FBBUK Extra: Clips of the Week

From John Plummer at the UKBFF British: [In the tall Bodyfitness class] some superb physiques, most notable Donna Murphy and Rebecca Maughan, didn’t make the top six as the judges took a firm stance against the more muscular competitors...

We saw the gorgeous Rebecca and her "superb but too muscular" for the UKBFF judges physique last Monday, but not, in that post, the other "superb but too muscular" body of Bournemouth's Donna Ann Louise Murphy, who had - even more so than Rebecca - been one of the favourites to win the Bodyfitness category in Nottingham.

So here are TWO - you lucky people - quite different both terrific clips of Donna in action. The first is Donna's Fit Vids preview, the second a five-minute clip of Donna five weeks out from the British championships from the Majestic Gym channel.



Donna started out as a Bikini girl before switching to Bodyfitness in 2014. She won both the UKBFF South Coast Championships and the Welsh Grand Prix before finishing runner-up to Michelle Morris at the British Championships that year. But "too muscular" this year. Maybe another switch up to Physique for next year?



Only one way to find out - follow Donna on Twitter and Instagram.

FBBUK Extra: "Supermum"

On 13th September, a news report about Scottish NABBA champ Lorna Biggam by Barcroft TV, a YouTube media resource that promises to show "the amazing side of life", went live. The story was picked up and run the following day by UK national newspapers The Mail and The Mirror, and from there, as so often happens, it went global and within a couple of days of the original report, you could read about Lorna in Polish, Chinese or pretty much any other language you care to mention.

On top of that, and this happens a lot less often, the media attention led to Lorna being invited, a couple of weeks later, to appear on This Morning, the most-watched weekday morning show in the UK, billed as "the bodybuilding, fire-fighting Supermum".



Lorna, now 40, had long had ambitions to become a competitive bodybuilder and in 2011, when a serious knee injury led to a long lay off from her kickboxing and triathlon hobbies, she decided the time was right to pursue that dream. I needed a focus and it [bodybuilding] would strengthen my knee and fulfill my goals, she says. I went to watch NABBA Ms Scotland 2012 after being discharged from physio in March and set myself the goal to win in 2013, giving me a year of training.

As it turned out, she only needed six months, and her first competition was the NABBA England show in October 2012. In the Toned Figure class she placed 7th (out of 17), feedback suggesting she belonged in the more muscular Trained Figure category.



Her first Trained Figure appearance was at the independent Muscle Xcess Classic in Scotland the following year. Sadly, she didn't have any competition, but despite only having to show up to take home the trophy, Lorna made a big impression. A hell of a lot of feminine muscle on her frame and not a million miles off Physique, said one reporter on TMuscle. Very athletic physique, she looks great! Excellent posing, fantastic competitor and I look forward to seeing her in the federation shows.

The reporter didn't have long to wait. The following week Lorna - this time with competition - was crowned NABBA Ms Scotland. Ambition achieved.



Lorna took a break from competition to have her fourth child in 2014, and it was here that The Mail found the angle for their story. Pumping iron even when she was NINE MONTHS pregnant [their capitals] was the headline, the article going on to inform readers that Lorna was still bench pressing 100kg right up to her due date.

The Mirror took a different slant though, focusing instead on the reactions Lorna gets when out and about. People do stare at me and I've seen kids grab their mum's hand when they've caught sight of me in the supermarket, they quote her as saying, though my favourite story in the original Barcroft TV report is of the reaction of two "heavily overweight" women at a local outdoor swimming pool. One of them turned to the other and said "That's not nice at all", recalls Lorna, "I'd hate to look like that".



Both articles, to their credit, make a lot of the admiration of Lorna's own family - her husband, eight years her junior, is also a bodybuilder - and that admiration is shared by her male fire-fighting colleagues, who have "incredible respect" for her.

She's been in the service for 14 years, and though it would be totally wrong of me to say that anyone who has to be rescued from a fire is "lucky" as such, I can't help thinking that getting carried out of a burning building cradled in the arms of this magnificent hunk of womanhood wouldn't exactly be an unpleasant experience!



