FMS @NPC USAs 2017: Kristina Mendoza

Apologies for the tardiness of this post. Sometimes these things are hard to finish - not that it isn't a joy every single time time, but sometimes I am literally lost for words, and Kristina Mendoza, aka Kristina Nicole, has very much had that effect on me. Plus, in the course of putting together the post I've come across little gems like this...



So, you see how I might have got waylaid for a while.

Anyway, sorry if you've been waiting. Here she is...

KRISTINA MENDOZA
3rd, Heavyweight



Kristina was hardly unknown to the female muscle lovin' cognoscenti before, but it seems to me that since her thunderous appearance at the USAs, pretty much every female muscle fan has been informed. Or perhaps "informed" is the wrong word when you read forum posts like "She could be the Latin Shannon Courtney". What?!



Her transformation has taken a little over three years, but it's only since the beginning of 2016 that she has been "bodybuilding", as she puts it. What was she doing before?



[At first in] (late 2013) I just wanted to get fit and become self-confident, she says. As I slowly but surely fell in love with the process of transitioning my lifestyle - the junk food, alcohol, and party scene slowed down. It wasn't until January 2016 that I became interested in bodybuilding, I was up for the challenge, physically and mentally. I feel like competing and the process of getting ready for these shows change your priorities and perspective... the struggles lead you to growth and to a more mature mindset. I went from casually "eating healthy" and training to look fit to a strict meal plan and training regime to reach a specific stage body.


Kristina on debut, Dayana Cadeau Classic 2016

That body certainly looked "stage ready" when she made her debut at the Dayana Cadeau Classic last October. She competed in Physique there, and again at the South Florida Championships. Images of her routines suggest a background in gymnastics and/or dance - Kristina's got some sensational moves to go with the sensational bod.



Given the progress Kristina had made to get to that point where she was competing in less than three years in total and just about ten months of serious business, it's hardly surprising that she didn't stay in Physique another year. The USAs was her competitive "Bodybuilding" debut, and quite a debut it was. Yes, she "only" got 3rd (in a field of 4), but why waste time berating the judges? I'm betting that a few years from now, these pics of her on stage in Las Vegas will still be getting shared on forums or in chat rooms and so on, and they will still have the same power to move us then as they do now.




Yes, it's easy to make fun of our unfortunate "Latin Shannon Courtney" forum poster (and believe me, many have weighed in to take a pop), but I kind of know what he means. Young, amazing progress to massive massive muscles, and all topped off with incredible beauty and sex appeal. No, I'm not about to agree with him, but I think it is fair to say that Kristina in 2017 is having the kind of impact on the female muscle lovin' world that Shannon had back in 2013. I just hope her career lasts longer!



Kristina Nicole on Instagram. You really should.



And that brings our review of the 2017 USAs to a sizzling end. Once again, the show has come up with the goods, even if the lack of competitors in the Female Bodybuilding division was a bit of a shock. At least I think Melissa Fanning (see Tuesday's post) and Kristina Mendoza give us some real hope for the future of the sport.

Enjoy!

21 Reasons (#2)

Due to some work commitments and Mr and Mrs Swell's now annual sojourn to the South of France (not the bit that was recently on fire, thankfully), the FMS offices are going to be closed this week, next week and the week after. Nevertheless, as always, we don't want to leave you totally FMS-less, so we've lined up 21 Reasons, one daily picture (or two or three), plus one reason why we love doing what we do, as if we were explaining it to one not so convinced of the glory of the muscular female.

Enjoy!

#2
LAINE COSTA'S SWEATY PECS



Some of the reasons are really specific!

More of Laine's sweaty pecs can be found here.

Media Watch: Australia

Today, two recent stories from Down Under written by Daily Mail Australia's Laura House, both dutifully regurgitated verbatim in the good old Mail Online here in the UK. They concern two Figure competitors from the state of Victoria - Tiffany Conway, a 37-year-old mother of two, and Ashleigh Wilson, a 28-year-old personal trainer.


Tiffany Conway (left) and Ashleigh Wilson

I don't usually pay that much attention to what's coming out of the Mail's Australia office, but these two stories, published within a few weeks of each other, caught my attention because I think that taken together they rather nicely represent the good, the bad and the ugly of the way the mainstream media deals with female muscle stories.

Let's start with the good.



