(More) Summer Lovin': FBBUK : Hard All Over (Hayley Brylewski Turns Pro)

This is what Hayley's leg looked like the night before at "bedtime". How you sleep when your veins are poppin' out of your skin I know not - guess there is the exhaustion from depletion, but wouldn't you spend the whole night just looking at your freaky self?!

Maybe touching...



The next day - show day - and Hayley has a cheeky abs check in the hotel lift before breakfast. I wonder if she got her trousers back up and her jacket closed before the door opened? Wonder if she even bothered. Perhaps she just sauntered into the buffet with clothing arranged exactly like that, a treat for the early birds in the dining room.



She had, even by her own gnarly standards, been looking particularly hard in the lead-up to her show - her glutes in particular. As last weekend approached, she proudly displayed them in the gym (left), and by the time she'd arrived at the hotel (right), they seemed to have become harder still. I was reminded of her fellow Brit Corinne Ingman, and when it comes to peeled glutes, there is no greater praise than that.



I've thought about this long and hard, and I really would give up a body part to be the guy who gets to take the photo of Hayley lounging on the bed in her sparkly purple posing suit. I might even be prepared to give up a limb just as long as that guy is also the guy who can go back to worshipping (with body parts of his own choosing) those delicious walnuts right after he's posted said pic to her Instagram for her.



Anyway!

The contest Hayley was getting (as Corinne herself puts it) "truly, disgustingly peeled" for was something called the Ben Weider Worldwide Classic British Championships Pro Qualifier, and, as befits a contest with such a magnificent name, it was held in...

Coventry.



It is one of a series of shows "worldwide" - clue is in the name! - designed to make new pros. There's been one in Rimini, and after the Olympia there's another in Alicante... OK, so maybe not "worldwide" yet, but the concept is still young. The number of contestants vying for the coveted pro card hasn't been massive either. As in Rimini so in Coventry - just two Physique ladies: Hayley plus (also from the UK) Sandi Griffin.



Hayley got the nod, and the big red envelope.


Hayley, with big red envelope (and sword) and Jenna Beckworth

I’ve competed with Hayley for many years, Corinne wrote by way of congratulation. A genuine person with a lovely heart. FMS too, is genuinely delighted to be reporting one of the nicest, most down-to-earth UK Physique Dreams' dream has come true. Perhaps, as Corinne adds, Hayley has "set the tone" for more British Physique success. @linnyg_walnut [Linda Gartside] is up next, predicts Corinne. Then myself.

Amen to that.

Check out FitVids preview of their latest work with Hayley.

Enjoy!

Tube Watch

Our irregularly regular (and happily popular) feature rounding up some of the best new(ish) clips of fine female muscle on You Tube returns for an August installment.

SHAME?

Featured quite heavily in the media here in the UK, the (US) TV show What Would You Do? recently broadcast an episode in response to the (apparently common) practice of "fit shaming". Actors, one male one female, abused a muscular woman as she worked out in public places, with the reactions of passers-by under scrutiny by hidden camera. The muscular woman, also an actor in the show, was identified only as "fitness trainer and competitor Jennifer" in the ABC network blurb for the show, aired on 27th July.



Part 2 you can find here.

Now I know what you are probably thinking, "Yeah, but I'd like to see what happens when they do a show with a proper FBB," but I think you'll agree it is an interesting watch. The reactions to the "bullies" are often passionate, and overall I was left with the feeling that the perception of female muscle has certainly changed for the better.

For Your Consideration

Meanwhile, in the British media, BBC Hindi did a two-minute news piece on "Muscle Woman Madhu Jha" just last week. "Bodyshaping" rather than "Bodybuilding" is what she defines her mission as, and Madhu is muscular in the same unthreatening way as "Jennifer" is, but still, as a glimpse into the life of a muscular British-Indian woman, and the transformation she has made to both her body and her sense of self through weight training, it's no less fascinating than the What Would You Do? experiment.

ANOTHER INSTAGRAM EDIT CHANNEL...

Last Tube Watch, we brought you just some of the many channels that are popping up with edited Instagram clips of our favourite muscle goddesses, all in the name of advertising clicks. Unsurprisingly, now we're looking we've found even more.



