I really like to perfect what I'm working on...
She turned pro way back in 2011, a shadow of her present self, and has been to two Olympias since (2014 and 2015). But for my money Julie Mayer has never looked better than she does this year. Her extensive stage experience gives her presentation polish, and that beautiful body does indeed appear to be honed to absolute perfection.
This monster 8-minute edit from Best Muscle Video of Julie at the Europa in Dallas (where she placed 4th) gives you ample time to fully appreciate all her hard work.
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interview. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 August 2018
Friday, 17 August 2018
Virtue in VICE
Today you have some reading to do, dear - er - reader.
The article first appeared in the UK edition of VICE, but has become better known since appearing on its US sister site. And as articles about the subject that are, at least in part, about "us", it's as good as anything I've read since Tanya Bunsell's seminal Strong and Hard Women. Yes, there is a bit of laziness on the part of author Lucas Oakeley - we are all "schmoes", the use of the word "goddess" to describe desirable women is not the exclusive domain of the female muscle lovin' community, and surely these days it's camshows, rather than the more "traditional" sessions, that are really the most "lucrative" way for a Female Bodybuilder to spend her time. However, and here's the acid test, I finished the article and felt informed. Especially interesting (to me) was a large chunk of the "fascination with muscular women is not new" section, as well as the extended Skype interview with HerBiceps overlord Michael Eckstut.
It's a long read - the fact that it appears in the VICE "Long Reads" section is a clue - but as I say, well worth the effort. I'd be interested to hear your own reactions (via the comment box below or by emailing me direct: 6ft1swell@gmail.com).
INSIDE THE LUCRATIVE WORLD OF FEMALE MUSCLE WORSHIP
The article first appeared in the UK edition of VICE, but has become better known since appearing on its US sister site. And as articles about the subject that are, at least in part, about "us", it's as good as anything I've read since Tanya Bunsell's seminal Strong and Hard Women. Yes, there is a bit of laziness on the part of author Lucas Oakeley - we are all "schmoes", the use of the word "goddess" to describe desirable women is not the exclusive domain of the female muscle lovin' community, and surely these days it's camshows, rather than the more "traditional" sessions, that are really the most "lucrative" way for a Female Bodybuilder to spend her time. However, and here's the acid test, I finished the article and felt informed. Especially interesting (to me) was a large chunk of the "fascination with muscular women is not new" section, as well as the extended Skype interview with HerBiceps overlord Michael Eckstut.
It's a long read - the fact that it appears in the VICE "Long Reads" section is a clue - but as I say, well worth the effort. I'd be interested to hear your own reactions (via the comment box below or by emailing me direct: 6ft1swell@gmail.com).
INSIDE THE LUCRATIVE WORLD OF FEMALE MUSCLE WORSHIP
Saturday, 8 July 2017
#toobigfortheifbb
The Aleesha Young controversy rumbles on.
The Story So Far
Aleesha places 7th (out of 8) at the Omaha Pro. Much incredulity. Surely, the almost unanimous reaction goes, she should have won. The judges' feedback suggests she should "lose 20lbs of muscle" if she wants to improve her placing next time. "Not gonna happen", announces Aleesha, adding that "I'm going to step away from the stage".
Aleesha & Dave
Aleesha is interviewed by Dave Palumbo for his RxMuscle channel. Now, Palumbo has form when it comes to talking nonsense about Wings of Strength - last year his take on the "Iris Kyle not at the Rising Phoenix" controversy was, to put it bluntly, bollocks. However, in the interview Aleesha reveals that the first judge she approached for feedback refused to give her any comment about her placing, which is "super weird". I was directed to the Head Judge, she adds. Nobody else could give me an opinion.
Watch the entire interview below. Dave keeps banging on about Iris Kyle, and Aleesha tries to sidestep his attempts to get her onto the subject and connect the Iris story with her own. Aleesha does succumb eventually and tell Dave like it is, ie. Iris didn't fight for us, so don't ask me to fight for her. However, there are other revelations, about the show in Omaha, and Aleesha herself that come out, especially in the first part.
