FBBUK: Donna Murphy's Ambition

Runner-up in 2014, ex-Bikini competitor Donna had been among the favourites to take the tall Bodyfitness title at the UKBFF British finals back in 2015, but it was not to be. Some superb physiques, most notable Donna Murphy and Rebecca Maughan, didn’t make the top six as the judges took a firm stance against the more muscular competitors, noted John Plummer in his contest report. Maybe, mused FMS at the time, Donna would need to make another switch in division and move up to Physique before she got some love from the UKBFF judges again. Well, it's taken a while but...



I was really motivated to do Physique, says Donna. I could really see that class going into the whole feminine muscle thing, which I love. To have size, and still be girly.



Since last December, Donna has been under the wing of Mr Corinne Ingman, JP Petersen, and the results are, I think you will agree, impressive. [He's] had a HUGE impact on my bodybuilding, she says. Everything from my training to nutrition; from my self-belief and the way I approach prep to my health. And for the first time she's having to work out a routine. Something new to me but something I've fallen in love with, she says. Just music and me moving and getting creative. It's brought me a new aspect of Bodybuilding and reminded me how much I love being in a studio.



As a British female muscle fan I can't help but be excited at the prospect of seeing her compete in Physique, and she would make a great British champion, not least because she has, I think, the same kind of star quality (though less naughtiness) as our current #1 pro Female Bodybuilder, Lisa Cross. The camera quite simply loves her.



So only natural she should get together with premier female muscle photographer, film maker, and, we are proud to say, friend of the blog Rebecca Andrews. Ambition, as plugged by Donna in her intro to today's post, is the result of a match made in heaven.



Donna on Instagram.

Rebecca Andrews' website  (RAP Media) is currently under construction. In the meantime, check out her Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channel for more.

Enjoy!

21 Reasons (#10)

Due to some work commitments and Mr and Mrs Swell's now annual sojourn to the South of France (not the bit that was recently on fire, thankfully), the FMS offices are going to be closed this week, next week and the week after. Nevertheless, as always, we don't want to leave you totally FMS-less, so we've lined up 21 Reasons, one daily picture (or two or three), plus one reason why we love doing what we do, as if we were explaining it to one not so convinced of the glory of the muscular female.

Enjoy!

#10
MAGNETISM



You can guarantee everyone's heads are turning the moment you enter a room, is just one reason why it's better to be strong than skinny wrote Ashley Fern for Elite Daily back in 2015. It's pretty damn powerful to have a commanding presence.



At the gym, the supermarket, the pool, the beach... in fact EVERYWHERE she goes, EVERYONE is looking at her. And that includes you, my female muscle denying friend. I mean I know you tell yourself you're not attracted to women with muscles and all but if that really is the truth then why can't you stop gawping at her?

Incomparable

I couldn't possibly have a week of "contrast" (you had noticed, right?) without the starkest, and perhaps cruelest of them all. Show us a pictureof a female bodybuilder and we'll tell you no average woman can possibly compare. Show us a picture of a female bodybuilder and an average woman and we'll say, "I told you so."



She is, at the very least, twice the woman.

I remember her! Cathy is probably thinking. She was so nice and beautiful. She dreamed of competing and I'm sure she is now, and I'm sure she looks amazing.

But at that time, pretty though this wannabe competitor was (and yes, there's a bit of shoulder development there, she was most certainly lifting then), you don't actually notice her unless you really try because she's standing next to Cathy Lefrançois!




So much more woman. Bigger. Stronger. Oozing confidence and sex appeal.

And she doesn't even have to be that huge to look huge in comparison.



For example, I would urge those still prefacing the term Figure competitor with "only a" to look long and hard at Azaria Glaim's upper body and a long hard look at her admirer's, and then have a long hard rethink about their terms of reference.

But sometimes it's so not even close, it's ridiculous.



Poor skinny, says one forum wag. She best not try to armwrestle Carla Maria.

A bit of a thing, that, with one department of the female muscle fan club - projecting onto these pictures their fantasies of muscular goddesses physically dominating and/or humiliating the regular girls they are photographed with. She could pick her up, lift her overhead, lift her by the throat... they pant with increasing excitement.

Not my thing at all. But if Lisa sees a gap in the market she's in there quicker than you can say, Yeah Lisa! Spank that skinny girl raw! Show her who's the DOM! (pant)



It seems to me though that with so many pictures like these being taken at Expos or gyms, it's a case of the regular girls wanting to be photographed with their heroines, and for me, that's much more of a turn-on. I'm excited that they're excited about being so up close and personal with these magnificent muscular creatures.



