IK Rules, OK? III

EVERYBODY LOVES IRIS



Inspiration in Asia. Above, Joan Liew (left) and Tram Nguyen (right) show the love - as the message on Iris' vest in the pic with Tram invites them to do! Below, Xin Li Cao compares guns with a smoulderingly sexy Ms Olympia, Las Vegas, 2007.




KYLED HARD FACT OF THE DAY



In 2008, Iris appeared on the American version of the show Wipeout. She broke "several ribs" in the process, and was repeatedly referred to as "he" by one of the show's hosts. When the popularity of the episode led the producers to invite Iris to appear again, she declined. Only partly because of the possibility of another injury!

The episode is available on YouTube, but UK viewers (like me) can't watch it!


SHE'S A LADY



I'm pretty certain I've posted this gem of a pic before on FMS at some point in the past, because I LOVE Iris in this pic. A gorgeous muscular woman in a gorgeous dress.


IRIS SEZ...



When I train for contest I vision being in a cage restricted to
THREE TOOLS: the gym, my proper nutrients and adequate rest.


KYLE BY NUMBERS



In her career as a pro, Iris competed in thirty shows. But just two were neither the Ms International nor the Ms Olympia. In 1999, she finished 2nd at the World Pro Championships (Laura Binetti was the champ), and in 2002 Yaxeni Oriquen beat Iris to the heavyweight title at the Show of Strength Pro Championships.


DEM DELTS DOE!



Look at her delts! Unbelievable!
Kim Chizevsky on commentary, 2002 Ms Olympia Finals



I've watched a few contest clips of Iris over the past week or so, and it's noticeable how often the first thing the commentators tend to go focus on is Iris' incredible shoulders.



Whether flexed or relaxed (as they are in the pic of Iris with Vera Mikulcova, above) and no matter what shape she is in, the bulk and curves of her delts never fail to be less than breathtaking, so it's no surprise they are the first thing commentators mention.



And it wouldn't be any surprise if looking at Iris' pumped up delts in the selfies below made you get a right big swoon on, because that's what they do to me - especially the pic on the right where her mighty muscle is bulging right out of her T. WOW!




KYLE IN MOTION

FBB EBONY vs IRIS KYLE - 2014

Other than the fact that Iris Kyle is indeed in the clip, the title is completely misleading. She isn't wrestling any "FBB Ebony" here. Her opponent (which is also a misleading term, because this is hardly a contest) is male and very very white. Furthermore, there is no way this is from 2014 (although it was uploaded this year!).

However, it's inaccurate title doesn't mean it isn't worth watching!

I had no idea Iris did this sort of thing, but she was clearly enjoying herself...




More IK tomorrow, OK?

Around the World: Myanmar

Around the World will be an occasional series celebrating the female bodybuilders of a particular country, and examining any issues peculiar to muscle women there.



Imagine you finally get yourself off to a bodybuilding show. You sit through all the male classes with everything appearing to be quite normal, but as the female contestants take to the stage, your excitement quickly turns to horror. All of them are wearing shorts and vests. And not very short shorts and not very revealing vests at that! Sure, they strike a few poses, but having most of their physique covered, the range of poses worth doing is somewhat limited - no abs and thigh because, well, you can't even see their abs. They do their lat spreads and you have to imagine the muscle beneath their modest vests. Something's very very wrong here, you think to yourself...

Well, that's exactly what you'd see if you happened to be in Rangoon and decided to rock up at a bodybuilding show - very very little of the women indeed!

However, for those women on the stage, the not very short shorts and the not very revealing vests represent something of a triumph. Yes, that's right, a TRIUMPH!

If you'd been at that show in Rangoon before 2012, you would have seen even less. No posing. No muscle. You would have simply seen the "female bodybuilders" parading across the stage in their "longyi", the traditional attire for Myanmar women.



This state of affairs had existed from 1948, when Myanmar gained its independence, right up until just two years ago, when the shorts and vest revolution took place, and women like Myanmar's most successful international female bodybuilder, Aye Aye Soe (pics), were finally allowed to show some (if not all) the muscle.



