Mrs Swell's Easter Surprise: If You're Happy And You Know It (Flaunt That Shit)

She isn't lacking in the motivation department or anything, but I'm constantly (well, perhaps not "constantly", but regularly) looking for women who may inspire Mrs Swell. And by "inspire", I mean inspire. Not intimidate. Ashley Losee may seem like the kind of inspirational woman who all women should be made aware of, but she's a risky strategy. That is a very high standard of muscular womanhood, and one should tread carefully lest the intended inspiration causes instead a sense of deflation. An "I could never look like that" sense of helplessness. It's a risk I'm not taking, not yet, anyway, so it's far beyond the realms of the IFBB pros that I do my searching.



And on such that search I came across this exchange...

Anonymous: People keep looking at me because I have big muscles, how do you deal with the attention?

putthatazztowork: I mean, I absolutely love the attention, haha. Looking sexy is the biggest perk to lifting weights, in my opinion... Flaunt that shit!

Anonymous sounds kind of interesting, I thought to myself. Interesting but hardly trackdownable. "putthatazztowork", however, I have just GOT to find out who she is!



Turns out she is Arianna, a Sports Performance Coach, Personal Trainer and Level 1 Crossfit Trainer from Ireland. And that magnificent, sexy attitude, well it's all there on her Tumblr, and Instagram. And she's got more than a few admirers.



Anonymous: Seriously, your butt is amazing. ❤️

putthatazztowork: I agree.



And there are many she admires. But more importantly, there's a lot of actual, properly helpful and down-to-earth advice that she gives, quite freely it seems. A truly inspirational woman. And I suspect, that while you (and I) are looking at her, our poor female muscle lovin' minds brainwashed with our daily overloads of perfect muscular female physiques, that Arianna may not appear too muscular on your (and my) computer screen, but if we walked into her gym we would be surprised how big she actually is compared to all the other women there - and probably ourselves too!


Sun's not out, guns out anyway.

She's not "perfect", but she doesn't care. It's her happiness with herself, and with her body, that I think, and more importantly what she feels, makes her so sexy.



And Mrs Swell agrees.

FBBTV: Reality & Documentary

Reality TV seems to love a bit of female muscle.

But some muscle girls don't seem to be doing too well...





However, not all reality female muscle stories are as depressing as the women selling their clothing in order to fund their passion (no doubt), or - even worse - failing to make car payments because they are spending it all on funding their passion!

In this clip "Lori" both has her cake and eats it.



And you can watch a longer version here.

Time for a break.

We'll be back right after this...



"The very best of whatever you desire" - and that turns out to be - at least as far as a woman is concerned - a bodybuilder. And no inverted commas bodybuilder either, but Theresa herself. Why settle for anything less when you can have a true diamond?

Now that's what I call FACTUAL!

Our documentary feature today comes from Ireland.

Supersized Shes (wonder where they go the title, it's genius!) follows bodybuilders Inga Beinara and the previously seen on FMS Sophia McNamara. Enjoy!

She's So Shredded: Jessica Gresty

She hails from Dublin and she loves the muscle.




She's the first woman to have negative body fat. OK, I made that up, but lawdy she must feel like rock to the touch. Shame she isn't much of a looker. All that perfectly carved muscle bod needs is a gorgeous, bright-eyed girl next door (in your dreams!) face...



Oh, hang on. That's what she does have! Gentlemen, I am in swoon central.



More Jessica on Instagram. Highly recommended for as a revision (and recreational) tool to anyone who needs to learn about the musculature of the human body.



They might (like the stunning Jessica here) not all be the biggest, but they will (also like Jessica) be proudly showing you the muscles, the whole muscles, and (apart from a very thin layer of skin - and some bulbous, pulsating veins) nothing but the muscles.

She's So Ripped all week this week on FMS.

Sophia McNamara Wears the Green

A St. Patrick's Day special here at FMS today, featuring the Republic of Ireland's most successful female bodybuilder ever, the very gorgeous Sophia McNamara.



Her mother, Angela McNamara, was a 1980s Irish female muscle pioneer, and it was her trainer who urged Sophia to compete. In 2009, after she'd been training for just three months, she stepped on stage for the first time. I found my first competition very embarrassing and nerve-wracking but yet it was exciting, she recalls.




She must find it exciting. If nothing else, Sophia McNamara has competed a lot. FMS has managed to find four more competitions she took part in that year, ranging from a regional competition in the south of Ireland to representing her country in the mixed pairs class at European level. In 2010, four more competitions, including her first RIBBF National title and her first experience of competition at world level. In 2011 and 2012 she won her second and third consecutive Irish titles, and competed at world level again. Busy busy busy! Perhaps she became less nervous the more she competed? I have a drink back stage for nerves, she explains.




However, Sophia threatened to retire from competition in 2012, sounding slightly disillusioned with the sport and the sponsorship opportunities available in her native country: I’m the most successful female bodybuilder ever to come out of Ireland, and the more you achieve the less people want to know. But thankfully, she found she couldn't stay away, although she did switch federations to the only place to do it out of pure love for the sport, NABBA. And of course she proved that whatever the event, she's the best in the Emerald Isle, becoming NABBA Miss Ireland 2013 (Trained Figure class) and also representing her country at last year's NABBA Universe.



Exposure on Irish TV has, naturally, led to her being the target of some negative comments. I can understand some women think I've too much muscle for a woman, Sophia says, but she has little time for those (women) who openly criticise her look. To call an attractive glamorous woman mannish is jealousy. People forget I look this way because I, myself, designed my body and frankly I love it.



FMS hopes we'll see more of Sophia in 2014, but meanwhile, there's plenty more of her out there. Her Facebook page is out of commission at the moment, but there's a fair few images of Sophia (not necessarily wearing green) here. She was one of the subjects of a "Modern Ireland" documentary, Supersized Shes, which you can watch in full, and there's also plenty of Sophia on the excellent Irish Muscle website, including her on stage at the 2013 NABBA Ireland, and an interview with her after her win. And if that's not enough, you can also see Sophia representing Ireland (in green, naturally) and finishing 4th in a quality field at the 2013 NABBA Universe here.



May her Irish eyes keep smiling...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!