OR, WHERE MUSCLE BEAUTY AND ART COMBINE
As I've said before [and you will no doubt say again... YAWN! - ed.] real performances from female bodybuilder's in their routines are few and far between these days. I've big-upped Sheila Bleck's artistry before, her commissioning of original music and elegant, athletic posing, but as far as this side of the pond is concerned, absolutely positively nobody does it better than Rosanna Harte.
Which, given that she is a graduate in Contemporary Dance, and, as we've seen/heard, no mean singer and lyricist, should not be very surprising. I love making my routines and performing them, she says. I love the way I can combine all my skills and hobbies into one fun performance. I write my own songs/raps and choreograph a dance routine/bodybuilding routine and get to show off my sculpted physique.
And I, for one, love watching her perform. Sadly though (and once again, my apologies if you have read this before here) it's a rare bodybuilding show indeed that gives the women more than a minute or so, and as a result Rosie's scope to express her full range of talents is somewhat limited. Nevertheless, she can still give quite a performance when competing, as this routine from the 2013 Arnold Amateur demonstrates.
If she can do so much in a little over a minute, then give her four (or more) and she can give full rein to her myriad talents. You can find her rapping, stripping (not all the way, but, you know), flying around the stage and obviously delighting in showing off that sculpted physique to its best advantage at the 2012 UKBFF Leeds here, but my pick of the Rosie guest posing routines available to view is our Clip of the Week this week, "Dumbbells Are A Girl's Best Friend" from the UKBFF East Midlands in 2013.
Follow Britain's newest pro on Twitter and her YouTube channel.
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Rosanna Harte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rosanna Harte. Show all posts
Friday, 20 November 2015
Thursday, 19 November 2015
Whole Lotta Rosie: Rascal Sez
I’ve been training and lifting weights for over 11 years now. My real skill is sculpting my physique to create perfect symmetry and balance for the stage. I think I’ve become a very smart trainer and everything I do in the gym has logic behind it.
I must admit I am slightly ignorant when it comes to the UK scene. I don't really go to watch competitions, or keep track of who is winning what. I just train, decide on a competition I want to do and turn up. [And more often than not, WIN!]
I most admire the physiques of Valentina Chepiga, Anne Freitas, Laura Creavalle, Lenda Murray and Alina Popa. I would like to achieve the total package of a female bodybuilder: beauty, femininity, sex appeal, tight waist, good muscle mass, symmetry, detailed lines and top lean condition.
I don’t just start my workout and think "my legs need to be bigger" so lift heavy on squats. I think it’s important to analyse the physique and then act accordingly to create a specific look. If I need more outer quad sweep I’ll try and isolate that area, changing foot stance and slowing down the movement.
I respond very well to higher frequency training. If I’m getting ready for a competition I train glutes 4-6 times a week and shoulders 3-4 times. This style of training keeps my muscles fuller and I progress much faster with muscle growth.
Training with weights has had a huge effect on all areas of my life. I have always been confident but this has just increased my confidence even more.
Bodybuilding has given me the chance to meet so many lovely people. People are intrigued by you when you are a muscular woman and it’s great to pass on any knowledge I’ve gained to people trying to get fit or sculpt their bodies. I feel like I have invaluable information that I can share with other people.
Ladies... don’t be impatient with your gains, make steady and safe progress.
I believe that variety is the spice of life. I love to read and practise ways to heighten my knowledge and help me be the best I can be so when my time is up I will hopefully be leaving the planet with a positive imprint, as small as it may be.
Our last lotta Rosie tomorrow. Enjoy!
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Whole Lotta Rosie: Rascal Studies
One of the provisions in the will of Professor Philpott Pennypacker (see FMS passim) was the establishment of a fund whose purpose is to provide grants to those wishing to "undertake studies that explore female bodybuilding or female bodybuilders". The first six beneficiaries of the fund were announced in 2014, and FMS is delighted that today we are able to bring you extracts from one of the resulting Master's theses.
