Pic of the Week

The gorgeous Jay Fuchs relaxes before showtime at last weekend's Tampa Pro.



Dem pecs doe! SWOOON!

Jay finished 5th and won the Best Poser award.

Check her out on stage in Tampa here.

Enjoy!

Reader Request: Denise Faith

It's been four years (!) since the last time we had a Reader Request here on the blog (it was Geraldine Morgan), so to say another is long overdue is something of an understatement. I want to stress that the reason for this isn't because we haven't been asking readers for their suggestions during this time, and nor is it because we get the requests and then reject them! So please, please do send in any suggestions - either for individual women, themes, whatever. Anything you think might make a good post (or more), we would love to hear from you. The address, as ever, is 6ft1swell@gmail.com (or use the comment box below or on any FMS post).

OK, so on with the show...

DENISE FAITH



She's my personal champion right now, says FMS reader JT. I'm talking about Denise Faith, the beautiful and massive-getting-bigger-every-day Swedish IFBB pro. Check out her updates on her Facebook feed. The latest is that her arms are stretching the measuring tape (and my imagination) to 49cm or 19.2 inches!



And there it was. Her near as dammit 50cm arm, along with a follow-up pic of her beautiful bicep encased with the measuring tape to prove the doubter who questioned her size wrong. Moha ha ha! she writes. Bigger than the Boyz!



Denise (sometimes spelt as Deniz) has been on the FMS radar since 2013, when she appeared at the last IFBB Worlds to feature a Female Bodybuilding category.



She finished 5th, which given the evidence of these shots from the contest, seems rather, well, ridiculous. But since then the 2012 Swedish champion has gained her pro card. In an interview with RxMuscle from early 2014 she talks about competing in her first pro show in Toronto that year, but as far as I can see, that never happened. Nor did rumours that she was going to be at the Tampa Pro last weekend prove true.



The latest is this (from her Facebook page): After seeing The Tampa Pro line-up I know I can make a great impact and break into a top 5 position next year by making the necessary improvements both in posing and details! I got more than enough mass to stand my ground on the pro scene, just got to keep on grinding with the posing and carving out striations. And keeping my waist in. So excited for next season!



Looks like we'll just have to wait. But JT is finding ways to pass the time at least.



Denise's recent arm measurements caused what he calls his "statto mind" to start whirring away, and before long... Google search for 19 inch thighs, and you can find a lot of self-conscious women worrying whether their 19 inch thighs are too big! One guy even posted on Denise's thread that his thighs are 19 inches. I don't think she was talking about legs when she said "bigger than the boyz"!

Next, searching for 19 inch waist does also deliver some results. Most of them appear to be the result of extreme behaviour - corset wearing or starvation - but there are some women with waists smaller than Denise's arms. Incredible.



Finally, the inevitable comparison for such things is to bring up Renee Toney. Now I'm a big fan of "size" but there's no comparison for me between the Viking-maiden beauty of Denise and the androgynous hulking of Renee. Denise wants more, and that would be great, particularly if she can retain the feminity along side the bulk.

I am willing to bet she can meet her 50cm target, and still look gorgeous.



Denise originally took up weight training as the result of a basketball injury. I was hooked! she says. I found out that I like muscular guys and was interested in muscle magazines like Muscular Development etc. Well that's curious, because if you substitute "girls" for "guys" and take away the basketball injury, that's a very familiar story! Anyway, Denise continues by saying that I didn't do anything about it until I met my fiancé 10 years ago. He helped me to compete for the first time in Figure. The year after I competed in Bodybuilding and I was hooked again.




She now co-owns the PT business "Coach XtraOrdinaire" with that fiancé of hers, so, despite the constantly put back pro debut, it doesn't seem like Denise is about to change. [Since] I got my pro card it's another ball game for me. It feels like starting over again and I am once again hooked! she explains. This is what I want to do.



Follow Denise's ever-changing competition plans, her continued gorgeousness, and her quest for those 50cm arms on her aforementioned Facebook and/or Instagram.



Massive-like-Denise thanks to JT for the suggestion. Enjoy!

