Readers' Choice: The Best of Marja

What's your favourite pic of Marja?

We asked, you lovely readers, and you answered. Here, today, are the pics you've chosen as The Best of Marja Lehtonen. And what a lovely little collection it is.

Not a lot of off-season Marja here. Off-season she was like "Mmmmm", as one reader put it, but all ripped and pumped in contest shape she just makes you go "WOW!"



I did ask for a "brief explanation" as to why you had chosen your pic, and I wasn't expecting literature or anything, but the above is about as highbrow as it got. Seems that when we are thinking about Marja, it's all about the base thoughts.

Such an hard choice, another reader said. I looked in my whole collection and I did search, a lot. And I had to cum of course. A lot before I made my choice!



I knew it would be a pic of Marja on stage before searching. Her look is totally insane on this one: confident, smiling and... oh boy, SO HUGE!!! No prizes for guessing what that reader did right after typing that sentence. His personal choice is the hands on hips Marja at the 2008 Atlantic City Pro, above right, same contest as the another reader's pick to its left. Different suit, different expression, but the same HUGE!!!



Even the non-stage photos of Marja you chose show her very much in top shape, big, bulging muscles rippling everywhere you look. Similar poses too. Abs and thigh(s) to the fore, one from HerBiceps, another from WPW. The latter has the added bonus of her biceps ("as big as her head") being on show as well. Both readers followed the general rationale to make their choice - I simply can't look at this picture without my cock instantly getting rock solid and ready to go, as the WPW Marja lovin' reader put it.



Back on the stage, a very tanned Marja at the 2007 Jan Tana in slightly more than a posing suit got one reader's vote. Marja in blue at (I think) an earlier show was nominated by another, not so much for her muscles as her look. I fantasise she's looking at me in the audience, he says. As she flexes, she sees my eyes roll back in my head as I... - no need to be coy, son, we all know what you mean, paint the picture properly in future - and seeing me like that turns her on, having that power...



And finally, a picture of Marja I was especially glad to see nominated because it had been one of my own personal final two. All the usual Marja bits are there - abs, biceps, thigh - but here you get the calves and the veins all over her arm and the veins all over her inner thigh too. If this doesn't stiffen your cock, one reader reckoned, nothing will.

Thanks to all of those who chose their Best of Marja. Without them, today's post would probably have been poorer. But even more importantly, a massive thanks to Marja herself. Without her I reckon all us would be considerably less, er... stiff.

Enjoy!

Far From Routine: Your Top 3

We're not talking about Hot and Hard 100 numbers of votes, and as I mentioned the other day, there were a handful of reader nominations that didn't make it to the FMS inbox in time for this week's posts, so it looks like we'll be revisiting this theme again in the near future, but today's three routines all received multiple mentions.

Here they are then, your...

Most Requested

3 DENISE MASINO
2004 Ms Olympia

The aspect ratio is a bit wrong, but that doesn't seem to worry those who voted. A number of the ladies at the 2004 Ms Olympia took up the chance to incorporate some kind of costume into their posing routines, but Denise's headgear has proved to have been by far the most memorable. Sexiest routine ever! one reader exclaims, and as our old friend JL, on whose YouTube channel the clip resides, points out, Denise is fully aware of her incredible sex appeal, and the xxxcitement and desire that she causes!




2 DENISE RUTKOWSKI
1993 Ms Olympia

One of the more well-known routines in the history of female bodybuilding, I'd say, and for good reason. She is really walking the line here as to what's acceptable on stage and what isn't, says Carla Dunlap on the commentary. It's so easy to interpret so many things in bodybuilding as "sexual". Indeed. And if your comments are anything to go by, there's no doubt how the collective you interpret Denise's "golden" routine. The beautiful bronzed angel in the gold bikini, one reader calls her. If she didn't define true beauty, I don't know who did. She's the reason I became interested in this sport.




