Meet Me in St. Louis (Again)

In 2014, it was the show where Dani Reardon made her pro bow. A year later, Autumn Swansen's ex-Fitness competitor skills helped to win her her first Physique title. Brooke Walker was runner-up there in 2016 in her first pro show, and last year it was where Jill Diorio's epic calves impressed (fans if not so much the judges).

It's fair to say that over the last few years the St. Louis Pro has been worth checking out, and today we'll be doing just that with the Physique class of '18 there.



Candice Carr will be a familiar face (and ripped hard body) to readers of a certain age. Well, did you know that this year she's made a comeback? Not as the Bodybuilder she was, I'm afraid, but rather as the new St. Louis Masters Physique champ.



The Trinidadian former Central American Bodybuilding champ hadn't competed since the early noughties as far as I can tell, but was back on stage at the Atlantic Coast Pro in early March before hitting St. Louis three weeks' later. She doesn't give much away on social media apart from her faith, but she did say "there are no words to adequately describe the joy I feel at my achievement" after her win (before going on to thank God and Jesus). Placing 4th in the Open Physique class as well made for a very satisfactory return, and she certainly hasn't forgotten how to hit an abs and thigh pose, has she?



We featured Sarah Fechter (briefly) in last week's Tube Watch, and here she is again, seven days before the St. Louis show (above), and glammed and tanned on stage.



We would be tempted to boast that Sarah is our "discovery" of 2018 so far if it weren't for the fact that she's been competing as a pro since 2015, initially in Figure, then from 2016 in Physique. In the Research Team's defence, she has a single top 10 finish - 4th at the 2016 Chicago Pro - to her name, but they are still clearing out their desks. Once again, FMS finds itself needing to hire researchers, preferably - for once - researchers who aren't going to embarrass us. Applications should be sent to the usual address.



Anyway, Sarah... She's a Bachelor of Exercise Science with her own Fitness club, even her own "Sarah Fechter Games" coming up from May 21st. "Fitness saved my life", she says, and you can find out how in this candid YouTube interview from last April.



For more Sarah still, follow this incredible, gorgeous woman on Instagram.



And while we are in the realm of the gorgeous, the stunning Stephanie Flesher made her pro debut in St. Louis - the first time we've seen her on stage since the 2016 USAs.



That was when she won her pro card, and enough FMS readers were impressed to put her into the Hot and Hard 100 at #73 the following spring. Sadly, she disappeared from this year's list, but I would guess that now she's back competing (and sharing saucy shower clips on her "Firece Fit Steph" Instagram), she may well reappear in the Hot and Hard 100 in 2019. This is just the beginning, she said after her pro debut, before promising us that I'm gonna keep getting better. I'm gonna drop jaws...



Mine has been on the floor for some time.



A new wave of Brazilian IFBB Physique pros have been doing rather well over the last couple of years (Dany Castilho, Priscila Cavilha, Ivie Rhein and so on), and at this year's St. Louis Pro another title for Brazil was delivered by the very classy Marjorie Beck. 1st here, she had already shown 2018 form, finishing runner-up to Natalia Coelho (Brazil) at the Atlantic Coast Pro earlier in the month.




Marjorie is never the biggest woman on stage, but she's always as sharp as a razor, and this show was no exception. She went to the Olympia last year, and now she's booked her place there again. I came to compete, win and secure the place for Olympia, she said afterwards. Mission accomplished! To be champion is to reach a goal that brings several new paths and with that new goals - she is a bit of a thinker, a philosopher even, as well as being a ripped Physique goddess, you see. This is how life moves.



For more heaviness and sweaty gym selfies follow Marjorie's Instagram.



And finally, Katie.




Though she grows ever more popular with us fans, Katie has had her ups and downs over the last couple of years in terms of contest results. Unplaced at the majority of shows she's done since 2016, there has been the occasional bright spot - 2nd in Omaha last year, for example. St. Louis proved to be one of those occasions when the judges liked what they saw from Katie. She finished runner-up to Marjorie Beck, and felt "so grateful" to do so in "tough line-up of great athletes". I reckon the smile says it all.



Check out all the results from the show and many many more images of these amazing Physique women and the rest of the line-up in St. Louis here on NPC News Online.

Pic of the Month: April

Something new to FMS today.

A chance to vote (don't worry, there's no lists of 100 women or anything!) for this month's Pic of the Month from a lovingly selected shortlist of five images.

Check them out then follow the link at the bottom to vote with a single click.

PAIGE SANDGREN: TO BE EXPLORED



Some rather racy, arty new shots of Paige on the forums recently, but we couldn't resist this good old-fashioned topless back selfie. So much to see, so much to explore...

MICHAELA AYCOCK: DRESSED UP VEINS



For the first time, Michaela has been doing a bit of glamorous schmotography work as well, and very exciting the results of that work have been. She doesn't really need any fancy lighting to bring out her freaky vascularity though. Not the tightest of dresses, and that's a good thing - if it were any tighter we'd probably spontaneously combust.

YEON WOO JHI: CELEBRITY MUSCLE



Not so much a nominee because of Yeon's physique (although those shoulders are fantastic) but more because of the sheer excitement on some of those fans' faces. This is exactly how it should be for all muscle goddesses. Adored. Idolised. Always.