Lorna has been back on stage this year. Just ten months after giving birth for the fourth time she was winning the Muscle Xcess Classic again (I don't know if she had to beat anyone to do so this time around) and then she finished runner-up at NABBA Scotland to the woman who had won the title in her absence in 2014, Rose Wallace.

Rose, as it happens, has three children and, as well as bodybuilding, is a professional pole dancing instructor. Hear that all you media peeps? A pole-dancing, bodybuilding mother-of-three... Your next "Bodybuilding Supermum" story, perhaps?!



Read the full Mail and Mirror stories here and here. Lorna doesn't seem to do social media, but does pop up from time to time on the Facebook page of her Muscle Xcess sponsors. Here she is, for example, talking pre-workout in a short video from there.

FBBUK Extra: Carly Thornton, Pride of Britain, New IFBB Physique Pro (& Me)

Friday it actually dawned on me what a totally insane year this has been. I decided to switch categories after a lot of advice... and chucked myself into the deep end to compete in the Women's Physique division for the first time without even having a warm up at a qualifier. I walked on stage at the Arnold Classic Europe and won, which no other UK competitor has ever achieved. Then a week later I went on to win the British, which has always been a dream. This still doesn't feel real now!

The only way I can sum up this year so far is Arrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhh OMG because words cannot describe the overwhelming feeling right now.

I feel at home in this category and it has given me a new vision to set my goals and training towards, this journey has only started... Women's Physique - the category for feminine muscle. I couldn't recommend this class enough to anyone, show off that hard work, be yourself on stage and be proud of who you are!
Carly Thornton, Instagram, 18/10/15



And just a few days later, things got even better for Carly.

I am now the first UK athlete to turn Pro in women's physique :) let the new journey begin :) ★☆★☆★ @UKBFFofficial pic.twitter.com/DHTbxwqZUA

— Carly Thornton (@FitnessCarlyT) October 22, 2015

And in between, well, the smile still hasn't left my face. I read this, blushing like a schoolboy, on Carly's Facebook page: I want to say a huge thank to this lovely person that I have inspired over the years right back in my Active Channel days. Thank you for supporting me and writing such a lovely blog. I don't know you personally but I just wanted to say it meant a lot reading this ❤THANK YOU ❤

Note the hearts. Swoon of swoons! Right back at you, Carly. And I don't even care that she hadn't read it here but at another blog that just lifts posts from elsewhere...

I'm still grinning like a fool.



It's an exclusive club she has joined...

The Pride of Britain
Sharon Madderson, Wendy McCready, Rene Campbell and Lisa Cross in Bodybuilding. Louise Rogers and Maria Scotland in Figure, and Kizzy Vaines in Fitness (sometimes in Figure). Nina Ross and, recently Karina Slowronska in Bikini*. And now, Carly Thornton, the UK's first Women's Physique pro!

Big big love and many many congratulations to Carly!



Carly's story as told by FMS (and enjoyed by Carly!) was posted last Sunday.

And we'll be keeping the UK theme for another week, because... why not?

Enjoy!

* I feel like I've forgotten someone. I really hope I haven't!

FBBUK: Fay Ellis

Fay Ellis, who first appeared last week on FMS with her thighs under her Instagram monniker Fay Simone, is a 31-year-old bodybuilder from the Swinton area of Manchester in that hotbed of UK female muscle that is the north-west of England.



Fay has only been competing for a couple of years, and - even to this untrained eye - her progress has been nothing short of spectacular. The picture above was taken soon after her competitive debut at the NAC British Open in 2013, where "little Fay" as she rather endearingly calls her-then-self now, finished 3rd in the Ms Figure class.



