Holly Pisarcik @NPC Nationals 2015

At the age of just 25, and in only her third ever contest - and only her second as a bodybuilder - Maryland's Holly Pisarcik won both her class, the overall title and with them her pro status at the NPC Nationals. Now you may or may not be aware that Holly's victory has been somewhat controversial. I don't know whether it was unpopular with the crowd at the show, but I do know that since her win just about every female muscle forum poster and a whole lot of (more or less qualified) commentators - both those who write about female bodybuilding and those who focus on bodybuilding in general - have been sharing their thoughts online. And the vast majority are most definitely not in agreement with the judges' decision on the day.

WHERE'S HOLLY?

So, for those of you who haven't yet got wind of all this, a little game to help introduce what this controversy has been all about. Below are six of the women who won classes and overall titles at the Nationals. One of them is Holly Pisarcik. Which one?





Which, do you think, competed in BODYBUILDING?

There's only one, and it's Holly.

Decided? OK, I'll tell you...

Holly is on the right in the centre row. Blue posing suit.

Surprised? Confused? You will be...

Top row is Alyssa Stroud (herself a former bodybuilding competitor), who won the Physique D class, and next to her is the B class winner, Indrell Thomas. Bottom row, two more Physique winners - on the left the C class and overall champ Stacia Woods, and on the right the A class winner Traci Ivey. In the centre on Holly's left is Tamika Irvin, class and overall winner and new IFBB FIGURE pro.

So I hardly need to spell out to you exactly what the controversy has been all about. How, they cry, can the Bodybuilding champ be carrying less muscle than not only all the Physique winners, but also less muscle than the Figure division winner as well?

She is nowhere near bodybuilding, not even in the same universe, was how one forum poster reacted, and his comment was more polite than most, but not untypical.

SIZE MATTERS?

So how did Holly compare to the other Bodybuilding class winners?

Let's see...




Holly posed down for the overall title with middleweight Nicole Gray (top right), light-heavyweight Carla Rossi-Roan (bottom left), and (bottom right) Tischa Thomas - who defeated Theresa Ivancik, just, to claim the heavyweight title.

Here the controversy wasn't so much about the decision to award Holly the win, but more to do with the state and, in one case, the identity of the women that she was posing down against. David Baye (Muscular Development), for example, thought the overall standard of the female bodybuilders at the show to be "atrocious, with almost no leg detail", and that the judges had made the wrong decision in the heavyweight class and left themselves no choice but to award the overall title to Holly.

Bodybuilding is all about size, symmetry/proportions and conditioning, he wrote. The lightweight winner smoked most of the other girls on two of those. She was my pick for the overall although Theresa should've won the heavies and the overall.

WHO'S HOLLY?



All of which leaves me feeling a bit sorry for the little lady (5'0", 108lbs) with the big trophy. I doubt she's too worried about all the chatter, but as she's the first lightweight to win the overall title since Michele Ralabate in 1994, and only the fourth since 1982, it would be a shame if she were not given the credit she deserves.


Holly at the Jay Cutler Baltimore Classic, her only previous appearance as a bodybuilder

Step forward the great Wennerstrom. Holly, he tells us, had only decided on entering the Nationals just four weeks before the event. And even then, having committed to it, she faced the kind of personal challenges that would have had pretty much everyone else on the planet giving the show a miss and saying "Maybe next year..."

Her husband was in hospital throughout her prep, recovering from a liver transplant no less. She spent everyday with me, he told Wennerstrom after the show. I was out of hospital, then readmitted, yet she pushed on. Then this past week her grandmother died, and on Thursday, while in Miami, I got a call from my doctor saying I needed to go for testing because I could be rejecting my liver. Didn't phase her.




And despite the limited prep and the family traumas, her look made it, Wennerstrom reckoned, not only "an easy decision" for the class win, but also "a unanimous decision" for the overall title. With very good overall conditioning, a terrific side chest pose and nice quad separations, she was the best - if not biggest - package in the show.




Whether Holly's stature will allow her to have any chance of succeeding against the pros in open contests is kind of beside the point, but with a smooth prep and no family tragedy to contend with, who knows how much better she might be able to look? Here she won the big trophy because she managed - against very serious odds as it turns out - to present what the judges agreed was the best package overall in the show.



She looks proud of herself and she should be. Congratulations Holly!

Theresa @NPC Nationals 2015

We promised news of Theresa Ivancik's bid to win her pro card at the NPC Nationals in Miami last weekend, and here she is in all her big and beautiful muscular glory.




With a shock of blond dyed into the ends of her luscious dark locks, Theresa wore purple for the pre-judging and comparisons round. Up against seven other women in the heavyweight class including the familiar names of Wendy Watson, Anne Sheehan and Ariel Gail, Theresa was in the centre for the one and only set of comparisons the judges felt they needed to see before making their decision.




Theresa was in blue for her evening routine. Having come so close at the IFBB North Americans earlier in the year, where she won the heavyweight class but not one of the three pro cards on offer there (see FMS passim), would this finally be her moment?




