The Mighty Quinn: This Sporting Life

I started athletics at a young age, reveals Lauren in a recent interview. I was 9 years old, and I played baseball, softball, which led to school leagues and other sports, but I got into weight training when I was 14. I was a freshman in high school, I was a skinny girl, and I thought if I got bigger and stronger I'd be a better athlete.



By the time she reached the University of Illinois-Chicago, she had become a good enough track and field athlete to win the title of Newcomer of the Year in 2003, and on top of that she captained the rugby team there, which led to her playing professionally for a while (the US has pro women's rugby?! - who knew?) for the Chicago Sirens.



Sadly I don't have any pictures of Lauren powering through tackles, but during her uni time she not only played the game, she also co-authored a study into the "Effects of Strength Training and Conditioning on Female Rugby Players". I kid you not.



Then, around late 2010, Lauren moved from one oval ball game to another, and joined the Lingerie Football League. The league’s notorious pin-up girl dress code makes it prime fodder for derision from feminist pundits, noted Kriv Studios blog, but one must appreciate that many women of the Lingerie Football League not only are beautiful and sexy but fit and athletic. And they play hard. Today, Lauren Quinn begins her quest to become the next Great of the Bikini Gridiron as the hard-hitting hardbody from the Windy City takes the field as a new linebacker for the Chicago Bliss.



After one season in the LFL though, Lauren's "Bikini Gridiron" career came to an abrupt halt when a knee injury left her needing surgery and five months of physical therapy.



I had yet to discover Crossfit, or compete in the new Women's Physique Division, she says of that time, though she had already done at least one bodybuilding show, in 2005. That was a time when there were only 3 divisions for women, she says, but only one for her. Even though I wasn't "big enough", I pursued Bodybuilding because it was more ME than Figure. I was young, tiny, (120lbs) and had absolutely no clue what or how to prep for a show. But I'm proud to say it was 100% all me!



She returned to the stage in 2014, I believe, with not only the Physique Division, but also Crossfit duly discovered. Immediately she won the 2014 Badger State (ie. Wisconsin) Physique title, and the following year she was qualifying for national level contests. Obviously we'll be focusing on her Physique achievements we progress through the week, but for now, let's see how she looked at that 2014 show, shall we?

Fast forward to 4.10 if you want to see why she won.



Her Crossfit athlete page reveals Lauren has a "benchmark" Back Squat of 270lbs, a Clean & Jerk of 170, and a 370lb Deadlift. Not bad, I'm sure you'll agree, but overall, she only managed a ranking of 73rd in 2015, and 65th in 2016. That's in Illinois. Her global rank last year was 3,250th, so some way to go before she makes The Games.



Still, she wasn't exactly 100% committed to Crossfit at this time, what with her Physique shows and in 2015 there was Powerlifting as well. I am a Next Generation Powerlifting Federation state record holder! she told her IG followers in August 2015, proudly displaying her medals and certificates. What an exciting opportunity it was to compete and PR in the deadlift and bench press! Oh, and I was in between weight classes, she adds. Too fat for 148, but certainly not as fat as 165! Hahaha!



I am a good athlete and I'm very proud of that, says Lauren. Even as a skinny girl I was still somewhat athletic. I could do push-ups, pull-ups, climb the rope, I was a fast runner, so the potential was there I just had to work at developing it...



I am meant to do this.

The Mighty Quinn continues tomorrow.

The Mighty Quinn

Not just today, but the whole of this week on FMS, our posts are dedicated to a single (and singular) woman: the self-titled "Original Fit Girl", Overall Physique winner at the recent NPC Jr Nationals, and new IFBB Physique pro, the lovely Lauren Quinn.

And at the risk of going too hard too early in the week, we've decided to open proceedings by taking up three minutes and eight seconds of your precious time.



Now I probably shouldn't be posting this, it being clearly marked as the property of HerBiceps and all (and it's not even my edit), but I really wanted to make sure all of you lovely readers were just as enamoured as I am before we got on with the business of paying tribute to this remarkable young woman. I wonder if my plan has worked...

Enjoy!