That was followed by another Ms Figure appearance at the NAC Universe in December 2013 - she finished 9th - and then eleven months later here she is at the NABBA UK in the Ms Athletic class, where she placed a rather controversial 3rd behind Sally Knights (right) and FMS fave Rebecca Maughan (centre, who won). What do you think? Compare, for example, Fay's and Rebecca's quads... Perhaps it was a case of Fay having too much for the class rather than Rebecca and Sally being "better"?



Either way, Fay had clearly improved a lot over the year, and as 2014 drew to a close, she resolved to be even bigger and even better this year. Can't wait to start prep and unearth the new beast from within in this off season, she said at the time.



Now whatever Fay and her trainer got down to during the rest of the winter of 2014 and the spring of 2015, by the time the summer arrived, her original plan to compete at the NABBA Britain finals had been scrapped. Instead Fay took to the stage at the UKBFF North-west on 3rd May, and for the first time she was a Physique competitor.




The best female physique on show all day, said John Plummer in his contest report. Fay Ellis showed a real 'wow' factor. Her classy routine marked her down as a definite British title contender. She was up against the much more experienced North-west champ from the last two years, FMS fave Jackie Hague (above, bottom left in the dark posing suit), but Fay was the clear winner. That euphoric feeling of happiness when they call you for first place, she recalls (the moment captured above, top right). My first show this year doing WPD... And my first time ever coming first!



She didn't have to wait long to have that feeling again. Exactly a week later and Fay repeated her success, once again beating Jackie into 2nd place at the USN Bodypower Classic. Just two shows as a Physique competitor, and she had two winner's medals.



Fay's trainer proudly showed off his work with the crazy ten-week transformation pic above. If John Plummer had been alone in thinking Fay was a serious contender for the British champs after the North-west qualifier, there were other believers now.



And during the five months between the Bodypower Classic and the British champs in Nottingham at the beginning of October, Fay seemed to be growing on an almost daily basis. Bigger, better - OMG! that BACK - and she sure seemed to be enjoying it!




Now if this was a Hollywood screenplay, Fay would not have things her own way at her next competition, and that's exactly how it panned out. Unfortunately I didn't place yesterday at UKBFF British Championships, she told her Instagram followers. It was a fab line-up, a few issues that we need to address. Everything went perfect up until about an hour before going on stage... then, you know, the smallest events, mis-happenings, mis-timings can spell disaster. But such is life! Onwards we roll.



And Fay's season is not quite over yet. Those guns will get one more airing before another off-season unearthing the beast within. The Amateur Olympia in Liverpool rolls around a week tomorrow. Maybe there'll be a Hollywood ending after all.



Her most recent Instagram post certainly suggests that her British championships setback hasn't turned her good vibes into bad vibes by any means. When the music's on and you start feeling ya self a bit too much while cooking... Yeah I live alone!



Enjoy!

FBBUK: Ami King

In the name of research, I have occasion to follow and enjoy the social media of many a female bodybuilder, and when, as with today's British muscle goddess Ami King, I come across a new name, it's to their Facebook/Instagram/Twitter that I go first.

Now I'm not complaining, just saying, but 99% of these are pretty much the same. Progress pics, daily - sometime twice or thrice daily. There's often also many pictures of food, and then there's the odd motivational quote or nod to a fellow female bodybuilder or their pet and/or partner "just chillin" and so on, but in the main what female bodybuilders post are selfies and pictures of themselves and their muscles.

But Ami King's is, to put it mildly, a bit different. She posts some images of herself (thankfully) but the vast majority of posts she makes (to her Facebook page in particular) are more about the causes she champions than herself and her body.

First off, veganism. Now I don't know this for sure, but judging by some of the forum threads on mainstream bodybuilding sites with titles like 'Are there any vegan bodybuilders?', I imagine there aren't too many vegan bodybuilders male or female, and I certainly don't know of any who are as successful as Ami, nor, to my knowledge, are there any who are nearly as passionate or vocal about it as she is.

Ami is also a deeply passionate animal welfare activist. Just today (at the time of writing) she has shared a link urging us all to boycott Air France - "the only airline still shipping animals to their death in laboratories". A couple of days ago it was the fact that those big black furry hats the Buckingham Palace guardsmen wear are only produced with the skin and fur of real (and consequently now dead) bears.

