Some unexpectedly good New Year news landed in the FMS inbox in the first week of 2015 in the shape of an article from regional news source the Hull Daily Mail.Hull, for non-UK readers, is a city (officially Kingston-upon-Hull) on the east coast of England in the county of Yorkshire, notable to female muscle fans (up to now) only for being where FMS crush and total Muscle Honey Rebecca Maughan hails from.
However, Rebecca isn’t one of the Muscle Honeyz in the article, which is kind of what I expected when I read the headline! In fact, we learn that they are a group of 30 women from Hull on a mission to get themselves in tip-top condition this year.
The Muscle Honeyz are embarking on their fitness campaign as part of their preparation for this year’s Mr and Mrs Hull show and train at Workout Gym in Ropery Street, near Hull Arena, under the watchful eye of Mr Universe Dan Welburn.
And aiding and abetting local hero Welburn is a woman who is no stranger to winning at bodybuilding shows, 2013 Miss Yorkshire Toned Figure Becky Rowley.
Toned Figure championBecky Rowley trains Muscle Honey Alex Greenwood (top), competing in her first show in 2013, ready to go at the Muscle Honeyz gym in Hull, and proudly holding up her substantial silverware.
Thirty of them! And they’re preparing for a show?! I couldn’t help wondering how long it would take to turn the UK into the female muscle paradise I’d always dreamed of if there were thirty women in every gym in every city all training for their first bodybuilding shows… Not very long is the answer I came up with.
But before we get too excited, fact is, as the article tells us later, not all the Muscle Honeyz are actually looking to compete. Some of us are trying to get fit and healthy, says Muscle Honey Gemma Hornby, but others are getting into bodybuilding.
Muscle Honey Gemma Hornby (left) and her woman crush, Paige Hathaway.
22 year-old Gemma, who works for the newspaper in the marketing department and on her Twitter admits having a big old woman crush on fitness model Paige Hathaway, seems to be something of an advocate for the lifestyle. Before I started training and taking care of myself, I was always sick. It felt like I was always poorly. But since I began to look after myself, my health improved so much. I’m a lot stronger physically and it’s transformed my health. I had no energy before. Now, I’m training five to six days a week, I’m eating well and I feel so much better.
Muscle Honey selfies by Gemma Hornby.
People should get involved, says Gemma. They will see a massive improvement in their lives. They’ll have more energy, they’ll feel better in themselves and it’ll be great for their health. Just give it a go. We are one big team and we’re all in it together.
Muscle Honeyz Emily (left) and Laura.
While some of the Muscle Honeyz are, like Gemma, “just giving it a go” in an effort to look and feel better, others are either would-be competitors or former competitors training for their return to the stage. Some of the Muscle Honeyz are established clients of the gym and its trainers, others have only recently joined up.
Muscle Honeyz Jenni (left), and Jo.
But what I really like about all this – apart from the ‘imagine this was happening all over the UK’ daydream – is their choice of the word MUSCLE. They’re not the Gym Honeyz, not the Hardbody Honeyz, not the Fit Honeyz. They are MUSCLE Honeyz.
And you can follow their collective adventures, marvel at their transformations, and watch them as they prepare for the Mr and Miss Hull 2015 on the Muscle Honeyz Facebook page. The show is in May. There are going to be a few “purple sisters” in their Team Muscle Honeyz purple bikinis on that stage worth watching.
I’m all over Right Move looking for property in Hull…
Normally, I put the clip at the end. But not today.
Watch this…
Now, if that didn’t get your female muscle lovin’ juices flowin’, you should really get yourself some medical attention because, mate, you are dead below the waist.
Rebecca Maughan. Previously on FMS in June. Just a couple of paragraphs. We tell you she’s from Hull, she was NABBA Miss Britain (Toned Figure) in 2013. She’s “very beautiful”, we say. And we predict we’ll be seeing her again. We were not wrong.
Admittedly we don’t know much more about Rebecca now but we have learned a little. That 2013 NABBA Britain win, for example, came, we now know, in her very first year of competition. 2014 has been her second, then. We’ve learned she’s got a bit of a thing for baseball caps. Not the sort that fit snugly around the top of your head. Rebecca likes a high crown, as I believe they are called. We’ve found out her supplements are provided by PhD Nutrition, and that her favourite body part to train is her glutes.
