The Super League (and SHANNON!)

THIS IS THE LEAGUE OF SUPERHUMANS –
MEN AND WOMEN WITH SUPERHUMAN FORM AND SUPERHUMAN FUNCTION.
THIS IS NOT A PHYSIQUE PAGEANT.
THERE ARE NO POSERS, AND THERE ARE NO JUDGES.
THE OPINIONS, BIASES, AND PERSONAL INTERPRETATIONS
OF OTHER HUMANS ARE NOT ALLOWED. 
ONLY REAL ATHLETES AND REAL METRICS.



There's a new muscle sport on the block and modesty is not its middle name. Headed by former Mr Olympia Dorian Yates, and with the backing of Bodybuilding.com and Nike, Super League is part strength contest, and part bodybuilding show. Sort of.

Your "superhumans" do eight different movements in round 1. Squats, leg extensions, deadlifts, pulldowns, dumbbell curls, incline flys, shoulder presses, and loaded dips. The total weight you move in 12 reps for each movement is calculated, then divided by your bodyweight (in lbs) to give you your "Output Score". Round 2 involves a 3D scan of the your body. Various ratios are calculated (they are different for men and women) and assessed against hypothetically perfect proportions, and the amount they are out leads to penalties being deducted from the perfect score of 300, leaving you with a resulting "3D Score". Your total is your Output Score plus your 3D Score.

Clear as crystal, no?

Well, I'm sure it'll make perfect sense when Super League streams live (and free) from Las Vegas on YouTube this Saturday. The first contest pits "Team LA v Team Atlanta", with guest superhumans including disgruntled former Ms O Iris Kyle, apparently.



I know there are some FMS readers who are pretty excited about Super League, but I have to admit I don't share their enthusiasm. It's got its "Arena", and its major sporting goods sponsor - both of which just make me think that this is Nike's attempt to have their own Crossfit à la Reebok. I can see how the strength bit might have its drama - you choose your own weight, so go too low and you'll complete the reps but your output score will be modest, go too high and you risk not being able to complete the mandatory 12 reps. But the 3D scan? Really?! How exciting can that be?



This is not a Physique pageant, Super League proudly boasts. There are no posers. Well, I kind of like the posing. Love it, in fact. And what's more, there'll be no need for the superhumans to get proper ripped either. The sport's guidelines suggest a "four to six weeks out condition". Lean, but not, you know, "peeled" as one of our favourite British swoons likes to say (and be). Personally, I like that freaky contest look. It's my favourite look, to be honest. Take the striations and the posing away and I hate to say it, but for once I am 100% agreement with Dave Palumbo, who discussed Super League in his usual calm, measured and well-informed way on a recent episode of Iron Rage.



But... BUT... Super League does have a few things going for it. Mrs Yates is, obviously, on board, but so are Tina Nguyen, Gillian Ward, and Su Farrell from the UK. And then there's Shannon. Back in the muscle game, even if it's not quite the one I'd like.



Shannon's on "Team LA" this weekend.



And for that reason alone FMS will be tuning in.

Media Watch: Australia

Today, two recent stories from Down Under written by Daily Mail Australia's Laura House, both dutifully regurgitated verbatim in the good old Mail Online here in the UK. They concern two Figure competitors from the state of Victoria - Tiffany Conway, a 37-year-old mother of two, and Ashleigh Wilson, a 28-year-old personal trainer.


Tiffany Conway (left) and Ashleigh Wilson

I don't usually pay that much attention to what's coming out of the Mail's Australia office, but these two stories, published within a few weeks of each other, caught my attention because I think that taken together they rather nicely represent the good, the bad and the ugly of the way the mainstream media deals with female muscle stories.

Let's start with the good.



The "good" in Tiffany Conway's story, as is so often the case with mainstream female muscle reporting - and the Mail and other online resources that keep churning out such stories should be applauded for it - is triumph over adversity through weight-training. In Tiffany's case it was depression and anxiety. brought on, apparently, by such a bad diet that she weighed in at over 80kg before she decided to turn her life around in 2011. Five years later she became Victoria's Masters Figure champion.



The more I exercised and the better I ate, the better I felt about myself, Tiffany tells us in the article. That came through in my energy, and people around me started noticing that I was happier. I looked fresher, and I was just more fun to be around. The benefits to be gained from making such investment in yourself stays with you for a lifetime, and it has honestly touched every part of my life for the better.



ALL good.

We might quibble about the use of the one-size-fits-all term "Bodybuilder" in the article, we might even really get nit-picky and crticise the writer for laziness in her reporting of Tiffany winning "the IFBB competition" in 2016, but on the whole, the story is a very positive muscle message for the women of Australia, with Tiffany an excellent advocate for the lifestyle, its benefits, and for the joys of competing. For 10 years I wouldn't stand in front of anyone in a bikini let alone stand on a stage in a very small bikini in front of 400 people, she says. It was the most empowering thing.



A few weeks before though, Ashleigh Wilson's less than empowering story had appeared in the very same Mail, after the Bikini turned Figure competitor had appeared on Aussie TV's Channel Nine in a show called Operation Thailand.