Whole Lotta Margie

It's unprecedented. And I'm finding it hard to get used to. With all four IFBB pro shows with big girls done and dusted, I find that in two of them - 50% no less - the woman I wanted to win won. It was Pride of Britain Lisa Cross in Omaha back in May, and then last weekend in Tampa, lightning struck again when the vesuvial whole lotta woman Margie Martin won her first ever pro title. Can anybody tell me what is going on?!



Joking aside, regular readers will know very well my feelings for Margie. I was slightly offended to find her only just inside the top 50 on our Hot and Hard 100 poll, but the way the judges had treated her so far this season was really beginning to vex me. Tampa was her fourth show in just over two months. Her highest placing previously had been in Toronto, 5th. It wasn't looking like it was going to be Margie's year.



But she wasn't about to give up the year. And nor was she feeling anything less than 100% volcanic. I not gonna type any philosophical bullshit in hope to sound deep while posting a selfie, she told her Instagram followers regarding the pic above. I'm gonna tell you I put in WORK this is WORK and Hot dammit I look GOOD.



And that swoonworthy arrogance was still very much there on the day before the show as she checked in. Check-in look for the Tampa Pro. I don't like to toot my own horn but heads did turn... what am I saying? Of course I do, if I didn't no one else will!

Knowing that was Margie's frame of mind I eagerly awaited the first look of her on stage on Saturday, checking my phone over and over as I waited for what seemed an eternity for the first prejudging pics to go up. When they finally did, I was not disappointed.




Resplendent in her bright yellow posing suit, I could feel Margie's intoxicating confidence in her beaming smile as she hit her compulsory poses. The peaks on her biceps, the detail across her back, those big, beautiful lats. There's a little clip on Margie's Instagram of her own mother (at her first bodybuilding show) excitedly whoopin' and hollerin' for one of the men. Well, that's pretty much the effect these pics of Margie at the prejudging had on me. Look at the double-layer of prime beef in her pecs evident when she hits the side chest. And, best of all, feel the power of those mighty, sweeping quads. Lawdy this woman can make me SWOON!

In that kind of shape she has to be in the frame, I thought. But then again what do I know? The judges will probably put her down in 5th or 6th as usual. But when I woke on Sunday morning and (immediately) checked to see if the results were up, I was whoopin' and hollerin' (internally, of course - the wife was still sleeping - but whoopin' and hollerin' nonetheless) all over again. Lady MVM was the Tampa champ.




The prejudging smile was nowhere to be seen in the pics of her routine, replaced by pure attitude. I practice my routines for days remembering to smile each time but this time it was just different! she said afterwards. Looks to me like she went out there - after all her hard work and the three previous shows in 2015 where she hadn't got what she deserved - and demanded the judges give her the damn title.

And that's powerful stuff.

Check out all the pics here.

And I leave you today with Fran Muscle's excellent "Ultimate Muscle Margie" edit. The soundtrack couldn't be more appropriate right now. She is, indeed, on fire.



These clips have a habit of disappearing, so here's a download link.

Enjoy!

Media Watch Special: Ugne Bakes

The televisual phenomenon that is The Great British Bake Off returned to UK screens this time last week, its ratings higher than ever. Now I've never been the biggest fan of the show, but for once, I was glued to it. All because of Ugne Bubnaityte.



For non-UK readers, I should probably explain. It's a baking competition. On TV. Actually, it's not as bad as it sounds, but like I said, I'm not the biggest fan. Anyway, since its inception a few years back, it's become one of the most popular shows on British TV. Even if you don't watch it, you can't help but be aware of it. People talk about it. The contestants become, for a while, part of the national consciousness.

And this year, one of the contestants is a female bodybuilder. Ugne Bubnaityte is originally from Lithuania, and now lives in Essex. And she got more than her fair share of the (considerable) press the show generates before the first episode airs.

All the national newspapers ran pieces on the show on or before last Wednesday. The Great British Bake Off has yet to start, said The Independent, but one of its contestants is already causing quite a stir. And they were just one of (at least) three nationals that featured the lovely Ugne as their "Bake Off" story. Given there are twelve contestants in total (now eleven after last week's elimination) that seems a pretty impressive percentage of column inches already. And that was before the show had even started.