So now we can give you Rebecca’s entire contest history.
Notice the last contest. The new category. More muscle than Toned Figure.
2011. Rebecca is preparing to go to Ibiza. I really wanted to get toned to look good for the holiday, she says. 2012. Rebecca continues training. Well and truly bitten by the workout bug. 2013. Competition. Rebecca grows, Rebecca tones. Rebecca goes through contest prep three times. She finds she enjoys competing. She can’t stop smiling after she comes off stage. 2014. More muscle. She preps for the NABBA Universe with Sarah Hallett. Results are not so good in terms of placings. Her body has outgrown the category she started in, and she decided to give the new ‘Athletic Figure’ a try. By the end of the year she’s NABBA Miss UK.
And she can’t stop smiling…
With her looks, sponsors are queuing up. PhD Nutrition we’ve mentioned. But she’s also got a blog for Monster Supplements as a “Fitness Guru”. She also has a blog on Fresh Food Guru. Previously on FMS we reported her dream was to become a professional fitness model. Looks like it’s coming true. Another reason why she’s smiling, perhaps?
Rebecca says: I’ve always said if I can inspire 1 person to live a healthier life by exercising & eating healthy to achieve a toned figure then my job’s done. I would like to think I have helped some girls lift weights and put an end to endless cardio.
Check her Instagram, check her Facebook. Check the comments. Ignore the ones posted by guys like you and me. Don’t you agree that Rebecca has inspired considerably more than 1 person? She probably inspires five a day. Job done.
More smiles.
But most of all, FMS gets the impression that Rebecca is smiling because she’s gaining muscle. And she likes it. Loves it. Loves the body she is building, the progress she’s making. The muscle that’s growing, Check her Instagram again if you must. Check her Facebook. Go back to the beginning and watch her progress chronologically. Is it just me or is the smile getting wider and wider as she grows and grows?
2015. Year 3 in Rebecca Maughan‘s competitive career. In the first two she’s already outgrown one category and moved up to the next – and the move led to an instant success. By the end of next year I wouldn’t be surprised if I was talking about Rebecca Maughan, Trained Figure competitor. And her smile (along with her legs, her arms, her shoulders, her back…) will be even wider than now.
Today my journey for 2015 begins. I will work 100 per cent 365 after yesterday’s win. I will stay hungry! Rebecca Maughan, after her 2014 NABBA UK win
Normally, I finish up my posts by encouraging you to ‘Enjoy!’. Not today.
Today I’m going to tell you how much I enjoy putting these posts together.
Researching these amazing women is a consistently rewarding experience. Finding out about the women, looking beyond their magnificent physiques and into their lives only increases my admiration and respect for them, one and all. But the more remarkable the woman, the more enjoyable it is to compile the post. Some posts are more of a pleasure to put together than others. Today’s has been one of them. In fact, I’d say that this one of the three or four most enjoyable experiences of all.
I know you’ll remember her body. I know you’ll remember her smile.
Well, research her for yourself if you are not convinced, but I’m telling you, this is one very very special young woman. Remember the name. Rebecca Maughan.
[Well, we’ve only been back for a couple of weeks but it’s time for our Christmas break. Don’t worry, there will be posts, but instead of daily posts there will be ‘Year in Review’ type stuff – Winners of 2014; our end-of-year selection of images from 2014, and our fourth annual selection of our six Women of the Year. So stay tuned. Daily posts will return in early January. Have a lovely holiday season. 6ft1Swell]
Can you name Britain’s one reigning World Champion female bodybuilder?
Didn’t think so.
Until a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have known the answer to the question either. Wouldn’t have known that Britain even had a female World Champion. But we do.
It’s time we met her. Say hello to Nicola Joyce, World Champion.
The fact that Nicola is a World Champion yet remains unknown even to fans of female muscle is easily explained. You see, she’s a natural bodybuilder, competing in natural shows and let’s face it, these natural shows and natural women get only a fraction of the attention that non-natural contests attract – unless, of course, Jodie Marsh is competing, in which case they are on TV and all over the print media!