Brace yourself now.



I've been competing in bodybuilding for about four years, says Ashleigh. I started off in Bikini and I went on to Figure and that's where I've stayed. Within this category they emphasise femininity - decent muscle size and condition but also amazing shape. I don't feel like I can reach that shape that they ask for because I have a flat chest.

I feel like a 20-year-old boy when I'm at the gym and I am lean. It just makes me feel like I'm not a complete woman. I hate how I don't fit clothes. I have to put padding in my sports bras just to feel a little bit womanly. Can you see where this is going?



And so, Ashleigh Wilson travels to Thailand with an Australian cosmetic tourism company, meets the surgeon, and decides to go with a D-cup. This surgery is so important because I want to look good on stage and when I'm walking down the street. I want to feel good about myself when I get up in the morning, she says.

Oh dear.



Here's the other side of the mainstream media's take on female muscle stories - the "bodybuilding left me feeling/looking like a man" angle. Hardly empowering, and in this case, hardly even about bodybuilding, because whatever the reasons for Ashleigh's decision (and I wouldn't for a minute deny her the right to have cosmetic surgery) there are women like Cydney Gillon or Natalia Coelho whose all-natural all-muscle chests demonstrate that enhancements are not necessary in order to win Figure titles. And I bet both Cydney and Natalia feel all-woman all of the time.



Despite originally getting the $3,700 augmentation to achieve her aspirations in bodybuilding, we are told, Jess has since chosen to follow a different path. "Fitness and health is still a big part of my life but getting on stage is no longer something I desire," she says. Less and less about bodybuilding all the time. I did this show to help inform people about the process of going to Thailand, Ashleigh concludes. It was the best thing I ever did and not at all was I scared because I was overseas.

Call me a cynic if you like, but I suspect Ashleigh may not have had to pay full price in exchange for such a glowing recommendation of the her surgical tourism experience.



Same journalist, same news source. One story where bodybuilding has nothing but positive effects on a woman's body image; one story where bodybuilding has such negative effects on her body image the woman turns to cosmetic surgery.

Given the respective women's ages and looks, their mainstream appeal if you like, which story do you think got more media attention, globally-speaking?

Clue: it's not the one about the transformative, empowering effects of bodybuilding.



It's the one about the tits.

FBBUK @Vancouver Pro 2017

With the exception of the Arctic Pro in Anchorage, Alaska, Vancouver is, I suppose, about as distant a location for British competitors in the IFBB Pro League as it's possible to find. Nevertheless, two of our pros did indeed make the long trip to one of the world's "most liveable" cities for the 8th and 9th July - one making her pro debut in the Fitness division; the other competing in the Physique division.

CARLY THORNTON
6th, Physique



Carly, as always seems to be the case, emerged from her off-season looking better than ever - seven days out and she looked ripped and ready. It's nearly two years since she became the first British Physique pro, winning her pro card just before Rosanna Harte did, and having made her debut in Toronto last year, finishing a creditable 8th in a high-class field, she arrived all smiles in Vancouver for her second pro show.




She was captured by NPC News Online beautiful and proud backstage, where she was busy making friends. This is what I love, she told her Instagram followers as she flexed with Patricia Gosselin, connecting with new friends. Her placing seems irrelevant to her, but for the record she came 6th out of 13 in a line-up packed with some of the best Canadian Physique talent such as Jodi Boam and FMS fave Zoa Linsey.



A few days later she was "making the most of the tan with a summer dress". We can't help wishing she could/would do more than one show per year, but guess we'll have to make the most of Carly in contest shape while we can. I'm already looking forward to seeing how much bigger and better this national treasure will get for next year.



EMMA PAVELEY
Winner, Fitness



From fingers crossed for her pro debut ("five years' worth of work") to I'M GOING TO THE OLYMPIA!!!! I JUST FRIGGIN' WON!!!!!! (her capitals and excamation mark count!) Emma Paveley made British female muscle history in Vancouver.



She became, quite unexpectedly I think, our first ever IFBB pro Fitness winner - and on her professional debut too. And it's not like she had a line-up lacking in pedigree to beat, either. Emma finished ahead of the considerably more experienced Sara Kovach, Ryall Graber (who won in Chicago in the same month), and Fiona Harris, all of whom have made multiple Arnold and Olympia appearances.




Sadly - for Emma as much as for us, she's promised to post something as soon as she finds it - there's nothing of her winning routine available to date, so we will have to make do with one of Emma's moves from her final pre-Vancouver practice and another of her getting the feel of the stage. If her past routines are anything to go by (she's featured on the blog many times since we first met her at the World Fitness Championships in 2014), the lack of images/footage is a real shame.



She'll definitely be on the Olympia stream though. Her dream coming true.

Congratulations to both Carly and Emma!

Tube Watch

Today, FMS once again rounds up our favourite YouTube clips as the (pleasingly popular and) irregular muscle in motion fest we call Tube Watch, returns.

