Georgina: The Story So Far

What's happening right now is a lot of thinking has been going on and I have decided through every thought of my own that the look I have been training for is no longer for me and it's been a long time coming to realise that it's just not what I want anymore... I'm not saying muscle can't be feminine etc. but I'm going for a smaller look now, I love the above picture [of Graceyanne Barbosa] (I'm no where blessed with the genetics of @graoficial) but I would love a shape like this and I will in time... As for comps they're not my life at all there is by far so many other things important in life right now to me I'm only young and I want to make a good life for myself, lot of things I want to learn! As much as I love training and I will never give it up time to put the breaks on and realise that I am no longer willing to do the things to stay this size or get bigger but this makes me happy that I have realised this, enjoy life do what you love! I won't be putting off events in my life because of the sport not that you have to at all but the whole strictness of it isn't appealing anymore it's all about enjoyment and looking at yourself and feeling proud and happy x
Georgina McConnell, Instagram 14th August 2015



It's not every 21-year-old who could announce a major life change and have so many people from all over the world - many of them complete strangers to her - putting in their two pennyworth on the subject, but that's what happened when Georgina posted the above. I'm not going to add to the general teeth-gnashing (and borderline idiocy) that Georgina's news has prompted on the femuscle fan forums, but instead I'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate this remarkable young woman's achievements with some extracts from her story so far as reported with admiration right here on FMS...

FBBUK: GEORGINA McCONNELL, FUTURE STAR 4th March 2013


Georgina's competitive debut, NABBA North 2012

She must be the biggest (and hottest) 18-year-old FBB on this planet at the moment…

Not my words, but the words of a fan on a forum board devoted to the (now) 19-year-old female bodybuilder from Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear (which for non-UK readers, and UK readers with a tenuous grasp of geography, is in the north-east of England). Georgina is a student of Sports Science and, in her own words has simply "always wanted to do this". Her goal from the start - she began lifting at 14 - was to compete, and four years later she achieved that, finishing a precocious 2nd at the NABBA North Championships aged just 18, and as a result found a sponsor.



She has laid some serious foundations onto her physique with the help of her trainer Lee Casey (who is a successful UKBFF athlete himself), she already has competition experience, sponsors, and an internet fanbase that most other British amateur female bodybuilders can only dream of. It’s looking good, she says. Indeed it is.

FBBUK: HAWAY THE LASS! 25th July 2013



NOW THIS WILL SHOCK YOU! screamed the headline on the 'Muscle Scene' page in the UK print edition of Muscular Development magazine under the picture of FMS' favourite teen muscle sensation, Georgina McConnell. You'll be no doubt thinking "Yeah, she's pretty good", continues the piece. Well, prepare yourself, it says. She's only 19 years old! I jest not! It continues. I am rarely ever this stunned by raw new talent like this lady. Holy crap, I gotta say it again - 19 YEARS OLD!



The piece in Muscular Development was accompanied by pics of Georgina from the NABBA North show in May, where Georgina came in second in the Trained Figure class, the same placing as she had achieved in the same contest last year on her competitive debut. You might think this repeat could mean she hasn't progressed, but wait, this time the NABBA show wasn't actually the show she was preparing for. She took to the stage for that show actually four weeks shy of her contest shape. The NABBA show was just a prelude, a practice run. The show that Georgina was in fact preparing for took place at the start of June, the UKBFF North, where she competed in the Physique class. Did she win? Oh yes, you bet she won. And gained some more mainstream muscle media exposure, this time from the UK edition of Flex Online. Star of the day was Georgina McConnell, a UKBFF newcomer, who at only 19-years-old won another quality women’s physique class, they reported.



WHAT'S (BEEN) GOING ON: GEORGINA AND ME 7th September 2013



We are delighted to bring you the news that in the last week, Georgina has been all over the media. And not just in Britain. Georgina has 'gone global'. If they haven't heard about her yet in Peru or Bhutan, Mauritius or the Solomon Islands, they soon will.



So where does the 'Me' in the 'Georgina and Me' fit in?

You probably aren't very curious, but just in case you were wondering, firstly, a little of the Georgina's media stardust has inadvertently fallen onto FMS courtesy of the New York Daily News. This is obviously a publication with somewhat higher journalistic standards than the majority of the world's media. Not content with reproducing The Daily Mail's [original] article verbatim, as so many other websites did, Daily News journalist Victoria Taylor actually did a bit of research and found FMS' previous articles on Georgina, then linked them in the article under the (slightly misleading) name 'bodybuilding blogs'. Cue a massive hike in visits to my little blog.



Secondly, Georgina herself has read and commented on our previous article about her on Twitter. And although she must have read it on Amazons World rather than direct from source, honestly, I don't care where she read it. The fact that she liked it enough to bother to tweet, the fact that she called it 'awesome'... that, dear reader, is just like getting a big wet (albeit virtual) kiss from the muscle goddess herself.



