Rolling Thunder 060-074

QUEEN OF QUADS



The Queen claiming her throne at the inaugural Texas Pro, mega quads and all. Quite apart from being the first Ms Rising Phoenix (and the winner of the biggest prize female bodybuilding has ever seen - CHA CHING!) Margie was once a marine, and claims to be "The Bringer of Quadgasms". Too many athletes stop when their muscles begin to burn, she says. Me - I'm just getting warmed up! Ah! So that's her secret...

QUAD TREASURE FROM THE ARCHIVE

KIM KING



WPW cover star and 1991 NPC Nationals Heavyweight and Overall champion Kim King is a name (and body) many a female muscle head of a certain age will remember. Her glorious amateur career was followed by a single pro appearance at the 1992 Jan Tana, where she finished 9th, but I simply could not resist finding a place for her and those "legendary" thighs in one of this week's posts. She was one of my favorites in those times, one forum poster recalls. She had extraordinarily built legs!



To be honest, I was desperate to get the on stage shot of Kim in her old school posing suit (above right) into the week. Just look at how she presents that super ripped, super flexed, super massive thigh of hers to the judges with such full-on animal intensity.

Suddenly I'm 18 again! *SWOOOOON!*

(KNOCKIN' ME OUT WITH THOSE) BRAZILIAN THIGHS



1. CLAUDIA BONAVOGLIA



From Belo Horizonte, Claudia says, I'm feminine, yes! My muscles are only part of my strong personality! More feminine than many women without muscles. That's me!!! Readers may recall from FMS' Images of 2014 that Claudia likes to take that femininity of hers to the beach and make other women look somewhat inferior. Yes, that's her!!!

2. MAYARA BARROS BUENO



And our second brasileira do dia is the reigning NABBA champ of southern Brazil and a top 3 finisher at this year's NABBA Brazil to boot. Yes, 2015's been very boa for Curitiba's Mayara Barros Bueno. Follow her next move via her Facebook page.

THIGHLIGHT

INSTANEZZY



The other day we had a first for FMS with Hulda Lopez, our first female bodybuilder from Honduras. Well, here's another first. "Instanezzy" or "Inez" is based in Perth, Western Australia, but though we have had our fair share of Aussie muscle freaks before, we've never (knowingly) featured one who's originally from Indonesia.



She's also the first female bodybuilder we've featured here who prefers to call herself a bodyrebuilder, which suggests there may well be a stunning transformation picture out there somewhere that the research team haven't managed to locate as yet.



But thankfully she isn't shy of taking a selfie or two, and even better she's into juxtaposing said selfies in order to demonstrate her spectacular progress. I wonder how she got those thighs so big so quickly... Sunday legs session: 1. Legs extensions super set with leg press; 2. Seated hamstring curls; 3. Lying hamstring curls; 4. Hamstrings extensions on seated calves machine; 5. Calves raises on leg press machine; 6. Glute kickbacks machine; 7. High reps good mornings; 8. Back squats.



She's cute as a button. And on Instagram pretty much daily.

CLOSE-UP

HELLE



Anyone else get the feeling that the realest things, perhaps the only real things you can see in this picture are Helle's magnificent thighs? Get busy with the oil, darling.

QUADS IN MOTION

CAUTION! DANGER OF HYPNOSIS!

Aleesha. Not so much "quads in motion" as "camera in motion", and I dare say a sight that sets a few "hands in motion" too! We've already seen Aleesha this week so these two fantasy thighs don't add to the total, but a gif worth posting, I'm sure you'll agree...

YOU CAN COVER (BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE)



Belle, Buck and Triple Dee and muscles that will take more than a skin tight outfit to cover up. A lot more. Just imagine walking in the gym and copping an eyeful such as these! "Death by sudden blood reassignment" is, I believe, how the coroners have phrased their verdicts in similar cases of female muscle headed misadventure.

Be warned my brethren!



Enjoy!

Hot and Hard: NG!!!

Having earned her pro card by winning her class at last year's NPC Nationals, Hot and Hard 100 #33 Tina Nguyen recently made her pro debut at the Europa in Dallas. In a field of 20 women, she finished runner-up, beaten only byAndrea Calhoun - an Olympia contestant from last year and a woman competing in her 11th pro event.



