Pic of the Month: June

May's Pic of the Month poll turned out to be a two-lady race between Megan Elizabeth Colvin's body art, and the muscle pits of Britain's Rosie Harte.



Rosie, with 44% of the votes, came out the winner.

And so to our five June nominees.

Check them out, follow the link at the bottom, and vote with a single click.

SARAH FECHTER: MUSCLE BEAUTY



I've made no secret of my admiration for this gorgeous hunk of woman since she (belatedly) came to my attention earlier in the year (see FMS passim). Her latest (to be leaked to the forums, anyway) work with HD Physiques has done nothing to dampen my enthusiasm. Look how thick she is below the knee, the definition all over her mouth-watering midriff, those feel-me-up shoulders, and best of all those lick-this-way veins on her biceps... And on top of all that - the smile! Swooonarama!!!

ALINA POPA: NATURE'S MAJESTY



Taken, I believe, towards the end of May on the Manitou Incline in the Colorado Rockies, Alina may not yet be ready to come back and compete for the biggest titles, but there's no doubt she still adds outstanding (if not 100% "natural") beauty to any area she's in. Imagine going on a hike and being confronted with Alina in shorts, boots and sports bra on the trail! Don't know about you, but I reckon I'd float up that incline (albeit with my tongue hanging out and my eyes bulging out of their sockets) if I had Alina to follow - and if I'd already been up, I'd be only too happy to go up again.

CAIT (aka LILPOWERBUILDER): IN MY DEFENCE, YOUR HONOUR



She only started Crossfit "a few years ago", but one thing has led to another and now "Cait" is, as her Instagram moniker suggests, a Powerlifter and Bodybuilder (NPC Physique) as well as being a fitness coach. Through fitness I have found a whole new me, she says. The me that I was meant to be. Those boots and shorts were meant to be with those glutes and legs for sure. A picture old C. Moore would show to the jury?!

BRIE EUBANKS: GIFTED



Just when I thought her Brieness had consigned herself to the murkier parts of the female muscle world and I'd only ever see her now in blurry webcam and snapchat clips getting up to all sorts of naughtiness (with and without her hubby), she pops up on the forums with a reminder of just what a thoroughly gifted woman she is. For once, I'm not focusing on the muscles. I can't stop looking at it. It's just so long, so BIG!

SHANNON SEELEY: SHAPE OF A WOMAN



Having recently competed with distinction at the NPC Jr. USAs, Shannon is expected to turn pro at some stage later in the year. Meanwhile, her schmotography work (not to mention some of her topless cam treats that are appearing in those murky parts) have done plenty to bring her to front and centre of the collective female muscle lovin' consciousness. I could have chosen any of a number of classy shots of her (or indeed a still from one of those cam shows), but in the end, I found I had a very soft hard spot for this rather arty silhouette. Now that's what a woman is supposed to look like!

Tough choice or easy call?

Take your pick and vote HERE

We'll post the winner next month when we invite you to vote for July's best.

Enjoy! And thanks in advance for voting!

Meet Me in St. Louis (Again)

In 2014, it was the show where Dani Reardon made her pro bow. A year later, Autumn Swansen's ex-Fitness competitor skills helped to win her her first Physique title. Brooke Walker was runner-up there in 2016 in her first pro show, and last year it was where Jill Diorio's epic calves impressed (fans if not so much the judges).

It's fair to say that over the last few years the St. Louis Pro has been worth checking out, and today we'll be doing just that with the Physique class of '18 there.



Candice Carr will be a familiar face (and ripped hard body) to readers of a certain age. Well, did you know that this year she's made a comeback? Not as the Bodybuilder she was, I'm afraid, but rather as the new St. Louis Masters Physique champ.



The Trinidadian former Central American Bodybuilding champ hadn't competed since the early noughties as far as I can tell, but was back on stage at the Atlantic Coast Pro in early March before hitting St. Louis three weeks' later. She doesn't give much away on social media apart from her faith, but she did say "there are no words to adequately describe the joy I feel at my achievement" after her win (before going on to thank God and Jesus). Placing 4th in the Open Physique class as well made for a very satisfactory return, and she certainly hasn't forgotten how to hit an abs and thigh pose, has she?



We featured Sarah Fechter (briefly) in last week's Tube Watch, and here she is again, seven days before the St. Louis show (above), and glammed and tanned on stage.



We would be tempted to boast that Sarah is our "discovery" of 2018 so far if it weren't for the fact that she's been competing as a pro since 2015, initially in Figure, then from 2016 in Physique. In the Research Team's defence, she has a single top 10 finish - 4th at the 2016 Chicago Pro - to her name, but they are still clearing out their desks. Once again, FMS finds itself needing to hire researchers, preferably - for once - researchers who aren't going to embarrass us. Applications should be sent to the usual address.



Anyway, Sarah... She's a Bachelor of Exercise Science with her own Fitness club, even her own "Sarah Fechter Games" coming up from May 21st. "Fitness saved my life", she says, and you can find out how in this candid YouTube interview from last April.



For more Sarah still, follow this incredible, gorgeous woman on Instagram.



And while we are in the realm of the gorgeous, the stunning Stephanie Flesher made her pro debut in St. Louis - the first time we've seen her on stage since the 2016 USAs.



