Place Your Bets! (And Take Your Seats)

Pro Female Bodybuilding's biggest night of all is almost here. Extreme weather may have caused a venue change to the Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino, but as scheduled, tomorrow at around 5pm UK time the prejudging will begin, followed by the finals from around 1 in the morning. Get all your jobs done, get some kip while you can, and get comfy. Digital Muscle will once again be broadcasting the entire Arizona event.

We previewed the show before the official line-up was announced - see Save the Date (Part 1) and (Part 2) - and of the 22 qualified women we featured over those two posts, only Tara Silzer and Amanda Smith do not appear on the official scorecard.

Maybe next year?


The "Big Four" - the last time: Rising Phoenix 2016

One the great strengths of the Rising Phoenix since its inception has been the lack of a clear favourite. It's been a genuine contest every time, and this year is no exception. Ruth Silverman, in her preview for Digital Muscle, reckons there are "four serious title contenders", and overall, those forum posters who have expressed an opinion agree.


Margie - winning @RP2016

No prizes for guessing who comes first on the list!

The winner of the first two RPs is back again after a year of "retirement" in 2017. She qualified without any fuss at all in Toronto, simply overwhelming the rest of the line-up, however this will be a much much tougher test. This year she has neither the momentum that carried her from her Tampa win in 2015 straight to the inaugural RP title, nor the advantage of having only one contest to prepare for as was the case in 2016. Still, she definitely has an aura about her these days, and if you follow her Instagram, you'll know she's in absolutely jaw-dropping shape. Comebacks are never easy, but Margie is definitely the most fancied horse at the starting gate. [what? - ed.]


Helle - winning @RP2017

Reigning champ Helle Trevino is the most popular choice for runner-up, though some predictions on the forum (whose first rule is) place her 1st, others as low as 4th. In her favour is the only one contest to prepare for thing, against her is the fact that the last time she beat Margie was Chicago in 2015 - and by the end of that season it was Margie who was beating her. She was, without question, a worthy champion last year, but needed a Head Judge tie-breaker decision to beat Sheila Bleck. The general consensus is that she probably won't win for a second year running, but will once again be - as she has been at every RP - the best she can be and in the first callout.


Queens of Tampa - Sheila 2017, Alina 2018

3rd and 4th will, according to the forum heads, be between the other two "contenders": last year's runner-up Sheila Bleck, and the one-time Iris challenger and Tampa Pro champion Alina Popa. Interestingly, no one has predicted Sheila to win, and of these "Big Four", Alina has the biggest spread of predicted placings - from 1st to 6th(!). Neither of them, it seems to me, have been especially lucky in the past - Alina's repeated futile attempts to snatch Iris' Ms Olympia crown, Sheila's two 2nd place RP finishes in 2016 and 2017. Alina tends to do worse than forum types imagine she will do, but Sheila better, so if there is to be a "surprise" winner, I'd bet on Bleck.



Jill & Jay (Chicago, 2018); Isabelle (Omaha, 2018) & Virginia @RP2017

Other than those four, Jill Blondin, Jay Fuchs, Isabelle Turell, and Virginia Sanchez all get "votes". Ruth Silverman - and let's face it, she knows more than the collective "we" put together - thinks Virginia and Britain's Wendy McCready most likely to repeat their top 6 placings from 2017. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing Pauline Nelson, who didn't place last year, and who I think is as good a dark horse bet as any. [ah! we've returned to the equine motif I see - ed.]


The darkest of horses?! - Pauline (Tampa, 2018)

I'm SO excited. In a perfect world FMS would be hosting a "Watch the Rising Phoenix" event in some swanky Central London private venue, a place where we could all meet up and show our appreciation all together... but second prize isn't too bad - by accident rather than design, the wife is out of town. For the second year in a row on RP weekend I've got the house all to myself, so however predictable or not the result proves to be, I intend to enjoy myself to the full. It's definitely going to be a BIG BIG night!


Helle v Sheila: Rising Phoenix 2017

As we (and, I dare say, you) are going to be rather busy this weekend, there won't be any posts. FMS will be back on Monday - news from Arizona, and tales of the live feed.

Enjoy!

She's So Shredded: Pauline Nelson IFBB Pro

My plan was to come and take the whole show and I did it. I did it.



The "show" in question was the NPC Teen Collegiate & Masters National Championships, and while Pauline didn't make much noise in the Teen and Collegiate classes, she ruled Masters Bodybuilding. Three Heavyweight plus three Overall titles in three different age groups - over 35, over 40 and over 45. She left with six trophies and a pro card.




