FBBUK: Our Girl

This week's Figure-dominated theme with a bit of a coincidental military presence continues with former British Army corporal and Iraq veteran Melissa Haywood.



Whilst deployed on an exercise, I came across a copy of Muscle & Fitness Hers, she recalls. On the front cover was a curvy, tight and toned woman who looked fit, healthy and strong. Inside, I saw sample weight training programmes and diets that consisted of 6 meals a day and lots of protein. And I just thought "Hey! I can do this!" and started from there! The cover model, she later discovered was Amanda Latona, and Melissa went on to be a major force in (the then-nascent) Bikini division in Britain. She won her first British title in 2012 while still serving in the army, and took runner's-up medals from the Arnold Classic Europe and European Championships back home. Then at the 2014 English Grand Prix, she became one of our very first IFBB Bikini pros.



The following year she travelled to Miami for her first pro Bikini show. Looking a tad on the pasty side, she finished 12th out of 20, and then she pretty much fell off our radar completely. Having left the army, she set up an online training/body transformation business with fellow Bikini babe Jamie Alterton. Was she too focused on helping others achieve their Bikini dreams to compete now? Already married, was she starting a family? Turns out neither were true. Melissa was taking time out to grow.



Some of these Figure pros are absolutely stacked! Melissa exclaimed in a blog post this time last year. They are dry and they are hard and they are grainy and their shoulders... are out here! At this point, Melissa indicates where a huge shoulder would go out to, comfortably twice the size of her own impressively built deltoid. They are MASSIVE! she exclaims breathlessly, and I'm never going to look like that...



Fortunately, however, Melissa also noticed that not all the Figure pros looked so intimidating. Name-checking Stephanie Hammermeister and Chelsea Larson, Melissa talked about a more attainable - and for her more desirable - "lean, athletic" Figure look with "good muscle shape and symmetry". I could tell what was coming - can you? Barely a minute of the blog post later and she's announcing that she would make her pro Figure debut in San Marino that November. And that's exactly what she did.



Up against the cream of European Figure (Adela Ondrejovicova and winner Zulema Duran to name but two) plus Olympians such as Georgina Lona and Jessica Reyes Padilla, Melissa placed 8th out of 22, two places above UKBFF Figure champ Anna Banks. Now she was in arguably the most competitive division, and at such a competitive show, this was most satisfactory as far as debuts go, but there were definitely areas she could sharpen, she felt. Might need to work on my walk, she confessed after seeing the photos. I look like I’m marching to the shop to get milk!



The Melissa that emerged form her winter work was determined she would be better next time. It feels so good to be back! she wrote at the start of May. Eight weeks to get as lean as possible. Her goal was the new Portugal Pro in mid-July, another European event, but one not nearly as subscribed as San Marino. This time Melissa would only be up against European competition - nine women including veteran British division jumper Carmen Knights, and rising star Samantha Forbes. The real competition though was against herself, her San Marino package, and the day before the show she obviously felt she had achieved that. The venue is incredible (our stage rises out of the floor!), she told her Instagram followers. Whatever happens tomorrow is out of my hands so I’m just going to enjoy the whole experience and have fun on stage.



She placed 5th out of 10 - I would have had her 3rd, but then I'm biased and what do I know anyway? The post-show smile as she wielded her medal needed no caption.



And I kind of expected that to be that as far as Melissa was concerned for the year, unless another visit to San Marino before Christmas. Once again, I was completely wrong, in fact I'm not even sure she went home first or just went from Portugal direct. Melissa was going Stateside for her next show, you see. Los Angeles to be precise.



The line-up is stacked with so many amazing and inspiring athletes, she wrote on the day, and she was not wrong. As we've seen already this week on FMS, the (Figure-only) LA show is most definitely the IFBB pro Figure big time. This was easily the best line-up Melissa had ever been part of, many of them, as she was, coming off a show the week or two before. I’m just going to have fun and enjoy every second, she said. Again.



