Summer Lovin': Michelle's Body Love

The reader is required to mentally remove the "G"...



I am attending a wedding this weekend, so I went dress shopping this past Sunday, reveals muscle beauty Michelle Bresnahan. It was just one of those days where nothing looked or felt "right". No matter what I tried on it just didn’t do it for me. I started thinking my arms looked too big, or my shoulders were too wide, and wished I had some sort of boob to fill out a top. I left empty-handed.

Hard to believe such a stunner could have a crisis of body confidence.



Happily, however, it wasn't long before Michelle was seeing her "problem" from, let's say, "our" point of view... Then I thought to myself, these clothes fit the average person and I strive every day to be above average. I push myself to my limits each and every day in and out of the gym. Instead of feeling bummed about not fitting well in a certain mold, I should be damn proud to stand out and not fit that mold.

Quite.

And Michelle even made sure those big arms, wide shoulders and self-made chest were nicely pumped before heading to that wedding. Showing off for her IG following before she showed off in front of the assembled wedding party - hair and make-up intact...



Enjoy!

Follow Michelle on Instagram

Summer Lovin': Mi Hyun

On stage for the first time in a couple of years (as far as I can ascertain), Korean Physique star Jung Mi Hyun placed 8th in Vancouver at the start of this month.

Compared to her compatriot Kim Ji Hyun (see last Thursday's post), Mi Hyun gets relatively little attention from the female muscle lovin' community - perhaps partly because of that two-year hiatus, and partly because she's often transliterated as Jung Mi Hyeon, so has multiple threads on the forums instead of one big ongoing tribute.



Treats like this may go some way to endearing her to the collective "us".

So delicate, yet so beefy!

Check out Mi Hyun on Instagram

Here she is winning the Olympia Amateur Asia (and her pro card) three years ago...



즐겨!

Woman of the Week: NOT Emma Paveley

No pictures today I'm afraid. And no name.

This week's Woman of the Week is the lady I saw last week as she enjoyed some lunchtime sunshine with friends/colleagues on the green near where I'm working now.

I saw her twice. Once, very briefly, last Tuesday, and then again a week ago today.

TUESDAY, 3rd JULY

We've had a so-called "heatwave" in the UK (I'm sure we just used to refer to weather like this as "summer"!) recently. Sunshine every day, temperatures in the mid to high 20s where I am. It's been great, and when out and about, I've been as alert as always to any female muscle among the (mainly flabby) flesh on display in the heat.

Largely, I've been disappointed. The city where I'm currently based is not a large one, hardly a hotspot for female muscle, but I had some luck in the spring with sighting muscular women so I was hopeful. But apart from a few women with "toned" arms, and/or flat tummy, my female muscle radar has been pretty much dormant.

That changed last Tuesday. As I walked back to the office from a working lunch with a colleague, the radar went crazy. Ahead, to my left, was a woman in a workout vest with shoulders. Big, muscular shoulders. She was sitting on the grass, leaning back, and supporting herself on her arms, making those shoulders pop. I felt my heart rate rise, felt the adrenaline rush. I fought the urge to stare, tried to maintain the conversation I was having... But those shoulders were proper balls of muscle.

I was side on to her now as we passed, and could see a proper tricep too, bulging outwards from under her shoulder then curving back in towards her elbow. No more than a glimpse but more than enough to make me have to suppress a gasp.

My colleague has a bit of a power walk on her, and I cursed her for it. We'd gone past her too quickly, to see any more now I would have to stop and turn around. My heart still beating fast, I tried and failed to think of a reason to do just that. It was over.

WEDNESDAY, 4th JULY

Over the following 24 hours, I somehow managed to convince myself that the woman I had seen was none other than Britain's Fitness Olympian Emma Paveley.


IFBB Fitness Pro Emma Paveley - NOT the woman I saw

It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.

For one thing, Emma is based not a million miles away from where my sighting had happened and the woman I had seen was, I surmised, more or less the right height. She was the right colouring - blond, pale - and had the right hairstyle. The muscles, I guessed, were about right too. Shockingly developed next to the "normals" she was with that day, they were still nothing like a full-on Female Bodybuilder's.

Piece by piece my Madness-stricken mind assembled the glimpses I had had of the woman on the grass, and when they were all put together they added up to Emma.

I was back at that green the following lunchtime. Waiting and watching I ran through what I would say to her - "good luck in Vancouver" and so on. Would she think it weird or would she be flattered that I knew who she was and when and where she would be competing next? My tone, I decided, would be key - that and not gushing out everything little thing I knew about her all at once. So I rehearsed as I sat watching and waiting for her. I ran through my lines over and over again.