About time too. FMS has been mad about Pauline (whether she's training, competing, or just rocking up to show her support at a show in some killer outfit) for a few years now. What she has achieved with her mother-of-four body is nothing short of mind-blowing. And there is something pleasingly old(ish) school about the level of conditioning she consistently achieves for contests, harking back to the days when FBBs turning up at contests with visible abs was the norm rather than the exception.



I will train six hours a day and I will do that for seven months straight, she says. My coaches think I'm crazy, but I'm not. And next this 48-year-old force of nature wants to use her brand new pro card in less than a month and compete at the Tampa Pro.


Applications for the post of Pauline's "trophy carrier" are now, sadly, closed

What's another four weeks when you've already done seven months?!

Watch Pauline's post-show interview with NPC News Online here.

From Birmingham to Miami: The Women of the 2016 NABBA Universe & NPC Nationals

Thought this might be fun.

Fourteen women from the latest versions of two venerable contests.

Every day this week, one of the women who competed in one of the Toned or Trained Figure classes at the NABBA Universe in Birmingham, UK, on October 29th. And from the NPC Nationals in Miami the following weekend, every day we'll enjoy one of the Female Bodybuilders or Women's Physique competitors, all trying to win their IFBB pro cards remember, taken from among the four classes in each division.

I'm not trying to compare and contrast the women or federations, or make any points here, I just thought it would be a bit different. And it gives us the best of both worlds too. While footage of the NABBA ladies' routines is plentiful, there are few pics. From the NPC Nationals the reverse is true. Little video, many pics. So, by doing it this way we get to enjoy some muscles in motion, as well as a selection of contest photos.

Today, two runners-up.

From Birmingham...

MONICA BRANT
2nd, Toned Figure

Yes, that's right, Monica Brant. The former Ms Fitness Olympia and two-time WBFF Pro Figure champion decided to take to a NABBA stage at the age of 46 having competed at a bodybuilding show only once since 2010. After announcing her return though, she was, apparently, contacted by the UK PCA (Physical Culture Association), and appeared at their Birmingham show the weekend before she appeared here.



See winner Amy Wilson's disbelief that she's just beaten the Monica Brant in the Toned Figure Awards clip, and you can also check out Monica's routine from a slightly different angle here. The interview she gave to announce her comeback is here, and you can listen to her the day before the NABBA Universe interviewed by This Is Bodybuilding on Soundcloud, and follow her on YouTube for more.

And from Miami...

PAULINE NELSON
2nd, FBB Heavyweight



When I saw the prejudging photos of the Heavyweights, I feared that Theresa Ivancik would have to settle for second place yet again, because Pauline Nelson (see previously on FMS), looked like a real threat. As it turned out though, the judges went for Theresa, though if there had been an award for "Best Emoting During the Abs & Thigh pose", Pauline would have been downright impossible to beat.




After a break of three years, Pauline made a winning return to the stage this year at the NPC Eastern USA Championships (gallery here) before heading for Miami. You can follow the self-styled "Miss Making-it-happen" on her Instagram.

Enjoy!

Size Matters: Pauline Nelson

It was while browsing through some candid/backstage photos from this year's New York Pro that I came across the vision of feminine muscular beauty below.



Certainly not a woman whose backward about putting the results of all her hard work on display, I thought to myself. But who, I wondered, is she?

Pauline Nelson, it turns out, was once upon a time (and for some years), the training partner of none other than Kai Greene. She made something of a splash a few years ago when she won the 2013 NPC Eastern USA Masters and Overall titles, not so much because she'd beaten only a handful of other FBBs on that day, more because of just how great she had looked while doing it. How "professional", you might say.




At some point between then and now, Pauline had been awarded that pro card but rather than compete, she'd focused on the competitive goals of other bodybuilders (male and female), apparently with much success. And now here she was at the New York Pro. Just visiting. And getting more than her share of attention in that outfit.

She'd certainly got my attention.

And just a couple of weeks after the New York Pro, Pauline turned up again in a very different, but equally stunning and revealing outfit at the NPC Atlantic States.



WOW!

Iris Kyle was hanging around there too. Now I know Iris is making a comeback this year, or at least that was what she announced a little while ago. So perhaps Iris is not in her biggest off-season shape, but even so, next to Pauline she does look somewhat... How to put it? "Lightweight"?!



The arms... the shoulders...

I'll say it again. WOW!

Pauline is on Instagram. Her own hardcore training, her high-achieving clients, and many many more exciting examples of Pauline's evening wear collection await.

You might also like to check out Gennifer Strobo's post-show interview with her after her 2013 Eastern USA triumph. For fans of sexy Caribbean lilts it's a must!

Enjoy!