(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!

(More) Summer Lovin': Summer of Shannon

No, not another gushing tribute to Swoon of the Year Shannon Seeley (see Summer Lovin': My Summer of Shannon). Instead, a gushing tribute to another Shannon - Rabon, or Rabon-Perdikis, or even (Rabon) Perdikis as she is known now.

Shannon, that Shannon, you may remember, had a bit of history with the female muscle lovin' community in the (very) early noughties - "the Shannon Courtney of her day" according to one forum poster - and then disappeared completely. A couple of years ago though, she came back to us, even more glorious than before... and competed in the Physique division at the Jr. USAs, with predictably disappointing and "judges said I was too big" results. We, however, were a lot less immune to Shannon's charms - both those she had retained and those she had built over the top of those familiar ones - and she smashed into your Hot and Hard 100 top 20 in 2017, and was there again this year despite not having done a show since that 2016 appearance.

Well, on August 5th at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel...




She was no Physique competitor this time. Shannon - in all her suit-threatening glory - was the sole Female Bodybuilder at the NPC Stewart Fitness Championships.




More than enough woman.

And, excitingly, this is only the first of her planned shows for 2018. Very soon, Shannon will be chasing her pro card at the IFBB North Americans. And as she's an over 40 now, so limited competition, I'm fairly confident that she'll get it.

Follow her final preparations on Instagram

Read the Shannon story (up to and including 2016) on FMS passim.

(More) Summer Lovin': Michaela's Mind

Just on the off chance you were in the mood for a bit more Physique freakery...



Erotic and genuinely disturbing in equal measure (which makes her even more erotic, the will to go to such extremes and revel in doing so!) is what I say. You say, among other things, that she is "amazing", and "awesome", and that "she's on another level now". That you look at this picture and all you can think is "I love muscle women! WOW!!!", and that "even a train would stop to look at that". "Look how happy you are!" exclaims one of Michaela's Instagram devotees. Exactly my point. What woman in their right mind would get so much pleasure from being so disgustingly muscular?!

Our kind of woman.

Enjoy!

(More) Summer Lovin': Margie Feels the Heat

We got lucky. Just as the weather turned more unsettled again here in the UK, FMS is shutting up the office for the second time this summer to enjoy our second dose of beach-based downtime in Mediterranean climes. We've endeavoured (as we always do) not to leave you completely FMS-less during this time, so Summer Lovin' (first seen just over a month ago) returns for another run. Why "Summer Lovin'"? Well, quite simply it's (still) summer (somewhere), and it's a selection of clips/pics we love.

Today, perhaps the hottest 10 seconds you'll see all year.

Sound on is compulsory.



Enjoy!

Save the Date (Part 2)

Our Rising Phoenix preview continues...

SADLY NOT JOINING US



For once, we won't see her trusty black posing suit straining against the awesome power of her legendary muscles (and other bits). Yaxeni Oriquen's 3rd place package at last year's show was, it has been confirmed, her "last". She is retired now and at peace with all her success and greatness, according to Sheila Bleck.

SHEILA BLECK



So I guess that makes Sheila the most experienced woman standing in terms of pro FBBing at the very highest level. She could so easily have been the champ last year, and as always when she takes the stage, Sheila will be a serious contender again.



She never placed lower than 7th in her four Olympias between 2010 and 2014, she's never been out of the top two at the Rising Phoenix. Could this (finally) be her year?

VIRGINIA SANCHEZ



Sheila is well used to the luxury of just having one end-of-season show to prepare for, but it's a new experience for Spanish behemoth Virginia. Her 5th at last year's RP was as popular a result for this "delicious monster" as it was unexpected - nothing in Virginia's previous contest history suggested she would challenge for the top 6.



As always, I'm hoping her next show will be the show where she dispenses with the hairpiece. As always, I won't be too surprised of it isn't. Currently looking as big, bold and sweaty as ever - I'm on my way! she says. Follow her final prep on Instagram.

(SURPRISE?) DEBUTANTS



From the points qualifying zone, two women who have perhaps exceeded their own expectations in 2018 - Tananarive Huie and LaDawn McDay. The former qualified as a result of finishing 3rd in a not-so stacked line-up in Toronto; the latter a suprise 3rd at the ultra-competitive Tampa Pro earlier in the month.

MAKING IT HAPPEN



More likely to be in the mix on the judges' scorecards though iss the woman who finished one place above LaDawn in Tampa - "the outstanding amateur Female Bodybuilder of the last few years" according to no lesser source than FMS(!) after she'd turned pro last year - the sassy, sexy (and ever so slightly scary) Pauline Nelson.