Actually, Nicola is not just a World Champion, she’s a two-time World Champion, having recently retained the title she first won last year in Boston in November.
She is also a distance runner, an international triathlete, and an open water swimmer with a string of achievements – for example, she’s swum up Lake Windermere, swum round the island of Jersey, and swum across the English Channel – twice.
But it’s what’s going on between Nicola’s ears that has really got my attention.
Despite her physical prowess, I found out about Nicola via her blog.
“The Fit Writer”, as she calls it, has reports of her runs, her triathlons, her open water swims, and her bodybuilding contests. It has fitness-related product reviews, and advice for bodybuilding competitors (both male and female). But of most interest to me, and I’m guessing to you too, dear reader, is the insight it provides into her own daily bodybuilding life. If you want to know how crazy a female bodybuilder can go when she’s prepping for a contest, her blog will tell you. Ever dreamed of dating a female bodybuilder? Nicola will tell you what you’d be letting yourself in for. Know a female bodybuilder and want to say the right things? Check with Nicola.
But it’s not just the content of the blog that I like. Nicola writes with some style.
Here she is at the UKDFBA this year. The winner will get a WNBF pro card…
I’ve either won it or… I haven’t, frankly. One matters, one doesn’t matter. That’s how I see it. One is a win, the other is not a win.
The head judge was saying that it was incredibly close… that, in fact, it was a tie-break. We were tied for first place, and the result of the tie-break is…
“In second place…”
Me.
Sigh.
OK. Smile, smile, don’t cry, look up, smile, walk forward, shake the winner’s hand, stand there and smile.
The winner was then called forward, and offered WNBF Pro status.
My emotions have been up, down and all over the place since. At the time I felt absolutely gutted and disappointed, but not so bad. I felt happy, in that I knew I was my best ever (so far!), very happy personally in how I looked and how I’d posed, etc. Happy that I’d improved a placing in a year (I was 3rd at UKDFBA last year) and happy (although it’s a bitter happiness!!) that it was so close. You can’t ask for much more (other than winning, obviously) than being in a tie break situation.
But I have also gone through a slew of negative emotions: sadness, disappointment, feeling absolutely gutted, and (if I’m honest), angry. I’m not sure at what. Myself, I think. Angry that I didn’t get on stage absolutely dominant, that I left it up to the judges to make the decision, that I didn’t step up there and make their job easier for them. I won’t be making the same mistake again. Believe me, there’s nothing like losing something so important to you on a tie-break decision to focus the mind.
A compelling read, don’t you think?
Unsurprisingly, given her ability to tell a story and her all round way with words, Nicola earns her corn as a freelance Sport and Fitness Writer and Fitness Copywriter. One who just happens to be a runner, a triathlete, an open water swimmer, and, er… Oh yeah, I almost forgot! A two-time natural bodybuilding World Champion.
When was the last time female muscle fans were in the mainstream media?
As far as the UK is concerned, the last time I can recall was the rather infamous segment of Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends when the eponymous presenter meets a few at the Jan Tana, as well as Maria Calo and her (then?) husband.
Since then, Brian Eno has said he likes a muscular woman (see FMS passim), but I really can’t remember another instance – and please to tell me if I’m wrong – where us fans of female bodybuilding have been given either airtime or column inches.
But a couple of weeks ago, FBB fans found themselves in the very mainstream UK magazine Closer as part of a story about the ever-beautiful Rene Campbell.
Strangers love my muscles and beg me to marry them! it reads on the front cover.
Inside, under the headline: Bodybuilding Mum: “Men think my muscles are sexy – strangers ask to marry me!”, we learn that Bigorexic Rene Campbell says she gets more attention from men as a bodybuilder than when she was a petite size eight.
There’s Rene, NUDE! And only her tastefully positioned legs and well-placed arm preventing that week’s Closer from having to be displayed on the topmost shelf.
Her muscles, the story continues, have made her an unlikely sex symbol with thousands of men viewing her pictures online everyday. Well, OK. I, and I dare say you, dear reader, may have been guilty of a bit of that. But there’s more…
Rene, 37, has had more than 10 marriage proposals from strangers and last Valentine’s Day received several bouquets of flowers from secret admirers. “Men tell me I’m sexy and I’ve had marriage proposals from guys all over the world.”
