Saturday, 16 January 2016

From Russia Enhanced: Natalya Goes Pro

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Natalya's pro card, signed by Manion and everything

Wow, wrote the very tall Maria Wattel on new IFBB pro Natalya's Facebook.

How did you qualify for the pro card?

I doubt it's a loaded question, not "How did you qualify?" but a genuine enquiry from an amateur keen to become a pro herself. I'll come to the Arnold Classic Europe hoping to qualify, Maria adds hopefully, putting her faith in the more conventional, traditional route of winning a top level international competition first.

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Now I don't want anyone to get the impression that we don't adore Natalya here at FMS. We do, and we are genuinely delighted she's going to be a pro this year. I mean, look at her. Look at her towering over that poor fella there, at her knowing smile (a smile we know so well) as she checks him/herself out in the mirror. So ALPHA.

The pic might well have the same caption as another post of Natalya's does.

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But you don't get to be a pro for being able to make all the boys go weak at the knees and break out in a cold sweat, nor for breaking the thermostat in every gym you walk into simply through the heat your big muscle sexy body emits. As far as I know, anyway. They are definitely a massive bonus for us fans but I don't recall pro cards ever having been handed out just for having these kinds of superpowers before.

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Natalya does seem to have that little bit more female muscle superpower than most, or at least that's the impression I get - and I'm not the only one feeling that superpower. There is no one place that your eye can settle on when you look at her, writes one overwhelmed fan. Her hair, her eyes, her breasts, her arms, her abs, her attitude. It's an accomplishment when a model does more than simply creating beautiful muscle but also manifests an unusual and unique image overall. She's done that.

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And she seems to be that little bit more aware of her own power, of the effect she has on us poor, overwhelmed slaves to the religion. It's there in what our fan above referred to as her "attitude", it's there in the smirk as she towers over the little fella in the gym pic, it's there when on a whim she runs her own Facebook competition and makes the first prize is a free fifteen-minute Skype session with the goddess herself.

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I'm quite sure she's not the only female bodybuilder who knows what she does to us, but Natalya is definitely one of those who wants us to know she knows. On her VK page there's plenty of fan art of Natalya in all kinds of styles and with Natalya in all kinds of guises, but she also posts plenty of other female muscle art, and her choices suggest she revels in her big muscle sexy otherness, her female muscle superpowers.

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Fan favourites are not always the most successful when it comes to competition though. And when Natalya last competed, she was so displeased with the judges that she got herself suspended from whatever federation it was. After the results had been announced and the trophies, medals and flowers handed out, as the other competitors did the usual post-awards poses, Natalya just left the stage leaving her trophy on it.

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Or, in another version of the story I've read, she actually kind of "threw down" or "dropped" her trophy in front of the judges as she left. There may be footage of this somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it, so I can't be sure exactly what happened, but whichever version of the tale you want to go with, it's hardly the kind of on stage behaviour the IFBB usually rewards by inviting the culprit into the pro ranks.

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Maybe Manion really really dislikes the federation Natalya was suspended from and wanted to cock a snook at them. Maybe he's just a really big fan. Maybe Manion and the IFBB see in Natalya the same star quality we (and she) see and he just wants to get as much of that star quality into female bodybuilding as he can, in order to "save" it...

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OK, not that any of those reasons are very likely, but that last one is really unlikely, I grant you, even though it would be the best reason for awarding a pro card ever!

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There may be no footage of the controversy, but there is footage of both Natalia's routine and the final comparisons and posedown. Trust me, your eye won't know where to look. And when you've rehydrated, I can't recommend this diamond eight minutes of Natalya flexing from the mighty watatiwatatio's channel highly enough.

Again, your eye may struggle to focus.



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Friday, 15 January 2016

From Russia Enhanced: A Terrible Force?

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At any international amateur contest in Europe these days, the chances are that you will find at least one Russian beauty (sometimes two) on the podium in many of the classes. And as far as I can tell from my less than comprehensive survey of recent competitions, this seems to be especially true in the Bodyfitness (ie. Figure) classes.

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Anyone else think she's a dead ringer for Agnetha from ABBA?

