Woman vs Food: Cindy

According to Cindy's website, The difference that an optimised nutrition plan makes to your training is astounding, the results are night and day! We’ve all heard the saying, “You are what you eat”. Well, when it comes to building a great physique, this applies three-fold. You simply CANNOT expect to create your perfect body shape whilst feeding it with poor quality nutrition.



And Cindy, a qualified nutritionist, you may remember, will make a Custom Nutrition Plan just for you. For €99.95. That's quite a few subs. Worth it? Cindy thinks so. What you will get for your money isn’t merely a diet sheet, it’s an education in maximising your progress through optimised nutrition. Put an end to the guesswork and get your nutrition in PERFECT order!

More details on Cindy's website if you're interested in the Custom Nutrition Plan.
Or just interested in Cindy.

Abs Week: Tummy Love

The thing is I love my abs. I honestly and truly do. I don’t know very many women who are able or willing to say the same, women who are happy with what they've got going on around their tummies.
"Ann"



Like "Ann", I don't know many women who are truly happy with their stomachs, and I seriously doubt you do either, dear reader. Today we're celebrating the rare breed that are. The rare breed who with diet, discipline and sheer hard work have beaten the biological hand that nature dealt them and sculpted away their natural feminine fat. And what they have revealed are six-packs so satisfying that they just have to show them off to the world.



Back to "Ann": I have gotten to a point where I am completely and totally confident in the way my stomach is shaped because I have gotten there the healthy way. I wasn't swayed by the quick fixes of diet pills or fad diets or anything like that. I have been able to do this by watching what I eat and putting in the hours upon hours of blood and sweat and tears to make myself stronger and leaner. It finally shows.


Over the last two years or so I've pushed myself up to lifting three times a week, running multiple times a week. I do at least a 15-minute ab workout 5-6 times a week. I have paid attention to what I eat, being careful to focus my meals on lean proteins and lots of vegetables. Let me tell you what that has done.

It makes me pause for an extra few seconds if I happen to walk in front of a mirror shirtless.

It makes me start counting down to summer when I’ll be able to strut just a little bit more in that polka dot bikini.



As a result of their efforts, what "Ann" and the women you can see here today have that the majority of women don't have is CONFIDENCE. And confidence is an attractive quality for a woman to have. Especially when she's showing that confidence by lifting up her hoodie/shirt/vest etc. and showing off her abs, or, even better perhaps, strutting along a beach in a polka dot bikini!



Female muscle heads like you and me 'get' "Ann". We understand why she would do what she's doing because we appreciate the results so very very much. And we really don't understand why someone would not want their woman to have sexy abs. Do guys like this actually exist? Are there really guys who would look at a woman like "Ann" and think she would be OK if she had a belly rather than a six-pack? Hard to believe, but then again I'm not the best at seeing things from the point of view of the female muscle unlovers of this world.



Now here are a pair of interesting images. They're not just lifting up their tops to show off their abs, they're lifting up their tops with their teeth! A whole new sub-niche of female muscle photography may just have been born...



The lady on the left is unidentified, and has got herself slightly cross-eyed in her efforts here, which is not the best look but should nevertheless be applauded, but on the right we have Nadege Pedretti and despite her lack of muscularity elsewhere, I think we can all agree she's got sex appeal in spades.



Of all the current female bodybuilders, few exude the kind of self-love that drives the likes of me and you wild like Suzy Kellner. Her recent fitvids clips are a case in point - if you haven't seen them, I suggest you move heaven and earth to do so. At the end of one clip, she finishes a set of hanging leg raises, struts away from the camera, past a couple of open-mouthed male gymgoers, then turns back to the camera, in full view of those men, and then, grinning from ear to ear, hits three or four incredibly sexy poses. And no, I'm not sponsored by fitvids, but really, move heaven and earth to see Suzy in her element.



And here's another woman who can't get enough of herself showing herself off to the likes of you and me, perennial FMS favourite, Cinderella Landolt, who, we believe, is currently 'recovering' after having breast implants. I can't say I'm either pro or anti cosmetic surgery, for me it all depends on how much, how and where, but whether you think Cindy should have left well alone or not, I bet you can't help being curious about the results. And knowing there's a legion of fans out there waiting for the first pictures of her new self is probably not too bad for Cindy's self-confidence.



