Summer Lovin': Spot the Vivi

I don't think we've ever featured Brazilian thunderella Vivi Winkler before, but she's probably not unfamiliar to (a very well-informed female muscle head like) yourself.

Could you spot her in a line-up though?



Answers to the usual address. Winning entries go into a draw for the (one and only) prize - a once in a lifetime opportunity to take Vivi out dress shopping*.



Watch Vivi suffer for her art here.

Enjoy!

Summer Lovin' continues next week.

* You even get to pick up the bill!

Summer Lovin': Natasha

Today, we catch up with Canadian stunner Natasha Aughey.

And not before time. It's been a while since we last saw her "lush muscle and beauty" here on FMS, far too long judging by some of her more recent Instagram posts.

Such as this, for example...



Let yourself wander, says Natasha.

Well this certainly made my mind wander, imagining all sorts of "if you go down in the woods today" scenarios. When I came round, I found my hands had wandered too.

More Summer Lovin' tomorrow...

FBBing Wins! Chicago 2018 (Part 2)

We said on Tuesday why we felt Female Bodybuilding had had a big win in Chicago with the Ms Wings International Classic, and the day after that at the pro show, Wings of Strength worked that magic again with the result that the sport had another big win.




It was by far the best line-up of the season so far. 15 women - including the three new pros from the previous night - graced the stage. Massive veterans like Tina Zampa and Angela Rayburn (back to her almost bulging through the posing suit best), posed down with Nicole Janveaux - Lightweight winner at the Ms Wings the previous night - and the smouldering Tina Williams, who'd won the Heavyweight class.



There was another beefy veteran, Rita Bello - not perhaps up to the level of her thrillingly freaky past in either size or conditioning, but still... the shape of those biceps, the expanse of her rear lat spread, and of course, those legendary glutes.



And making her pro debut, Donna Salib, over 40 and something of a heart-throb for sections of the female muscle lovin' forum community since her pro card winning showing at last year's IFBB North Americans. Wish I was attending this one, wrote one before the check-ins. You get to see Donna Salib live, you lucky sods! She may not have been packing the "additional 50lbs of muscle" that some of her more optimistic (/deluded) fans had been hoping for, but I can see the attraction for sure.



In Omaha, we noted how WoS seemed to be courting some of the bigger Physique competitors, and how much Amanda Smith had enjoyed her move from Physique to FBBing there. Well, Amanda was doing her close-fisted double biceps again in Chicago, placing the same as she had in Omaha - 5th. And following in Amanda's thundersteps, Natalia Kovalyova (or Natalya Kovalyova or Kovaleva or Kovalyeva and so on and so forth...) - owner of perhaps the most "WTF was that for?!" pro card ever - made her pro FBBing debut, and finished a respectable (if not entirely merited) 9th.



The biggest Physique to FBBing news (apart from the lovely Paige Sandgren the night before at the Ms Wings perhaps), was, however, made by Jill Diorio/Blondin.



Yes, that is the regalia of the Winner she has there. You might say Jill has transitioned with some success! I had zero expectations going into the show because this was all new for me, she confessed afterwards in disbelief. My only goal was to not look out of place or like I didn’t belong. Regardless of what happened, I was proud of myself to taking on a new challenge, pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I’m still not sure I’ve really grasped that I actually DID win. I’m waiting for someone to pinch me.




Turns out that despite my little theory that all this Physique to FBBing traffic is a WoS masterplan, at least some of the women are being (or at least feeling) pushed into it by the IFBB Physique judges. Jill among them. [It wasn't] because of my placings, but the reasoning behind those placings and the judges' feedback that I found myself having to make some decisions, she says. After Omaha, the decision was made to follow the judges' suggestions [my bold] and move up to Women's Bodybuilding.



Her win, indeed the whole IFBB "move the more muscular Physique women up to Female Bodybuilding" push, has not been without its critics. Jill Blondin shouldn't even been in the top 3, raged one forum poster. Too many Physique competitors are coming into Bodybuilding now. I'm afraid I have to disagree though. "Too many" women in the FBBing division is not something I recognise as being possible, wherever they come from. If the IFBB want to make Physique basically Figure plus flexing minus heels (and if you look at the Physique v Figure line-ups at some recent pro shows, they have already pretty much achieved that) then so be it. The more FBBs the merrier, I say. Who knows? WoS might even bring weight classes back to pro FBBing as a result!



