한국인 of the Day: Lee Hyeon Joo

At her competitive peak in 2010-2011, yours truly wasn't the only member of the brethren swooning all over the place for Lee Hyeon Joo. She simply has it all, wrote one forum poster. Beautiful face, the perfect balance of size and definition to her body with great peaks on her biceps, ripped 6-(8-?)pack abs, thick powerful legs and flawlessly smooth skin and a sexy feminine swagger to her motions.




More of those motions at the end of today's post. Until then, you'll just have to take in the stunning beauty, the perfect balance, those peaks, that 6/8-pack, those jaw-dropping legs, and that flawless skin without the sexy feminine swagger.



In 2010, when she won the overall Ms Korea title she was, in my opinion anyway, in the best shape of her life. She then won the overall title at the IFBB Asian Amateur Championships the following year, making her, as far as I know, the second of only two Korean women to have achieved that feat - the first being the big and beautiful Jung Young Ji (who didn't quite make our list, but deserves a mention nevertheless).




Facially and physically, Lee Hyeon Joo was (is) an exceptional female bodybuilder, and yet, sadly, in other ways her story is somewhat typical of the fate of many Korean female bodybuilders (and Asian female bodybuilders in general). On the national stage she simply blew her competition away. Like Mi Hee Yu, who we featured on Monday, when you see Lee Hyeon Joo on stage at the Ms Korea contest, it's like she's accidentally walked on stage during the figure contest. She is head, shoulders (abs, thighs, back and legs) above the other competitors - even in the posedown for the overall title with the other weight class winners she is in a league of her own.



Even in the pan-Asian contest the year after, there was really no contest at all. Lee Hyeon Joo was so obviously the best bodybuilder on the stage that even a bunch of IFBB judges couldn't make the wrong decision [easy! - ed.].




Later that year she travelled to Serbia for the IFBB World Amateur Championships. Standing on stage next to prime female Euro beef like Nina Loebardt it was Lee Hyeon Joo who was blown away this time. As French female muscle blogging legend (and FMS inspiration) Lothaire noted on Freya, We've been talking for a while about the rise of Asian bodybuilders but we're still waiting for the first representative of this new wave to go to an international competition and leave with a medal in their pockets. Lee Hyeon Joo is certainly one of the very best Asian bodybuilders, but she still has some way to go if she wants to get on an international podium.



It's not a criticism (God forbid) of Lee Hyeon Joo, nor of any other Asian FBB, just a plain fact. Since then, of course, Yeon Woo Ji (who might be popping up on FMS tomorrow or Friday, wink wink) has gone to an international competition and finished on the podium - in the physique division. Whether Lee Hyeon Joo 'disappeared' (or at least hasn't competed) after that 2011 World Championships appearance in order to rethink her strategy and return as a physique competitor is not clear. But recently some new (pretty arty and very wonderful) images of this rare beauty have been doing the rounds, and to me it looks like this might, in fact, be the case.



But whatever the reason for her years out of the female muscle fan realm, it's exceptionally good news that there is new material of her, and I, for one, am getting more than a little excited at the thought of seeing her on stage once again because I can't help feeling that I have got plenty of swoon for Lee Hyeon Joo left in me...



And so, finally, to the MOTION. Lee Hyeon Joo in the shape of her life, performing her winning routine at the 2010 Ms Korea, and here at least we can be thankful for the technical issues they were having with her music, because it means we get a bonus half a minute or so of her holding the pose as she waits... and waits...



More links to Lee Hyeon Joo than you can probably click on in one sitting (and much much more besides) on elee0228's Deviant Art journal. Fill your boots!

한국인 of the Day: Lee Jin Won

Stunning Asian female bodybuilder Lee Jin Won would not look out of place in one of those magazine lists of 'the 10 most beautiful women in the world', said Real Female Bodybuilding in October 2013. The 35-year-old 5'4" [1.63m] fitness athlete with a string of titles to her name presents an incredible blend of old-fashioned 'Ms World' type feminine beauty and a rather more modern rock hard physique.




And ripped, very ripped for a fitness/bodyfitness competitor. And those ABS! Perhaps not quite as wonderful at first glance as those of her compatriot Park Soo Hee, but what it's what Lee Jin Won does with them (especially when she's on stage), that makes her infinitely more exciting. She KNOWS they are incredible, and OMG does she let you know that she knows. Witness, for example, this abstastic 7½-minute compilation (from the marvellously named Hardslammer's You Tube channel).

I bet some of you won't make it past what happens in the first few seconds, but if you do, you will be rewarded with highlights that include backstage abs rolling from the 15-second mark, looped AND slowed down for your viewing pleasure - nice work Mr Editor - and on stage abs rolling from about 1.15. And there is still another 5+ minutes to enjoy after that, so you really need to pace yourselves on this one!