Tim Gardener
Head Judge was Tim Gardener. Also the promoter of the show, and, with Jake and Kristal Wood, one of the three people most responsible for the mini-resurrection of pro Female Bodybuilding over the last couple of years or so. It's Gardener who has, at his IFBB-sanctioned shows, given Wings of Strength the platform, the stage to put the big girls on. Without him, the Woods would have to self-promote, and that would be a whole different set of challenges meaning (at the very least) there would have been fewer competitive opportunities for the pro Female Bodybuilders since 2015.
Wings of Strength
After the Palumbo interview, Jake Wood released a statement:
Aleesha, you were great in this interview. Dave is right and so are you. You should have placed higher. Tim is a friend of mine and a good man, but he didn't place you where I would have. You and a good many other women are the future of what we at Wings of Strength are pushing for. I hope to get you on a stage again one day.
Sadly, it now seems that some sort of rift has occurred between Tim Gardener and Wings of Strength. In 2015 and 2016 placings had been unusually uncontroversial, lulling us fans into a false sense of security, a false sense that now everybody trying to save Female Bodybuilding was singing from the same hymn sheet, as it were. That sense is suddenly no longer there. We're expecting more Aleesha-like injustices.
Aleesha
I didn't lose 20lbs of muscle on hospital bed rest during my pregnancy and eight months of breast feeding, Aleesha tells Dave. Genetically, I'm not going to lose 20lbs of muscle. And that's the part that makes me so sad and so frustrated. As a little girl I hated having muscle, so I felt I'd found something that would embrace what I'm good at genetically, and they've said, just like the rest of society, "You're too muscular".
Seems she really is serious about not competing again. "Tim Gardener promotes all their shows," she reminds Dave in the interview. She obviously feels she won't do better than she did in Omaha while he's in the picture, and it's not hard to see why.
#toobigfortheifbb
Aleesha's new hashtag.
And tragic as it is that one of the most (if not the most) popular Female Bodybuilders on the planet as far as fans are concerned will no longer compete, the real tragedy here is the message Head Judge Gardener sent to all FBBs with his stand in Omaha.
Imagine FIFA telling female football pros they have to tackle 20% less hard. Imagine the AIBA telling female boxers they should punch 20% less hard, and if they continue to go full power, they won't be able to qualify for the Olympics. Imagine the ICC telling female fast bowlers they are introducing a new maximum speed for deliveries and any delivery over that speed will be called a no-ball. Imagine the IAAF introducing a maximum weight for female (but not male) shot putters. F***ing ridiculous, isn't it?
In any other sport, the governing body would immediately face accusations of discrimination, and if necessary would be challenged in a court of law. At the very least they would lose all credibility. In any other sport, female athletes are - like their male oounterparts - encouraged to excel, to be absolutely the best they can be. In any other sport, those with a natural gift for excellence are embraced, lauded, and take their place at the very top. But not Female Bodybuilders in the IFBB. Not in this sport.
Friday, 17 March 2017
Arnold Classic 2017: Physique Dreams Part 3
A DREAM TO SOME, A NIGHTMARE TO OTHERS
But obviously not quite what Autumn expected to be showing off during her routine...
Ooops!
Elsewhere, in a slightly underwhelming line-up in the shorter (up to 163cm) Physique class at the Arnold Amateur, Swell very much dug 4th place American Jeanna Roth.
Jeanna, who runs her own therapeutic massage business, has been competing for a few years now, and was 7th in her class at the Jr Nationals last year. A real beauty.
The taller class had fewer competitors, but for my money was bigger on interest. We enjoyed the energetic posing of Paola Sanchez at the 2016 Arnold Amateur, and did so again as she finished (perhaps disappointingly, she was 2nd in the class last year) 5th on this occasion. We also remembered Alexandra Heberger from last year's event. This time the blond Canadian improved on her 2016 5th place and took 4th.