THURSDAY, 5th JULY

She was there when I arrived at the green with my lunch. And I realised very quickly that though she did bear a passing resemblance to Emma, it was not in fact her. This was, I'll admit, somewhat disappointing, but I was glad to see she (whoever she is) was once again in a workout vest. And there was a vacant bench close-but-not-too-close to her with a great view of her arms, her shoulders, and even a little back.

I settled down and drank her in.

When she spoke even the smallest gesticulation made her muscles ripple a little, and with no one in earshot, I was able to let out little moans and gasps as she did so. It didn't take long for my loins to start acknowledging her - I did get rather hard at one point and had to cross my legs - but I felt more like an art lover in a gallery gazing at a particularly beautiful work than a man on a perving mission in a public place!

A good 45 minutes I spent like that, melting into a full-on swoon at one point when she leaned back on her arms (as I had seen her first), triceps and shoulders bulging, and stretched. As she did so her quads visibly flared in her tight leggings. I felt my eyes widening, my loins tingling, and bit my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.

I desperately wanted to see her stand up so I could get a better look at those legs, desperately wanted to watch her walk so I could see if her glutes were as tight as I imagined. She remained on the grass, however, and I really had to get back to work.

It wasn't difficult - and nor, at the time, did it seem in any way wrong - to take a few long range pictures of her, and I later spent some of the afternoon at my desk cropping them to focus on her, delighted her impressive definition came out.

That evening I spent some quality time with those pictures, then deleted them all - partly because of the surge of guilt I felt immediately after I had paid my secret tribute to her, partly because I knew deep down I would never have been able to keep them to myself and by sharing them open myself up to all sorts of embarrassing (and possibly legal) situations, and partly because I wanted to spare her the shock of one day coming across a bunch of photos of herself she never knew existed.

She may well be aware the muscles she has built give her more than just physical power. She certainly wasn't shy about showing off her arms and shoulders, quite rightly - I hope and expect she is very proud of the physique she has. She'll never know what she did to me, though. Never know the power she had over me for those few days last week, and clearly continues to have over me as I sit here writing now.

She's my woman of the week without question - whoever she is.

Emma, by the way, finished 3rd in Vancouver, so she didn't manage to defend her title. She was nevertheless "feeling really proud at being soooo much better than ever before" at the show. If I see her, I'll tell her I thought she's never looked better either, though the chances of that are slim. Yes, she's based not a million miles from where I'm currently working, but the only public place Emma ever seems to be is in the gym.

Amateur Week: The Big Lil Beast

Previously featured on FMS as part of our Pic of the Month selection in May, Amy Neelands is "photographer, bodybuilder and rock 'n' roll hillbilly delux" in her own words, "an absolutely gorgeous meaty tattooed beast" to one of adoring (male) fans.



Amy, aka "Lil Beast", was almost completely unknown at the start of 2018, but has - first via her social media and more recently a couple of NPC shows - gradually worked her way onto the forums and into the collective female muscle lovin' consciousness.



That back, those arms and her "winning smile" have all been singled out for particular admiration so far, and then there's those pictures (often accompanied by really very sweet messages of love and thanks) with her lady. The skinny girl looks so happy, notes one poster. She takes THAT to bed every night, reads the reply. I'd be happy too!




The world of NPC Women's Bodybuilding isn't exactly enjoying a resurgence. On both the occasions Amy has competed this year, she's been the sole entrant in the class. She's also gone home with class wins in the Physique division at both shows - at the Pacific Coast Championships in mid-May she won the Overall as well; at the Cascadian Classic in Oregon at the end of that month she lost out on the Overall (somehow).



Amy got into lifting after gaining weight during rehab for a series of injuries she suffered while working in "loss prevention". According to Amy, this involves "basically chasing and throwing shoplifters around". I wanted to better my lifestyle and I knew some people in the Bodybuilding industry and they said I had a lot of potential, she explains. At first I didn't want to do it because to be completely honest I love food too much, but I gave the diet a try and fell in love with it the first time I jumped on stage.



Thanks to Best Muscle Video we can enjoy an interview and posing with a glammed and tanned Amy right after she jumped off it at the Pacific Coast Championships...



Ain't she cool?



"Skinny" may be happy, but Amy looks plenty happy with her new self too. Next, the Nationals. FMS, and the rest of her growing (male and female) fanbase will be watching.

Amy on Instagram

Vote Green! (¡Viva Mexico!)

I'm not sure how many Mexican readers we get here, but if you are from Mexico, specifically from Boca del Rio in the state of Veracruz, then in your forthcoming congressional election, I'd suggest you vote for the Ecologist Green Party.



