Around the World: Singapore

Around the World will be an occasional series celebrating the female bodybuilders of a particular country, and examining any issues peculiar to muscle women there.



FMS is only aware of two female bodybuilders from the city-state of Singapore,
Joan Liew and Melissa Wee. Today, we bring you recent news of both.

Firstly, congratulations are due to Joan, who won the Tall Physique class at the Arnold Amateur in March. I went there with the intention to win, she said. I came in second last year [as a heavyweight bodybuilder] by one point, so I changed my training and fine-tuned my weaknesses. As an athlete, you have to improve every year.


Bodybuilding: Pumping up at the Arnold 2013

For "the first lady of Singapore bodybuilding" - and the only Asian competitor at the Arnold Amateur - the win is the high point of a journey that has included four Asian bodybuilding titles. During the competition I was very calm and did not feel nervous at all. After the win, I must say I was very happy and also rather emotional, because this award is truly special to me. I have worked 20 years to get it.


Physique: Posing at the Arnold 2014

As far as we know here at FMS, Joan Liew is Singapore's most successful ever athlete, in any sport. But despite that success, she recently told Yahoo Sports Singapore of the total indifference of her country's sporting administrators towards her. I hear about sports excellence all the time. The Singapore Sports Council know who I am, I get a fair share of coverage. I’m not even asking for money. I’d appreciate some form of congratulatory message. I’m putting Singapore’s name on the international scene, at the highest level of competition. A simple message would do, she says.



On the one hand, that's hardly surprising. Where in the world do national sporting bodies give recognition to successful female bodybuilders? Certainly not here in the UK, and probably not in your country either, dear reader. On the other hand, you'd expect a small nation where so few sportsmen and women achieve international success to celebrate every international champion they have.



Nevertheless, the lack of official acknowledgement from within Singapore is not going to stop a woman like Joan. She was already so dedicated to the sport as a teenager that she actually chose which junior college to attend based on their gym facilities - and once there she trained daily and, at the school's request, also spent time whipping into shape some of the more obese students before they started their National Service (so she had already served her country in one sense before she'd even competed!)



These days the clients at the gym she co-owns with her bodybuilding mentor of those 20 years pay her to whip them into shape, though male clients do sometimes have what she calls weird requests for a bit of muscle worship. Not her thing, apparently.



Nor is settling down and getting married like her mother says she should. It almost beggars belief, but the very gorgeous Joan remains single, despite having plenty of admirers from all over the world. Her focus remains very much on spreading the weight training gospel. Women should take control of their own bodies, keep it healthy with bodybuilding, exercising regularly and a good nutrition plan, she says. When you look good, you feel good, and that is a great boost to a woman's self-confidence. Imagine the self-confidence of a woman who looks as good as Joan does!



And in another part of Singapore, Melissa Wee (FMS readers' favourite Singaporean - see Hot and Hard 100 #66) has been preparing to compete overseas for the first time.



Melissa's been having some relationship stuff to deal with in recent weeks (I'm not going into any details, but it's all out there on her Instagram and Facebook pages) so the contest prep has been something of a blessing to take her mind off her problems. It has been a pretty rough week for me. I kept myself distracted by making a lot of plans for my trip to California. I have taken a few big steps forward. 1) I signed up and paid for my competition in LA. 2) I booked & paid for my photo shoot with Natalie Minh for post contest. 3) I booked and paid for my apartment in LA where I'll be staying for 18 days before driving to Vegas. I'm really excited and I can't wait to be in the US. I really need the time to get away and this is the perfect opportunity!



That Melissa already enjoys a sizeable fan base despite never having ventured overseas to compete suggests that she won't be short of offers (either professional or personal) in the next couple of months. The Singapore Sports Council may soon find they have another internationally successful amateur female bodybuilder to ignore!



Enjoy!

Back Is Beautiful: Freaky Fantasy Favourites

For our final offering of Back Is Beautiful week, a selection of favourites, a little bit of fantasy, and (everybody's favourite) some proper female muscle freakiness.


No, I'm not the biggest fan of "excessive" tattoos (although it is nice of her to wear a reminder of what I should be doing more of) but yes, I want to cup her lats in my hands and give them a good squeeze to see if they are as hard and sexy as they look.


If I could have my "give a back massage to the Crossitter of your choice" wish right now, hot (and sweaty) Danielle Sidell would be the only name on the shortlist.

FREAKY!

Anne Freitas' rightly famous "Christmas tree" erector spinae (that's spinal erector muscles to you and me). Also known as "those abs things in your lower back".


Back is most definitely beautiful. The genetically-gifted Nancy Lewis (left) and Desiree Ellis display the results of their hard work (and more besides).


Emily Ingram, an NPC Physique competitor from Georgia (and mother of four) needs a better camera and could probably break your fingers with her rhomboids.

FREAKY!

