"The Rise of the Female Fitness Model"

We've had "The Rise of the Fit Over 50s", "Disordered Eating and The Rise Of The Competitive Fitness Model", and "The Rise of the Female Fitness Guru". Now it's...

THE RISE OF THE FEMALE FITNESS MODEL

Click on it. Don't worry, it's the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation!)

Interesting stuff.



The rise in UK gym membership in recent years has been well-documented, and has in no small measure been powered by the rise in the number of women working out at least four times a week - see "The Rise of the Protein Princess", and "How Women Fell in Love with Working Out and Fitness (Finally) Became Fashionable", for example.



Now, it seems, record numbers of women are competing as well.

At last year's UKBFF British Championships, for example, there were so many entrants in the Masters Bikini category that for the very first time the competitors were split into two height classes, and at the other end of the age scale a staggering (for the UK at least) 35 young ladies made up two Junior Bikini classes. There were over 50 T-walks for the judges to enjoy in the Open Bikini classes, and over 30 across two Bodyfitness (ie. Figure) classes. Even the Physique class, which has not always been blessed with a plethora of competitors in the past, had 20 women flexing off for the British title.



Numbers of female competitors are also up at NABBA events, and with more and more PCA events on the calendar as well, the opportunities for women to get truly ripped and show off their muscles in thongs and heels is also on the up and up it seems.

The internet is a powerful tool, says Olly Upton, COO of BodyPower, in the BBC clip. Social media, fitness professionals and celebrities who are pushing it...



Yes, but there's a world of difference between doing 4-5 days in the gym per week and actually prepping for a contest. Celebrities - some of whom we featured here on FMS not so long ago - might get women buying little weights in Argos, or get them to the gym, but kids don't want to be football players because they've seen their favourite celebrity having a kickabout, do they? If you want to explain why more and more women in the UK are actually getting covered in Liquid Sun Rayz and oil, surely the "fitness professionals" responsible are the women who actually compete already.




Women like Brittany Rhodes (see FMS passim) and 2016 NABBA and PCA British Athletic Figure champ Bethany Lord, both whom have over 12,000 Instagram followers. Connie Slyziut, UKBFF Junior Bodyfitness champion is just 20 and already experienced in international competition, and can boast a whopping 56,900 IG followers at the time of writing, while the not much older than Connie Kristina Vassilieva, as savvy as any at the social media game, has over 65,000.



Let's hear it for them and the (increasing number of) UK women who take it to competition level and inspire yet more to do the same. Absolutely amazing!!! exclaims a follower of Bethany's, well-placed, if her Instagram is anything to go by, to succeed on a stage before long. Such motivation to work hard every damn day!!!



And to keep working (and getting) harder and harder.

Stage: Part 2

[see Part 1 here if you missed it]



So, in my head, this is the view I would have.

Close enough to smell the oil. Close enough to hear her exhalations. Close enough to see individual muscle fibres twitching. Close enough, you might say, to feel the heat.

I'd be close enough (and centre enough) for her to see me.



She'd sense my excitement, revel in it. Her eyes would bore into mine, transporting me suddenly to a place where it was just her and me and every pose, every movement, every twitch of those muscle fibres was solely for my own personal pleasure.

In my head, the film plays out in exactly the HD detail familiar from years of pouring over contest galleries on FTVideo and the work of Igor Kopcek of Eastlabs fame.



Surprise, surprise!

But what's it really like to attend a show?

I'm not, it seems, the only head who's wondering. This, or a similar question, crops up more often than you might think on the forums and, again perhaps unexpectedly - especially on the forum whose first rule is... - those who regularly or irregularly do so are very candid about their experiences and generous with their advice.

There's good news and bad news.

THE BAD NEWS

1. The view you see in the photo galleries - that's the photographers' view.



And they don't share.

Photographers at contests can be massive douchebags. At this show 3 of them stacked multiple chairs to be higher up pretty much screwing up everyone's view in the audience. Sometimes they stand up and sit down like in a whack a mole game...