She wasted no time at all putting her pro card to use - 3rd in Tampa in 2017, she didn't place at the RP last year, but this year has seen her very much embraced by WoS. Cue Pauline at their booth in some of the pulse-quickening outfits she wears oh so well.

PHYSIQUE PHENOMS (FORMER)



One of the features of this contest season has been the migration of some of the more frustrated and/or muscular Physique beauties into the WoS fold at both amateur and pro level. Amanda Smith switched mid-season, as did Jill Diorio (aka Blondin). A couple of 5th places was enough for Amanda to qualify, while Jill (who switched later in the season) was as shocked as anyone to win at her first FBBing attempt in Chicago.

AVE MARIA!



But probably the biggest Physique to FBBing success story since WoS started running the show has been that of Canada's Maria Mikola. Originally a Bodybuilder, she switched to Physique in 2013 and there she remained for three years, her placings far far down on those she had achieved previously. 2017 saw her make a long overdue return to FBBing, and since then she has not only won one pro title (Omaha last year) but also collected four runner's-up medals, three of them this season alone.



Beaten only by the might of Margie Martin in Chicago. Maria looked better than ever, and if she brings anything like her Chicago package to Scottsdale, she'll be sure to improve on her 14th place on debut last year. She certainly got the attention of a lot more fans after Chicago, including one of the author's own contacts. We need to talk about Maria Mikola, he told me at the time. He did most of the talking.

OUR ROCKSTAR



Gorgeous, glamorous, and this year a winning pro - in Omaha - Isabelle Turell is proper FBBing royalty these days. She took a year off last year, but WoS were canny enough to make sure she felt like she was one of their most important ambassadors during that time, and that investment in her has paid off handsomely for them.



Isabelle's appeal lies, I believe, in the fact that she fetishises her muscles probably more than anyone in the line-up with the exception of Margie Martin. She's probably not jaw-droppingly huge enough to improve on her 13th in 2016, but she will nevertheless be one of the most fervently supported competitors in the contest, and, I wouldn't be surprised, feature pretty heavily in the show's marketing as well.

UNCROWNED



Fresh from her first ever pro win in Tampa, Alina is probably as keen to compete at the RP again as we all are to be in the same room as her naked body. Four times she went up against Iris at the Olympia, and - particularly on the last two of those occasions - the female muscle lovin' world yearned for her coronation. After a year off in 2015 she competed at the 2016 RP, not exactly a shadow of her former self, but certainly not the force she had been. "Pro FBBing has moved on," we noted as she placed a distant 3rd behind Sheila and Margie. There few complaints on the forums. Had her time passed?



It was a new look Alina in Tampa. Enhancements have been bought, and not everyone is pleased. Again, however, there were few complaints about the result, but there has been some scepticism as to whether she can challenge for the title in Arizona. I'm not sure. She's definitely lost a lot of the shock and awe she had at those Olympias, but she'll almost certainly be in the first callout, and if she can improve on her Tampa package, the most popular FBB of her generation may yet get to wear the crown.

QUEEN OF MUSCLE



Thankfully, her "retirement" didn't last long. A year off, a new man, and adjustments to the enhancements later, and Margie was back. She picked her show well, and in the most predictable result of the year, utterly dominated the "competition" in Chicago.



It's been a ride and a half to follow Margie on social media as she prepared to return, won in Chicago, and then started her prep to win back the title she abdicated last year. She is, remember, unbeaten at the Rising Phoenix as yet - two appearances, two wins - and she currently looks head and shoulders (and arms and pecs and legs and all the rest) above any other FBB on the planet. So despite the quality of the line-up this year, I can't help feeling - even three weeks out - there's only going to be one winner.

Save the date - September 8th.

Woman of the Week: Amanda Machado

Every time I lift it's just as intense and spiritual as the best night of sex I ever had.
Amanda Machado



The first sight of Amanda Machado we can remember was late last year. She wasn't, as you can see above, wearing much more than a coat of Protan. Oh, how we swooned!



Turns out, however, that Amanda doesn't have to wearing nothing to have her effect on us. Fully-clothed will do equally as well. Now perhaps that's because we know, and she knows we know - note the smirk, you'll be seeing a lot of that - what's underneath that classy outfit, but also because of what we she wants us to read while we look at her smirking in her suit: I just love bossy women, she writes. I could be around them all day. To me, "bossy" is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody's passionate and engaged and ambitious - willing to do all it takes to learn and grow.

