Check out the dude on the crosstrainer. Imagine it's you. She's coming towards you. How would you feel? Every booming step is bringing her closer. Your heart pounds in your chest. You're light-headed. You can't look away but your eyes can't focus on any particular piece of her massive, muscular body. The rush of The Madness comes so strong you nearly pass out and a tiny, breathless moan escapes from your mouth...
These are not easy times for European female bodybuilders. Unless your pal Alina Popa is getting you a guest posing slot at a US pro show and lobbying for you to be awarded your pro card, your options are extremely limited with your division completely removed from amateur IFBB contests such as the World Championships. A handful continue to compete within the NABBA/WFF federations at the few shows where they are welcomed, and then there are the local, national and international shows organised within the IBFA umbrella where they might find themselves competing against - if they're lucky - one or maybe two other women.
It's no surprise then that many have instead chosen to compete within the burgeoning Physique division, and some, as we recently saw on FMS, are enjoying great success, but for others, it's not going quite so well, and I'd definitely count the size-obsessed Greek powerhouse Vasiliki "Vaso" Dimitraki among the less fortunate.
Or too big the world of Greek Physique competition anyway!
The gorgeous Tereza Pantela, winning for the second consecutive year, was well worth the trophy at the recent Greek Championships - an IFBB affiliated show. I'm not about to argue with the placings, just point out that Vaso despite (in my inexpert opinion anyway) being in by far the best shape of her life, found herself up against more judging-criteria-friendly physiques and consequently didn't make the top 3.
And it's not that she is just stubbornly refusing to fit in. There's no sour grapes from Vaso, nor any self-pity. She said afterwards she had "felt honoured" to be on stage with her Greek muscle sisters, and thanking her coach she spoke of the "spectacular" improvements she felt she had made during this preparation, how she had "bled and sweated". And she remains optimistic about her chances in the future. I don't stop here, she says. I keep working and the next time it will be totally different!
The news that Vaso is so looking forward to her next Physique outing will hardly come as a cause for celebration for those fans for whom size matters though. Here is (yet) another woman reining in her exciting mass potential.
In April, a cammer reported that she looks incredible right now, amazingly thick with muscle, traps and neck are up there with Oana as the best in the sport, I think. Granted, said cammer may have still been "coming down" and perhaps was a little over-excited when he said that... But then again, perhaps he was absolutely spot on!
Point is, he said it. And his effusive praise for Baso is by no means the only example you can find on the forums. A Greek goddess, [she] honestly looks like she just strutted down from the top of Mount Olympus. She could be one of the Great Ones.
Again, perhaps our Vaso fans are getting a bit carried away, but let's say they are right. She's still young, she's got time on her side, let's say she is going to blossom and grow into one of the great FBBs one day. First of all, she's going to have to turn herself into a top Physique competitor, a great one even. It's the only choice those who govern her sport still give her and other would-be European FBBs. In fact, it's no choice at all.
I might be feeling sorry for her, and you might too. But rather than ending today's post on a downer, we'll give the last word to Vaso and a more positive, defiant note, a timely reminder that no matter what anyone else does, ultimately female bodybuilding will continue as long as there are women who want to be female bodybuilders.
A good life is when you smile often, dream big and realize how blessed you are! Don't let anyone belittle your ambitions. Get out there and dominate everything you do. Work hard in silence, then make your f*cking noise through success!
It was while browsing through some candid/backstage photos from this year's New York Pro that I came across the vision of feminine muscular beauty below.
Certainly not a woman whose backward about putting the results of all her hard work on display, I thought to myself. But who, I wondered, is she?
Pauline Nelson, it turns out, was once upon a time (and for some years), the training partner of none other than Kai Greene. She made something of a splash a few years ago when she won the 2013 NPC Eastern USA Masters and Overall titles, not so much because she'd beaten only a handful of other FBBs on that day, more because of just how great she had looked while doing it. How "professional", you might say.
At some point between then and now, Pauline had been awarded that pro card but rather than compete, she'd focused on the competitive goals of other bodybuilders (male and female), apparently with much success. And now here she was at the New York Pro. Just visiting. And getting more than her share of attention in that outfit.
She'd certainly got my attention.
And just a couple of weeks after the New York Pro, Pauline turned up again in a very different, but equally stunning and revealing outfit at the NPC Atlantic States.
WOW!
Iris Kyle was hanging around there too. Now I know Iris is making a comeback this year, or at least that was what she announced a little while ago. So perhaps Iris is not in her biggest off-season shape, but even so, next to Pauline she does look somewhat... How to put it? "Lightweight"?!
The arms... the shoulders...
I'll say it again. WOW!
