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!
#13 HER ABS
So appealing, so aesthetically-pleasing. Evidence of lots of hard training, yes, but also of the discipline it takes to strip away the body fat and reveal them in all their (even better if veiny/ridged) glory. Amateur or Pro; Bikini, Fitness, Figure, Physique or Bodybuilding - if she's got the abs, then you can bet ol' Swell here has got the swoons.
Abs are also a way in to the mind of the female muscle denier, I reckon. Plenty of non-FBB related forum content on the subject out there: Do you like women with sexy abs? questions (as if there were un-sexy ones!), more often then not qualified with "I'm not talking bulky, bodybuilder abs" or some such nonsense. Start them out gently...
Anita Herbert, or a Figure phenom like Cydney Gillon, for example. They'll be telling you she's "too much" and right-clicking and saving-as at the same time.
I had been looking forward to the brand spanking new Ms Wings International ever since it was launched last autumn. The possibilities for the line-up were mouth-watering - Elena, Natalia, Flores, Carla Maria, Kashma, perhaps a Brit or two (Sarah Williams, Christal Cornick), Europeans, Asians, Australasians, Canadians...
My female muscle imagination ran riot.
And I was not alone. A "Ms Wings International Wish List" thread was opened on one of the forums, and the collective imagination got busy. Pauline Nelson and Jessica McKenzie were popular choices from the US; the thought of Canadian Peak Queen Michelle Russell flexing next to Elena and Flores got a few pulses racing; and forumites from South America, Asia, and Australasia threw in their own faves from their region. It was hoped, generally, that if the contest was truly a global one that it would reignite interest in the sport in every continent, and halt the decline in amateur FBBing in places, such as Scandinavia and Central America, where it once flourished.
Whether this will indeed be the contest's effect only time will tell. The line-up was, ultimately, neither as international nor as studded with "star" names as the "Wish List" would have had it. Oana was the only European, Dee Vasconcelos the only South American, Siufung Law the sole Asian, and Tui Schwarze of New Zealand the only woman from there or Australia. Natalia was, at one time, down to compete, but withdrew after the Omaha Pro. Whether she did so after seeing Aleesha's placing there or whether the timing was coincidental FMS does not know. Either way, no Natalia, no Flores, no Kashma. And no Pauline Nelson, no Jessica McKenzie, no Michelle Russell. Not for the first time the FBB genie refused to grant our collective wishes!
The good news was that weight classes were in. Three of them - Light, Middle, and Heavy. Dee Vasconcelos (see FMS passim) won the Lightweight class; Natascha Donald the Middle, and, as expected, Elena took the Heavyweight and Overall titles. All three got pro cards, Elena got an invite to the 2017 Rising Phoenix as well.
Coverage of the event has been sketchy to say the least. Thankfully there's a few Mr Rivieccio photos, because otherwise all I'd have to post would be Elena cosying up to the great and the good backstage (or perhaps they're cosying up to her, whatever). Even Maximum Muscle Report, which has extensive galleries of everything else that went down in Chicago, only has a few pages of low-res comparison shots from Ms Wings. And I've entirely had to rely on fellow obsessives' knowledge of the event, on the information they have managed to track down, to get the complete results.
The plan back in October was that the winner would, the following day, compete with the pros in Chicago. Perhaps not an ideal scenario for the woman in question, peaking two days in a row is, I imagine, more than twice as hard as peaking at the right time for one day, but that was the plan. The plan they announced. It was news to me that Elena had, in fact, won her ticket to the Rising Phoenix, and although I wouldn't for a moment say she didn't deserve to be there, I think I might feel differently if I were a veteran IFBB pro who has just missed out on qualification for the last couple of years looking at Elena getting all cosy with the great and the good backstage in Chicago.
After 10 days of no diet and no training I'm ready to move on to the next step, wrote Elena at the start of this week. Looking forward to seeing what we can improve. I'm already looking forward to how Wings of Strength might improve on this inaugural Ms Wings (International or Classic, whatever the name was in the end) in 12 months' time.
Nevertheless, I don't wish to sound all negative and ungrateful - though I fear this is exactly how I am sounding! Once again, Wings of Strength have made something for Female Bodybuilders where there was nothing before. For that, Jake and Kristal (especiallyKristal, who, by the way, may well be the subject of her own FMS post before long, I find if I can't get a woman out of my head, doing a post about her is the only way forward) deserve our thanks and congratulations at least as much as Dee and Natascha and Elena and all the women who took part in this historic event do.