And Tina's 265,000+ Instagram followers (very much including myself) were able to follow her every step of the way in her meticulous preparations. For example, this from Tina on June 4th, along with the picture above: Practiced posing earlier today after tanning with my royal oil! I always tan the last few weeks of the prep just to get a little base color before getting spray-tanned for the show. You can focus on your competitions OR you can focus on yourself and be your best. Leave no room for errors. I wanna bring a feminine [package], curves, and be as conditioned as possible. Let's see how these last two weeks of prep will b!!! How exciting!!!



Yes, she does like to wax lyrical does Tina. As we saw just now, she talks tan. And she talks glutes, hams, quads. She talks tops, cheat meals, photo shoots. And she talks lunchboxes... If you happen to work full-time or are in school and want to keep up with your meals , make sure to carry a food bag with you EVERYWHERE you go! [It's] The only way to keep up with your diet conveniently. I work during the day so most of my meals are prepped and ready to go every day, including in the off season.



And whatever she's talking about, her thousands of female admirers seem to lap it all up and shower her with compliments. I think everyone needs someone that inspires them, someone they can look up to, says Tina fan "jennaguirre7877". I'm extremely inspired. Your physique is incredible. Can't wait to have quads like yours. Keep killin it and thanks. Tina seems truly to be one of those women they call "fitspirational".



And it's not just women you've never heard of who heap the praise on Tina. No lesser light than our own Hot and Hard 100 #26, Valerie Garcia Giovanoli, is (perhaps a little bit more than) inspired by the Nguyen magic. #WomanCrushWednesday goes to my favorite physique EVER, totally serious... @tinang13, writes Valerie. This girl's body is insane and she's gorgeous as well. I always strive to be the best ME possible, and never want for what anyone else has... But I ain't gonna lie, she's the one person I would happily trade bodies with in a heart beat!!! Keep doin' your thang grrl!



Now the thing is though, and please, forgive me if you feel I am being disrespectful and all, but as a dude, as a red-blooded dude of the female muscle admiring variety, I mean, I read the stuff she writes and all, and yes, in a sense I really do genuinely admire her, an immigrant to her adopted country making such a splash in her industry etc. etc. But then I also, let's say "admire" her in a way that is, well, somewhat more male and generally ends with me swooning all over the place and making a noise that coincidentally sounds a lot like the first two letters of Tina's surname - NG!!!



As mentioned above, given that Tina was your Hot and Hard 100 #33, I know I am not alone on this one, In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if after Tina posts a particularly saucy pic (although she could probably post a pic of herself in sack cloth and it would have the same effect) around 2pm her time, then by the time she goes to bed, that NG! sound has been travelling around the world continuously from Australia and Asia to Europe, down across Africa and across the ocean to the Americas - and I don't doubt there would have been the odd NG! in Antarctic research stations as well.



I mean, some of those pictures she posts really should have health warnings attached - CAUTION! MAY CAUSE REPEATED AND EXCESSIVE... She must know, right? For every "you're my inspiration" comment from her female fans, there are three from male NGers. They might not be as crude as my own thoughts - many are invitations for Tina to visit them, many consist of a single word: "sexy", some are just downright weird. But Tina never ever acknowledges this aspect of her own appeal, preferring instead to give out a more empowering message (to the girls, naturally): Don't worry about gaining some muscles ladies, she says, for example. You'll thank yourself later.



You can extrapolate what you will from this. I'm afraid if you are looking for some insight I'm going to have to leave you hanging because the only conclusion I'm coming to today will be accompanied by my own contribution to today's global NG! journey.



Enjoy!

Hot and Hard: The Virtuous Circle

When Kristin Rance joined a CrossFit gym in Washington [DC] about a year ago, she had one vision: muscle. The 30-year-old mother of two wanted to look in the mirror and see someone 'who looks like (she) works out - without flexing'.

How she didn't want to look? Skinny.
Washington Post, 13th October 2014



"Strong Is the New Skinny" was trademarked in 2012 by Marsha Christensen, a personal trainer and blogger from Texas. I imagine Marsha has made a fair few quid out of it, being as it is, as I'm sure you are well aware, on T-shirts as well as about 399 other products too. It has a Facebook page with over 100,000 likes, and plenty of gyms have built entire marketing campaigns around it to get women to weight train.