ANGELICA ENBERG: DISGUSTINGLY PEELED



She's spent the best part of two years building herself up, and now it's time to reveal the results. And the results are (s)pectacular, but it's the facial expression (if you can drag your gaze up there for just a moment) that says it all: "Look what I have done to myself. I am muscle and skin and I feel AMAZING! OMG I am such a freak and I LOVE it!"

VALENTINA MISHINA: MEAT FEAST



As she's currently posting at the rate of one Hall of Famer per day, there was no doubt Valentina had to feature in our poll, but it wasn't easy to choose which pic should make the shortlist. We listened to our loins and our loins said this glute, ham and calf treat.

OK? Made your choice?

Great!

Voting is simple, CLICK HERE then select your favourite image and click vote.

We'll post the winner next month when we invite you to vote for May's best.

Enjoy! And thanks for voting.

Underrated: Robin Parker

A new occasional series, Underrated is not intended to be about judging decisions - if it was, we could probably run a post about every single woman who's ever competed! Instead, we aim to (re)focus on women who we think do not enjoy the prominence they deserve in the collective female muscle consciousness - someone a new recruit to the female muscle lovin' world would not necessarily come across.

Thanks to BM for today's suggestion, a woman he calls "an absolute legend".

UNDERRATED?



Search for Robin on the major fansites and you will find her. She has a page/thread on both, and on Girls with Muscle in particular, there is no little appreciation among the comments. She was "a great FBB" who "had an outstanding physique". She was "a pioneer in the sport", "mature muscle at its best", "phenomenal", "exceptional", "so stunning and built". Several fans say Robin was one of their all-time favorites".



Praise indeed. Stories from those who were lucky enough to meet her in her pomp recall "her mass and vascularity", and "her beauty". Another (much more confessional) sessioner recalls her being "by far the sexiest, most delicious, and most tantalizing woman I ever saw. She should be giving lessons to every sessionette. She knew just what to do and how to do it, and was the perfect mix of muscle size, strength, facial beauty and personality. She just oooozzzed sex from every pore of her body."



So, Robin was (and probably still is) rated by some, but for a woman who first picked up weights in 1985 then finally hung up her posing suit in 2006, there is precious little really quality material available, and most of it is from the last few years of her career.

CAREER



From training at home with "basic equipment" to becoming the Masters Nationals champion took her just four years, and the following year (1990), she appeared at her first open national level show - the Jr USAs. She finished 2nd behind Chris Bongiovanni in her Heavyweight class at the USAs in 1995, and was 2nd again (this time behind Lora Ottenad) five years later in 2000. In all she competed at national level eight times, and on five of those occasions made the top 5 in her class.



These days, that wouldn't be much of a record to boast of, but to put it into perspective, let's look, for example, at the 2004 Nationals, where Robin is generally considered to have been at something like her beefiest, even though, for once, she was among the Light-heavyweights. Including Robin, there were 20 women the class, and among those who placed below her on the day we find names such as Alicia St. Germaine, Gayle Frankie, Norma Nieves, Star Blaylock, Sondra Faas, Angie Salvagno, Heather Lee, and Debbie Bramwell. Only Dena Westerfield, Kim Perez, Elena Sieple and Cynthia Gonzalez (I know! WHO???!!!) placed above her. She competed among such quality line-ups throughout her entire career.




The year after that 2004 Nationals (her third), she finally won her pro card with her second Overall Masters Nationals win, and a year later she made her one and only pro appearance at the 2006 Europa Supershow. I could go on about the quality of that line-up, but I'll let you check it out for yourself. She placed a creditable 15th (better than a handful of legendary names) then thundered off the stage for the very last time.

APPRECIATION



As mentioned before, most of what we have got to go on regarding Robin was shot in the last few years of her FBBing contest life, the results of her twenty previous years of lifting only too evident in her thick, mature physique. That kind of size plus definition will do it for me every time, and when - as with Robin - a bucketload of ropey veinage is also on offer, it's not hard to see why she got such glowing reviews as a session provider. What that body must have been like to touch is quite beyond my level of comprehension, but to gaze at her and try to imagine is a game worth playing!



What does survive from her earlier amateur years reveals that physique-wise she was just as ripped (and only a tad less thick), and just as exciting. Facially the toll of those twenty years had not been paid so fully when she posed for WPW/Ray Martin, and her admittedly unconventional but undeniably alluring beauty shines through.



I always enjoyed those sensational legs, her chest, her arms, and her lush dark hair and deep dark eyes. Her smile too I always thought was a winner, and not long after I made my first virtual female muscle lovin' friend online, he shared Robin and Christa Bauch's (rightly) famous 2-4-1 Ray Martin video with me. I didn't watch much else for a month. It's freely available in its entirety these days - part 1 here. Not the best quality, but it doesn't have to be when Robin first strolls into shot, legs encased in sheer fishnets, ordering Christa away in her basso profundo voice... Turns out this clip (and the other four parts) still has the power to make me swoon all over the place.

NOW?

At the time of writing, FMS hasn't managed to turn anything up about Robin, unfortunately. We hope she and her family are well, and that she is still watching Real Time with Bill Maher. We hope, in fact we expect that, now well into her 60s, Robin is still the same great advert for the female muscle lifestyle that she always was.

So, you lovely readers, who do you think should be next on Underrated?