Here at FMS, we thought Melissa looked absolutely sensational. She'd certainly nailed the "lean, athletic" look she wants. Great definition, great muscle shape, great symmetry. We were all very pleased for her, but British Figure in the US historically, and in that line-up... we weren't exactly holding our breath for a top 10 placing.



But what do we know?! Amazing to find myself amongst Olympians in the first call outs! she wrote midway through the contest. And ultimately, Melissa achieved one of the best British Figure results ever. 4th place!!! she gushed afterwards. So happy!



And then it was back to the grind. No rest for Melissa, even when she's had something to celebrate. It's only Wednesday, she wrote, on Wednesday. My first full week of training since before the Portugal Pro and I am literally feeling BATTERED.



I think that really is it now for Melissa this contest year. It's time for what she calls her "reflection" season - looking back at what she's done well, could do better etc. (rather than my initial idea that she would just be spending a lot of time in front of the mirror!). Clearly, and despite all my observations to the contrary earlier in the week, there still is a place in the division for the "lean, athletic" package, and those already taking inspiration from the likes of Stephanie Hammermeister and Chelsea Larson could learn much from what Melissa Haywood has done over the last 36 months.



The rise of UK Figure continues...

Pic of the Month: August

A clear winner for July's poll, with a whopping 75% of all votes cast (admittedly there weren't a LOT of votes cast but still, fair play, and I'm going to persevere with the polls as long as anyone bothers to vote!), it's Emma Tall and the pic that has been called "You Can Run (But I Can Hide in the Bushes with My Camera)".



And so to our five muscle beauties for August. Same as always - check them all out, choose your favourite then follow the link at the bottom to vote with a single click.

SAMMICA CASH - SHE'S A KNOCKOUT



Traps, delts, pecs, abs and biceps. What more could you want? (Actually, don't answer that, we don't want your "tattoo removal" comments.) Anyway, all those beautiful muscles plus our first acknowledged "glove bra". Well done Sammica! There are two types of fighters, she tells us, the first strike all over the place hoping one will land, the other, assured of their prowess and capabilities, hit once and destroy an opponent's desire to continue the fight! Look out for Sammica at the Tampa Pro this weekend.

JACQUELYN HICKERSON - FOCUS



Probably a bit artful to really win a popular vote (he said, playing the reverse psychology card on the clearly very cultured and knowledgeable readership), but there's a reason why Jacquelyn is surrounded by blur. I’m still learning to mentally blur things in my surroundings/life/mind that are unimportant, insignificant, or derailing, she says. I’d rather have a clear focus on what’s imperative. See? Visual representation of mental process. How often do you get that from your muscle goddess? [well, actually... -ed.] Swell loves what's inside the head of this beautiful, eloquent, witty young woman almost as much as the rest of her. Almost.

MARGA OVERBY - IN MY HOUSE (I WISH!)



I do love a topless back double biceps, especially when there's a thong involved too. Marga Overby was, I believe, last seen on stage in 2015, but if this pic is recent (and I've not been able to confirm that it is) then it looks as though she'll be back on stage again soon. Sadly, she won't be topless (from the front or rear) and sadly (and fairly obviously) this wasn't taken at my house (where the door frames are much wider).

BLAKELEE ORTEGA - A GROWING CONCERN



She'd be properly scary if she wasn't so damn cute, said FMS after bringing you "aspiring Physique competitor" Blakelee for the first time on the blog back in January. Progress has been made since then, and if you haven't been following her on Instagram, you should see what you've been missing. The moment when a young muscle women decides to go "full beast" is something I don't think I will ever tire of. As you read this, Blakelee will be just a single day out from her first show - the Knox Classic. I, for one, won't only be looking out for images from Tampa this weekend.

