Woman of the Week: FBBUK: Emily Brand

She's my current dream girl, my internet female muscle head friend tells me - he has a bit of a penchant for the younger ladies, you see. Her transformation pics are hot af!


Relax, Emily's 20 now

To be honest, I'd never heard of Lincolnshire's Emily Brand before my friend told me about her - me having a bit of a penchant for the more mature muscle ladies, you see. And, quite honestly too, I found her transformation pics more upsetting than "hot af", because her story begins with an anorexic teenager. Her weight: 5st 3lbs (just 33kg).



At 14, Emily spent a year as a child mental health in patient. The doctors tried to put me on a feeding tube, she says. I ripped it straight out. Then they tried to get me to drink these high calorie shakes and I would just sneak out of bed and tip them out the window. Though she did get well enough to return home, she soon relapsed, and at 17 she was readmitted. This time though some tough love helped her turn herself around. When you go into the unit you're not allowed weekend home visits until you've got to a certain weight, she explains. In the end, I ate my way out. I just did what I had to do to get home. I still hadn't completely overcome the psychological side of my anorexia but I was more determined to get better and I joined the gym.



It wasn't an instant cure by any means - to begin with, and despite the fact Emily plucked up the courage to enter some Bikini shows - she was, in her own words, "still trying to function on way too few calories". It was only when she met her current coach, Rob Reinaldo, that Emily truly began to overcome her illness. And he did it with a little more tough love. He said he would train me and get me into bodybuilding but he really put his foot down when it came to my eating, recalls Emily.



A year on, and she has gained 3st (almost 20kg!) of muscle - and it shows!



As a result, she's moved up a division or two in her competitive outings. Athletic Figure (or equivalent) is I believe where you will find Emily now. And the chances are she's competed at a PCA or WABBA show near you in 2018. She'd done seven by mid-August, according to the Mail Online, and "has consistently placed in the top four and been crowned champion three times". Since then, she's competed - and won - at least once more, and with the PCA British Finals not happening till October, I wouldn't be surprised if Emily got tanned and oiled for another two or three shows this year!


To the victor... (pick 'n' mix out of the trophy!)

I can't believe how much my life has changed, says Emily. It's amazing to think I was in a wheelchair just three years ago. People say that weightlifting hurts but what I put my body through with my anorexia was so painful that weightlifting is nothing...



I really love it, and I'm loving life.



Follow Emily on Instagram. Her story was first reported by Unilad, then picked up by the Mail, and also featured in The Sun. And if you do have a moment spare, perhaps a letter to your local MP, or whoever is in charge of the Department of Health in your government right now, asking them to read Emily's (or another FBB's) story and get weight training on the list of recommended treatments for anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. It will probably fall on deaf ears, but if you don't try...



Enjoy!

(More) Summer Lovin': Mmmmarelize

Just the one pic today, but if you haven't come across South African Marelize Stander before, we're guessing it will spur you on to further investigation.



Hair, naels [sic] and striations is Marelize's own title for this selfie meesterstuk. This 34-year-old muscle beauty reckons she has been training for 20 years, and looking at that right royal pectus cibum, I see she hasn't had many days off in that time. Easy too to see why she recently became South Africa's national PCA Trained Figure champion.

More of Marelize's irresistibly gorgeous muscle meat on her Instagram

Enjoy!

The Sexhibitionists: Julie Pereira

What I wouldn't do just to run my fingertips across your body...

I love your chiselled body. A goddess to worship, I throw roses at your feet.

You are a slayer of hearts and I bet you know it.

All very familiar if you were with us for Phyllis Huang yesterday. A muscular amateur competitor over the age of 40 with a mostly off relationship with clothing is adored by her (mainly male) following on social media. And superficially, yes, the life of Northern Ireland's Julie Pereira has many parallels with Phyllis Huang's.



Fit and over 40 never felt so good, Julie tells her adoring horde. She invites them to "follow the map on the Vein Gain Train", she "complains" she'll have to spend the entire off-season "au naturel" because none of her clothes fit her now she's got so thick, including a pair of fishnet tights that "won't even pass my bulging hamstrings".

