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

FBBUK: Emma Takes Miami

The (obviously fit but otherwise pretty unassuming) young lady waiting to board at Heathrow was excited. Can’t wait to arrive in Miami and get this weekend started, she told her 15,000+ Instagram followers. My peanut butter made it through security!



Emma Paveley (in case you didn't recognise her) kicked off an unprecedented period of British success in Fitness this time last year when she won on her pro debut in Vancouver, and subsequently became the first British woman to compete in Fitness at the Olympia since Kizzy Vaines in 2012. This year, Kate Errington - the other half of the UK's pro Fitness attack - was runner-up at the Arnolds in Ohio, then Arnold Australia champion. At the start of this month, it was Emma's turn to shine again.



And shine she did. Miami Muscle Beach Pro Fitness champion. "Goal achieved" as she put it. She'll be joining Kate in Las Vegas in September for her second Olympia.




First time round she was a bit rabbit-in-the-headlights by her own admission. A fantastic experience, but 11th was not the result she wanted. I'm going to be bringing more than last year, she promised after Miami. I'll work harder and I will be better.



Such ambition, determination, and hard work has taken her to the top of British then European amateur Fitness, and now into the ranks of the pro elite of her sport.

Why change that formula now?



We can't confirm her "battle axe" trophy (handed over by the previous year's champ, Ariel Khadr) made it through customs like the peanut butter did going out!



Congratulations - once again - to Emma!

On Instagram

FBBUK: Ade Bishop's Arnold Africa Adventure

Our final lady of the week with a reason for a post-contest celebration is Britain's Ade Bishop, who was rewarded for making the unusual (for a Brit) move of competing at the Arnold Africa with an amateur win and brand spanking new IFBB Elite Pro status. Don't ask me the difference "Elite" makes, but it allowed Ade to compete with the Elite Physique pros the following day and actually earn some money for her 3rd place.



Time for some well-earned R & R.



Follow Ade on Instagram.

And speaking of R & R, FMS will be taking a break for the next couple of weeks.

Tome Ameko's Optimum Physique

As elite Women's Physique athletes go, Tomefafa "Tome" Ameko, is pretty modest. Her social media posts are rare, she has not (to my knowledge) ever put herself forward to any of the big schmotography sites, and perhaps because of that, she receives relatively little attention compared to her Physique Olympian peers. Oh yes, didn't you know? She's been to the Olympia, debuting last year. She's also finished in the top 10 at the Physique International (also last year), and at the Optimum Classic Pro last weekend, she secured her second pro title and another Olympia invite.



She started as a Bodybuilder, at first a young Lightweight who we find listed in 2004 winning her class at the Excalibur Championships. The first images we see of her date from the same contest three years later, her premium genetics already in evidence.


The Lightweight Bodybuilder: 2007 Excalibur Championships

She would win her class again the following year at the Los Angeles Championships, and in 2009 (now a Middleweight) she competed at national level for the first time at the NPC USAs. It took her five years and six shows to gain her pro card, which she got for winning her class - a decade after her first contest - at the 2014 NPC Nationals.


The Middleweight Nationals' winner, 2014

Immediately - as any sensible non-Heavyweight Bodybuilder would do - she switched to the Physique division. Lean and muscular on her Physique debut at the Europa Phoenix in late 2015, she placed 11th in a very competitive field. 2016 started better with a top 6 finish in San Antonio, which she followed with a return to Phoenix, this time to win her first pro title, a title that came with qualification to the 2017 Olympia.


The Physique Olympian, 2017

Impressive as she looked, she failed to place, a top 10 finish at the Arnolds earlier in the season was probably a fairer reflection of where she is at in the elite Physique world right now. Her second pro win at her first show this season strongly suggests that too, and though - by all accounts - the judges last weekend had it close after the comparison round, there was only ever going to be one winner after the evening show.



Mmmmonique Jones had put together the routine for this show, "working magic on my clumsy ass" as Tome (modestly) put it. Winning the Optimum Classic last night was an incredible experience, she added. I love this event and it's always wonderful to share the stage with so many beautiful athletes that share a passion for our sport.




Beautiful and passionate they may be, but on this occasion none could match the sweep and definition in her quads or her bulging, vascular shoulders. Nor could they match her abs - as always - tight and hard, her ever more impressively wide lats, or the thickness of her gorgeous, beefy pecs. She'd be far too modest to say so though.



Follow Tome on Instagram - just don't expect regular posts!

Emily Schubert @NPC Jr. USAs

It seems like only the other day [because it was?! - ed.] that we saw how Emily Schubert's brand of ripped exhibitionism had made her one of the brightest new stars in the female muscle lovin' firmament, and already things have moved on. Right on cue she goes and wins the Overall Physique title at the Jr. USAs last weekend, so from now on you'll need to add "ifbbpro" to her "emschub" moniker to find her on Instagram!



On stage she looked magnificent - and needed to. It wasn't perhaps the biggest Physique field, even for this (arguably) most minor of national shows, but - in my ignorant opinion anyway - Emily had to see off significant competition both in her class (particularly gorgeous, beefcake Shannon Seeley) and the Overall posedown.



I can't believe I achieved a lifelong dream tonight, she wrote in all her own caps afterwards. HARD work pays off. "IFBB Pro Emily Schubert" - I DID IT!



It's been quite a rise. Just two short years ago and Emily was among the Figure "novices" at the NPC Pittsburgh, and even though she entered the same championships in Physique last year, she was still slight enough to line-up in Figure as well.



She has certainly unleashed the beast within in the last twelve months, and the joyful exhibitionism of her "world-class muscles" that has accompanied it has endeared this "hard, muscular fox" to forum members and Tumblr bloggers in serious numbers.



She continued to tick all the boxes with pre-show topless back shots from the hotel...



And in the days after her return home, yet more intense, eye-watering freakery...



Emily on Instagram - now with added ifbbpro!