The World's In Love... With Female Muscle?!

Recent news from the US that some proper science has proved women prefer a toned, muscular look over a skinny one was most welcome here at FMS, not least because it implies the collective "we" now know for sure we've been backing a winner all along.



The study, carried out at the University of Missouri-Kansas, involved accessing photos of the Miss USA winners between 1999 to 2013. These winners, the researchers concluded, have become more muscular over time. In addition, 64 undergraduates were shown pictures of 14 women. "There were two pictures of each - one version depicting her real body, and another where any muscular definition had been digitally removed. This resulted in one 'thin only' image, and another 'toned and thin' picture."



"When participants were shown each image individually, there was no difference in how each was rated. However, when participants were shown the twin images side by side, the more muscular versions of the women were deemed to be more attractive."



The conclusion? There has been a shift in the thin ideal female figure to one that now includes the appearance of physical fitness via muscularity.



Of course, none of this should really be "news" to us cognoscenti. If you saw the story yourself - and it was hard to get away from at the end of January - you were probably, like me, nodding vigorously as the study credited the shift towards muscularity to "an increasing number of women discovering the benefits of weight-training in the gym, 'fitspiration' Instagram accounts, and #strongnotskinny trending on social media."



We shouldn't get too carried away. The 'toned and thin' look is not, I imagine, one we would even recognise as "muscular", unlikely to even hold a candle to your average amateur Bikini competitor, a world away from even the Figure phenoms we adore, light years from our Physique dreams, and in an altogether different universe from the so-called hardcore FBBs. Nevertheless, the study strongly suggests that the women we love are now a step (albeit a baby step) closer to becoming the female physical ideal.



Though this seems unlikely to happen - at this rate anyway - in our lifetimes, I suddenly now feel with absolute confidence that it is going to happen eventually.



In the meantime...

Why not help the world fall in love with female muscle a tiny bit faster?

JUST 2 WEEKS LEFT TO GET YOUR 2018 HOT AND HARD 100 VOTES IN!

Olympia 2017: That Katie Lee etc.

Female Bodybuilders still go to the Olympia shock!

Nicky Chartrand (above) was just one of many so-called "proper" FBBs who convened (with the rest of the muscle world) on Vegas for the event, including the newly-crowned Queen herself. If the pictures of Helle with friends (considered and rejected by the editorial team) are anything to go by, she had a lot of friends there.



I should say I did argue that you only really get the sense of how big Helle is when pictured with friend, but I was outvoted and I'm not bitter. Besides, we have Katie Lee's many many interviews with various Olympian women to illustrate just how much a really big girl can be bigger than, say, a pretty big girl like Heather Dees.



See what I mean?

For a significant number of fans, these (usually pretty dull truth be told) interviews conducted by Katie were the highlight of their vicarious Olympia experience, and I must say if you turn the sound down and just watch Katie (or Heather, but I recommend Katie), specifically her arm, the 2 minutes 36 seconds just flies by.

And here's another "proper" FBB. Too big for this world, but not for the Olympia.



I'm thinking I should know who the other woman in this picture is, and I'm also wondering whether she is having her picture taken with Irene or Irene's having her picture taken with her, if you see what I mean. Irene certainly looks excited.

And also in that category...



The too-tatted-for-some Cammie Spindel I know. But who's her (at least equally impressive - and much-less-tatted) friend? Perhaps this one is a bit easier to work out seeing as Cammie has a pass and her friend has a bag. If Cammie's friend is indeed a punter, then she is one very impressive punter. You could almost say Katie-like...

Our second installment of the divine Ms Lee and her massive, hypnotic arms sees Kaite (dwarfing and) catching up with another Figure Olympian, Wendy Fortino, who it must be said is a lot more entertaining than most female muscle interviewees.



And so to our award for the woman most about the Olympia...

I think it's fair to say it would be easier to count the women Esther "Tete" Rodriguez Sosa (see FMS passim) didn't get a picture with than those that she did. Our "Tete" selection includes "proper" FBB Janeen Lankowski, fellow Mexican Sandra Grajales Romero, pro Bikini's sole Hot and Hard 100 rep Yarishna, Las Vegas businesswoman Larissa Reis, and the one and only last Ms Olympia.




But it's not just at the Expo where the muscle is at, but everywhere. Or so it seems.



You could probably get a serious swoon on just using the lifts and walking around the hotel(s), stalking the corridors... Who the sizzlers above are I do not know (again, feel like I should, certainly wish I did) but there's no mistaking a glammed up Karina.



And for our third (and last) Katie interview, we move up a division to Physique, and the "super ripped" Jodi Boam. On this occasion, Jodi really is worth listening to ("I get to flex in Physique, that I love"), and you may not just want to watch Katie.