1 LAURA BINETTI
1997 Ms International

I have to admit I was initially somewhat surprised that Laura's 1997 Ms International routine proved to be the most popular with readers, but having watched (and rewatched) this gem - appropriately available courtesy of Ellogon's YouTube channel - I'm a lot less surprised now. Bronzed, oiled and as one reader puts it, "as built as a tank", every pose Laura hits reveals breathtaking muscularity. And, despite some lively music, her style appeals to members of the "take it slow" posing fan club. And all in a posing suit from the days before the point of them seemed to be to cover up as much as possible. No wonder the crowd reacted as they did. How can I forget this routine? says our old friend JL. One of the biggest loads, and the best orgasms I xxxperienced in 1997. It seems that nearly twenty years after she performed it, your collective all-time favourite routine is still giving many of you more than a feeling!




Thanks to all of you who got in touch. As I noted above, if your favourite didn't appear this week, don't panic. Not all your suggestions were received in time to put the posts together, so we'll be having another week of "all-time favourite" routines on FMS real soon. If you haven't voted yet, please do! Send your list to 6ft1swell@gmail.com. Links to the routines would be great or you can send me files of the clips instead.

Enjoy!

Far From Routine: Artists

One of the many indicators that attitudes among most of the (male-dominated) federations to female bodybuilding are 'wrong' has, in my opinion, been the demise of the routine. Once upon a time, they were so much more than just a race to get through as many poses as possible before the music was cut and the next competitor ushered onto (and then just as quickly off) the stage.

Now a minute long if you're lucky, competitors were once upon a time given a full three minutes each. Women like Diana Dennis, rarely hitting a traditional pose in the course of her routine, made them into true performances, with all the artistic connotations of that word. There are still some true artists out there, Sheila Bleck, for example, commissions original pieces of music for her routines and gives each its own unique muscle flexing choreography, but she is very much in a minority.

I think it's a real shame that this aspect of the female bodybuilding show has declined in importance so much. Competitors' muscularity and proportions have already been judged by the time the evening show comes around. What's the point of a routine if it's just a quick run through the same poses we've already seen in previous rounds? And furthermore, if these federations are, as they claim to be, so concerned about competitors' femininity, why are they deliberately downsizing the one part of the contest where feminine expression is most possible and desirable?

I don't think it's a coincidence that the vast majority of the routines nominated by you lovely readers date from the 1980s, 1990s and the first few years of the new millennium, before, I would argue, the rise in new divisions (male and female) squeezed all the time out of the female bodybuilding evening show. These days, the biggest show is in the Fitness division, but though we might gasp at the truly amazing athleticism you see there, it just isn't the same.

So, as my little reminder of what once was, and what could be again, today FMS presents three of our collective favourite artistic posers. One reader choice and one FMS pick for each of the two women we'll see in competition, plus a guest posing routine nominated by one reader which I'd never seen before and which will, I reckon, leave you quite nostalgic for the days when every routine was an event.


CLAUDIA MONTEMAGGI

With her background in ballet and gymnastics, her stunning Italian beauty and her physique worthy of two Ms Olympia appearances, it's no surprise Claudia's routines have proved memorable. Does sex appeal have anything to do with it? wonders Eurosport commentator Simon Reed - perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not - just moments after a close-up of Claudia's crotch in the first of our two Montemaggi classics. The second was nominated by a reader who wanted to thank FMS for posting the clip in April 2013. I've never heard a routine get such an ovation, he says.

Swell Pick
1989 World Games



Reader Request
1991 Ms Olympia




DIANA DENNIS
Guest Posing

Proper theatre, with costume, prop and a beginning, middle and end. By 1999 Diana Dennis may have been well past her prime as a competitive bodybuilder, but as this clip amply demonstrates, she was still taking guest posing to new heights. I don't mean to be rude or to labour the point, but compare this to a much more recent Monique Jones guest posing routine here. Monique is huge and her outfit is fun and everything, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy Monique's turn, but I'm hypnotised by Diana.




ELENA SHPORTUN

I'm just a fan, says the woman who captured the first of our Elena Shportun clips. I went to the 2006 and 2007 World Champs and shot this. Checkout the ab roll at 0.39! Best posing routine ever! she says. "She" happens to be Johanna Dejager and she also claims that the following year Elena returned with an even more ripped look. Sadly, no footage of that routine appears on Johanna's or anyone else's channel as far as I know, but the following 2009 Oslo Grand Prix routine is also one that lives in the memory. In her time she was in a class of her own with her posing, reckons our nominating reader. The aforementioned Sheila Bleck apart, I have to agree.

