Diana Schnaidt's Optimum Physique

As well as being a good day for winner Tome Ameko, the Optimum Classic Pro was also a good day for 4th place Diana Schnaidt, by far the best result she's had this year.



But as impressive as these stage shots are, you only really get a sense of just how Amazonian Diana is when you see her next to the other first callout ladies - even compared to the pretty damn Amazonian Valentina Mishina, Diana looks large.



But best of all would be to see Diana up-close and personal. Perhaps going through her compulsory (and some not strictly encouraged) poses in her hotel room before she thundered up onto the stage. All those gorgeous muscles right there in yer face.

Something like this perhaps...



Best Muscle Video - the name gets more accurate with every new clip they post.

"The Best Legs in Figure" and Other Figure Phenoms @IFBB Europa Orlando 2018

When three-time IFBB pro winner, top 10 Olympian and FMS heartthrob Jessica Reyes Padilla places 10th, even allowing for judging misdemeanours, it's a fair bet she was part of a quality line-up, and so it was at the 2018 IFBB Europa Orlando.



Canada's Melissa Bumstead, Canada's gorgeous Melissa Bumstead, provided some of it. Just look at the cuts on those legs! Perhaps at some point those legs have been called "the best legs in Figure", but Melissa's were not the legs being most talked about on this occasion. Melissa will doubtless go on to win many pro titles in a long and glittering career, but here she and her legs were not winners - Melissa placed 4th.



Sadly - and this is unusual - the quality of NPC News Online's coverage did not really match the quality of the line-up, not in terms of the pictures anyway. Bit blurry they look to me. Thankfully though, this is not the only coverage of the event we have, and perhaps better still, this other coverage - courtesy of Bodybuilding and Beyond - allows us to watch all 19 women in this obviously quality line-up in motion.

Here they are, from #30 Yordana Alayon to #48 Linda Simnick.

See if you can spot "the best legs in Figure"...



Well?

The correct answer was #40, Felisha Livezey.



Not the most familiar name in the line-up by any means, Felisha hadn't previously competed since the 2016 NPC Universe but "stole the show" on her pro debut. I just decided to do this one and it worked out kinda good, she said afterwards. I'm going to the Olympia, it's so exciting... I never thought in a million years it would happen.



Now, about these "best legs in Figure". Don't be under the impression that anyone of any note was claiming this, it's just the thoughts of some random forum head, and perhaps seems, at first, to be an impossibly bold statement to make. However, what's been interesting is that since that claim was made on her behalf, plenty of other heads have chipped in on Felisha's thread not (as is customary) to mock, but to confirm.




That is an understatement, writes one. If you have an account for HerBiceps, I'd suggest you check out her videos. The way she flexes her quads are unlike anything you've seen out of a Figure competitor. Again, this seems an impossibly bold claim. I mean I've seen a LOT. But he goes on - I kid you not. Her legs are THAT insane.


Felisha in 2016

The clips they are talking about are nearly two years' old now, dating back from that NPC Universe win when she turned pro. New footage will be available on HDPhysiques "in the very near future" apparently. FMS will not be the only ones looking out for it.



You can follow Felisha on Instagram. She isn't planning to do any more shows before the Olympia, but intends to "work on some weak points" over the next few months.



She's probably not talking about those legs.

Pic of the Month: April

Something new to FMS today.

A chance to vote (don't worry, there's no lists of 100 women or anything!) for this month's Pic of the Month from a lovingly selected shortlist of five images.

Check them out then follow the link at the bottom to vote with a single click.

PAIGE SANDGREN: TO BE EXPLORED



Some rather racy, arty new shots of Paige on the forums recently, but we couldn't resist this good old-fashioned topless back selfie. So much to see, so much to explore...

MICHAELA AYCOCK: DRESSED UP VEINS



For the first time, Michaela has been doing a bit of glamorous schmotography work as well, and very exciting the results of that work have been. She doesn't really need any fancy lighting to bring out her freaky vascularity though. Not the tightest of dresses, and that's a good thing - if it were any tighter we'd probably spontaneously combust.

YEON WOO JHI: CELEBRITY MUSCLE



Not so much a nominee because of Yeon's physique (although those shoulders are fantastic) but more because of the sheer excitement on some of those fans' faces. This is exactly how it should be for all muscle goddesses. Adored. Idolised. Always.

ANGELICA ENBERG: DISGUSTINGLY PEELED



She's spent the best part of two years building herself up, and now it's time to reveal the results. And the results are (s)pectacular, but it's the facial expression (if you can drag your gaze up there for just a moment) that says it all: "Look what I have done to myself. I am muscle and skin and I feel AMAZING! OMG I am such a freak and I LOVE it!"

VALENTINA MISHINA: MEAT FEAST



As she's currently posting at the rate of one Hall of Famer per day, there was no doubt Valentina had to feature in our poll, but it wasn't easy to choose which pic should make the shortlist. We listened to our loins and our loins said this glute, ham and calf treat.

OK? Made your choice?

Great!

Voting is simple, CLICK HERE then select your favourite image and click vote.

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

Enjoy! And thanks for voting.

Underrated: Robin Parker

A new occasional series, Underrated is not intended to be about judging decisions - if it was, we could probably run a post about every single woman who's ever competed! Instead, we aim to (re)focus on women who we think do not enjoy the prominence they deserve in the collective female muscle consciousness - someone a new recruit to the female muscle lovin' world would not necessarily come across.

Thanks to BM for today's suggestion, a woman he calls "an absolute legend".

UNDERRATED?



