Aleesha's Goodbye

OK, let's say I want to make a case for Aleesha not winning last weekend's Omaha Pro. Maria Mikola, who walked away with the first prize, is, as recently noted on the blog, most excellent, deserving of all the rewards the judges wish to give her, and she was as good if not better in Omaha than she had been finishing runner-up in Toronto.

But make a case for Aleesha finishing 7th? I think not.



When I first heard about the result I hadn't seen any pictures as yet, none of the contest at least. I'd seen Aleesha "drying out nicely", and made-up and "super nervous" on her Instagram, and I'd seen a check-in photo on NPC News Online. She looked amazing to me, but then what do I know? Something must have gone badly wrong for her, I reasoned. Maybe she hadn't dried out quite as much as she'd thought she had. Maybe the rest of the field really were good enough to have finished above her.

I waited for the contest pics to go up.



What I saw was mystifying. Aleesha was not just huge, but as close to her 2014 best as it was possible to be in terms of conditioning. It just didn't make sense. 7th?!

Perhaps in a line-up containing some of the greatest female bodybuilders of all time she might not have made the top 6. Perhaps in my very own Fantasy Contest this version of Aleesha might have finished 7th. But - and with the greatest respect to all the other competitors here (and as they stood on stage and listened to the announcement of the placings, they must have known) - not at this contest. It's just so obviously wrong.



Worse news was to come though.

Feedback from the judges, Aleesha revealed to her 71,000 Instagram followers soon after the result got out. "Lose 20lbs of muscle and you'll start placing higher..."



The female muscle lovin' community promptly hit the proverbial roof.

I had a feeling about this since it started, wrote one. Call this Ms O replacement what you like, it's still an IFBB event: their judges, their rules, their attitude towards BIG girls. If only the Woods could do without Jim [Manion, IFBB chief, and he really hates female muscle]! For various reasons, our brother continues, most righteously, the list of still training, no longer competing FBBs is growing, and the Rising Phoenix can't afford to lose class acts like Aleesha. Sadly, it increasingly seems that if you want to really do this sport properly and be appreciated for it, it's best not to enter contests.

Not IFBB contests anyway.



Unlike our insightful head, I have to admit I thought all this kind of thing had gone away. Seriously. Other than the odd bit of bleating about Sheila Bleck's win in Tampa and Rising Phoenix 2nd place last year, I can't recall a less controversial series of FBB contests than we have had since Wings of Strength took hold of the reins.

How wrong I was.



Worst of all, we may never see Aleesha on stage again.

"Lose 20lbs of muscle and you'll start placing higher..." Not gonna happen! Aleesha defiantly told her fans. Last time I checked this was bodybuilding not body starving. I'm just going to keep doing what I do and they are entitled to their opinion. I'm going to step away from the stage, but all you real muscle fans get ready and stay tuned because this girl is ready to grow and be the best version of herself.



Strip the sport of its stars, strip the competitors of muscle, and thus undermine those who quite obviously have the women's best interests at heart. The plan is so up front evil it's almost funny. But I don't see Aleesha, or any of Aleesha's multitude of fans laughing, nor any fan of pro Female Bodybuilding in general. How many more female muscle superstars like Aleesha can Wings of Strength let go before...?



There's rumours of a "deal" between the IFBB and Wings of Strength - weight divisions may be coming back. The IFBB wants to push the bigger Physique ladies into Light-heavyweight Bodybuilding, they say, and introduce a "maximum weight" for the Heavyweights (proportional to height, of course, they wouldn't discriminate...)

I can't say for certain if any of this is true, but it's believable, isn't it? I've always said that Female Bodybuilding needs its own federation. The women need to take control, and unless they do, the sport will always have to deal, to dance to the Devil's tune.



And of course it's the women who suffer the most.

Sympathy for all those women who, unlike Aleesha, don't have a partner or a successful business or a sufficient webcam following to support themselves. That increased prize money Wings of Strength now offer still looks tempting, but they are going to have to spend some time downsizing - after so many years of hard graft spent growing - before they stand a chance of getting a piece of that prize money pie.

Sympathy for Irene Andersen, so upset with the IFBB's destruction of her sport she made a feature-length documentary about it, and has been as active as any over the last few years. In great shape and fifth in Omaha. No one's talking about her.

Sympathy for Mmmmonique Jones. Last seen at an FBB contest flogging T-shirts in the foyer at the Rising Phoenix, not even pretending any longer that she'll stand on stage again despite being one of the most genetically-gifted FBBs of her generation.

And sympathy for Aleesha, who to her credit has dealt with all this with a lot of class. Injury, illness, family... so many reasons for her not to have competed again. And yet she did. She came back, bigger and better, for the love of muscle and the sport, only to find the sport - or rather those who control the sport - had no love for her.

Email to paste into the IFBB Pro League contact page.

To Mr Jim Manion, IFBB Pro League President:
Sir, after a weekend on which another fine Female Bodybuilder has decided to quit the sport, I ask you to stop your systematic destruction of Female Bodybuilding. You've done enough now. As a fan of Female Bodybuilding, I appeal to you to let Wings of Strength run it, and let the women be as big as they want to be.
I fail to see why any decent person would want to prevent that.
Yours,
etc. etc.

Do it now. Do it here.