Abroad, women have been taking part in bodybuilding contests for a long time, she says. But here we were only allowed to join in 2012. It’s quite late if you compare it with other countries. We have to work hard to keep up with them. "Quite late"?! Gentlemen, I think we need look no further for the Understatement of the Year...




Nevertheless, the late start hasn't stopped Aye Aye picking up medals in south-east Asian competitions over the past couple of years. And, as the contests are outside Myanmar, she gets to wear a posing suit while doing so. The 24-year-old only started lifting weights four years ago after she had graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering. I worked as a clerk at the Myanmar Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Federation, she says. There, a [male] bodybuilder encouraged me to join the sport. When female bodybuilders get older, they still have a beautiful body and they still look like young women. I gradually grew interested in it. Her biggest success so far was winning something called the "Women's Athletic Physique contest" in Singapore last month. I feel satisfied, she says. The success represents Myanmar.



The interest in bodybuilding here [among women] is not very high. Women are afraid that they will have bigger muscles and will no longer be feminine. It’s quite strange or alarming for some people here to see a female bodybuilder.



She estimates that currently there are maybe "a few dozen" female bodybuilders in the whole of the country, so we must see pretty much all of them in a 20-minute piece from Channel News Asia. The reporting style may not be to everyone's taste, but it's certainly the clearest picture you'll get of muscle women in Myanmar.

Apart from the early shock of the shorts/vest contest, the biggest jaw drop for me comes when we meet journalist Mya Kay Khine of the Myanmar Times. Mya Kay has been writing about her female muscle compatriots. I thought it was an important thing to write about, she says. Look out for the moment she reveals her true feelings though, about female bodybuilders and her take on gender equality in Myanmar in general. It is like listening to a voice from the past. The DISTANT past. Like the pre-electricity past. Even things I don't like can be newsworthy, she says. Indeed.

WATCH THE REPORT HERE.

I usually sign off by saying "Enjoy!", but in the circumstances perhaps "Support!" would be a better exhortation in this case. Support, however remotely. A good start might be to send Aye Aye Soe a message on her Facebook page.

There's plenty of reason to congratulate her.

Swell Digs: Ariel Gail

I have been an athlete for as long as I can remember, says Ariel Gail. Her first sport was swimming. She started "at a very young age" and continued to race until she finished college. I was a sprinter (50 & 100 yard freestyle) as well as 100 butterfly, she says. She also competed in and won "local and state classes" in equestrianism.



Born in California, she grew up in Michigan, where she first started to lift weights. I did some "power-lifting" and was one of the strongest girls [in High School], which was hard because I wanted to be strong but the boys would make fun of me.

I continued to lift during my swim seasons in college and I looked forward to those days more than I did swimming. When I stopped swimming I really missed competing and found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands, so I began spending hours reading and looking at pictures on Bodybuilding.com.



By this time Ariel had her degree in Psychology and had moved to Colorado, where she still lives. At this point, I decided to give up being afraid and intimidated of the weight room, she says. I started to build my physique on a regular basis.



In her first two contests, local Colorado shows during 2011, she competed as a middleweight/light-heavyweight bodybuilder, winning her first ever show and placing third in her second. But as 2011 became 2012, Ariel "waited eagerly" to enter the new physique division. She finished 2nd at a regional show, and two weeks later came 7th in her class at her first national contest, the 2012 NPC North Americans.



Last year, she finished 3rd at the NPC Colorado State show, and also competed at the USAs. So far this year she has gained a runners-up spot at state level, and been awarded 9th in her class at the Jr USAs. In the past year, I have learned more than I could have ever imagined, she says. Looking ahead, I see many more years of building a physique that I've always wanted but never believed I could achieve.



