BODYBUILDER! Training Cross

OK, you're going to have to bear with me today a little, because although you are reading this on Sunday 31st May (or later), I'm actually writing it on the evening of Friday 29th. So you may feel like you're in a bit of a time warp. Or something.

Normally when I write posts in advance, it doesn't really matter, but most of this post is about how excited I am about tomorrow's Omaha Pro show, which was yesterday's from your point of view. So you can see how confusing this has the potential to get!

Anyway, the fact that the show represents the first chance this year to see some of the cream of professional female bodybuilding on stage would be reason enough to get excited. One commentator has looked at the ten-strong field and seen evidence of the end for women's bodybuilding, but not me, not when the ten include Mmmmonique Jones, the Vesuvial Margie Martin, Britain's own Rene Campbell, the ever wonderful Christine Envall, and the pro debut (I think) of Angela Rayburn.

As if that wasn't enough to get my mouth watering, there on the competitor list was Britain's golden girl Lisa Cross as well. Regular readers will know that Lisa doesn't have to be competing to get me excited, but in the last few days what she's been posting on her Facebook has ramped my excitement levels all the way up to DEFCON 1.



Now THAT'S what a female bodybuilder looks like!

Last workout before carbing back up those empty muscles, Lisa tells us. Funnily enough though, the last word I would ever have thought of using to describe those muscles would be "empty". It seriously looks as though the inside of her body has decided it wants to know what it's like to be on the other side of her skin. Those muscles look plenty full to me, full of the blood pumping through them, carried by the thick vascular tributaries running from her armpits right up to her wrists. What a pump like that must feel like I can only imagine, but it sure is very VERY exciting to see.

I've seen a few pictures of Lisa in my time, but I get the distinct impression that this one will still be exciting me for many many years to come. It's an instant classic, one of those "iconic" images of female muscle we've discussed on FMS passim.

And also previously on FMS, we saw Lisa hooking up with Alina Popa for a dinner date at last year's Ms Olympia. And here they are together again, this time at Heather Policky's ex's gym in Colorado. Having a great time with my coach the great Alina Popa, says Lisa. [She's] pushing me further and further every day.



This last year with Alina has been an education and an absolute pleasure. Not many people get to work with the people that actually inspired them into the sport. The first time I saw Alina was back in 2007 and I was blown away by her physique on stage so much so that I actually bought the video of the show. Eight years later she is still inspiring me and pushing me further than I ever thought possible.

And the results speak for themselves.

You bet I'm looking forward to seeing Lisa (and the other nine PROPER bodybuilders) on stage at the Omaha Pro! Or rather I was, from your point of view. She may not be the pre-show favourite - Mmmmonique's contest-winning pedigree makes her the smart choice for first place I would guess - but I'm hoping for great things for the bigger and better, hotter and harder Popa-trained Lisa. Both in Omaha this weekend and beyond.

Enjoy!

BODYBUILDER! Pic of the Week

Sp this gem of a picture pops upon my Instagram feed last week and I'm just transfixed, I just can't stop looking at the SIZE of Shannon's arms, the sheer VOLUME of those MUSCLES. So HUGE do they seem that I swear I actually gulped - not in my head, I actually, physically gulped - at the sight of those BICEPS, those TRICEPS, those FOREARMS! It's a feeling I remember from my teens, going weak at the knees as I turn the pages of WPW, overcome at the sight of such BIG, POWERFUL, PUMPED UP bodies.



Days passed. I couldn't get the picture out of my head. I kept returning to gaze and gawp again, addicted to the rush. I noticed there was another woman in the picture, I wondered if it was just an optical illusion, if they were just in a really really small car...

And then Shannon started talking to me.

Hey! You love this feeling, don't you? To be so overwhelmed by such BIG, STRONG MUSCLES. I know you're overwhelmed by these MUSCLES right now, and I know you love it. Don't you think it's time you got some real women on that stoopid blog of yours? Real BIG overwhelming BODYBUILDERS with BIG, PUMPED UP MUSCLES.

Shannon, friend and car - the whole damn picture - zoomed away off my screen...

I want that feeling. I want to be overcome, overwhelmed again, to feel the rush I once felt as I turned - dry-mouthed, heart racing, loins aflame - the pages of WPW. Only BODYBUILDERS - BIG, STRONG FEMALE BODYBUILDERS - can give me that rush, BIG FREAKY FEMALE BODYBUILDERS covered with BIG, PUMPED UP MUSCLES.