Fair to say then that there must be something about Ugne. Could it be the muscle? Meet the Bake Off contestant WITHOUT a soggy bottom, ran the headline in the (female muscle lovin') Daily Mail, who went on to inform us that Ugne is carving herself a career as a body builder (their space) and describes herself as a 'fitness fanatic'.



As usual, the term "bodybuilder" as used by the mainstream media has a somewhat looser interpretation than you or I might give it. The Mail even claims she is a "professional bodybuilder", which was news to me, and, it turns out, to Ugne too. I really did not expect my training regime would turn me into a 'pro bodybuilder' with a bodybuilding career overnight. Having not put a foot on stage yet... got to laugh that one off, she told her blog followers the day the piece in The Mail appeared.



And there were her muscles again, front and centre (albeit for a blink-and-you-miss-it fraction of a second) as she was introduced to the viewers as the new season of Bake Off began last Wednesday evening. And as I watched (and thought to myself 'I hope there's more gym footage than that') I couldn't help wondering how Ugne mid shoulder press was being received by the millions in their living rooms up and down the country.

Well, as far as I can tell, she's become a bit of a sex symbol. One Welsh viewer and female muscle fan (not so closet) has even caused his own little media storm after the lurve poem he wrote to (and titled) Ugne and posted on his Facebook page went viral.

My Lithuanian love,
My weightlifting dove,
My Amazonian queen,
My cake baking dream,

Let us imagine our life,
Together you and I,
Going to the gym in the day,
Then home for cake and pie...

Read on if you dare.



So, what do we have so far? A woman who lifts and loves baking. Her successful application to the biggest TV show in Britain, and the resulting media interest based solely on the fact that she is a muscular woman. Her first appearance on said show setting male and female hearts a flutter all over the land. And Episode 2 is just hours away. I'll be watching and rooting for Ugne (and hoping she has to really knead some dough with those arms of hers this week). And I imagine I won't be alone.



Top capping from Bake Off Episode 1 (the last three images) courtesy of UK female muscle bloggin' legend and creator of the FMS Hot and Hard 100 2015 pdf, the much-admired PumpItUp. Apparently, his talents know no bounds.

Enjoy!

At the Beach with... Helle Larsen

We'll often be spending time on those beaches during the rest of August here on FMS. You know the ones, they're the ones where the muscle girls go. The ones that seem to be the closest thing to a beach paradise (or the closest thing I can imagine anyway). We know through the pictures that these beaches are out there somewhere.

And yet they never seem to be the beach where I am when I go to the beach.

Anyway, today we go to the beach in the company of Danish Bodyfitness turned Physique competitor Helle Larsen. Helle, like Britain's own Truly, Disgustingly Peeled Physique competitor Corinne Ingman is a woman who suffers from being "too" shredded come contest time. But if you want more of the super cuts, check out Helle's Instagram and Facebook and prepare to catch your jaw as it drops.

But wait! Before you do that, let's check out Helle on the beach together in a little series of candids that we're going to subtitle 'The Muscle Girl Can't Help It'.



I REALLY want to flex. But nobody's looking. Oh, wait, there you go, starting to get a bit of attention. OK, now I have an audience, let's go on with the show...



YES! Damn I feel so strong and powerful right now. Oh that feels good. Trust me that feels AMAZING. Every man on this beach must be so turned on right now. And every woman wishes they had this kind of power. So good. I'd be looking at me.



And now for the money shot. URRRRRGH! When I get bored of this I'm just going to strut up and down feeling all those eyes on me. I LOVE coming to the beach.

Enjoy!

Look out for more beach-related female muscle soon.

Clip of the Week

ANGELA RAYBURN IFBB PRO

I have to admit that the first twenty-five seconds, in which we follow IFBB Pro Angela Rayburn along the street and into the gym in slightly slow motion, are plenty exciting enough for me. But then she picks up the weights and starts pumping those leaned out pre-contest muscles of hers. And suddenly her whole upper body looks like it's about to explode right out through her skin and there are veins and striations everywhere...

That's when my excitement level goes all the way up to 11.

SWOON!



Enjoy!

The FMS Hot and Hard 100 2015 pdf

I would love in the near future to be able to go to the newsagents and come across a beautiful edition of the FMS Hot and Hard 100, just like you can with FHM...