The gym in Colorado where she trains is the one owned by Heather Policky/Armburst and her (former?) husband. It's a gym frequented by more than its fair share of top pros, and the very same gym where a certain Alina Popa prepares for her yearly assault on Iris Kyle's Olympia title. It's little wonder, then, that Ariel feels she's learning there. I have worked out in the gym next to pros that I used to admire from the safe space of my home in front of my computer screen, she says.




When she's not training herself or her clients (or hiking in the Rockies) Ariel is working on writing projects. The series I am working on is a collection of women's stories. All of them have set out to achieve self-confidence and personal power over their life through physical fitness and nutrition. Their stories are meant to provide hope, motivation and education so others may embark on a self-loving, self-caring journey. You can read the first two of Ariel's pieces on her blog, Becoming Complete.



You can follow Ariel on her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, and via her YouTube channel. And if I haven't managed to persuade you you want more of her yet, I imagine this recent preview clip from HDPhysiques might just do the trick...



Enjoy!

Tube of the Week

From the marvellous watatiwatatio, a guest posing clip from "Tokyo 2013" starring the very beautiful Japanese bodybuilder Aki Nishimoto. (At least I am pretty sure it's her. Google Translate says the name is "Nishimoto ShuNozomi" and a search under that name only brought up Aki, although I am fully aware of the limitations of my research method, so if anyone can tell me with any certainty who this is, please do!).



Remember Aki Nishimoto? She's probably best-known (to me anyway) from a set of photos by fibofoto.de from way back. Seems she is still around, and by my reckoning in her mid-40s now. Damn she looks amazing! Get proper comfy and see for yourself...



And this is by no means the only terrific clip you can find on watatiwatatio's channel. Among the many other delights are clips from the bodybuilding show at the recent Toronto Pro. I humbly suggest you pay a visit and fill your proverbial boots.

Have fun now!

Chicago 2014: Jamie Pinder's WOW Factor

Jamie Nicole Pinder has been an FMS favourite since the beginning of 2013 (see Hot Hot Heat of the Day). In three short years she had transformed herself from a "bad bikini competitor" (her own words) into the competitor to beat in Chicago. Entering this event, writes Steve Wennerstrom for RxMuscle, Jamie Pinder was arguably the odds-on favourite to defend her title. Few would have bet otherwise.



In the event, Jamie didn't win the show for a second consecutive year, finishing 2nd behind Leila Thompson (see Saturday's post). Whatever. For me, personally, there are few (if any) finer sights in the world of female muscle right now than Jamie Pinder in contest shape. Or in any kind of shape for that matter! Really. WOW!!!



Jamie, 5 weeks out (top left); 3 weeks out (top right); all made-up and ready to go do her thing (bottom left); and GLORIOUS, on stage in Chicago (bottom right)

She is, according to Steve Wennerstrom (and he's not a man who gets very carried away very often - not even remotely as often as we get all carried away here, anyway), "absolutely beautiful from head to toe", with "very few flaws". She has "well-detailed bodyparts", and there's a special mention for "her glorious quad separations".




As we have seen previously on FMS, and can see on any of her training clips from her YouTube channel, you'll know that none of the package she brings to competition (with the possible exception of her God-given looks) is the result of anything but the most intense training. Jamie is most definitely one beauty that does it like a total beast.

Here's just a tiny taste, Jamie training four weeks before Chicago...



One of her fans has written on her Facebook page, Jamie, just wanted to tell you how much you inspire me. When I don't think I have the energy to power through a leg day, I look at yours and say, "Oh hell yeah, get it done!" Thank you.




So, what do you think about calling her female fans "pinderettes"? Reckon they'd be proud to be pinderettes. Hell, why not extend the term to all Jamie-lovers male or female? I reckon I'd be proud to be a pinderette, and would say so to people who asked me (and later regret having done so). Anyway! The point I'm making here is that it's not just us red-blooded males who think that Jamie is the bomb. Really. WOW!!!



The greatest pleasure in life is doing what other people say you cannot do, says Jamie. And in that case this pinderette is going to confidently say that Jamie cannot get any better. Or hotter. Especially not in time for the Olympia. No way.




Enjoy!