2. Potential cost.

With all of the most famous FBBs, the ones you really dream of seeing, competing exclusively in the US or nearby, your trip to the IFBB Pro League to make the dream come true will mean you have to part with a hefty chunk of moolah.



I'm from England and it's a shame that there's no pro contests in Europe we could more easily get to. I did some research last year after wondering about going [to the Rising Phoenix in Arizona] myself. I only got to the early stages because the cost was so high - not the event itself, but the cost of getting and staying there.

3. Atmosphere.

There's a couple of points here. The first is that on the whole, experiences shared on forums suggests that - at least at NPC/IFBB shows in the US - female classes often take place in front of very few people. The audience basically get up and leave when the women come on - and the bigger the women, the more the place empties. Now this may not be true of say, the Rising Phoenix or other shows which are exclusively for female competitors, and we'll be revisiting this when we start with the good news in a moment, but the downside is, according to some, that suddenly there is absolutely no atmosphere in the place and the ladies' divisions do their thing to almost total silence.

The second point is based on anecdotal evidence shared by an FMS reader who attended a regional NABBA show some years ago, back when NABBA still had a Physique (ie. Bodybuilding) category for women. The room was packed (and didn't empty when the women came on) but being alone, he managed to squeeze himself into a chair with a half-decent view. His excitement mounting, he sat through some male classes, hardly noticing the comments from those sitting near him. When the ladies did come on, though, and nearby spectators started voicing their displeasure, he felt somewhat isolated, not a little intimidated. I didn't dare clap even, though I wanted to jump up and down and shout encouragement and just go crazy, cos that's what I felt like doing! It totally ruined the experience to have to sit there in stony silence while these stupid meatheads around me took the piss. Afterwards I was angry about it, and ashamed of myself for not having the balls to show my appreciation.

THE GOOD NEWS

1. The place empties when the women come on.

The nice thing about prejudging is that you can sit a lot closer to the stage. The ladies of all divisions, other than Bikini maybe, at most shows compete at empty or near empty venues. About 70% of the room just get up and leave after the men.



Are the men always on first? I think not, but the point remains, if you do go to a show where the room does empty you are much more likely to get a better view and...

2. If you are on your own, the chances are you'll be able to meet other heads.



Lots of anecdotal evidence for this. If "70% of the room just get up and leave" that means whoever remains is more than likely only here for the muscle ladies. There was a guy in the same row a few chairs away from me and it was quite obvious he was feeling just as excited as me. We made eye contact, and hilariously he made this shocked face and mouthed "Oh my God!", meaning "Oh my God look at these women!". I mouthed back, "I KNOW!". We got talking after the show... had a great weekend together. Hooking up with a fellow fan just made the whole thing. Great experience.

You can fill in the ... yourself. What would you do if you hooked up with a fellow female muscle head far from home in a city where nobody knew you having just watched all the ladies divisions including four FBB classes at the 2012 NPC Nationals?

3. The competitors.

Quite apart from potentially seeing the contest from a pretty good vantage point, there's also the chance you might even be able to get up close and personal.The real opportunity at a contest is to say hi and ask for a pic as the competitors wander through the lobby, says one contest enthusiast. And if you think you are not in shape or good-looking or confident enough, let's have a look at what's possible, shall we?

"Top Gun" came back from the recent New York Pro with souvenirs.






And that's just a taste of the up close and personals he got.

A "first timer" who went to the prejudging at the same show spent time at the booths at the back of the venue while the men (yawn!) were on. The women walking around had me in awe. Aside from the amazing competitors Colette Nelson was there, then when I stepped out to the bathroom I saw the back of Tischa Thomas. Colette was bigger than most women - or men - there. Tischa was bigger than the bouncers!

Which brings us onto...

4. The audience.

Contests tend to draw members of the local bodybuilding community to the audience. FBBs there can outnumber the ones on stage. Let's go back to the "photographers at contests can be massive douchebags" photo above and zoom in a bit.



