Tampa: Motion

Some remarkable bodies doing some remarkable things is perhaps best to describe how NPC News Online's Tampa Fitness Backstage edit begins. Breathtaking stuff, but then there's a bit of a lull in the middle section - remarkable bodies not doing much more than listening to music and/or taking selfies. Then, quite unexpectedly, there they are - the FBB line-up about to take the stage. The big finish, you might say!



Hopefully, longer backstage edits of Figure, Physique and FBBing are to come, and hopefully too Maximum Muscle Report - who have footage of the evening show - will soon have all the FBBing and Physique routines up. For today, we've selected four that (at the time of writing) are already there, starting with LaDawn McDay.



LaDawn's 3rd place was the curious judging decision of the day. Nothing in her contest history suggested she would end up ahead of Kim Buck and Lisa Cross, so we were eager to see her routine for clues as to why this time was different. Kim Buck's routine is not, as yet, available, but we can compare 3rd place LaDawn with 4th place Lisa.



Lower down the placings, the most anticipated return to competition was Angela Salvagno's. It's a slightly odd experience to see her wearing something that she doesn't aggressively remove by the halfway stage, but we'll have to get used to it.



And we finish for today and this week with another come back Queen, and the champ on the night. Classy and poised as ever, Alina nevertheless came back with a little extra, something else - two things to be precise - we'll also just have to get used to.



Check out NPC News Online for more backstage edits (soon?), and Maximum Muscle Report for more of the FBB routines, as well as breathtaking Fitness performances.

Enjoy!

Summer Lovin': Sun's Out...

(yawn) GUN'S OUT



Takia Thomas (left) and Alexis Sullivan

VISIT A MAJOR EUROPEAN CAPITAL



Chu-mi Kim in London

STAY HYDRATED



Mandy Allen

TAKE THE WOD OUTSIDE



Natasha Aughey

WALK, RIDE, RUN, SWIM...



Pia Mahlakaarto and Stacie Tovar



Tara Frost and Carriejune Anne Bowlby



Bakhar Nabieva



Cindy Landolt and (doing more than one activity today) Alice Mastriani

STRETCH



Silje Emilie Tønnesen

CLIMB



Krista Dunn

BARE!



Angelica Enberg



Claudia Partenza clears the pool (and drops the mic)

FBBUK: Fitness First!

BRITAIN'S KATE ERRINGTON WINS THE ARNOLD CLASSIC AUSTRALIA



I would love to say "so read the headline on the [insert name of mainstream UK news source, the BBC, for example]", but neither the national nor even the local media around Kate's Maidstone home has picked up on her achievement. Not yet anyway.



After Kate's remarkable 2nd place at the Arnolds at the beginning of March, FMS (not very boldly) predicted that "She's going to Australia for the Arnolds there next, and she'll be among the favourites to win", so her triumph Down Under was not a complete surprise. On top of that, the fact that Whitney Jones, who both coaches Kate and was the only woman to beat her in Ohio, had decided not to bother with the long trip to Melbourne served only to shorten Kate's odds and make her the favourite.



She still had to win though, and win she did, looking even better than she had earlier in the month on her pro debut to finish 2nd in the heels and turns round before blowing the rest of the field away with her routine to place first by some distance. What an AMAZING weekend, she wrote after it had begun to sink in. 2 weeks ago at Arnolds Ohio was a dream come true, now this???!!! I am on Cloud 9. THIS IS CRAZY.



Indeed it is. British women may have won Bodybuilding titles in both the distant and recent past. Lately we have also celebrated our first pro Physique win, but, they have never got close to winning pro Fitness titles. Then Emma Paveley became the first British woman to win one last year in Vancouver. It was against a much smaller field than Kate had to deal with though, and all of the women who Kate beat in Ohio and in Melbourne finished above Emma at the Olympia last year. Kate's win is, without question, the greatest British pro Fitness display ever (her 2nd at the USA Arnolds being the previous best!). Her pro career has had the most sensational start possible.


Looks like the suit's been upgraded too! Kate's amazing progress from (left) the Arnold Amateur 2017 to (right) her irresistible winning pro package at the Arnolds Australia, March 2018

And it was only around this time last year that she was winning the Arnold Amateur to gain that pro card. The improvement she has made in her conditioning is nothing short of incredible. She obviously chose wisely when she hired Jones as her coach.



But most important, I think, is the fact that Kate is a born performer. It's what she does as a day job, after all. Burlesque shows, fire-eating... Kate, it seems, is never happier than when all eyes are on her. There's a saying, 'Dance like nobody's watching...' but where's the fun in that? she wrote recently. I want EVERYONE to be watching.



This win makes her Olympia qualified, and everyone will be watching her as a potential champ there now. Meanwhile, we won't take our eyes off her prep on Instagram.



Enjoy!

Arnolds Review: FBBUK: Kate Errington

8 days' out (left), and the night before

Do you think I'm ready? Kate Errington asked her Instagram followers the day before she made her pro debut at this year's Arnold Classic. Just out of a hot bath, everything was "popping" and she most certainly looked ready. Then again, I'd thought she'd looked pretty ready at the start of her "peak week", inviting her followers to guess her bodyfat percentage. At the risk of sounding like an IFBB official, maybe she was too ready now, too lean, too ripped. Would it affect her scores to be so utterly shredded? And that depleted, would she have enough in the tank to do her routine justice?



As the first pictures of the heels and turns round went up, it was clear Kate knew what she was doing. She looked resplendent. I had her placed 1st, but then I am no judge and (you may have noticed) can be slightly biased in favour of the British ladies.



