Obsessions New & Old: Layla!

My introduction to today's obsession was the above pic. That's a beautiful chest, I thought (or something to that effect), and after spending a bit of quality time, er, let's say "contemplating" its beauty, I wondered who the beauty who had built that beautiful chest was. But there was no name attached to the pic, so I scrolled down to the comments below it. That's a beautiful chest, said one. Great minds clearly think alike, but none of the comments were much help in identifying the beautiful chest's owner.



Then another pic turned up. Had to be the same woman. Damn, that looks delicious, read the single comment below it. True, very true, but again no ID. Double damn!



So out went the call to all the FMS helpers. The ID specialists. What a team they'd make if only they knew each other! And back came the answer (with links to many many more pictures of our new obsession) - the beautiful chest was Layla Allen's.



American probably, I thought. Physique probably. I typed the name into Google and once again I was confronted with the depths of my own ignorance. Not American, Scottish. Not Physique, at least not IFBB Physique anyway. Figure, but the kind of muscular "Trained" Figure you find in federations like NABBA and WFF for example.



And those pecs have been around for years it turns out. Though I guess given their qualities that much ahould have been obvious to me! Layla has been competing since around 2004, and has won more titles than you can possibly imagine - NABBA, BNBF, UKBFF - and, most recently, she became the IBFA Ms Universe in the 35+ Figure category for the second consecutive year. And I'd never, ever, heard of her. DOH!



Layla - and those pecs - at the 2016 IBFA Universe

She was "in her 30s" when she started competing, so she must be comfortably over the 35+ age limit for her IBFA category, beating women considerably younger than her. Layla has one of the best physiques in the country, reads her Facebook - "Glam Fitness" - blurb. In fact, it's clearly better than most physiques in the world.



I don't usually obsess about a particular bodypart on a particular woman. It seems a bit rude given they clearly work damn hard on the whole package, and as a serial champion Layla definitely has that overall package. But sometimes it's unavoidable. The bodypart is so exceptional, so swoonworthy on its own, that I can't help myself.



And the latest pec-oriented offerings from Layla above and below haven't had me wondering when she's going to post a more head-to-toe picture of herself. Actually, she does post a lot more pics of her pecs on her Instagram than anything else. Perhaps she might be just as obsessed with them than I am, probably she's even more obsessed.



After all, it's taken her a fair few years to hone her chest into such amazing shape. Takes dedication that, and a lot of hard graft. Effort beyond the comprehension of the average female. Some would call it an obsession. She's gone too far, she looks too different from the norm. But I, and I dare say you, dear reader, couldn't disagree more. Who wants to be "normal" anyway? Happily not Layla Allen. Long may she, and those exceptional women like her, remain obsessed with building exceptional bodies.

FBBUK Extra: The Passion of Sonia

I got into it [bodybuilding] when I was 16, says Huddersfield's Sonia Armitage. I’d been into gymnastics but I started hitting the gym and found out more about it. It was quite a new activity for women then but I thought let’s just give it a go for a bit of fun. But once I got started it became an obsession. I decided to put my all into it, I like to do things full on, and started competing and went to contests across the UK.

Chances are you've never heard of Sonia, but "it was quite a new activity then" may have alerted you to the fact that she's been bodybuilding as long as any of the most famous names of the sport. After "several years" of competing, Sonia gave it up to put her all into raising her two children, but she never stopped lifting.



In her late 30s, the urge to compete returned again. As a sport, she found that things had changed for the better since those early days when she could only compete locally in one-size-fits-all "Women's Bodybuilding". Now we compete in different categories, even different age classes, she says. The sport has boomed among women. The highlight of her career so far was the IBFA British Finals last year, and her subsequent qualification for the IBFA Worlds in Italy. I thought I’d give up after the World Championships last November, she says, but I would feel lost without it.