Yep, I'm calling freaky on Georgina McConnell. Not because her back is freaky like Freitas-freaky (although if she keeps going as she has until now, that is going to be a very real possibility at some stage), but rather because of her incredible development for her age. The biggest and best 19-year-old back on the planet.


FMS favourite Danielle Reardon (see Hot and Hard 100 #32) puts the muscle into the physique class with her back in this nicely-lit (I wonder if by accident or design?) shot taken in the countdown to her recent revelatory appearance in St. Louis.

FREAKY!

When Ruthie Lucchesi (left) and Jacqueline "Jay" Fuchs spread their lats, they stay spread [eh? - ed.]. Jay's latissimus dorsi, in particular, seem to go on forever, and make her waist look absolutely tiny in comparison. Freaky and very very sexy.


Athena Signakis' back seems to be pure muscle with a thin layer of skin over it. A living anatomical sculpture. And one I can quite easily picture myself attempting to massage, attempting because I press as hard as I can but can't make any impact on those slabs of granite (and meanwhile Athena lies there, feeling nothing and wondering whether I've started yet). And if you can pull your eyes away from that magnificent sight for a moment, check out Aleesha Young and what I can only describe as her "lat overhang". Mouth-watering female muscle meat right there.

FANTASY!

Pure fantasy. Shredded contest-ready (and tanned up) backs just waiting for you to warm up your hands and apply that oil. And make sure you don't miss any of those little crevices between her bulging muscles. Get your fingers right in there. I'm feeling light-headed just thinking about it. The pleasure of actually doing it would no doubt leave me in need of some resuscitation. From the top: Karina Nascimento, marvellous Mindy O'Brien, and I don't know but feel I should. Please, if you do know whose succulent back this is, comment below, or email 6ft1swell@gmail.com.

SUPER FREAKY!

Maria Rita Penteado and the only erector spinae I know of that make Anne Freitas want to "work harder on the lower back". Abs on the back. Incredible. I mean, how do you even flex them? Nothing happens when I do it. Try it for yourself!

OK, then. One more...



Enjoy!

Back Is Beautiful: Brigita's Beautiful Back

I was going to call this post "Brezovac's Back", but given that Brigita retired from competitive bodybuilding after the Ms Olympia last year, I thought that might be slightly misleading and make some of you think she'd changed her mind. Sadly, she's not "back", but this little tribute is going to showcase her beautiful back.



Slovenia's greatest export (can you think of another?) started lifting weights at the age of 14 as part of her training for karate. In that time I lived only for karate and practising with weights which brought me very good results, I was national champion... for few years competing up to 116lbs and my body looked amazing.



Her inspiration was a picture of Cory Everson that she saw at her then boyfriend's garage gym. I immediately knew I wanted to build the body she had, she has said. That meant first moving from karate to fitness, but then in 2004, she was told by judges at the IBFA World Championships she could not compete in fitness, and was forcibly moved to the bodybuilding category. She won the title.



And over the next few years she won a few other titles competing in a variety of federations. In 2005, IBFA European Champion. In 2006 she defended that title successfully, and also won the NAC Universe, the IBFA Worlds (again), and the oddly-named WPF World-Universe title. In 2007, she was NAC Universe champion again.



The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was to find a way to compete in IFBB federation. Our country didn't care about the IFBB and finally I managed to pull things together with the big help of Balkan IFBB president, Nenad Vuckovic and then represent my country at World Women's Championship 2009. Well, well done Mr Vuckovic (there I go again congratulating an IFBB man - see Lisa Cross IFBB Pro).



Brigita didn't win the title (Simone Linay of Germany did), but she did get a pro card for the IFBB and arrived in Tampa in 2010 for her first pro show. She won. I just couldn't believe this is really happening for a long time after the show was over. I was working for that success for many years, keeping my biggest goal, step onto the sacred Ms Olympia stage. At the beginning of my career it was only the big dream which seemed almost impossible to reach. But we have to have our dreams and I believe if we work hard for them, one day they become reality.

top: Tampa 2010 & 2011; bottom: Olympia 2011 & 2012




After finishing 10th in that first Ms Olympia, Brigita returned the following year with a 3rd place in Tampa and a win in Toronto under her belt. She came 3rd, the highest placing by a European since Marja Lehtonen had finished 3rd in the lightweight class in 2004. In 2012 she was 6th at the Ms International, 5th at the Olympia, and in 2013 she was 4th at the Ms I, and 5th again at the Ms O.

top: Ms International 2013; bottom: Ms Olympia 2013



I love the way of life being a bodybuilder. I like the food and diet regime because I can always have my body under control, I like working out and I like that I'm different from the average person. But Brigita, what do you enjoy most about being a top female bodybuilder? If I tell you the truth, the thing I most enjoy is the attention.



