FBBUK: In the Media

ARGH!!!

Back in January, FMS reported on the use of muscular Jelena Abbou in a MAC cosmetics advertising campaign (see Muscle and Madmen). We hoped that this campaign would be the first of many. Well, now, in Britain, our wish has come true.

Sort of.

It's not exactly the kind of glamorous campaign that was created for MAC, but advertising company BBH has used bodybuilders (male and female, the females being Rene Campbell and Tamara Makar) in a series of TV and print ads for the orange soft drink Tango.



There's been enough negativity about the ads from the bodybuilding community for Rene to feel the need to defend her participation on her blog. I don't see that there is any harm in them at all, she writes. They are meant to be "HUMOROUS"!!!. They are not meant to demean the bodybuilding community... I see it as a good thing - getting bodybuilding into the public eye. Life is way too serious - people need to chill out and lighten up a little.

And while Rene was screaming on UK TV screens, Hungarian-born Tamara Makar, who is the reigning NAC Miss World, greeted readers of Britain's best-selling 'newspaper', The Sun, on 8th June.


Tamara at the NAC Worlds 2012, and in the Tango ad

[Tamara] is hoping the publicity will be good for both the sport of female bodybuilding and her own career, reported Real Female Bodybuilding.

Mmmm. Tango have always gone for the kind of advertising that gets people talking, so I can see the attraction for them. And for Rene and Tamara too, exposure, contacts, money... Why not do it? They are not responsible for the perception of female bodybuilders by the general public, and if they'd said no I'm sure the advertisers would have found two other female bodybuilders who would have said yes. Anyway, don't they say that no publicity is bad publicity?

But, like I said, not EXACTLY what I'd hoped for.


DEAR COLEEN,

The following cry for help appeared in The Mirror back in May, accompanied with the pic of Brenda Smith below:

Dear Coleen,
I have a problem that might seem trivial, but it is depressing me. I have always been attracted to athletic, sporty women, but recently my tastes have become extreme, to the point where I only like female bodybuilders. I realise I’m not alone and there are websites devoted to fans of female muscle, but extremely muscular women are not in abundance, and my chances of finding a partner I fancy are small. How can I stop myself fancing these types of women?



'Coleen' is Coleeen Nolan, of The Nolan Sisters, a family (and family-friendly) pop group from the 80s. These days Coleen is more famous for dishing out advice on TV as well as for this national newspaper, which is second only to The Sun in terms of circulation.

Now the predicament described is a familiar one to many a British female muscle fan, and I dare say a familiar one to the majority of female muscle fans around the world.

Coleen's response is not to tell the writer to seek professional help, nor to explore the possibility that he may be gay. In fact, there is not even the slightest intimation that there is something 'wrong' with the writer at all - other than that he might be giving up too easily!

Most people, she points out, never meet their ideal man or woman anyway, whatever that ideal may be. And even if you do, there's no guarantee there will be any chemistry between you. And then she goes on to say, It sounds to me as if you haven’t tried very hard to find your dream woman. Go to bodybuilding competitions as a spectator, join a gym and get involved so you can meet like-minded people.

Seriously, I'm sceptical whether the letter to Coleen was real or just made up by one of the paper's staff writers. And I'm sceptical whether it is actually Coleen Nolan who writes the replies. Nevertheless, it seems kind of amazing that the 'problem' so many of us have struggled, or indeed are struggling with, should be acknowledged in this way, and dealt with as matter-of-factly as any other issue that might appear in that column.

Isn't that refreshing? (Unlike Tango!)


AND FINALLY...

Not exactly female muscle, but I did just want to say well done to everyone in Britain who rounded on BBC TV presenter John Inverdale for his idiotic comments about new Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli.



For those not up to speed on the story, Inverdale, the main man for BBC Sport these days, has been rightly pilloried for mocking the French tennis star's looks before she took to the court for the final against Sabine Lisicki earlier this month. The BBC received over 600 complaints almost immediately, with the number rising into the thousands within a few days. Despite grovelling apologies from both Inverdale and the BBC, it's actually got to the stage now where the BBC's Director General is having to explain to a government minister why the presenter still has a job.



The really great thing about a lot of the complaints and comments that have been made is that so many of them use the words 'strong' and 'beautiful' or 'strong' and 'sexy' in the same sentence. And that's exactly what FMS feels about Marion, and about a lot of other women that men like Inverdale would ridicule, women in all kinds of sports.