And we begin as we started, with "Ann": I am not perfect by any means, but being able to say confidently and completely that I love this part of my body, my abs, is something I will always be proud of. Always.

Yeah!

And more of that part of the body tomorrow.

Meanwhile, you can read the whole article by "Ann" (although there's not much else besides the quotes) here. And don't forget to vote for your personal Abs Queen or Queens (see Saturday's post).

Enjoy!

Hot and Hard: Cindy Landolt

When I first saw her profile in one of the fitness forums I frequently visit, I thought …wow, this woman’s picture is probably a CGI graphic! Unreal! I was wrong, Cindy is 100% real and aside from being super fit, I think she is super pretty… (Louis M. Sanchez, The Quant Method)




There is definitely a tendency for interviewers, male interviewers anyway, to go a bit mushy when they talk about Cinderella ‘Cindy’ Landolt. Swell may have been guilty of this himself, back at the end of 2011 when Cindy was one of FMS’ Women of the Year I wrote:

Long dark hair, and a set of abs that were made to be massaged and licked all night. Eyes that shine with health and vitality, and then there’s her long shapely legs. And she’s very friendly on the forums…

God, it’s embarrassing to read my old posts sometimes! ‘And she’s very friendly on the forums’! Yuck.



I’ll console myself with the thought that I wasn’t the first, and I won’t be the last, to be made to go all blushing schoolboy as a result of Cindy’s obvious charms.

But there is so much more to this woman than just stunning looks and a perfect body. Try, it’s hard I know, but try, try to look beyond the long, dark hair and the long, shapely legs.



She graduated from Business School. And in 2009 she started to put that theory into practice when she opened her own personal training company, Cindy Training, in Zurich in 2009. Four years later, and she’s one of the highest profile fitness models in Europe, and her business has gone international - she now runs her training programmes in London, Sydney and elsewhere in addition to Switzerland.



It’s a pattern we have noticed here at FMS, the women we adore are not only high-achievers in the field of fitness or bodybuilding, but have also achieved in other areas of their life, be it business, another sport or whatever.



Recently, on one of the major female muscle fan forums, one of those questions us female muscle heads love to ask each other was posed by one of the members. It went something like this:

Let’s say you have a friend that isn’t into female bodybuilding. His reasons are typical (too masculine etc.). If you had to pick one woman to open his mind, even change it and ‘convert’ him to FBBs, who would she be?

There was lots of replies, and lots of suggestions, but few of them took into account anything other than appearance. Choices included Cindy Phillips, Gina Davis, Mavi Giola and so on, chosen because they were ‘more feminine’ or ‘prettier’ or ‘the hottest’.

Granted, bodybuilding and fitness is all about the aesthetic, but not one reply mentioned any of the achievements of the women, either within bodybuilding (titles etc.) or outside it. Not one.

We’re all guilty of this. I’m as guilty as you are (if not more so). Just look at the images I’ve chosen of Cindy today – I didn’t choose them because they show her at her most successful.



But let’s go back to the question posted on the forum, shall we? Let’s say we choose Cindy Landolt as our ‘one woman’ to show our FBB-sceptic friend. She’s conventionally beautiful as well as being muscular (though not muscular enough to be accused of being masculine), so far so good.

Now, wouldn’t it be good if as well as showing him Cindy, we could also tell our friend that she’s a graduate who runs her own successful international business?

Don’t you find beautiful, fit, successful international businesswomen attractive?!

If our aim is to open minds, why not use every means necessary?

So pick your own favourite female. What else has she done? What other achievements has she got outside of having sculpted a magnificent physique for herself (an achievement beyond most people to begin with)? Why not find out? When that conversation with your friend or family member comes, why not give yourself more chance of making them think again?