Pauline is on Instagram. Her own hardcore training, her high-achieving clients, and many many more exciting examples of Pauline's evening wear collection await.
You might also like to check out Gennifer Strobo's post-show interview with her after her 2013 Eastern USA triumph. For fans of sexy Caribbean lilts it's a must!
And so smug about it, so pleased with his "wit", his "H-E-R not H-I-M" s**t.
I get mostly positive feedback from people, says Robin "Triple Dee" Hillis. Young, old, male or female - people will stop me and ask me how I got my biceps like that or how much time I spend in the gym etc. They always tell me how great I look and how they wish they could do it! Very few negative comments.
There are a lot of people who stare though. But is that negative? I would like to think they are admiring from afar and just don't have the confidence to come up and ask me questions.
I reckon I'd be one of the starers. Hypnotised, rushing, moving to get a better view perhaps, but to all intents and purposes zombified by The Madness. Incapable of forming anything remotely resembling a question, incapable of uttering anything remotely resembling a word in the English language, which at least sets me apart from our smug videographer - and isn't his camerawork s**t by the way - although from Robin's point of view, I guess we'd both fall into the starer category.
Most recently, Robin was towering over the other big girls in Toronto at her first professional show. That's Cathy Lefrançois there next to her, wonderful glutes and all. And there is Robin's elbow, near as dammit the same height as the top of Cathy's head. And here's the two of them again, Cathy looking decidedly tempted by Robin's muscle pit, or at the very least mulling over the fact that she could remain at full height and still comfortably snuggle her whole head in there.
You'd bet she was 6ft plus, wouldn't you? I'd say 6'1" at least, even taller then me in her girly girl heels. But the fact is she's 5'9". Tall for a woman, yes, and definitely tall for a top female bodybuilder, but not nearly as Amazonian as you'd imagine. Guess she walks tall, as they say.
Robin had always been sporty at school. The transformation, though, truly began in her final year. I had to do a project in health class, she says. I picked the topic Bodybuilding and focused on Cory Everson. I immediately joined a gym and have never looked back. I have been steadily training since I was 18 years old.
She competed first in 1993 and didn't compete again until ten years' later, then she had another break between 2005 and 2010. She's now 45, proudly wearing the scars of motherhood on stage, finally a pro after winning the Canadian championships in 2014 at her fourth attempt. The years of steady training have created a physique described by one forum poster as "a dream for every hardcore female muscle fan". And make no mistake, there are plenty of those.
Perfection, according to Robin, is something we all aim for, knowing we will never attain it. But her "stable of adoring fans" might disagree. They call her "incredible", they call her "unreal". Nobody fills out a shirt better, they say. She is an "animal", a "female beast" - and they mean it in a good way. She is a "true Alpha", a "real life Amazon".
For every onlooker with a cameraphone and a shaky hand making snide comments about Robin's gender then, there is, I would bet, at least one of me, utterly awestruck and overwhelmed by this vision of muscular female beauty. I probably needn't be so nervous. None of us starers should. Those lucky enough to have met her report she is "super sweet", that she has "an amazing, down-to-earth personality", and on top of that, that she is ultra-feminine.
People automatically assume that we want to be masculine cause we lift weights, Robin says. I am a girly girl and happen to think muscle is sexy. I love the lines and shape it gives us bodybuilders. And that is exactly what I've always loved about female bodybuilders too, and clearly I am not alone in that.
With her size, Robin certainly has more lines and shape, and consequently, more devoted fans than most. And that - in a nutshell - is precisely why size matters.
Last month FMS reported that Oana Hreapca was working towards an appearance at the Omaha Pro (see Hot and Hard 100 Countdown 10-1). She was not, as was rumoured, preparing to compete, but to perform as a Guest Poser. The idea, supported by Wings of Strength and championed by Alina Popa was, according to Alina, to get more exposure for the judges to European physiques now that there are no more pro qualifying shows organized in Europe for female bodybuilders. And ultimately the hope is that Elena can get her pro card and compete in the US.
Now, owing to the fact that I compile these posts in advance - just over a week before you're going to read it - from my point of view, the Omaha Pro takes place "next weekend". From your point of view though, it's already happened.
Professor Stephen Hawking, sadly, was unavailable for comment, but I believe that what we have here is nothing less than a time warp!
Here's all twenty of the preview pics they have put up to tempt you to part with your hard-earned. To be honest, one would probably have sufficed (for me the one where she's hitting the most muscular) but I sure am glad they decided to use so many!
And here's the preview.
Pace yourself now...
News of Oana's guest posing routine in Omaha will be right here on FMS soon.
Though you'll probably have seen it already by then.