The author of the work, entitled "She's Not Like Everybody Else - The Otherness of the Female Bodybuilder", is Dirk van Twisk, a 35-year-old female muscle head from Rotterdam, who took a year's sabbatical from his job as an insurance broker to do his Master's in the Department of Sociology at London's Queen Mary University.
In this series of extracts from his Master's thesis*, Dirk examines the "gender atypical worldview of the female bodybuilder" through the lyrics of Rosanna Harte's "Peeping Tom", her 2014 collaboration with Electro Swing maestro Jamie Berry.
PEEPING TOM, lyrics by Rosanna Harte, female bodybuilder
There's a Peeping Tom sat outside my window
He's been there for days
And now it's only gotten gotten on to Sunday
And I think it's time to play
Cos there is nothing more that I like
Than to be seen
Open up your eyes real wide
Cos Peeping Tom I've got a big surprise
So I slide across my hood
And what do I see?
Sure as hell the Peeping Tom is looking at me
So I simply accidentally carelessly
Drop my dressing gown for him to see
So Peeping Tom keep on looking at me
Peeping Tom tell me what do you see?
In popular culture, the character known as "Peeping Tom" first appears in 18th century accounts of the Godiva story, a legend dating back another 200 years, of Lady Godiva, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who rode naked – only covered in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to avoid paying a tax imposed by her husband. Tom, who some sources identify as a tailor, is the only one of the townsfolk who disobeys the decree that forbids the people from watching Godiva during her ride, and as a result is either put to death or immediately struck blind depending on the source.
Out of this story, "Peeping Tom" became a by-word for a voyeur, literally "one who looks", a person (thought to always be a man) who derives sexual excitement and/or pleasure from observing the private - usually naked or sexual - activity of others.
But whereas in the Godiva story Tom is ultimately the victim of his desire to watch, in more recent times, Michael Powell's controversial 1960 film "Peeping Tom" added another aspect to the concept of the voyeur in the popular imagination. The film's main character is not only compelled to observe but also to film his young female victims in their moment of death, giving rise to the idea of the Peeping Tom as a predatory, bloodthirsty male - not simply a sexual deviant, but one who is to be feared.
In the psyche of the female bodybuilder as revealed in Rosanna Harte's lyrics though, Peeping Tom is neither the victim of the Godiva story nor the threatening presence in Powell's film. Unlike Godiva, the female bodybuilder does not forbid Tom to look, but encourages him. And unlike the women murdered on screen by Powell's damaged character Mark Lewis, there is absolutely no vulnerability about her at all.
Within the first few lines it has become clear that to the female bodybuilder, the Peeping Tom is no threat. "He's been there for days", she tells us, but his presence engenders none of the customary fear in this female. Instead, he is a playmate, or more accurately, a plaything, in a game she controls. In this game ("time to play") it is not the one who looks but the one who is being looked at who dictates all the rules.
It is the muscular female, not the Peeping Tom, who decides when and how she will expose herself to him. The choice of Sunday for the when is interesting. Perhaps it is simply the day she has no training to do, her day of leisure, the day she reserves for her "play" time. But the choice of the traditional day of Christian worship, the day when God rested, is, I believe, highly significant. Perhaps this muscular female is claiming the day for a very different kind of worship. Fans of female bodybuilders, and female bodybuilders themselves, have incorporated much of the language of religion into their sub-culture. The women are "goddesses", or - as in the title of one major female muscle admiration website - "muscle angels". Their fans "adore" them, and crave and often pay large sums of money for the chance to physically "worship" them.
Either way, this muscle goddess wants to have her forbidden fun on the very day when the tradition in her native (Christian) culture dictates that she should be on her best (moral) behaviour. So once again here is the female bodybuilder refusing to abide by - or simply ignoring - the conventions of the society in which she operates.
