Wings of Strength to Strength

We recently praised Jake and Kristal Wood, aka Wings of Strength, for firstly saving in 2015, and then, within a year, presiding over a small but significant expansion in professional female bodybuilding. We've also recently highlighted and praised how Alina Popa (Jennie Roosa etc.) and Margie Martin (Brittney O'Veal) seem to have taken it upon themselves to ensure there is a new generation of female bodybuilders coming through to the pro ranks.


The future: Jennie Roosa (left) and Brittney O'Veal

However, for female bodybuilders outside of the US and Canada, where national level shows can provide FBBs with pro cards, the problem of how to become part of this exciting new pro FBB world remained. At the Omaha Pro this year we saw how WoS - working with Alina Popa - provided Elena Oana Hreapca with a guest posing spot partly to highlight the quality of talent that had reached the top of the amateur FBB tree in Europe (and elsewhere) and simply had nowhere left to go.



Wings of Strength Facebook page, September 24th

As I write this the world has changed just a little. I am happy to say that amateur female bodybuilders in Europe, Central and South America, Australia, Asia and the rest of the world now have an opportunity to earn an IFBB Pro Card.
This also includes Canada and the US.
Announcing that the brand new IFBB Ms. Wings International will qualify three female pro bodybuilders in 2017 - one from each of the light, middle and heavy weight divisions.
This will all take place at the IFBB Wings of Strength Chicago Pro in early July of 2017 at the Tinley Park Convention Center. The three new pros will be eligible to compete in the Chicago Pro later that same weekend.
My wife Kristal and I would like to thank IFBB Professional League President Mr. Jim Manion and IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja for working with Mr. Tim Gardner and myself to provide a path to a pro card that has been absent for many women around the globe. We would also like to thank Ms. Oana Hreapca of Romania for shining a light on this need during her guest appearance in Omaha in 2016. We also extend our thanks to Mr. Jack Titone along with his dear wife Ms. Ann Titone for gracefully allowing us to highlight Ms. Hreapca during their Omaha Pro Show.
We at Wings of Strength are very excited about the coming year and the direction women’s bodybuilding is going. We rise!
Best Regards,
Jake Wood

Well that is good news!

Imagine! The best amateur FBBs in the world lining up against each other.



From Europe, Oana; from South America, Flores Neide Souza Campos... I'm sold already! But as well as being an "international" event, North American women will be taking part too. That means you could see Oana and Flores and Theresa Ivancik (assuming she hasn't decided to stick with Physique permanently!) on the same stage.



I'm almost too thrilled to think of the names of other women from around the world who could compete! There must be a whole bunch of Brazilians whose names are not coming into my excited mind right now. Australians, Asians, Kashma! Kashma could be there!!! From the UK, IBFA champion Christal Cornick, or the rising young star Maz Burn now have a potential route through which to follow Lisa into the pro ranks.

And then there's the possibility of...



Who would you love to see at the 2017 Ms Wings International?
Who have I forgotten? Who would best represent your country?

And Wings of Strength have even managed to resurrect the "Ms International" name! What's next? Continental qualifying events for the IFBB Ms. Wings International?!

I can dream!

Time to watch Oana guest posing again methinks...



To remind ourselves how significant it was, of course.

Physique Dreams: Theresa?!

No easy job, following the women of RP2016 and ultimately the Queen herself.



Step forward Hot and Hard 100 #4 Theresa Ivancik, who we find here competing at the IFBB North Americans in Pittsburgh just over a week before Penpraghai and Alina returned to the stage and Margie donned that fiery posing suit in Arizona.




Now in case you have been living on a remote island or something, Theresa has been a regular at the big amateur national shows since 2014. She has made almost getting your pro card something of an art form, managing to finish 2nd in her class (2015 NPC Nationals, 2016 NPC USAs) and miss out, or even, at the 2015 IFBB North Americans, winning her class but then losing out on the pro card in the overall posedown.



This year she brought her best package by far - and that's saying something. Tanned, beautiful, her best ever conditioning. She's spent time this year focusing on her legs, "turning a weakness into a strength" as she puts it, but she hasn't sacrificed any of that glorious size, that swoonworthy thickness that we all love in her upper body.

Problem was, Theresa was competing in the Physique division.



Last year, she'd also turned up in the Physique division at the North Americans as well as coming so close to the pro card in Bodybuilding. I'd assumed it had been a joke, a bit of a laugh at the judges' expense. This year though it was Physique only, Theresa - the Bodybuilder - against 17 Physique specialists in her class, more women than there were in the entire Bodybuilding division at the show. This was no joke.



Predictably, she didn't do great, although 8th out of 18 is no disgrace. Thinking I was a smidgen too big, Theresa told her Instagram followers afterwards. Oh really, Theresa, do you think?! Maybe it really was a joke. Watch out 2017, she warns, I'm not playing around anymore! But Theresa, darling, why are you playing around at all?



Not exactly business as usual on the stage for Theresa then, although very much the usual disappointment for her and her many supporters. What also didn't change was the customary consolation of many many pics of Theresa away from the show in contest shape, sizzling with muscle sexiness whether wearing more or less.



I especially like those ones on the bed. Damn!



Despite everything, Theresa celebrated her birthday right after the North Americans. She's 32 now, I believe, five years younger than Margie Martin, who didn't win her pro card until she was 34. So there's time yet for Theresa, for what she does she still qualifies as "young", and the chances are she hasn't reached her peak quite yet.



Her peak as a BODYBUILDER, that is.

