.
Both articles are, as is the case with the Nottingham Post's reporting of Lisa Parker's triumphs and as is ALWAYS the case with local media and female bodybuilding in my experience, unequivocally positive about the benefits that the lifestyle brings to the women involved. Looking at Emma's stage pictures it's hard to believe she is the same person who was once overweight... [Yoanna] has been working tirelessly and so on.
And, even better, both articles mention something about the growth in the number of women in the UK who are not only hitting the weights, but are going that extra bit further and taking part in bodybuilding competitions. Lots more women are taking part in bodybuilding now and I am prepping other girls to get involved in the sport, says Yoanna Zervides, while the news from Hull is even more encouraging: Today the sport of bodybuilding is attracting women in record numbers. It can be an intimidating sport, but with thousands of women competing every year, it's one of the fasting growing athletic events in the country, the article concludes.
Very good news from the local media then. One can only hope this apparent female muscle explosion will continue to be reported so thoroughly and positively.
Our very best wishes to Lisa Parker for this weekend.
Yoanna Zervides is on Instagram.
Enjoy!
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