To the delight of her many fans and many of her FBB peers, the popular Anne Sheehan won Heavyweight and Overall titles in two of the age categories at the NPC Masters Nationals, and finally achieved her dream of professional status at the age of 43. And meanwhile, "the renaissance" of 36-year-old Isabelle Turell continued, and having been runner-up in Puerto Rico, she won her first pro title in Omaha.
Mindi O'Brien triumphed at the Vancouver Pro - the third time she has won a pro show in the last three years, and just about a year after giving birth to her fourth child, Northern Ireland's Emma Gormley became the NABBA Britain champion.
The gorgeous FMS heartthrob Katie M. Lee won her class and pro card at the NPC Jr Nationals after, she revealed, a hardcore 20 weeks of contest prep. And in her first Physique show, former Figure competitor Jessica Martin - not thatJessica Martin - won both her class and the Overall title at the NPC USAs.
And at "The Games", Iceland's Crossfit Queen Katrín Tanja Davíðsdóttir defended her "Fittest on Earth" title. She received a winner's cheque for a cool $275,000 plus about $13,000 in performance bonuses, and her prize also, rather controversially, included a handgun donated by one of the Games' sponsors. I kid you not. And apparently they are going to allow her back into Iceland with it, FMS reported.
While we headed off for sunnier shores for the second time this year, FMS kept you busy with some of the women we had dug at the 2016 NPC USAs, including, once again, Theresa Ivancik, for the fourth time at a national level show in the bridesmaid position. She was close, but once again the cigar went elsewhere. It kind of went something like this... "SO," he thought angrily, "who exactly is this O'Veal woman whose body the judges deemed to be better than my Theresa's?"
Holy s**t she's INCREDIBLE!!! And trained by Margie Martin.
Jessica McKenzie, we felt, had got a raw deal from the judges in her Light-heavyweight Bodybuilding class, but it was very much the right result in the Physique class won by Stephanie - Being on stage makes me feel so ALIVE!!!!!! - Flesher.
Class A winner Arlin Mossholder, Kathy Garza (4th, class C), Tia-Marie Hamilton (4th, class A), and the marvellously named Christina Buffington, a Crossfit coach (Class A, 3rd), were just four of many Physique competitors who FMS enjoyed.
But there was also some very sad news. Joanna Wilson had been due to compete at the USAs, but sadly the former Figure and Bodybuilding competitor passed away before the show. She left behind a husband and two children, and some of the reactions to her death did not do much credit to the wider bodybuilding community.
Tributes and condolences to Joanna's family and friends have been paid across the female muscle lovin' fan forums, with genuine shock and sadness at this tragic news and genuine anger at how others have made so many assumptions. She will clearly be missed by all of those she knew and many, including myself, who she did not.
FMS went "a bit PumpItUp" for a week with one "perfect picture" per day mid-month.
The week was book-ended by Natasha Aughey's er, memorable shorts, and Margie Martin turning the anticipation for RP2016 up to 11 with a current situation Instagram post she had taken while supporting Brittney O'Veal at the USAs.
"Prime championship beef"
Some of the other pics from that week will no doubt make their way into our "Images of of the Year" post that traditionally comes around Christmas/New Year. Imagine the quality when Natasha's shorts and Margie's pumped, veiny beef don't make the cut!
We dug the Physique division. Diana Schnaidt switching up from Figure, finally "flexing her muscles in anger" on stage. We dug the World's Sexiest Firefighter, the stunning Erica Blockman, and we dug the Physique champ, "Gloriaous" Gloria Faulls, "every inch of her statuesque frame honed to perfection".
And we very much dug the Bodybuilding class.
We enjoyed, most of all, the quality and quantity of MUSCLE. The fact that there was (in this year of more IFBB pro FBB contests, but fewer women competing at each show) 13 big and beautiful competitors. The fact that this was a proper contest, with four potential winners in Selma Labat, Rita Bello, Lisa Cross, and Sheila Bleck. And we even enjoyed the controversy over the result, which gave the win to Sheila.
I didn't know where to look during that amazing posedown, commented one reader.
I still don't know where to look!
But in a month where there were a number of outstanding clips going up on YouTube - the above most definitely included - one stood head and shoulders (and biceps and pecs and glutes and OMG those ABZZZZ!) above the others. Oana in a stunning posing! is the not 100% grammatically accurate but not misleading title.
Our appetites duly whetted by the Tampa Pro, we headed, salivating, into September, the month when the Phoenix would rise once more. Could Margie do it again? Would it be Helle's year? Or would Alina Popa take the crown that many thought she should have taken in 2013 and 2014 at the last two Ms Olympias? Oh the suspense!