You might have noticed the amazing forearm next to me, says the head responsible for it. Well, that is the reason you should go to a show. Not only for the view but for the ladies in the crowd too. Many women that take fitness to the extreme don't have much social activity outside of the gym, he reckons, but they will come out, for example, to support friends, possibly their own trainer, at a competition.

SO...?

Very few stories of attending a show (that I have come across anyway) end with the message that it's not worth the effort and expense. None in fact. So despite the potential cost and the fact that you might not get the sort of view you dream of, every female muscle fan who's talking about it has had, at the very least, a good enough time to recommend the experience of being in the audience at a contest to others.



Check out the NABBA, UKBFF, WABBA, and (with an ever-increasing number of shows) PCA events calendars for information about events in the UK. If your budget is a bit bigger, you might consider looking further afield, Europe perhaps. If so, check out the IFBB calendar here, and if you really are in the green and thinking about travelling to North America, check out upcoming NPC events, and the IFBB Pro League schedules.

Ten minutes on the WABBA and PCA sites and I've found more shows than I expected within about two to three hours' drive from where I live. The Hercules Olympia anyone? I've always been quite curious to see exactly what Milton Keynes is like!

Sarah Halkon: 2017 Ms NABBA Britain

So... I am MISS NABBA BRITAIN TRAINED FIGURE!!!!

Congratulations to Sarah Halkon, top of the thongs at the NABBA Britain.



This is not, sadly, Sarah in all her shredded thongtastic glory at last weekend's show - this being NABBA, photographers not welcome etc. - but (left) Sarah at the NABBA UK Championships last November, when she came 2nd, and the NABBA North-East Championships, which she won, a couple of weeks previous to the NABBA Britain.

However, despite the moan about the lack of images (so far, but judging by NABBA's track record I ain't holding my breath), the event was, I believe for the very first time, streamed live. so we can enjoy Sarah (#69) and all the other Trained Figure ladies. Currently only the comparisons are up, and given that NAPA (Sports Nutrition, responsible for the stream) are flogging a DVD of the event, this could well be all we get of the Trained Figure class, and/or it may not be up for long. Enjoy while you can!



Sarah hails from Hull where she runs her own Personal Training and Sports Massage business. She's been competing -as far as I can work out - since 2014. She finished 3rd in the shorter of the two Trained Figure classes at the NABBA Universe last year, and you can watch her routine from that show here. If you like a comparison, compare her now to her 2014 self here. She has certainly come far, and as the NAPA commentators noted, may well challenge for the NABBA Universe title this year if she can bring the same ultra-conditioned package to that show as she did to the British finals.

And we leave you today with one last treat - the Trained Figure comparisons from Sarah's victory at the NABBA North-East. You could swipe your Morrison's More card on that, says one of NAPA's double act of commentators, referring to the "depth" of Sarah's back. That's going to be challenging for the top spot at the Brits.



They were not wrong.



Follow the really rather gorgeous Sarah on Instagram.

Enjoy!

Stage: Part 1

Irene Andersen a few days before the Puerto Rico Pro

As I wrote to one of you lovely readers only today, I am forever suspecting that there will come a day when my long-standing obsession with women who forge their physiques with iron will start to diminish, but continue to find that in fact the opposite is true. The more I learn about them, the deeper I go, the deeper my love grows.


Paloma Parra exploding during peak week, and on stage in Puerto Rico

Long-time readers of the blog, or those who arrive here for the first time and then check it out in depth - my blogger stats, for example, tell me someone in Japan has "discovered" FMS this week, こんにちは、いらっしゃい - may have noticed a distinct shift in the focus of the blog over the five years I have been writing FMS away from the more archivey stuff and towards the more topical (never totally topical as I always try to be at least a few days ahead in posting, otherwise it just gets too damn stressful) and that very much includes material about FBBs preparing for or performing at contests.