Vote for Andrea Yunus Yunus.

About as far removed as it is possible to be from the kind of ladies who enter politics here in the UK (even those in our own Green Party). The LAD Bible headline - Meet the Female Bodybuilder Running for Parliament in Mexico - may be slightly misleading in its terminology, but Andrea is very much into building her body.



And not shy about showing off the results of her fitness regime, which she modestly describes as "little more than a healthy diet and exercise", whether her arms are glistening with sweat after a good workout, or meeting the people with some of her loyal supporters - one wonders how many have signed up to work on her campaign out of conviction for her cause, and how many out of pure muscle lust.



She has become something of a social media celebrity in Mexico, according to the article. Apparently, she's unusual for a politician there too! I will never hide who I am, she says. This is who I am, and if I get in I will keep being the same person.

There will be some people who do not like it.

But others who really do.

Underrated: Juanita Blaino

A new occasional series, Underrated is not intended to be about judging decisions - if it was, we could probably run a post about every single woman who's ever competed! Instead, we aim to (re)focus on women who we think do not enjoy the prominence they deserve in the collective female muscle consciousness - someone a new recruit to the female muscle lovin' world would not necessarily come across.

UNDERRATED?



If you know her, it's highly unlikely you would underrate her. The combination of size and sexy Juanita brought to the stage made her one of the outstanding competitive Female Bodybuilders of the first part of this decade. And that's not just my opinion - this "powerful goddess of muscle" is none other than Margie Martin's all-time favourite, and few would disagree with her that it's high time Juanita rose again.



The fact that she's become so (relatively) unknown so quickly since her retirement is largely down to Juanita herself. She's retired most effectively! Like, say, her more famous admirer or - as another example - Iris Kyle, Juanita has social media but unlike them she hardly ever posts. When she does, it's hardly ever a picture of herself, and on those rare occasions when it is, it's hardly ever a current picture of herself.



Consequently, the well of "new" Juanita material dried up almost as soon as she stopped competing in 2014. With nothing new to add, her forum threads and GWM page have largely stagnated, kept alive only by rumour and occasional "look what I found when I was cleaning out my hard drive" images from Juanita's pomp.

CAREER


Juanita Malone, pre-1994

The period of her career for which she is known runs from 2010 to 2014. However, and this has only recently, thanks to some serious FBB archaeology by a well-known forum poster, come to light, Juanita Malone (as she was then) can be found competing in the early 90s, and at the NPC USAs in 1994 she shared the stage with (among other Heavyweights) Annie Rivieccio, Rozann Keyser, and Suzan Kaminga.


Nationals, 2010

After a break of some 15 or so years, she returned to competition in 2010, lining up at the Masters Nationals, the North Americans (in the 35+ Masters class), and the Nationals, where she was the Heavyweight runner-up to Amber Defrancesco.



Champion - Nationals, 2012

Two years later and Juanita was back at the Nationals, and this time there was no denying her. After winning the Heavyweight class, she saw off Kira Neuman and Rene Marven in the posedown to be crowned Overall champion, and new IFBB pro.



Olympia, 2013

On her pro debut in Chicago the following year she placed 2nd (to Mmmmonique Jones), and though she failed to place in Tampa a month later, those runner's-up qualifying points were enough (just) to get her to her one and only Olympia. There (in possibly her best ever shape and in a posing suit that bordered dangerously - and thrillingly - close to a thong) she placed above Mmmmonique - 6th out of 12. It took legends to beat her, and only Kyle, Popa, Laszewski, Oriquen and Brezovac did.



This period also brought us the majority of the non-contest Juanita material we can still enjoy today. She worked with HerBiceps, briefly - but gloriously - with Female Muscle Clips, and most memorably with Muscle Angels. As we look back now we can see that even then there were signs that Juanita was not 100% happy at putting herself out there (as they say), with much of the Muscle Angels' material listed not under her name but the alias "Massive Muscle". Nevertheless, this moniker seemed completely appropriate to me. I had fallen massively for Juanita's muscles, and I wasn't alone.



The following March (2014), FMS readers voted her into the top 30 of our inaugural Hot and Hard 100 poll. As the 2014 contest season got under way, she seemed a serious contender, and my female muscle notebook of the time reveals I was as excited about seeing Juanita again as I was about seeing anyone. Had her time come?


Tampa, 2014

2014. however, didn't quite live up to the promise of her debut pro season. 4th this time in Chicago, she did better in Tampa than she had done the previous year, but 7th there was nowhere near enough. The last ever Ms Olympia took place without her.