Reader Request
2006 IFBB Worlds



Swell Pick
2009 Oslo Grand Prix




Tomorrow, in our final installment, your three most nominated routines...

Far From Routine: Ellogon's Treasures Part II

Today, more reader nominations and a personal favourite from Ellogon's YouTube treasure trove - first, some serious shock and awe, and then some seen once never to be forgotten European beauty - punctuated by a guest poser who does it, according to the reader who suggested the routine, "how it should be done". You lucky people!

Reader Request

CHRISTINE ENVALL
1997 NABBA Universe

The first of two routines from Eurosport's coverage of the 1997 NABBA Universe, and one of several requests for Christine, but the only one we received in time to put the posts together, unfortunately. Not, I grant you, the greatest quality clip, but I can't help feeling that in HD that glorious body in that posing suit might well be too much for the old ticker to take. Christine physique is frankly so overwhelming it's hard to make it to the end even though she's slightly blurry. And it's less than a minute long!




Reader Request

PATRICIA VELDMAN
1997 NABBA Universe

There's not much of the woman who beat Christine on this occasion out there, but every second of Patricia Veldman in this clip and elsewhere seems to be 100% solid female muscle gold. The most musculars that close the routine must be among the most capped and giffed pieces of posing ever. And it's not hard to see why.




Reader Request

SHARON MARVEL
Guest Posing

It starts with a pose that leaves you in no doubt that Sharon's glutes are rightly legendary, it ends with a quad shake that you'll be daydreaming about all day and dreaming about all night and will probably still be on your mind at work Monday...



Think you can handle more? Check out another of Sharon's sexy routines here.


As with the NABBA Universe clips above, the last three selections (all my picks, all from the 1995 IFBB Europeans) hark back to the golden days of female muscle on Eurosport. I was actually living in Italy at this time, which meant the channel was available to me free (not the case in the UK). Yes, the camerawork/direction did often leave a lot to be desired - close-ups are fine, but do we need close-ups of their hair? But Friday evening, when I remember the Bodybuilding/Fitness hour tended to be on, was a very special time every week, though perhaps not always quite as special as the Friday when I first witnessed Inna, Elena and Angela perform these routines.


Swell Pick

INNA UIT
1995 IFBB European Amateur Championships




Swell Pick

ELENA KURAKOVA
1995 IFBB European Amateur Championships




Swell Pick

ANGELA CILIONE
1995 IFBB European Amateur Championships




I don't know about you but I'm exhausted.

See you tomorrow. Fluids, remember. Fluids.

Far From Routine: Acceptable in the 80s

Reader Request

PHYLLIS PADUR
1987 NPC Extravaganza (?)

Poor quality, and not really a spectacular routine, admits the reader who nominated this old school gem, but the first bodybuilder I was interested in way back in the day.



A slightly shorter, but slightly better quality version of Phyllis' routine is also available - here. Unlike the above clip there is accompanying sound, but the downside is that some genius has added possibly the most annoying soundtrack imaginable to it.

"The first bodybuilder I was interested in" was a common theme among our readers' selections, and judging by when those women were around, we're all getting on a bit!

Today, we go back to the 80s...


Reader Request

CLAUDIA PROFANTER
1987 WABBA Worlds (?)

Despite the dodgy quality of this clip, it should please our fan of the "take it slow" routine. Every pose she hits seems to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. If only the ladies were allowed as much time for their routines now as they were back then. Thankfully, Claudia's heyday coincided with that of the three-minute routine.



More Claudia previously on FMS.


Reader Request

SUSAN MYERS
1988 NPC Jr Nationals

From the YouTube channel Vintage Amazonia where "old school" is the only school, Sue Myers shows off her spectacular body to sensational effect in the kind of posing suit that this fan prays will one day make a comeback. She makes me wish I could go back to the 80s, confesses the reader who nominated the clip. But I'd go back with an HD camera! The final, triumphant double biceps pose will slay you, but if you stick around after the end of the routine there's a fresh-off-stage Sue being interviewed.




Reader Request

KATHY UNGER
1988 NPC Nationals

And also from Vintage Amazonia, not so much a routine as a series of power poses. And bless the cameraman, a lot of the clip has Kathy's droolworthy, rippling upper body in close-up. Big, defined, and pretty much defining the term "hard flexing".




