The A-Z of HUGE
D is for...
The "DARK SIDE"
The deviant world of muscle worship sprung into the limelight 10 years ago through TV documentaries such as ‘Muscle Worship - Hidden Lives’, ‘Super-Size She’ and Louis Theroux’s ‘Weird Weekends’. At the same time, the subculture has flourished on the internet through blogs and websites dedicated to muscle goddesses, pictures and DVD sales and webcams, argued to provide female bodybuilders with the necessary income to survive... Are female bodybuilders simply sexual commodities to satisfy male fantasies? Or, can muscle worship celebrations be positive self–affirmations for these women, which at the same time subvert traditional notions of gender?
Tanya Bunsell, Strong and Hard Women
Some people argue that it’s bringing bodybuilding into disrepute. As far as I’m concerned, it’s putting bodybuilding on a pedestal, making it available to people who would never consider attending an actual show. It’s a huge industry, and it allows me to spend 99% of my time totally focused on my career. The IFBB would probably have less of a problem with it if they were making money from it themselves.
Lisa Cross
The thrills are just knowing how turned on your body is making somebody else, having your body and your muscles appreciated for what they are, being the one who is in control and has the power over the other person... Most of my sessions have been incredibly sexual, both as an intense form of foreplay before more happened, and also where the worship has been the sex, or taken the place of actual sex. It’s often times a more intense sexual experience than the actual sex itself.
Anonymous, quoted in Strong and Hard Women
DAYANA
Lately, I've been more and more impressed with Dayana Cadeau. Dayana has the most sensuous and voluptuous physique in bodybuilding, as well as one of the most beautiful faces. The only problem I've had is getting my photos of Dayana published in magazines. She has such tremendous fullness to her muscles that people tend to think she is much bigger than she is, which tends to turn off publishers and art directors. However, at the 2003 Ms. Olympia Dayana was only 127lbs., if you can believe it. So although she is getting the kind of recognition she deserves from the judges, I think she's still a bit "too good" for the publications.
Bill Dobbins
In the days when there were weight classes, Dayana - as the above quote illustrates - seemed to be the biggest lightweight bodybuilder of them all. And the most successful. Dayana won the Lightweight class at two Ms Internationals and one Ms Olympia. Even after the different classes were done away with, she was twice Ms International runner-up and twice Ms Olympia runner-up, beaten only by Iris Kyle every time.
When people see me in the street they love my physique and find me attractive - both men and women. People can see that "WOW! Those women have muscles but they are beautiful as well" and that's why Bill Dobbins kept using me as an example for women's bodybuilding being sexy, sensual and pretty AND with nice muscle.
Dayana Cadeau
and DELTS
The deltoid muscle is the muscle forming the rounded contour of the shoulder. The deltoid originates in three distinct sets of fibres, often referred to as "heads". The anterior or clavicular fibres arise from most of the anterior border and upper surface of the lateral third of the clavicle. The anterior origin lies adjacent to the lateral fibres of the pectoralis major muscle as do the end tendons of both muscles. These muscle fibres are closely related and only a small chiasmatic space, through which the cephalic vein passes, prevents the two muscles from forming a continuous muscle mass. The anterior deltoid are commonly called "front delts" for short. Lateral or acromial fibres arise from the superior surface of the acromion process of the scapula. They are commonly called lateral deltoid. This muscle is also called middle delts, outer delts, or "side delts" for short. Posterior or spinal fibres arise from the lower lip of the posterior border of the spine of the scapula are commonly called posterior deltoid or rear deltoid ("rear delts" for short).
Wikipedia
We all know what a great pair of shoulders looks like, but whereas when I was sourcing images for Biceps or Back my biggest problem was which images to choose from the (literally) thousands on offer, with Delts the problem has been finding images that "just" focus on the shoulders. Often the best shoulder pictures are those where the shoulders are unflexed and your muscle goddess is in a tank top or tube top or hot little black dress, rather like this recently posted one of gorgeous Lisa Giesbrecht. Otherwise, images of great shoulders tend to also be images of great arms, and/or a great back as well, and it's images like these that in the end have made the final cut.
And that is probably as it should be. As the very pinnacle of the V-taper so beloved of FBBs, judges and fans alike, the shoulders have a lot of responsibility, aesthetically-speaking, but it's always a case of the sum of the shoulders and the other parts. There's no compulsory pose just for the shoulders themselves, but without great shoulders her lat spread or side triceps or side chest or double biceps won't amount to much.
So there's an argument that the shoulders are perhaps the most important muscles of them all, framing the rest of the physique - or at least the upper body anyway. Curious then that as well as not having their own pose, I rarely recall seeing a shoulder "measurement". We all like to read many inches her biceps are, how big her chest is, her quads and her calves are, and how tiny her waist. And the tape measure certainly gets strung across her lats, but for some reason, not across her shoulders.
Again, sorry if I have glaringly omitted a favourite FBB of yours, or an aspect of the female muscle lovin' experience. I was a bit pushed for time on this one, but as I said in the intro, this is intended to be a work that can be updated ad infinitum. So, if you've any suggestions for future updates or the next letter in the alphabet - fairly obviously it's "E" - please comment below or email 6ft1swell@gmail.com
The A-Z of HUGE will return soon.
Enjoy!