Really?
I’ve been writing this blog a while now, and as a result I’ve had the pleasure of contact with a number of fellow female muscle fans from both the UK and elsewhere. Now, I wouldn’t say that all of them are exactly what you’d call “normal” (who among us is?) but they are most certainly not in the business of asking Rene Campbell – or any of their favourite female bodybuilders for that matter – to marry them.
So, who the hell are these guys, these poor souls who, without any hint of irony, write forum posts like ‘If only Aleesha Young were single…’? Who are they and why do they get all the attention? Why isn’t Closer writing about professional men in their late 30s, not at all the kind of timid, skinny live-with-mother types some would paint all female muscle fans as. They’re moderately successful, they’re property-owning, educated, eloquent guys who just happen to have a thing for muscular women…
Well, I have a confession to make.
I had the opportunity to talk to a journalist from Closer and I didn’t take it.
Now, unlike the marry-me-Rene brigade, I am not deluded – well, not as deluded at least. I’m not saying it would have changed anything about the Rene story, nor that Closer would have been interested in what I have to say and published ‘my’ story instead or as well as Rene’s. If I’d made out I was a proposal maker or bouquet sender then maybe – maybe – I’d have had a little quote in there somewhere.
In fact, I procrastinated for some time after I was contacted (not by the magazine, note, but by an intermediary), and let the moment pass. Now I somewhat regret that the opportunity to represent the silent majority of female muscle fans, to paint an alternative picture of us, has gone, but, though tempted, being the spokesperson for the entire female muscle lovin’ brethren is not something I would want to be.
But anyway, about Rene.
Seems she’s on a bit of a publicity mission. Not only has she got her name (and naked body, remember) in mainstream print, but she also made an appearance, in late November, on The X-Factor (about as mainstream and prime time a TV show as you are ever going to get) as part of a backing act for one of the performances.
And Rene has starred in a music video as well. I mean, really starred.
The Closer story then (new pictures of Rene and bonus clip of her working out all pumped up aside), not really worth the read. The X-Factor appearance (aside from Rene’s own Facebook pictures of the day), not really worth bothering with.
But the music video, which was directed by Jack Newman for Bullion Productions, is definitely worth four minutes and twenty-four seconds of your time.
Oh, what a surprise – I recommended by far the least mainstream thing!
This is 6ft1swell, for FMS, staying well out of the limelight…
It seems to me, having done my research (of course), that there is a wave of new young British female muscle talent on the cusp of international success. Yesterday, for example, we highlighted the prodigious achievements of our 23-year-old Fitness champ Emma Paveley. Readers will already be familiar with the likes of Ria Ward and Hayley Brylewski, who have already competed in the US, and Georgina McConnell, who will surely be doing the same before long. And later in the week we will be meeting an emerging talent competing in the world of NABBA.
Exciting times.
Laura Madge is another of these emerging talents. As gorgeous and muscular as any of the women in this British new wave, it could be argued that Laura is, perhaps, our most exciting prospect of all, simply because she has, uniquely among her peers, already won an international amateur competition and achieved professional status.
Her win came in Las Vegas this August at the WBFF Worlds. Laura was crowned Diva Figure Model, achieving pro status in only her second year of competition.
True, the WBFF (World Beauty Fitness & Fashion Inc.) isn’t exactly the IFBB, but all the same, she’s now entitled to go sparkly bikini to sparkly bikini with some high calibre physiques. Emily Stirling, Anne-Marie Lassere and Louise van der Nat are all top WBFF Pro Figure competitors, as is Northern Ireland’s finest, Leslie-Ann Armstrong, who became a pro after having finished runner-up to Laura in Las Vegas.
For Laura to have gone from winning her very first show as a Bodyfitness competitor – a regional UKBFF national qualifier – to winning her pro card in a touch over twelve months is impressive stuff. I am so proud of what I have achieved in a short space of time, says Laura. And FMS, at least, thinks she damn well should be.