Swell Pick

JANET TECH
1988 Ms Olympia

Not so much one of my favourites (although I would be lying if I said I haven't spent some quality time with this routine while compiling this post) as a treat for an old friend whose blog has gone a bit quiet recently. Hopefully the sight of Janet in her pomp will inspire him back into action. 1988, it seems, was a very good year...



Ultimate Muscle has more routines from the 1988 Olympia, all fantastic quality. Anja Langer, Bev Francis, Dona Oliveira (another of our old friend's faves), Tonya Knight, Joy Nichols and her memorable most musculars, and many many more.

Enjoy!

Far From Routine: Ellogon's Treasures Part 1

Since 2009, YouTuber "Ellogon" has been building probably the most amazing female muscle contest collection that (as far as I know) exists. Unsurprisingly, many of your suggestions for this week's posts led me to clips uploaded to their channel, and on top of that, I found that many of my own favourite routines (or at least the very best versions of them that are available) were right there on that same channel too.

In fact, so numerous were the nominations from Ellogon's channel that I thought it best (especially after yesterday's, er, let's say "festival of excitement") to split our collective tribute to their work into two parts. Today, two reader requests, and a couple of Swell picks from three famous names from the good old "Golden Age".
That two of them are both requests and favourites of mine just goes to show that it's true what they say that great female muscle lovin' minds really do think alike!


Reader Request/Swell Pick

NATALIA MURNIKOVIENE
1994 IFBB Worlds

The best leg definition in the show, says the Eurosport commentator, an accolade that Natalia could claim in most of the shows she competed in during her career. Her performance here has just about everything that you could possibly want from a routine. Dance moves, flexibility and gymnastics, hard flexing through gritted teeth, oh so expressive, crawling across the stage like a silky, powerful pantheress on heat...




Swell Pick

YOLANDA HUGHES
1997 Ms International

Dubbed "The Queen of Mobile Muscle", Yolanda performs her way to the first of her two Ms International triumphs. If Natalia's routine has everything you could want, Yolanda's has that and a whole bunch of other stuff you never dreamed possible.



For my money, every routine Yolanda ever performed is worth a watch, a second watch, and a third, fourth and fifth as well. If you fancy a bit more of her WOW factor, you might like to check her out at the 1991 NPC USAs, a Ms Olympia I'm not sure of the date of, and the 1993 Ms Olympia (no sound, but my personal favourite posing suit).


Reader Request/Swell Pick

MELISSA COATES
1997 Ms International

And from the same show, the best advertisement for not getting cosmetic surgery back when she was the best advertisement for female bodybuilding. In those days Melissa could have come on with a paintbrush, painted a bit of the stage and watched it dry and it would have been sexy, so this performance must have threatened the trouser fabric of many an audience member. My personal highlight comes just before the 1.00 mark - the little "hula hoop" move followed by an abs and thigh pose. Major swoonage.




Enjoy!

Far From Routine: Be My Guest

For our second installment of "all-time favourite" routines, a triple dose of nominations from the inimitable JL, the last of which also serves as the starter in a three-course feast of routines from one of female bodybuilding's greatest performers.

Those of you familiar with JL will be well aware that there is truly no greater love than the love he has for Yaxeni, so it'll be no surprise that the first of his nominations is a routine of hers. In fact, as he explains, it was this routine that started it all. Yaxeni's routine at 1999 IFBB Pro Extravaganza caused the best orgasm I'd ever experienced in 5 years of pleasure with FBB materials, he says. This Venezuela-breed beefcake was immediately crowned "The Most Orgasmic Muscle Cum Queen God Ever Created", and The Yaxeni Orgasmic Moment (YOM) has been getting better and better ever since.


YAXENI ORIQUEN
1999 Pro Extravaganza




Did you have a good YOM?!

Up next, JL's second suggestion, and this one's in HD, so get some fluids on board.

Tina Chandler needs no further introduction, says JL. From her first win in 2004 at the NPC Texas in Arlington, I've lost count of the number of times I've wanked to the sheer sexuality of this spermalicious Shreveport, Louisiana breed white beef.

He's never one to tell you less than you'd care to know, is he?

I would like to highlight her routine at the 2011 Tampa Pro, he tells us. Shiny PVC posing outfit on her ripped tanned muscles, and... that belly button ring! How can you resist a fast, furious wank? Indeed. The clip is all over in less than two minutes.

