FBBing Wins! Chicago 2018 (Part 1)

Kristina Mendoza looks pretty damn pleased with her runner's-up medal, don't you think? Those around her - Alina, Lenda and WoS main man Jake Woods - had just as much - if not more reason - to be cheerful. This year's Ms Wings International Classic and the FBBing portion of the Chicago Pro were, as far as I can see, an utter triumph, and the latest and perhaps most convincing indication we've had that the Wings of Strength regime has not just helped IFBB/NPC Female Bodybuilding survive, but is also busy working on its future, one that may be as bright as Kristina's smile.



Why am I so convinced? Well, I have reasons. Enough to fill up two posts (kind of). So we'll get to why I am so happy about what I saw of the pro show later in the week. Today, it's all about the night before - the second Ms Wings International Classic.



With just the one Lightweight, and only three Middleweight competitors, the main event was the Heavyweight class. Paige Sandgren made her (eagerly anticipated in my house and, I expect, many other houses) FBBing bow, and placed 4th. I didn’t get a pro card, she wrote in her post-show afterglow, but that doesn’t even matter to me right now. I feel as if I found my home and a new family tonight. It just felt... right.




Looked very right to see Paige flexing with her fists. Very very right indeed. Looked like it felt right too. Look at her smile, look at her eyes all lit up. Paige has dipped her body in the new FBBing scene, and now there's nowhere else she'd rather be. Physique has lost one the sport's brightest young stars. 1-0 to Jake, Alina and Lenda.



One place lower than Paige, but scarcely any less enthused, was the Wings of Strength booth regular at previous 2018 shows, the gorgeous Noelle Rockwell. So grateful for the opportunity to compete with these beautiful women and represent the sport, she reflected. I definitely brought my best package to date, and I’m not done yet!




It was Noelle who last year weighed in with the comment that coined the phrase as Wings of Strength went wild on Facebook after Jake and Kristal split, and bad feeling exploded after the Rising Phoenix invites were announced. Re-reading the post I did then, I can't help wondering whether that was the moment that the (now) WoS prime movers started to wonder whether they should perhaps start to pursue a policy of recruiting youth over experience, whether bringing on a new generation of female muscle was going to be a lot easier than keeping the old guard happy! Either way, when the season dawned this year, it was women like Noelle and Kristina Mendoza who were at the booth at the pro shows, not the outraged from the previous summer.



Just saying. If there was a change in policy, it's working.



Noelle's "expo bestie" similarly brought her best, biggest and most ball-draining package to date [please tell me you didn't just say THAT! - ed.], and was duly rewarded with her best ever placing - runner-up in the Heavyweight class.



Previews of pre-contest photo shoots with Sean Nelson of HerBiceps had been suggesting it was going to be hard for fans in the audience to keep it in their trousers [is this going to be a thing, this... new, shall we say "spicier" style? I'm not saying I'm against it - ed.], and that was exactly how it was - I imagine, I haven't heard a peep to the contrary, but haven't exactly had it confirmed either. What I will say is this, legendary lensman and Mr. Annie Rivieccio James Cook couldn't keep his legendary lens off Kristina. I've counted and he took more photos of her than of any woman on stage. So, James liked what he saw, and I like what James saw...




Her lush, powerful body is such a turn on, says James... Just kidding! It's a forum comment re Kristina, potentially by one of the members of the audience in Chicago who faced a fight or flight (to the gents' for some relief) when Kristina was on stage.



Those legs!

And to think, there are some men in the world who would claim to not find a body like Kristina's attractive! Surely one of Wings of Strength's biggest assets, amateur or pro.



It was always going to take a special body to beat Kristina in this shape, and that turned out to be the relatively unheralded (and considerably more mature) Tina Williams.



Tina was, if you noticed her at all, last seen just about making the top 3 in her Physique class at the NPC Masters Nationals in 2016, and only committed to moving up to FBBing last autumn. She did, however, have coach Melody Spetko to help her...



At the NPC Muscle Mayhem at the start of June she won a one-woman FBB class and also picked up the "Kim Chizevsky Extreme Conditioning Award". [This award is] special to me, she said afterwards. Conditioning is the hardest thing for women, but the plan my coach put into place focused on just that. And so Tina came into Chicago not only motivated but also battle-hardened. Coach Melody's plan to get Tina's conditioning in well before the Ms Wings then maintain size worked like a dream.



