2016 Review: June

The contest season was under way all over North America and Europe.



There is always time to a flex in every gym in any country, is the philosophy of Danish muscle exhibitionist Therese Vilrik Bruun, who kicked off June on FMS pretty much flexing in a bunch of gyms in a bunch of countries, and strutting her Bodyfitness stuff across Scandinavia and beyond. And meanwhile, Shanique "The Future" Grant proved our suspicion that there's a lot of muscle in pro Figure by moving up to the Physique division and promptly outmuscling the field at the New York Pro.



And we also swooned all over another Physique winner, amateur, Cassandra Hogue, who joyfully took class and overall titles home from the NPC Pittsburgh show.

For a blog that aims to celebrate female muscle in all its forms, and particularly to support British female muscle, the best result we reported in early June was that of Scotland's Nina Ross in Bikini at the Mozolani Pro. This not only meant she had become the first UK Bikini competitor to win a pro title, but also that she would be the first UK Bikini competitor to grace the Olympia later in the year. The British media, despite all their "fat to fit" stories in the first few months of 2016, ignored Nina's triumph completely. We think that's a shame, but Nina didn't seem to mind!



At the end of May, the new-look Puerto Rico Pro had included Female Bodybuilding for the first time. Six women made history, and ahead of the more fancied Yaxeni Oriquen (3rd) and Isabelle Turell (2nd), it was Kim Buck, in a posing suit she'd designed herself, who booked her place at the 2016 Rising Phoenix.



There was a lot of category switching going on one way or another in 2016. Shanique had too much muscle for Figure, and that particular progression became the move of choice for the majority of competitors, but there were also Physique to Bodybuilding switches going on as well. The vascular forum Physique favourite Trisha Smick, for example, was told by the judges at the NPC Jr USAs that she needed to be "softer". I'll choose the path of my own design and I love being lean and hard, was her defiant response. If the judges don't like it, instead of compromise, off to Bodybuilding I go!



Nice! And we were delighted when one of FMS' absolute favourite swoons, the gorgeous Asha Hadley, booked her Olympia debut with her first pro win at Louisiana's Optimum Classic. We'd never seen her look better - or more muscular - and we should know, we really pay attention to what Asha's doing! The right result for a change, and no complaints about being in the wrong division or having "too much muscle".

Sometimes it happens. Sometimes...



The muscle kept on coming. The finest European Physique physiques flexed hard at the Mozolani Pro, and ahead of Spain's Paloma Parra and Joanna Romano, the former World Amateur Bodybuilding champs Jana Stockelova and Olga Belyakova, perennial favourite Minna Pajulahti and more, it was the most muscular woman of all, Branka Njegovec, who won the title. Meanwhile, at the Jr USAs, the return of a very familiar face sent the fan forums into meltdown. Shannon Rabon is back!

And at the Toronto Pro, Laura Carolan pretty much sent me into meltdown...

This, it seems to me, is female bodybuilding at its most visceral, its most extreme, its most unapologetic, and in all its freakish glory. Imagine trying to explain what exactly it is that appeals to you about Laura's body to - for example - your best non-female muscle lovin' friend. What could you say? Where would you begin?



We were inspired. The rest of June was taken up by beef. And Canadians.

Size (still) Matters



There was, of course, the Behemoth. British beef was provided by Christal Cornick, and we noted how much Elena Oana Hreapca had gained under the tutelage of Alina Popa. There was Robin "Triple Dee" Hillis, who had competed alongside Laura in Toronto, and for the first (but not last) time on FMS, we met Pauline Nelson.



We could barely breathe!



However, it wasn't all good news. Spare a thought we said, for the ambitious European FBB. Your options are extremely limited with your division completely removed from amateur IFBB contests such as the World Championships... It's no surprise then that many have instead chosen to compete within the burgeoning Physique division, and some - as we have seen recently on FMS - are enjoying great success, but for others, it's not going quite so well, and I'd definitely count the size-obsessed Greek powerhouse Vasiliki "Vaso" Dimitraki among the less fortunate.



At a recent Greek national show she had been in the shape of her life but finished outside the top 3. There were no complaints from Vaso, just determination. She's young, she has time, but isn't it a shame that in order to become a great pro FBB, she might have no choice but to turn herself into a great Physique competitor first?

We couldn't end the week on a down note though. Reminder here.

Oh Canada!