Search for Robin on the major fansites and you will find her. She has a page/thread on both, and on Girls with Muscle in particular, there is no little appreciation among the comments. She was "a great FBB" who "had an outstanding physique". She was "a pioneer in the sport", "mature muscle at its best", "phenomenal", "exceptional", "so stunning and built". Several fans say Robin was one of their all-time favorites".



Praise indeed. Stories from those who were lucky enough to meet her in her pomp recall "her mass and vascularity", and "her beauty". Another (much more confessional) sessioner recalls her being "by far the sexiest, most delicious, and most tantalizing woman I ever saw. She should be giving lessons to every sessionette. She knew just what to do and how to do it, and was the perfect mix of muscle size, strength, facial beauty and personality. She just oooozzzed sex from every pore of her body."



So, Robin was (and probably still is) rated by some, but for a woman who first picked up weights in 1985 then finally hung up her posing suit in 2006, there is precious little really quality material available, and most of it is from the last few years of her career.

CAREER



From training at home with "basic equipment" to becoming the Masters Nationals champion took her just four years, and the following year (1990), she appeared at her first open national level show - the Jr USAs. She finished 2nd behind Chris Bongiovanni in her Heavyweight class at the USAs in 1995, and was 2nd again (this time behind Lora Ottenad) five years later in 2000. In all she competed at national level eight times, and on five of those occasions made the top 5 in her class.



These days, that wouldn't be much of a record to boast of, but to put it into perspective, let's look, for example, at the 2004 Nationals, where Robin is generally considered to have been at something like her beefiest, even though, for once, she was among the Light-heavyweights. Including Robin, there were 20 women the class, and among those who placed below her on the day we find names such as Alicia St. Germaine, Gayle Frankie, Norma Nieves, Star Blaylock, Sondra Faas, Angie Salvagno, Heather Lee, and Debbie Bramwell. Only Dena Westerfield, Kim Perez, Elena Sieple and Cynthia Gonzalez (I know! WHO???!!!) placed above her. She competed among such quality line-ups throughout her entire career.




The year after that 2004 Nationals (her third), she finally won her pro card with her second Overall Masters Nationals win, and a year later she made her one and only pro appearance at the 2006 Europa Supershow. I could go on about the quality of that line-up, but I'll let you check it out for yourself. She placed a creditable 15th (better than a handful of legendary names) then thundered off the stage for the very last time.

APPRECIATION



As mentioned before, most of what we have got to go on regarding Robin was shot in the last few years of her FBBing contest life, the results of her twenty previous years of lifting only too evident in her thick, mature physique. That kind of size plus definition will do it for me every time, and when - as with Robin - a bucketload of ropey veinage is also on offer, it's not hard to see why she got such glowing reviews as a session provider. What that body must have been like to touch is quite beyond my level of comprehension, but to gaze at her and try to imagine is a game worth playing!



What does survive from her earlier amateur years reveals that physique-wise she was just as ripped (and only a tad less thick), and just as exciting. Facially the toll of those twenty years had not been paid so fully when she posed for WPW/Ray Martin, and her admittedly unconventional but undeniably alluring beauty shines through.



I always enjoyed those sensational legs, her chest, her arms, and her lush dark hair and deep dark eyes. Her smile too I always thought was a winner, and not long after I made my first virtual female muscle lovin' friend online, he shared Robin and Christa Bauch's (rightly) famous 2-4-1 Ray Martin video with me. I didn't watch much else for a month. It's freely available in its entirety these days - part 1 here. Not the best quality, but it doesn't have to be when Robin first strolls into shot, legs encased in sheer fishnets, ordering Christa away in her basso profundo voice... Turns out this clip (and the other four parts) still has the power to make me swoon all over the place.

NOW?

At the time of writing, FMS hasn't managed to turn anything up about Robin, unfortunately. We hope she and her family are well, and that she is still watching Real Time with Bill Maher. We hope, in fact we expect that, now well into her 60s, Robin is still the same great advert for the female muscle lifestyle that she always was.

So, you lovely readers, who do you think should be next on Underrated?

Gaby Quiros: Like the Sun

The one and only time we've featured Costa Rica's Gabriela "Gaby" Quiros Rodriguez on the blog previously was in all her naked glory as one of our Sunday Sizzlers. It left us more than impressed enough to keep a very close eye on this "Warrior Mum", and it's the fruits of our "Gaby Watch" that we bring you today.



The big news is that Gaby has won the Physique class at the Olympia Amateur South America, held in Medellin, Colombia in the middle of last month. It wasn't the biggest field, she only had to beat three other women, but didn't she look good doing it?!



With it, she took her place among the IFBB pro ranks. And very happy she was about it too. This medal goes to Costa Rica, she wrote. And to those who believed in and supported me. Dreams come true if you want and work for them with all your heart.



The minion assigned to Gaby Watch believes she puts everything - "to the last drop" as she says it - into it her work, and he's made us believers too. Since around the time of that previously posted racy photo, Gaby has been hard at it sculpting her (already delicious) body into a physique that is nothing short of volcano interior hot.



Size, definition, the naturally "100% Latina" complexion...



We have not been the only ones who've noticed. Beautiful face, beautiful smile, and a perfect body, says one forum poster. Women like Gaby are like the sun - you don't want to stare too long for risk of going blind! Our Gaby Watch minion would probably concur. If only he could still read text in such less than super-sized font.



Her rise to prominence as both a competitor and a new darling of the fansites could well be good news for opticians all over, in fact. Consider yourself warned.



Gaby on Instagram