SHANNON COURTNEY - v.2018



New breasts, a bit of facial work, and she's kind of let the definition and size go a bit, but as far as I'm concerned, a new rush of Shannon pics on the forums means she's still got "it". There are, of course, those who don't like what they see so much - "I really miss the old Shannon" etc. - but there's many many more who, like me, are more than impressed with v.2018. She's maturing like a fine wine, reckons one (still) Shannon fan. Full-bodied and fruity. She's perfecting muscular sensuality, says another. I could go on, but I'd rather finish typing sooner rather than later and I think you can guess why...

So there they are, our August five.

When you are ready, vote HERE. It only takes a moment.

Thanks in advance. Enjoy!

Woman of the Week: Thea Dougher

I first became aware of her by the name she's more commonly known as, Thea Renee (sometimes with, sometimes without the last name Schuler added as well), a few years ago. Big, blond, beautiful and tattooed, I remember being impressed, she may even have featured on the blog - though I can't recall in what capacity - at some stage.



She seemed to disappear, I'd read something about her getting married - or did I dream that? Anyway, off the radar she went, until the back end of last year, when a bunch of images appeared on GwM, along with "news" that she had a new Instagram moniker - crazy_fitfreak. She looked fantastic - bigger, more beautiful. And as 2017 turned to 2018, it looked more and more as though Thea was preparing for something.



Ah yes! That's right... MILITARY.

Scrolling through her IG one night jogged the memory, explained why she wasn't on the radar (geddit?!), why I'd been so keen in the first place (tough as nails, uniform) and why the only YouTube video I could find of her was a 2014 contest in Guam.



The something she was preparing for turned out to be the NPC Los Angeles Championships, where she competed, not under Schuler, but her married name of Dougher - Thea Dougher. Despite my suspicions that she'd got married some time ago, she was in fact a bride only this year, and quite the outfit she got married in. However, at the time I checked the pics of the contest, I didn't know any of that, so I wasn't expecting much from the Physique winner, because experience tells me that at regional NPC shows, it's best not to expect too much, even of the Physique...

WOW!!!




Even then - perhaps because I was a bit, you know, "worked up" - I didn't immediately equate this vision of muscular beauty with the (largely unglamorous and unsmiling) Thea I knew before. It was the back tat - "that horroble [sic] back tattoo" as it is known in some circles - that eventually made me realise exactly who I was looking at. Big, blond, beautiful and tattooed (yeah!) AND glammed, tanned and striking those poses with power and elegance, she really ticked EVERY SINGLE ONE of the boxes.



Full swoonspin. Felt pretty damn good up there! she said after prejudging. Looked good too, pretty much like my idea of Physique - a huge, powerful and yet very feminine woman. No surprise she won first in her class and Overall with a body (and styling) like that. She had a package, as Paige Sandgren once put it, that "the judges can't deny". So proud of what I brought to the stage and very happy with it all! she wrote as she celebrated. I’ve come a long way since my last show years ago.



We’ll see what happens next, she continues...



This was four years after her first show. And she apparently made her fella wait a few years. I'm seriously worried it might be 2022 before we see her on stage again, though I very sincerely hope not. Still, imagine how big she would be able to get by then...

Enjoy!

Figure Phenoms (Vancouver & LA)

Q: Feast your eyes on Joanna Jean (top), and Susan Clark - but what do these two incredible (and incredibly muscular) Figure beauties have in common, do you think?





A: They both finished outside the top 10 at a recent IFBB pro contest.

The point I want to make though [and you're making it rather clumsily if I may say so - ed.] is the standard of conditioning necessary to take some of the paltry prize money in IFBB Figure shows now is insane. And, even better, the level of muscularity acceptable, even desirable in the division seems to be on the up too.

To my eyes at least.

While first FBBing and now, apparently, Physique competitors suffer the ramifications of "not-so-much-muscle-please-we're-the-IFBB" policing, the Figure ideal - embodied by the women taking top prizes at top shows - seems to be getting bigger and bigger and more and more ripped. And to prove my point - and perhaps also have the fact I am not dreaming about this confirmed in the process - here are just some of the swoonworthy Figure ladies from recent pro shows in Vancouver and Los Angeles.

