Arnold Classic 2017: Duas Campeãs Brasileiras

PRISCILA CAVILHA
2017 Arnold Amateur Physique Overall




Priscila, a physiotherapist from Curitiba, won her (short, up to 163cm) class at the Arnold Amateur in Barcelona towards the end of last year. Here she went one better, defeating former bodybuilder Lenka Ferenčuková in the Overall posedown.



She makes some "interesting" choices in gymwear, has those thunder boom legs, and takes a whole lotta elevator selfies. In short, all the things we love about Brazilian muscle women can be found on Priscila's Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.




DANIELY CASTILHO
2017 Ms Physique International



Now I very much doubt too many commentators saw this coming. Ahead of last year's winner Autumn Swansen, Heather Grace (3rd at the Physique Olympia), and the other 27 names on the scorecard, it was the Brazil's Daniely Castilho who came from seemingly nowhere to get decision over Sheronica Henton by a single point.



She only entered her first show in her home state of Amazonas in July 2015, less than two years ago. A month later she won champion of Brazil, and that November arrived in Budapest to take the IFBB Worlds. "The biggest dark horse of these Championships," the IFBB reporter called her. He should dust off his article and print it again after Ohio.



Daniely did have a bit of pro form from 2016, although 5th place at the Puerto Rico Pro hardly suggested she would be Ms Physique International in less than a year. Unless, of course, you'd been closely following Daniely's preparations for Columbus on her Instagram, in which case she wouldn't have seemed such a dark horse after all.



With Juliana Malacarne the Olympia champion for the third time in 2016, this means Brazilian women hold both major IFBB pro Physique titles right now.



And there is one more Brazilian Physique pro to reckon with now...

2016 Review: November

Going Up?

It actually began on the last day of October, a week of posts about female muscle in lifts/elevators. It was all Valerija Slapnik's fault, and yes, that really is her name.



At the time I was a bit down on these posts, all "I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel" type self-doubt, but now, looking back (and it's only been just over a month) I find myself rather more impressed than I thought I would be because a) I didn't actually write too much more embarrassing nonsense than I tend to do most weeks, and b) there really are some quality pictures of quality women here.





Among them, were two Brazilians whose devotion to the elevator selfie (and revealing skintight gymwear) is seemingly boundless - Suelen Bissolati (below, left) and Claudia Bonavoglia - and they each got a deserving post of their own.



We finished the week acknowledging that Erica Blockman's firefighting skills (among other reasons) would probably make her the ideal female muscle elevator emergency companion, but as we couldn't find any in-elevator snaps of the lovely Erica, we had to settle for a dream elevator date with Dani Reardon. Hard times.



We decided it was time to "reevaluate and recharge", leaving FMS readers hanging for a whole fortnight. Yes, the "elevator selfie" week had not been, we felt, our finest hour, but as well as that, Marcie Simmons, who'd been "telling it like it is" on her YouTube channel for much of the year, had given us cause for some introspection...

On Fandom



Are we a fan, or are we a schmoe? Does it matter? Is there any real distinction between the two? Does being a fan mean being a fan of the sport? What does that even mean?

And who are we anyway, us female muscle "lovers"?



Well, at the outset of our week-long riff on some of the issues raised by Marcie we did say that we would have more questions than answers, and so it proved!

We wondered about how "we" deal with public discussions of our favourite women when the mainstream media runs a female muscle story (and the story - Eleonora Dobrinina, "unidentified female bodybuilder with 0% body fat" - reminds us now of the story we featured in January - Sasha Rudenko's "concerned friends").



So, we wondered, what do you do when an office colleague shows you his phone and it's Ella and he tells you she's got 0% body fat apparently, and clearly wants you to agree with him that she's "unnatural", or "disgusting" or "manly" or whatever?



If there were any conclusions to all my yakking, they were these.

1. That I should be a lot braver the next time something like this happens to me and just proceed to "bore the pants" off whoever is asking because you know I really could go on about Ella for at least a couple of hours (before I even got started about the portrayal of muscular women in the media in more general terms).

2. Perhaps the change in perception towards "strong" women - the fact that it's slowly but surely becoming more common for women (especially young women) to not only go to the gym but also to lift weights while they're there - might also lead to a change in perception towards the men who love them. One reader was not convinced. It's true: "We" are socially awkward, weirdos, perverts; and we have mental issues. It takes some time to accept the way we are. Maybe he's right, but if I have learned anything about "us", it is that we are, just like the women we adore, not all the same.



NPC Nationals & NABBA Universe

For no reason other than I thought it would be interesting to do so (although I couldn't tell you why!) FMS decided to pair seven (FBB & WPD) women from the 2016 NPC Nationals with seven (Toned & Trained Figure) competitors from the 2016 NABBA Universe. One pair per day - a clip from the latter contest, pictures from the former.

In the few days left in November we had three of those pairs.



The legend that is Monica Brant (finishing runner-up in the Toned Figure class at the Universe) with the ever impressive FBB Heavyweight runner-up at the NPC Nationals, Pauline Nelson was our first pair. British NABBA star Lindsey Angel and fan forum WPD favourite Rachael Chaskey (3rd, Physique C) our second.

And we said goodbye to November with big girls Allison Chaidez from the Nationals, and (far too big for NABBA Figure and you have to love her for that!) Australian Aisling Hickey, who got the crowd showing their appreciation, and took Swell back to the days when the really big girls could be seen on the NABBA Universe stage.