All week long.

Enjoy!

Hot and Hard and LIKED and FOLLOWED: One FMS Reader's Special Report into the Most Popular Muscle Women in the World

The idea for today's post, which is almost entirely put together by our new FMS Head of Research, "JT", originated just about midway through the Hot and Hard 100 countdown when his curiosity was aroused by a very, VERY big number...

Just spotted something I thought worth sharing, connected to your top 100.

On Facebook, this year's #42 Dana Linn Bailey has 1,407,319 likes. And rising!
I find this incredible. I may have to do some more research... Could she be the current 'most popular' member of the top 100? I wonder how the others compare...



And off to do his research he went.

Now before we find out what he found out, I think we should take a moment to consider what a Herculean task JT set himself and that however imperfect you might think his methods have been (and in his introduction you will see that he freely admits this survey is by no means comprehensive), the fruits of it are nothing less than a unique snapshot of the most universally popular muscle women in the world right now. I've never seen anything like this before, and I truly doubt you have either (unless, of course you've done your own research and have been keeping the results to yourself). So, hats off to JT, and without further ado, here is his report...


1. THE METHOD

I've complied my list of the top 100 via Facebook likes or followers. However, it gets a bit more difficult than I had thought. Many of these ladies have more than one Facebook page, some are just normal accounts, some don't show the followers or likes and some are fan pages. I've gone for whichever has the most followers or likes. Biggest number wins, and only Facebook here. A similar study on Twitter etc. or combined Facebook, Twitter etc. will have to be done in the future I guess!

2. THE RESULTS

A. The 12 MOST POPULAR WOMEN from the HOT AND HARD 100

Qualification = greater than 100,000



1 Eva Andressa Vieira 7,060,477



2 Gracyeanne Barbosa 2,978,044



3 Dana Linn Bailey 1,442,069



4 Larissa Reis 784,099



5 Bella Falconi 510,799



6 Andreia Brazier 499,293



7 Julie Bonnett 374,237



8 Toni West 351,221



9 Sophie Arvebrink 215,088



10 Zoa Linsey 168,435



11 Kashma Maharaj 150,634



12 Cindy Landolt 141,994

ANALYSIS

Those top 2 are incredibly popular! TV stars in Brazil, they must be part of the celebrity culture there I would think. Dana Linn Bailey wins for the most popular "truly muscular" name. Mostly, the more popular ladies are those with the 'Fitness' vibe but one surprise for me in this list is Kashma Maharaj: 150k likes for a genuinely BIG female bodybuilder, wow! [Also Zoa Linsey, no? I believe she's big in Japan - ed.] I'm also going to note Iris Kyle,[not in the Hot and Hard 100] who, with 158,594 has just slightly less than Kashma, a surprisingly large following.

For comparison, Serena Williams is surely one of the world's most recognisable female athletes. And what is her total for this? 2,757,946.

And at this point JT took the idea and just ran with it...

B. THE MOST POPULAR "MUSCULAR" WOMEN in the WORLD

This isn't comprehensive at all, but looking more widely than the Hot and Hard 100, taking the guidelines as a woolly "muscular/defined" (either the photo shows muscle enough to get my attention, or they say IFBB, Fitness, Physique, whatever in their tagline), so far the 14 members of the "Millionaires Club" are...

Qualification = greater than 1,000,000

1 EVA ANDRESSA VIEIRA 7,060,477



2 Michelle Lewin Fitness Model 5,253,872



3 Ronda Rousey Mixed Martial Artist/Actress 3,379,482

4 GRACEYANNE BARBOSA 2,978,044



5 Paige Hathaway Fitness Model 2,817,257



6 Serena Williams 2,757,946



7 Christina Vargas IFBB Pro Bikini 2,191,638



8 Narmin Assria IFBB Pro Bikini 1,814,504

9 DANA LINN BAILEY 1,442,069



10 Nicole Wilkins Ms Figure Olympia 1,278,620



11 Justine Moore Fitness Model 1,277,004



12 Miesha Tate Mixed Martial Artist 1,222,962



13 Vanessa Tib Fitness Model 1,189,060



14 Pamela Jane Noble Fitness Model 1,029,595

ANALYSIS

JT says, Nicole Wilkins is the one standing out for me as someone that I was expecting to appear in the Hot and Hard 100. It's hardly the most muscular collection of women, I think you will agree. Once again, it's Dana Linn Bailey flying the flag (nor fail) for the really muscular woman. Obviously what we FMS readers think of as Hot and Hard is largely not what the world admires or aspires to!