The "good" in Tiffany Conway's story, as is so often the case with mainstream female muscle reporting - and the Mail and other online resources that keep churning out such stories should be applauded for it - is triumph over adversity through weight-training. In Tiffany's case it was depression and anxiety. brought on, apparently, by such a bad diet that she weighed in at over 80kg before she decided to turn her life around in 2011. Five years later she became Victoria's Masters Figure champion.



The more I exercised and the better I ate, the better I felt about myself, Tiffany tells us in the article. That came through in my energy, and people around me started noticing that I was happier. I looked fresher, and I was just more fun to be around. The benefits to be gained from making such investment in yourself stays with you for a lifetime, and it has honestly touched every part of my life for the better.



ALL good.

We might quibble about the use of the one-size-fits-all term "Bodybuilder" in the article, we might even really get nit-picky and crticise the writer for laziness in her reporting of Tiffany winning "the IFBB competition" in 2016, but on the whole, the story is a very positive muscle message for the women of Australia, with Tiffany an excellent advocate for the lifestyle, its benefits, and for the joys of competing. For 10 years I wouldn't stand in front of anyone in a bikini let alone stand on a stage in a very small bikini in front of 400 people, she says. It was the most empowering thing.



A few weeks before though, Ashleigh Wilson's less than empowering story had appeared in the very same Mail, after the Bikini turned Figure competitor had appeared on Aussie TV's Channel Nine in a show called Operation Thailand.

Brace yourself now.



I've been competing in bodybuilding for about four years, says Ashleigh. I started off in Bikini and I went on to Figure and that's where I've stayed. Within this category they emphasise femininity - decent muscle size and condition but also amazing shape. I don't feel like I can reach that shape that they ask for because I have a flat chest.

I feel like a 20-year-old boy when I'm at the gym and I am lean. It just makes me feel like I'm not a complete woman. I hate how I don't fit clothes. I have to put padding in my sports bras just to feel a little bit womanly. Can you see where this is going?



And so, Ashleigh Wilson travels to Thailand with an Australian cosmetic tourism company, meets the surgeon, and decides to go with a D-cup. This surgery is so important because I want to look good on stage and when I'm walking down the street. I want to feel good about myself when I get up in the morning, she says.

Oh dear.



Here's the other side of the mainstream media's take on female muscle stories - the "bodybuilding left me feeling/looking like a man" angle. Hardly empowering, and in this case, hardly even about bodybuilding, because whatever the reasons for Ashleigh's decision (and I wouldn't for a minute deny her the right to have cosmetic surgery) there are women like Cydney Gillon or Natalia Coelho whose all-natural all-muscle chests demonstrate that enhancements are not necessary in order to win Figure titles. And I bet both Cydney and Natalia feel all-woman all of the time.



Despite originally getting the $3,700 augmentation to achieve her aspirations in bodybuilding, we are told, Jess has since chosen to follow a different path. "Fitness and health is still a big part of my life but getting on stage is no longer something I desire," she says. Less and less about bodybuilding all the time. I did this show to help inform people about the process of going to Thailand, Ashleigh concludes. It was the best thing I ever did and not at all was I scared because I was overseas.

Call me a cynic if you like, but I suspect Ashleigh may not have had to pay full price in exchange for such a glowing recommendation of the her surgical tourism experience.



Same journalist, same news source. One story where bodybuilding has nothing but positive effects on a woman's body image; one story where bodybuilding has such negative effects on her body image the woman turns to cosmetic surgery.

Given the respective women's ages and looks, their mainstream appeal if you like, which story do you think got more media attention, globally-speaking?

Clue: it's not the one about the transformative, empowering effects of bodybuilding.



It's the one about the tits.

Champion of the Day: Adriana Bernal

2017 Olympia Amateur South America
Physique up to 163cm & Overall, and Masters Physique

In recent years, the IFBB have been swelling the international contingent of their pro ranks via Olympia Amateur and Diamond Cup events across the world. Now we could spend time lamenting how great this would have been in the days when the IFBB still had a Women's Bodybuilding class, or even speculating who might be winning these shows if that class still existed, but this is not the day (or indeed the week) for that.



Instead, let's focus on a champion. A champion from the Olympia Amateur South America, which took place in Medellin, Colombia in mid-February. The big winner from the Women's Physique Division was Colombia's own Adriana Bernal.