And then there was Julia. Apart from anything else, last year's tall class winner wore an amazing spider ring (and I can tell it's amazing because it made me look away from Julia herself). Perhaps it distracted the judges too, because she couldn't repeat her 2016 triumph and had to settle for 3rd behind Fabiana Rossa and the class winner and former female bodybuilder Lenka Ferenčuková from the Czech Republic.
Back at the pro show, it wasn't just Autumn's wardrobe that was malfunctioning...
The soundman f***ed it up, one highly perceptive YouTube commentator noted. Nevertheless, Sheronica was good enough to almost win. Who knows how far she could go if they actually played the right music at the right time during her routine?
And while all that was going on, the big and beautiful Katie Lee was prowling (I just see her as some kind of tigress with her (often) orange locks and all that power, so prowling it is) around at the Expo looking for the next woman she would make feel all inferior in her presence... Sorry! I mean Katie was looking for women to interview.
Among those who did agree to be flexed out of sight as they were being thanked for their time was little... Sorry! Fitness pros Ariel Khadr, Kristine Duba and Rebecca Sizemore (though Katie got more size), beautiful Figure pro Heather Dees (above), and B Barnett, who is rapidly becoming an FMS fave, from the Physique line-up.
Pick of the bunch for me though is Katie's sit-down with Tish Shelton. Two sets of sleeveless muscular arms, and despite the run-of-the-mill line of questioning, there's Tish's Southern brogue to enjoy, and the fact that at the end (after a bit of prompting from Katie) Tish joins our roving tigress in the flex. So we know that Tish is brave.
So, you are probably wondering, what happened to Autumn?
Or, more likely, are there are any vidcaps of the moment?
The dream continues on Sunday dear readers...
But obviously not quite what Autumn expected to be showing off during her routine...
Ooops!
Elsewhere, in a slightly underwhelming line-up in the shorter (up to 163cm) Physique class at the Arnold Amateur, Swell very much dug 4th place American Jeanna Roth.
Jeanna, who runs her own therapeutic massage business, has been competing for a few years now, and was 7th in her class at the Jr Nationals last year. A real beauty.
The taller class had fewer competitors, but for my money was bigger on interest. We enjoyed the energetic posing of Paola Sanchez at the 2016 Arnold Amateur, and did so again as she finished (perhaps disappointingly, she was 2nd in the class last year) 5th on this occasion. We also remembered Alexandra Heberger from last year's event. This time the blond Canadian improved on her 2016 5th place and took 4th.
And then there was Julia. Apart from anything else, last year's tall class winner wore an amazing spider ring (and I can tell it's amazing because it made me look away from Julia herself). Perhaps it distracted the judges too, because she couldn't repeat her 2016 triumph and had to settle for 3rd behind Fabiana Rossa and the class winner and former female bodybuilder Lenka Ferenčuková from the Czech Republic.
Back at the pro show, it wasn't just Autumn's wardrobe that was malfunctioning...
The soundman f***ed it up, one highly perceptive YouTube commentator noted. Nevertheless, Sheronica was good enough to almost win. Who knows how far she could go if they actually played the right music at the right time during her routine?
And while all that was going on, the big and beautiful Katie Lee was prowling (I just see her as some kind of tigress with her (often) orange locks and all that power, so prowling it is) around at the Expo looking for the next woman she would make feel all inferior in her presence... Sorry! I mean Katie was looking for women to interview.
Among those who did agree to be flexed out of sight as they were being thanked for their time was little... Sorry! Fitness pros Ariel Khadr, Kristine Duba and Rebecca Sizemore (though Katie got more size), beautiful Figure pro Heather Dees (above), and B Barnett, who is rapidly becoming an FMS fave, from the Physique line-up.
