Summer Lovin': The Mystery of Angela Heider

She appears to have arrived on the forums more or less fully formed.



I mean, it doesn't look like she started on those muscles recently, does it? That is a body of work right there - check out those forearms in particular, pretty much as big as (if not bigger than) her upper arms!!! And her back (below) - so much to explore!!!



I did my research, and frankly, didn't find much. A couple of pics from 2015 - major progress, I confirmed, has been made - and then at the back end of last year suddenly new images start appearing more regularly. In 2018, however, there's a been even more of her, and I don't just mean she's grown. More and more of her pics are currently going up on the forums. There's not exactly a torrent of them, but this year we have been treated to more new images of her than in the previous three combined.



I tried to find her social media, eventually resorting to posting a "Help Wanted" plea on Girls with Muscle. I didn't have to wait long for the reply - her Instagram page. Champagne corks popped in my head as I anticipated how I would be spending the next two, three, possibly four hours... But then - This Account Is Private

Oh.



Request sent.

It's not unusual. It's fully understandable. I mean, I'm totally cool, the perfect Instagram follower, I like to think, but there are quite a lot out there who bring female muscle lovin' into disrepute, so yeah, This Account Is Private, I respect that. So I waited. And waited. And I'm still waiting. And while I'm waiting, a message comes, a late response to my "Help Wanted" plea on GwM: She is insanely hot! it begins. Only hope to get into her IG it seems is to msg the author of the Saradas post on her.



WHAT?!

I'm still waiting for three replies now. The original from Angela's IG; a reply to my reply to "maximumpecs" (who told me to "msg the author"); and now a reply to my message to the author of the post on the forum whose first rule is... about that assertion.



"Maximumpecs" is definitely right about one thing though, Angela is insanely hot. She seems all grown up too, so why she would need a social media gatekeeper is beyond me. If true, however, whoever that gatekeeper to her IG is, they really should let a few more good guys in, eg. me (obvs.) and (equally obvs.) my informed, respectful, and admiring readership. Nearly 2,000 posts and she only has just over 800 followers?!



The mystery continues...

Try your luck at badassRN on Instagram

Summer Lovin': Marie's Smile

Hard work, as they say, reaps its rewards.

Czech Physique dreamer Marie Bouchalova should know.



Back around March, Marie was attractively bulky and ready to go full hand bra, but hardly what you would call ripped. Hardly the stuff that NPC Physique champions are made of. Lovely big smile though - as we've seen many a time on the blog, a muscle girl is a happy girl. Note that smile well, we'll be seeing more of it. A LOT more.



And here she is mid-June, three months after those bulky shots, about two weeks before the clip at the top was taken, and a month before her most recent contest, - the NPC Southern States. My imagination or has the smile got broader, perhaps prouder?



She won her class and the Overall title at that show...

Cue more smiles. [Winning was] the happiest moment in my life, she said afterwards. I am the happiest Physique woman in the world! With good reason to be. Her return to Florida this year after having come to compete in late 2017 is the next step in her "dream" of gaining her pro card and making her home in the States. So far, so good.




Not an easy thing for a European Physique amateur to cross the Atlantic and take up the NPC challenge. Of recent vintage, I can only think of Brazilian Ivie Rhein as an example of a woman who has done this successfully. Europeans are more and more prominent in the Pro League - Valentina Mishina, for example - but in the NPC at present, Marie seems to be ploughing a lone European furrow right now.



She is, of course, not without help - you may recognise the lady who is (in part) responsible for coaching Marie, legendary behemoth Rosemary Jennings. Now there's woman who knows a thing or two about turning the freakery up to 11!

Apparently, they are perfect for each other.

Don't leave before the glorious last rep now...



Such determination! exclaims one fan. Now THAT is a FEMALE!

No, it's not easy, Marie reminds us. It's not for everyone. But if you have it in your heart, go for what you feel there.🏼 It's in mine and I'm definitely going for it!




And clearly nothing feels better than that.

Enjoy!

Summer Lovin': Cash Back

Once in a while I see a pic that reminds me both why and just how hopelessly I am in love with female muscle. A pic that brings back that moment (over 30 years ago now), that very first rush, that first thrill of seeing a female bodybuilder for the first time.

Thank you Sammica Cash!



Sammica's is obviously a big and sexy back, the sort of back one would like to "kiss and lick all night long" as one forum poster puts it. She's awfully impressive, but - as usual - I can't quite put my finger on exactly why this gave me such a jolt. Perhaps it's the casual, "I was home and just decided to take some pics" look, and the subsequent idea that Sammica spends her evenings topless and flexing and what I would give to be the man who takes the pics for her! Perhaps it's just that - like our forum poster - my first thought was getting my tongue and lips acquainted with all that beautiful prime beef but then not being able to decide where I would start - "It all looks sooo good!".

Whatever the reason, this, as they say, "did it" for me.

And it still does.

Follow Sammica as she preps for her pro debut on Instagram.

How about that back in motion?



See what I mean? Where to begin?!

Enjoy!