Despite its title, this song is not ultimately about voyeurism at all, but exhibitionism. "Simply, accidentally, carelessly" the female bodybuilder reveals herself to the peeper, not for his enjoyment, but for hers, because, as she tells us in the song's key line, "there is nothing more that I like than to be seen". Tom, in stark contrast to his Godiva story namesake, is not ordered to look away, but to open up his eyes "real wide". There's no mention of anything equivalent to Lady Godiva's long hair, nothing to cover any part of the muscular female's body. Why would she have anything on under her dressing gown? This is full exposure. And as she reveals all, it's her unconventional yet undeniably female body that provides the "big surprise".
"Tell me what do you see?" is her repeated question. Does he have an answer? Does she even want one? Whoever he is, in these fifteen lines, Peeping Tom has nothing more than a passive role to play. The muscular female merely requires him to "keep on looking". He may be dumbstruck but - in another subversion of the Godiva story, or at least one version of it - he is not to be struck blind. But while he seems to be powerless, like Mark Lewis' victims in Michael Powell's film, his presence is, I would argue, necessary. Without him, there is no one to exhibit to, no one to admire her. Without him, there would be no game, and she would have no playmate/plaything.
To recap then, the female bodybuilder, in this case Rosanna Harte, aka singer/songwriter Rosie Rascal, is able to subvert societal norms not only with her physical form, but also with her entire outlook. And this subversion runs in opposition not just to the society which is contemporary to her, but also to its entire cultural history, whether the pop culture of more recent times, or the legends of old.
Enjoy!
* Today's images of Rosie are not part of van Twisk's thesis (which, just in case you were in any doubt is completely made-up) and were chosen by FMS simply for your viewing pleasure as accompaniments to the (ficticious) text quoted here today.
The author of the work, entitled "She's Not Like Everybody Else - The Otherness of the Female Bodybuilder", is Dirk van Twisk, a 35-year-old female muscle head from Rotterdam, who took a year's sabbatical from his job as an insurance broker to do his Master's in the Department of Sociology at London's Queen Mary University.
In this series of extracts from his Master's thesis*, Dirk examines the "gender atypical worldview of the female bodybuilder" through the lyrics of Rosanna Harte's "Peeping Tom", her 2014 collaboration with Electro Swing maestro Jamie Berry.
PEEPING TOM, lyrics by Rosanna Harte, female bodybuilder
There's a Peeping Tom sat outside my window
He's been there for days
And now it's only gotten gotten on to Sunday
And I think it's time to play
Cos there is nothing more that I like
Than to be seen
Open up your eyes real wide
Cos Peeping Tom I've got a big surprise
So I slide across my hood
And what do I see?
Sure as hell the Peeping Tom is looking at me
So I simply accidentally carelessly
Drop my dressing gown for him to see
So Peeping Tom keep on looking at me
Peeping Tom tell me what do you see?
In popular culture, the character known as "Peeping Tom" first appears in 18th century accounts of the Godiva story, a legend dating back another 200 years, of Lady Godiva, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who rode naked – only covered in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to avoid paying a tax imposed by her husband. Tom, who some sources identify as a tailor, is the only one of the townsfolk who disobeys the decree that forbids the people from watching Godiva during her ride, and as a result is either put to death or immediately struck blind depending on the source.
Out of this story, "Peeping Tom" became a by-word for a voyeur, literally "one who looks", a person (thought to always be a man) who derives sexual excitement and/or pleasure from observing the private - usually naked or sexual - activity of others.
But whereas in the Godiva story Tom is ultimately the victim of his desire to watch, in more recent times, Michael Powell's controversial 1960 film "Peeping Tom" added another aspect to the concept of the voyeur in the popular imagination. The film's main character is not only compelled to observe but also to film his young female victims in their moment of death, giving rise to the idea of the Peeping Tom as a predatory, bloodthirsty male - not simply a sexual deviant, but one who is to be feared.
In the psyche of the female bodybuilder as revealed in Rosanna Harte's lyrics though, Peeping Tom is neither the victim of the Godiva story nor the threatening presence in Powell's film. Unlike Godiva, the female bodybuilder does not forbid Tom to look, but encourages him. And unlike the women murdered on screen by Powell's damaged character Mark Lewis, there is absolutely no vulnerability about her at all.