A (brief) survey of (pre 2016 Review) FMS in December tomorrow.

Stuck...

Now the really smart choice of muscle woman to be stuck in an elevator with would be Erica Blockman, aka The World's Sexiest Firefighter. Her skills might make the whole experience a bit shorter than it otherwise might be, but I bet it'd be amazing to watch her work. And, he said coyly, you'd feel all safe and protected and stuff...

Trouble is, I can't find a single image of Erica in an elevator.



But I did find a pretty good second choice.

Dani seems to have added beef even since she beefed up for the Olympia, particularly in the arm department, and an elevator stuck between floors would be the perfect environment - well, maybe not the perfect one, an opportune environment perhaps would be more accurate - to demonstrate my appreciation for all her hard graft.



And if that beefy upper body was all sweaty and pumped, then that would be heaven!

Clearly this post is descending faster than an elevator in a disaster movie, so I'll leave my sordid imaginings right there and leave you and this week of ups and downs with two of the finest biceps in the Physique - or indeed any - division. In an elevator.



And FMS will also be leaving you for a couple of weeks to reevaluate and recharge.

We'll be back on or around the 21st November.

Learnings

What, if anything, has all this research into female muscle elevator selfies taught us?

1. BRAZILIANS


Juliana Taffarel

Female elevator selfies are, without question, a global phenomenon.


Andressa Ribeiro

However, the fact that our two biggest contributors to the genre - Claudia Bonavoglia and Suelen Bissolati - are both Brazilian is no coincidence.


Carol Crozeta

Brazilian muscle women are all at it. Therefore, if you want to maximise your chances of being trapped in an elevator with a muscular woman, Brazil should, our research strongly suggests, be the only country you consider for your next destination.

2. GLAMOUR


Christina Savva

In the same way that "normal" women like a picture of themselves all dressed up, muscle women appear to be as keen to snap themselves at their most glamorous.


Renata Benigno

Glamour elevator selfies may involve obvious, surreptitious, or no flexing at all.


Stephanie Rowe

Our researchers found these are second only to the post-workout pump elevator selfie as the most common type of all elevator selfies. And lots of Brazilians in both groups!

3. ARM ADMIRATION


Chareece Moore & Tanya Hyde

Not so much a case of the classic "sun's out, guns out", more like elevator door closed, guns out. Or arms in a more general sense. Yes, abs get featured a lot, as well as legs, and (especially in - yes, you guessed it - Brazil) glutes packed into tight tight gym wear, but overall, if she's flexing in her elevator selfie, she's probably flexing her biceps.


Ssssexy Sophie Arvebrink

Or triceps.


Vanessa Serros

But as with the glamour elevator selfies, flexing is very much optional.


Galina Titova

Female bodybuilders and/or their fortunate elevator companions are just as likely to simply want to capture and celebrate the muscular curves and/or vascularity of their shoulders and unflexed arms as they are to make a muscle. And often look just as proud - if not prouder - to do so than when they are actually flexing.

4. NOT ALL WINNERS


Nikki Venzara & possibly Paloma Parra

As with all selfies the two most common mistakes are 1. Moving and 2. Obscuring too much of your face with the camera. Above, whoever was snapping Nikki Venzara's elevator gymnastics (left) could have tried again, and only by triangulating the veins, the hair and the tat can we surmise that's Paloma Parra behind the iPhone.

Classic examples of what not to do.



However, even when getting it wrong, the muscular female in the elevator can still make her selfie sizzle. Take, for example, the (unknown, but I can't help feeling Brazilian) lady above. Face almost totally obscured, but I for one am enjoying her shoulders, arms, legs and outfit immensely nonetheless. So, forgiven.


Roberta Zuniga (right)

As is the lady obscuring only part of her face with the abs and the low low riders above left, and next to her Roberta Zuniga (yes, Brazilian) who is making the same face obscuring mistake, but is also showing off her abs and, delightfully, a whole lot more.

5. FAVOURITES


Sara Vanessa Rodriguez Munoz (left)

When they get it right though, these selfies can be wondrous things. Personal favourites include the very hard to remember the name of Sara Vanessa Rodriguez Munoz (above left) with her shoulders, arms and veins, feathered quads and no nonsense hands on hips attitude. Great use of the elevator wall as a secondary mirror too, fgiving us a glimpse of her lovely arm from another angle. Top top stuff!

And next to her, probably my #1 female muscle elevator selfie for reasons that should be obvious to the reader, and not least of which is the fact that whoever that is, they have decided that what they are wearing is suitable for being out in public.

6. ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS

Who started this all off? Who was the first? I do like to think who started these niche female muscle photo genres and give credit where credit is due. I doubt they are actually the first examples of female muscle elevator snaps - I'd probably find them taken by Brazilians! - but they are the oldest I have come across. So step forward Skadi Frei and Brigita Brezovac - Skadi's a selfie, Brigita's probably taken by that lucky husband of hers - date, as far as I can ascertain, from the summer of 2012.


Skadi Frei & Brigita Brezovac

Which leaves us with just one final question to be answered. If old Swell here could be trapped in an elevator with any female bodybuilder, who would he choose?

Find out tomorrow! Who would you choose?