Meanwhile, Bartoli showed that it's not only on the tennis court that she has class. I invite this journalist to come and see me this evening in ball gown and heels, she said, referring to the annual 'Winner's Ball' after the men's final on the second Sunday of the tournament. In my opinion he could change his mind.



More FBB UK tomorrow!

FBBUK: Rene Goes Pro

My time in Chicago is going to be very exciting, Rene blogged a week before taking the stage as a pro for the first time at the IFBB Wings of Strength at the beginning of July. I will have the amazing opportunity to be on a pro stage with the best of the best in the world. That in itself is an amazing achievement for me - something which I will always remember. The highlight of the show will be seeing Lenda Murray doing a guest spot.



Little was said about Rene in the previews to the show. She didn’t feature in any predictions for the top 5, probably because as a Brit and a new pro she was something of an unknown quantity. But if you’d seen any of Rene’s website updates from this year, you could have seen she was more than ready to be judged side-by-side with ‘the best of the best’.





And she certainly got Bodybuilding.com’s play-by-play commentators’ attention when she walked on stage for the pre-judging: Incredibly tight midsection. Great posing. Very aesthetic. Legs a tad small from the front but her shape makes up for any lack in size. Great hams and rear double bicep. Good lat spread!




Rene was awarded fourth place in a competitive, high-quality field, behind the winner Monique Jones, last year’s NPC Nationals champ Juanita Blaino, and perennial top-6 finisher Tina Chandler.



This would be a great achievement in itself, of course, but Rene had slightly more pre-contest hassles than most of the other competitors. Consider the journey to Chicago alone. Just a case of hopping on a plane? Wrong! Check out this extract from Rene’s blog for an insight into just what a female bodybuilder has to go through even after all the training is done…

Because I'm flying for 8½ hours and there is a chance I will hold onto water on the plane I am making sure I have zero carbs the day before flying, zero carbs on the flight - only protein and veg, and dependant on how much water retention I have I will most likely have no carbs the day after flying. That leaves me only 2 days to carb load before my contest.

Food for the plane. Well of course you can't eat anything else besides what's on your diet plan so my turkey will be cooked for so long that it’s rock hard. The idea behind this is so that it doesn't go off on the flight as I've got to prepare enough food so I'm eating every 2 hours.

I also start water loading a week out from contest so by the time I fly I will be on 7.5l and 7000mg of vit C. This will mean visiting the bathroom every half hour at least! I feel sorry for whoever will be sat next to me as they will be constantly having to get up so I can go to the bathroom. I may have to pre warn any passengers next to me of the impending nuisance! Perhaps if they know they will kindly give me the aisle seat!

Comfortable clothing. I have to make sure I'm wearing loose comfortable clothes and open flip flops to ensure circulation and keep walking up and down the aisle to help with circulation.

On arrival in Chicago I will spend the next day with my legs elevated and just rest to try and drop water.

I remember when I flew to Australia one year - my body held onto so much water that you couldn't tell where my knee was. My leg was one straight line! Hopefully this won't happen otherwise this will mean a whole year’s prep down the drain because of water retention! Not good!

And you thought you had hassles when you travelled!

But having got there with her knees still clearly visible, Rene had a blast, posting on her Facebook page, I'm loving the weather in Chicago. Loving the accents. Saw a sexy black Mustang. Met some really nice people. Got a photo with Lenda Murray. Having a great time.

She certainly looked like she belonged in a pro show. I’m no female bodybuilding judge, as you’ve probably guessed if you’ve read much of this blog, but in my unqualified opinion, Rene has never looked bigger or better-conditioned. There were plenty of seasoned pros on that stage, women like Sherry Smith, Emery Miller, Christine Envall. And she beat them all, and fully-deserved to do so.




So, was Chicago the first of many for Rene? Can us Brits finally look forward to cheering on one of our own at the big shows after all these years?

Perhaps, but worryingly, perhaps not. Information has been given to FMS (I should say that we are accepting this information in good faith) that Rene is considering her future and at the moment it seems one future she is seriously considering is not one that involves her continuing as a professional bodybuilder.

And let’s not forget that unless the IFBB continue to include female bodybuilding in their contests in the coming years, no one will be cheering anyone on.