Pick of the (new) bunch is HW Motivation, and four plus minutes of the truly huge NPC Physique(!) competitor Courtney Mitten is the pick of their bunch by a distance.

FMS always recommends more Brazilians in your life, and HW Motivation clearly agree. After you've calmed down from Courtney, get that pulse racing again with the help of Leyvina Barros' brand of rather masculine femininity, then for the really big finish Alessandra Alvez: Workout For Massive Legs will, I'm confident, do the trick.

AND FINALLY, AT LAST!

I don't have too many bad words to say about NPC News Online - after all if they didn't exist this blog would be a bit short on contest images to say the least. However, it did take them a while to get their 2018 NPC USA backstage edits up. Happily, they were worth waiting for, none more so than the Women's Physique Backstage Part 1.



I wasn't as bowled over by the line-up at this year's USAs as I have been in past years, but there's something so deliciously erotic about being a spy in the holy pump room.

Sadly, no sign of Part 2 as yet.

However, NPC News Online's tardiness pales in comparison to NABBA's - who only now are putting up some of the female routines from the WFF Universe last year.

Again, though, it's hard to stay angry as you watch the Figure Pros or even the Figure Juniors (Figure girls wear heels and thongs and hit poses in NABBA/WFF contests remember). And as the show was held in Brazil this year, more Brazilian thunder than even we recommend was on display, not least that of Flores Neide in the Extreme Body class, a clip that I had every intention of making my highlight of this post.



Then a few days ago, they put up Gilberia Cunha's routine...



Ai, meu Deus! (as they were probably saying throughout the auditorium and are probably still saying as they flashback to the evening they witnessed this prodigiously uninhibited display of muscular female sex appeal). How's that for your big finish?

Blakelee's Bow

We did warn you (see Pic of the Month: August). As she wrote herself: The time has finally arrived! 20 weeks of hard work will be proudly displayed on stage. The same weekend as the Tampa Pro, Blakelee Ortega was making her competitive debut.



Like Blakelee herself, we were prepared. Time was you never heard of any FBB before they stepped on stage. Times have changed. Out of her Instagram and onto the forums, Blakelee has been one of the phenomenons of the last twelve months. The Knoxville Classic isn't the kind of local show the female muscle lovin' world usually pays much attention to. Thanks to Blakelee - and Blakelee alone - this year was different.



The sky's the limit for Blakelee, reads the comment. Since right from the start of her explosion on the forums she has been tipped for greatness. It's not hard to explain her appeal - beast from the neck down, beauty from the neck up, or "hamster head and rottweiler body" as one wag put it. Pictures of her from this spring racked up views and favourites in record time, and as she counted down to her first show, as her muscles emerged in all their glory, our collective excitement reached new levels.



HD Physiques cannily shot her in the weeks before her show, and if what's said in the chat is to be believed, the spike to their subscription rate must have been considerable. Her biceps are absolutely awesome in this recent shoot, noted one HDP cheerleader. She seems so very proud of her muscles and it shows when she flexes.



Now, if I asked you if your hands were still above the keyboard...

It gets better - trust me - but first, shall we see how she did?




Winner of (due to being the only competitor in) Class "C", Blakelee didn't win the posedown for the Overall title. The pics aren't great quality either, so she doesn't even look that ripped. But having said all that, isn't she just GORGEOUS!



I've been trying to analyse in some sort of objective way just what it is about her, and while I've pretty much failed, I think it's got something to do with how long her limbs and/or torso and therefore her muscles are. Both her arms and thighs have such beautiful shapes. They're certainly big when you consider her age and therefore the amount of time she's had to develop them, but they're also beautifully formed.



Whatever. The most important thing is that Blakelee wants to do it again, right? Well, we are (genuinely) delighted to be able to report it's nothing but good news on that front - This is only the beginning, she wrote, beaming with her "C" class trophy. A new fire has been lit. So anxious to get back to work and build a bigger, better me!

And for our big finish, here is Blakelee two days before her show, showing off. Or "practising my routine" as she puts it. Inspired by Alyssa Kiessling apparently - in posing style and choice of briefs I dare say. I loved performing every second of this! Blakelee tells us. Funnily enough, I love watching every second of it.



Now, if I asked you where your hands were...