No. When the placings were called, Theresa lost out to the heavyweight winner Tischa Thomas. Once again, she had come excruciatingly close. Really, excruciatingly close. Looks like I lost my pro card by one point! she told her Facebook followers after the scorecards became available. But I feel I have already won thanks to all the support from each and everyone of you... I have exceeded my own expectations at this show [and will be] working on making my weaknesses my strengths. "I'll be back!"




Indeed she will - and on FMS sooner rather than later as we take a closer look at the NPC Nationals all week next week, including more on Theresa's adventures in Miami.

Enjoy!

Sweat. Sweet! (Xtra Sweat)

Yes, it's another one of those FMS posts entirely built on the toil (the sweat!) of others. Thanks to all who sent in their favourite sweaty muscle women pics, I was overwhelmed by the response, really - my inbox will never smell the same again. And the result of your efforts is a post packed with images, cascading over your screen like the sweat cascading over Madeleine Persson's perfectly perky pecs.



Better still, thanks to Pennypacker Industries, you can Scratch and Sniff* your screen (if compatible) for a fuller sensory experience wherever you see this sign...

Thanks again to all you lovely readers who sent the sweat. This one's for you!

ASHA



What a start! Look at it pouring off Asha Hadley's honed muscular body. We all knew that in a world of dedicated muscle babes Asha is more dedicated than most, but DAMN! You could fill several buckets with the sweat in the centre pic alone.

CLEO VW



Australia's next biggest thing may not have reached the same sweat peak as Asha when this picture was taken, but you get the feeling her emissions are about to rise...

SWEATY FANNY



Scratch and Sniff* now for a blast of Fanny's sweat-soaked vest.



I wore this for a full week without changing it, says Fanny. Then it festered in the washing basket for another couple of days before I was contacted by the guys at Pennypacker industries for a sample. Stale yet deliciously ripe and fruity...

SPECIAL FX



Now I've seen the clip these caps are taken from, so I know that lickable sheen on Sierra Magnus' magnificent midriff is sprayed on, but frankly, who cares?



And the lower she goes, the more lickable she gets...

FUN FROM REAR



Now here's a first on FMS, an Indonesian fbb. And she's not going to get out of the way of the TV until you have sucked up every last drop from her sweaty back. Maria Arina is her name apparently, and she looks pretty good glammed up as well - here.





Brazilian Fernanda Deporte (left) and FMS' favourite Cretan goddess Anastasia Papoutsaki (right) are both available here for your Scratch and Sniff* pleasure. Fernanda's scent is definitely the more powerful, which is not surprising because she's a powerlifter. Anastasia's is more delicate, but utterly intoxicating nonetheless.

Big big thanks to FMS Head of Research JT for Anastasia, both the rear view above and the post-cardio sheen and swoon-fest below. Isn't she just bloody GORGEOUS?!



FMS APPROVED





FMS approved gymwear modelled here by yet another rising Aussie fbb, Tamika Webber. And if you are wearing this AND you are a stone cold knockout à la Tamika, that's a double thumbs up. I don't always wear this kind of revealing top in the gym, Tamika tells us with a wink. Sometimes I wear a lot less. Check out Tamika on Facebook and Instagram - she's a lot darker these days and a whole lot bigger too!

HOT IN HERE




The woman's got more pics out there that I can count, says one forum poster on the subject of Ekaterina (aka Katyuha) Kuznetsova. I get the impression that she seems to really enjoy showing off that muscle. Well, Girls with Muscle has 779 of those pics for your viewing pleasure, and yes, I also get the impression she isn't backward in coming forward to show off her hard work either. Not all those pics will get your "trapped in a sauna" fantasies raging quite so much as these (though a large majority of her pics do feature her topless or tastefully nude), nor will you find much better evidence that she's quite the exhibitionist than this groovy clip right here.

Bet that made you sweat.

THE PITS





Scratch and Sniff* now for a taste of sweet sweaty muscle pits courtesy of the sheeny Brittany Ramsey (left) and the woman who makes me go MN! (right), the magnificent Mmmmiava Nelson. When Pennypacker Industires contacted me for a pit sweat sample I was only too happy to oblige, says Miava. After all, I LOVE the smell of me. And thanks to Miava, Brittany and a whole host of other obliging and sweaty muscle goddesses, PI's range of concentrated female muscle pit sweat will be available to buy online in time for Christmas. Go on! Treat yourself. You deserve it.

THE LAST REP



And we sweat for the last time today with another of JT's finds, Dana Linn Bailey in competition with no one but herself and straining every sinew (and sweating from every pore) in the quest for one more rep than yesterday. Interesting crowd she's got watching her there. Or actually not watching. I wonder what could have possibly been more distracting than DLB at that very moment... JT is, I'm sure, already on it.

Huge thanks go to JT for his invaluable contribution, and all the other lovely readers without whom today's post would be blank spaces, a few noses, and a lot of irrelevant text. [See, told you I wouldn't say who you were or even mention your web moniker without your permission.] Special thanks to PumpItUp for his contribution - more pics than the rest of you put together, I'm afraid. Go see his blog (lots of sweat there) and show the man some (much needed - he hasn't had the best time of it recently) love.

* Scratch and Sniff technology used by kind permission of Pennypacker Industries