CORY'S BEST BITS

Once upon a time, when your female muscle fix came on a printed page, Cory Everson ruled the female muscle world. If there was a month that went by without her being the covergirl of one of the muscle magazines you so avidly collected, it was a rare month indeed. But, unless you (or more likely your Dad) were the proud owner of one of those new-fangled machines they called video recorders and you had the resources to send away to the US for one of those things they called video tapes, well, you just had to imagine how Cory moved. Thankfully, those days are long gone. And thanks to the latest (and first non-Denise Rutkowski) addition to Kiko Newman's channel, you can now enjoy some of Cory's most memorable moves in just over three minutes with the added bonus of some of her legendary contemporaries trying to outsexy her in a variety of (I'm assuming Olympia) posedowns. Gold.



For Your Consideration

Also in the "montage" file this month, new additions to Female Fitness Reset, a channel which, you may remember, we featured on the blog just a few weeks ago. Then, our only (slight) criticism of the channel was the absence of much Bodybuilder with a capital B edits. Now, I am not going to flatter myself into believing that the preponderance of bigger girls in Mr. Reset's most recent uploads has anything to do with FMS' observations, but I am very pleased to report that since then he's added (among others) Cass Martin, Natalia Kovalyova, and both of your 2017 Hot and Hard 100 top 2 - Theresa Ivancik, and Elena Oana Hreapca - to his collection.

BRINGING SEXY BACK

From a serial Olympia winner, we go next to a woman who will be making her Olympia debut this year - Italy's Doina Gurun. This is Doina's first year as a Physique competitor (previously she competed in Figure) and her move up has paid off handsomely. She won her first Physique title at her third attempt - the recent San Jose Pro - and if this routine is anything to go by, it's a) a damn shame she didn't find her way to Physique earlier, and b) going to be hot on that Olympia stage. This is Doina in muscle sexy action during her second Physique outing at the Arctic Pro, and her Instagram moniker (The Tiger) only really makes sense when you've seen her prowl around the stage. Reminiscent of those routines of times past that had the IFBB firing off "sex it down" directives to the 80s/90s ladies, and all the better for it.



For Your Consideration

Doina was filmed and uploaded by Louie Maldonado, whose better half, Sharlin Maldonado, also competed in Anchorage with Doina. Her routine, and those of all the other WPD ladies who competed there and at the Mile High Pro are on his channel, and very well-filmed treats they are. Swell especially digs Anne Freitas (not quite so freaky these days, but still pretty damn freaky) from the Arctic Pro - as well as Jessica Martin, who we featured on Sunday - and Keri Ann Heitzman's slow and sexy style from the Mile High Pro. If backstage/pump room is more your bag though, head over to NPC News Online's YouTube channel and fill your boots, with the Fitness/Physique backstage video from the 2017 NPC Universe being FMS' pick of the bunch.

DANI'S ARMAGEDDON

Our YouTube Swoon of the Month though has to go to Dani Reardon training (and flexing, there's lots of flexing) arms in Orlando. She's not so "lil" and definitely more "monsta" these days, and while many of her clips are far too long to hold your attention, and have too much of her yakking and not enough of her cracking out reps and poses, "Armageddon" comes in at a snug 2.34 and is almost all about those muscles. 2.11 is a moment (and a pose) you won't forget in a hurry, I promise.

Get comfy now.



Enjoy!

She's So Shredded: Jessica Martin

Our final shredded sensation of the week recently made her pro debut at the IFBB Arctic Pro, finishing 3rd. Unlike many other competitors, Jessica Martin didn't rush to her first pro show. She waited more than twelve months after her triumph at last year's NPC USAs. And in this fan's humble opinion, it was so worth the wait.



As the above routine, I think, aptly demonstrates, Jessica has got the complete package. It seems churlish to focus on just one of her many assets, but that's exactly what I'm going to do because pec cleavages like this are, sadly, in short supply.



Thankfully, Jessica rarely misses an opportunity to show those mighty slabs of muscle off, and never ever misses an opportunity to show them off at their most magnificent, right after she's done push-ups to failure, the way she always ends her chest workouts.



Now you can see this method works, but for the sake of comparison, I'll tell you that my PT gets me to do that too. Finish up chest day by doing as many push-ups as I can. Generally, I manage about 4. If I do 5, I feel like a superhero. Jessica, on the other hand, who says she can "do loads" when her pecs are not exhausted, cranks out about 30 of them. Wow. And then she takes her pictures of her pumped up pec meat.



Knows what she's doing does Jessica.



Jessica is on Instagram, and her Arctic Pro gallery is here.



Any suggestions for future installements of She's So Shredded would be most welcome. Use the comment box below, or email 6ft1swell@gmail.com.

Thank you for your continued support.

She's So Shredded: Annie Lemay

Honestly, I'm not 100% convinced that Annie Lemay is real.



Face of an angel, the body of a Bikini babe fast becoming a Figure goddess.



Muscle exhibitionist extraordinaire.



Naughty flexes when she ain't supposed to.



She's just too good to be true.



Is it possible she's just a very sophisticated, next generation avatar designed to take over my life, devote every waking hour to, and, finally, drain me of my life savings?



Working so far.

Follow her (possibly fake) Instagram feed here.