CONTEST OF THE DAY: UKBFF BRITISH I 7th November 2013



FMS had been whipping themselves (and attempting to whip readers) into a frenzy of anticipation over teenage female muscle sensation Georgina McConnell's appearance at Harrogate for months now. However, we waited in vain for her name to appear even once on Rosie [Harte play-by-play]'s commentary. But Georgina herself cleared up the mystery as to why that was almost immediately. The day after the contest, she posted this to her Instagram, bemoaning her body's lack of timing:
Aye just full up now! Not show day tho stupid body.



It's comforting to know that Georgina isn't too disappointed by her experience, and it is very exciting that she is still determined to 'get hyoooge' as she puts it. At the time of writing, Georgina says she's Getting massive n fat n stuff, and her most recent Instagram post suggests that the 'massive' part is true, anyway.

WOMEN OF THE YEAR 27th December 2013



How could Georgina not be one of FMS' Women of the Year? We've written as much about the teenage (not for much longer) sensation from the north-east as about any other woman this year. Granted, our most recent post concerning Georgina didn't bring the greatest of news, as we reported her disappointment at (what she called) her 'stupid body' not exactly showing itself off at its best for the day of the UKBFF British Championships. However, even then there was no little optimism from our growin' lass, as she vowed to focus on getting 'hyooooge'.



And why wouldn't she be optimistic? Here she is, 'three and a bit years' from her starting point. Imagine the damage she is going to be doing to female bodybuilding stages (if there are any, that is) in another three and a bit!



PIC OF THE WEEK 26th March 2014

It's nearly the end of March already and we haven't had a single pic of British teen bodybuilding phenom Georgina McConnell on FMS this year. Well, it's high time we did something about that, don't you think? Wonder what she's been up to...



Ah, I see. She's been GROWING!

198lbs (which is over 14st, or about 90kg) and counting, according to Georgina.

BACK IS BEAUTIFUL: FREAKY FANTASY FAVOURITES 4th April 2014



Yep, I'm calling freaky on Georgina McConnell. Not because her back is freaky like Freitas-freaky (although if she keeps going as she has until now, that is going to be a very real possibility at some stage), but rather because of her incredible development for her age. The biggest and best 19-year-old back on the planet. Word.

MUSCLE IN A DRESS OF THE DAY: SELFIES 3rd July 2014



Georgina. So beautiful, so lean, so tanned, so vascular. Glammed up and ready to make all and sundry stop and stare. Haway Georgina! You gorgeous thing you, please don't make me beg for your permission to follow your Instagram (he pleaded). Haven't I always been utterly and hopelessly over-the-top in my compliments? Haway!

AUGUST PICTURE POST: SEXY SELFIES 31st August 2014



Photo dated 21st August. Oh my!

HAWAY THE LASS! GEORGINA WINS AGAIN 29th September 2014



Delighted to report that while it was all going down at the Olympia in Las Vegas, FMS' favourite 20-year-old from the north-east of England was winning the Women's Physique Division at the UKBFF North-West Championships in Leeds. In doing so, she qualified for what will be her second crack at the British Championships, which take place in a couple of weeks in Nottingham. Congratulations Georgina!




As the show approached, Georgina was clearly feeling her legs looked better than ever, posting selfie after selfie of ever more shredded pins on her Instagram. So many, in fact, that she actually felt the need to apologise (sort of) for the glut. Sorry for all the leg pics, she wrote in the week leading up to the show. But look at me calve!!!



Freaky! And it seems those legs, along with the rest of this remarkable young woman, are providing inspiration to other bodybuilders male and female within and outside the UK. Georgina's had her problems with social media abuse in the past, but these days the messages of encouragement and admiration are all over her Instagram.



And since the contest, it's been back to work, getting a "crazy pump" on as she begins her preparation for the British Championships. Last year, regular readers may remember, that show didn't work out so well for her (see FMS passim). I get the feeling that this year she'll fare much much better in the biggest UK show there is.



And that - with the exception of a brief mention of her in a post entitled On Beauty - is where we left Georgina on FMS. Soon after her win at the UKBFF North-West, she finished 5th at the British Championships, a huge improvement on her 2013 showing both in terms of the package she brought to the stage and her placing.



Of course we've been following Georgina's adventures since then, watching both her continued muscular development and her increasing skill at baking. She has turned 21 now and has quite obviously blossomed in the last year or so from the teenager we first met in 2013 into a very self-assured and strikingly beautiful young woman. Whatever she decides to do next - and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it involved those baking skills - you wouldn't bet against Georgina making a success of it.



So, here I am, having just spent the best part of three hours putting this tribute together and not for a minute do I think that it wasn't time well spent. It's been rather nice looking back over what I've written about Georgina and reminding myself of just how much she has achieved so far. I can't think of another 21-year-old - not in the world of female muscle at least - who compares. I certainly can't think of another I'd spend two years (and the best part of three hours) writing about!




Enjoy!