Her success is no doubt partly down to the fact that from the age of 5 to the age of 23, when an injury ended her career, Laura was a gymnast. Her professional and personal alliance with her fiancé Scott Leeson, himself a successful WBFF Pro, and the man who has been her coach since the beginning of her muscle journey has also been crucial – and at this point I should warn fragile egos who are going to get depressed when they see the body of the man who snags a woman like Laura that Mr Leeson features prominently (and always shirtless) on her Facebook and Instagram.
Sport and training have always been a massive part of my life since such an early age, she says, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a lifestyle. And you wouldn’t bet against Laura’s relentless energy and competitive nature taking her to the very top of the WBFF very very soon. [I’m] Already so excited about competing at the WBFF Worlds Pro Figure next year, already working hard on my weaknesses.
So I guess this is where I have to admit that the aforementioned Mr Leeson is probably a better trainer than I could ever be, because when I look at Laura, I’m afraid I don’t see any “weaknesses” at all. And by the way, he’s also a photographer, so he gets to snap his soon-to-be missus in lingerie in their down time, don’t you just hate him?!
And we leave you today with Laura’s trailer for her work with FitVids.
It would be nice to be writing about a Brit who had represented her country in Bodybuilding at the IFBB World Fitness Championships in Montreal in October, but sadly, it being an IFBB event and all, there was no such division. It would also be nice to be writing about one of Britain’s fabulous Physique goddesses – Ria Ward or Hayley Brylewski or Linda Gartside, for example – but, though there was a Physique class at the Championships, not a single British competitor entered.
However, there were five women who flew the flag for the UK at the Championships, and three of those finished in the top 6 in their classes. The mainstream media would never bother to report the achievements of these women, but it seems the UK bodybuilding media isn’t that interested either. So if no one else is going to report British success in international bodybuilding competitions, FMS bloody well is!
KARINA SKOWRONSKA (Bikini)
It hasn’t been a bad year for our most successful Bikini competitor at the Championships. In Montreal, Karina Skowronska added a 5th place finish in the “up to 166cm” Bikini class to her 4th place at the Arnold Classic Europe and her 2nd place finishes at the IFBB Europeans and IFBB Amateur Olympia.
The very un-British sounding name is a Polish one – she was a Polish Fitness champion multiple times before settling in the UK, where, aside from competing, she runs a business making custom posing suits,Karina Sparkle Bikini. All round, I reckon Karina provides a pretty good example of why the right-wing anti-immigration types prevalent in British politics right now have got it so very very wrong!
Formerly known as Caroline Laura Bell, last year Caroline got married to her trainer – how often does that happen?! There she is (above right) showing off in her wedding dress. Her best ever contest result followed at the 2013 UKBFF British championships (2nd), and this year she had already represented the UK at the Europeans in the “over 168cm” class (finishing 9th) before her 4th place at the Worlds.
23-year-old Emma Paveley was still competing as a junior last year, and her success in her first year at senior level has caused quite a stir among those in the know – which now includes YOU, dear reader! She has won bronze medals at European and now World level, and in November took the UKBFF Fitness title at her very first attempt. Top notch all round, says Flex Online. Paveley is a real prospect.
As an ex-gymnast, Emma has first rate flexibility and tumbling skills, so she’s strong in the routine element of Fitness. But it’s her muscles that are getting everyone so excited about what she might achieve in the sport. The goal for my physique is to be as conditioned as I possibly can, she says. And we say it’s about time Kizzy Vaines, so long our sole IFBB Fitness pro, had a successor. Perhaps you are looking at her.
Follow the further adventures of Emma Paveley on Facebook and Instagram.
One of the saddest things I’ve read this year is the news that Female Bodybuilding had been “phased out” of UKBFF events. No Female Bodybuilding class in the regional qualifiers, no Female Bodybuilding class at the national championships. The federation that brought you the world class muscle of Lisa Cross (2010 UKBFF champion) and Rene Campbell (2011) has turned its back on British female bodybuilders.
However, come competition time at the UKBFF British Championships recently, hope for the future of female muscle within Britain’s most important bodybuilding federation was provided by the triumph of the VERY muscular Sarah Williams.