Within the first few lines it has become clear that to the female bodybuilder, the Peeping Tom is no threat. "He's been there for days", she tells us, but his presence engenders none of the customary fear in this female. Instead, he is a playmate, or more accurately, a plaything, in a game she controls. In this game ("time to play") it is not the one who looks but the one who is being looked at who dictates all the rules.
It is the muscular female, not the Peeping Tom, who decides when and how she will expose herself to him. The choice of Sunday for the when is interesting. Perhaps it is simply the day she has no training to do, her day of leisure, the day she reserves for her "play" time. But the choice of the traditional day of Christian worship, the day when God rested, is, I believe, highly significant. Perhaps this muscular female is claiming the day for a very different kind of worship. Fans of female bodybuilders, and female bodybuilders themselves, have incorporated much of the language of religion into their sub-culture. The women are "goddesses", or - as in the title of one major female muscle admiration website - "muscle angels". Their fans "adore" them, and crave and often pay large sums of money for the chance to physically "worship" them.
Either way, this muscle goddess wants to have her forbidden fun on the very day when the tradition in her native (Christian) culture dictates that she should be on her best (moral) behaviour. So once again here is the female bodybuilder refusing to abide by - or simply ignoring - the conventions of the society in which she operates.
Despite its title, this song is not ultimately about voyeurism at all, but exhibitionism. "Simply, accidentally, carelessly" the female bodybuilder reveals herself to the peeper, not for his enjoyment, but for hers, because, as she tells us in the song's key line, "there is nothing more that I like than to be seen". Tom, in stark contrast to his Godiva story namesake, is not ordered to look away, but to open up his eyes "real wide". There's no mention of anything equivalent to Lady Godiva's long hair, nothing to cover any part of the muscular female's body. Why would she have anything on under her dressing gown? This is full exposure. And as she reveals all, it's her unconventional yet undeniably female body that provides the "big surprise".
"Tell me what do you see?" is her repeated question. Does he have an answer? Does she even want one? Whoever he is, in these fifteen lines, Peeping Tom has nothing more than a passive role to play. The muscular female merely requires him to "keep on looking". He may be dumbstruck but - in another subversion of the Godiva story, or at least one version of it - he is not to be struck blind. But while he seems to be powerless, like Mark Lewis' victims in Michael Powell's film, his presence is, I would argue, necessary. Without him, there is no one to exhibit to, no one to admire her. Without him, there would be no game, and she would have no playmate/plaything.
To recap then, the female bodybuilder, in this case Rosanna Harte, aka singer/songwriter Rosie Rascal, is able to subvert societal norms not only with her physical form, but also with her entire outlook. And this subversion runs in opposition not just to the society which is contemporary to her, but also to its entire cultural history, whether the pop culture of more recent times, or the legends of old.
Enjoy!
* Today's images of Rosie are not part of van Twisk's thesis (which, just in case you were in any doubt is completely made-up) and were chosen by FMS simply for your viewing pleasure as accompaniments to the (ficticious) text quoted here today.
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Whole Lotta Rosie: Fun from Rear with Rosie (by C.Moore Glootz)
I would say my best bodypart would have to be my back, says Rosie. We, the female muscle lovin' brethren, tend to focus our eyes a tad lower, on Rosie's "beautiful bum", her "gorgeous butt", her "amazing arse" - obviously a British fan that last one!
Either way, she and we agree that Rosie from behind ("I would follow her anywhere," says one fan) is one of the great views in British female muscle, if not global female muscle. So who better to pen an appreciation of Rosie from the rear than our very own self-styled Professor of the Muscular Posterior, Mr C. Moore Glootz...