Talk about fish(nett)ing for compliments!



There are, however, key differences between her and Phyllis, the first of which is that Julie (in British amateur terms anyway) is a serious and successful competitor. Among her achievements are top places at NABBA shows both at regional shows in her native Northern Ireland and on a national level. She's competed at NABBA and WFF World Championships, and last year became the Overall PCA British Trained Figure champion. Do I love the stage? she asks, somewhat unnecessarily. Hell YES!!!



The other key difference between Phyllis and Julie is best expressed numerically - Phyllis has 18,500 Instagram followers (give or take), Julie has 108,000!

To put this in perspective, Brittany Rhodes - a NABBA Toned Figure queen and a woman whose looks and attitude often see her quoted in the mainstream media like she's the spokeswoman for British female muscle or something, has just over 17,000 IG followers. Louise Rogers, who's been at this a bit longer than Julie (who's trained for competition for just four years till now) has about half as many followers as Julie does. Rosie Harte? 25K. Donna Murphy, UKBFF British Physique champ and the face and body that launched a thousand FitVids purchases? 36K. Carly Thornton gets a bit closer at 60,000, but Julie has 50 followers for every one following NABBA British champ Jayne Tingle. Even Lisa Cross, surely a match for any woman in the "attract a crazy loyal following" stakes, has around 40,000 followers on each of her Instagram accounts. Whatever "it" is that attracts us female muscle heads to certain women in very large numbers, Julie Pereira apparently has quite a lot of it.



Such popularity has allowed Julie to "monetise" her social media via the "Only Fans" route - see also Suzy Kellner for example. What's on her free-to-air social media is just the beginning of her sexibitionism, she promises. I'm sure many of her tens of thousands of fans are currently finding out if that's true. I strongly suspect that it is.



Enjoy a glootilicious Julie at the WFF Worlds in 2016.

She's slightly more covered up than she normally is (out of necessity rather than preference I would guess!), but still, that is a proper sexhibitionist's posing suit.



Enjoy!

FBBUK: Anita Tryc Counts Her Blessings

UK Physique competitor Anita Tryc started her fitness journey back in 2009. Despite having studied at the Academy of Sports Education in her native Poland, she admits she "went downhill". I smoked, and I used to drink too much, as students do, she says. It was after finally giving up cigarettes and gaining 20kg in a month that she decided to get back the fitness she had lost. I was size 16/18, quite a big girl, she remembers. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror! (She doesn't seem to have that problem now...)



She began running again, and was soon looking to move to England. Beforehand though, a medical check-up revealed a tumour on one of her ovaries. It was borderline, she says. I was told that if it hadn't been found for few more months, it could have turned cancerous. I consider myself a very lucky human being.



Relocation to London complete, Anita set about changing her training as well - I wanted to have muscles and be stronger. Lifting at home progressed to lifting at the gym, and before long she began wondering whether one day she might be able to compete. I wanted to be like Dana Linn Bailey, she says, but when I told people I want to do Women’s Physique one day, they all said I would do OK in Bikini. And, it turns out, nothing could have been more motivating to hear than that. If someone tells me that I can't do something, she says. I will prove to them and myself that I CAN!


Hanging out at the 2016 UKBFF British Championships with her "sweet friend" Linda Gartside

And she did. Her first show was in 2015, a qualifier for the UKBFF where her runner's-up placing took her to the national championships. She's been at those British finals every year since, but last year Anita broke into the top 6 for the very first time.


UKBFF British Championships 2017, 6th place

2018 has seen a new approach from Anita though. A new coach - "much stricter than I am used to" - and a prep that has been harder than she has ever known. This is how the professionals do it, she says, and the results are mind blowing! I don't even recognise myself, my conditioning and posing. I have learnt so much, it's like being at school!



And the first sight we have had of this new, improved Anita was at the PCA contest held during the BodyPower Expo. This was her first ever non-UKBFF show, and also, as she lined-up in the Trained Figure class, the first time she'd ever been on stage in heels.



Anita didn't win the show, but there are ways to judge a performance other than by placing. I loved every minute and I couldn't be prouder, she said after seeing herself up there. My best condition ever, my best posing ever... I actually shocked myself!



