Three Heads Are Better Than Two

Sir,

Your blog, Female Muscle Slave, has many commendable qualities. However, we are writing to bring to your attention the obvious and repeated bias it has shown in favour of our antagonists. This bias, one might even call it a prejudice, has been inherent within the blog from its earliest days, but has, in recent months, become so pronounced we have felt compelled to demand you restore some semblance of balance.



We are, of course, referring to your tireless glorification of the biceps brachii, muscles that are, in every way, inferior and far less important than we, the triceps brachii, are. Not only do we have one more head each than our overrated opposition, but we are also, on average, twice as large.



It is indisputable that we, not they, are the Daddies of the upper arm. Furthermore, we are considerably more useful. Yet your blog continually and consistently behaves as though we were not there at all.



At the time of writing, Female Muscle Slave has 156 posts which are tagged "Biceps", and, as far as we can see, not one tagged with our name. Yet many, in fact, ALL of the women so lauded by your authors for their arm development are, quite plainly, 66% tri, and only 33% bi.



Unless you take immediate action to begin to redress this preposterous imbalance, the only reasonable conclusion one may draw is that Female Muscle Slave is an institution rampant with anti-tricep sentiment.



A blog, yes, we will say it, rife with tricepophobic prejudice.



To help you begin the process of rectifying this sorry state of affairs, and as a sign of good faith that Female Muscle Slave will do the right thing, we have, along with a suggested title for the piece, attached a selection of our best images in order to facilitate your prompt action on this matter.



Should you require further examples, please do not hesitate to contact us.



We look forward to reading your first ever post tagged "Triceps".



Yours sincerely,

T. Rice & P. Brachii

Back Is Beautiful: Brigita's Beautiful Back

I was going to call this post "Brezovac's Back", but given that Brigita retired from competitive bodybuilding after the Ms Olympia last year, I thought that might be slightly misleading and make some of you think she'd changed her mind. Sadly, she's not "back", but this little tribute is going to showcase her beautiful back.



Slovenia's greatest export (can you think of another?) started lifting weights at the age of 14 as part of her training for karate. In that time I lived only for karate and practising with weights which brought me very good results, I was national champion... for few years competing up to 116lbs and my body looked amazing.



Her inspiration was a picture of Cory Everson that she saw at her then boyfriend's garage gym. I immediately knew I wanted to build the body she had, she has said. That meant first moving from karate to fitness, but then in 2004, she was told by judges at the IBFA World Championships she could not compete in fitness, and was forcibly moved to the bodybuilding category. She won the title.



And over the next few years she won a few other titles competing in a variety of federations. In 2005, IBFA European Champion. In 2006 she defended that title successfully, and also won the NAC Universe, the IBFA Worlds (again), and the oddly-named WPF World-Universe title. In 2007, she was NAC Universe champion again.



The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was to find a way to compete in IFBB federation. Our country didn't care about the IFBB and finally I managed to pull things together with the big help of Balkan IFBB president, Nenad Vuckovic and then represent my country at World Women's Championship 2009. Well, well done Mr Vuckovic (there I go again congratulating an IFBB man - see Lisa Cross IFBB Pro).



Brigita didn't win the title (Simone Linay of Germany did), but she did get a pro card for the IFBB and arrived in Tampa in 2010 for her first pro show. She won. I just couldn't believe this is really happening for a long time after the show was over. I was working for that success for many years, keeping my biggest goal, step onto the sacred Ms Olympia stage. At the beginning of my career it was only the big dream which seemed almost impossible to reach. But we have to have our dreams and I believe if we work hard for them, one day they become reality.

top: Tampa 2010 & 2011; bottom: Olympia 2011 & 2012




After finishing 10th in that first Ms Olympia, Brigita returned the following year with a 3rd place in Tampa and a win in Toronto under her belt. She came 3rd, the highest placing by a European since Marja Lehtonen had finished 3rd in the lightweight class in 2004. In 2012 she was 6th at the Ms International, 5th at the Olympia, and in 2013 she was 4th at the Ms I, and 5th again at the Ms O.

top: Ms International 2013; bottom: Ms Olympia 2013



I love the way of life being a bodybuilder. I like the food and diet regime because I can always have my body under control, I like working out and I like that I'm different from the average person. But Brigita, what do you enjoy most about being a top female bodybuilder? If I tell you the truth, the thing I most enjoy is the attention.



Since retiring from competition, Brigita has become an IFBB judge. And she has been passing on her knowledge and experience to others. Does anybody have a better job than me? she recently tweeted with a pic showing her putting three shirtless men through their posing practice paces. All in good shape, they look tiny next to her.



Finally, Brigita battering that big and beautiful back of hers...



More Brigita via Twitter, her website, and her excellent (and often updated - if you are a fan of candids, you will love it) blog. Another (longer but lower quality) clip of Brigita training her back from 2011 here, and an interesting compilation Brigita Brezovac Over the Years, which includes all sorts of things, including snippets of an interview.

Enjoy!

[More Brigita on FMS passim]

Pull Up of the Day: Marja & Brigita

MARJA

From front on, sir will note the pronounced 'teardrops' above the knees, the outstanding abdominal definition, and the volume and aesthetic curve of the biceps.