Besides, Jill Blondin looks every inch an FBB to me. OK, perhaps she shouldn't have won, but she did, and that success can only serve to encourage more Physique dreams (Valentina Mishina being the lady I currently hope for the most!) to follow.



3rd place Jay Fuchs was the doommongers' champion elect, partly, I imagine, because she's got such a loyal and vocal following anyway, and partly because the pre-contest selfies quickened pulses and had hands below the keyboard all over the world.




Of course, unlike her devotees, Jay is too classy to bitch and moan, and instead heaped praise on WoS, the promoters, and her fellow FBBs. I'm overjoyed [with] 3rd, she wrote. A great energy, fanatical [sic] organization, and the many great athletes. Thanks especially to Jake Wood and the beautiful Lenda Murray and Alina Popa.



Side note - I mentioned the other day how I felt that the sheer number of pics of Kristina Mendoza that James Cook took perhaps betrayed his favourite on the night. Well, as far as Dan Ray's lens was concerned, Jay was #1. Just saying...



No one, though, has talked much about the lady who placed 2nd - Maria Mikola.




It's become a familiar position for her - this was her third runner's-up medal this year after Toronto and Omaha, but for my money her most impressive showing ever in her two seasons of pro FBBing. I thought she looked absolutely sensational, and if anyone was going to have sour grapes over the result, it should be her, but there was no such thing of course - 2nd in a very impressive line up today at the WOS IFBB Chicago Pro!!! she told her (comparatively small number of IG followers. Amazing is all I can say!



I think the relative lack of love she gets from the fans is simply because she doesn't push herself on social media so much, and doesn't do so many video/photo shoots either - the modelling game being a bit beyond her comfort zone, especially the racier side of it. She seems genuinely lovely though - on top of the genuinely lovely body - and until she gets a bit more love from the wider female muscle lovin' community, I'll continue to go out of my way to make sure Maria gets plenty of it here on FMS.



Perhaps the 1-2-3 were out of order, but all of them will be (in all probability, Jay will get an invite if she doesn't qualify on points) at the Rising Phoenix. WoS gained massive credit for helping to put the line-up together and showing them all such a good time. The IFBB may, after all, be the ones pushing Jill et al into WoS' world, but it's Jake, Lenda, Alina and their crew who are making them feel so at home. Extending "the family" as Jay calls it. All, it appears, is as well in pro FBBing as it could be right now, and it's not very often in the past several years we've been able to say that.



Enjoy!

Sunday Showdown

Another new alternative to the Sunday Sizzler, the Sunday Showdown will bring you two women, rightly famed for a particular muscle or body part, going head-to head.

Or, in this case, bum-to-bum.

Witness the thickness...

BAKHAR v BARBOSA



Comment box for your verdict and/or suggestions for future Showdown subjects.

Enjoy!

Swell Digs: Physique Dreams

Having taken a couple of weeks off when (both amateur and pro) contests were happening all over, it's time for a bit of a catch up with just some of the dreamiest physiques from recent pro shows in North America and - new this year - Europe.

DREAMS (AND A NIGHTMARE) IN SAN MARINO



We begin at the San Marino Pro at the very beginning of June, where former Hottest Hard Woman in the World Cris Goy Arellano led a Spanish Physique 1-2-3.



Thanks to some recent work she's done with Awefilms, we need no longer wonder whether she can bounce those magnificent pecs, and for my money Cris is currently looking better than ever neck down. What is going on with the face though...

All her IG images (example left, above) seem to be in some way doctored - and are really quite scary. No less scary are those that haven't been manipulated (see above right, with amiga Paloma Parra). Physique dream, but facial nightmare.

And she used to be so gorgeous!

Anyway, the ever shredded Paloma was the 2 in the 1-2-3, with Joanna Romano 3rd.



Swell especially dug Joanna's deep dark tan - and (now) trademark groovy moves.



Had I been a judge at the San Marino Pro, Joanna would have placed first on my scorecard simply for the pleasure of watching her do this right in front of my (no doubt popping-right-out-of-their-sockets) eyes. Caliente as f***! (as they say in Spain).

THE TORONTO TWO



I don't wish to discount the rest of the (excellent) line-up in Toronto, but while Margie was steam-rolling the Bodybuilding class, there was a genuine contest in Physique, with two of the division's current finest battling it out for this prestigious title.



In the sparkly blue corner, we have the defending Toronto champ, FMS fave Eleonora "Ella" Dobrinina. Perhaps she wasn't at her most ridiculously shredded, but still a glorious sight to behold, hitting those poses with her customary thrilling abandon, as always looking as though she was having the absolute time of her life on stage.



