Save the Date (Part 1)

In just over three weeks from now, the greatest female muscle show on Earth will be getting under way in Scottsdale, Arizona. This will be the fourth running of the contest the ladies themselves call "our Olympia", and - of Wings of Strength's own pre-show blurb is to be believed - the first to which no "special invites" will be handed out.

The reason for no invites, as far as I can tell, is that the line-up is already "stacked". Although not 100% confirmed as a line-up, with twenty-four women already qualified from placing high at last year's RP, winning a pro show in 2018, or earning four or more qualifying points, the show promises to be the biggest, best RP to date.

So I'm getting the preview in early...

HELLE TREVINO



The reigning Queen of Female Bodybuilding has done her bit at WoS booths during the course of 2018, but otherwise she's been fairly low profile - and that's just the way she likes it. Helle is not the biggest fan of the likes of us - who can blame her?! - so rather than Instagram, her YouTube channel is the place to go if you want to see the kind of shape. Watch her destroy (male and female) training partners in clips with names such as Funny Chest Workout, Building Massive Legs and Monster Calves & Shoulders.



Though the champ, she probably isn't the favourite, but discount her at your peril - she's never turned up for the Rising Phoenix in less than immaculate condition, has only been out of the top two once, and deserved better than her 4th two years ago.

LE DUE ITALIANE



For the first time since the days of Claudias Profanter and Montemaggi, two Italians will strut their stuff at the world's premier female muscle show. Barbara Carita and Cristina Franzoso were the sole FBBs on show at the new-look San Marino Pro in June. Barbara earned her pro card the day before then outmuscled her veteran compatriot. Cristina, however, picked up four qualifying points for 2nd as a result, and added to the four she'd already got at the Galaxy Pro a couple of weeks earlier, she flew to the top of the points table, and has been there ever since.

MUSCLEDOLL



Also getting her RP qualification in early was Maryse Manios, winner of that Galaxy Pro in Bari, Italy. She regally dominates... A true MASSIVE MATURE MUSCLE QUEEN! proclaimed one of her many devotees on the forums after her victory, but 5th in Toronto (out of 7) was probably a better reflection of where Maryse truly is in the grand scheme of IFBB Pro Female Bodybuilding these days. Highly unlikely that she, or either of our two Italians will make the placings, but they all deserve their place.

JACQUELINE "JAY" FUCHS



Another Euro muscle legend, however, is - particularly if current form (see above) is maintained - going to be in the mix for a automatic qualification for next year. Jay's 3rd in Chicago was met with consternation by her band of merry men, but they (and she) didn't have to wait long before she was handed a big (first place) sword.



To me she never looks quite as breathtaking on stage as she does off it (not the only woman I could say that of), but a week after the Chicago show, Jay was crowned at the Lenda Murray Pro in Norfolk, and most recently placed 5th in Tampa in the best line-up of 2018 so far. She was 12th in her one and only RP appearance (last year), she could well break into the top 10 this time. Loyal fans will be hoping for even more.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE



Over 55 as long ago as 2014, Patricia "Patty" Corbett just made it to the show on points, as did the equally long-serving (but a good ten years younger) Angela Rayburn - who of course has been to the RP before. Expect wardrobe malfunctions and a big bulge from Patty, that signature pose and a big bulge from Angela...



Tara Silzer, meanwhile, with not quite as many years behind her as Patty and Angela, spent the first couple of years of her pro career slumming it in Physique, but a decision this year to "go big" has paid off handsomely. She was immediately into the prize money as runner-up to Jay in Norfolk, and now she's prepping for Arizona.

FBBUK



With no Lisa Cross this year - her 4th in Tampa wasn't enough (and wasn't right as far as I'm concerned either!) - British fans will be hoping that 2017's surprise RP package Wendy McCready can repeat the trick. Like Queen Helle, Wendy tends to keep a pretty low social media profile, but one thing we can say is that she's rather excited about going back again this year. Just under 7 weeks until the greatest female bodybuilder competition in the world! she wrote just over a month ago. My MONDAY, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday MOTIVATION!!!