A measure of its popularity, particularly in North America, as the new ideal for women is the fact that the backlash has already started. It may be a healthier body image than the stick-thin supermodel look, critics say, but it is no more achievable.

The female athlete portrays a little bit healthier body image than Kate Moss, but it's not realistic, says Boise State University psychologist Mary Pritchard, an eating behaviour and body image specialist, for example. We have kids, we have families. Our job is not to look and be like an athlete.



Nevertheless, the phrase, and the more general notion of self-empowerment through strength training, is, as they say, 'trending'. Quite apart from the seemingly inexorable rise of CrossFit and the growth of interest in muscle building among women in North America, the trend has entered the mainstream, with high profile companies as diverse as Chevrolet and Always creating "pro-sporty girl" marketing campaigns.

And now, it seems, that trend is spreading across the world - well, the English-speaking world, the part of the world FMS' limited language skills allows us to monitor anyway!



Women across Ireland are abandoning the weighing scales and picking up weights to sculpt their bodies, according to the Irish Independent. In South Africa, the sport [of female bodybuilding] is reported to be "building momentum quickly", and it's a similar story in New Zealand. And here in Britain, the phrase 'Protein Princesses' has been coined to describe the new generation of gym-obsessed women, most recently mentioned in a Daily Mail piece that focused on how British women who work out are ditching sugar-dense cereals for protein-packed breakfasts.



And we've even come across evidence of participation in female bodybuilding growing in India. Starting last Friday in Mumbai, Indian women took part, for the very first time, in an international bodybuilding contest in their own country at the magnificently-entitled "6th World Bodybuilding Championship & Physique Sports Competition" organised by the India Bodybuilders' Federation (IBBF). Athletes from over 50 countries were reported to be taking part, and in the build-up to the contest, the Indian media focused on pioneering female athletes like 31-year-old Leela Phad, who was due to be the first ever Indian woman to compete in the Physique division.


Pioneering Indian Physique competitor Leela Phad

To this day, her parents do not know she practises bodybuilding, the Times of India reported, which is not the whole truth, but does give an indication of the kind of extra problems female bodybuilders face outside the West. They know I am a trainer, Leela told dnaindia, but they don't know that I will be competing. They are conservative and don't like women wearing that particular attire [bikini] on stage, and are angry that I haven't taken up the secure job of sales tax inspector to pursue sports.



One result of all this media attention on the rise of the muscular woman is a kind of redefinition of what a "female bodybuilder" is. To give one typical (and perhaps unintentionally hilarious) example, health24 begins its piece on "What It Takes to Be a Female Bodybuilder" thus: Female bodybuilding has become extremely popular worldwide with participants, often called fitness models, inspiring women all over the world to begin fitness training, modelling and competing.

It seems a "female bodybuilder" ain't what she used to be!



But it would be churlish to complain too much about this when there's so much to be thankful for. From Manchester to Mumbai and from Dunedin to Durban, more and more women are lifting weights, and more and more of them are going on to compete, even in countries where traditions have made it an especially difficult task.

And as their national media reports this rise, yet more women might be inspired to take up the sport. It's like the opposite of a vicious circle, apparently known as a "virtuous circle" (although I'd never heard that phrase before).

The women of the world getting hotter and hotter and harder and harder...



Which only leaves us female muscle fans scratching our heads and wondering,
Where exactly is this new horde of muscle-building women when I go to the gym?



Enjoy!

Olympia 2014 Review: Candids

"You're gonna win." "No, you're gonna win."



Juliana and Alina make their Olympia predictions...

And welcome you to FMS' look at what else was going on in Las Vegas during the weekend of the Olympia - or at least what is available for public consumption!

@THE EXPO



Larissa Reis at the Labellamafia stand sporting a kind of super hot blond Brazilian Moritica Addams look. Given the clothing label is owned by Brazilian bikini athlete Alice Matos and is modelled by some of Brazil's finest female physiques, one can only imagine the stand was something of a female muscle lovin' brethren magnet.