And today that reader's wish is a little closer to reality. No, we haven't secured a deal with Condé Nast to publish the Hot and Hard 100 in a glossy magazine to be distributed all over the world (if only!) but as he did last year, our old friend PumpItUp had taken up the challenge of producing a pdf version of our annual list.

In 2014, by his own admission, it was a bit rough and ready, but yesterday I promised you a treat, and the 2015 version of the pdf os most certainly that. I actually used a proper DTP program this time! says PumpItUp. And it really shows.

Download and enjoy.

Upload it to forums, Facebook pages, wherever you think it might be appreciated.

Why not print it out if you can, get it bound and put it on your shelf?

Just like FHM, but with MUSCLE!

The FMS HOT and HARD 100 2015 pdf

Please give your comments on the pdf below. And don't forget to visit PumpItUp's Female Muscle - the longest-running female muscle blog in the whole world. Go show the man some love. It's the least you can do after all his hard work.

Enjoy!

Size Matters: Fantasy Contest Top 10

Back in May 2012, we asked our readers to choose a "Fantasy Contest" line-up.

Imagine you could have a female bodybuilding contest where all the competitors were your favourites, and they would be at their absolute peak irrespective of the era they actually competed in. Kind of like Bill and Ted, you have a time machine and you can travel back and forth in time collecting your favourite FBBs for your dream show.

There was no time limit attached to the voting, so while over the weeks and months that followed we posted the choices of the several readers who bothered to get in touch, we've never had any final count to establish the ultimate line-up. Until now.

As I mentioned last Friday, this weekend's offerings represent something of a statistical watershed for the blog, posts #999 and #1,000. And so, to mark FMS' final 3-digit post, and to finally draw a line under what was (until we came up with the idea for the Hot and Hard 100 anyway) our most successful attempt to get our fellow female muscle heads involved in what appears on FMS, it is with no little pride that we bring you, AT LAST, the women who make up our collective Fantasy Contest Top Ten.

Happily for me, my two all-time favourites have made the list, but in many ways the line-up is as interesting for who is not in it as who is. There's not a single Ms Olympia or Ms International winner (no Iris, no Lenda, no Yaxeni) although two of the line-up have NABBA World titles, and another was a Jan Tana Pro winner.

There are two women from Europe, two from Canada, and six from the US. Two of them have already competed and won in 2015, and another will be competing for the first time this year at the Tampa Pro today. One, sadly I think, is still active but now competes in the WPD rather than as a bodybuilder, and another hasn't retired as such, but isn't expected to take the stage again until 2016.

The vast majority of the women on the list were at their peak during the first decade of the 21st century, so despite all the stuff that is said about the 1980s, it's fair to say that in fact the noughties represent, for FMS readers at least (or the readers we had in 2012 anyway) something of a "golden age" of female muscle.

But enough of my yakking. On with the fantasy show...!

We've had the prejudging, we've had the evening wear and strength rounds, and in the auditorium now the FMS-reading female muscle heads who were lucky enough to receive their complimentary tickets and who have only just finished cleaning themselves up after the routines await the finale of the ultimate female muscle show.

It's finals time. And the top ten are in the wings awaiting their introductions.

Our MC, Noel Edmonds, takes his place at the lectern to the right of the stage...

Ladies and gentlemen, the first of our finalists is a genuine goddess of female muscle. When she came on stage in the first round we had to call the paramedics for our head judge. She's on almost everybody's all-time list, and tonight she's appearing as she did when winning the NPC Nationals in 2004. Get that defibrillator charged up cos it looks like Swell's going to need it. From Texas, the state where everything is bigger and better... The legend, gorgeous, GINA, not Geena, DAVIS!




Gina in motion, and on FMS.

Deep breaths gentlemen, pace yourselves now, we've nine more to go. As you can see, reinforcements are being added to the stage so you KNOW something big this way comes... She's still competing and enjoying her most successful IFBB year ever in 2015, but tonight appearing in her gigantic, jaw-dropping turn of the millennium shape. And she's promised not to stop the most musculars till that top comes clean off... it's the Wonder from Down Under, CHRISTINE ENVALL!





Christine on FMS.