Pick of the bunch for me though is Katie's sit-down with Tish Shelton. Two sets of sleeveless muscular arms, and despite the run-of-the-mill line of questioning, there's Tish's Southern brogue to enjoy, and the fact that at the end (after a bit of prompting from Katie) Tish joins our roving tigress in the flex. So we know that Tish is brave.
So, you are probably wondering, what happened to Autumn?
Or, more likely, are there are any vidcaps of the moment?
The dream continues on Sunday dear readers...
Tuesday, 20 December 2016
2016 Review: September
The first part of September was taken up almost exclusively with the Rising Phoenix and the Arizona Pro - Bikini, Fitness, Figure and Physique making it a five-division feast of muscle in all its forms. First though, we previewed the FBBs who would compete at RP2016, though we don't need to go back there and check out my predictions.
Before our review of the show, however, we felt obliged to weigh in to the Wings of Strength v Iris Kyle controversy that had blown up across the wider muscle media.
Our conclusion? Well, if Iris isn't there, so what?
The people who single-handedly pulled pro female bodybuilding back from the abyss in 2015 and have nurtured a small but significant expansion in 2016 decided they didn't want the champion who retired from the sport at the very moment when it had no future, and who decided she wasn't so retired after all only after she had witnessed Margie Martin last year pick up the kind of prize pot it had taken her years to accumulate under the previous regime. Is it, is it really such a "damn shame"?
All with the greatest respect to Iris, of course.
The Arizona Pro
We couldn't ignore the ladies who had come out in support of Wings of Strength in the other divisions, and to a greater or lesser extent saw a piece of each one. Fit and fabulous mothers Deborah Goodman (Bikini) and Carly Starling-Horrell (Figure) (above), and Italian Fitness winner Giorgia Fironi (you know she's a winner 'cos she's got a big shield) all featured in our cross division celebration Five Women.
Also in that post was B (yes, it's just "B") Barnett from a Physique division that made up for what it lacked in top level competitors (the Physique Olympia took place the following week) with the kind of joyous on stage performances that B epitomised.
But I guess the big news from the Physique contest was the return of Thai muscle goddess Penpraghai Tiangkgok. And she was back with added muscle on that perfect frame, so it was no surprise when she picked up a shield of her own as the Arizona Pro Physique winner. Congratulations Penpraghai! I wrote (as if she would be reading). I'm very happy you're back, and I hope you're back for good.
With her track record, don't count on it!
The Rising Phoenix 2016
The Phoenix most definitely rose.
There were posing suits that could barely contain the excitement of the competitors. Helle Trevino brought so much damn meat onto the stage this viewer was utterly overwhelmed. Some competitors didn't have such good days placings-wise, others exceeded their expectations and had their day in the proverbial sun. Sheila Bleck followed up her Tampa win by finishing runner-up (of course, controversially), and Alina returned to competition and didn't - as many expected - carry all before her.
Ultimately, no one could touch the reigning Queen. There were no complaints.
Well, very few anyway.
I certainly wasn't complaining.
Gosh she makes me swoon. All that beautiful BEEF! The way her massive, rippling quads bulge outwards; the thickness and definition across her back; that hamstring drop (see how I'm learning the lingo!) curved like a mighty bow (and adding a bit of lyrical panache all of my own!) about to unleash its firepower...
It didn't seem possible, but she looked even bigger and better in the evening in her fiery posing suit - I felt like a Rising Phoenix, she said. As always, she seems to have gone all out for the finals, leaving none of her sass back in the hotel. I haven't seen any video of her routine as yet, but I'm 100% sure that when I do, I'm going to be watching it more than once. She looks so fierce and powerful, and yet, so feminine.
Exactly how I want my champ to be.
So there, it was all over for another year, the IFBB pro Female Bodybuilding season had reached its climax in Scottsdale, Arizona, and what a great climax it had been.
No rest for FMS though.
We turned our attention to the Physique division, and the Physique Olympia.