Gentlemen, start your engines...


TINA CHANDLER
2011 Tampa Pro




And we're not even halfway through today's post. Pace yourself.

Now, when I asked for your favourite routines, I wasn't actually thinking about Guest Posing, but you most definitely were. Far be it from me to poo-poo your nominations just because I didn't explain myself properly, so throughout the week our evening shows will be punctuated with guest posers for your viewing pleasure.

JL's guest poser is female muscle legend Laura Creavalle, and yes, naturally he has some observations about the routine that he wants to share with you.

This is the best muscle sexhibition from this Guyana-breed chocolate beef, he says. Laura, he reckons, is sending a message she wants kinky sex. I can see the moment she starts flexing she gets horny at the same time. First time I watched I remember I had to pull my cock out and wanked 6 times in the row. You've got to love him!

And you've got to love this!


LAURA CREAVALLE
Guest Posing




Quite a finish, isn't it?

Anyway, we leave JL (no doubt his eyes rolling back in their sockets) but stay with Laura, because that classic guest posing routine was not the only nomination she received. As our final offerings today, two Ms Olympia routines from Laura that other readers (who don't care to share so much!) put on their lists of all-time favourites.


Reader Request

LAURA CREAVALLE
1991 Ms Olympia




Reader Request

LAURA CREAVALLE
1993 Ms Olympia




Enjoy!

Far From Routine: Slow & Sexy

A little while back we asked for your "all-time favourite routines", and, as always, many of you answered the call. This week we'll be seeing whose routines you nominated, adding a few of our own picks, and on top of that we'll be tipping our hat to a particular YouTube channel with an exceptional collection of female muscle contest clips.

"What's your all-time favourite routine?" is not an easy question to answer. As one reader rightly pointed out, it very much depends on what is available on YouTube, and many readers noted their natural inclination was to simply think of the best YouTube clip of their favourite FBB's most memorable performance. But even so, I think by the end of the week you'll agree that that has made for a pretty damn great collection of female bodybuilding at its most artistic, gymnastic, and downright muscle sexy.

Reader Requests

And today's two routines could very well serve as definitions of that. It should be done slow, reckons our Crossfit correspondent Aiden, who nominated both of today's routines. Poses held, when they go too quick it becomes a bit cheerleader for my liking. So, we're going slow and sexy today, slow and very very VERY sexy.

NIKKI FULLER
1997 Ms International




BONNY PRIEST
2003 NPC USAs




If it's still in your shorts, you are a more disciplined man than I.

For more (and more recent) Bonny see FMS from 1st July - Look Who's Back!

More reader requests tomorrow - maybe yours!

Reader Request: Simone, Toronto 2014

I'm always asking for suggestions, for help putting this blog together, and lately there's been a terrifc response. You know we are rapidly approaching the 3m page views mark here, and maybe that's small potatoes to some, but it's a milestone nonetheless, and I couldn't have done it without you and all that. I keep doing this because people get in touch and say nice things like "been catching up on the blog - fantastic posts as usual".

How could I refuse a request after that?

Anyway, the posts said complimentary reader had been catching up on were the recent week of Size Matters posts, and last week's tributes to the muscle women of Canada. And that combination made him think of... a Brazilian?!

Thinking of size queens, I always think of the Brazilians, he explained, so this came to mind. It combines size and Canada.

Well, it certainly has size. And I suppose, yes, it took place in Canada...

One of the best posing videos I've seen (and I've seen plenty), he says. Anyone who thinks that female bodybuilders aren't sexual needs to take a long, hard look at Simone on stage.

Well, we're probably preaching to the converted here, but let's do that, shall we?



Thanks to AW for this (and other) suggestions.

Clip by and taken from the mighty watatiwatatio's YouTube channel.

Now, what's your "best ever" contest posing video?

Suggestions please! 6ft1swell@gmail.com

And thank you, again, for reading.