That was when she won her pro card, and enough FMS readers were impressed to put her into the Hot and Hard 100 at #73 the following spring. Sadly, she disappeared from this year's list, but I would guess that now she's back competing (and sharing saucy shower clips on her "Firece Fit Steph" Instagram), she may well reappear in the Hot and Hard 100 in 2019. This is just the beginning, she said after her pro debut, before promising us that I'm gonna keep getting better. I'm gonna drop jaws...



Mine has been on the floor for some time.



A new wave of Brazilian IFBB Physique pros have been doing rather well over the last couple of years (Dany Castilho, Priscila Cavilha, Ivie Rhein and so on), and at this year's St. Louis Pro another title for Brazil was delivered by the very classy Marjorie Beck. 1st here, she had already shown 2018 form, finishing runner-up to Natalia Coelho (Brazil) at the Atlantic Coast Pro earlier in the month.




Marjorie is never the biggest woman on stage, but she's always as sharp as a razor, and this show was no exception. She went to the Olympia last year, and now she's booked her place there again. I came to compete, win and secure the place for Olympia, she said afterwards. Mission accomplished! To be champion is to reach a goal that brings several new paths and with that new goals - she is a bit of a thinker, a philosopher even, as well as being a ripped Physique goddess, you see. This is how life moves.



For more heaviness and sweaty gym selfies follow Marjorie's Instagram.



And finally, Katie.




Though she grows ever more popular with us fans, Katie has had her ups and downs over the last couple of years in terms of contest results. Unplaced at the majority of shows she's done since 2016, there has been the occasional bright spot - 2nd in Omaha last year, for example. St. Louis proved to be one of those occasions when the judges liked what they saw from Katie. She finished runner-up to Marjorie Beck, and felt "so grateful" to do so in "tough line-up of great athletes". I reckon the smile says it all.



Check out all the results from the show and many many more images of these amazing Physique women and the rest of the line-up in St. Louis here on NPC News Online.

Tube Watch

FMS' (pleasingly popular and) very occasional muscle-in-motion fest returns for the first time since last July with our picks from YouTube over the last month or so.

PHYSIQUE DREAMS @ROYAL LONDON PRO

If you blinked you missed it, but there really was an IFBB pro show in London. Held in the Olympic Park in Stratford the week after the Arnolds, it combined a Saturday pro qualifying contest with a Sunday pro show. Five fine Physiques took to the stage on the Sunday - Britain's own Rosanna Harte, Hronn Sigurdardottir from Iceland (who had won qualifying the day before), the mighty Joanna Romano, Margita Zámolová (fresh from her 3rd place at the Arnolds), and American Shonita Wade. Perhaps not the biggest line-up in terms of numbers, but not short on quality either, as shown in the final judging, posedown and awards, thanks to NPC News Online.



Our Rosie was probably a little disappointed not to win on home turf, but Margita is a seriously classy act these days, and you can watch her routine from the show here.

For Your Consideration

We've long been able to rely on Best Muscle Video for quality (and no little quantity of) North American contest footage, and recently they got round to putting up what they filmed at the 2017 IFBB North Americans. The graceful, sizzling Jessica McKenzie (winner in the Physique division) is definitely a highlight, and we also highly recommend the glorious Jennie Gray - in Figure, but doubtless "too muscular". And for those who like their lady glutes more out in the open, NABBA have put two clips up in the last week or so that are well worth checking out. First we suggest Sarah Halkon (in the tiniest thong of all the finalists) winning the NABBA Britain title last year, followed by some archive footage of Flavia Crissos from the 2004 Universe. Less posing than dance routine, it turns the sexy up to 11 (and quite possibly beyond).

HDPHYSIQUES CUTS IT SHORT (BUT SWEET)

I'm sure their "preview" clips used to be longer, that we used to get a good minute of tease to persuade us to part with our hard-earned and subscribe. Nevertheless, as this teeny tiny glimpse of Sarah Fechter proves, length doesn't matter as long as the clip includes a bicep flex that sears itself into your brain and stays there until you click "PAY NOW" - and delts you could devote your whole life to don't hurt either.



For longer offerings from the channel, you'll have to be content with (some of the better) interviews from backstage and so on. Three well worth a watch from the recent Arnolds are a glammed up Katie Lee (interviewed for once rather than doing the interviewing), Natalia Coelho the day after she finished 2nd at the Physique International (feathery quads and all), and (double bubble) Figure Olympian Melissa Bumstead (pretty but sadly covered up) interviewed by none other than "Beefnuggette" Paige Sandgren (pretty and not at all covered up) - flex at the end!

For Your Consideration

In a similar vein, forum darling Yeon Woo Jhi was recently filmed at a Korean show expo, and although the first two minutes and eight seconds is a lot more interesting than the rest, she does look rather marvellous posing in a tight peachy dress and heels.

VIRGINIA SANCHEZ: REAL TRAINING

We noted how surprised we were that Virginia was absent from this year's Hot and Hard 100, and this recent Double Biceps preview only adds to the confusion. She pumps, she pouts, she makes her mighty striated pecs ripple from bottom to top...

And that's just the first twenty seconds!



Definitely our March viewing highlight. Check out double-biceps.com for preview pics and details of how to obtain the fully-pumped, sweat-drenched 38-minute clip.

Enjoy!