I'd die and go to heaven if my shorts were brushing up against one of Gracyanne's boombastic thighs, or I had one of Rene's arms around me and her bicep (not to mention her muscle pit) within sniffing distance. I'd love to be faced with the dilemma of whether, having placed my hand quite reasonably - in the circumstances - at the top of one of Angela Rayburn's hard glutes, I should just go for it and squeeze...



But a decent second best would be hanging out with the woman who had got the photo with the object of our mutual admiration. Tell me again about when you were living down in Fort Worth and Delane Hart was one of the PTs at your gym...



Sometimes there's no hiding that admiration, that excitement.



Sometimes they just can't keep their hands off.



And sometimes they are living out the dream I had last night!



But I have to admit my absolute favourites of this type of comparison photo are what you might call the "inadvertent" comparison - the regular woman just happens to be in the photo. Captured, perhaps at the moment when she clocks the fact that she is in the presence of a completely different, bigger, stronger, sexier, superior female...



And once you've seen that photo, you can project that moment onto any photo where your (actually chubbier than) average woman is in range. Whether she's just laid eyes on or is just about to lay eyes on Claudia's Bonavoglia's physical perfection, what's certain is she's going to leave that beach feeling differently about her own body.



Crushed? Inspired?

We would hope for the latter, that the outcome would be an increase in the sum total of female muscle in the world. Perhaps she might even have left the beach and gone on, like Cathy's friend at the start of today's post, to dream of competing, and having a body that could inspire more women to do exactly the same as she has done.

Become incomparable.



Readers' persobnal favourites from this genre would be gratefully received.

Get in touch - 6ft1swell@gmail.com

Mrs Swell's Easter Surprise: I Would Notice

Previously on FMS, we had Ayme De Oliveira, the "bodybuilding air hostess who claims passengers don't notice her stunningly sculpted physique except when they see her lifting baggage". Now it's a bodybuilding banker, 36-year-old Shivani Vaghela who is quoted as saying "I look normal in my suit", and, according to an article in The Mail Online, whose "colleagues have no idea about her secret life as a bodybuilder".



You can probably tell already that we are talking about a small "b" bodybuilder here, actually a Bikini competitor at those "Miami Pro" contests. So, yes, actually not a hell of a lot of muscle, not even compared to Ayme. But would that mean, if you or I were one of her banking colleagues, we'd be as oblivious to her charms as her actual colleagues seem to be? Not likely. And it's not just because our female muscle radar would probably just pick her up swanning around at Canary Wharf in her gym gear.



The main thrust of The Mail's article, as is so often the case, is the "bizarre" diet. Shivani, it tells us, "ploughs through six meals a day". The female muscle head notices such things, and is much less likely to come to the conclusion that "she has an eating disorder", which is apparently what the other bankers have decided. Often I've eaten out of Tupperware in meetings, which has posed a few questions, she says, or I've had to explain why I'm ordering off menu when in restaurants for business meetings too.



Kind of beggars belief that her colleagues aren't aware when she puts it like that. Or is The Mail once again guilty of a bit of fact massaging in order to pretty much regurgitate Ayme De Oliveira's story with added Indian heritage? It's culturally very different to be bodybuilding as a female and it's not considered a feminine look, Shivani says.



But buried deep within the article is a shameless plug for a fitness food delivery service. And that, I suspect, is really where the true purpose of the article lies.



See? I notice these things.

Mrs Swell's Easter Surprise: Because She Can

OK, so Mrs Swell has surprised me by booking a two-week break to the sunshine. Love her to bits, though she can at times mistake the fact that I am self-employed for being able to take time off whenever I want. Anyway, I shall be busy buying her some new outfits for the beach before we go, and then we're away, so posts may be a bit thin, or lack the usual diligence for the next couple of weeks. But don't blame the lady.



Thoughts of the beach led me to Claudia Bonavoglia showing it off. Don't think I've posted these particular pics of her before, but I may be wrong. Anyway, here's Claudia, not letting the fact that she is in a chair stop her from giving her sizzling Brazilian body a quick workout. Or, as one forum wag put it, Why sit when I can train triceps and abs? It's a nice dream to think I'll get to feast my eyes on a sight like this while away...



Enjoy!

Sunday Sizzler

Today's Sizzler is Aussie WBFF Fitness Diva, Sophie Hawkes.

Sophie placed 10th at last year's WBFF event in Australia, so we can't wait till the FMS research team unearth some material of the nine women more diva than her that day.

Anyway, here's Sophie. And some sand.