We swoon again. She's so ALPHA!



Since trailblazers Larissa Reis and Monica Martin left home and relocated to the US, there's been a steady stream of Brazilian muscle women who have followed in their thundersteps. Amanda has been in the US for seventeen years, and - so far - she's one of the more successful, not just in the sport, but also - unsurprisingly - in life as well.



Having settled in Los Angeles, she's a manager at Otium - a restaurant whose dishes have "elegant rusticity", according to their website. A classy place, worthy of Amanda - until she outgrows it anyway. She reads books like Conscious Capitalism, she goes to the opera, and she's currently developing her own thing - Mind of Athletes, though I have to admit exactly what her mission is with it is ever so slightly beyond me.



AND she has a physique to die for.

To be frank, I've decided that the only thing preventing Amanda from being my perfect woman is her location relative to me, and I'm devising a plan to rectify that by firstly retraining as a chef, opening my own (acclaimed) restaurant, and then moving heaven and earth to tempt her to manage it. (I was joking when I started that sentence but now I've finished it I'm rather curious how feasible that actually is.)



Bodybuilding is not my life, says Amanda. It is part of my life. And as [with] everything I commit to do; it has to be consistent, challenging, rewarding, and fun.



Since she started competing in the US last year, she's done three shows and won three times. She won her class at the NPC Ferrigno Legacy Championships last November, and won again at the MuscleContest Excalibur the following month. Her goal for 2018 was a pro card, though of course - this is Amanda Machado - it went a bit deeper than that: The professional card is symbolic, she explains. The idea here is not only to achieve professional level status, but to take the body and mind to such an extreme of discipline and dedication that I can achieve anything I set my mind on.



As if these Alpha brasileiras needed any help, the NPC are now bringing the pro cards to them! And for her first contest of 2018, Amanda's mind was set on a return to her homeland - check it out, on top of everything else she's the coolest/hottest vaqueira imaginable! - and last weekend's NPC MuscleContest Brazil pro qualifier in São Paulo.




It may not surprise you to hear - given all we've learned about Amanda today - that she is now an IFBB pro. Just another step on her road to total world domination.



Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm about to swoon all over the place.

Get your own on here and with Amanda's (intense) Instagram. Divertir-se!

Tampa: Closer

See the sweat - damn you can even see the pores on some!

As we noted the other day (see Triggers), James Cook does take you to the parts other photographers don't reach, and in Tampa, Mr. Rivieccio went in really close during the Figure presentations. Now the idea that muscle women (and in the grand scheme of things these Figure phenoms are HUGE) "look like men", is, sadly, still prevalent, but for me at least, he's really captured the beauty of these phenomenal ladies...



Even as their Protan begins to streak!

Download and zoom in (the pics are easily hi-res enough to take it) and you'll see that even though Tiffany Laumeyer (left) really is sweating profusely, whoever did her tanning application should definitely consider doing a bit more training before their next show. You'll also see where little beads of sweat have collected into tongue-tip size pools where the flawless Danielle Rose's neck meets the top of her pecs.



The big winner in the day was Canada's Melissa Bumstead (below, left). There are so many strong candidates for "The Most Beautiful Woman in Figure" that it could be a conversation that, once started, might never end. Melissa would definitely be part of that conversation though, and her somewhat wild-eyed excitement at being front and centre in the first callout only makes her even more beautiful to my eyes.



Next to Melissa (here, not in the first callout), Maggie Watson gets a bit of a raw deal - the expression on her face at the exact moment Cook clicked could have been more flattering for sure - but again, zoom in and perhaps think about how good the sweat making her neck shine would taste. Or that on her shoulders. Or the trickle running down her pec line... Would you wait for it to trickle down onto her abs, or not?



Amber Eutsey (left, she of the unabashed bicep flex - see Monday's post, Tease), looks like she felt powerful even when she wasn't showing off "illegally", while Mexico's stunning Georgina Lona has the expression of a woman who can't quite believe what she's standing next to. Or perhaps it's what that guy in the front row is doing...



But while Cook went in close on many of the Figure Phenoms, he only stayed in close on Puerto Rican sizzler Karen Reyes. The camera really loves her, as it were.




Should Annie be worried? I doubt it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she were controlling the whole thing from the comfort of wherever she was, ordering Cook to take more of this girl, more of that girl, and much much more of Karen. The idea that after the show Annie and James reviewed all these pics together (and naked) from the comfort of their hotel bed is perhaps the hottest one I've had all week!

Enjoy!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Tampa for another year.