Yes my friends, C. Moore is back and at liberty, restraining orders all but dropped and everything. A reformed character says my therapist, agreed said the judge. It's good to be back and tasting the sweet fresh air of freedom once more. A commission, they said, an "appreciation" piece is how they termed it. Well, it would be my pleasure I said wondering who I was going to be appreciating. And when they tell me Ms Rosie Harte, C. Moore's heart goes boom boom cos glooteally-speaking this woman is the Bomb!
But wait, they tell me. Can you talk about her back as well? Now, the old C. Moore would tell them where to stick it at this point, that old me being all about the glootz the whole glootz and nothing but the glootz. But C. Moore is a new man these days, a new man with a wider world view thanks to the therapy. It took time for sure - in them early sessions C. Moore had one eye looking up and the other looking down resembling one of them pond creatures that watches above and below the water line simultaneous.
An expert now though. C. Moore takes in the whole, top to bottom, and appreciating to a new level consequently. Balance, in life as in physique, is how my trusty therapist taught me, and modesty aside old C. Moore here turned out to be star pupil #1.
And Ms Rosie was absolutely the first on C. Moore's mind when the good doctor told me to visualise said balance. How lyrical I waxed about her wide wide lats and her taper to her teeny tiny waist! Visualise, the doc told me when C. Moore offered to call up some Rosie rear views on his tablet (mine being locked away for safe-keeping and all). No visuals then, just visualisation. Those gems, those gorgeous glootz - it took a full hour's session for C. Moore to paint the full picture, till I was satisfied the doc could see what I was seeing in my mind's eye. And more, cos I was embracing the whole remember, I didn't miss out those dancer's legs in all their iron-honed glory either.
In group art class C. Moore continues to visualise, coming up with a diagram worthy of Leonardo's perfect proportions dude. Except it's Ms Rosie. And from the rear. Doc says he'd better keep it for my file when I show him it next session. What progress you've made says he. C. Moore felt proud and disappointed at the same time - that drawing had been cracking overnight stimulation I don't mind telling you, but the end of my stay at the institution was in sight, and before long C. Moore's electronic devices were being returned to him and the Slave office was in touch. Feel free to illustrate your piece as you see fit, they says to me. Well gentlemen, it has been a pleasure.
Tomorrow, a brand new guest author takes a (somewhat more academic) look at one of Ms Rosie's other great passions - her songwriting. Till then, you might like to pass the time by looking back at some glutes perhaps not quite as perfect as the Rascal's, but damn close, with some of C. Moore's previous contributions to the FMS archive.
Enjoy!
Either way, she and we agree that Rosie from behind ("I would follow her anywhere," says one fan) is one of the great views in British female muscle, if not global female muscle. So who better to pen an appreciation of Rosie from the rear than our very own self-styled Professor of the Muscular Posterior, Mr C. Moore Glootz...
Yes my friends, C. Moore is back and at liberty, restraining orders all but dropped and everything. A reformed character says my therapist, agreed said the judge. It's good to be back and tasting the sweet fresh air of freedom once more. A commission, they said, an "appreciation" piece is how they termed it. Well, it would be my pleasure I said wondering who I was going to be appreciating. And when they tell me Ms Rosie Harte, C. Moore's heart goes boom boom cos glooteally-speaking this woman is the Bomb!
But wait, they tell me. Can you talk about her back as well? Now, the old C. Moore would tell them where to stick it at this point, that old me being all about the glootz the whole glootz and nothing but the glootz. But C. Moore is a new man these days, a new man with a wider world view thanks to the therapy. It took time for sure - in them early sessions C. Moore had one eye looking up and the other looking down resembling one of them pond creatures that watches above and below the water line simultaneous.
An expert now though. C. Moore takes in the whole, top to bottom, and appreciating to a new level consequently. Balance, in life as in physique, is how my trusty therapist taught me, and modesty aside old C. Moore here turned out to be star pupil #1.