Now when I say "big winner", I mean it. Adriana won every gold medal she could have. Class and Overall in Open Physique, plus the trophy as the best Physique Master. And the cherry on top of all that cream was the IFBB pro card that came with her wins.



Now I'm sorry to say that I don't know a hell of a lot about Adriana, but I know I like a woman who posts images of herself looking down at her freaky, sweaty, pre-contest abs to Instagram and captions them with a single word - "Happiness". And I also know that if you click here, you'll see a montage of Adriana's progress for the years 2003-2014 that certainly left me in no doubt that pro card went to a very deserving woman.



You can watch Adriana at the 2015 South American Championships (far right as you begin, blue posing suit) and an interview with her at (I think) last year's Colombian Nationals to bring the progress montage right up to date, and you might also like to follow her on Instagram for a little extra of those freaky, sweaty abs, and more.

Felicitaciones Adriana!

Celebrity Muscle UK: Scary & Sporty

Former "Scary" Spice Girl Melanie Brown, whose ripped abs were something of a talking point on the forums - I checked this and you are not going to believe it - eight(!) years ago, still knows her way to the gym. Now Mrs Belafonte Jr. or something, the LA lifestyle clearly suits her. But it will hardly come as a surprise to readers of this blog that it's the "sporty" one who has aged the best. Now 43, Melanie Chisholm does triathlons, still looks great in and out of clothes, and is rightly proud of her physique.



Always liked her best. Obviously.



And, perhaps most importantly, Melanie has never shown any interest at all in taking the reunion tour moolah. She's busy (and rich) enough already, and likes nothing better than "a chilled weekend to get some fitness in". Still my favourite. Obviously.



Melanie C on Instagram

Beautiful by Definition

Given the midriffs I was exposed to in my formative female muscle lovin' years - Marjo Selin (above), Sharon Bruneau, (the, I think, somewhat under-rated) Sue Gafner, and many many more, plus all those swimsuits with a big "abs-hole" cut into them - it is hardly surprising that I am, and always will be, an abs man at heart.




And if I hadn't come across so much evidence to the contrary, I would probably find it all but inconceivable that there are actually men who don't like women with muscular abs. Take this fool for example: I really don’t want to date a woman whose stomach is more chiseled than mine. It’s just not natural to me. I think stomachs should be flat, but choosing between 6-pack abs and a little pudge, and I’ll take the pudge.

Not natural? NOT NATURAL?!

That, I would suggest, is the whole f***ing point, mate.



A girl with abs would normally indicate to most guys that she cares about her appearance and her health. This is a great quality that guys tend to appreciate.

Ah-ha! Here we go. This is much more like it. Tell me more.

It may actually inspire some of these guys to want to be like the girl. They may want to start working out with her or exercise with her. True. TRUE! In other words, the effect this tends to have can go a lot further than mere physical attraction...

Well yes, I suppose you could say that...

This guy may actually discern these abs as a sign that he wants to get healthier himself. Giving a guy inspiration is always a good thing. It makes the girl special.

Exactly!

She isn’t like just any other girl.



Indeed. Sadly for the likes of you and me, women who go the considerable number of extra miles for that sculpted midsection are few and far between, but considering how we are hearing women - especially younger women - are spending more and more time in the gym these days, they may not be so few and far between in the very near future.



Great news for us. Not so much for Mr Pudge Lover.



Less sarcastically, I'll just agree to disagree with PL. We clearly have a very different definition of female beauty. Mine involves definition, and total admiration for the dedication it has taken her to get her sexy 6-pack, of course. But mainly, and if I sound shallow here it is no doubt because I am, I just LOVE how her abs look.



For me, they are beautiful. And I LOVE how she thinks they are beautiful too. How much pride she (rightly) has in herself for achieving what so few other women (in history, mind you) have achieved, how she can't resist taking every opportunity to show them off, how she even laments their passing during her off-season as others might miss migrating birds who have nested in their garden throughout the summer only to leave as the nights draw in. [what the f*** are you on? - ed.]




I feel that if you have time to have 6-pack abs then there’s a long list of other things I’d like to see you focus on too, says Mr Pudge Man. Thing is, sir, there is literally nothing I would rather she focus on, because there is literally nothing I can imagine that would be sexier than waking up next to a woman with a sexy 6-pack.



Except waking up next to two of them. Or an 8-pack. Or two.

You take my point.



Sir, you are most welcome to the pudge.

2017 Hot and Hard 100 voting - 9 days left.