Just two examples of what I've been shocked to learn since I started following Ami.

A large part of her activism involves charity organisations like Rescue Aid for Animals, Pounds for Poundies, Paws2Rescue and "Death Row Dawgs" at Grindhouse Muscle, which sells a unique clothing line to fund dog rescues around the globe.

And then there is her politics. Anti-capitalism, anti-globalisation - you bet Ami King understands the relationship between the damage being done to the steel industry in her native Redcar and the red carpet activities at The Palace yesterday...

Ami King is also a promoter of her sport in a "think global act local" way as well, of bodybuilding events such as the forthcoming Kai Greene seminar at the Iron Asylum gym in Redcar, and, with her collaborator-in-chief Mick Millington (Grindhouse Muscle), the IBFA Mr and Ms Teeside, which took place in Middlesborough in May.




Perhaps you skimmed through most of that, perhaps you just scrolled from the first to the second picture. Nothing wrong with that, but there is a lot more to Ami King than (the considerable amount that) meets the eye, and it simply would have been misleading of me to present her to you without giving you a taste of that lot more.



Anyway, when she's competing, Amy is competing in the NABBA Trained Figure category, and as I said earlier, she's been pretty successful over the last couple of years, winning the NABBA Ms UK title in 2014, and finishing runner-up to the very saucy Sarah Mura (see FMS passim) at this year's NABBA Britain finals.

Here's her winning routine from last year.



And you can also view the posedown and the awards here.




Follow Ami's causes on her Facebook page, and for a less harrowing, but also less thought-provoking ride, she's also on Instagram - where you can find a higher percentage of Ami pics as well as lots of pics of her French bulldog puppy!

Enjoy!

FBBUK: Gemma Illingworth

I know that "beauty" is all subjective and that, lawd knows that female bodybuilding fans all know that it's "in the eye of the beholder" etc., but in a week packed with stunningly beautiful British female muscle (excuse me while I pat myself on the back for a second... there, done) I think I may have found the most beautiful of all...



Say hello to Gemma Illingworth.



Seriously, if you are looking for a woman, an inspiration to your woman perhaps, to banish worries that weight training is going to make her look unfeminine, who needs convincing it isn't going to make her "look like a man", then you have found her.



So, the unbelievably gorgeous Gemma asks her Instagram followers, chicks that lift look bulky and never look feminine!?!?!? I beg to differ. I do 2 weight sessions a day and I think it's safe to say I am still feminine and I'm definitely not bulky.



There is exactly four years between a these pictures, Gemma tells us. First was from the days when running on a treadmill was my way of training, second picture is purely lifting weights and clean diet. I worked my ass off for this and I'm pushing now for even better results. Exactly four years and not exactly "unfeminine", is she?



In 2014 you would have found Gemma competing at the UKBFF Leeds in the Bikini division, but this year she's moved to the IBFA and "Trained Figure". Now if you're unfamiliar with the IBFA and want to know more, then have a quick read of our post from June, but all you need to know now is that IBFA Trained Figure girls flex!



And here is the lovely Gemma, getting her flex on at the IBFA Saxon Classic back in April, where she came 2nd. Christ I miss that stage, she said more recently.



Well, good news is she won't have to wait much longer now before she's up there again because she's competing at the IBFA York Open on November 7th. Tickets (for you and the woman in your life who needs convincing perhaps) are on sale now!



Gemma has a bit more than most to deal with when it comes to nutrition as she suffers from Crohn's disease. And she's also had to deal with the death of a very close friend in the last few months, so we genuinely wish her nothing but happy times ahead.



Do you think she might have been a model once upon a time?!



I miss my abs as cut as this. I honestly can't wait to get this shredded again, she says. And I'm guessing you might like to follow Bradford's most beautiful as she cuts right up again for the York show via her Instagram and/or Facebook and/or Twitter.



Enjoy!