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!