Since retiring from competition, Brigita has become an IFBB judge. And she has been passing on her knowledge and experience to others. Does anybody have a better job than me? she recently tweeted with a pic showing her putting three shirtless men through their posing practice paces. All in good shape, they look tiny next to her.



Finally, Brigita battering that big and beautiful back of hers...



More Brigita via Twitter, her website, and her excellent (and often updated - if you are a fan of candids, you will love it) blog. Another (longer but lower quality) clip of Brigita training her back from 2011 here, and an interesting compilation Brigita Brezovac Over the Years, which includes all sorts of things, including snippets of an interview.

Enjoy!

[More Brigita on FMS passim]

Back Is Beautiful: My Wife the FMG?!

You might be lucky enough to live in California, Brazil, Rochdale, or another as yet unidentified female muscle hotspot, but for those of us who don't, the chances of running into a female bodybuilder in the course of our daily lives are pretty slim. And the chances of turning that unlikely meeting into a lasting relationship are even slimmer. Should the female muscle head hold out for that one in a million chance, or should he get on with his life and find love with a woman who isn't his highly muscular physical ideal but who nevertheless ticks plenty of his other boxes?

It seems that most, myself included, take the latter course.



Where does that course lead? Well, speaking for myself, it leads to spending a lot of time wondering how to get my slim, somewhat toned wife to take up weight training. Or, more accurately, how to get her to start putting some muscle onto that (already sexy) frame of hers and making all my female muscle dreams come true.



This may or may not sound familiar to you, but I'm betting it does. It's a topic that comes up again and again on the forums, and the perceived wisdom is that, first and foremost, if you want your woman to work out, you need to work out. And you need to work out and get results too. The forums are full of the sob stories of those who sit on their sofa, point out to their significant others how hot muscular women are, and ask her why she doesn't try to look like that. They usually end with something like 'The relationship was never the same after that', or 'She left me'.

All the advice I and the rest of the FMS Research Team have unearthed about persuading your wife or girlfriend (or wife and girlfriend if that's the way you roll) to train with weights pretty much assumes that you train with weights yourself. It's a given. You shouldn't consider it to be 'step 1' so much as step zero.



There are, of course, no guarantees. You can drop all the hints you want about how attractive you think this or that fit woman is. You can do your amateur psychology and compliment her on her body and throw in something like 'Have you been sneaking off to the gym without telling me?' You can show her one of your female muscle DVDs (if you really think that's going to work). When all is said and done, your wife or your girlfriend is not going to start weight training until she decides she wants to.



And there is very little reason why she should, and very many reasons why she shouldn't. Not in the normal world. Virtually everything ever written in the mainstream media about exercising 'for women' sticks them in the cardio room with ankle weights, ready to pump-n-tone, one (particularly good) article from T Nation reminds us. That's why every article that does encourage women to train with weights reassures them it won't mean they'll lose their femininity.



I've been on step zero for years now. I've been working out for as long as my wife has known me. And to be honest, dear reader, I'd given up the ghost. She does yoga, she goes power walking. She's done pilates, zumba, combat cardio (once or twice), spinning, even a few sessions with clubs. Weights, never. And she's never shown any interest. And I was fine with that. But then, one evening a few weeks ago, we were both watching the World Indoor Athletics Championships.

WIFE: These women are like...

[pauses as she searches for the right word, I'm guessing 'beasts' or something]

ME: Like athletes?

WIFE: I was going to say magnificent.

At which point I was fucking speechless!



Seems that I'm suddenly, after all these years, at step 1. My wife has decided a bit of muscle is going to be good for her (I agree!) and, thorough as she is, she has been doing her research into how to go about it. And you can bet your ass I am being supportive. You've never seen anything so supportive. I have cancelled my gym membership because she wouldn't feel comfortable in my gym, and I have joined her "McDonald's style" gym so we can work out together. I have paid for six weeks of personal training with a trainer whose physique she has expressed her admiration for.

And I have even taken her shopping for gym wear, which was particularly great, not least because during that expedition my wife told me she thought the hot fit chick in the Pro Fitness poster in the shop had sexy abs. Yes!



I tell myself I shouldn't be getting too carried away because she may decide it's not for her, or worse still, she might start to develop her muscles and only then decide it's not for her. I am all over the advice columns to try to prevent this from happening, and they tell me if I provide some quality external motivation (being supportive, being complimentary), the chances of her internal motivation developing are higher. If she really does admire her trainer's physique that much, this will also help her catch the bug. If she can just make it a habit long enough to see some results, there's a better chance of her sticking with it and building some real muscle.

My wife, a future muscle goddess?! Stay tuned, dear reader. If this goes how I dream it goes, I promise I won't be able to shut up and stop writing about it. Wish me luck.



Enjoy!

Back Is Beautiful: Gif of the Week

Mesmeric muscle in motion from ShirtrippersX and the mighty Mmmonique Jones.

Elle est magnifique. Ou encore mieux, elle est Mmmonifique!