Abs Week: A Fantasy

You catch sight of yourself side on in the mirror, the same angle she would have had looking into it. There's no way she could have missed it, she must have seen.

Blushing, you hastily retreat to the locker room, thumping the wall with your fist in frustration, partly with yourself for your lack of self-control, partly because you know you'd better avoid being here when she's here for a while. Your mind races, searching for reasons why that doesn't need to happen while at the same time inventing a scenario where the next time you come and ogle her she's brought her meathead boyfriend along to kick the living bejaysus out of you. You shudder.

"That's quite a bulge you've got going on there."

Your heart stops. It's her voice, deeper than your average female.

Nine weeks ago you'd first seen her. You were later than usual, late leaving work, but you decided not to wimp out, to end the day on a high. And what a high that first sighting had been! Nine weeks ago minus one day you had changed your workout schedule and were coming in for your first (of many) late night sessions of - you had decided to call it - extreme female muscle perving with a little lifting thrown in.

You told yourself you were keeping well clear of her so as not to get in her way, but deep down you knew it was simply to get the best possible view of her going through her frighteningly intense workouts. You'd seen plenty of women doing hanging leg raises on your screen, but never with your own eyes before. Never seen a jumping squat. Never seen anyone go hand over hand up the side of a weights machine with their legs held out horizontally. This was superhero stuff. You were in awe.

One night you overheard two guys in the locker room. She was going to compete, six to seven weeks, one reckoned. And you'd thought the little she'd exposed until then had been ripped! "Don't go in there, mate," one of the guys had called out as you headed into the gym. "It's horrible!" And you could hear his pal had burst out laughing.

You didn't look back.

The weeks progressed. She did, as you had hoped, wear less and less and show off more and more of her gloriously chiselled, vascular physique. And - even more than you'd hoped for - she was spending more and more time posing in the mirror. You went through your exercises in a constant state of arousal, moving to another machine, another bench, if and only if you were sure you were outside her field of vision.

But slowly, you got foolish.

It started when you pointed it at her. The thought she might turn round and see you, see it. What a rush! You did it again, and again, and then you were doing it multiple times in an evening, and then you just got even more brazen. Even more stupid.

She's doing pulldowns, her back to you in all its pumped and defined glory. It's already pointing at her, and as if on some kind of auto-pilot, you're slowly pulling the front of your shorts down. Half exposed, you can feel the air from the AC unit above you on it. See her muscles working. It's throbbing, pulsing towards her, begging you to give it relief, then suddenly she's finished her set and you turn, and put it away again.

When you think about these moments in the cold light of day you feel shame. But back in the heat of the gym, however, hearing her grunt, watching her push that final rep out, all you can think of is manoeuvering yourself into a similar position again and feeling that air around it as you watch her. The thrill is addictive. You need it.

And you knew deep down this moment would come.

"Turn around. I want to see it."

Slowly, nervously, you comply.

She laughs. She hasn't so much scared you stiff as scared you limp.

"Oh dear," she says in a mocking, baby-ish voice. "Where's he gone?"

Your face burns with embarrassment.

"How can we get him back, do you think?" You could be wrong but it occurs to you her tone is rather playful. Your heart starts up again with a mighty thud.

"Does this help?" She's lifting her top, revealing a perfect six. You hear yourself gasp, and she breaks into a smile. I wasn't wrong, you realise, she really is playing with me. She flexes, hard ridges of muscle obey, explode, so beautiful, so much thicker and so much more defined than you had ever imagined. You're rushing once more.

"Here!" she commands, pointing at the floor in front of her.

You step towards her, breathing hard, mesmerised by her rippling abdomen, and drop to your knees. It's pointing at her again, and she seems pleased about it too.

"Well, well, well..."

Her hands reach down and take yours. Strong hands, though it's not that you're resisting or anything. You feel the heat from her body, your heart pounds in your ears, and she pulls your hands up towards those beautiful ridges of muscle...