NICKI CHARTRAND



Whacky hair days notwithstanding, Nicki Chartrand is, I think, one of the shrewder operators in the WoS schedule game. Consequently, she's one of the bigger success stories of the last couple of years, apparently coming from nowhere to last year's Rising Phoenix (invite) and then her first pro win (Hawaii) at the start of this season.



"Nicki! What's your secret?" is, she says, a question she gets asked a lot. Maybe I DO have a few tricks up my sleeve, she says - not that she wears sleeves much, and who can blame her? But despite promising a new website where all will be told, so far those tricks are staying put. 12th on her RP debut, she'll probably do better than expected.

YER MS. INTERNATIONAL



Crashing back into the collective consciousness in Chicago this year, the woman formerly known as Susanna (Bet You Can't Keep Your) Hand(s Above the Table) won the Ms International Classic in Chicago under her married name of Susanna Jacobs. Who is this woman? I, and I imagine many like me wondered as we clicked on her name at the Maximum Muscle Report gallery. Oh! It's her... we sighed, swooning, before reliving what we always used to do when Susanna was in her pomp.



Susanna had nailed the conditioning like never before - good enough to place 4th the next day at the pro show - and although, yes, there's clearly been a bit of facial work, her eyes still have that same smouldering intensity when she wants to turn it on.

SADLY NOT JOINING US



Jennie Roosa, qualified on points thanks to her runner's-up finish behind Nicki Chartrand in Hawaii, won't, unfortunately, be making her RP debut this year. Jennie and her fella are expecting their first child, and we wish them well. I do hope this Alina-trained phenom will be back one day, but fear that day won't be anytime soon.

Our RP preview will conclude later this week.

Tube Watch

Our irregularly regular (and happily popular) feature rounding up some of the best new(ish) clips of fine female muscle on You Tube returns for an August installment.

SHAME?

Featured quite heavily in the media here in the UK, the (US) TV show What Would You Do? recently broadcast an episode in response to the (apparently common) practice of "fit shaming". Actors, one male one female, abused a muscular woman as she worked out in public places, with the reactions of passers-by under scrutiny by hidden camera. The muscular woman, also an actor in the show, was identified only as "fitness trainer and competitor Jennifer" in the ABC network blurb for the show, aired on 27th July.



Part 2 you can find here.

Now I know what you are probably thinking, "Yeah, but I'd like to see what happens when they do a show with a proper FBB," but I think you'll agree it is an interesting watch. The reactions to the "bullies" are often passionate, and overall I was left with the feeling that the perception of female muscle has certainly changed for the better.

For Your Consideration

Meanwhile, in the British media, BBC Hindi did a two-minute news piece on "Muscle Woman Madhu Jha" just last week. "Bodyshaping" rather than "Bodybuilding" is what she defines her mission as, and Madhu is muscular in the same unthreatening way as "Jennifer" is, but still, as a glimpse into the life of a muscular British-Indian woman, and the transformation she has made to both her body and her sense of self through weight training, it's no less fascinating than the What Would You Do? experiment.

ANOTHER INSTAGRAM EDIT CHANNEL...

Last Tube Watch, we brought you just some of the many channels that are popping up with edited Instagram clips of our favourite muscle goddesses, all in the name of advertising clicks. Unsurprisingly, now we're looking we've found even more.



Pick of the (new) bunch is HW Motivation, and four plus minutes of the truly huge NPC Physique(!) competitor Courtney Mitten is the pick of their bunch by a distance.

FMS always recommends more Brazilians in your life, and HW Motivation clearly agree. After you've calmed down from Courtney, get that pulse racing again with the help of Leyvina Barros' brand of rather masculine femininity, then for the really big finish Alessandra Alvez: Workout For Massive Legs will, I'm confident, do the trick.

AND FINALLY, AT LAST!

