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: Tease

I'm writing this last Friday, and the female muscle meat feast that is the Tampa Pro is already under way. As well as a host of other images from in and around the show, photos from the Figure and Physique prejudging are already up on NPC News Online. The line-ups in those divisions are truly immense, 35 Physique Dreams and a mind-boggling 49 Figure Phenoms. We're all going to be busy over the next few days!



I was pleased to notice a good few Figure competitors insisting on putting cheeky and/or downright brazen flexing into their presentations. Julie Mayer, who we enjoyed recently at the LA Pro, went for the cheeky tricep flex while transitioning between front and side-on poses - known in my house as "The Gillon", after Cyd, who was the first competitor I ever noticed doing this. Amber Eutsey, meanwhile, just went ahead and flexed her bicep. Boom! If it was up to me, that would automatically make her the champion. Sadly, or thankfully depending on your viewpoint, it isn't.



In the Physique division, Autumn Swansen didn't just look good after her make-up had been applied by Jamie Pinder - now there's a hotel room this boy would have liked to have been on the inside of. She looked pretty amazing on stage as well.



How the judges decide among so many women is beyond me. My brain, and possibly other parts of my body too, would simply explode under such a female muscle barrage. Would it, I wonder, be helpful to have some sort of pre-prejudging at the check-in? It might encourage fewer baggy, muscle-hiding tops and more beautiful figure-revealing dresses at least. Kendyl Seawright and Maggie Watson would have claimed an early advantage on Swell's (sticky) Figure scorecard if so.



But for all the Figure and Physique fun, Tampa has, in recent years, established itself as the greatest FBB show on earth outside of the Rising Phoenix. I'm not quite sure it's going to have the sort of line-up we've delighted in before - no Sheila Bleck, no Virginia Sanchez, for example. And apparently no Angie Salvagno either.



This was Angie, looking exciting and feeling excited a week and a half ago. Can’t wait to finally compete again after 7 years!!!! she told her IG following. Since then, however, not a peep from the normally hyper-active Angie, and as there's not a single pic of her at the athlete's meeting or check-in or anywhere else I can find, I'm assuming something has happened to stop her being at the show and I'm hoping that she's all OK.



Alina's there though - competing, not just Wings of Strength cheerleading. No doubt who Annie'll be rooting for. It's been a while since she's got her hands on Alina!



And surely the contest will be between the great uncrowned and Britain's finest (and runner-up in 2016 and 2017) Lisa Cross - a woman who never turns up to the check-in in anything less than a beautiful tight dress. It's a measure of Lisa's progress over the last few years and how far Alina's shooting star has fallen since she had her injury worries that I am talking about them as rivals for the same title, and I say that fully aware that by the time you read this it will be apparent if I have got it badly wrong!



So I cunningly distract you from the previous paragraph with the help of Irene Andersen enjoying the Florida sunshine. Such incredible muscle mass - I bet the water level fell quite considerably when Irene hauled herself out of there.

Tampa. It'll already have happened by the time you read this, but as I write it's only just begun. To say I am a little bit excited would be something of an understatement - though even I am not quite as excited as Ashley Hromyak seems to be...



Enjoy!

Abs Week: Just Abs (That Angle)

Shannon Frederick

What should we call it, this angle? The camera (and so the viewer) adopting the same point of view as the proud owners of these quite frankly mind-melting midsections.


Jessica Hoffman

We're so close in some of them we can actually see her tiny hairs, although to be perfectly honest, and as exciting as that might sound, they are pretty much the last things on my (totally utterly and completely blown) mind right now.


"dettiketike"

This is high level female muscle fetishism. There's nothing "natural" or (as we saw yesterday) especially "functional" about having such abdominal definition, yet for an old abs man like myself, there's not much that can match their glorious beauty.



Clockwise from top left: Ella, Lauren Quinn, Destinee Bruch, and Jessica Lynn

That is VERY VERY lean, says one forum member of BJ Brunton's tanned and vascular hardness (below). Amazing look but a bit scary too. Now, many many words (and actions) come to mind as I look at BJ's POV contribution to today's post, but "scary" is most definitely not one of them. That boy needs to go back to female muscle lovin' college and take a refresher course or something. Scary?! Is he serious?


BJ Brunton

What is he scared about? Her health? You know, I'm pretty sure that BJ and all the other ladies here today can take care of themselves. But isn't that the whole point anyway - the extreme-ness of it? The desire, not only to have a bit of definition (with all the dedication, discipline and single-mindedness that entails) but go even further. To be ALL definition. Muscle, skin (and veins, and, yes, OK, the tiny hairs) and nothing else. Is it healthy? Probably not in a long-term, sustainable sense, no, I suppose it isn't. But that desire, that drive, and the result of it all, is sexy. Not scary. Sexy.


Piia Pajunen

And she knows it's sexy (which is also sexy), and that's exactly why you are getting this point of view. She wants the world (well, her world anyway) to see how shredded she is, how sexy her midriff looks. And to tell her, even though she knows. She wants affirmation, not concern, and yes, OK, "I want to give that outie a bite" is perhaps not precisely the comment Piia Pajunen was dreaming of when she snapped her abdominal masterpiece above, but she's got a whole lot of others to read as well.


Irene Andersen

She wants you to want to touch. And more besides, I imagine.

Enjoy!

"Goddess POV"? Thoughts please! 6ft1swell@gmail.com

A Good Day for... @RP2016

The 2016 Rising Phoenix was a good day for...