Abs Week: Flaunt

Nothing hotter than a sexy set of abs being flaunted for your viewing pleasure, but let's face it, when the lady's doing it in private - even when it's a sexy lady like (yes, you guessed it) Brazilian Raissa Rafaelli (just 21, you know) - it's not half as exciting as a public display. Sadly though, public displays are, outside of the contest arena, few and far between - or at least that's what my (hardly comprehensive) research indicates.

I have turned up a couple of corkers though.

One at the pool...



Where (yes, another) Brazilian Fernanda Schiell likes to spend much of her free time, it seems, leaving any other women brave enough to park their sun loungers in her lean and muscular vicinity feeling somewhat less confident about their bodies than they had done when they arrived. The men, meanwhile, must have to spend an inordinate amount of time in the pool, waiting for the refreshing water to work its magic and allow them to expose their trunks again. And Fernanda just sits back, flexing her core from time to time, perhaps standing up and rubbing a bit more suncream into her sexy abs - flaunting in full view of anyone who's watching.

And one at the club...



You know you are enlightened when almost every other guy in the room is looking at those orbs and you are looking at those abs. They would class you a weirdo, but isn't it true that there are plenty of women with orbs, and plenty less with abs? Call me weird if you like, you say in your imaginary conversations with people who want to understand your attraction and, as the conversations are yours to control, nearly always end up with them being entirely convinced by your eloquent arguments. Maybe, you think, a woman like Reshma Razac, who's made a special effort to put her abs on show tonight, would appreciate some appreciation of her WBFF Pro Fitness Diva midsection. Sadly though, you can't get anywhere near her...



Pesky female admirers!

The exception that public trumps private, however, proves the rule.

We leave you with serial abshibitionist and FMS fave Eleonora Dobrinina, her abs, her breathing. Deeper as we slow the clip down. Deeper still as we slow it some more...



And when you think about it actually, 469,000 and counting Instagram followers hardly equates to private flexing, does it? And I'm sure Ella knows that all too well.

Abs Week: Just Abs (That Angle)

Shannon Frederick

What should we call it, this angle? The camera (and so the viewer) adopting the same point of view as the proud owners of these quite frankly mind-melting midsections.


Jessica Hoffman

We're so close in some of them we can actually see her tiny hairs, although to be perfectly honest, and as exciting as that might sound, they are pretty much the last things on my (totally utterly and completely blown) mind right now.


"dettiketike"

This is high level female muscle fetishism. There's nothing "natural" or (as we saw yesterday) especially "functional" about having such abdominal definition, yet for an old abs man like myself, there's not much that can match their glorious beauty.



Clockwise from top left: Ella, Lauren Quinn, Destinee Bruch, and Jessica Lynn

That is VERY VERY lean, says one forum member of BJ Brunton's tanned and vascular hardness (below). Amazing look but a bit scary too. Now, many many words (and actions) come to mind as I look at BJ's POV contribution to today's post, but "scary" is most definitely not one of them. That boy needs to go back to female muscle lovin' college and take a refresher course or something. Scary?! Is he serious?


BJ Brunton

What is he scared about? Her health? You know, I'm pretty sure that BJ and all the other ladies here today can take care of themselves. But isn't that the whole point anyway - the extreme-ness of it? The desire, not only to have a bit of definition (with all the dedication, discipline and single-mindedness that entails) but go even further. To be ALL definition. Muscle, skin (and veins, and, yes, OK, the tiny hairs) and nothing else. Is it healthy? Probably not in a long-term, sustainable sense, no, I suppose it isn't. But that desire, that drive, and the result of it all, is sexy. Not scary. Sexy.


Piia Pajunen

And she knows it's sexy (which is also sexy), and that's exactly why you are getting this point of view. She wants the world (well, her world anyway) to see how shredded she is, how sexy her midriff looks. And to tell her, even though she knows. She wants affirmation, not concern, and yes, OK, "I want to give that outie a bite" is perhaps not precisely the comment Piia Pajunen was dreaming of when she snapped her abdominal masterpiece above, but she's got a whole lot of others to read as well.


Irene Andersen

She wants you to want to touch. And more besides, I imagine.

Enjoy!