On Beauty

Given the subjects of the last three days here at FMS, it's hardly surprising that I've been thinking about the beauty of muscular women rather a lot this week, but the ever-excellent Ryan Takahashi's excellent recent essay on The "Alternate Femininity" of Female Bodybuilders has also served as a source of today's musings.



Mr Takahashi's essay neatly debunks the myth that female bodybuilders are "masculine" just because their own particular brand of femininity is unconventional before turning more specifically to the concept of "beauty". They [muscular and non-muscular women] are all beautiful... The only difference is how universally regarded their beauty is, he writes. Most of us can agree that Bar Rafaeli is super gorgeous. But not everyone can agree that Monica Martin is equally gorgeous.



Now I'm not about to disagree with the man, but I guess it's indicative of just how far I have immersed myself in the world of female muscle that I had to look Bar Rafaeli up. I had heard the name - I'm not completely out of touch(!) - but I'd never, as far as I knew, seen her before. There she was, in all her conventional beauty. And it turned out that yes, most men do apparently agree that she is, as Mr Takahashi puts it, "super gorgeous". But not, it seems, me. Quite honestly, she left me cold.

I'll give you another example. At the place I've been working recently there's a young French female lawyer. The entirety of the male staff at the firm (well, the straight ones, anyway) are utterly smitten with her, and not just because she earns lawyer money! She's a looker, as they say. But her beauty is a Bar Rafaeli kind of conventional beauty. I'd rather spend some quality time with the girl from the post room who does Muay Thai and who arrives at work all sweaty from her cycle in. I'm a minority of one.

The days when I would worry about this sort of thing are long gone. Why am I different? or What's wrong with me? are not questions I ask any more. But I am asking myself another question: Suppose I'd never seen Bar Rafaeli or Monica before and you showed me a picture of just their faces. Suppose you did the same with the French lawyer and the post room girl. Suppose I knew nothing about them, that I just had their face to go on. Would I find Monica and Ms Muay Thai more beautiful?



Is there something identifiably different about the faces of female bodybuilders and fit, muscular women more generally? Do they have (for want of a better word) "stronger" features, perhaps? Or is it more about their inner strength and confidence, and comfort in their own skin revealing itself somehow? Shining through their eyes or something? These are obviously not questions that I'm about to give a definitive answer to, but I will say that if you look at any before & after transformation picture you can see that it's not just that the newly-muscular woman's body has changed. The face has changed too. Leaner, yes, of course, but isn't there something else as well?



I haven't always been so exclusive about associating facial beauty with physical beauty. Seven years ago I fell in love with my wife, and that was, at least initially, to do with how beautiful I thought she was. But since she's got into working out (see FMS passim), I'd say that yes, her face has changed. She's happier within herself, and that inner contentment is, I think, what's making her even more beautiful to me.



I could well be over-analysing. It may be as simple as the fact that fit women have the healthy glow that comes from regular exercise and a clean diet. After all, isn't the pilates teacher always better-looking than her students?! Nevertheless, I've always thought it would be interesting to reverse the experiment mentioned above. Does it work the other way around? Can men whose taste in women is more conventional tell when they're looking at a muscular woman? If you show a non-female muscle head a picture of just the face of a muscular woman, would he find her beautiful?



What exactly it would prove if he did I'm not exactly sure, maybe just that the muscle woman you chose was, as well as being unconventionally beautiful, also conventionally beautiful in many ways. And that's not really the point, is it?! But at least it gave me an excuse to feature the undeniably gorgeous Mavi and Shannon (it's back to Courtney again now, apparently), which is no bad thing.

So, what is my point?

I didn't promise one, but I feel I should try to come up with one nevertheless...

While checking out Georgina McConnell's Instagram the other day I came across this: The woman who does not require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet. It's a quote attributed to London-based political writer Mohadesa Najumi (and you can search for more on her if you dare). Now, I doubt Ms Najumi had muscular women in mind when she came up with this little nugget, but she'd probably agree their utter lack of regard for the role society would have them play qualifies them as the "feared individual" type.



When female muscle fans like me write about the Beauty of the Muscular Woman or whatever, are we not guilty of deluding ourselves that our words, our arguments, in some way "validate" their beauty? If so, I imagine Georgina McConnell and Mohadesa Najumi would accuse us of missing the point entirely. We flatter ourselves that they care what we think. They neither want nor need defending.

And I suspect it is this that I, you, and the rest of the brethren are really responding to. It's not so much that the muscular woman offers an alternative concept of beauty, and more that she offers no invitation whatsoever for you to judge her beauty at all.



I started this post yesterday, and today, while having lunch with a colleague, the pretty young French lawyer came up. I confessed she didn't do it for me. "Is it an 'I'm married so I don't talk about how hot some chicks are' thing?" he wondered. Not at all, I said, and then I confessed I found the post room girl much more exciting. "Oh," said my colleague, "You like chicks with the fuck-you attitude." Shit, I said to myself. I've been blabbing away on this subject for hours and there it is, all succinctly put. Damn!



Enjoy!