And while I’m at it, I’d probably also throw in the fact that Cindy is multi-lingual to strengthen my argument with my FBB-sceptic friend. Being Swiss she already has German and French, and the fact that she’s training people in London and Sydney adds English to her skills. If my friend’s dream woman is someone like Cheryl Cole or Tulisa Contostavlos, well, they barely speak English.

Brush up on your own Swiss-German (while admiring Cindy in motion) by watching this interview with her from Swiss TV.



Women like Cindy are incredible and incredible-looking.

Really incredible-looking.




More Cindy? Visit www.cindytraining.com

Unbuttoned/Unzipped of the Day

Cinderella Landholt



With pictures this hot, I'm pretty sure that I could write just about anything today and you won't read one word. Let's call it the Cindy Effect. You're not listening, are you? And where are your hands now? Above the table, please. Oh I give up. I should know better than to post pics like these and expect anyone to pay any attention to me...

The Ennis Effect Needs You

FMS don’t like to blow their own trumpets, but we did, after all, coin the phrase The Marsh Effect to describe the increase in women lifting weights as a result of Jodie Marsh’s foray into bodybuilding and its subsequent press. However, credit where credit is due, The Sun has beaten us to it this time, today reporting on how Jessica Ennis’ showing at the Olympics has given rise to what they are calling ‘The Ennis Effect’: a surge in women craving six-packs just like Team GB’s golden girl Jess.



So far, so good. And the article goes on to say that personal trainers are reporting a huge rise in women seeking washboard stomachs.



But before you start dreaming of a nation of women working out and toning up those abs in sweaty gym sessions, the next sentence betrays the true nature of the article: And one Harley Street clinic, LoveLite, has had a 200 per cent increase in women booking in for tummy-fat removal since Jess’s triumph.

Oh dear. So this isn’t going to be about the sweat after all?

Well, yes and no. The article focuses on three women inspired by Jessica’s bod, her abs in particular, and the lengths they have gone to to achieve the Ennis look. But two of the three have gone to clinics rather than gyms, one to have ‘non-surgical lypo’, the other a ‘tummy tuck’.

Nevertheless, Natalia Ryumina, an actress from Croydon, deserves our congratulations for taking the hard way. I could never get rid of that last layer of fat around my tummy, she says. Consequently, a top personal trainer was hired, new movements targeting specific abdominal areas were introduced, Natalia started travelling with an abdominal exercise gadget so she’d never miss a workout, and now, she says, I look at my tummy in the mirror and I can see the definition I’ve always wanted.

However, Natalia had a pretty good exercise regimen going even before she was allegedly struck by the Ennis bolt during the Olympics, so if we’re going to take the article at face value, we can only conclude that ‘The Ennis Effect’ is going to be good news for Harley Street clinics, and not such good news for fans of female muscle.



But if Claudette Santana hasn’t managed to bring a smile back to your face, don’t despair, for there is a ray of hope in the article. Apparently, 72% of women would rather have an athletic figure than a skinny one. Now, even if that means two out of three of them go to the clinic, that still leaves one out of three hitting the gym.

So, at this dark time of the year, let’s focus on the positive. One in three of 72% of women who want washboard abs might go to the gym as a result of Jessica Ennis’ Olympic exploits. It’s something to cling to, isn’t it? Certainly better than nowt.

And it gives us an excuse to post some sexy abs, so it can’t be all bad…




81% of men, according to The Sun, would prefer a woman with an athletic build to a skinny one, so let’s all do our bit to help the Marsh and Ennis Effects and refuse to settle any longer. Let’s start insisting on it, shall we?



It might involve us getting off our arses and getting ourselves into the best shape of our lives. I mean. You can’t expect her to do all the work while you sit on the sofa and scratch your plums, can you? Too much effort? Well, what about if you ended up cuddling a woman with abs like these every night?



FMS can only conclude that if we are to avoid becoming a nation whose female stomachs are all the result of cosmetic intervention rather than exercise and sensible diet then we all have to do our bit. New Year is approaching. Resolution time.

So, in a final bid to make you resolve to make your resolution increase the amount of female muscle lovin’ happiness in the world today, I leave you with…




Enjoy!