And finally, the award for the place most FMS staffers would have liked to have been during the Olympia goes to the swimming pool where Singapore's finest Melissa Wee was (really really) showing off (almost all) her very Christian yet sinfully sexy bod.



Forgive me Father for what I am about to do...

2016 Review: November

Going Up?

It actually began on the last day of October, a week of posts about female muscle in lifts/elevators. It was all Valerija Slapnik's fault, and yes, that really is her name.



At the time I was a bit down on these posts, all "I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel" type self-doubt, but now, looking back (and it's only been just over a month) I find myself rather more impressed than I thought I would be because a) I didn't actually write too much more embarrassing nonsense than I tend to do most weeks, and b) there really are some quality pictures of quality women here.





Among them, were two Brazilians whose devotion to the elevator selfie (and revealing skintight gymwear) is seemingly boundless - Suelen Bissolati (below, left) and Claudia Bonavoglia - and they each got a deserving post of their own.



We finished the week acknowledging that Erica Blockman's firefighting skills (among other reasons) would probably make her the ideal female muscle elevator emergency companion, but as we couldn't find any in-elevator snaps of the lovely Erica, we had to settle for a dream elevator date with Dani Reardon. Hard times.



We decided it was time to "reevaluate and recharge", leaving FMS readers hanging for a whole fortnight. Yes, the "elevator selfie" week had not been, we felt, our finest hour, but as well as that, Marcie Simmons, who'd been "telling it like it is" on her YouTube channel for much of the year, had given us cause for some introspection...

On Fandom



Are we a fan, or are we a schmoe? Does it matter? Is there any real distinction between the two? Does being a fan mean being a fan of the sport? What does that even mean?

And who are we anyway, us female muscle "lovers"?



Well, at the outset of our week-long riff on some of the issues raised by Marcie we did say that we would have more questions than answers, and so it proved!

We wondered about how "we" deal with public discussions of our favourite women when the mainstream media runs a female muscle story (and the story - Eleonora Dobrinina, "unidentified female bodybuilder with 0% body fat" - reminds us now of the story we featured in January - Sasha Rudenko's "concerned friends").



So, we wondered, what do you do when an office colleague shows you his phone and it's Ella and he tells you she's got 0% body fat apparently, and clearly wants you to agree with him that she's "unnatural", or "disgusting" or "manly" or whatever?



If there were any conclusions to all my yakking, they were these.

1. That I should be a lot braver the next time something like this happens to me and just proceed to "bore the pants" off whoever is asking because you know I really could go on about Ella for at least a couple of hours (before I even got started about the portrayal of muscular women in the media in more general terms).

2. Perhaps the change in perception towards "strong" women - the fact that it's slowly but surely becoming more common for women (especially young women) to not only go to the gym but also to lift weights while they're there - might also lead to a change in perception towards the men who love them. One reader was not convinced. It's true: "We" are socially awkward, weirdos, perverts; and we have mental issues. It takes some time to accept the way we are. Maybe he's right, but if I have learned anything about "us", it is that we are, just like the women we adore, not all the same.



NPC Nationals & NABBA Universe

For no reason other than I thought it would be interesting to do so (although I couldn't tell you why!) FMS decided to pair seven (FBB & WPD) women from the 2016 NPC Nationals with seven (Toned & Trained Figure) competitors from the 2016 NABBA Universe. One pair per day - a clip from the latter contest, pictures from the former.

In the few days left in November we had three of those pairs.



The legend that is Monica Brant (finishing runner-up in the Toned Figure class at the Universe) with the ever impressive FBB Heavyweight runner-up at the NPC Nationals, Pauline Nelson was our first pair. British NABBA star Lindsey Angel and fan forum WPD favourite Rachael Chaskey (3rd, Physique C) our second.

And we said goodbye to November with big girls Allison Chaidez from the Nationals, and (far too big for NABBA Figure and you have to love her for that!) Australian Aisling Hickey, who got the crowd showing their appreciation, and took Swell back to the days when the really big girls could be seen on the NABBA Universe stage.



A (brief) survey of (pre 2016 Review) FMS in December tomorrow.

Stuck...

Now the really smart choice of muscle woman to be stuck in an elevator with would be Erica Blockman, aka The World's Sexiest Firefighter. Her skills might make the whole experience a bit shorter than it otherwise might be, but I bet it'd be amazing to watch her work. And, he said coyly, you'd feel all safe and protected and stuff...

Trouble is, I can't find a single image of Erica in an elevator.



But I did find a pretty good second choice.