Enjoy!

Celebrity Muscle UK: Chloe Madeley

I've changed my body from being a soft and curvy size 10 to a lean and muscle-ridden size 8 numerous times now, says TV presenter/model and "fitness expert" Chloe Madeley (and yes, UK readers, she is indeed the daughter of Richard & Judy). I do this for personal enjoyment, for work reasons and also because sometimes I'm curious to actually see what's been happening under my skin after years of training.



I think I'm rather glad about that curiosity of hers, and the fact that she's hardly the shy retiring type does make her Instagram a damn entertaining read at times. She can do self-deprecating - In case you can't tell from my mush, I'm a morning train kinda gal, she says of the above up with the larks bathroom selfie, for example, get up, get your gym gear on, brush ya pegs and GET THE FUCK OUT THE DOOR.



But it's when she takes on her haters, or takes a pop at fitness regimes that promise to create thigh gaps, that she really gets going. And gets herself in the media. Chloe Madeley SLAMS Fitness Industry, and You Think I Look Like A Man? are both headlines she's generated via IG diatribes in the last few months.



Coincidentally, she's just launched a new "12-week Body Transformation Guide". Available to download. For the one you love perhaps? Check out Chloe's "Fitness Fondue" website for more. It's as smart, sexy, and easy on the eye as Chloe herself.

Celebrity Muscle UK: Gemma Atkinson

Yes, I need some posts I can do quickly as I begin the task of compiling your 2017 Hot and Hard 100, and yes, these are not going to be the most muscular women you'll ever see on the blog but - serious point - famous women, very much in the mainstream, proudly displaying the fruits of their sweaty workouts is A VERY GOOD THING.

And we begin with a woman who has featured (briefly) on the blog before and the only celebrity muscle woman who actually got a Hot and Hard 100 vote - sorry mate, she didn't make the list - actress and heavy lifting advocate Gemma Atkinson.



Gemma sez: Ladies! Don't forget to work your back! It's an area often neglected. I train mine twice a week, my favourite exercise being seated row. Great for posture, plus it's always nice to see your results in those vest tops and backless dresses...



Most recently seen (great posture and all) in action in January in Cape Verde (celeb life, eh?) where the weights on the beach are, it seems, not small. At least not the ones Gemma chooses to work with. Lots more of this Mancunian Gem on her Instagram.



Enjoy!

For Aiden - again, commiserations my friend. You tried.

Compulsory Brazilian

Every week I tell myself, no Brazilians. No "Wellness" or bumbum girls. You can do one week without a musa fitness. Come on! Be strong! You can do it. You don't need them.

But most weeks it turns out I do.



Franciely "Fran" Petersen. Rio de Janeiro. Instagram.

Maybe next week. Sigh.

Sunday Sizzler

Another new irregularly regular series for 2017 is to be the Sunday Sizzler.

Fairly self-explanatory I think.



Elah Bittencort is our first.

I know some of you are going to be all tut-tut about the tats, but those of you who aren't might want to drop by this Brazilian IFBB "Wellness" athlete's Instagram.

Claudia Bonavoglia

The female muscle elevator selfie is most common in Brazil.

Or at least that's what our (less than comprehensive) research suggests anyway.

But even among the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of women showing off their gym-sculpted bodies in elevators all over Brazil, we've identified two women who capture themselves going up or down over and over again. In a land of shameless female muscle exhibitionism, they are even more shamelessly exhibitionist than most.



We've met Claudia Bonavoglia on FMS before, shamelessly exhibiting herself at the beach and, we surmised, thoroughly enjoying the fact that she was making just about every other woman on that beach look, and consequently feel, utterly inadequate.

Well, it turns out that the beach is not the only place where Claudia likes to exhibit that body of hers. She exhibits at the gym, choosing typically revealing outfits for her workouts (it is a rare day indeed when her abs are covered up) and making sure there is always a camera (and willing photographer) on hand to capture her in action.

But as well as the beach and the gym (where she has audiences), when she is alone in the elevator (apparently the same one every time - who wouldn't want to know where that is?!) she is a serial selfie taker. Claudia, it seems, just can't get enough of herself.



Never wearing more (as far as I can tell) than the minimum acceptable coverage, Claudia shows off her sexy Brazilian muscle body. She does close-ups. She takes a series of selfies in different poses. She pinches the paper thin skin over her abs. All while she gazes lovingly at the image of herself in the screen of her phone.

















Never miss another Claudia elevator selfie (or beach trip or workout).

Join the 50,000+ on Claudia's Instagram.



Ai karamba!