Summer Break @NPC USAs

In the past, FMS has tended to close up shop for weeks over the summer, usually during August. We've tried not to leave you FMS-less on those occasions, and have consequently come up with ideas like Legs Month, August Picture Post, and, last year, While the Slave's Away to tide you over while we're sunning ourselves.

This year we're not shutting up the offices for one long holiday but a series of shorter breaks, but our commitment to give you at least one stunning example of female muscle heat to look at every day remains. So this year it's Summer Breaks, and part deux reviews the recent NPC USAs. We hope you enjoy our selections.

ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID...

In the week leading up to the NPC USAs, FMS Goddess Theresa Ivancik (Hot and Hard 100 #4), looked very very ready. Her abs, she told her Instagram followers were "coming in full effect", and to prove it posted a view of them that had me reaching for the phone to call the emergency services: Ambulance! Quick! Can't breathe!



I survived. The many times I've followed Theresa's preparations, every time testing my heart's pumping capacity to the limit, had served me (and the ticker) well. But it had often meant heartbreak for Theresa. So close and yet still no pro card. 3rd at the USAs in 2014, she won her class at last year's North Americans but wasn't awarded the card. Then, at the Nationals she was runner-up. By ONE point. Surely this year...


"That chest pump tho on peek week" [sic]

The longer the week went on, the more convinced I became.



Before she got on the plane, the look. Feels so good to have my hair cut! she wrote. So pumped... Taking off to Vegas tomorrow!!!! All packed and ready to go!!!!! And after she arrived, of course, it was time for the tan, and the obligatory oh-my-God-I-would-love-to-see-how-that-looks-from-the-opposite-POV hotel room back shot.



Time to shine...



Plain black posing suit for the prejudging. Maybe it's just my (clearly overactive) imagination and I am not complaining one bit (it's just an observation) but does anyone else think the suit looks half a size too small? A tad on the tight side? Theresa's, er, excitement is tangible. Visible even. Like I said, no complaints this end.



Evening show. Resplendent.



And the judges' verdict?

2nd place. Again. By a point. Again.




Nothing else needs to be said, she wrote, putting a brave face on the situation, smiling away as a friend of hers shows any judges who might happen to be cruising the Ivancik Instagram the middle finger salute. So out she went in Las Vegas, her muscles full of "carbs and sugar", despite the heartbreak. And then it was back to what she does.



Surely next time will be her time...

A New Golden Age? Part V

PIU: Not sure entirely why I paired Jackie Paisley with Tina Nyguen, other than both being relatively lightweight and lean and showing quite a bit of flesh but the quote from Jackie does fit nicely into the fitspirational transformational aspect and the before and after of Tina certainly shows how conventionally pretty but unremarkable looks can turn into a jaw dropping Goddess.



But to be honest I probably really really wanted an excuse to include that pic (almost any pic) of Tina in her underwear.



And like with Diana Schnaidt [see yesterday] I just cannot comprehend how the average guy on the street couldn't find her attractive or why so few truly athletic women don't make the photo shoots or covers in the mainstream world, let alone become real huge stars.

We have understandable backlashes against the very skinny in fashion or the occasional so-called plus size model (who is usually closer to average/normal in size compared to the woman on the street) but female muscularity still seems to be one of the last taboos in mainstream media. In the 21st century!

FMS: Glad you found an excuse to choose a Tina Nguyen underwear pic! And while we're on the subject of hot hot heat...



Time for a confession! My magazine collection quickly began to take up a lot of space back then, and given that upwards of 90% of all the pages were of little interest, I would carefully cut out my favourite pics and paste them into scrapbooks.

I remember this one of Cathy Palyo. Can actually see it there on the scrapbook page, feel the same intense excitement of spending some quality time with this bronzed and beautiful goddess.



These days, there are so many more images, but some still have the same power over me. Exhibit A, Theresa in the pool for Her Biceps. Wow. Just WOW!

PIU: Yeah, ahh... Cathy P. I think because the print images were rarer as well, we treasured the iconic images more and apart from the occasional hairstyle, these 30 plus year old images don’t date one bit. Yet look at vintage Playboy type pics and as well as the over use of airbrushing or soft focus, they do tend to much more reflect the look of the times. Cathy would still not look out of place in any of today's print mags or paysites.

I started putting loose cut out pics into those photo albums you used to get, with the sticky transparent covering pages that used to hold them in place. I had several albums then they seemed to take up too much space or more likely I just got too much stuff to be able to organise them. I still mean to get round to scanning them, there's still a lot of stuff from that time that I haven't seen already online, specially the more obscure stuff.

FMS: Glad I wasn't the only one creating albums back in the day! Don't feel like such a freak now. Never kept mine though, sadly...

PIU: Theresa is well... the Package! Highest new entry on the Hot and Hard 100 last year, at 12. Will she make the Top Ten this time?

The 2016 FMS Hot and Hard 100 Countdown - COMING SOON!

She's So Shredded: As Seen with Theresa

One of the most memorable images of last year has got to be this gem of a backstage candid, this female muscle overload starring FMS fave Theresa Ivancik.

But who, you may be wondering, are the other two?

Well wonder no more!



On the right of Theresa as we look (our eyes bulging out of their sockets) is Delane "Lanie" Hart, Physique Class B winner at the 2015 IFBB North Americans, where she also won the Overall Over 40s (and yes, you read that right, Over 40s) title as well.




And to Theresa's left as we look...



Jenaya Hofer, who finished runner-up to Lanie in that B class.




Likes a close-up does Jenaya.

And she makes short, but beautiful, video clips.