All the class winners got pro cards. Tina was back on stage the following day.



A more familiar body and face with a less familiar name would take the Overall title, however. When I saw the list of entrants I wondered who Middlewieight Susanna Jacobs was. When I saw the first pictures - despite some less than subtle facial work - I remembered she had "famously" got married at the Olympia a few years back. This was Susanna (bet you can't keep your) Hand(s above the table), competing under her married name for the very first time. Same effect though, they're still down there!



OVERALL champ and new IFBB pro!!! What an incredible weekend! gushed Mrs Jacobs after day one of two. I gotta do this whole pro debut thing tomorrow...



Having produced an amateur show that brought pleasure to (at the very least) me and James, the Wings of Strength team would, like Susanna and Tina, be back the next day with some fully paid-up members of "the big girls' club" - the pros. And, as promised, we'll be seeing how that event was just as much of a triumph later in the week.



While short on the international flavour that was its stated aim at its outset, this year's Ms Wings definitely raised its own bar. Unlike last year's predictable coronation of Elena Oana Hreapca, this was a genuine contest, and the Heavyweight line-up was at least as good as any we have seen at the NPC Nationals for some years. Among that line-up were two of the sport's most wanted, one of them poached from the WPD. If you were not impressed, you are a harder man to please than I. Or James.



Check out all of James Cook's work from the first day in Chicago at Gene X magazine. We have only scratched the surface of the Ms Wings line-up here today, and, lest we forget, some rather exciting pro Physique and Figure ladies were on show as well.

Enjoy!

Chicago 2017: Elena Gets Her Wings

I had been looking forward to the brand spanking new Ms Wings International ever since it was launched last autumn. The possibilities for the line-up were mouth-watering - Elena, Natalia, Flores, Carla Maria, Kashma, perhaps a Brit or two (Sarah Williams, Christal Cornick), Europeans, Asians, Australasians, Canadians...

My female muscle imagination ran riot.

And I was not alone. A "Ms Wings International Wish List" thread was opened on one of the forums, and the collective imagination got busy. Pauline Nelson and Jessica McKenzie were popular choices from the US; the thought of Canadian Peak Queen Michelle Russell flexing next to Elena and Flores got a few pulses racing; and forumites from South America, Asia, and Australasia threw in their own faves from their region. It was hoped, generally, that if the contest was truly a global one that it would reignite interest in the sport in every continent, and halt the decline in amateur FBBing in places, such as Scandinavia and Central America, where it once flourished.



Whether this will indeed be the contest's effect only time will tell. The line-up was, ultimately, neither as international nor as studded with "star" names as the "Wish List" would have had it. Oana was the only European, Dee Vasconcelos the only South American, Siufung Law the sole Asian, and Tui Schwarze of New Zealand the only woman from there or Australia. Natalia was, at one time, down to compete, but withdrew after the Omaha Pro. Whether she did so after seeing Aleesha's placing there or whether the timing was coincidental FMS does not know. Either way, no Natalia, no Flores, no Kashma. And no Pauline Nelson, no Jessica McKenzie, no Michelle Russell. Not for the first time the FBB genie refused to grant our collective wishes!



The good news was that weight classes were in. Three of them - Light, Middle, and Heavy. Dee Vasconcelos (see FMS passim) won the Lightweight class; Natascha Donald the Middle, and, as expected, Elena took the Heavyweight and Overall titles. All three got pro cards, Elena got an invite to the 2017 Rising Phoenix as well.



Coverage of the event has been sketchy to say the least. Thankfully there's a few Mr Rivieccio photos, because otherwise all I'd have to post would be Elena cosying up to the great and the good backstage (or perhaps they're cosying up to her, whatever). Even Maximum Muscle Report, which has extensive galleries of everything else that went down in Chicago, only has a few pages of low-res comparison shots from Ms Wings. And I've entirely had to rely on fellow obsessives' knowledge of the event, on the information they have managed to track down, to get the complete results.