APPRECIATION



First of all, and make no mistake about this, Juanita was (and may well still be) massive. You really only get a true sense of her overwhelming scale when you see her next to other, undeniably huge, women. As well as being a bit taller than both Iris and Mmmmonique, Juanita (at the very least) matches both of them for sheer arm size. Imagine her strength! a 2015 forum poster gasps. I do - and I imagine it is incredible. Chicago crims restrained by Officer Blaino, don't, I imagine, ever forget it!


Chicago, 2014

Most importantly though, Juanita simply "oozed sex appeal", and while this does come across in photos, you really have to see her move on stage to fully understand just how sexy she was, and what a huge influence she was on Margie Martin. Even if Juanita was never quite as aggressively, in-yer-face sexy as her most decorated devotee, the more that Margie took from Juanita's playbook, the more successful she became.



My favourite clips of hers would have to be the first set she did with Muscle Angels as "Massive Muscle" - hotel room setting, small white bikini, just flexing hard and slow while the camera catches all her ripples and striations in close-up detail. Perhaps even more thrilling though was Female Muscle Clips' shooting of Juanita in dress and heels. 30 minutes which, if you are lucky enough to enjoy, stay with you long after.

NOW?

Rumours only. Still a big and beautiful girl, apparently, but not planning to come back - at least not as a Bodybuilder. According to one forum poster, Juanita told him in an email that she's "downsizing in the near future", a decision that, in his words is "more personal than political". She said she's "tired of not being able to buy regular clothes", he continues, "tired of carrying so much weight around". The muscle mass is that serious! That was last October, and nothing since then suggests Juanita's return is imminent - whatever size she is going to be if she does indeed return to competition.

I do believe that last bit about serious muscle mass though...

Enjoy!

Marvelous Monday

Apologies for the lateness of today's post. What was originally planned still needs a bit of work, however we think you will find its substitute more than satisfactory...

Q: What happens to former FBB champions after they retire?

During our Hot and Hard 100 countdown this year, we noted that in Margie Martin's (relatively recently retired) case the answer to that question is keep working her body so well that she has "forum posters eagerly anticipating her comeback".

And her most recent Instagram posts (from this last weekend) don't so much add fuel to that fire as detach an oil pipe from its moorings and divert it straight into the flames.



Happy Mother’s Day Battle Rope Pump! she informs her followers. Ooh la la!

Soooo gooood!!!! you are probably thinking (if you are actually capable of "thought" on that level right now, higher brain functions liable to be temporarily disabled as you reach below the table and all...). If only she'd made a video of that...

Well, she did!

Because the pump was to sick I had to show it off sommore, she writes.



Not a long clip by any means, but... Ooh la la!

PCA TV

With over 20 shows this year alone in the UK, the Physical Culture Association can rightly claim to be "the largest bodybuilding and fitness organisation in the UK".



Last year, UK Bodyfitness swoon Danielle Osborn - a class winner at the Arnold Classic Europe - tried her luck in the Athletic Figure class at a PCA show after not doing so well at the UKBFF British Championships. She won - and got to flex her lovely muscles while doing so. A really incredible experience, she said afterwards.

On the forums, fans were starting to appreciate the PCA's female classes - everything from Wellness and traditional Bikini to Trained Figure (like NABBA, but flexing in thongs and heels), with classes like Athletic Figure and Trained Bikini (basically like trad Bikini - in heels - but ripped, and in thongs!) adding to the curiosity value.

"Shame the videos are such low quality," lamented one fan.

Well, the PCA have fixed that this year.

Their YouTube channel, PCA TV, seems to have no lesser ambition than to bring you every routine from single British show in 2018. There are, I make it, 60 female routines across 8 classes in glorious HD from the early April PCA Saxon Classic alone.

Trained Figure winner there - and also later on in April at the PCA Scottish Championships - was Karen Gibson, also a NABBA Trained Figure athlete.

Here's her Saxon Classic winning routine.



Currently being put up are routines from (what I believe is) the biggest PCA show of the year so far, the PCA UK East Coast, which was held in Hull at the very end of April.

And there in the Trained Figure class another name (and body) familiar to regular FMS readers - Fay Ellis (aka Fay Simone), another woman who has found a home in the PCA after not really getting on with the UKBFF (in her case as a Physique competitor).



I'm not sure if Fay won - one thing the PCA still aren't very good at is getting their results out quick. However, I'm confident they'll fix this failing before too long.

They've certainly done a terrific job of fixing the quality of their clips!

Explore the PCA YouTube channel here.

And you can follow Danielle Osborn, Karen Gibson, and Fay Ellis on Instagram.

Enjoy!