Physique Dreams
It's perhaps best to gloss over the fact that for a while in 2016 Theresa Ivancik (or someone close to her) was convinced she stood a better chance of gaining her long-cherished pro card by competing in the Physique division. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work out. I was a smidgen too big, she reckoned. Yeah. "A smidgen". Right.
More appropriate physiques were quickly sought and found in the shape of (yet another) Brazilian muscle goddess - Gilberia Cunha - and the UK's own new sensation Charlene Harvey, who along with Corinne Ingman, we highlighted as British WPD dreams to watch. By her own admission Charlene can't walk past a mirror while she's in contest shape without stopping to flex and record the moment, which pretty much sums up Corinne's MO when she's "truly, disgustingly, peeled" as well.
Then, we whetted our collective appetites for the mega-post that was to come from the Physique Olympia with three interviews with women who very much hoped to be doing more than hanging out at the Expo this time next year. Most appetite whetting of all, I reckon, was Jen Louwagie and her upper body in that vest. SWOON!!!
The 2016 Physique Olympians
Wow this post goes on. Really. I could have got a week out of this material. "The cream of the Women's Physique Division", beautifully photographed by Igor Kopcek. If ever I needed an editor! The Olympia may have lost a few female muscle fans since 2014, I reckoned at the time, but for those lucky enough to attend I dare say that the problem was not so much where to find the muscle as how to hide the tentpole.
In my defence, the tone rose significantly after that opening paragraph.
Covering, as it does, the considerable gap between the outer limits of Figure and the cusp of Heavyweight Bodybuilding, the WPD at the 2016 Olympia saw many of FMS' personal and reader favourites doing battle in Las Vegas. And having them all in top shape in one post only serves to underline the incredible muscular sex appeal of these women to me. Erica, Asha, Dani, Jamie, and many many more. Incredible, and incredible-looking, women from the bottom to the top of the placings, and I think I managed to include at least one picture of every single one of them in the post.
Special mention, though, had to be reserved for Rosanna Harte - the first British woman ever to compete at the Physique Olympia (she placed a creditable 12th), and of course, the champion again, Juliana Malacarne, unbeaten in her last six contests now, and for the third time in a row, crowned Ms Physique Olympia.
And our week of Physique wasn't even finished yet!
See how it spilled over into October like big pecs in an ill-fitting posing suit, plus what we got up to for the rest of that month tomorrow as FMS' 2016 review continues...
Before our review of the show, however, we felt obliged to weigh in to the Wings of Strength v Iris Kyle controversy that had blown up across the wider muscle media.
Our conclusion? Well, if Iris isn't there, so what?
The people who single-handedly pulled pro female bodybuilding back from the abyss in 2015 and have nurtured a small but significant expansion in 2016 decided they didn't want the champion who retired from the sport at the very moment when it had no future, and who decided she wasn't so retired after all only after she had witnessed Margie Martin last year pick up the kind of prize pot it had taken her years to accumulate under the previous regime. Is it, is it really such a "damn shame"?
All with the greatest respect to Iris, of course.
The Arizona Pro
We couldn't ignore the ladies who had come out in support of Wings of Strength in the other divisions, and to a greater or lesser extent saw a piece of each one. Fit and fabulous mothers Deborah Goodman (Bikini) and Carly Starling-Horrell (Figure) (above), and Italian Fitness winner Giorgia Fironi (you know she's a winner 'cos she's got a big shield) all featured in our cross division celebration Five Women.
Also in that post was B (yes, it's just "B") Barnett from a Physique division that made up for what it lacked in top level competitors (the Physique Olympia took place the following week) with the kind of joyous on stage performances that B epitomised.
But I guess the big news from the Physique contest was the return of Thai muscle goddess Penpraghai Tiangkgok. And she was back with added muscle on that perfect frame, so it was no surprise when she picked up a shield of her own as the Arizona Pro Physique winner. Congratulations Penpraghai! I wrote (as if she would be reading). I'm very happy you're back, and I hope you're back for good.
With her track record, don't count on it!