All in all, we gave you 106 reasons to love "Maple Muscle", 100 of them in a single day!

They included new discovery Amanda J. Smith and rediscovery Lise Thexton (above); and the gorgeous Krissy Rains and stunning Tara Ostafichuk.



And while noting the not inconsiderable differences in the physiques of Janeen Lankowski and Jodi Boam, we discovered both had gymnastics backgrounds.



And we finished the month with some good news for British female muscle fans, some not so good news for fans all over, and a much-discussed guest posing routine.

First, the good news.

Rosanna Harte - professional record: played one, won one.



After Nina Ross' triumph in Slovakia in the Bikini division, our Rascal went Stateside and gave us another IFBB pro win to celebrate. The UK media were as silent as they had been about Nina's victory, but there was plenty of social media chatter among the UK bodybuilding community in praise of Rosie's achievement, including FMS fave Linda Gartside. The most splendiferous news! she wrote. So proud of you Rosie!

But not such good news was confirmation that Rene Campbell, after having had some health problems the last time she had competed, was going to retire after one last hurrah at the Chicago Pro. In the end, that last hurrah was the Norfolk (aka Lenda Murray) Pro. Rene finished 5th, and will be much missed by fans all over the world.



And last, but by no means least, the very problem facing Euro FBBs that FMS had highlighted with Vaso Dimitraki led to one of the highlights of the female muscle lovin' year. Elena Oana Hreapca's guest posing routine at the Omaha Pro.




Watch here.

I reckon June would not be a bad "Groundhog Month".

But time's arrow and all that. Tomorrow, July.

2016 Review: May

The FMS Hot and Hard 100 countdown reached its climax...



The first post of the month had a lot of British flavour. Corinne Ingman made her Hot and Hard 100 debut at #40, the highest new UK entry, and Lisa Cross (#32) took over (just) from Rene Campbell (#34) as your most popular Brit of all.



Meanwhile, shurely shome mishtake. FMS spent ages checking and re-checking and still didn't quite believe this was the first time "Fit Rock Star" Isabelle Turell had appeared on our list. Still don't quite believe it but there she is, a "new entry" at #33.

And as we raced into the top 30 we found Diana Schnaidt, the second highest new entry of all, and some massive risers - Tanya Hyde (#71 to #23), and Eleonora Dobrinina (#79 to #22) among them. But new (lawd knows how) IFBB pro Nataliya Kovalyova enjoyed an even bigger rise, from #90 in 2015 to #25.



Hot and hard women who had appeared previously in the top 20 were back again. Minna, Kashma, Heidi, Suzy, Cindy etc. Ms Rising Phoenix herself finally cracked the upper echelons of the list, and not before time, as did Virginia Sanchez Macias, much to the delight of her fans (if not Virgina herself). Marthe Sundby (#84 in 2015 to #13) was the biggest riser of all, but the biggest surprise, perhaps, was Dani Reardon "only" at #14 when I, and one or two shocked readers, would have put a fair bit of hard earned cash on her improving on her #4 position in 2015.



And we also met the highest new entry on our 2016 list at #12...



Which left the top 10. Mavi Gioia was there for the third year in a row, as were Elena Oana and Alina. And it was also another top 10 finish for 2015 winner Shannon Courtney, who, despite doing more Spartan Racing than Bodybuilding in 2015, made #7 on your list. FMS faves Melissa Wee (the world's sexiest chaste Christian) and Erica Blockman (the world's sexiest fire fighter) made their top 10 debuts, and 2015 highest new entry Theresa Ivancik muscled up to #4 on the countdown.




The top 3 was as much of a mix of the familiar and the surprising as the rest of the top 10. RP2015 runner-up Helle Trevino smashed her way back into the Hot and Hard 100 after slipping off the list in 2015 at #3, and for the second successive year the muscle fantasy that is Aleesha Young came second by just a single vote.



And so, when all you lovely readers had voted, it was Cris Goy Arellano who became the Hottest Hard Woman in the World. Rather unexpected, but there was no argument that she was a worthy winner. Interestingly, she's the first Physique competitor to take the title after Alina in 2014 and Shannon in 2015.



Who's your money on for next year?

With the countdown done, FMS paused for breath, and then it was on with the show.



We ruminated a little about the number of "Fat to Fit" stories that had been appearing in the UK online media, as well as identifying and welcoming the growing trend for so-called "glamour" models in the UK to be showing off their gains with pride.