I don't have too many bad words to say about NPC News Online - after all if they didn't exist this blog would be a bit short on contest images to say the least. However, it did take them a while to get their 2018 NPC USA backstage edits up. Happily, they were worth waiting for, none more so than the Women's Physique Backstage Part 1.



I wasn't as bowled over by the line-up at this year's USAs as I have been in past years, but there's something so deliciously erotic about being a spy in the holy pump room.

Sadly, no sign of Part 2 as yet.

However, NPC News Online's tardiness pales in comparison to NABBA's - who only now are putting up some of the female routines from the WFF Universe last year.

Again, though, it's hard to stay angry as you watch the Figure Pros or even the Figure Juniors (Figure girls wear heels and thongs and hit poses in NABBA/WFF contests remember). And as the show was held in Brazil this year, more Brazilian thunder than even we recommend was on display, not least that of Flores Neide in the Extreme Body class, a clip that I had every intention of making my highlight of this post.



Then a few days ago, they put up Gilberia Cunha's routine...



Ai, meu Deus! (as they were probably saying throughout the auditorium and are probably still saying as they flashback to the evening they witnessed this prodigiously uninhibited display of muscular female sex appeal). How's that for your big finish?

Tampa: Motion

Some remarkable bodies doing some remarkable things is perhaps best to describe how NPC News Online's Tampa Fitness Backstage edit begins. Breathtaking stuff, but then there's a bit of a lull in the middle section - remarkable bodies not doing much more than listening to music and/or taking selfies. Then, quite unexpectedly, there they are - the FBB line-up about to take the stage. The big finish, you might say!



Hopefully, longer backstage edits of Figure, Physique and FBBing are to come, and hopefully too Maximum Muscle Report - who have footage of the evening show - will soon have all the FBBing and Physique routines up. For today, we've selected four that (at the time of writing) are already there, starting with LaDawn McDay.



LaDawn's 3rd place was the curious judging decision of the day. Nothing in her contest history suggested she would end up ahead of Kim Buck and Lisa Cross, so we were eager to see her routine for clues as to why this time was different. Kim Buck's routine is not, as yet, available, but we can compare 3rd place LaDawn with 4th place Lisa.



Lower down the placings, the most anticipated return to competition was Angela Salvagno's. It's a slightly odd experience to see her wearing something that she doesn't aggressively remove by the halfway stage, but we'll have to get used to it.



And we finish for today and this week with another come back Queen, and the champ on the night. Classy and poised as ever, Alina nevertheless came back with a little extra, something else - two things to be precise - we'll also just have to get used to.



Check out NPC News Online for more backstage edits (soon?), and Maximum Muscle Report for more of the FBB routines, as well as breathtaking Fitness performances.

Enjoy!

Tampa: Big

Irene, one week before the Tampa Pro

One of the observations I made when I wrote Monday's post last Friday (confused? read Monday's post!) concerned Irene "Too Big for the World" Andersen. Emerging from the pool, she displayed "incredible muscle mass", and looking again at the picture (below), I'm even more impressed - not least by that big, bulging, beautiful trap.



One of Wings of Strength's innovations - first in effect at last year's Rising Phoenix I believe - is that there should be, on top of the prizes for placings, a "Most Muscular" award as well. Aleesha was the first winner of it at the RP, but this season either I haven't been paying enough attention or they haven't had one at any of the previous shows in 2018. No prizes for guessing who took it home from Tampa though.



You can't please everyone, and the prize - or rather the need for the prize - has had plenty of criticism from fans of the "big is always best" variety. Admirable though there commitment to pure size is, occasions when the biggest FBB in show has been the winner are few and far between in FBBing history - IFBB FBBing history at least.



By introducing the award, WoS have at least acknowledged those FBBs who choose mass over all other considerations have a right to do so, and allowed them to go against current judging trends and still earn some prize money. I'm pretty sure Irene would have preferred the judges to award her a top 6 placing - she was 8th - but at least she was acknowledged with a prize (and she got a little share of that prize pot).