The Rising Phoenix 2016
The Phoenix most definitely rose.
There were posing suits that could barely contain the excitement of the competitors. Helle Trevino brought so much damn meat onto the stage this viewer was utterly overwhelmed. Some competitors didn't have such good days placings-wise, others exceeded their expectations and had their day in the proverbial sun. Sheila Bleck followed up her Tampa win by finishing runner-up (of course, controversially), and Alina returned to competition and didn't - as many expected - carry all before her.
Ultimately, no one could touch the reigning Queen. There were no complaints.
Well, very few anyway.
I certainly wasn't complaining.
Gosh she makes me swoon. All that beautiful BEEF! The way her massive, rippling quads bulge outwards; the thickness and definition across her back; that hamstring drop (see how I'm learning the lingo!) curved like a mighty bow (and adding a bit of lyrical panache all of my own!) about to unleash its firepower...
It didn't seem possible, but she looked even bigger and better in the evening in her fiery posing suit - I felt like a Rising Phoenix, she said. As always, she seems to have gone all out for the finals, leaving none of her sass back in the hotel. I haven't seen any video of her routine as yet, but I'm 100% sure that when I do, I'm going to be watching it more than once. She looks so fierce and powerful, and yet, so feminine.
Exactly how I want my champ to be.
So there, it was all over for another year, the IFBB pro Female Bodybuilding season had reached its climax in Scottsdale, Arizona, and what a great climax it had been.
No rest for FMS though.
We turned our attention to the Physique division, and the Physique Olympia.
Physique Dreams
It's perhaps best to gloss over the fact that for a while in 2016 Theresa Ivancik (or someone close to her) was convinced she stood a better chance of gaining her long-cherished pro card by competing in the Physique division. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work out. I was a smidgen too big, she reckoned. Yeah. "A smidgen". Right.
More appropriate physiques were quickly sought and found in the shape of (yet another) Brazilian muscle goddess - Gilberia Cunha - and the UK's own new sensation Charlene Harvey, who along with Corinne Ingman, we highlighted as British WPD dreams to watch. By her own admission Charlene can't walk past a mirror while she's in contest shape without stopping to flex and record the moment, which pretty much sums up Corinne's MO when she's "truly, disgustingly, peeled" as well.
Then, we whetted our collective appetites for the mega-post that was to come from the Physique Olympia with three interviews with women who very much hoped to be doing more than hanging out at the Expo this time next year. Most appetite whetting of all, I reckon, was Jen Louwagie and her upper body in that vest. SWOON!!!
The 2016 Physique Olympians
Wow this post goes on. Really. I could have got a week out of this material. "The cream of the Women's Physique Division", beautifully photographed by Igor Kopcek. If ever I needed an editor! The Olympia may have lost a few female muscle fans since 2014, I reckoned at the time, but for those lucky enough to attend I dare say that the problem was not so much where to find the muscle as how to hide the tentpole.
In my defence, the tone rose significantly after that opening paragraph.
Covering, as it does, the considerable gap between the outer limits of Figure and the cusp of Heavyweight Bodybuilding, the WPD at the 2016 Olympia saw many of FMS' personal and reader favourites doing battle in Las Vegas. And having them all in top shape in one post only serves to underline the incredible muscular sex appeal of these women to me. Erica, Asha, Dani, Jamie, and many many more. Incredible, and incredible-looking, women from the bottom to the top of the placings, and I think I managed to include at least one picture of every single one of them in the post.
Special mention, though, had to be reserved for Rosanna Harte - the first British woman ever to compete at the Physique Olympia (she placed a creditable 12th), and of course, the champion again, Juliana Malacarne, unbeaten in her last six contests now, and for the third time in a row, crowned Ms Physique Olympia.
And our week of Physique wasn't even finished yet!
See how it spilled over into October like big pecs in an ill-fitting posing suit, plus what we got up to for the rest of that month tomorrow as FMS' 2016 review continues...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)