Size Matters: Virginia Walks the Walk

Check out the dude on the crosstrainer. Imagine it's you. She's coming towards you. How would you feel? Every booming step is bringing her closer. Your heart pounds in your chest. You're light-headed. You can't look away but your eyes can't focus on any particular piece of her massive, muscular body. The rush of The Madness comes so strong you nearly pass out and a tiny, breathless moan escapes from your mouth...

Enjoy!

Gif originally posted by Vive Virginia on Tumblr

Size Matters: Too Big for Her (IFBB) World

These are not easy times for European female bodybuilders. Unless your pal Alina Popa is getting you a guest posing slot at a US pro show and lobbying for you to be awarded your pro card, your options are extremely limited with your division completely removed from amateur IFBB contests such as the World Championships. A handful continue to compete within the NABBA/WFF federations at the few shows where they are welcomed, and then there are the local, national and international shows organised within the IBFA umbrella where they might find themselves competing against - if they're lucky - one or maybe two other women.

It's no surprise then that many have instead chosen to compete within the burgeoning Physique division, and some, as we recently saw on FMS, are enjoying great success, but for others, it's not going quite so well, and I'd definitely count the size-obsessed Greek powerhouse Vasiliki "Vaso" Dimitraki among the less fortunate.



Quite simply she is, like the title of the film says, Too Big for the World.

Or too big the world of Greek Physique competition anyway!



The gorgeous Tereza Pantela, winning for the second consecutive year, was well worth the trophy at the recent Greek Championships - an IFBB affiliated show. I'm not about to argue with the placings, just point out that Vaso despite (in my inexpert opinion anyway) being in by far the best shape of her life, found herself up against more judging-criteria-friendly physiques and consequently didn't make the top 3.



And it's not that she is just stubbornly refusing to fit in. There's no sour grapes from Vaso, nor any self-pity. She said afterwards she had "felt honoured" to be on stage with her Greek muscle sisters, and thanking her coach she spoke of the "spectacular" improvements she felt she had made during this preparation, how she had "bled and sweated". And she remains optimistic about her chances in the future. I don't stop here, she says. I keep working and the next time it will be totally different!




The news that Vaso is so looking forward to her next Physique outing will hardly come as a cause for celebration for those fans for whom size matters though. Here is (yet) another woman reining in her exciting mass potential.




In April, a cammer reported that she looks incredible right now, amazingly thick with muscle, traps and neck are up there with Oana as the best in the sport, I think. Granted, said cammer may have still been "coming down" and perhaps was a little over-excited when he said that... But then again, perhaps he was absolutely spot on!



Point is, he said it. And his effusive praise for Baso is by no means the only example you can find on the forums. A Greek goddess, [she] honestly looks like she just strutted down from the top of Mount Olympus. She could be one of the Great Ones.



Again, perhaps our Vaso fans are getting a bit carried away, but let's say they are right. She's still young, she's got time on her side, let's say she is going to blossom and grow into one of the great FBBs one day. First of all, she's going to have to turn herself into a top Physique competitor, a great one even. It's the only choice those who govern her sport still give her and other would-be European FBBs. In fact, it's no choice at all.




I might be feeling sorry for her, and you might too. But rather than ending today's post on a downer, we'll give the last word to Vaso and a more positive, defiant note, a timely reminder that no matter what anyone else does, ultimately female bodybuilding will continue as long as there are women who want to be female bodybuilders.

A good life is when you smile often, dream big and realize how blessed you are! Don't let anyone belittle your ambitions. Get out there and dominate everything you do. Work hard in silence, then make your f*cking noise through success!

[I'm} Just getting started.



Let's hope that's true.

Follow Vaso on Facebook.

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!

Size Matters: Triple Dee

So rude. So f***ing RUDE!

And so smug about it, so pleased with his "wit", his "H-E-R not H-I-M" s**t.

I get mostly positive feedback from people, says Robin "Triple Dee" Hillis. Young, old, male or female - people will stop me and ask me how I got my biceps like that or how much time I spend in the gym etc. They always tell me how great I look and how they wish they could do it! Very few negative comments.



There are a lot of people who stare though. But is that negative? I would like to think they are admiring from afar and just don't have the confidence to come up and ask me questions.

I reckon I'd be one of the starers. Hypnotised, rushing, moving to get a better view perhaps, but to all intents and purposes zombified by The Madness. Incapable of forming anything remotely resembling a question, incapable of uttering anything remotely resembling a word in the English language, which at least sets me apart from our smug videographer - and isn't his camerawork s**t by the way - although from Robin's point of view, I guess we'd both fall into the starer category.