BRIGITA

In this rear angle view, sir may like to appreciate the explosive shoulders and the layers of thick muscle revealed across the back as the repetition is performed.



The results speak for themselves...




And, a bonus ball!

Colette Nelson reaches failure, again and again, but not for want of trying -
check out the shaking. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

gif by Muscular Girls in Motion

Enjoy!

Prof. Pennypacker's Pectarium

Pennypacker on building an archive
My collection of magazines continues to grow. The more I acquire, the more I sense the need for preservation. How wonderful it would be if there were an archive, an exhaustive collection held in one location, and dedicated to the acquisition of all female muscle media past, present, and future. To think about: 1) How to fund such an archive, its upkeep and acquisitions? 2) Where to locate it? 3) How much digital storage space would be needed and how much physical space this would require?



Over the next couple of years, these questions would continue to drive Pennypacker, and were the seed out of which The Pectarium was to grow. Though not the 'British Library of Female Muscle' (as he began to refer to his idea), The Pectarium is, however, not only a unique and ingenious system of female muscle media presentation, but is also the tangible result of some of the solutions he devised to the problem of how to collect and collate such enormous amounts of digital material.

from Pennypacker's diary 19th January 2011
Have spent the last week and a half backing up. I would say I need an assistant, but employing a hard-up undergrad for such a purpose might be a little awkward. At least all digital media is now saved and stored on hard drives ranging from 350GB to 1TB. How much more will I need in the future? The files seem to be getting bigger and bigger and more and more hi-res.



from Pennypacker's diary 27th March 2011
Have decided to write my own cataloguing software. Tried several that are freely-available and the two most recommended, which were, of course, to be paid for. Some had commendable features, but none completely satisfactory. Need image recognition software integrated into the cataloguing to avoid duplicates. I recall Gerald was working on something like that at one time. Face recognition or some such. Might be a good first port of call. Will contact tomorrow.



The 'Gerald' who was contacted by the professor was Dr. Gerald MacKinnon, Professor of Electronic Science at Christchurch College, Oxford. Over the next six months, Dr. MacKinnon would help Pennypacker construct the software that allowed him to acquire, collate and catalogue millions of images and clips simply by running the program. After September 2011, the professor's computers were downloading and archiving female muscle material by themselves. This, however, created new problems. According to the professor's notebook in late 2011, 'It would take me to the age of 202 years and 7 months to actually view all the material that has now been gathered by my software.'



from Pennypacker's diary 27th May 2011
Left an image of Jo Stewart's magnificent chest on my screen when the doorbell rang. It was my niece and her husband paying me a 'surprise visit'. I kept them talking in the hall for long enough to let the screensaver hide those perfect muscles. The closest I have been to having to reveal my secret. How ludicrous that at the age of 66 I feel compelled to hide my passion. We lunched at the Pelican. Kathy's husband is tiresome with his tales of business conquest (one wonders what other conquests he doesn't speak about in the presence of his wife) and I increasingly daydreamed of returning home to privacy and the delectable Jo as the meal progressed. Got the impression they had been sent by the rest of the family to find out why I hadn't been more sociable since the first few months of retirement. If only they knew!



Kathy Winterbottom, Pennypacker's niece, along with her older brother, Tate Pennypacker, lost the most from the alterations the professor made to his will - amendments were registered with his solicitor on four separate occasions from late 2011 to spring 2012 - and were consequently the most vehement contestants during the legal battle that followed his death. For Tate, even more galling than the loss of inheritance the provision for the upkeep of The Pectarium entailed was the clause, inserted by the professor in his last alteration to his will, that his own inheritance would be dependent on his taking responsibility for the maintenance and operation of The Pectarium. In court, his nephew would refer to it as 'a monstrosity', 'disgusting' and 'perverted'. Obviously not a muscle women lover.

Pennypacker on Guimond
Of all the truly awesome sights I have come across through my new passion, the chest of Collette Guimond must rank as high as any. Frankly, I hold her responsible for my preference for this, no, these muscles over the many others that adorn the body of the muscular woman. I have travelled in my life. Seen many amazing things - Iguaçu Falls, the Grand Canyon, the morning mist over the Mull of Kintyre. There are also things I have never seen - the Nile, Ayers Rock, Everest rising above the peaks of the Himalayas. Honestly, I would rather travel to see Collette's chest with my own eyes than cross any of those other sights off my list right now.



As far as we know, Pennypacker never did get to see Collette's chest first-hand, or indeed any other female bodybuilders' chests. Nothing in his diaries records a visit to a female bodybuilding contest or any other kind of meeting. During 2011, he seems to have come to the conclusion that unless he devoted all time he had left to the construction of The Pectarium, it would never be finished. In the end, he preferred not to indulge himself in personal experiences, but instead chose to leave his archive and his creation as a legacy to the world of female muscle fandom.



from Pennypacker's diary 4th December 2011
The work has begun. This week the old barn has been gutted and by Christmas the structure will have been made sound. In the New Year renovation work will begin. If everything goes according to schedule, I will have my haven by Easter.

More selections from Prof. Pennypacker's archive tomorrow. Enjoy!

gifs by Shirtrippers2.0, The Ankle and 'the street fighter'.