한국인 of the Day: Min Yung Kim

Min Yung Kim was, I reckon, my first Asian and/or Korean female muscle crush thanks to her appearances in magazines like Musclemag, Ironman and Flex. Later, it was her WPW photo sets showcasing her spectacular legs. Regular readers will know I never forget my first time, so although she was technically an American when I first encountered her in the pages of those magazines (and still is, living in Florida with the married(?) name Min Yung Kim-Renda), she makes my list for the memories!



She was a pro fitness competitor when that was a relatively new thing to be (the first Ms Fitness Olympia was in 1995). And in those days there were plenty of fitness competitors who, like Min Yung Kim, wouldn't look out of place in a physique line-up now. Her competitive career, as far as I can tell, peaked in the late '90s, with 3rd place finishes in both the 1998 and 1999 Women’s Strength Extravaganza.



Back in those days I didn't pay as much attention to the WORDS in the magazines as I do on the webpages now - I guess I wasn't female muscle mature then! - so it was nice to come across an interview with Min Yung Kim while I was putting this post together.




Her heroine, she said, was Dale Tomita - I resemble her and she has a gymnastic background like me. We're both Asian. I would like to be the next Dale - or even be better. She also dreamed that she would accomplish in the fitness arena what Cory Everson accomplished in bodybuilding, and said that I hope to compete at the highest level of fitness competition, including the Ms Fitness Olympia.



Well, she wasn't quite the next Dale Tomita, and nor did she quite do a Cory for fitness, and although she did compete as a pro a number of times, she never, as far as I know, graced the Olympia stage. Still, she has made it onto FMS' favourite Koreans list, which is probably not that much consolation for her, but you never know!




Enjoy!

한국인 of the Day: Young Soen Jung

It must be around five or six years since I first came across this little piece of female muscle gold, and it has definitely been a case of once seen, NEVER forgotten.

Such confidence, such enthusiasm, such pride! Pouting, jaw-dropping beauty on a lean muscular body. Those pecs! OMG!!! Real old school female muscle sex appeal.

Once seen, NEVER forgotten.

Or perhaps I should say once seen, watched again and again and again.

At the time, finding out more about who she was seemed a LOT less pressing to me than just playing the clip over and over and over and over and over until every expression, every pose, and every striation on every muscle had been committed to memory...

It turned out that she was a bodybuilder from South Korea and her name was Young Soen Jung (or possibly Young Sun Jung or some other variant - more about the challenges of researching and writing about Korean female bodybuilders for an English-speaking female muscle fan shortly). It was reported that she had been a former beauty queen who had traded in her tiara for a posing suit. The clip, it was said, dated from 2001 and was from a Korean national contest called Ms YMCA.

And there was, it seemed, NOTHING else of Young Soen Jung at all. This was the ONLY clip we had of her, and the only clip we were EVER going to have of her.

She was the Korean Angela Cilione!

A year passed. Two years, three. Then out of nowhere...



The same posing routine as the older clip, but in a different posing suit and from a different angle. And it's higher quality AND you get closer to the, er, action. And those pecs! OMG!!! I fell in love all over again as I watched and watched and watched...

I read on a forum that she had "retired", and assumed that would be that. Then, at the end of August this year, a BBC News story popped up in the FMS inbox. The title was promising: "Body Beautiful: South Korea's Female Bodybuilders".

Traditional views of South Korean women are being challenged by a growing trend for bodybuilding, it read. Designer clothes and plastic surgery are standard for many of the country's women, keen to replicate the slender physiques of celebrities and pop idols. Now a growing numbers of female weightlifters are going to different lengths to achieve their idea of perfection. And better still, there was video. I pressed play...

Guess who?!

Over a decade after she was competing (as far as I know), the BBC report brings us unexpected new footage of Young Soen Jung. She's training, she's speaking English, she's downing a "chicken shake", and - best for last - she's still got the on stage moves! And quite honestly, she hardly looks ANY older. (OK, maybe a bit older, and maybe the youthfulness is not 100% all her own work, but hey, forgive me if I start to gush a bit here, I do, as you can probably tell, find this woman rather EXCITING!)

And also pretty exciting is the news in the report that South Korean women are starting to embrace muscle building and "the healthy look", and turning away from the kind of devil work like calf reduction surgery that was previously so popular there.

So, in honour of Young Seon Jung coming back into my life - yes, I've been watching the report over and over again (especially the bit where she is doing her thing on stage!) - and in order to celebrate the country's female muscle growth, FMS is proud to bring you a week of our favourite female bodybuilders from South Korea (though none of them are quite as favourite as Young Seon Jung is, obviously).

Welcome to KOREAN WEEK!



