Pic of the Month: July

Once again there were two clear readers' favourites for June's poll, but ultimately Sarah Fechter's muscle beauty couldn't compete with muscle-woman-of-the-moment Shannon Seeley - even when we only see her in silhouette!



And so to this month's five to choose from.

Check them out, follow the link at the bottom, and vote with a single click.

FAY ELLIS - BRITISH BEEF



Fay brings "Cool Britannia" back with this instant classic. Big, bulging bicep, and that forearm - check that out and swoon! Take in the styling though, the beautiful skin, the lush, pouting lips. Effortlessly strong and effortlessly sexy at the same time.

SELINA FRY - AIRBORNE ABS



To be honest, I liked this picture a whole lot more when I didn't know anything about it. My imagination ran riot - as just one example I imagined this was proof to a doubtful fellow passenger that she really was in the fitness game. Sadly though my wilder musings were cut short as I not only got a name, but then an Instagram, and then a caption telling me this was Selina en route to Singapore and the WFF Universe recently, her head "pure chaos" as she tried to assesss the shape she was in. Consolation - my imagination is now wondering if she felt the need to assess any other body parts while in the air. Perhaps there are more pics from the flight to come...

EMMA TALL - AMBUSHED?



Found this apparent candid of Crossfitter Emma Tall (good name!) on a Tumblr. Caption: "You Can Run (But I Can Hide in the Bushes with My Camera)". Say what you like about Crossfit [is that still a thing, anti-Crossfit? really? - ed.], but it has given us some absolutely stunning women with some proper thick muscularity. I do like her minimal clothing, and that big thick glute we can only see one side of.

GINA CAVALIERO - THE PUMP IS REAL



One of many eye-popping pics that Florida NPC Physique competitor Gina has posted on her Instagram over the last few weeks, you may not be surprised to learn that she has been to visit the ER at least once during this prep. Top doctors may not recommend pushing one's body to such extremes, but that just adds to the thrill for me, and apparently also for Gina. Woman on the verge of an IFBB pro card...

Or perhaps an extended stay in hospital!

NAILAH GREEN - SERENITY NOW



One woman who is a new IFBB pro is superior Figure phenom Nailah Green. This was, I believe taken backstage before she won her Over 35 class at the recent NPC Universe. I do love a backstage selfie, and a woman this gorgeous really doesn't have to try harder. Get the feeling she was confident about that class win? Yeah, me too. And by the way, this is not a before-she-donned-the-hairpiece-to-go-on-stage pic. This is her look - on and off the stage. Clearly it works for her, and it really works for me.

Made up your mind?

OK, to vote you just need to go HERE and make your selection.

We'll post the winner next month when we invite you to vote for August's best.

Enjoy! And thanks in advance for voting!

PCA TV

With over 20 shows this year alone in the UK, the Physical Culture Association can rightly claim to be "the largest bodybuilding and fitness organisation in the UK".



Last year, UK Bodyfitness swoon Danielle Osborn - a class winner at the Arnold Classic Europe - tried her luck in the Athletic Figure class at a PCA show after not doing so well at the UKBFF British Championships. She won - and got to flex her lovely muscles while doing so. A really incredible experience, she said afterwards.

On the forums, fans were starting to appreciate the PCA's female classes - everything from Wellness and traditional Bikini to Trained Figure (like NABBA, but flexing in thongs and heels), with classes like Athletic Figure and Trained Bikini (basically like trad Bikini - in heels - but ripped, and in thongs!) adding to the curiosity value.

"Shame the videos are such low quality," lamented one fan.

Well, the PCA have fixed that this year.

Their YouTube channel, PCA TV, seems to have no lesser ambition than to bring you every routine from single British show in 2018. There are, I make it, 60 female routines across 8 classes in glorious HD from the early April PCA Saxon Classic alone.

Trained Figure winner there - and also later on in April at the PCA Scottish Championships - was Karen Gibson, also a NABBA Trained Figure athlete.

Here's her Saxon Classic winning routine.



Currently being put up are routines from (what I believe is) the biggest PCA show of the year so far, the PCA UK East Coast, which was held in Hull at the very end of April.

And there in the Trained Figure class another name (and body) familiar to regular FMS readers - Fay Ellis (aka Fay Simone), another woman who has found a home in the PCA after not really getting on with the UKBFF (in her case as a Physique competitor).



I'm not sure if Fay won - one thing the PCA still aren't very good at is getting their results out quick. However, I'm confident they'll fix this failing before too long.

They've certainly done a terrific job of fixing the quality of their clips!

Explore the PCA YouTube channel here.

And you can follow Danielle Osborn, Karen Gibson, and Fay Ellis on Instagram.

Enjoy!

FBBUK: Linda & Fay Win in the North

Congratulations are in order to two of FMS' favourite UK muscle ladies, both already winners in 2016.