The plan back in October was that the winner would, the following day, compete with the pros in Chicago. Perhaps not an ideal scenario for the woman in question, peaking two days in a row is, I imagine, more than twice as hard as peaking at the right time for one day, but that was the plan. The plan they announced. It was news to me that Elena had, in fact, won her ticket to the Rising Phoenix, and although I wouldn't for a moment say she didn't deserve to be there, I think I might feel differently if I were a veteran IFBB pro who has just missed out on qualification for the last couple of years looking at Elena getting all cosy with the great and the good backstage in Chicago.



After 10 days of no diet and no training I'm ready to move on to the next step, wrote Elena at the start of this week. Looking forward to seeing what we can improve. I'm already looking forward to how Wings of Strength might improve on this inaugural Ms Wings (International or Classic, whatever the name was in the end) in 12 months' time.



Nevertheless, I don't wish to sound all negative and ungrateful - though I fear this is exactly how I am sounding! Once again, Wings of Strength have made something for Female Bodybuilders where there was nothing before. For that, Jake and Kristal (especially Kristal, who, by the way, may well be the subject of her own FMS post before long, I find if I can't get a woman out of my head, doing a post about her is the only way forward) deserve our thanks and congratulations at least as much as Dee and Natascha and Elena and all the women who took part in this historic event do.



Enjoy!

Wings of Strength to Strength

We recently praised Jake and Kristal Wood, aka Wings of Strength, for firstly saving in 2015, and then, within a year, presiding over a small but significant expansion in professional female bodybuilding. We've also recently highlighted and praised how Alina Popa (Jennie Roosa etc.) and Margie Martin (Brittney O'Veal) seem to have taken it upon themselves to ensure there is a new generation of female bodybuilders coming through to the pro ranks.


The future: Jennie Roosa (left) and Brittney O'Veal

However, for female bodybuilders outside of the US and Canada, where national level shows can provide FBBs with pro cards, the problem of how to become part of this exciting new pro FBB world remained. At the Omaha Pro this year we saw how WoS - working with Alina Popa - provided Elena Oana Hreapca with a guest posing spot partly to highlight the quality of talent that had reached the top of the amateur FBB tree in Europe (and elsewhere) and simply had nowhere left to go.



Wings of Strength Facebook page, September 24th

As I write this the world has changed just a little. I am happy to say that amateur female bodybuilders in Europe, Central and South America, Australia, Asia and the rest of the world now have an opportunity to earn an IFBB Pro Card.
This also includes Canada and the US.
Announcing that the brand new IFBB Ms. Wings International will qualify three female pro bodybuilders in 2017 - one from each of the light, middle and heavy weight divisions.
This will all take place at the IFBB Wings of Strength Chicago Pro in early July of 2017 at the Tinley Park Convention Center. The three new pros will be eligible to compete in the Chicago Pro later that same weekend.
My wife Kristal and I would like to thank IFBB Professional League President Mr. Jim Manion and IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja for working with Mr. Tim Gardner and myself to provide a path to a pro card that has been absent for many women around the globe. We would also like to thank Ms. Oana Hreapca of Romania for shining a light on this need during her guest appearance in Omaha in 2016. We also extend our thanks to Mr. Jack Titone along with his dear wife Ms. Ann Titone for gracefully allowing us to highlight Ms. Hreapca during their Omaha Pro Show.
We at Wings of Strength are very excited about the coming year and the direction women’s bodybuilding is going. We rise!
Best Regards,
Jake Wood

Well that is good news!

Imagine! The best amateur FBBs in the world lining up against each other.



From Europe, Oana; from South America, Flores Neide Souza Campos... I'm sold already! But as well as being an "international" event, North American women will be taking part too. That means you could see Oana and Flores and Theresa Ivancik (assuming she hasn't decided to stick with Physique permanently!) on the same stage.



I'm almost too thrilled to think of the names of other women from around the world who could compete! There must be a whole bunch of Brazilians whose names are not coming into my excited mind right now. Australians, Asians, Kashma! Kashma could be there!!! From the UK, IBFA champion Christal Cornick, or the rising young star Maz Burn now have a potential route through which to follow Lisa into the pro ranks.

And then there's the possibility of...



Who would you love to see at the 2017 Ms Wings International?
Who have I forgotten? Who would best represent your country?

And Wings of Strength have even managed to resurrect the "Ms International" name! What's next? Continental qualifying events for the IFBB Ms. Wings International?!

I can dream!

Time to watch Oana guest posing again methinks...



To remind ourselves how significant it was, of course.