FMS @RP2018: No Comparison?

And we finish our week at the world's premier Female Bodybuilding contest (bit belatedly today, sorry about that) with the competitor who most exceeded the pre-contest expectations. Canada's blond bombshell Nicki Chartrand was barely mentioned in the lead-up to the event (not least by me), but ultimately walked off with the (previously monopolised by Sheila Bleck) Best Poser prize, and 4th place.



We have already waxed lyrical about her performance on the day - and particularly on the night with that scintillating winning posing routine (see Tales from the Feed ) - so instead we decided we'd try to piece together the Nicki Chartrand story so far.

Unfortunately, we didn't find much to piece together.

We do, however, know how she looked back in c.2015, when she seems to be competing at regional Canadian level, as a Bodybuilder too. The research team have really struggled to find any definitive list of her contest placings from the early part of her career - which really bothers me (can you tell?) and is the main reason why today's post has gone up so tardily. Anyway, it'll have to do. Here is our first comparison.

COMPARISON #1



Nicki v.2015 and Nicki v.2018

By 2016, we do know, she was the CBBF Nationals Women's Bodybuilding champion - a title previously held by (among others) Negrita Jade, Laura Binetti, Desiree Ellis, Sophie Duquette, Autumn Raby, Nicole Ball, and Fabiola Boulanger.

Not a bad list at all.

However, and despite being a Heavyweight, it is not in Women's Bodybuilding that Nicki Chartrand makes her pro debut, but in Physique - at the 2017 Toronto Pro.

COMPARISON #2



Toronto Pro 2017 and Rising Phoenix 2018

There's so obviously too much muscle on her for IFBB Physique judges that it's almost funny imagining their faces, and within weeks Nicki debuted as a pro Bodybuilder. At the Lenda Murray/Norfolk Pro she beat the fan fave Theresa Ivancik (also on debut) and beat her well. Then she finished off 2017 with 12th place at the Rising Phoenix.



And then this year, she began her season early, at the Hawaii Pro, again in a less than numerous line-up, but up against a woman on debut who many fans were excited about seeing - Alina protégé Jennie Roosa. And the result? Nicki 1st, fan fave 2nd. Nicki could now celebrate her 2nd professional title and start prep for her second RP.

Which pretty much brings us up-to-date, but before we go, one more comparison.

The thought occurred to me while I was waiting for the Research Dept. to tell me they hadn't found much about Nicki's early career. There's something about her double biceps pose, the way she positions her long, muscle curvy legs when she hits it. Her general statuesqueness (well, it's a word now!), and I guess her colouring too, reminded me of a legend from the not-too-distant Female Bodybuilding past...

COMPARISON #3



Brigita MsO2011 and Nicki RP2018

Perhaps not a fair comparison in terms of where Nicki is right now, but instead a peek into the not-too-distant future at where Nicki has the potential to be before too long.

Just me?

Enjoy!

ROARRRRR!!!

With Shannon Rabon (-Perdikis) the Overall Bodybuilding champion (we warned you! - see FMS passim) and one of three new Female Bodybuilding pros, plus Dana Shemesh (-Meirovitch) among the 20(!) new Physique pros, this will not be the last and only time FMS pays a visit to last weekend's NPC North Americans in Pittsburgh.

However, our initial research hasn't got much further than the (always) stunning (especially so because she now competes in Physique) Lauren Martin-Stow.



There were a lot of ladies in the Physique division, but I seriously doubt any of them had as good a time on stage as Lauren. Or at least that's how she makes it seem.



Hardly the biggest, hardly the most ripped - she doesn't even look that tanned, or oiled up for that matter. But these normal prerequisites just go right out of the window when there's so much emoting going on. Just her range of expression as she performed her chest pose was surely enough to cause all sorts of mess for heads in the audience.

And as for the side triceps...



Was anyone lucky enough to have actually been there? Did she actually roar? Did it shake the auditorium to its foundations, make the building's structure unsafe? Did subsequent classes have to be held in a hastily rearranged alternative venue?



Answers on a postcard please.

And as an extra treat, here she is emoting in motion.



Enjoy!

Lauren for She Hulk! And She-Ra. And Wonder Woman...

Oh, and she was 2nd in her class. Good enough. Lauren is a pro now.

(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': Dressed to Impress

I see the girls go by dressed in their summer clothes...



Except none of them ever look like this!









Dressed up muscle is just about - after glammed, tanned and oiled on stage muscle - my favourite thing. Not so much because of the obvious masculine (muscles) v feminine (style) juxtaposition, more I think because they just look so damn amazing. Women who don't lift can look good if they know how to accentuate their assets and cover up their faults. Women with muscle, however, look great whatever they're wearing because their entire physique is one great big asset and they literally have no faults.



Muscle women can expose as much - or indeed as little - of their beautiful bodies as they wish. Often, and quite understandably, they wish to expose a lot. Particularly beloved of female muscle heads are outfits you can see the muscle through, and for me, abdominals straining against tight fabric is the hottest hard thing of all.



Pity the women who have to grin and bear it while a glamorous muscle goddess sucks all the air out of the room and gets all the attention. If you don't want to be completely upstaged, on no account should you invite a Paige or a Marjorie to your wedding...





Ooops! Too late.

At the time of the pic, Paige's friend was still managing a smile. I do though wonder how long that lasted. Marjorie looks like she knows how her dress is going to go down at the reception. And that raised eyebrow tells me that's exactly the way she likes it.



And Paige's and Marjorie's outfits are relatively modest. Nothing see-through...



And they expose the upper but not the lower body, not both.



The fact Samantha Frost (above) has chosen to preview her dress in the gym seems to be really rubbing it in. You know how good I looked in my leggings and vest, sweating and groaning as I powered through my workout, all the boys drooling all over the place. Well look at me after my shower, glammed and dressed to impress...

Or at least that's what I imagine she's thinking!



To be the man who helps Audreana Cornilissen with her dress choice!

Does my back look big in this?

Massive, darling, but why not try that tighter, shorter one again?





Even bigger beasts are on the way, but first, proof that despite my assertion at the top of the post, muscle women can make mistakes when it comes to their outfits.



You could, as Lauren Finley clearly has done, incur the wrath of the undisputed undefeated Ms Physique Olympia and wear a slightly too-similar outfit to the party.



Or, like Suzanne Davis, you might make a slight size miscalculation.

Although to be honest, the thought of being at a party where you can witness the sight of a muscle women literally bursting out of her clothes is not an unpleasant one.

And so to the big beasts...

I honestly tried to find recent dressed up pics of as many Rising Phoenix qualifiers as possible. Know how many I actually found - recent ones? Just these two.



The ever dependable Ms Martin.



And Virginia, busting out everywhere.

What a sight!

Enjoy!