LINDA GARTSIDE
Winner, Women's Physique UKBFF North-west Championships 2016



Linda booked her place at the British finals later in the year with her (I think I'm right in saying) first ever win at the UKBFF North-west Championships. And apart from all the other reasons to celebrate, she was especially chuffed to have been awarded the trophy by none other than IFBB Pro Wendy McCready, who guest posed at the show.



First time I saw Wendy McCready in Evolution [gym] I was in awe and didn't dare speak to her, Linda said afterwards. Now many years later we are good friends, and to be awarded the trophy by a Lady I have admired since the day I started lifting properly is something I will cherish.



All in all, Linda "had the best day", and if anyone deserves to have a bumper year, then it's her. After such a successful time as a NABBA athlete (see previously on FMS) she's had little success in terms of placings within the UKBFF, but has never even come close to resting on her former laurels. She tirelessly continues to refine and improve her physique year on year.



I know my own weaknesses, she says, I embrace challenging myself, I know I have more in me, I know I will beat the old me. I can easily look in the mirror and smile because there is so much more to give.



As always, actual concrete news of the show is hard to come by. I have no idea, for example, how many women there were in the Physique division at the show (I would bet not many) but eagle-eyed readers may have spotted a familiar face (and body) to Linda's right there. Presumably, given that she is on Linda's left, she was runner-up on this occasion.

FAY ELLIS
Winner, Athletic Figure NABBA North-east Championships 2016

But Fay Ellis (aka Fay Simone, see previously on FMS), didn't have to wait long after the Warrington show for her first win of the year.



Again, not a lot of news about this other than what I have gleaned from Fay's own Instagram feed, but she definitely won, and with her victory she qualified for the NABBA Britain finals, which take place in the last weekend of May.



Footage from international NABBA shows generally turns up on YouTube, domestic shows not so much, but the FMS research team are on it, and if any of Fay's routine does turn up, we'll be sure to let you know.

Congratulations again to our Northern muscle beauties!

Enjoy!

FBBUK: Fay Ellis

Fay Ellis, who first appeared last week on FMS with her thighs under her Instagram monniker Fay Simone, is a 31-year-old bodybuilder from the Swinton area of Manchester in that hotbed of UK female muscle that is the north-west of England.



Fay has only been competing for a couple of years, and - even to this untrained eye - her progress has been nothing short of spectacular. The picture above was taken soon after her competitive debut at the NAC British Open in 2013, where "little Fay" as she rather endearingly calls her-then-self now, finished 3rd in the Ms Figure class.



That was followed by another Ms Figure appearance at the NAC Universe in December 2013 - she finished 9th - and then eleven months later here she is at the NABBA UK in the Ms Athletic class, where she placed a rather controversial 3rd behind Sally Knights (right) and FMS fave Rebecca Maughan (centre, who won). What do you think? Compare, for example, Fay's and Rebecca's quads... Perhaps it was a case of Fay having too much for the class rather than Rebecca and Sally being "better"?



Either way, Fay had clearly improved a lot over the year, and as 2014 drew to a close, she resolved to be even bigger and even better this year. Can't wait to start prep and unearth the new beast from within in this off season, she said at the time.



Now whatever Fay and her trainer got down to during the rest of the winter of 2014 and the spring of 2015, by the time the summer arrived, her original plan to compete at the NABBA Britain finals had been scrapped. Instead Fay took to the stage at the UKBFF North-west on 3rd May, and for the first time she was a Physique competitor.




The best female physique on show all day, said John Plummer in his contest report. Fay Ellis showed a real 'wow' factor. Her classy routine marked her down as a definite British title contender. She was up against the much more experienced North-west champ from the last two years, FMS fave Jackie Hague (above, bottom left in the dark posing suit), but Fay was the clear winner. That euphoric feeling of happiness when they call you for first place, she recalls (the moment captured above, top right). My first show this year doing WPD... And my first time ever coming first!



She didn't have to wait long to have that feeling again. Exactly a week later and Fay repeated her success, once again beating Jackie into 2nd place at the USN Bodypower Classic. Just two shows as a Physique competitor, and she had two winner's medals.



Fay's trainer proudly showed off his work with the crazy ten-week transformation pic above. If John Plummer had been alone in thinking Fay was a serious contender for the British champs after the North-west qualifier, there were other believers now.



And during the five months between the Bodypower Classic and the British champs in Nottingham at the beginning of October, Fay seemed to be growing on an almost daily basis. Bigger, better - OMG! that BACK - and she sure seemed to be enjoying it!




Now if this was a Hollywood screenplay, Fay would not have things her own way at her next competition, and that's exactly how it panned out. Unfortunately I didn't place yesterday at UKBFF British Championships, she told her Instagram followers. It was a fab line-up, a few issues that we need to address. Everything went perfect up until about an hour before going on stage... then, you know, the smallest events, mis-happenings, mis-timings can spell disaster. But such is life! Onwards we roll.