Summer Lovin': Chunri

Last September, you may remember, Kim Ji-hyun (aka Chunri Kim) was struck down with a life-threatening illness just as she was looking as big, beautiful and thrillingly vascular as ever. Happily (and thanks to some swift, expert treatment), she not only survived, but was soon scheduling a return to competition in 2018.



And she made that return not in her native Korea but in Vancouver, at the "Pro Qualifier" event (held in tandem with the pro show itself) on the 7th/8th of July.




No disprespect intended to the other women in Ji-hyun's class, but incredibly (although why I am still surprised by these bizarre decisions is a mystery), this body was only considered to be good enough for 5th - even in a Canadian (ie. more female muscle friendly) show, it seems that the long arm of IFBB "law" is preventing "more muscular" Physique competitors from getting ahead in the division.

She didn't seem too upset afterwards, however.



Just hungry!

Chunri Kim on Instagram

Enjoy!

Woman of the Week: NOT Emma Paveley

No pictures today I'm afraid. And no name.

This week's Woman of the Week is the lady I saw last week as she enjoyed some lunchtime sunshine with friends/colleagues on the green near where I'm working now.

I saw her twice. Once, very briefly, last Tuesday, and then again a week ago today.

TUESDAY, 3rd JULY

We've had a so-called "heatwave" in the UK (I'm sure we just used to refer to weather like this as "summer"!) recently. Sunshine every day, temperatures in the mid to high 20s where I am. It's been great, and when out and about, I've been as alert as always to any female muscle among the (mainly flabby) flesh on display in the heat.

Largely, I've been disappointed. The city where I'm currently based is not a large one, hardly a hotspot for female muscle, but I had some luck in the spring with sighting muscular women so I was hopeful. But apart from a few women with "toned" arms, and/or flat tummy, my female muscle radar has been pretty much dormant.

That changed last Tuesday. As I walked back to the office from a working lunch with a colleague, the radar went crazy. Ahead, to my left, was a woman in a workout vest with shoulders. Big, muscular shoulders. She was sitting on the grass, leaning back, and supporting herself on her arms, making those shoulders pop. I felt my heart rate rise, felt the adrenaline rush. I fought the urge to stare, tried to maintain the conversation I was having... But those shoulders were proper balls of muscle.

I was side on to her now as we passed, and could see a proper tricep too, bulging outwards from under her shoulder then curving back in towards her elbow. No more than a glimpse but more than enough to make me have to suppress a gasp.

My colleague has a bit of a power walk on her, and I cursed her for it. We'd gone past her too quickly, to see any more now I would have to stop and turn around. My heart still beating fast, I tried and failed to think of a reason to do just that. It was over.

WEDNESDAY, 4th JULY

Over the following 24 hours, I somehow managed to convince myself that the woman I had seen was none other than Britain's Fitness Olympian Emma Paveley.


IFBB Fitness Pro Emma Paveley - NOT the woman I saw

It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.

For one thing, Emma is based not a million miles away from where my sighting had happened and the woman I had seen was, I surmised, more or less the right height. She was the right colouring - blond, pale - and had the right hairstyle. The muscles, I guessed, were about right too. Shockingly developed next to the "normals" she was with that day, they were still nothing like a full-on Female Bodybuilder's.

Piece by piece my Madness-stricken mind assembled the glimpses I had had of the woman on the grass, and when they were all put together they added up to Emma.

I was back at that green the following lunchtime. Waiting and watching I ran through what I would say to her - "good luck in Vancouver" and so on. Would she think it weird or would she be flattered that I knew who she was and when and where she would be competing next? My tone, I decided, would be key - that and not gushing out everything little thing I knew about her all at once. So I rehearsed as I sat watching and waiting for her. I ran through my lines over and over again.

THURSDAY, 5th JULY

She was there when I arrived at the green with my lunch. And I realised very quickly that though she did bear a passing resemblance to Emma, it was not in fact her. This was, I'll admit, somewhat disappointing, but I was glad to see she (whoever she is) was once again in a workout vest. And there was a vacant bench close-but-not-too-close to her with a great view of her arms, her shoulders, and even a little back.

I settled down and drank her in.

When she spoke even the smallest gesticulation made her muscles ripple a little, and with no one in earshot, I was able to let out little moans and gasps as she did so. It didn't take long for my loins to start acknowledging her - I did get rather hard at one point and had to cross my legs - but I felt more like an art lover in a gallery gazing at a particularly beautiful work than a man on a perving mission in a public place!

A good 45 minutes I spent like that, melting into a full-on swoon at one point when she leaned back on her arms (as I had seen her first), triceps and shoulders bulging, and stretched. As she did so her quads visibly flared in her tight leggings. I felt my eyes widening, my loins tingling, and bit my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.

I desperately wanted to see her stand up so I could get a better look at those legs, desperately wanted to watch her walk so I could see if her glutes were as tight as I imagined. She remained on the grass, however, and I really had to get back to work.