Not surprisingly, she can't wait to do it again, but in the meantime, that beautiful smile will be staying put - I'm so blessed that I am able to wake up every single morning to work towards my dreams, she says. I'll be coming back and coming back better.



Follow Anita on Instagram

PCA TV

With over 20 shows this year alone in the UK, the Physical Culture Association can rightly claim to be "the largest bodybuilding and fitness organisation in the UK".



Last year, UK Bodyfitness swoon Danielle Osborn - a class winner at the Arnold Classic Europe - tried her luck in the Athletic Figure class at a PCA show after not doing so well at the UKBFF British Championships. She won - and got to flex her lovely muscles while doing so. A really incredible experience, she said afterwards.

On the forums, fans were starting to appreciate the PCA's female classes - everything from Wellness and traditional Bikini to Trained Figure (like NABBA, but flexing in thongs and heels), with classes like Athletic Figure and Trained Bikini (basically like trad Bikini - in heels - but ripped, and in thongs!) adding to the curiosity value.

"Shame the videos are such low quality," lamented one fan.

Well, the PCA have fixed that this year.

Their YouTube channel, PCA TV, seems to have no lesser ambition than to bring you every routine from single British show in 2018. There are, I make it, 60 female routines across 8 classes in glorious HD from the early April PCA Saxon Classic alone.

Trained Figure winner there - and also later on in April at the PCA Scottish Championships - was Karen Gibson, also a NABBA Trained Figure athlete.

Here's her Saxon Classic winning routine.



Currently being put up are routines from (what I believe is) the biggest PCA show of the year so far, the PCA UK East Coast, which was held in Hull at the very end of April.

And there in the Trained Figure class another name (and body) familiar to regular FMS readers - Fay Ellis (aka Fay Simone), another woman who has found a home in the PCA after not really getting on with the UKBFF (in her case as a Physique competitor).



I'm not sure if Fay won - one thing the PCA still aren't very good at is getting their results out quick. However, I'm confident they'll fix this failing before too long.

They've certainly done a terrific job of fixing the quality of their clips!

Explore the PCA YouTube channel here.

And you can follow Danielle Osborn, Karen Gibson, and Fay Ellis on Instagram.

Enjoy!

FBB UK: Jenna Beckworth: "To Be My Best"

I decided that I wanted to be my best and challenge myself physically and mentally, says Jenna Beckworth, a successful PCA Figure competitor who recently got some love from her regional press in Lincolnshire. So I set about doing so and got the bug for it!



Interviewed in The Lincolnite, Jenna reveals she has only been training for three years - starting after she'd lost 13kg without picking up a weight. It wasn't enough though. I always dreamt of having a body that you see in magazines, she says, so it was off to the gym she went to continue her weight loss, and ultimately, complete her fat to Figure transformation.



And now transformed, Jenna has made a great start to her competitive career. That bug has not only resulted in a killer body (legs and glutes especially noteworthy), but that body has already won her trophies, most notably at the PCA's Bodypower show in May, where - in her heels and thong - she won both her Athletic Figure class and the Overall Figure title.



A personal trainer at Lincoln's Frontier Gym, an "elite training facility" according to its website, Jenna is just one example of the many British women who - as recently reported on FMS - are not simply content with building a bit of muscle but go all the way and compete. Once she had flexed on a stage, Jenna caught a new bug - she knew immediately this was something she wanted to do again and again. And she works hard on her presentation.



I chose to make a lat spread my power pose, she says, encouraging other women to find theirs. It's feminine and appealing to MY body. Learn to know your best features. It's not a flattering pose for most women, but it suits MY shape. Highlight YOUR best features.



Follow the 29-year-old Jenna, making quite the brand out of herself, on Instagram and/or Facebook. Her YouTube channel has a handful of clips so far but judging by their length, it looks like it might be well worth subscribing to. I certainly don't want to miss any updates.



This off-season is where my magic will happen, promises Jenna. Let's see what I can do now I can train to my full potential. Jenna's quest to be her best continues....

Enjoy!