[I should say that finding information about most Korean FBBs is an arduous task. One of the biggest problems I've found is the difficulty presented by Hangul (the Korean language), and specifically by the variations in its transcription into the Latin alphabet - in fact, I can't even be sure that "Hangul" is the correct transcription of the name of the language, because I've also seen it presented as "Han-geul"! Basically, what I'm saying is that you will have to forgive my ignorance about some of the women on the blog this week, ignorance that even extends to how their names should be written (both in terms of spelling AND in terms of order). I've had no choice but to go with what seems to be the most common transcription of the name that I've come across in each case, so there are bound to be inconsistencies. I can't even be sure that the title of the posts "한국인 of the Day" is correct!!! It's SUPPOSED to mean "Korean" (as in person from Korea) of the Day, but I could quite easily be wrong...]

Fiction?

You know the feeling when you come across a female bodybuilder you've not been aware of before and she just takes your breath away. Or when you find a Tumblr blog, or a forum you didn't know about, and they're like just little goldmines.

And you think, why have I never heard of her, never heard of this, before?

Well, when I came across Her Muscular Grace on Tumblr, thanks to a repost on Shirtrippers of a story from way back in October 2012. Why have I never seen this before? I thought to myself. This is one of the most erotic stories I have ever read!

The blog is, in the words of the author, An artistic erotic experiment on the awe-inspiring subject of muscular females, and the essence of their relationship with the men who worship them, through short stories inspired by photos of said females.

It began with a bang in September 2012 with 16 pieces of fiction, got slightly less intense the following month with just three, and then there was nothing until a single post in January 2013, and that was it. Sadly, there hasn't been anything since.

If you are or know of this author's whereabouts now, I'd really love to get in touch.

By far my favourite piece is Warrior Queen, which I have taken the enormous liberty of reproducing here and adding images to the original photo of Zoa Linsey in full flow, which inspired the original piece, I believe. I have, though, kept the original (poetry like?) punctuation and spacing as far as possible.

Like all the best erotic female muscle fiction, it tells the story from a woman's point of view (though not necessarily a muscular woman's). Quite honestly, I find it so convincing that I wonder whether it is indeed a piece of fiction at all...





WARRIOR QUEEN

She groans and goes through one more rep. Teeth clenched. Veins popping.

I don’t care that I’ve paused in the middle of the gym.

I am a girl, a neophyte to the gym, watching in awe this display of muscle dominance. I am not alone.

Everyone in the gym has stopped in their tracks and are looking at Her.
Witnessing.

She’s in a trance, intoxicated with her fury.

“I don’t believe it, she’s pushing the whole stack” a guy next to me whispers in religious awe to no one in particular. I feel dizzy and grasp his arm, my heavy breasts brushing him.

He might think I’m coming on to him some part of me thinks.

I’m not and anyway he doesn’t.

Steadying myself I release him.

He’s also hypnotized by the sight of Her. Under the same spell. His mouth open.

She yells, a primal thing, and Her veins become angry snakes under Her skin. Blood pumping, Her face turns red.





She completes the movement. She must be done. Must Be.

But No.

One more rep.

I’m wet.

She roars, a barbaric scream, a howl and moves the metal. Her muscles expanding, growing as I watch, She defeats the steel.

Surely this is it.





“ONE. MORE!” She Demands and my knees grow weak.

I am on fire below, my tension following Hers, vibrating at the same frequency as Her titanic movements, building to release in tune to Her feat.

She will do this I realize. I do not know to what I’m referring to.

Unmistakable sounds of pleasure escape my mouth now. I moan. My breath becomes heavy.

I do not care, nor is there anything for it.

She is the Steel, She has locked on the Steel and She is One with it, bending it to Her will.

Her face contorted in rage, in pain.





Or is feverish ecstasy?

Rapture.

Orgasmic.

Hers are the sounds of Orgasm I realize. Fulfillment. Not pain but conquest.

As her muscles expand in one final thrust, she releases a scream, in triumph and holds it.

Holds it.

Holds it.

No one breathes. The tension is feverish.

I bite my lip. I taste blood on the tip of my tongue.

She controls the steel.





Only Now releasing the weights.

As they slam violently into place, I can feel, we can all feel, the tremor, a small quake.

I come.

Violently. Completely.

I close my eyes and my moan of surrender is swept in the sound of metal on metal.

Eventually,

Time starts again. Sounds of people and metal moving are heard.

I manage to place my ragged breath under a semblance of control.

I dare to raise my eyes.

She sits there still. A Warrior Queen on Her throne.





Looking straight at me.

Looking into me.

My eyes grow wide.

Her Muscular Grace, October 2012

Gif of the Week

LENDA!

Genius by The Extrondinary League of Sexy Muscle Women on Tumblr

FMS' 2014 Ms Olympia preview coming soon!

