A: They both finished outside the top 10 at a recent IFBB pro contest.
The point I want to make though [and you're making it rather clumsily if I may say so - ed.] is the standard of conditioning necessary to take some of the paltry prize money in IFBB Figure shows now is insane. And, even better, the level of muscularity acceptable, even desirable in the division seems to be on the up too.
To my eyes at least.
While first FBBing and now, apparently, Physique competitors suffer the ramifications of "not-so-much-muscle-please-we're-the-IFBB" policing, the Figure ideal - embodied by the women taking top prizes at top shows - seems to be getting bigger and bigger and more and more ripped. And to prove my point - and perhaps also have the fact I am not dreaming about this confirmed in the process - here are just some of the swoonworthy Figure ladies from recent pro shows in Vancouver and Los Angeles.
BODACIOUS BOJANA
Winner in Vancouver was the always impressive Bojana Vasiljevic.
And for those still under the illusion that Figure - especially pro Figure - competitors really aren't all that muscular, ask yourself how many women you've ever seen down your local gym with abs and shoulders and arms all covered in veins like Bojana's. Ask yourself - if she did miraculously appear there - whether you really would hardly notice her, wishing there were some real FBBs at Fitness First Basildon...
So much beautifully conditioned muscle on that petite frame had proved good enough for judges in Los Angeles last year, and proved good enough for the 2018 Vancouver judges too. So this was Bojana's second pro title, and she'll be back at the Olympia for a third consecutive year in September, hoping to improve on her 2017 10th place.
PERFECT PARTS
Also from Vancouver, the superior legs of 9th place Catherine Lavoie and 6th place Martina Yebekova. Incredible, thrilling muscular development and definition.
MUSCLE BEAUTIES
When muscle women look like models...
It's always good. And especially so when they flex with such glee. "Yeah, I could have been a regular model, but I wanted MUSCLES!" they say (in my imagination).
Two such beauties graced the stage in Los Angeles - classy 2018 Hot and Hard 100 debutant Tonya Wheatfall (9th), and the statuesque Dallas McCormick (8th).
MMMMELISSA
Two women appeared at both the Vancouver and LA shows, the first we'll drool over today is Canadian beauty Melissa Bumstead. I thought she looked sensational in coming 4th at the former show, but a couple of weeks (and apparently several applications of pro tan) later in LA, Melissa turned the muscle sexy up to 11.
And she was rewarded with her second 2nd place of the season.
She's already promising to be even better in Tampa this weekend, which could be bad news for my ticker. Hopefully in Tampa there will be some cleaner mirrors...
PERFECT PARTS
Also doing well in LA was veteran Julie Mayer, whose 3rd place was as good as any placing she's had over the last few years. Amazing, sculpted, muscular legs were just about her standout feature but by no means the only thing she has going for her.
She made sure the judges got a very good look at them too, both from the front, the rear and side on. I do love the bit where they stride forward, their mighty (yeah, mighty) quads rippling and popping in their heels. There may not be a whole lot of "poses" in Figure, but to think that means there isn't any flexing going on is a mistake.
MUSCLE BEAUTIES
Azaria Glaim (right) and Maggie Watson go about their muscle and beauty businesses pretty much the same way these days, although that was not always the case. Once upon a time, you may recall, Azaria, known first as Crimson Rose then as Brooke Black, had a very lucrative career as a very naughty cam performer. Maggie, meanwhile, is a former WBFF Figure model whose past was all about the kind of not-very-muscular (and less lucrative) modelling on the fringes of the mainstream.
Their journeys took them both to the same place at the start of July though, their (very different styles of) beauty shining on the Vancouver stage. The (younger) Azaria (7th) finished a place above Maggie, who has really packed on the muscle over the last year.
BRAZILIAN THUNDER
Spot the difference?
Is it just the quality of the on stage lighting or some difference with the photography? Or was Brazilian Figure phenom Michele Da Silva Pinto - as we saw with Melissa Bumstead earlier - really just a whole lot darker and a whole lot bigger AND a whole lot more pumped, vascular and shredded in LA than she had been in Vancouver?
The - some would say inevitable - Brazilian takeover has already started happening in the Physique division. Michele, meanwhile, is leading the way with the Figure takeover now. Runner-up in Vancouver and the Winner in LA off the back of a 3rd at the Arnolds earlier in the season, and bigger and better every time, this year Michele could well be a threat to the usual Figure suspects at the Olympia. And she does like a proper pose.
"Only" Figure? Watch this.
Is Michele most likely to follow Shanique Grant and Natalia Coelho into Physique? Some of these Phenoms - Michele very much included - might have to think about dropping a bit of muscle mass and/or definition if they "step up" to the WPD!
Enjoy!