One woman who has been impressing the IFBB judges since around 2012 (according to my less than exhaustive research) is Moscow's Elena Kirschnina, who, with a progressively more and more refined look and those long long legs of hers, achieved top 3 finishes at the Europeans and Worlds, and at the Arnold Classic Europe.

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But it was last year that Elena finally got to stand on the top of the podium. At the Olympia Amateur Spain, held in June in Malaga, she took the Tall Class and Overall Bodyfitness titles and with them became Russia's latest IFBB Figure pro.

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I'd been working hard every day for so long to have that one perfect moment in time, she told her (17,000+) Instagram followers after her win. The buzz was unreal.

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And Elena hasn't hung around in putting that pro card to use. In October she made her debut in Finland at the Nordic Pro, where she finished a creditable 5th in a field of 15 women, and the following month she was in San Marino, where she finished 7th.

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Training just before and backstage at the 2015 San Marino Pro

Meanwhile, Elena has also been coaching some of the next wave of Russian Bodyfitness Queens (she calls them "my girls"), passing on her knowledge and expertise just as Nelli Tsyshkevich, "my Bodyfitness godmother mother", did for her.

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This season, she reckons, her charges have three wins, one second place, a fourth place and two sixth places. But her reward as a coach is not only from contest placings. The thrill, she says, comes when they realize that they can sculpt themselves and their own bodies. A woman who knows what she wants is a terrible force.

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Makes me think about an army of Russian Bodyfitness babes in their posing suits and heels, their blond, Amazonian leader showing them the way as they sashay their way across Europe, conquering all by the sheer force of their muscle sexiness...

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Doesn't seem so terrible, does it?

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Elena's on Facebook and Instagram, and has an excellent YouTube channel with training clips and footage from some of her shows last year. She's currently (time of writing) not very well, so you might want to add to all the get well wishes.

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Bodyfitness/Figure competitors: never flexing on stage, always flexing off it!

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Thursday, 14 January 2016

The Russian Horde Hoard

hoard /hɔːd / noun a "wealth deposit", a collection of valuable objects or artefacts

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Ludmila Tuboltseva

Today, FMS opens up its hoard of Russian female muscle old and new.

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Olga Tupisyna - the Russian Laura Madge?!

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Beautiful Natalya Yariz

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Nastya Goveeva

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Marina Alf, Maria Stukova, Evgenia Vasilyeva

RUSSIA IN MOTION #1
Daria Diossi WFF Universe 2015



Yes, she won. And the NABBA Universe (see FMS passim).

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Anastasia Motorina, Olga Shestoperova

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Queen of Fitness Oksana Grishina

And next, the face (and body) that launched a thousand "Barbie is a beast" stories!

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Julia Vins (see also previously on FMS).

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Yulia Ushakova

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Ekateina Gamagina - yes, that's her back!

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Irina Mishina aka Irina Veselova

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IFBB pro Olga Puzanova

RUSSIA IN MOTION #2
Elena Shportun IFBB Worlds 2006

One of our most valuable Russian artefacts. Pure female muscle gold.



More of Elena's ever memorable performances can be found here, here and here.

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Elena Volkova

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Always had a soft (/hard) spot for Nelli Tsyshkevich

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Prime Russian female muscle beefcake Liudmila "Oh my Goshko!" Goshko and those astonishing pecs of hers, as seen last year at the EBBF European Championships.

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Beautiful (I may have used that adjective before today) Olga Belyakova

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Yulia Kalinova - now that is ripped!

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Russia's got Bodyfitness with the stunning Antonina Lazukova, the very perky Lyudmila Nikitina, and the obviously rather excitable Natasha Markelova.

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The mighty Alevtina Goroskinskaya

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Say hello to Lyubov Dreskova, I'm sure we'll be seeing her again.

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And for our last muscle beauty in pictures, probably my favourite Russian - despite the fierce competition - the former NABBA Ms Universe, MIA since her (one and only?) Physique appearance at the Arnold Europe a couple of years ago. It's the magnificence of Maria Bulatova (formerly known as Maria Kuzmina). *SWOOOON!*

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But we leave you today with some immortal muscle sexiness.

RUSSIA IN MOTION #3
Victoria Zabourdieva NABBA Worlds 2002 & 2003



She finished lower in 2003 (4th) than she had in 2002 (3rd). Go figure!