Whether by her own decision or a decision made for her (and many other FBBs) by the IFBB, it would be a crying shame if Chicago were the end for Rene, rather than the beginning it should be. And not just for us male fans.

Mega ripped & raw powerful sexy u amazing & truly one of kind congratulations dynamite muscle bound beauty

You look PROPER amazing! Jealous xx

Amazing, I’d love to look like that xx

I think she is the Angelina Jolie of FBBing

Ren you just keep getting better and better. Amazing physique and your conditioning is immense. I admire your will power determination passion and dedication. Truly beautiful xxx

These are all comments from Rene’s Facebook page after the Chicago show, and all comments made by women. The real shame if Rene were to bring her career to an end would be for the women she inspires, just as Lenda Murray inspired her.

The real shame would be if there was no possibility, one day in the future, of a young, inexperienced pro female bodybuilder writing on her blog that she was super-excited about her first pro show, and was especially looking forward to having the chance to meet her idol, Rene Campbell.

Perhaps you'd like to congratulate and/or encourage Rene via her Facebook, Twitter or blog, and watch new clips of Rene which are going up all the time on the Booost Oxygen youtube channel.

FMS says: CONGRATULATIONS RENE! WE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU!

FBBUK: Donna Hartley-Wass

FMS’ latest irregular and far from comprehensive week-long survey of all things UK femuscle-related begins, I’m afraid, with some not so good news.

Swell was extremely sad to hear of the untimely death of the former British athlete turned female bodybuilder Donna Hartley-Wass at the beginning of June.



As a child I remember cheering Donna on with my family watching the Commonwealth Games in the late 70s, and the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980. I was too young to have had any ‘feelings’ for her at that age, but she was the ‘Golden Girl’ of British athletics at the time, the Jessica Ennis of her era, a natural for the cameras as well as a world-class athlete.

As The Independent puts it in their obituary of Donna, With her long blonde hair and flashing smile, Hartley was an attractive as well as an accomplished performer. At a time when women's sprinting was dominated by runners from the Eastern bloc – many of whom were subsequently implicated in doping regimes – she was a Brit genuinely capable of mixing it.




She was awarded an MBE in 1979, and retired from athletics a year later. but I also remember her being a fixture on Superstars (a British TV show where sports stars would compete against each other in various events – swimming, cycling etc.). It was a huge show in its time, and Donna was still more than famous enough to be among those chosen for the show.

But what really makes Donna worth remembering here is what she decided to do next. In the mid-1980s, Donna Hartley became a bodybuilder, hardly a common career-move (more’s the pity!) for renowned UK female athletes.

Many within athletics were stunned to see pictures of Hartley's changed physique at the time, according to UK athletics historian Stan Greenberg.



And it wasn’t just those within her sport who were stunned. My abiding memory of Donna is an appearance she made on The Last Resort, the chat show that launched Jonathan Ross’ TV career, in the late 1980s.

There I was, mid-teens, as I always was on a Friday night, watching TV. I quite liked this new-style chat show and the irreverent host, and there was nothing better on, so as usual, I’d tuned into Channel 4 that night. Among the guests Jonathan promised us that night in his intro was the familiar name of Donna Hartley, but little did I suspect why exactly she was on the show, little did I suspect one of my formative female muscle experiences was about to unfold.

Out she came in a long black bathrobe that all but covered her entire body. She was a little older (obviously) than I remembered her, but also blonder, more glamorous, more tanned. She had a definite glow about her.

I’d only ever seen one other female bodybuilder actually move at that time, my first, Carolyn Cheshire, also on British TV, so by the time Donna appeared on my TV screen that night, I had already been converted. So the excitement I felt when Donna took off that bathrobe to reveal her muscular physique in all its glory was an excitement I had felt before, an excitement I have become accustomed to.

She proceeded to go through her routine right in front of the (for once) speechless host, even (if memory serves) climbing onto his desk at one point. Every move she made was accompanied by her gleaming smile. She looked so confident, so sexy.

While Jonathan sat there open-mouthed, while the audience gasped, Donna hit pose after pose. I was in teenage female muscle heaven.



After the routine, she sat down, grinning. She teased the obviously stunned Ross, kind of mockingly flirting with him as he recoiled. She enjoyed the shock she had caused. At no point did she seem anything less than totally and utterly comfortable with her own body. It was intoxicating.