A full list of the numbers relating to the Hot and Hard 100 is available here.

Comments and suggestions to: 6ft1swell@gmail.com

And incidentally, tomorrow just happens to be Dana Linn Bailey's birthday.

She'll be 32. And rising.



Happy Birthday to the World's Most Popular Muscle Woman!

Enjoy! And many many thanks to JT.

FBBUK: Media Watch

As always seems to be the case (and perhaps for reasons that have been discussed on FMS passim) if you've been wanting news of British muscle women, the best place to look recently has been the regional rather than the national media.

May has been a particularly bumper month, and in case you missed them, today we bring you news of three of the women who've got some recent regional love.

JANE CARTER

Glastonbury bodybuilder Jane Carter makes stunning return to competition, reads the headline in the Central Somerset Gazette from May 9th, and I'm already wondering to myself if I've heard the name before, though I'm pretty sure I haven't.

Turns out Jane was returning to competition after a four-year break. And how. First up, she booked her place at the UKBFF British championships by finishing 2nd in her category at the Portsmouth Qualifier. Then she won a NABBA Britain qualifier in Exeter, at the very same venue where she had won her first competition - 19 years ago!



To go back and win again was a dream come true at the age of 44 and after having a family, she told the Central Somerset Gazette reporter. It was a sell-out, an amazing atmosphere, and the judges were very pleased to see me return to the stage as some of them had judged me all those years ago when I first started in my 20s.

Turns out that competitive debut was back in 1996 and kick-started a long and distinguished career that (as far as I've been able to ascertain) includes two British and one World title. Now I'm thinking I really should have heard of Jane Carter before.

If you're in the Yeovil area though, you probably have heard of Jane Carter, or at least you know where the gym she runs with her husband is. Slim Gym Personal Training advertises sessions with "British Professional and World Physique Champion" Jane Carter, and her profile on the gym's website lists over 25(!) contests from that debut in 1996 up until she took her break in 2010.

Well, at least we've heard of her now!

SAMANTHA EGAN



At least there's no reason to feel guilty about never having come across Bolton's Samantha Egan before. The 24-year-old had won her (Bikini) class at the UKBFF North West in her very first competition, as was reported by both The Bolton News and (with exactly the same story and picture) This Is Lancashire on May 7th.




The following day, this regional story went national, picked up by the seemingly ever female muscle hungry Mail Online with more pictures of Samantha, more details of her "gruelling regime" and the headline: Female bodybuilder who eats SIX meals a day to bulk up and maintain her rippling abs wins first ever muscle contest.




What both articles fail to mention is Samantha's crush on FMS fave Sexy Sophie Arvebrink, who provides both inspiration - I'll be channelling my inner Sophie doing my chest and arms workout today - and a means of reminding herself how far she has yet to go - When you feeling cocky noticing a new vein at the gym, come crashing back down to earth when you see a picture of this girl [Sophie]. However, the Mail was certainly correct to point out that Samantha's abs do, indeed, ripple.



You can follow Samantha on Instagram.

SUZANNE STIRLAND



And finally today, courtesy of the Derby Telegraph on May 18th, Suzanne Stirland, a UK champ and pro bodybuilder who competes on the drug-free side of the sport.



At 47, and the mother of an 11-year-old daughter, Suzanne is a walking, talking, lifting and flexing advertisement for the benefits of the sport, though her daughter didn't always appreciate her mother's achievements - or "otherness". At first she didn't like it because I looked so different to the other mums at school, says Suzanne. Now she's proud of what I'm doing. I bet she looked different, and no doubt she still does!



Suzanne has been going to the gym for the best part of 20 years, but it was only in 2009, the article tells us, that she started bodybuilding to compete. Success came quickly, and last year she won the British title and followed that up with a third-place finish at the World Championships in Boston on her pro debut.



Suzanne now plans to get that world title later this year. All the hard work is worth it when you are on stage, she says. It's an amazing feeling to know that you have achieved perfection, you have sculpted it. The ultimate achievement would be to win the World Championships. And you can follow Suzanne in her bid on her Facebook.

Well done to the regional media once again!