MUSCLE: Reader Request: ChleoVW

I can't remember ever feeling this stunned after seeing someone new.
Forum post



She recently competed in her first powerlifting competition, managing to smash 16 records. She could not formally apply for record status at the event as she had not been a member of Powerlifting Australia for long enough. She set new unofficial Commonwealth records for the bench press, deadlift, squat and total for open women and junior levels. Competing in the raw powerlifting junior under-23 category, she lifted a total of 422.5kg - a combination of 152.5kg in the squat, 100kg in the bench press and 170kg in the deadlift - to set new national and Oceania records.
Melanie Plane, The Morning Bulletin, 5th December 2013



At the time of that first competition, Chleo Van Wyk was just 23.



And since that first powerlifting competition nearly two years ago, Chleo's mass plus beauty package has been breaking female muscle lovin' hearts around the world.



She hails from the town of Rockhampton in Queensland, Australia, where she works as an online coach and personal trainer at two of her local gyms. She has a website where you can browse her training videos (and hear her ROAR), among other things.



And best of all, well, from MY point of view anyway, Chleo is currently preparing to compete as a bodybuilder. She is going to be huge AND ripped! In fact, she is already looking pretty ripped and the competition is not even that imminent yet - she's still weeks away from full shred if one comment on her Facebook page is accurate.



Imagine!



[She] reminds me of someone maybe, says Aiden, FMS' Crossfit correspondent and the reader in today's Reader Request. A compact, muscular Charlize Theron?



He's not the only one who's seen a resemblance. As one forum poster put it, I like how she kinda looks a bit like how Charlize Theron should look in some pics.



Check out Chleo on Instagram. Her Facebook page and her website both have some training videos. And if you just want to know how big she really is, you can get some scale -while you remember she is still in her early 20s - here.



Enjoy!



For Aiden, with thanks.

Reader Request: Denise Faith

It's been four years (!) since the last time we had a Reader Request here on the blog (it was Geraldine Morgan), so to say another is long overdue is something of an understatement. I want to stress that the reason for this isn't because we haven't been asking readers for their suggestions during this time, and nor is it because we get the requests and then reject them! So please, please do send in any suggestions - either for individual women, themes, whatever. Anything you think might make a good post (or more), we would love to hear from you. The address, as ever, is 6ft1swell@gmail.com (or use the comment box below or on any FMS post).

OK, so on with the show...

DENISE FAITH



She's my personal champion right now, says FMS reader JT. I'm talking about Denise Faith, the beautiful and massive-getting-bigger-every-day Swedish IFBB pro. Check out her updates on her Facebook feed. The latest is that her arms are stretching the measuring tape (and my imagination) to 49cm or 19.2 inches!



And there it was. Her near as dammit 50cm arm, along with a follow-up pic of her beautiful bicep encased with the measuring tape to prove the doubter who questioned her size wrong. Moha ha ha! she writes. Bigger than the Boyz!



Denise (sometimes spelt as Deniz) has been on the FMS radar since 2013, when she appeared at the last IFBB Worlds to feature a Female Bodybuilding category.



She finished 5th, which given the evidence of these shots from the contest, seems rather, well, ridiculous. But since then the 2012 Swedish champion has gained her pro card. In an interview with RxMuscle from early 2014 she talks about competing in her first pro show in Toronto that year, but as far as I can see, that never happened. Nor did rumours that she was going to be at the Tampa Pro last weekend prove true.



The latest is this (from her Facebook page): After seeing The Tampa Pro line-up I know I can make a great impact and break into a top 5 position next year by making the necessary improvements both in posing and details! I got more than enough mass to stand my ground on the pro scene, just got to keep on grinding with the posing and carving out striations. And keeping my waist in. So excited for next season!



Looks like we'll just have to wait. But JT is finding ways to pass the time at least.



Denise's recent arm measurements caused what he calls his "statto mind" to start whirring away, and before long... Google search for 19 inch thighs, and you can find a lot of self-conscious women worrying whether their 19 inch thighs are too big! One guy even posted on Denise's thread that his thighs are 19 inches. I don't think she was talking about legs when she said "bigger than the boyz"!

Next, searching for 19 inch waist does also deliver some results. Most of them appear to be the result of extreme behaviour - corset wearing or starvation - but there are some women with waists smaller than Denise's arms. Incredible.



Finally, the inevitable comparison for such things is to bring up Renee Toney. Now I'm a big fan of "size" but there's no comparison for me between the Viking-maiden beauty of Denise and the androgynous hulking of Renee. Denise wants more, and that would be great, particularly if she can retain the feminity along side the bulk.