Most recently, Robin was towering over the other big girls in Toronto at her first professional show. That's Cathy Lefrançois there next to her, wonderful glutes and all. And there is Robin's elbow, near as dammit the same height as the top of Cathy's head. And here's the two of them again, Cathy looking decidedly tempted by Robin's muscle pit, or at the very least mulling over the fact that she could remain at full height and still comfortably snuggle her whole head in there.



You'd bet she was 6ft plus, wouldn't you? I'd say 6'1" at least, even taller then me in her girly girl heels. But the fact is she's 5'9". Tall for a woman, yes, and definitely tall for a top female bodybuilder, but not nearly as Amazonian as you'd imagine. Guess she walks tall, as they say.



Robin had always been sporty at school. The transformation, though, truly began in her final year. I had to do a project in health class, she says. I picked the topic Bodybuilding and focused on Cory Everson. I immediately joined a gym and have never looked back. I have been steadily training since I was 18 years old.



She competed first in 1993 and didn't compete again until ten years' later, then she had another break between 2005 and 2010. She's now 45, proudly wearing the scars of motherhood on stage, finally a pro after winning the Canadian championships in 2014 at her fourth attempt. The years of steady training have created a physique described by one forum poster as "a dream for every hardcore female muscle fan". And make no mistake, there are plenty of those.



Perfection, according to Robin, is something we all aim for, knowing we will never attain it. But her "stable of adoring fans" might disagree. They call her "incredible", they call her "unreal". Nobody fills out a shirt better, they say. She is an "animal", a "female beast" - and they mean it in a good way. She is a "true Alpha", a "real life Amazon".



For every onlooker with a cameraphone and a shaky hand making snide comments about Robin's gender then, there is, I would bet, at least one of me, utterly awestruck and overwhelmed by this vision of muscular female beauty. I probably needn't be so nervous. None of us starers should. Those lucky enough to have met her report she is "super sweet", that she has "an amazing, down-to-earth personality", and on top of that, that she is ultra-feminine.



People automatically assume that we want to be masculine cause we lift weights, Robin says. I am a girly girl and happen to think muscle is sexy. I love the lines and shape it gives us bodybuilders. And that is exactly what I've always loved about female bodybuilders too, and clearly I am not alone in that.



With her size, Robin certainly has more lines and shape, and consequently, more devoted fans than most. And that - in a nutshell - is precisely why size matters.



Robin on Facebook, and Instagram.

Size Matters: Natalia, 3 Ways

After Laura Carolan, and with apologies to the women of the smaller divisions - you know I loves ya and all - but after Laura, we couldn't just go back to normal overnight.

As a result, it's going to be big girls all week.

Size Matters was originally the collective title of a week of posts I did back in 2012. And very successful posts they were too. And by success I mean both popularity with readers and my own personal feelings. From that week A Fantasy Contest, to give one example, got more responses than any post that had gone before, and remained our most responded to post until you lovely readers started answering the call for Hot and Hard 100 votes. For another, Super Freaks is still one of my own personal favourite posts on the blog, one of the pieces of writing I am proudest of.

Time - not to mention the fact that I said pretty much all I wanted to say about size that week - prevents me from even attempting to scale the same heights again. But I can promise a lot of prime female muscle meat, because for one more week on FMS, bigger is better. This week, once again, Size Matters.

And at the risk of going too big too early in the week, we begin with the "inhuman", the "superhuman", the "freak of nature" that was your Hot and Hard 100 highest new entry at #12, the Super Freak herself, Natalia Trukhina.



She must seriously be eating steroids for breakfast - she is huge!

Not steroids, it seems, but Grow Food!



We'll borrow a food analogy for today's recent Natalia selections, seems apt somehow. So, like they do on Masterchef ("I've made carrots three ways, Greg"), we're going to see Natalia three ways today. And #1 is on webcam, in fact the webcam show (or at least the bit that could be posted on YouTube) that the "eating steroids for breakfast" comment was referring to.



That dress barely fits her like a shirt, notes our breakfast juice Tumblr poster. Her sheer girth certainly does make it scream for mercy. "Amazing FBB Webcam" indeed!

Way #2 is Natalia on stage. Not, sadly , competing - there were stories she would compete at the NAC Worlds, but this doesn't appear to have happened as far as I know. Instead, it's a guest posing slot, in Israel at their NAC national championships. It's not the most dynamic routine I've ever seen (watch some of it here), but I guess when you're Natalia, you really don't need to do much to make a big impression.



Why try harder?!



Some of the chaps look impressed anyway!



Which kind of brings us to way #3. Natalia in comparison - also from her recent Israeli sojourn - because, as one forum posting fan points out, One cannot comprehend how big she is until one sees comparisons.



Quite frankly, I am still having trouble comprehending. And breathing.

Wonder if that "dress" is still in one piece. Wonder if it made it to the end of that camshow. Surely if she keeps wolfing down that "Grow Food" then it is doomed...

More size tomorrow.

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!