SHEILA BLECK (2nd, Best Poser Award)



Now this was a surprise to many, and a shock to some. For a moment, Sheila became the focus of much ire from those who felt their own personal faves were robbed. She was called a "NUT" on the forum whose first rule is... (though how this was quite relevant to the judging was not explained), where another irate poster claimed she hardly qualify [sic] as a bodybuilder... but instead would suit better in the physique division. Even her Best Poser Award was belittled - it was intimated she'd only won it because her "best friend" Melody Spetko had sponsored it via MuscleGirlzLive.


"Most muscular for my fans who simply enjoy muscle". Sheila days before RP2016

They should look at the images, see her magnificent (as ever) conditioning, the beautiful lines of her body, and her fantastic proportions. They should look at some of the comparisons. She's taller than you think, and bigger than you think when you see her with the rest of the top four. They should visit Muscle Memory and look at Sheila's contest history. The Olympia aside, she has been first or second in every pro show she has ever competed in, and she came into the Rising Phoenix off the back of a win in Tampa - the show Margie Martin warmed up for RP2015 by winning. And they should look at all of Sheila's routines they can find, routines which she routinely receives best poser awards for. And while enjoying her athletic, artistic and sensual performances, they should recall how much work Sheila has put into these few minutes, even to the point of commissioning original music for them.




Surprise? More of a surprise that she never placed higher than 4th at the Olympia.


NANCY CLARK (9th)




The 2012 Canadian Masters champion has enjoyed by far her best season as a pro, and ended it on a high by finishing 9th, one of the two women over 50 in the top 10.



As I mentioned recently during one of our RP2016 previews, I had to admit - after looking at the pics (Sheila critics take note) - that her balance and conditioning at the Toronto Pro earlier in the year were spot on, and she brought much the same qualities to the stage in Scottsdale, and looked bigger than I remember seeing her before.


Nancy signs her contract before the weekend of the show, and poses with the champ

She gave the impression both before and during the weekend that competing here was like being in a dream. To be doing what she's doing at her age is amazing. I'm rather pleased that her dream had a happy ending. She quite obviously deserves it.


KIM BUCK (6th)



I am so excited to have the opportunity to compete with some of the best female bodybuilders in the world, wrote Kim Buck, via social media for a change. What a wonderful day at all the events at the Rising Phoenix! All before the day of the show had even arrived. And that day turned out to be pretty wonderful for her too.



Most competitors have a lot of people to thank after a show, but not Kim. It's not out of a lack of gratitude, it's just that she's a regular one-woman contest prep show. Trains herself, designs and makes her own suit (and names them - for the evening she wore "Ice Blue Masterpiece"). And, on the day, she does her own hair and make-up.




And the overall package she (herself) brought to the stage in Arizona was deemed good enough to break into the top 6 by the judges, and even higher by many who witnessed the show. You looked great Kim, congratulations, wrote Melody Spetko (yes, her again) after the show. Nice and full. I had you higher. And that's exactly where Kim is aiming for next time around. It's back to the drawing board, she replied to Melody. And I don't think she meant the one she uses to design her beautiful suits on either!


IRENE ANDERSEN (8th)



Irene had finished 4th in Norfolk at the new Lenda Murray show, but, as we noted on the blog, was at her biggest and best ever at the recent Tampa Pro. After receiving one of those "special invites" soon before the Rising Phoenix, she brought that same Tampa package to Arizona, and deservedly improved on her 2015 placing of 14th.



No surprise that the woman who is the star of the documentary about the "killing of female bodybuilding" is one of Wings of Strength's most vociferous cheerleaders. Too Big for the World premieres tomorrow coincidentally, in... Beverley Hills!




Good luck to Irene and all concerned with that. And we hope the film will go on to get some distribution around the world. The production team behind it are certainly a high quality group, and the trailer looks very promising. If Too Big for the World does come to a cinema near you, I'd get out and watch it there. How often does the female muscle lovin' community get the chance to collectively gather and show support?


YAXENI ORIQUEN (5th)



You would imagine, of all the women on stage at the Rising Phoenix, that Yaxeni Oriquen would feel the absence of the Ms International and Ms Olympia the most, given her illustrious history at both shows. It's been telling that while her erstwhile nemesis Iris Kyle stepped away from the sport in 2014, Yaxeni carried on.




Her 4th place at last year's Rising Phoenix came after a year where she'd struggled with various injuries. This year, pre-qualified for RP2016 though she was, she turned up and competed in Puerto Rico, Omaha, and at the Lenda Murray Pro-Am (where she got another 1st place to add to her mighty collection), showing her support for female bodybuilding's new regime and her fellow competitors in the process. She's been in fantastic shape all year, and this show was no exception. Once again it was great to see our old friend the black posing suit fighting for its life as she hit her poses, and though she has placed higher at more illustrious shows among legendary names of the sport, she had no complaints about her placing afterwards, just compliments for the women she stood alongside and the organisers of the "best female bodybuilding show".



¡Felicidades Yaxeni, en tu 50° cumpleaños!


LISA CROSS (7th)




And last, but by no means least, our Lisa.



I always get the feeling that no one has as much fun on stage (or off for that matter) as Lisa does, and I've seen nothing before, during or since the Rising Phoenix to make me change my mind about that. But though I could go on about her pink posing suit and her obvious excitement again, instead let's put her placing into context. The last time a British female bodybuilder placed as high as this was in 2004, when Joanna Thomas came 7th in the lightweight class. To find the last time a UK FBB finished 7th in an open class, you have to go all the way back to Andrulla Blanchette in 1999.



Quite an achievement. And she was well worth it too, looking as big and hard and ripped and sexy as she's ever done, no one was complaining about the judges' verdict on Lisa. I was hoping she'd crack the top 6, but I get the feeling she likes her placing fine. "The 006 Best FBB in the World" just doesn't sound quite right, does it?