Shreds and skills: Jodi Boam, Toronto Pro

There are two reasons for this. First, it is just so much easier now to follow any given competitor through her prep via social media, and likewise, contest galleries go up on sites like NPC News Online pretty much within hours of the women taking to the stage. The photos are almost always good quality, and plentiful. My task is to pick the best and write a bit of entertaining blah to go with them, which might possibly involve researching past contest history and/or including a few Instagram photos. Now, five years ago that took a lot longer than it does today. Trust me on that, I know.


Why so excited to see Hanna Hallman perform? I wonder...

But secondly, and more importantly, I just don't seem to be able to get enough of contest shape female muscle and social media allows me to follow my (many) favourite competitors through their prep. I watch their bodies change, sometimes for months, as they diet down and shed their body fat. I share their excitement as the week and then the day of the contest approaches - they can't wait to be on stage, I can't wait to see them there. And then, finally, there they are, joyfully flexing and/or posing their beautifully defined muscles on stage. Make-up, hair, oil, tan... The DISPLAY.


The glamour: Ashley Losee

Registration and backstage "candids" are a big bonus, but it's when they're on stage they're at their happiest (or should be) and so am I. As a sport, Bodybuilding, and not just Female Bodybuilding/Physique and so on, lacks a certain drama, for sure. However, as a sort of erotic form of theatre with a touch of sport thrown in? Yes.


Shawna Strong, Toronto

So when I say my love of female muscle is ever-growing, what I really mean is that I am more and more obsessed with checking out reports and photos of every single contest I can find. Pouring over the images, be they of long-familiar favourites or new exciting bodies. From the big beasts down to the Figure phenoms (haven't ever got as excited about Bikini, but you never know) I am always looking out and looking up.


Odalys Ferreira, NY Pro pro debut

And a consequence of all this is I seem to be getting a tad better at picking winners. From last year, for example, Odalys Ferreira featured. She recently finished 2nd in New York - at only her second pro show. From this year and the Physique division, Jill Diorio, who secured Olympia qualification with victory in Puerto Rico just last weekend. I don't want to give any more instances, blow my own trumpet too much or jinx myself for the future, but I'm not getting any worse at spotting future champions.


She won! Jill Diorio, Puerto Rico

And yet, not once in my life have I actually been to a contest. Not once. All this pleasure, all this enjoyment is 100% vicarious. I imagine I would have the time of my life at the Rising Phoenix or (closer to home) the Arnold in Barcelona or (even closer) the NABBA Universe or (closer still) the UKBFF British, but until I actually sit in the audience at a Bodybuilding show, that's all it will ever be - just my imagination.



Meet me in St. Louis? Joanna Romano

Look out for Parts 2 and 3 later in the week.

Meanwhile, I would love to hear about your own experiences of attending contests or not attending contests but wishing you had or would or could. Please feel free to use the comment box below, or, if you'd rather, email me at 6ft1swell@gmail.com.

Corinne in Österreich (und anderen Orten)

Choreography by NABBA (Toned Figure) Ms World Emma Hyndman, body by WFF Worlds Extreme Body Champion Corinne Ingman. Note the spontaneous applause and whooping start just moments after the first flex of her rightly renowned glutes...



Spellbinding though I always find her, this is probably, if not the first, one of the first guest posing appearances Corinne has ever made, and she said afterwards she was happy to have received the promoter's feedback on her performance. And we can probably forgive the cameraman's temporary loss of focus at around the 1.20 mark. They were probably swooning their head off, and made a decent recovery after those few blurry seconds, though they could have gone a tad lower on the close shots.

Corinne was three weeks out from the NABBA Worlds, her next contest. We are now about a week on from her guest posing at the NABBA/WFF Austrian Championships, and her "morning squeeze" reveals ever more of her glory (see below).



With her usual understatement, Corinne describes her current situation as "nearly there". Condition has improved this week, she says. Just a little more to come off to see hams splitting and lower back a bit crisper. I'm sure I speak for all of you lovely readers when I say that I wish my woman would wish her hams would split!