Tinder Muscle: A True Story

So, while Swell was away from FMS HQ during August, he found himself at a dinner to mark the successful end of a project he had been working on. And during that dinner, one of his erstwhile colleagues (male) was talking another of his erstwhile colleagues (female) about Tinder, which, according to Marie Claire, is the dating app that came out of nowhere and now completely dominates the UK dating scene.

"Yeah, I'd probably fuck her," he said (with all the class I've come to expect from him) as he swiped to the right (which means "Yes"). "No way I'd fuck that," he said, swiping to the left this time (left means "No"). And on he went. Left, left, right etc.

Don't panic. I'm not about to weigh into the Tinder debate that seems to be going on everywhere from the media to the pub (and at the dinner I was at as well). If you are in the UK and have single friends, you've probably heard it already anyway.

"Jesus Christ! Look at her muscles!"

Tinder Boy was suddenly holding up the phone for all to see. And, to my surprise, what all saw was some proper female muscle. And proud female muscle at that, making damn sure you could see it. She was flexing her right bicep, her teeth gritted. "Yessss!" she seemed to be saying. "Look at that and right swipe if you dare boys!"



THE MADNESS!

I wanted to grab the phone from his hand and get a real good gander. I seriously wondered whether I'd recognise her - a local UKBFF or NABBA competitor perhaps? Given where the dinner was taking place it could have conceivably been a number of women I'd blogged about... Turned out grabbing wasn't necessary. The phone was being passed around now. And yes, you guessed it, all the usual "looks like a dude"/"would kick the shit out of you" type comments were being made.

I waited my turn, and as I did I was still curious who she might be, but I was also getting more than a little righteously vexed. After all, my own wife has been busting her behind to gain some muscle in the last four or five months, and the thought that similar comments might be made about her at some point in the future when she had the muscle to match this lady, well, it was making my blood boil, I can tell you.

The phone came my way. I didn't recognise the lady at all, and her arm wasn't nearly as big as I'd thought it had been after that first glance (probably The Madness making everything seem bigger than it really is), but still, she was impressive. And hot.



I passed the phone on and waited till Tinder Boy had it back and had safely swiped Ms Muscles to the left. Now, at this point I should say that I had had a couple of drinks. Had that not been the case I would probably have let it lie, but I didn't. Not this time.

What I said exactly is a little hard to remember, but it started with a question to the parents at the table about whether they would like it if their daughter's photo had been passed round in such a way. When Tinder Boy responded that it was just a little bit of fun ("Relax, man!") I asked the table whether it would have been a bit of fun to pass round and ridicule a very fat woman, a black woman, a disabled woman?

According to the table, those instances would be "different".

And at that point I started up about the wife. And once I got going I found myself becoming less and less angry, and more and more effusive about the benefits of her newly-toned body. The benefits for her self-esteem, the benefits for her health. The compliments she gets, the admiration of her friends. And then, smelling blood, I started to talk about the benefits for our sex life, about strength, flexibility, stamina, and even, I'm almost ashamed to say, the greater control of certain hidden muscles.



The Madness, the drink... No doubt I remember myself as slightly more eloquent and a lot more heroic than I actually was. When I'd finished, one of the ladies broke the silence and made everyone laugh by saying somewhat suggestively that she couldn't wait to meet my wife. I probably came across as a bit of a twat/weirdo to most of the assembled, and I dare say some of them may well have decided that no matter how good I might be at my job, they won't be calling on my expertise in the future.

Whatever.

I hardly told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but I felt like something needed to be said and I said it. It felt and it feels good to have done so.

This must be how Brian Eno feels ALL THE TIME!!!



A couple of weeks on from the incident and I find that I haven't told the wife about this. I've been telling her, as I have from the start of her fitness regime, how wonderful she is, how wonderful she's looking (and not just telling her, if you know what I mean). But about my speechifying, nothing. And I'm not sure why. Perhaps I don't want her to get self-conscious about her muscles before she has the sort of muscles that might make her feel self-conscious. Perhaps I don't want her to start thinking about whether there was more to it than just defending her lifestyle choices!

And I've also been thinking about the Tinder Muscle Lady. I'm no longer very curious about who she is. I don't want to find out her name and then broadcast that she is looking for fun. I'm not about to "out" her or anything like that. But I have been thinking that Tinder is probably a good thing as far as she's concerned. After all, she has almost certainly cornered the market within her specified geographical radius for female muscle lovin' single guys (and even the odd naughty non-single guy as well).



And in this week of good news, I've found that the Tinder Muscle Lady that my erstwhile colleague came across is not the only one out there. On the forum whose first rule is you do not talk about it, there's a member from Texas who is happily posting images of all the muscle women he finds on Tinder in the San Antonio area - and if you care to have a look for his thread, you'll find they are surprisingly numerous.