Tampa: Motion

Some remarkable bodies doing some remarkable things is perhaps best to describe how NPC News Online's Tampa Fitness Backstage edit begins. Breathtaking stuff, but then there's a bit of a lull in the middle section - remarkable bodies not doing much more than listening to music and/or taking selfies. Then, quite unexpectedly, there they are - the FBB line-up about to take the stage. The big finish, you might say!



Hopefully, longer backstage edits of Figure, Physique and FBBing are to come, and hopefully too Maximum Muscle Report - who have footage of the evening show - will soon have all the FBBing and Physique routines up. For today, we've selected four that (at the time of writing) are already there, starting with LaDawn McDay.



LaDawn's 3rd place was the curious judging decision of the day. Nothing in her contest history suggested she would end up ahead of Kim Buck and Lisa Cross, so we were eager to see her routine for clues as to why this time was different. Kim Buck's routine is not, as yet, available, but we can compare 3rd place LaDawn with 4th place Lisa.



Lower down the placings, the most anticipated return to competition was Angela Salvagno's. It's a slightly odd experience to see her wearing something that she doesn't aggressively remove by the halfway stage, but we'll have to get used to it.



And we finish for today and this week with another come back Queen, and the champ on the night. Classy and poised as ever, Alina nevertheless came back with a little extra, something else - two things to be precise - we'll also just have to get used to.



Check out NPC News Online for more backstage edits (soon?), and Maximum Muscle Report for more of the FBB routines, as well as breathtaking Fitness performances.

Enjoy!

FBBUK: Our Girl

This week's Figure-dominated theme with a bit of a coincidental military presence continues with former British Army corporal and Iraq veteran Melissa Haywood.



Whilst deployed on an exercise, I came across a copy of Muscle & Fitness Hers, she recalls. On the front cover was a curvy, tight and toned woman who looked fit, healthy and strong. Inside, I saw sample weight training programmes and diets that consisted of 6 meals a day and lots of protein. And I just thought "Hey! I can do this!" and started from there! The cover model, she later discovered was Amanda Latona, and Melissa went on to be a major force in (the then-nascent) Bikini division in Britain. She won her first British title in 2012 while still serving in the army, and took runner's-up medals from the Arnold Classic Europe and European Championships back home. Then at the 2014 English Grand Prix, she became one of our very first IFBB Bikini pros.



The following year she travelled to Miami for her first pro Bikini show. Looking a tad on the pasty side, she finished 12th out of 20, and then she pretty much fell off our radar completely. Having left the army, she set up an online training/body transformation business with fellow Bikini babe Jamie Alterton. Was she too focused on helping others achieve their Bikini dreams to compete now? Already married, was she starting a family? Turns out neither were true. Melissa was taking time out to grow.



Some of these Figure pros are absolutely stacked! Melissa exclaimed in a blog post this time last year. They are dry and they are hard and they are grainy and their shoulders... are out here! At this point, Melissa indicates where a huge shoulder would go out to, comfortably twice the size of her own impressively built deltoid. They are MASSIVE! she exclaims breathlessly, and I'm never going to look like that...



Fortunately, however, Melissa also noticed that not all the Figure pros looked so intimidating. Name-checking Stephanie Hammermeister and Chelsea Larson, Melissa talked about a more attainable - and for her more desirable - "lean, athletic" Figure look with "good muscle shape and symmetry". I could tell what was coming - can you? Barely a minute of the blog post later and she's announcing that she would make her pro Figure debut in San Marino that November. And that's exactly what she did.



Up against the cream of European Figure (Adela Ondrejovicova and winner Zulema Duran to name but two) plus Olympians such as Georgina Lona and Jessica Reyes Padilla, Melissa placed 8th out of 22, two places above UKBFF Figure champ Anna Banks. Now she was in arguably the most competitive division, and at such a competitive show, this was most satisfactory as far as debuts go, but there were definitely areas she could sharpen, she felt. Might need to work on my walk, she confessed after seeing the photos. I look like I’m marching to the shop to get milk!