Ain't she just a HEARTBREAKER? Very hard to believe this woman was around 35 when the majority of these pics and video were taken, as some sources report. Easier to believe she was born in 1987, as other sources claim, putting her in her 20s.



See, what I'm HOPING is that the reason why we haven't heard much about her this year is that she's on a mission for muscle. That the fact she so obviously enjoys showing it off means she's made the decision that she needs to get bigger before moving up to physique. Imagine! That 'Ms World' (Korean style) beauty with bigger and bolder muscles, rolling those abs all over the stage as the crowd goes WILD...




Want more?

Another Hardslammer compilation

Contest footage from 2013 from her very own You Tube channel

Workout

Talking with Her Coach AND Working Out (with English subtitles)

한국인 of the Day: Mi Hee Yu

The recent BBC News report into Korean female bodybuilding suggests there is going to be a lot more female muscle emerging from the country in the future, but back in 2007 when the gorgeous Mi Hee Yu was crowned national champ, she looked pretty much like the sole bodybuilder on stage with a bunch of figure competitors.



Something of a pioneer, then, I reckon. One of the first really muscular Korean women - or one of the first I came across anyway. And she always seemed to be in great shape. Always lean, always defined, even when she wasn't actually competing. And I also enjoyed (and still do enjoy from time to time) the guest posing routines of hers that are out there. They're always real performances, and she is, in my opinion, an extremely captivating performer: elegant, teasing, poised, and very very sexy.

Here's the first of a couple of clips of Mi Hee Yu that we'll post today. Frustratingly, it's not quite the complete routine, and ends rather abruptly just as it's getting good and the crowd are getting into it, but even so, it's not a bad appetiser!



Apparently, Mi Hee Yu took up bodybuilding in the late '90s in order to lose weight, and a decade later in 2007 she was the cream of South Korean female muscle - quite a success story! She took obvious pride in representing her country in international competition for the following four years, finishing second in her weight class at the Asian Championships in 2007 and 2008, and winning her class in 2011. Unfortunately, I haven't found any evidence to suggest she has competed again since that year.




Still, it's not as though we are short of Mi Hee Yu material to remember her by. As well as the guest posing clips, there are a number of workout clips on YouTube for your viewing pleasure, and the pick of the bunch, unsurprisingly, can be found on the mighty watatiwatatio's channel. Entitled Mi Hee Yu Heavy workout! (exclamation mark included and with good reason). It includes not only the apparently lost (ie. deleted due to third party complaints) appearance of our heroine on a Korean TV show called The Dynamic Gym Show, but also a truly HEAVY workout. The whole thing weighs in at 30 minutes plus. A hardcore watch that leaves you in doubt that that the woman you are watching is a very very sexy and hardcore muscle lady.




And so, to finish, the second guest posing clip of Mi Hee Yu for your enjoyment today. A very revealing posing suit, two feather fans, a pair of boots that wouldn't look out of place on a building site, and a beautiful vision of female muscle.



Enjoy!

한국인 of the Day: Min Yung Kim

Min Yung Kim was, I reckon, my first Asian and/or Korean female muscle crush thanks to her appearances in magazines like Musclemag, Ironman and Flex. Later, it was her WPW photo sets showcasing her spectacular legs. Regular readers will know I never forget my first time, so although she was technically an American when I first encountered her in the pages of those magazines (and still is, living in Florida with the married(?) name Min Yung Kim-Renda), she makes my list for the memories!



She was a pro fitness competitor when that was a relatively new thing to be (the first Ms Fitness Olympia was in 1995). And in those days there were plenty of fitness competitors who, like Min Yung Kim, wouldn't look out of place in a physique line-up now. Her competitive career, as far as I can tell, peaked in the late '90s, with 3rd place finishes in both the 1998 and 1999 Women’s Strength Extravaganza.



Back in those days I didn't pay as much attention to the WORDS in the magazines as I do on the webpages now - I guess I wasn't female muscle mature then! - so it was nice to come across an interview with Min Yung Kim while I was putting this post together.




Her heroine, she said, was Dale Tomita - I resemble her and she has a gymnastic background like me. We're both Asian. I would like to be the next Dale - or even be better. She also dreamed that she would accomplish in the fitness arena what Cory Everson accomplished in bodybuilding, and said that I hope to compete at the highest level of fitness competition, including the Ms Fitness Olympia.



Well, she wasn't quite the next Dale Tomita, and nor did she quite do a Cory for fitness, and although she did compete as a pro a number of times, she never, as far as I know, graced the Olympia stage. Still, she has made it onto FMS' favourite Koreans list, which is probably not that much consolation for her, but you never know!




Enjoy!