Never Better: Aleesha - Las Vegas 2014

ALEESHA YOUNG
Heavyweight & Overall Winner, 2014 NPC USA Championships



As a contest, the 2014 NPC USAs was somewhat lacking in the drama department, which is not to say the Heavyweight class was short of fine female muscle. There was Theresa Ivancik - not at her peak, but good enough for 3rd. Mary Cain, who was to win the Overall title the following year, was also in the line-up, as was the sexy Jessica Harmon. Fine physiques indeed. The Lightweight and Middleweight classes only had four competitors between them and did not have the quality on show elsewhere, but Laura Richards, now doing well as a Physique pro, won a competitive Light-heavyweight class that included the beautiful Susanna Hand and naughty Brandi Mae Akers. But both the Heavyweights and the class winners in the Overall posedown must have known they were all battling for 2nd when they saw Aleesha.


Aleesha: 2008, 2009, and (enhanced) 2011

It was her first time on a stage for three years, and despite having risen to national level with ease, she really had no pedigree to speak of. A barely credible 15th in the Heavyweight class in 2008 at the NPC Nationals, she fared slightly better at the 2009 NPC USAs - 7th (out of 11 Heavyweights). Two years' later she returned to the USAs, her pecs adorned with new, mighty enhancements, and placed 8th out of 10.




But in those three years since then her massive muscles (and possibly those mighty enhancements as well) had propelled her to peak occupation of the female muscle brethren's collective consciousness. No surname necessary, Aleesha was melting screens all over the world. It wasn't just what Aleesha looked like, but what she did with all that incredible muscle that brought her so much love. Her skills have made her probably the most giffed female bodybuilder ever - her jaw-dropping pec bounce in particular. And she arrived in Las Vegas in July 2014 with a new blond look, and evidence from her preparations suggested that she was ready to rule.



The contest was over as soon as she walked onto the stage. They could have given the trophies to her than and spared the rest of the field the indignity of having to stand comparison with her. At least the other Heavyweights were big, in their own way. The class winners' posedown for Overall, however, was so ridiculous it was comical.


My imagination or have the others edged away from Aleesha?

At this show nobody else is even in her league, noted one forum member. Not only is she f***ing huge, she is ripped. Her muscle shapes are incomparable, and her rear bicep and back poses indescribable. She got it all together this year! Indeed she had. Two and a half hours of cardio seven days a week throughout her contest prep had resulted in her most conditioned look yet. She'd never been as ripped before or (and this is why I chose this particular show and not one of her two subsequent pro outings for her best ever) she's never quite achieved the same level of conditioning since.




There was no drama to the contest, but the sight of Aleeha that day must have had a fairly dramatic effect on the audience I imagine. Dave Palumbo - never one who hides his appreciation of massively muscular women very well - spent the entirety of his post-show interview with Aleesha sucking the drool back into his mouth and getting her to flex her various indescribable bits to camera. Steve Wennerstrom, FBB sage, and unlike Palumbo never one to get carried away, got very carried away. Bodybuilding crowds come to these big events to be entertained, he wrote. They thirst for a mind-blowing look in the building of a physique that few can accomplish. Aleesha Young, on this night, was something magical in the world of physical culture.




In a little under two weeks there is the distinct possibility that the crowd at the Omaha Pro will get their minds blown and witness something magical. Aleesha - uniquely among the women whose personal bests we have featured this week - is about to compete again. And recent evidence suggests she may well be ready to rule.



Stay bang up-to-date with her prep on Instagram.

Enjoy!

Mrs Swell's Easter Surprise: Wish You Were Here (Part 2): WoS Muscle Mansion Weekend

A lot of beef. Looks like a female muscle all-star team.



Right now, I'm sitting on a hotel balcony overlooking the Cypriot coast. It's a balmy 25°C and it's not 10 o'clock yet. Down below, at the hotel swimming pool, my wife is lying out on a sun lounger. Her body looks great even from here, and I know when I finish this up (as well as "a few work emails") and I go down to join her, the closer I get, the better her body will look. It's all rather perfect. There's nowhere I'd rather be...



Although if you offered me a place at female bodybuilding's most exclusive get-together in exchange for my current situation, a sort of reporter on the ground kind of assignment perhaps, well, I would certainly have to think about it before I packed my bags, hightailed it to the airport, and hopped on the plane to Arizona.



I seriously doubt many other female muscle fans would be so circumspect.




The "Muscle Mansion Weekend" is a combination of business and pleasure for eight of the world's current best plus Wings of Strength spokesperson Lenda Murray, organised by Kristal and Jake Wood. And they know how to treat them right. Gifts, dinner, an evening out at the ice-hockey. Dressing up for photoshoots, a workout, and a little bit of contract signing as well it seems. A weekend of FBB wins all round.




There was reigning Ms Rising Phoenix Margie Martin, Helle Trevino, and Alina Popa. There was Aleesha Young, returning to the stage this year in Omaha, and Shawna Strong, Arizona local, scheduled to flex in anger again soon at the Toronto Pro, plus 2016 Puerto Rico champ Kim Buck. And there were two new pros, Margie protégé Brittney O'Veal, and Hot and Hard 100 runner-up, Theresa Ivancik.



Feast enough. But as well as Lenda, who still looks glorious at 55, I can't be the only one who's noticed just how much beef there is on Kristal Wood. No mean feat to make Alina's arms look insignificant. Being married to arms like Kristal's would be enough for most guys. Hulk Hogan lookalike Jake gets that and much much more besides.



To be fair though, he is 50% of 50% of the team who are slowly but surely cultivating the resurrection of professional Female Bodybuilding, so it's hard to dislike him.



Wish you were here? Perhaps the question should be "Wish you were him?"



Enjoy!

More at #musclemansion

And - bonus - recorded at the NPC Nationals last year but only recently uploaded to the Wings of Strength YouTube channel, if you've ever wondered what Theresa Ivancik sounds like, well wonder no more... (even sexier than I imagined).



SWOOOOON!!!