BODACIOUS BOJANA



Winner in Vancouver was the always impressive Bojana Vasiljevic.

And for those still under the illusion that Figure - especially pro Figure - competitors really aren't all that muscular, ask yourself how many women you've ever seen down your local gym with abs and shoulders and arms all covered in veins like Bojana's. Ask yourself - if she did miraculously appear there - whether you really would hardly notice her, wishing there were some real FBBs at Fitness First Basildon...



So much beautifully conditioned muscle on that petite frame had proved good enough for judges in Los Angeles last year, and proved good enough for the 2018 Vancouver judges too. So this was Bojana's second pro title, and she'll be back at the Olympia for a third consecutive year in September, hoping to improve on her 2017 10th place.

PERFECT PARTS



Also from Vancouver, the superior legs of 9th place Catherine Lavoie and 6th place Martina Yebekova. Incredible, thrilling muscular development and definition.

MUSCLE BEAUTIES

When muscle women look like models...



It's always good. And especially so when they flex with such glee. "Yeah, I could have been a regular model, but I wanted MUSCLES!" they say (in my imagination).



Two such beauties graced the stage in Los Angeles - classy 2018 Hot and Hard 100 debutant Tonya Wheatfall (9th), and the statuesque Dallas McCormick (8th).

MMMMELISSA



Two women appeared at both the Vancouver and LA shows, the first we'll drool over today is Canadian beauty Melissa Bumstead. I thought she looked sensational in coming 4th at the former show, but a couple of weeks (and apparently several applications of pro tan) later in LA, Melissa turned the muscle sexy up to 11.



And she was rewarded with her second 2nd place of the season.



She's already promising to be even better in Tampa this weekend, which could be bad news for my ticker. Hopefully in Tampa there will be some cleaner mirrors...

PERFECT PARTS



Also doing well in LA was veteran Julie Mayer, whose 3rd place was as good as any placing she's had over the last few years. Amazing, sculpted, muscular legs were just about her standout feature but by no means the only thing she has going for her.



She made sure the judges got a very good look at them too, both from the front, the rear and side on. I do love the bit where they stride forward, their mighty (yeah, mighty) quads rippling and popping in their heels. There may not be a whole lot of "poses" in Figure, but to think that means there isn't any flexing going on is a mistake.

MUSCLE BEAUTIES



Azaria Glaim (right) and Maggie Watson go about their muscle and beauty businesses pretty much the same way these days, although that was not always the case. Once upon a time, you may recall, Azaria, known first as Crimson Rose then as Brooke Black, had a very lucrative career as a very naughty cam performer. Maggie, meanwhile, is a former WBFF Figure model whose past was all about the kind of not-very-muscular (and less lucrative) modelling on the fringes of the mainstream.



Their journeys took them both to the same place at the start of July though, their (very different styles of) beauty shining on the Vancouver stage. The (younger) Azaria (7th) finished a place above Maggie, who has really packed on the muscle over the last year.

BRAZILIAN THUNDER



Spot the difference?



Is it just the quality of the on stage lighting or some difference with the photography? Or was Brazilian Figure phenom Michele Da Silva Pinto - as we saw with Melissa Bumstead earlier - really just a whole lot darker and a whole lot bigger AND a whole lot more pumped, vascular and shredded in LA than she had been in Vancouver?



The - some would say inevitable - Brazilian takeover has already started happening in the Physique division. Michele, meanwhile, is leading the way with the Figure takeover now. Runner-up in Vancouver and the Winner in LA off the back of a 3rd at the Arnolds earlier in the season, and bigger and better every time, this year Michele could well be a threat to the usual Figure suspects at the Olympia. And she does like a proper pose.



"Only" Figure? Watch this.

Is Michele most likely to follow Shanique Grant and Natalia Coelho into Physique? Some of these Phenoms - Michele very much included - might have to think about dropping a bit of muscle mass and/or definition if they "step up" to the WPD!

Enjoy!