And Fay's season is not quite over yet. Those guns will get one more airing before another off-season unearthing the beast within. The Amateur Olympia in Liverpool rolls around a week tomorrow. Maybe there'll be a Hollywood ending after all.



Her most recent Instagram post certainly suggests that her British championships setback hasn't turned her good vibes into bad vibes by any means. When the music's on and you start feeling ya self a bit too much while cooking... Yeah I live alone!



Enjoy!

Rolling Thunder 001-015

QUEEN OF QUADS



The Queen herself welcomes you to Rolling Thunder, 100 Thighs in 7 days.

There will be close-ups. There will be freakish vascularity and there will be quads in motion. There will be women whose very names - either real or assumed - suit their spectacular quad development to a tee. Every day we will shine the spotlight on one woman and her thunderous thighs, and finally, there will - of course - be Brazilians.

Prepare for QUADGASM!

(KNOCKIN' ME OUT WITH THOSE) BRAZILIAN THIGHS



1. ROSY SILVA



Rosy won her state and regional championships this year, and finished fourth in Brazil. I imagine it wasn't in the Bodyfitness category, although having said that, different rules seem to apply down there. Check out her Instagram (for A Whole Lotta Rosie!) and this YouTube tribute for more. Rosy also has a YouTube channel, and there's some (not exactly HD) footage of her winning the North-east Brazilian title there.

CLOSE-UPs

JENAYA HOFER



The first of two Canadians in close-up today is Physique competitor Jenaya Hofer, who missed out on her pro card at the IFBB North Americans at the beginning of September by a single place when she finished 2nd in her class. Or did she? Her Instagram says she is a "Physique Pro", and that divine thigh certainly looks good enough to me. Either way, she got to hang out with Theresa Ivancik and class winner Delane Hart backstage at the North Americans - and in the process provided us fans with one of the more memorable (and muscle-packed) images of 2015 so far.

Check out her transformation since 2013 here and this interview with Jenaya before the Arnold Amateur earlier in the year. And fans of frenetic editing and pounding rock soundtracks might also appreciate this "Freak Fitness" (her sponsor) clip.

KRISSY RAINS



No such confusion on the status of Ontario's Physique athlete and Strongwoman Krissy Rains. After finishing 2nd to Eleonora Dobrinina at the Canadian Nationals (and not getting her pro card), Krissy went one better at the North Americans, winning her class and with it pro status for 2016. Krissy says her goal is to always be "Spreading positivity as thick as I would Nutella", which, combined with the above close-up of her gorgeously pumped thighs is giving me some rather naughty thoughts. Get your own when you visit her Instagram and Facebook pages, and you can check out her winning look at the North Americans in a Muscular Development contest gallery here.

QUADS IN MOTION

From that sort of "on-your-knees POV", our first pair of quadgasmic thighs in motion this week belong to one of FMS' favourite swoons, the very gorgeous Asha Hadley.

(KNOCKIN' ME OUT WITH THOSE) BRAZILIAN THIGHS



2. ELAINE RANZATTO



As we've seen before on FMS, Brazilian women don't have to be "proper" competitive bodybuilders to have the kind of thighs that make your mouth water. And - as if it were necessary - Elaine Ranzatto's copiously muscled quadriceps provide yet more proof of that. Elaine is one of those mainstream media "showgirl" types à la Graceyanne Barbosa. She leads the carneval parade (see here and here), and has her own fitness business, Ranzatto Fitness - "Where every client is a Diva", apparently. Fill your boots with more of this blond Brazilian bombshell on her Instagram and YouTube channel, where you'll find those Brazilian-style clips of leg/glute workouts in abundance.

FAY SIMONE

Now if you imagine from the name these seriously sexy legs were another Brazilian pair - and that would be a reasonable guess all things considered - you would be way out because, I am proud to say, they're actually made of 100% prime BRITISH beef.



Fay, real name Fay Ellis, claimed both the USN Bodypower and the UKBFF North-west Physique titles this year, beating FMS fave Jackie Hague into second place on both occasions. I can't confirm whether Fay competed at the UKBFF British Championships last weekend, though if she did - and she was certainly qualified to do so - she didn't make the top 6. Perhaps she was "too muscular" for the judges*.

I'm excited about Fay. She has something of Andrulla about her I think - check out her Instagram and see if you agree. And one recent image of her back has been causing more than a few swoons in the world of female muscle fandom. More on Fay here soon.

*FMS will have news of the UKBFF British next week.

THIGHLIGHT

(The MYSTERY of) HAZEL PIAZZA



A profile of Hazel on wb270 was a hoax. There are complaints of an impostor sending emails claiming to be her. Fans complain of being de-friended by her on Facebook, just before her page disappeared altogether. Her(?) Twitter account has less action than an extinct volcano. There was a Bitcoin scam in her name, and rumours abound on the forums of a shady boyfriend who was the cause of her online vanishing act...



Whatever happened to Hazel Piazza?

Enjoy!