Sarah had previously competed at the championships as a bodybuilder. In 2012, in fact, she had been runner-up to the smaller and considerably less muscular Rosanna Harte, and many had felt she’d been the victim of a judging travesty. Then, last year, having been a pre-contest favourite given her placing the year before, her appearance on stage apparently having forgotten to apply the pro tan was met with confusion, and, despite her size, she slipped down to fifth in the final placings.
Sarah, robbed at the UKBFF British in 2012
“Looking ghostly” – her words – in 2013
So Sarah got busy “sizing down” as they say, preparing to compete in Physique. It was a bit daunting at first, she says. But I made it simple like I always do, just started dieting a bit earlier, played with my diet a bit, and then just made sure my legs – I didn’t train them the same way to get them to be proportionate to my top half.
Given that she is already more successful as a Physique competitor than she ever was as a bodybuilder, it shouldn’t be too surprising that she already sounds like a true believer, that Physique was the home she had always been looking for. It [Physique posing] felt much more feminine, much more natural to me, she said after her win.
And it’s good to know that being covered in rock hard muscle – she “shredded the competition” according to Flex Online – and getting that feminine feeling are not mutually exclusive. She was, by all accounts, the clear winner from the moment she stepped on stage. The only debate, writes John Plummer, centred on whether she was too muscular for women’s physique. Some felt she was a bodybuilder by another name; others felt her physique was perfectly suited to the international stage.
Thankfully, the latter of these two views won the day among the judges, and it seems likely that the theory that Sarah will be a strong representative for the UK in European competition will soon be tested. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, she says.
Check out Sarah’s 2012 nemesis Rosanna Harte interviewing the new champ backstage after her win. Sadly, Sarah’s fabulous body is all covered up, but if you like your muscle goddess’ voice basso profundo, listening to Sarah will more than make up for that. And all delivered in Swell’s own South London-Surrey border brogue.
Delighted to report that while it was all going down at the Olympia in Las Vegas, FMS‘ favourite 20-year-old from the north-east of England was winning the Women’s Physique Division at the UKBFF North-West Championships in Leeds. In doing so, she qualified for what will be her second crack at the British Championships, which take place in a couple of weeks in Nottingham. Congratulations Georgina!
On stage pics of the event are thin on the ground at the moment (or have a big watermark across them saying DO NOT COPY), and there’s no report or official results as yet, but from the little I have, there were at least two other women competing in Physique for Georgina to blow away with her size, and, particularly at this show more than any of her previous outings, her insane conditioning. And still only 20!
As the show approached, Georgina was clearly feeling her legs looked better than ever, posting selfie after selfie of ever more shredded pins on her Instagram. So many, in fact, that she actually felt the need to apologise (sort of) for the glut. Sorry for all the leg pics, she wrote in the week leading up to the show. But look at me calve!!!
Freaky! And it seems those legs, along with the rest of this remarkable young woman, are providing inspiration to other bodybuilders male and female within and outside the UK. Georgina’s had her problems with social media abuse in the past, but these days the messages of encouragement and admiration are all over her Instagram.
And since the contest, it’s been back to work, getting a “crazy pump” on as she begins her preparation for the British Championships. Last year, regular readers may remember, that show didn’t work out so well for her (see FMS passim). I get the feeling that this year she’ll fare much much better in the biggest UK show there is.
Haway the lass!
And we leave you with a tiny bit of video of the mighty Georgina winning in Leeds.
[Word of warning – to save your ears you might want to turn your sound down a touch before watching, them’s some serious bellows of support she’s getting!]
How many British female bodybuilders have graced the Olympia stage?
I posed myself the same question before I began to research the post. Having made my own list, which included only the most obvious candidates – Andrulla Blanchette (of course!), Gayle Moher, Carolyn Cheshire, Paula Bircumshaw, and Joanna Thomas I was sure about. And I reckoned Joanne Lee must have competed. Reasoning that the lack of names on my list was probably due to my own ignorance rather than the fact that only these six women had represented my country in the 35 years of the Ms Olympia, I was absolutely convinced that I would find more.
I did. But only TWO.
The answer to the question, then, is eight. And here are ALL of them.