You'd have to say that either Eva Andressa Vieira is quite tall, or else Tonia Moore is quite short. And equally you'd have to say that either Eva's shoulders and arms are quite slender, or else Tonia's shoulders and arms are freakin' HUGE!!!



One of FMS' 2013 Women of the Year Shawna Pierce (aka Shawna Strong) dares you to disagree with her T. This won't be the last time we have the pleasure of Shawna in today's post - she was one of the women who seemed to be just about everywhere (or at least everywhere there was a camera) during the Olympia weekend.

And so was Britain's Most Naughty...

LISA CROSS

On my way out to Vegas to meet up for some fun with Brandi Mae, Lisa told us via her Facebook the week before the Olympia. We had such a great time last year I could not resist going back for more. And with a jacuzzi with a view like that, the mind boggles what those two got up to. Now I know why they call it Sin City, Lisa wrote a few days later. Yeah, right, I'm sure she had absolutely no idea before! And Brandi Mae wasn't the only other purveyor of fine female muscle naughtiness Lisa ran into...



But it wasn't all naughtiness for the Pride of Britian. She had dinner with Alina Popa - the greatest female physique to walk the planet, according to Lisa. I had a wonderful evening gaining an insight into the mindset of a top IFBB Pro Athlete, she reported. The knowledge and dedication it takes to be at this level is incredible.



And she was just as, if not more, starstruck to meet Lenda Murray at the Wings of Strength Olympia After Party (which was probably the place you, I, and the rest of the female muscle lovin' world would have wanted to be on that particular night).



She was the pinnacle of the sport, gushed Lisa. Does it get any better than this?

Er, well,you, Brandi, Alina, Lenda... I dunno, ME maybe... in that jacuzzi...

MAVI'S XTC

And the divine Ms Popa had another fan (or stalker?) tracking her down.

With Alina all sweaty (and pumped beyond belief - look at her arm, her SHOULDER!!!) Mavi Gioia seems absolutely ecstatic to be up close and personal with her. This snap is something of an XTC for FMS readers as well. With Alina #1 and Mavi #3 on the FMS Hot and Hard 100 List, this combo is, with #2 Shannon Courtney absent from the Vegas muscle fest, about as Hot and Hard a candid as it is possible to get.



I could smell her! Mavi might have said had she responded to our request for information about her meeting with La Popa. I spent the rest of the weekend dizzy, my head spinning, swooning from just being so close to so much female muscle power.

And talking of swooning...

TWANA BARNETT-FERGUSON




I believe there are other women in these pictures, but I only have eyes for Twana.

ASIAN INVASION



Singapore's Joan Liew (far right) leads a quartet of Asian beauties in an attention-grabbing flex fest. And these were by no means the only Asian muscle women who made the trip to Vegas determined to show off their muscular bods.



Korea's Yeon Woo-Ji looked as gorgeous as ever, while FMS fave Melissa Wee, fresh from her first contest, was spotted in a top that revealed the tan lines on her pecs in (almost) all their glory. No wonder she seems to make friends wherever she goes! And finally, here's Joan again, looking gorgeous and glamorous with Brazil's Olympia champ. How big do Joan's arm and shoulder look from that angle? WOW!

SUSANNA'S BIG DAY



It wouldn't be Vegas without a wedding!



Beautiful Susanna Hand was the (not exactly "blushing") bride, replete with a female muscle entourage of truly epic proportions, all wearing MuscleGirlzLive vests.



I guess we can all try to imagine what it must be like to marry the muscle woman of our dreams surrounded by a posse of the biggest and baddest female bodybuilders on the planet, but Mr Susanna got to bloody live it! My cap is proper doffed.

And look who was at the reception...



AND FINALLY...

Two top candids from the Olympia weekend.

First (left) Monique Hayes enjoying herself after dark in an almost impossibly tight bright yellow dress (guess she didn't want to attract much attention). The good news is that it seems Monique is back and working again with a somewhat enhanced look to her upper body. Now, depending on your point of view the enhanced look may or may not be welcome news, but I will say that the little I have seen of Monique's most recent work has enabled me to see just a little bit more of Monique than ever before.

Too cryptic? Click here.



And last, but by no means least, Melody Spetko hams it up, presumably in a museum to the Las Vegas of the past. Unless "unlawful" and "illegal" mean different things...

Enjoy!