I am willing to bet she can meet her 50cm target, and still look gorgeous.



Denise originally took up weight training as the result of a basketball injury. I was hooked! she says. I found out that I like muscular guys and was interested in muscle magazines like Muscular Development etc. Well that's curious, because if you substitute "girls" for "guys" and take away the basketball injury, that's a very familiar story! Anyway, Denise continues by saying that I didn't do anything about it until I met my fiancé 10 years ago. He helped me to compete for the first time in Figure. The year after I competed in Bodybuilding and I was hooked again.




She now co-owns the PT business "Coach XtraOrdinaire" with that fiancé of hers, so, despite the constantly put back pro debut, it doesn't seem like Denise is about to change. [Since] I got my pro card it's another ball game for me. It feels like starting over again and I am once again hooked! she explains. This is what I want to do.



Follow Denise's ever-changing competition plans, her continued gorgeousness, and her quest for those 50cm arms on her aforementioned Facebook and/or Instagram.



Massive-like-Denise thanks to JT for the suggestion. Enjoy!

Size Matters: Fantasy Contest Top 10

Back in May 2012, we asked our readers to choose a "Fantasy Contest" line-up.

Imagine you could have a female bodybuilding contest where all the competitors were your favourites, and they would be at their absolute peak irrespective of the era they actually competed in. Kind of like Bill and Ted, you have a time machine and you can travel back and forth in time collecting your favourite FBBs for your dream show.

There was no time limit attached to the voting, so while over the weeks and months that followed we posted the choices of the several readers who bothered to get in touch, we've never had any final count to establish the ultimate line-up. Until now.

As I mentioned last Friday, this weekend's offerings represent something of a statistical watershed for the blog, posts #999 and #1,000. And so, to mark FMS' final 3-digit post, and to finally draw a line under what was (until we came up with the idea for the Hot and Hard 100 anyway) our most successful attempt to get our fellow female muscle heads involved in what appears on FMS, it is with no little pride that we bring you, AT LAST, the women who make up our collective Fantasy Contest Top Ten.

Happily for me, my two all-time favourites have made the list, but in many ways the line-up is as interesting for who is not in it as who is. There's not a single Ms Olympia or Ms International winner (no Iris, no Lenda, no Yaxeni) although two of the line-up have NABBA World titles, and another was a Jan Tana Pro winner.

There are two women from Europe, two from Canada, and six from the US. Two of them have already competed and won in 2015, and another will be competing for the first time this year at the Tampa Pro today. One, sadly I think, is still active but now competes in the WPD rather than as a bodybuilder, and another hasn't retired as such, but isn't expected to take the stage again until 2016.

The vast majority of the women on the list were at their peak during the first decade of the 21st century, so despite all the stuff that is said about the 1980s, it's fair to say that in fact the noughties represent, for FMS readers at least (or the readers we had in 2012 anyway) something of a "golden age" of female muscle.

But enough of my yakking. On with the fantasy show...!

We've had the prejudging, we've had the evening wear and strength rounds, and in the auditorium now the FMS-reading female muscle heads who were lucky enough to receive their complimentary tickets and who have only just finished cleaning themselves up after the routines await the finale of the ultimate female muscle show.

It's finals time. And the top ten are in the wings awaiting their introductions.

Our MC, Noel Edmonds, takes his place at the lectern to the right of the stage...

Ladies and gentlemen, the first of our finalists is a genuine goddess of female muscle. When she came on stage in the first round we had to call the paramedics for our head judge. She's on almost everybody's all-time list, and tonight she's appearing as she did when winning the NPC Nationals in 2004. Get that defibrillator charged up cos it looks like Swell's going to need it. From Texas, the state where everything is bigger and better... The legend, gorgeous, GINA, not Geena, DAVIS!




Gina in motion, and on FMS.

Deep breaths gentlemen, pace yourselves now, we've nine more to go. As you can see, reinforcements are being added to the stage so you KNOW something big this way comes... She's still competing and enjoying her most successful IFBB year ever in 2015, but tonight appearing in her gigantic, jaw-dropping turn of the millennium shape. And she's promised not to stop the most musculars till that top comes clean off... it's the Wonder from Down Under, CHRISTINE ENVALL!