The Melissa that emerged form her winter work was determined she would be better next time. It feels so good to be back! she wrote at the start of May. Eight weeks to get as lean as possible. Her goal was the new Portugal Pro in mid-July, another European event, but one not nearly as subscribed as San Marino. This time Melissa would only be up against European competition - nine women including veteran British division jumper Carmen Knights, and rising star Samantha Forbes. The real competition though was against herself, her San Marino package, and the day before the show she obviously felt she had achieved that. The venue is incredible (our stage rises out of the floor!), she told her Instagram followers. Whatever happens tomorrow is out of my hands so I’m just going to enjoy the whole experience and have fun on stage.



She placed 5th out of 10 - I would have had her 3rd, but then I'm biased and what do I know anyway? The post-show smile as she wielded her medal needed no caption.



And I kind of expected that to be that as far as Melissa was concerned for the year, unless another visit to San Marino before Christmas. Once again, I was completely wrong, in fact I'm not even sure she went home first or just went from Portugal direct. Melissa was going Stateside for her next show, you see. Los Angeles to be precise.



The line-up is stacked with so many amazing and inspiring athletes, she wrote on the day, and she was not wrong. As we've seen already this week on FMS, the (Figure-only) LA show is most definitely the IFBB pro Figure big time. This was easily the best line-up Melissa had ever been part of, many of them, as she was, coming off a show the week or two before. I’m just going to have fun and enjoy every second, she said. Again.



Here at FMS, we thought Melissa looked absolutely sensational. She'd certainly nailed the "lean, athletic" look she wants. Great definition, great muscle shape, great symmetry. We were all very pleased for her, but British Figure in the US historically, and in that line-up... we weren't exactly holding our breath for a top 10 placing.



But what do we know?! Amazing to find myself amongst Olympians in the first call outs! she wrote midway through the contest. And ultimately, Melissa achieved one of the best British Figure results ever. 4th place!!! she gushed afterwards. So happy!



And then it was back to the grind. No rest for Melissa, even when she's had something to celebrate. It's only Wednesday, she wrote, on Wednesday. My first full week of training since before the Portugal Pro and I am literally feeling BATTERED.



I think that really is it now for Melissa this contest year. It's time for what she calls her "reflection" season - looking back at what she's done well, could do better etc. (rather than my initial idea that she would just be spending a lot of time in front of the mirror!). Clearly, and despite all my observations to the contrary earlier in the week, there still is a place in the division for the "lean, athletic" package, and those already taking inspiration from the likes of Stephanie Hammermeister and Chelsea Larson could learn much from what Melissa Haywood has done over the last 36 months.



The rise of UK Figure continues...

Summer Lovin': My Summer of Shannon

"The Summer of Shannon" began back at the Jr USAs at the start of May. Though she was runner-up in her class, she didn't win her pro card, but she did make quite an impression. "Never really noticed her before but..." posts went up all over. The body, yes, but the majority actually mainly emphasised her beauty. And her smile.



Suddenly she was everywhere.

A shoot for Muscle Angels with Annie followed; another with James Cook for FTVideo (Rivieccio Mrs and Mr). Sean Nelson, schmotographer extraordinaire, worked with her, and so did Her Biceps - the one site that had noticed Shannon last year - again.



At the same time, clips of Shannon's cam shows started to appear in some of the murkier parts of the FBB lovin' world. Places where you only need to subscribe (for no charge) to a particular user who has such things in order to get to see them.



She smiles a lot while she's doing her shows as well - the clips I've seen anyway. Apparently, Shannon truly does love showing off her muscles. Not for her the stock-in-trade sultriness of so many other performers. Instead, Shannon does joy.



She can - perhaps archly so - be somewhat coy at times, and she's not completely uninhibited (if you expect your performer to dangle it in front of camera for you, you'll be disappointed). But at the same time she knows which parts are her best parts, flexes slow, hard and long, and seems completely unable to keep her hands off herself for more than a few seconds. She also does great lingering, passionate bicep kissing - the best I've seen since Dena (best ever) would regularly give her own a big wet one.



She says all the right things too, "I wanted you to see me with a little more definition before my show..." and so on, an attitude always guaranteed to get me wondering which card the wife is least likely to notice I've topped up the HBCam credits with.



With more photo shoots to come, and - I hope - more cam show recordings as well, "The Summer of Shannon"... OK, "MY Summer of Shannon" looks set to run and run.



Especially if the wife doesn't notice that payment...



shanisfierce on Instagram

Summer Lovin' will be back later in the summer.