And having piddled around with the media definition of "bodybuilder" for a week or so, we launched into a couple of weeks where there was nothing but muscle on show. We struggled to define the theme of the first week of this meat feast, but a few pictures of Michaela Aycock were worth more than the proverbial thousand words.



A theme that has cropped up again and again this year has been the increasingly impressive amount of muscle worn by Figure competitors, particularly in the IFBB pro ranks. Perhaps it's always been there and we just didn't notice, but when Natalia Coelho had flared her thighs at shows in Miami and Orlando during the month of April, well, jaws were floor bound and we learned some muscle lingo: "feathered".



So many muscle women, so many haters. We liked Rachel Reid's response.



We liked it a lot.

And as May drew to a close, the meat turned up to 11 as the new super star of Brazilian female muscle made her FMS debut, some months after her seismic entry into the collective female muscle lovin' consciousness via Selma Labat's Instagram. Hottest new FBB! She's stunning, commented one reader. Flores ist unglaublich heiß und sexy, hoffentlich wächst sie noch weiter zu einer wahren Muskelgöttin mit wahnsinnigen Deltoidmuskeln und wird, dank ihres Mannes, noch muskulösen und Sexier! said another. And if your German ain't up to it, allow me: "Flores is incredibly hot and sexy, hopefully she'll grow even bigger into a true muscle goddess with insane deltoid muscles and become, thanks to her husband, more muscular and sexier still!"



Amen, Bruder.

Der Morgen, Juni.

2016 Review: April

As Hot and Hard 100 voting ended and FMS got down to the business of counting them up and getting together the posts, the doyen of British female muscle blogging, Mr PumpItUp himself, did us the honour of dropping in for a lengthy chat about the possibility that we were living in a "New Golden Age" of female muscle.

But first, we still had unfinished business...

The FMS Arnold Classic Review (cont.)



We kicked off April by doffing our hats to the more mature ladies who had featured in the Physique International. Women like the Tracy Hess, who, we thought, had to be lying about her age (surely she can't be 50!) and the ever swole 45-year-old Sherri Gray. I'm a lifting Mum, says Sherri. Like a normal Mum, only much cooler.

Then we snuck backstage for some, er, cheap thrills...



To be honest, we enjoyed the Amateur section of the Arnold at least as much as the pro show, with some of the best up-and-coming Physique muscle in the world on display in each class, all beautifully photographed by Igor Kopcek for Eastlabs.

In the tallest class, won by Julia Föry, we very much enjoyed Canada's Justine Albert with all her body art (yes, you heard) and her artistic, sexy-flexy routine.



Forum favourite Hronn Sigurdardottir and FMS fave Liudmila Goshko were standouts in the medium class, Liudmila once again wowing us with those pecs of hers. A bit less bronzed than we've seen her before, I noted, and perhaps therefore a bit less ripplely in the pec department, but I'm more and more impressed by this beautiful woman every time I see her in competition. And it seems I am not alone. At the time it was clear Liudmila was going to make her debut in the Hot and Hard 100.



With 21 of the 36 Physique competitors, "up to 163cm" at the Arnold Amateur was certainly the biggest of the three classes. It was also, in my opinion at least, the best of the three classes in terms of quality with plenty of prime muscle all the way down in the placings. And in that shortest class, among the many many delights, were the abs of Allison Sinisi and Camila Rodrigues, 6th and 10th respectively.



Goodnight Ohio!

And then, after our little chat about then and now with PumpItUp, it was time to reveal who you'd voted for. Time to reveal the FMS Hot and Hard 100 for 2016...



We got as far as #41 before April ended. There were many, many new entries, one notable re-entry, and plenty of the usual suspects. Liudmila came in at #90, Nicky Foord "with a bullet" at #87, an unprecedented eight-woman tie at #74, and a certain Mr Ozzy was apoplectic to find that his beloved Anne was "only" #70.



Sandra Grajales Romero debuted at #49, Gracyanne rose again from #69 in 2015 to #48 this year, as did Zoa Linsey (#82 to #42). But Tina Nguyen surprisingly dropped from #33 to #44. And we revealed that Kim Ji-Hyun had taken over as top Korean from Yeon Woo-Ji as the female muscle world held its collective breath (in my head it did anyway) and Swell put in some shifts to get those last few posts just right before we counted down to #1 at the beginning of May... Oh the suspense!