I settled down in the evening to watch the show on the Muscular Development live stream. It took a while to get to the Fitness routines, and Kate, if memory serves, was on second last. Again, she looked amazing - so amazing she was described as such by the "expert" commentary team (more about this tomorrow) - and her performance was tremendous, showcasing all her grace, her power, and her dance skills. It was quite different to the majority of the other routines, I noted, but as I haven't watched too many Fitness shows, I lacked the knowledge to assess whether this difference was a good or bad thing (and the "experts" on the commentary were no help at all).



When the time came for the awards to be dished out, I wasn't holding my breath. It was her pro debut, and she was by far the least experienced of the women on the stage. The best ever British pro Fitness result had been Kizzy Vaines' 7th places (2012 & 2013), so history wasn't on her side either. She had been in the first heels and turns call out though, but she wasn't called in 6th, or in 5th, either. She had looked awfully good in the heels and turns, I reminded myself. And that routine had been spectacular...



Then Regiane Da Silva, top 3 at the Olympia on three occasions, was announced in 4th. I'd thought 10th for Kate would have been good before the show, then 3rd went to Bethany Wagner (just the 7 Olympias). And then... "From the United Kingdom, your Fitness International runner-up on her professional debut... Kate Errington!"



WHAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?! Kate's reaction was pretty much my reaction. 2nd place was beyond my wildest expectations, she wrote afterwards. Mine too, Kate, mine too.



OK, to put this result into perspective, you must realise this is not just the best Fitness placing Britain has ever had at the Arnolds, it's also our best EVER Arnolds' result in any division, writing over Gayle Moher's 3rd place at the 1998 Ms International. And on her pro debut.



She's going to Australia for the Arnolds there next, and she'll be among the favourites to win. She may still be as unknown here in the UK as she was when she took off for Columbus, but the world of IFBB pro Fitness knows her name now for sure.


The er, day job. Or rather "night job", truth be told.

For more, see FMS passim, and Kate's Instagram

Olympia 2017: FBBUK: Emma Paveley

The identity of Britain's sole female representative at the Olympia in 2017 would have been a bit of a surprise at the start of the year, but she did not arrive unheralded.

Emma Paveley of the United Kingdom came out of the blue to beat [Ryall]
Graber in Vancouver. It was her pro debut, and her Olympia debut could be equally electrifying. The former elite gymnast has a strong routine, but her cute physique may not be enough to get the judges' attention in round one. Even so, the routine counts for two-thirds of the score in fitness, and she could make a lasting impression at the finals. I'm not suggesting that Paveley could win, obviously, but she's my long-shot pick to knock one of the previously mentioned athletes down to seventh.
Ruth Silverman, Women's Olympia Predictions, Bodybuilding.com, 29/08/17



Her rise from Junior Fitness to the first rank of her sport has been thoroughly deserved and - if you are a budding UK Fitness competitor - inspiring. She was British champion for the first time in 2014 at the age of just 22, and by the time she was 23 she had European and World bronze medals and a second British title to her name. Her big breakthrough though came last year, when a win in her class at the Arnold Classic Europe plus another British title plus victory at one of the Diamond Cup events added up to mean that for 2017 she would be competing as a 25-year-old IFBB Fitness pro.



Her journey began back at school in Manningtree, Essex. I was known as "the girl with the six-pack" because I had a ripped six-pack from being a gymnast, she told her local press after her win in Vancouver earlier in the year. I had bigger biceps than all the boys. But I used to be very ashamed of my muscles and broadness, thought it wasn’t womanly. Fortunately all that changed after her first time on stage in 2011. It made me realise that lifting weights gives you the ability to shape your body, she continues. I am now super proud to show off my shape - all the right curves in all the right places - my great legs, my waist. I have never felt so comfortable in my own skin.



So Emma headed to Olympia for what was to be only her second show as a pro. Pinch me now! she exclaimed after seeing the official list of competitors. Can't believe I get to share the stage with these incredible ladies! With hard work and passion you really can turn your dreams into reality. Then they sink in! Fitness Olympia here I come!




Her mere presence at the event was, on a personal level a dream come true (or, as the more focused Emma puts it, a "goal achieved") and for British female bodybuilding, a historic moment. She became the first Brit to compete at the Fitness Olympia since Kizzy Vaines in 2011, and only the fourth since its inception back in 1995*.



She was in the third callout ("totally expected") during the presentation round, then vowed to "show them what we've got" for her routine. The scorecard reveals she was dead last after round one, then her routine pushed her up to 11th overall - which was kind of as Ruth Silverman predicted. Though Emma didn't finish above any of the big names, she did show she very much belonged among the elite. Her "moment of a lifetime", as she described the experience, may well come round again very soon.



So, how does Britain's Olympian Fitness pro celebrate?



VIP Pool party. Obvs.



After time in the sun with her significant other, Emma was "back to normal life" and reflecting on the year she had had. INCREDIBLE. It's pretty amazing to think that in one year I've become an Arnold Fitness Champion, won British title no.3, turned pro, won my pro debut AND been to the Olympia. Is she about to ease up a little, spend some time away from the stage, focus on her personal training business? Of course not. I will make next year even better! she promises. You wouldn't bet against her.



Congratulations Emma!

If you want to go even deeper into her story, Emma has appeared previously on FMS many times. From her 2014 IFBB Worlds bronze, to her astonishing pro debut in Vancouver via UKBFF British wins, and the Arnold Classic Europe. In fact, we're rather proud to say that having done our research, the best source of Emma Paveley information, better even than Emma's own Fitspo Next Door website, is ourselves!



*In case you were wondering, Christine Tooze was 9th in 1995 - still the best placing by a British woman. Claire Hillman - who, like Kizzy Vaines (2010 & 2011), competed at two Fitness Olympias - achieved a 10th place in 1996, 15th in 1998.