And Ms Rosie was absolutely the first on C. Moore's mind when the good doctor told me to visualise said balance. How lyrical I waxed about her wide wide lats and her taper to her teeny tiny waist! Visualise, the doc told me when C. Moore offered to call up some Rosie rear views on his tablet (mine being locked away for safe-keeping and all). No visuals then, just visualisation. Those gems, those gorgeous glootz - it took a full hour's session for C. Moore to paint the full picture, till I was satisfied the doc could see what I was seeing in my mind's eye. And more, cos I was embracing the whole remember, I didn't miss out those dancer's legs in all their iron-honed glory either.
In group art class C. Moore continues to visualise, coming up with a diagram worthy of Leonardo's perfect proportions dude. Except it's Ms Rosie. And from the rear. Doc says he'd better keep it for my file when I show him it next session. What progress you've made says he. C. Moore felt proud and disappointed at the same time - that drawing had been cracking overnight stimulation I don't mind telling you, but the end of my stay at the institution was in sight, and before long C. Moore's electronic devices were being returned to him and the Slave office was in touch. Feel free to illustrate your piece as you see fit, they says to me. Well gentlemen, it has been a pleasure.
Tomorrow, a brand new guest author takes a (somewhat more academic) look at one of Ms Rosie's other great passions - her songwriting. Till then, you might like to pass the time by looking back at some glutes perhaps not quite as perfect as the Rascal's, but damn close, with some of C. Moore's previous contributions to the FMS archive.
Enjoy!
Monday, 16 November 2015
Whole Lotta Rosie: Rascal's Got Talent
Not being the biggest fan of the show, this completely passed me by at the time, but here, on national prime time TV last year, was Rosie displaying her body and skills.
I believe [insert name of country]'s Got Talent is something of a global brand, so I won't waste any time explaining just what the hell is going on here, but I will say that Rosie's act didn't quite make it to the main show on the main channel (ITV) but was featured on the less-watched "extra" show (on ITV2), where this clip comes from.
Where to begin?!
First of all, we should say how amazing she looks, and how well she comes across as a person before and after her performance. I'm fully aware of how massively edited these clips are, but despite the cutaways to shocked faces, the "public" at the show seem to have responded pretty positively. I think most men that have never met a female bodybuilder in person have a pre-conceived idea about us, she has said in the past. I think when they meet me they change their mind! It's fair to say that her appearance here changed a few minds in the audience - both male and female - that day.
What's most interesting though is the reaction of the judges, especially the female judges. The look on Aleesha Dixon's face (she's second from the left as you look at them) when Rosie takes off her jacket and reveals her glorious back is absolutely priceless. Is she really so horrified? Perhaps she genuinely is, and that's all it is, but it's interesting that the strongest negative reaction comes from a woman. Is Aleesha's horror perhaps more rooted in deeper, subconscious feelings of inadequacy?
Yes, yes, I've read a couple of schoolboy psychology books and I think I know what I'm talking about, but check out how difficult both Aleesha and Amanda Holden - the other female judge - find it to actually look at Rosie (either in the eye or at that body) during the feedback. The reaction of women when faced with a real alpha female perhaps...
Sunday, 15 November 2015
Whole Lotta Rosie: Rascal History
I started dancing as a young girl and went on to study Contemporary Dance at university when I was 22. The dance classes were very intensive and I was enjoying this new level of fitness. My dance tutor advised me to do some weightlifting alongside my dance to build up some more upper body strength to make some of the lifting and weight shift movements easier. So my boyfriend took me to the gym and showed me how to train like a bodybuilder. I began to notice changes in my body shape within a very short time. I loved feeling strong and the weights I was lifting went up fairly rapidly. It gave me so much confidence, and when I got my first vein in my arm I was totally buzzing! I was hooked. Rosanna Harte (RxMuscle, 2009)
Rosie, enjoying herself, 2008 (?)