And now, prepare to be amazed. Perhaps the super freakiest super freak of them all. Appearing tonight in her 2005 Canadian Nationals winning guise... From Montreal, Canada, yes that is a penoris you see before you and yes, she is pleased to see you, it's time to get exposed to the mighty muscles of COLLETTE GUIMOND!




Collette on FMS.

And they keep on coming... She has shipped more WPW videos than any other woman. She's an irresistible combination of brawn and beauty. The Beach Boys might have wished they all could be Californian, but we wish they all could be like our next finalist. From Orange County, appearing in her 2000 Ms Olympia shape. Get your hands away from there and put them together if you can, and if you can't, just howl your appreciation for the baby-faced beef of hot hot hot DENISE HOSHOR!




Denise in motion, and on FMS.

The fantasy continues, ladies and gentlemen, with the woman they now call Mrs Trevino. She's been an IFBB pro winner in 2015, but you voted for her as she was in 2003 when she made the Ms Olympia seeming to come from nowhere but actually coming from Brondby in Denmark to win the Jan Tana Pro Classic. Is it me or is it getting hell-e hot in here? What's that you say? It is? Well, that can only mean it's time to fall in love with those legs all over again. It's HELLE NIELSEN!




Helle on FMS.

And now, gentlemen, another muscle goddess we know you're going to be unable to contain your appreciation for. From the paradise of Hawaii, she has the face of an angel, muscles from heaven, and a V-taper that's truly cosmic. Appearing tonight in the shape and the red posing suit that somehow survived her pre-2000 routines. Gentlemen, start your engines and feel the power of PAULA SUZUKI!




Four minutes of Paula in motion and interviewed.

The last of our unplaced finalists has gone blond since you voted for her in 2012, and that's just one of the enhancements she has made to her female muscle fantasy physique. You know who I'm talking about, right? Well try not to blow it all before she actually starts... Appearing tonight in her own-the-show 2014 NPC USAs shape, there's absolutely no surname necessary. Prepare for that impossible neck-wrenching pec bounce. Prepare to be amazed... It's ALEESHA!




Aleesha on FMS.

Think it can't get any better than that? Think again! We now come to the top three. And in joint second place a woman who once had the female muscle world at her feet. She's now competing in the WPD... Settle down, settle down... But tonight, for one night only she's reprising her blow the competition away 2011 Canadian Nationals most muscular. From Repentigny in the province of Quebec, gentlemen, it's the fabulous fantasy muscle of FABIOLA BOULANGER!




Fabi on FMS.

With exactly as may votes as Fabi, also in joint second place a woman who has been quickening the pulse for so long it was almost impossible for you to pick which version of her was your fantasy. In the end, the judges decided to pull a show out of the hat, and I'm very pleased to announce that she's appearing tonight braided as she was when she displayed her pure animal sexuality at the 2007 Ms Olympia. From the city of New Orleans, she's been turning us on for decades... here's TAZZIE!




Tazzie in motion in 1997 and in 2002, and previously on FMS.

And so to climax, to the winner of our contest, the goddess of goddesses, your female muscle fantasy of fantasies... She's been the uncrowned Queen for so long you wonder why they don't just give her the crown and get it over with. Statistics prove that there hasn't been a minute that has passed since 2011 when someone somewhere in the world hasn't been paying tribute to one of her pictures or video clips, and yes Annie, I'm looking at you! She's a former NABBA Worlds champion, but tonight we will see her at her 2012 Ms Olympia peak. Get ready to anoint her, from Romania, it's the breathtaking beauty and mind-bending muscle of... ALINA POPA!




Alina in motion, and previously on FMS.

So there we are, after nearly three years and countless votes, your top ten all-time fantasy contest competitors. The first seven all got the same number of votes, Fabi and Tazzie tied for second, and Alina won by a landslide. Well, it was 2012, after all.

As far as the pics are concerned, I've tried, wherever possible, to find images from a particular show, but as you can probably guess, the further back I went, the harder it became to source them, so apologies to the more anal among you if I have described the wrong contest for the images I have chosen. I did my best!

Thanks to all the voters and special thanks to Noel.

Tune in tomorrow for post #1,000 and a treat you will NOT want to miss.

Enjoy!