Now that's probably a disappointment to her husband. Yes, you read that right. He is, apparently, "not too keen on it". Hard to believe, I know, but then again maybe it's more difficult being married to a female bodybuilder than you or I imagine... Anyway, aside from hubby, Sonia says she's never had any bad comments. People do not realise I am a female bodybuilder until they see the photos. Even at the gym I keep covered up. But when people do find out the response is usually positive, she says.





But it's fairly obvious that Sonia hasn't been weight training for over half of her life for the benefit of her husband or anyone else for that matter. It's her "obsession". She didn't need to start putting her body through the rigours of contest preparation in her late 30s and early 40s, either. She already had a body to be jealous of - People who don't understand the work I have to put in tell me I'm lucky to look this way, she says. She's never earned a penny from her competitions, though she does earn as a self-employed personal trainer. But the years of hard work and the sacrifice and the permanently slightly miffed husband (I wonder if he has any idea how many men would change places with him in a heartbeat) are all worth it. It's her passion.



And this year, Sonia became a promoter. And, according to one report of the event, a "passionate" promoter at that. Sonia's event was the IBFA Mr & Ms England, held in Pudsey, West Yorkshire on 19th September - the date of her 43rd birthday.

There were over 200 competitors, and to the myriad categories (14 in all for men and women), Sonia the passionate promoter added, for the first time in the UK at least, Men's and Ladies' Disability classes. Previously, disabled people have had to compete alongside the able-bodied and that’s far from easy, Sonia explained in the run-up to the show. So I thought: "Let’s do it - give them their own classes".



It's the first time I have done anything like this, Sonia told a local newspaper days before the event. I must be mad! But everything appears to have gone swimmingly, "a great success" as the IBFA UK Facebook page described it, perhaps the best - and certainly the most appropriate - birthday gift she could have had.



Read more about Sonia in the Huddersfield Examiner here and here.

Enjoy!

FBBUK: Gemma Illingworth

I know that "beauty" is all subjective and that, lawd knows that female bodybuilding fans all know that it's "in the eye of the beholder" etc., but in a week packed with stunningly beautiful British female muscle (excuse me while I pat myself on the back for a second... there, done) I think I may have found the most beautiful of all...



Say hello to Gemma Illingworth.



Seriously, if you are looking for a woman, an inspiration to your woman perhaps, to banish worries that weight training is going to make her look unfeminine, who needs convincing it isn't going to make her "look like a man", then you have found her.



So, the unbelievably gorgeous Gemma asks her Instagram followers, chicks that lift look bulky and never look feminine!?!?!? I beg to differ. I do 2 weight sessions a day and I think it's safe to say I am still feminine and I'm definitely not bulky.



There is exactly four years between a these pictures, Gemma tells us. First was from the days when running on a treadmill was my way of training, second picture is purely lifting weights and clean diet. I worked my ass off for this and I'm pushing now for even better results. Exactly four years and not exactly "unfeminine", is she?



In 2014 you would have found Gemma competing at the UKBFF Leeds in the Bikini division, but this year she's moved to the IBFA and "Trained Figure". Now if you're unfamiliar with the IBFA and want to know more, then have a quick read of our post from June, but all you need to know now is that IBFA Trained Figure girls flex!



And here is the lovely Gemma, getting her flex on at the IBFA Saxon Classic back in April, where she came 2nd. Christ I miss that stage, she said more recently.



Well, good news is she won't have to wait much longer now before she's up there again because she's competing at the IBFA York Open on November 7th. Tickets (for you and the woman in your life who needs convincing perhaps) are on sale now!



Gemma has a bit more than most to deal with when it comes to nutrition as she suffers from Crohn's disease. And she's also had to deal with the death of a very close friend in the last few months, so we genuinely wish her nothing but happy times ahead.



Do you think she might have been a model once upon a time?!



I miss my abs as cut as this. I honestly can't wait to get this shredded again, she says. And I'm guessing you might like to follow Bradford's most beautiful as she cuts right up again for the York show via her Instagram and/or Facebook and/or Twitter.



Enjoy!