By the time of that interview, Rosie had already been competing for a couple of years. Her first show was a natural show in 2007 called the NPA Heart of England where she competed in the Figure class - and won - and the following year she took her second Figure title at the Sci-Mentor SportsPN Classic. Also in 2008 she made her NABBA debut, in the Trained Figure class (which is more or less equivalent to what became the IFBB Women's Physique division), finishing 2nd at the North-east qualifier and 6th at the British finals. These "trained figure" girls are packing some serious muscle, she told RxMuscle in 2009, and they get in amazing condition for competitions. This is the main reason why I have decided to take a year off from competing and just put on some size, because I felt like I was fading into the background slightly. I think there are a lot of impressive female physiques in the UK at the moment.
NABBA Britain 2010
Her plan worked. At the end of May 2010, she was the British NABBA Trained Figure champion, and a few weeks later she travelled to Malta for her first international competition - the NABBA Worlds - and finished runner-up in her class, beating such famous names as Karolina Holubcova and Flora Conte in the process.
The following year saw Rosie not only change federation, but also division. Her first time competing as a bodybuilder was at the 2011 UKBFF North-east qualifier. It was her first title as a bodybuilder too. I’ve wanted to do bodybuilding since I first started training but it has taken a long time to gain enough size, she said soon afterwards. I’ve had a lot of people doubting my capabilities in this class - understandably as I am still usually the smallest on stage! It meant so much to me to place so well in my first competition as an actual bodybuilder, and in an open class as well!
UKBFF British 2011
And she went on to finish runner-up to Rene Campbell at that year's UKBFF British Championships, ahead of women like Christal Cornick, Silvana Imbrogno, and Tamar Makar - women who outweighed her by upwards of 50lbs (22kg). She was rightly proud of herself. This might seem weird as you’d think it might have been one of my competitions where I placed 1st, she said in 2012, but the highlight of my career to date was definitely coming second at the British Championships!
UKBFF British 2012
And in 2012 she went one better, beating all of the big girls and becoming the UKBFF British Women's Bodybuiding champion, adding her name to a roll of honour packed with the names of some of the all-time UK female bodybuilding greats: Rene Campbell, Lisa Cross, Sharon Madderson, Wendy McCready, Joanne Lee, Paula Bircumshaw, and now Rosanna Harte. The smallest woman on stage was punching way above her weight, and the female muscle world was taking notice.
UKBFF British 2012
And so, slowly, did the British media - well, the regional British media anyway. Leeds bodybuilder competes in biggest competition in world read the headline (see FMS passim) before Rosie jetted off to Columbus, Ohio to represent Britain for the second time at international level, this time at the 2013 Arnold Amateur - the one competition all amateur bodybuilders dream of, according to Rosie.
Arnold Amateur 2013
And the British Champ finished 3rd in the (last ever) Lightweight Bodybuilding class behind the more experienced Ana Paula Silva of Brazil, and Branka Njegovec from Croatia, who went on to claim the overall title as well. There's something very old school about Rosanna's body shape and conditioning, I wrote at the time, as though you could photoshop her into a contest pic from the late 80s and she wouldn't look out of place next to the likes of Anja Langer. It's a very pleasing aesthetic.
Arnold Amateur 2013
And I also wrote at the time that it remained to be seen how far such an old school aesthetic would take Rosie in international bodybuilding. What I meant was that she'd struggle among the heavyweights - little did I realise that international women's bodybuilding, at an amateur level at least, was about to all but disappear.
Arnold Amateur 2013
But this was not necessarily bad news for lightweight fbbs in general, and not necessarily bad news for Rosie, as she proved in 2014 when she returned to the Arnold Amateur, lining up in the Physique division for the very first time. Never been this happy with my physique, she tweeted before the show. Down to the judges now.
Arnold Amateur 2014
Their verdict, a tantalisingly close 2nd in her class. Congratulations Rosie! said FMS, noting that she had looked in great shape before the contest. I was, however, disappointed for her that she hadn't got a little more favour from the judges and come home as the UK's newest - and first ever Women's Physique - pro, but a year and a few months later, and here we are, celebrating (almost) that very achievement!
Amateur Olympia UK 2015
Enjoy!
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