"Goddess POV"? Thoughts please! 6ft1swell@gmail.com

Abs Week: Thick for Purpose

Crossfit is like a foreign country; they do abs differently there.



The vast majority of the women we feature on FMS, as this week, are in the Bodybuilding (small "b" if you prefer) game. An aesthetic sport (or "sport" if you must), its winners and losers are decided according to supposedly objective criteria by judges - who the fans will tell you (subjectively) hardly ever get it absolutely right.

For the women, even those at the quote unquote top, there's almost no money in it.

And the days before a contest is "peak week", a misleading name if ever there was one. Competitors are at their weakest as they stand on stage, but also their most beautiful. At the point where they compete, their muscles really are just for show.



Crossfit, though, is all about the stats. Everything is measured and documented, and there can be no argument about the winner of a heat, an event, or a competition.

There's money to be made. Lots of it. Mega money at the top, and what's more, it's actually the women who are the star attraction, their fame eclipsing that of their male counterparts by some distance. And no, I didn't just make that last bit up.

Crossit is all about performance. If you are not at your best on the day, you don't win. How many times have we seen FBBing champions not be at their best and still win? Never happens in Crossfit. Never. Every year is a year zero, there is absolutely no competitive advantage whatesoever to having done well the previous season.



As a result, Crossfit muscle serves an entirely different purpose to Bodybuilding muscle simply because it's a by-product of the training, not the end result itself. In Bodybuilding the muscle is the show. In Crossfit it's what that muscle can do.



Crossfit abs don't need to be lean and defined, they just need to be strong.



Witness the thickness necessary to be among the world's elite at in the "constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity" game (which is, in fact, what Crossfit defines itself as). Note the "functional"; note the "high intensity".



Witness the thickness and be clear about one thing - that despite all that I've said so far, Bodybuilding and Crossfit do have something in common. Both MUSCLE sports.



And you know despite all their "all about the functionality" attitude, the women of Crossfit are (thankfully) by no means averse to a little muscle exhibitionism either. Take, for instance, rising star Amanda Franden's tanned, bikini-clad selfie below. I don't think it wouldn't look out of place on an IFBB Bikini pro's Instagram feed.



Take, for instance, Greek's Crossit twins Thelma (left) and Stella (right, another rising star) Christoforou. Not a whole lot of functionality going on here, is there?



And here's Jennifer Kokk, also apparently indulging in a little navel gazing...



Was never about the bathroom selfie, says (yet another rising star) Jamie Goodwin about an, er, bathroom selfie with prominent abs (here). But hey, there are perks!

And long may she, and other the other beautiful women of Crossfit enjoy showing off those "perks", everywhere from the bathroom to the Crossfit arena. I mean, I'm no ecpert, but I'm pretty sure they don't have to train/compete in those tiny tops that show off their thickly-muscled midsections if they don't want to, do they?



But they do.

And I'm sure it diesn't hurt the women's popularity.



Our Crossfit correspondent had nothing to do with today's post, it's all my own rubbish, but his keyboard is no doubt bracing itself right now because qualifying for the 2017 Games will be coming soon. Follow the leaderboards on the Games' website.

Names in the file names of the images.

Enjoy!

Abs Week: Just Abs (Six-Pack)

The gorgeous midsections of six (no doubt gorgeous but we ain't interested in their faces, not today) women, kicks off with, unfortunately, an "unknown". No less gorgeous for that though. The closer you look, the better (ie. more tempting) they get, and once you've gone all the way down, taking in the individual muscles and the overall effect, to that confluence of emerging veins just above where she's (so modestly - not) holding her orange short shorts, any hands still above the table won't be there for very long.

In my experience at least.



Nuria Ferrero is a Spanish Bodyfitness athlete who likes to show off her veiny abs a lot. She's clearly ambitious for more than just our admiration (and tribute), however. She already runs her own fitness centre - Nufitnesscenter - in Valdemoro, just south of Madrid. And recently she was feliz de haber mostrado mi mejor físico hasta la fecha (happy) as she made the top 6 in both the Open and Junior tall classes at her national championships. Cue lots of Instagram clips and pics of her freaky sexy veiny abs.