Dani seems to have added beef even since she beefed up for the Olympia, particularly in the arm department, and an elevator stuck between floors would be the perfect environment - well, maybe not the perfect one, an opportune environment perhaps would be more accurate - to demonstrate my appreciation for all her hard graft.



And if that beefy upper body was all sweaty and pumped, then that would be heaven!

Clearly this post is descending faster than an elevator in a disaster movie, so I'll leave my sordid imaginings right there and leave you and this week of ups and downs with two of the finest biceps in the Physique - or indeed any - division. In an elevator.



And FMS will also be leaving you for a couple of weeks to reevaluate and recharge.

We'll be back on or around the 21st November.

Learnings

What, if anything, has all this research into female muscle elevator selfies taught us?

1. BRAZILIANS


Juliana Taffarel

Female elevator selfies are, without question, a global phenomenon.


Andressa Ribeiro

However, the fact that our two biggest contributors to the genre - Claudia Bonavoglia and Suelen Bissolati - are both Brazilian is no coincidence.


Carol Crozeta

Brazilian muscle women are all at it. Therefore, if you want to maximise your chances of being trapped in an elevator with a muscular woman, Brazil should, our research strongly suggests, be the only country you consider for your next destination.

2. GLAMOUR


Christina Savva

In the same way that "normal" women like a picture of themselves all dressed up, muscle women appear to be as keen to snap themselves at their most glamorous.


Renata Benigno

Glamour elevator selfies may involve obvious, surreptitious, or no flexing at all.


Stephanie Rowe

Our researchers found these are second only to the post-workout pump elevator selfie as the most common type of all elevator selfies. And lots of Brazilians in both groups!

3. ARM ADMIRATION


Chareece Moore & Tanya Hyde

Not so much a case of the classic "sun's out, guns out", more like elevator door closed, guns out. Or arms in a more general sense. Yes, abs get featured a lot, as well as legs, and (especially in - yes, you guessed it - Brazil) glutes packed into tight tight gym wear, but overall, if she's flexing in her elevator selfie, she's probably flexing her biceps.


Ssssexy Sophie Arvebrink

Or triceps.


Vanessa Serros

But as with the glamour elevator selfies, flexing is very much optional.


Galina Titova

Female bodybuilders and/or their fortunate elevator companions are just as likely to simply want to capture and celebrate the muscular curves and/or vascularity of their shoulders and unflexed arms as they are to make a muscle. And often look just as proud - if not prouder - to do so than when they are actually flexing.

4. NOT ALL WINNERS


Nikki Venzara & possibly Paloma Parra

As with all selfies the two most common mistakes are 1. Moving and 2. Obscuring too much of your face with the camera. Above, whoever was snapping Nikki Venzara's elevator gymnastics (left) could have tried again, and only by triangulating the veins, the hair and the tat can we surmise that's Paloma Parra behind the iPhone.

Classic examples of what not to do.



However, even when getting it wrong, the muscular female in the elevator can still make her selfie sizzle. Take, for example, the (unknown, but I can't help feeling Brazilian) lady above. Face almost totally obscured, but I for one am enjoying her shoulders, arms, legs and outfit immensely nonetheless. So, forgiven.


Roberta Zuniga (right)

As is the lady obscuring only part of her face with the abs and the low low riders above left, and next to her Roberta Zuniga (yes, Brazilian) who is making the same face obscuring mistake, but is also showing off her abs and, delightfully, a whole lot more.

5. FAVOURITES


Sara Vanessa Rodriguez Munoz (left)

When they get it right though, these selfies can be wondrous things. Personal favourites include the very hard to remember the name of Sara Vanessa Rodriguez Munoz (above left) with her shoulders, arms and veins, feathered quads and no nonsense hands on hips attitude. Great use of the elevator wall as a secondary mirror too, fgiving us a glimpse of her lovely arm from another angle. Top top stuff!

And next to her, probably my #1 female muscle elevator selfie for reasons that should be obvious to the reader, and not least of which is the fact that whoever that is, they have decided that what they are wearing is suitable for being out in public.

6. ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS

Who started this all off? Who was the first? I do like to think who started these niche female muscle photo genres and give credit where credit is due. I doubt they are actually the first examples of female muscle elevator snaps - I'd probably find them taken by Brazilians! - but they are the oldest I have come across. So step forward Skadi Frei and Brigita Brezovac - Skadi's a selfie, Brigita's probably taken by that lucky husband of hers - date, as far as I can ascertain, from the summer of 2012.


Skadi Frei & Brigita Brezovac

Which leaves us with just one final question to be answered. If old Swell here could be trapped in an elevator with any female bodybuilder, who would he choose?

Find out tomorrow! Who would you choose?