"Too Big for the World" she may be, and she's certainly "too big" for the IFBB judges. But on this occasion, Irene was just big enough to be the "Most Muscular" woman in show.



Size still matters. Especially in such a great posing suit!

Enjoy!

More from Tampa tomorrow.

Tampa: Reckoning

So, yesterday's post - which you would have read after the event - was written last Friday - before any of the results were in, after I'd seen prejudging pics from the Figure and Physique divisions, but before any of the Female Bodybuilders had got on stage.

In the post I made a few predictions, or perhaps observations would be a better word. The main three were: 1. Autumn Swansen looked amazing; 2. Angela Salvagno - sensational during prep - sadly appeared not to have made the show; and 3. FBBing was probably going to amount to a showdown between Alina Popa and Lisa Cross.

Well, now we know... How did I do?

1. AUTUMN SWANSEN LOOKED AMAZING



I was hardly going out on a limb, but - in a line-up of 35, remember - immediately noticing just how back-to-her-best Autumn was does give me a little bit of hope that I do talk sense from time to time. And - surprise surprise - the judges agreed with me!




It's not all about the placing, she wrote after disappointments earlier in the season in San Jose and Chicago. It's about the progress. Well, it all came together for her in Tampa, and Autumn got to go home with some money and a very big sword indeed.



Her routines are always a pleasure. If only there was video...



No wardrobe malfunction this time!

2. NO ANGELA



My assumption seemed reasonable at the time. Despite looking ridiculously ready about a week and a half before the show, Angie has had her health problems over the past few years, it didn't seem beyond the bounds of possibility that she'd be struck down as she attempted to peak. On top of that, there wasn't a single pic of Angie at the athletes' meeting or the check-in. She's hardly known for being camera shy, and there was also nothing from Tampa on her social media. So, I put two and two together...



BOOM!




How wrong I was! Here she was, back on stage for the first time since 2015, and back as a Bodybuilder for the first time since the same Tampa Pro seven long years ago. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been so happy to be wrong. Angie, however, had mixed emotions. Everything was great except my placing, she said (on her updated after Friday Instagram). I still have carb issues, which killed my conditioning. She's not going to make us wait seven years again though. I’m back and I will not give up. I will get into the condition and have the size I need to compete at the top, she promised. I'm Angela Fucking Salvagno and I will be back next year!!!



Believe!

3. POPA-CROSS SHOWDOWN



Not a one-two, but a one-four. If I'd predicted one or the other would win there'd be a big green tick above. Instead, I confidently imagined they would take first and second. So, with Pauline Nelson getting the runner's-up prize and (more surprisingly given her previous placings this year) LaDawn McDay claiming 3rd, it's a big red cross.




Alina was, understandably, over the moon. For all her achievements, for all her fame and for all her many many fans, the premier Female Bodybuilder of the last decade had never won a pro title before last weekend. This is a special night for me, she wrote, holding her sword aloft (and incidentally, doesn't it look a lot smaller when she holds it than when Autumn does?) It's always a wonderful feeling to be a champion.



Quite honestly, I'm surprised she can remember the feeling. It's been, in fact, ten years since at the World Amateur Championships Alina was actually judged the winner of a contest rather than been declared the should-have-been winner by us adoring fans.




A new experience for Alina, then, and a new experience for us as well - enhanced Alina on stage. The tut-tutters had already aired their views on the forums long before this show - "She was much better without implants," and so on. And there's also been doubt expressed in the wake of her victory that she'll be able to compete with Helle and Margie at the Rising Phoenix. Alina, it seems, has come back to a backlash!



I'd advise those making predictions about the Rising Phoenix to proceed with caution! And anyway, Alina's back poses have hardly "lost" any shock and awe, have they?

So, to answer the question posed at the beginning of today's post, how did I do? Well, I got 1/3, which is even worse, according to the Meat Loaf scale, than "not bad".

I've got to cheer myself up somehow, and trawling through the many many images of the show seems like a good way to do that... More from Tampa on FMS tomorrow.