I'm not suggesting you move to San Antonio, I'm just saying that it seems that there are muscle women out there and advertising for dates. If I were you, I'd get myself a job/a haircut/in shape/a new wardrobe/whatever it takes to get a right swipe...

Where the hell was this app when I was young, free, beautiful and single?!

Enjoy (responsibly)!

And by the way, NONE of the women in this post are either from Tinder (as far as I know) or my wife. They are purely for illustrative purposes. All are culled from Femularity (aka "tenantcomplex") on Tumblr, which I find is a great source for an unidentified girl-next-door-type female muscle fix. And more! Recommended.

Rosu Watch

NB Neither this post, nor any of the links to other sites contained herein are what they call "safe for work". Not remotely safe for work, in fact (unless, of course, you are a lighthouse keeper or something similar - you get to go hog wild with it).

I yearn after your pretty curvy body, after your super sexy legs that I would love to caress and kiss. You're the best, you sweet woman!

FMS' Andrea Rosu post does bring out the poet in you readers (the above comment by "Leglover" is just one example of the passion (and vocabulary) this "sweet woman" continues to ignite). As a result, Rosu Watch was born in order to keep us all up to date with the more muscle-oriented activities this "fetish model" has been getting up to.

So, once again, we enter the alluring but VERY NSFW world of Andrea Rosu...



And first up, I Love Showing Off My Sweaty Hard Body is a new(ish) clip that is a custom-made commission (can't help wondering if it was commissioned by an FMS reader - if so, consider our caps doffed in your general direction, sir!).



As usual with these things, it's better to let Andrea do the describing...

I get home after a hard and long workout, and I can’t wait to peel my wet clothes off of my sweaty glistening body. [Don't know about you, but I'm already sold.] Better yet, [how much better can it be?] I love to show off all of my hard work and how my body is strong, chiselled and sumptuous. Would you like a personal, up close show off me flexing my defined muscles, my tight abs, my thick strong thighs? [Mmmm. Let me think...] Wouldn’t you like it even better if I were naked?! [Mmmm. Probably...]



I Love Showing Off... is available from Andrea Rosu's Kinky Explorations

Better yet (How much better can it be? I hear you cry), Andrea has posted an "Unedited Photo Set" of a very similar scenario - sweaty, workout clothes off, show off muscles etc. - on her fantastically titled Tumblr What is Etched Onto My Eyelids.



And the best thing about this set (by TMPhoto) is the prominence it gives to the very things that attracted FMS to La Rosu in the first place, and I dare say a fair few of you readers as well: those magnificently muscled, heart-stopping LEGS of hers.




Better yet (!) it turns out she's quite the flexible lady...



And it also turns out that if you type "rosu" into Google Translate, English to Romanian, it translates as "all my Christmases come at once". Or it is possible that I dreamed that was true after seeing this photo set and especially the above pic for the very first time.



Better yet (really!!!) the photo set saves the best for last with Andrea, well, I guess you could say that she is (more or less) "in exactly the position you would want her".

Or something.



Enjoy!

Strong and Hard Women: Good News!

It's nice to be back, and it's particularly nice to be back with news that Dr Tanya Bunsell's ethnographic study of female bodybuilders, Strong and Hard Women, reviewed by FMS back in May 2013, is now available in paperback.



Although the author herself has told us that she is "still not comfortable about the pricing", the paperback is currently retailing at a slightly more wallet-friendly price of around £27 on Amazon at the time of writing (with the Kindle version slightly cheaper) compared to the £70 you would have had to fork out for the original hardback.



It was never a given that there would be a paperback edition, its publication very much dependent on the book's "success". Part of that success was the book being shortlisted by a panel of experts for the BBC's Ethnography Award, and as a result it was given a glowing review on the BBC Radio 4 programme Thinking Allowed.

UK readers can listen to the show on the BBC (from just after the nine-minute mark) although I'm not sure if non-UK readers will be able to access it. If you can, though, you'll be treated to a round table of academics not only complimenting Dr Bunsell's work (it's a "classic" ethnography, says one), but also the FBBs themselves! And, if you are at all curious as to what Dr Bunsell sounds like (I know I was!) then there is also the bonus that you get to hear her reading a short extract from the book as well.



And, to coincide with the paperback coming out, the book has been reviewed (favourably) in the prestigious Times Higher Education, although we imagine that Dr Bunsell's favourite review of her work is still the one we published on FMS!

You might also want to read the interview Dr Bunsell kindly agreed to do with us (and which contains a number of extracts from the book) on FMS passim.



But, most of all, BUY it! Firstly, you won't regret doing so, and secondly, you'll also be doing your bit to show there is a market for serious books on the subject of female bodybuilders and female bodybuilding, which can only be a good thing.

Our sincere thanks and congratulations to Dr Bunsell!

Enjoy! And BUY!!!