The week after the NABBA Worlds - in Samara, Russia - Crispy Corinne will be off on her travels again, to the WFF Universe in Brazil. And later in the year at the beginning of October, Corinne and her (f***ing gargantuan) man, Jordan Peters, will be co-promoting a PCA show in Stoke. And she'll be at the British Powerlifting Finals in November, having qualified, somewhat nonchalantly, at the beginning of May.


Posing practice with Emma Hyndman before "hopping off" for some powerlifting

Hopped into a qualifier today, she told her Instagram followers. Just did one lift for each, and hit the minimum total I needed to qualify. Let's be clear, whatever the weight she "just did" (I'll leave you to work it out here if you have time on your hands), it would no doubt give you or I a proper hernia followed by a bit of hospital bed time.

The NABBA international President told me I will be competing in the Pro division at the Worlds in Russia off the back of the WFF Worlds win last year, Corinne tells us.
SO - straight in against my favourite EVER figure competitor, Daria Diossi...


Daria (left) and Corinne's best bits at the 2016 WFF Universe and Worlds respectively

I literally can't wait!

Me neither. That's going to be a hell of a glute-off!

Enjoy!

Marvellous Maria

One of the most pleasing aspects of the Wings of Strength-led mini-resurgence in pro Female Bodybuilding is that women who seemed "retired" for one reason or another feel that the time is now right to compete again. Isabelle Turell is probably the best example in that she had roughly seven years' off before her comeback, but there's also Cathy Lefrançois, Bonnie Switzer (Pappas), and Laura Carolan to name but three. And a few days before the Toronto Pro, I noticed yet another familiar name who I hadn't heard of in a while was there on the competitor's list - Maria Mikola.



As is so often the case, the fact that I hadn't heard anything about her didn't mean she'd not been "active". Far from it, in fact. It's true that she did take 2014 and 2015 off, but having competed every year for the 17(!) years previous to that (at least 17, it may be more but the earliest record I can find of her in a contest is 1997), I reckon she was due a wee break. But she was back on stage last year, competing twice.




When she'd last competed in 2013 it was in the Physique division, winning her pro card at the IFBB North Americans, and it was in that same division that she competed last year. Looking at the images of her from both those shows, but particularly from the Europa Phoenix (above), where she placed 11th, I have to say that 1) I'm sorry I missed them at the time, and 2) that she doesn't exactly look very Physique!


Canadian Natural National Champion - 2009

Previous to 2013 Maria had always been a Bodybuilder, with her career (to date) probably peaking around 2009 when she won the Overall title at the Canadian Natural Championships. By that time she'd been a pro in other natural federations for some years - her IFBB pro card is, I believe, the fifth of her career. She was forum famous for her arms, a killer most muscular (not, apparently frowned upon in natural bodybuilding!) and for looking about 20 years younger than she actually was.



She was also famous for picking up more than her fair share of Best Poser awards. The best part of competing for me is getting on stage and being able to perform my routine, she told Promoting Real Women in 2010. Audiences and judges alike who have seen Maria perform would probably agree it was the best part for them too.



So she arrived in Toronto, "my own backyard", with plenty of pedigree behind her, but absolutely none of it as an IFBB pro Bodybuilder. And proceeded to steal the show.




I'm not saying that the judges' favourite, Kim Buck, wasn't worth the decision, nor that any of the other six women in the line-up were better or worse than Maria. But I am saying that in her pleasingly old-school-style posing suits (not too blingy, and more importantly not covering half of her upper body - what is it with this fashion nowadays for covering up?!) with a physique honed to perfection over a period of twenty years and the knowledge and commitment (still) to make sure that magnificent physique was shown off at its absolute best, Maria was pure class. No contest best abs and thigh in the show. In any division. By some distance. I've checked so you don't have to.



She's pushing 50, you know.




And the best news is she'll be back this weekend at the Omaha Pro, and I have absolutely no doubt she will flex those muscles as marvellously as ever.



Follow her prep on Instagram.

Enjoy!