It wasn't difficult - and nor, at the time, did it seem in any way wrong - to take a few long range pictures of her, and I later spent some of the afternoon at my desk cropping them to focus on her, delighted her impressive definition came out.

That evening I spent some quality time with those pictures, then deleted them all - partly because of the surge of guilt I felt immediately after I had paid my secret tribute to her, partly because I knew deep down I would never have been able to keep them to myself and by sharing them open myself up to all sorts of embarrassing (and possibly legal) situations, and partly because I wanted to spare her the shock of one day coming across a bunch of photos of herself she never knew existed.

She may well be aware the muscles she has built give her more than just physical power. She certainly wasn't shy about showing off her arms and shoulders, quite rightly - I hope and expect she is very proud of the physique she has. She'll never know what she did to me, though. Never know the power she had over me for those few days last week, and clearly continues to have over me as I sit here writing now.

She's my woman of the week without question - whoever she is.

Emma, by the way, finished 3rd in Vancouver, so she didn't manage to defend her title. She was nevertheless "feeling really proud at being soooo much better than ever before" at the show. If I see her, I'll tell her I thought she's never looked better either, though the chances of that are slim. Yes, she's based not a million miles from where I'm currently working, but the only public place Emma ever seems to be is in the gym.

Amateur Week: Rachel Reid

And finally for Amateur Week, Rachel Reid, the very beautiful Rachel Reid, personal trainer, massage therapist and nutrition coach from New York state.


2014 - Figure & 2016 - Bodybuilding

Over the last four years, Rachel has competed mostly in Physique, but has also featured in Figure and Bodybuilding. Her shows have been somewhat irregular, and though she has enjoyed success in the past (in Bodybuilding and Physique, not so much in Figure), her placings have been almost as irregular as her appearances.




So I for one was delighted to see her return to the stage after she had taken 2017 off and win at the NPC Connecticut Grand Prix. 1st place! Still sort of in disbelief, she wrote afterwards, thanking (among others) the contest's photographer Chris Hayden "for getting some good pics of someone that's not so stage photogenic".



Mr Hyaden is clearly very talented, but I have to disagree with Rachel assessment of gorgeous, muscular herself there. I doubt she could look un-photogenic if she tried.



Follow Rachel on Instagram

Amateur of the Week: Jayne Tingle

Keep going, the caption reads, no matter how you feel.



There may be other women who personify the "amateur" in British female muscle quite as gloriously as Wigan's Jayne Tingle, but right now, I can't think of any who do.

She's been at it for some time - as long ago as 2007 she was the NABBA British Toned Figure champion - 13 years chipping away, as she puts it, a single mother personal trainer clearly doing it for the love. She hasn't exclusively competed at NABBA shows - she has, for example, appeared at the Arnold Amateur and Amateur Olympia, and at UKBFF British and IFBB European Championships in the past. But NABBA is the place she seems to be most at home, and the place where she gets the most love. However, she has never got as much love before as she has had from the NABBA judges this year.

She started her competitive season at the NABBA North-west, lining up in the Athletic Figure class - a bit more muscular than Toned, not as muscular as Trained.



And from there, she went on to the NABBA Britain.

Now, unlike some other federations where you get the judges telling you you were in the wrong class after you've competed, in NABBA, you are placed in one of the classes before you get on stage. And so, at the Britain this year, Jayne turned up expecting to feature in the Athletic class again, but was told she had to compete in Trained instead.

I was in absolute awe at every girl, Jayne said of the competition she suddenly found herself up against. I wondered how I could measure up to any of them.



You can probably guess what happened next...

11 years after she'd won the British Toned title, Jayne was now the British Trained champ. OMG, was her (understandable) reaction. Did I get moved from Athletic to Trained and win?! Lots of bitching, she confided. Sorry to those I've upset.



Nice of her to say that, but she probably wasn't very sorry. And anyway, in her decade and then some of competing, Jayne seems to have made a lot more friends than enemies. There were plenty of smiling faces ready to celebrate with her.

Next stop, the Worlds, and once again she arrived thinking "athletic"...



Time for me to accept I am more muscular than I realise! she said after once again the judges had moved her up to the more muscular class. I am actually hench!



Hench enough to place 4th anyway. People said I'd be a laughing stock internationally at Trained Figure - clearly NABBA (or is it Bodybuilding generally?) is a bitchier world than I would like to imagine! - If this is a laughing stock, she continued, defiantly, I'm rolling with it! 15 stacked girls, best line-up in a good while. I am so over the moon.



And ironically, none of this might have happened this year.

I wasn't going to compete 'cause I wasn't in a good place, she told her Instagram followers recently. Some mental abuse floored me, and I lost a lot of weight. But I needed something, so from January I put food in as I was struggling to eat from stress. Then I decided to try to aim for a show just to keep myself focused...



And last weekend, she did one more - the IFBB pro qualifying event in Coventry. She only won her class, and came within a few points of actually ending the year with a pro card, but ultimately the Overall title went elsewhere. This year is definitely my year! she concludes, despite the near miss. Feels great being in a good place again.



Long may that feeling continue.