And in the sparkly purple and gold corner, Braziian phenom Daniely "Dany" Castilho, former Physique International champ. A much more classical, toned-down poser than Ella [is ANYone quite as full on as she? - ed.], Dany oozed class from every pore with her beauty plus muscle package. I truly enjoyed being on stage with you, wrote Ella as they awaited the final verdict. I feel your fire! Dany, in turn, reminded her IG followers that Ella is "a sensational athlete". Can you feel the love?!



It almost seems irrelevant but Dany, I think rightly - just too good from the back - got the nod. However, congratulations should very much go to both of these Physique dreams for a double act of muscle and beauty which, if it didn't in fact, deserved to have the whole audience on its feet clapping and cheering and whooping and hollering (and possibly moaning and groaning as their tentpoles gushed all over the place).



[EASY! - ed.]

OMG-AHA!



And so to the following weekend and the Wings of Strength production in Omaha. Now we will be returning here to review what transpired in the Female Bodybuilding class later in the week, but for now let us focus on a Physique line-up so good that the absolutely stunning Keri Ann Heitzman not even making the top 15 (and incidentally looked as though she'd have done OK if she'd switched to FBBing).




Among many of the dreams outside the top 6, Swell dug (and swooned for) the styling and attitude of Brittany Bull (12th - good name for a muscle woman!); the sheer amount of muscle on Sara-Aude Salbot (9th, another who might consider FBBing next time?) and Brazilian goddess Ivie Rhein (7th); and last but by no means least Christina Thome and the way her posing suit rode so high up her hips.



It's always good to get a reminder of how little I really know about the sport, and in Omaha that came in the very beautiful form of Kristy Davis. Pro debut? I wondered, perhaps a veteran returning after many years away, utterly unaware of Kristy two pro shows last year, her Open and Masters class wins at the 2016 North Americans, and her years of Physique contests before that. Proper most muscular, killer abs, a jawline to die for, and if not impressed already, check out Kristy just 16 weeks before the show...



OMG-aha indeed.



Jill Diorio's world-class calves (and the rest of her, which is by no means shabby) placed 6th, and gorgeous Allison Schmohl (and her world-class peaks) was 5th.



In 4th and 3rd respectively were Robyn Mays and Valentina Mishina - two women who only need to stand there with all that definition all over their quads in order to get me reaching below the keyboard. [final warning! -ed.] Robyn is, in case you didn't know, an evergreen 45+ Masters competitor, while Valentina should be all too familiar, both as your Hot and Hard 100 high new entry this year, and a woman who was competing for the 5th time in 2018 and the 7th time since September. She really does like to punish herself (and bring joy to the female muscle lovin' world).



Runner-up on the day was a Physique dream good enough to win on most other days, that of Australia's Lee-Ann Temnyk. It always takes something special to beat her, and in Omaha that special thing turned out to be former Figure phenom Mayla Ash.




Mayla had finished a lowly 10th at the Optimum Physique Pro earlier in the year. Conditioning improvements had obviously been made and the judges (and ol' Swell here) approved. She looks so damn HARD all over but at the same time extremely feminine and glam. Like a (slightly) older and bolder Shanique. Or something.

OFF TO SUNNY SPAIN



And finally, back to Europe for the last of the early June Physique shows - the new Veronica Gallego Classic. Again, it was a Spanish 1-2-3. Cris didn't need to bother - she was probably seeing the plasic surgeon asking if anything could be done - and so veiny Paloma Parra claimed top spot this time, with Joanna Romano 3rd again.



And the not inconsiderable meat in the Parra-Romano sandwich was provided by Mirea Henriquez, the newly-carded Dutch Physique pro with the very Spanish-sounding name. Mirea has been thrilling us for a while now, not least because of her penchant for some very close-up views of her pumped and striated muscles. Her build up to this show afforded her many such opportunities, and if you want to see more of her, this gnarly abs shot is a good place to start your exploration of her Instagram.

NPC News Online has pretty extensive galleries of all the shows mentioned above, and we especially recommend their (particularly extensive) galleries from the Veronica Gallego Classic. FTVideo were also in Toronto if you want to check out the (many) pro Physique dreams at that show who didn't make it into today's (necessarily condensed) review, plus the Toronto amateurs, including (one of) Lauren Martin Stow's first foray(s) into the Physique division - well worth some female muscle lovin' time!



Enjoy!