All too quickly it was over and the show went to a commercial break. But in those days I recorded everything. And once the rest of my family had gone to bed that night, I watched Donna over and over again, and continued to do so for weeks and months (perhaps years) afterwards, officially retiring that VHS from family circulation and stashing it away with my growing collection of muscle magazines.

And amazingly, footage of her guest posing has survived, and thanks to ‘Vivian Gregson’ on youtube, FMS can share Donna with you as he remembers her from that night in a suburban South London home all those years ago…



Donna competed for only two years, finishing 3rd in the NABBA Britain and Universe contests in 1987, and winning the Britain title and finishing runner-up at the Universe the following year.



With her superior sporting genes and athletics background, she had the potential to be one of the greatest female bodybuilders this country has ever produced, but the sport, it turned out, wasn’t for her. You could only get into terrific shape twice a year because of the dieting and were on stage for 10 minutes, so I didn't think it worth the effort, she said later. But I learned a lot about nutrition.



It was during this time that she met and married her second husband, Bobby Knutt, a comedian and actor from UK TV who was himself quite famous at the time. When they celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2011, Bobby revealed he had been smitten instantly. She had the most beautifully shaped behind I’d ever seen, he recalled. Clearly a man of some taste.

Donna retired from the public eye, settled down with Bobby in the North of England, and went into hotel spa and leisure club management.

She was, by all accounts, a wonderful woman, and FMS’ thoughts go out to her husband, family and her friends.

Abs Queens

Reader Request:
ELENA OANA HREAPCA














No big surprise that Oana is FMS readers' Queen of Abs Queens. It wasn't even remotely close. She received over half of all the votes cast, and even if she hadn't I would have chosen her as number one anyway, so, (in the best tradition of female bodybuilding contests) the winner was known before the voting began!

But unlike some female bodybuilding contests, I don't think there will be any complaints about the result. After all, we're not the first, and we probably won't be the last, to claim that Oana has the best abs on the planet.




There are few finer sights in the female muscle world than Elena lifting up her shirt to reveal her eight-pack, or Oana hitting the abdominals and thighs pose in competition. As we've seen before this week, for fans, it's not just about having visible abs, our favourites all seem to have thick mountainous ridges of muscle, rising from and separated by deep valleys that cut into the abdominal wall. Elena's abs are the epitome of this female muscle phenomenon.



She has said she rates her shoulders and back as her best body parts, and also admits to 'being known' for her traps, but FMS simply cannot believe she isn't aware of how good her abs are. She's made so many abs fetish posing clips for her own website, often coating them with oil for her members' viewing pleasure, and on stage, for example at the 2012 NABBA Worlds (which she won), she was still hitting abs shots while they were trying to present her with her medal (see Images of 2012 for more on that). Oana doesn't fool me. Her shoulders, her back, her traps, hell, throw in her pecs too, her whole upper body is sensational, but there are a lot of FBBs with big bad upper bodies. Her abs, on the other hand, well, they are truly unique, truly her fortune.

And she knows it.



Observe these shots from the recent WABBA Worlds. Ignore everything else and focus on the abs. Am I the only one who thinks it looks as though Elena is not only in a different class to the other women, but also seems to be from an entirely different species?! And by the way, she finished second - what were we saying about contest results? The winner was Italy's Cristina Franzoso, in the centre in the bottom picture. Really! It's unpleasant at contests where you're not judged right, says Oana, showing an exceptional grasp of the power of understatement. It can happen often. Too true!



But enough of that. Let's get back to what we came for, to sing the praises of the finest abdominals in the female muscle world right now. Ah yes, her fortune. Had a webcam with Oana? Or seen one? If the answer to both of these questions is 'No', FMS strongly suggests you get busy putting that right. There is nothing in my experience quite as breathtaking as Oana's abs up close and personal (well, as personal as a computer screen gets, anyway) especially when you are the one she's flexing them for. It's the female muscle fan equivalent of seeing the face of God or something. And she's never really off-season, so whenever you decide to put your hand in your pocket for a bit of Queen Muscle on HerBicepsCam, you will not be disappointed.



Gentlemen, FMS gives you your (and our) Queen of All Abs Queens.

All hail Queen Elena Oana Hreapca!



Enjoy!