Christine on FMS.

And now, prepare to be amazed. Perhaps the super freakiest super freak of them all. Appearing tonight in her 2005 Canadian Nationals winning guise... From Montreal, Canada, yes that is a penoris you see before you and yes, she is pleased to see you, it's time to get exposed to the mighty muscles of COLLETTE GUIMOND!




Collette on FMS.

And they keep on coming... She has shipped more WPW videos than any other woman. She's an irresistible combination of brawn and beauty. The Beach Boys might have wished they all could be Californian, but we wish they all could be like our next finalist. From Orange County, appearing in her 2000 Ms Olympia shape. Get your hands away from there and put them together if you can, and if you can't, just howl your appreciation for the baby-faced beef of hot hot hot DENISE HOSHOR!




Denise in motion, and on FMS.

The fantasy continues, ladies and gentlemen, with the woman they now call Mrs Trevino. She's been an IFBB pro winner in 2015, but you voted for her as she was in 2003 when she made the Ms Olympia seeming to come from nowhere but actually coming from Brondby in Denmark to win the Jan Tana Pro Classic. Is it me or is it getting hell-e hot in here? What's that you say? It is? Well, that can only mean it's time to fall in love with those legs all over again. It's HELLE NIELSEN!




Helle on FMS.

And now, gentlemen, another muscle goddess we know you're going to be unable to contain your appreciation for. From the paradise of Hawaii, she has the face of an angel, muscles from heaven, and a V-taper that's truly cosmic. Appearing tonight in the shape and the red posing suit that somehow survived her pre-2000 routines. Gentlemen, start your engines and feel the power of PAULA SUZUKI!




Four minutes of Paula in motion and interviewed.

The last of our unplaced finalists has gone blond since you voted for her in 2012, and that's just one of the enhancements she has made to her female muscle fantasy physique. You know who I'm talking about, right? Well try not to blow it all before she actually starts... Appearing tonight in her own-the-show 2014 NPC USAs shape, there's absolutely no surname necessary. Prepare for that impossible neck-wrenching pec bounce. Prepare to be amazed... It's ALEESHA!




Aleesha on FMS.

Think it can't get any better than that? Think again! We now come to the top three. And in joint second place a woman who once had the female muscle world at her feet. She's now competing in the WPD... Settle down, settle down... But tonight, for one night only she's reprising her blow the competition away 2011 Canadian Nationals most muscular. From Repentigny in the province of Quebec, gentlemen, it's the fabulous fantasy muscle of FABIOLA BOULANGER!




Fabi on FMS.

With exactly as may votes as Fabi, also in joint second place a woman who has been quickening the pulse for so long it was almost impossible for you to pick which version of her was your fantasy. In the end, the judges decided to pull a show out of the hat, and I'm very pleased to announce that she's appearing tonight braided as she was when she displayed her pure animal sexuality at the 2007 Ms Olympia. From the city of New Orleans, she's been turning us on for decades... here's TAZZIE!




Tazzie in motion in 1997 and in 2002, and previously on FMS.

And so to climax, to the winner of our contest, the goddess of goddesses, your female muscle fantasy of fantasies... She's been the uncrowned Queen for so long you wonder why they don't just give her the crown and get it over with. Statistics prove that there hasn't been a minute that has passed since 2011 when someone somewhere in the world hasn't been paying tribute to one of her pictures or video clips, and yes Annie, I'm looking at you! She's a former NABBA Worlds champion, but tonight we will see her at her 2012 Ms Olympia peak. Get ready to anoint her, from Romania, it's the breathtaking beauty and mind-bending muscle of... ALINA POPA!




Alina in motion, and previously on FMS.

So there we are, after nearly three years and countless votes, your top ten all-time fantasy contest competitors. The first seven all got the same number of votes, Fabi and Tazzie tied for second, and Alina won by a landslide. Well, it was 2012, after all.

As far as the pics are concerned, I've tried, wherever possible, to find images from a particular show, but as you can probably guess, the further back I went, the harder it became to source them, so apologies to the more anal among you if I have described the wrong contest for the images I have chosen. I did my best!

Thanks to all the voters and special thanks to Noel.

Tune in tomorrow for post #1,000 and a treat you will NOT want to miss.

Enjoy!