Instagram gold.



These are "natural" apparently, and belong to NGA Pro Figure and NPC Figure/ Physique competitor Samantha Feenburg. In March, Samantha truly cleaned up at the (All Natural) NPC Lee Banks Natural Championships, winning the Physique, Figure and Figure Masters classes, although she didn't so much compete as turn up to win the last of those. Watch Samantha preparing for that contest (and flexing her exquisitely sweaty midsection) three weeks before that show on NPC News Online, and Samantha's contest gallery - including an impressive abs and thigh - can be found here.

Also on Instagram - just 302 followers?! Well, 303 now.



No such poxy numbers for IFBB Bikini pro Frida Paulsen Stern. 66,000+ are already glued to this Swedish phenomon on Instagram, and it's not difficult to see why. That sexy tan, every single muscle in her glorious midriff exactly where and as it should be... Hang on! Did I just type "Bikini"?! These perfect abs are Bikini abs?!

I must pay more attention - the kind of attention paid by the mainstream muscle media to Frida. It's her "amazing abs and hypnotic stage presence" that makes her so "exciting", says Mike Carlson, who interviewed Frida for Ironman. Well, I can't say I've much experience of her stage presence, but the abs... See them in motion here.

She's just 22, by the way.



No such tidiness in the abdominal area for the freakishly vascular Vika Pogribnyak, but that certainly hasn't stopped the forums falling for her - it's all hands below all over the place for Ukraine's 2016 Bodyfitness champ. Granted, her midriff isn't always as vascular as shown here (this was after a pre-contest "force feed", apparently) but even so, those are truly impressive tributaries that I can't seem to stop drooling over.

WOW!

Don't bother putting it away before visiting Vika on Instagram.

And finally...



On the off chance that you weren't already nursing a raging Zardon.

You will like this too.

Enjoy!

Abs Week: How Does She Do It?

Today, a very close look at what exactly FMS heartthrob and muscle exhibitionist Claudia Bonavoglia does to make her midriff so damn appealing with an FMS (ie. not very professional!) edit of some of Claudia's (many) Instagram abs work clips.

Feel the rhythm.



Phew! No wonder she loves showing them off so much...

See more still on Claudia's Instagram.

Divertir-se!

Abs Week: 50 Year-Old Abs

For no other reason than we haven't had one for a while...

Welcome to ABS WEEK on FMS

And we begin our look at a few of the more magnificent midsections of the world with one belonging to France's Valerie Texier, who just happens to be 50 this year.



Valerie competes in Bodyfitness, recently at the IFBB French Championships in Biarritz, which is where we see her backstage (above), and posing (and making women considerably younger than her feel wholly inadequate) by the pool (below).



Now I can't say I know much about Valerie other than she's a personal trainer, but I do know that the closer we get to her incroyables abdominales, the better they look.



This black and white gem was taken after a "dure séance d'abdos" apparently, during Valerie's prep for the European Championships, where she represented her country in the 45+ Masters Bodyfitness class. The detail, I think you will agree, is astonishing (among other things). Glistening ridges of muscle, so dure and so so sexy.



We leave you though with those abdos in full colour and tan, another from Valerie's poolside downtime after the French Championships. It's not often we feature French women on the blog - the country, historically, has punched well below its weight in terms of female muscle - but something tells me we may meet Valerie again...

In the meantime, follow her on Instagram.

Abs Week continues demain.

Sunday Sizzler

Just over two years since we last saw her on the blog (she'd just graduated and competed for the first - and so far only- time), and just over a year since her last appointment with the surgeon after a serious knee injury, the beautiful body of brainy Brittni Kent makes a welcome return to FMS, and isn't she looking glorious?!



With extra ink, and now, apparently, an inhabitant of "Dimension C-137", Brittni doesn't seem to be getting all shredded for any reason other than she likes to be the girl with the 8-pack (and the pec veins). And to be honest, I'm not sure where or how FMS got hold of these far-far-too-racy-for Instagram pearls, but I am sure glad that we did.

Enjoy!