The very first female bodybuilder I ever laid eyes on, and the sole British woman to appear at the very first Ms Olympia in 1980. Her best finish was 7th in her fourth appearance in 1983. No other British woman has more Olympia appearances than Carolyn, and it wouldn’t be until eight years after her sixth and final appearance that the second British woman to compete at the Olympia stepped onto the stage. Such facts kind of put the magnitude of Carolyn’s achievements into perspective, don’t they?
And, like the proverbial London bus, you wait eight years for a British female bodybuilder to appear at the Ms Olympia, then THREE come along at once!
1993
KIMBERLEY-ANNE JONES
If you were in Britain in the late ’80s and early ’90s, you were aware of Kimberley-Ann Jones, even if you didn’t know her name. If, like me, you did know her name then you probably also enjoyed walking past the VW and Virgin ads on billboards, at bus stops, tube stations and so on. Then there was her video, On the Wild Side, with her chained up and in sort of bondage gear on the cover (some years before Muscle Elegance began). For a while, my route to work took me past her Catford gym, Skyline, my femuscle radar always set to maximum as I went by (I never saw her). She retired the year after this one and only Ms Olympia appearance and, as far as I know, still has the gym and is still looking as good (if not better) than she was 20 years ago.
LORETTA LOMAX
Loretta Lomax is almost certainly the least well-known of Britain’s Olympians. From, I believe, the North-West of England, her late ’80s to early ’90s career was relatively short. She did compete at the Jan Tana in 1992 and 1993 as well as at the Olympia, although her best international showing was at the 1991 IFBB Italian Grand Prix – those were the days, IFBB pro female bodybuilding in Europe! – where she finished 5th, ahead of Debbie McKnight, Sandra Blackie and Janet Tech.
Like Andrulla Blanchette, Loretta was a martial artist before she was a bodybuilder. Apparently, she was a second grade black belt in karate, and in this guest posing routine from 1991, her athleticism, balance and flexibility are clearly evident. Watch and you’ll no doubt end up, as I did, wishing that there was more (much more) of Loretta around for us to enjoy and remember her by. A very VERY sexy lady.
Is it a disadvantage to be the last to present your routine? asks the male commentator on my copy of the 1993 Ms Olympia evening show. Not if you have a package like Paula Bircumshaw, replies co-commentator Carla Dunlap. Trouble is, Paula was presenting her undeniably awesome package at a time when judges seemed obsessed with rewarding the so-called “more feminine look”. A couple of years earlier Paula had finished 4th at the Jan Tana, but after the debacle at the 1992 Ms International (see FMS passim), she never placed in the top 10 at an IFBB pro show again.
If she had been competing at any time in the last ten or fifteen years it’s not inconceivable that Paula would have been challenging Yaxeni, Iris et al for the top titles. She was, unfortunately, a victim of the prevailing IFBB climate, but her place as a fan favourite remains as firm as ever 20 years after she hung up her posing suit. Class, it seems, is permanently remembered. And better still, you’ll be pleased to know that these days, Paula’s winning competitons – even if it is on horseback – check it out!
Sadly, none of these British female bodybuilders at the Ms Olympia in 1993 ever competed at the contest again, but the period 1995 to 2001 was something of a golden age for UK female muscle, at least as far as the Ms O was concerned. With British women competing at every Olympia during that period, this golden age culminated with Andrulla Blanchette‘s win in 2000 and, in 2001, the second (and so far only other) occasion when three FBBs from the UK competed together at the show.
GOLDEN YEARS
JOANNE LEE1995 & 1996
At 14, she was a county level athlete, encouraged to train with weights to strengthen her legs. Three years later she was competing as a bodybuilder. People ask me ‘what did you look like before you started training’ and the truth is I really don’t know, I’ve always trained. One of the blessings of my life is that I started so young, she says. Young enough to have turned pro in her 20s, competed for a few years at the highest level, and retired at the age of 30. Age will not wither her and all that!
Now Joanne is a sought-after personal trainer working out of the “Mecca” that is Gold’s Gym in Venice, California. She is known for her nutritional expertise. My work changes lives, she says. For the last 20 years I have walked the walk and lived the program that I am proud to promote today. And Joanne is the best advert for that program, looking better than women half her age, though still not nearly as jaw-dropping as she did at her most muscular peak, we think you’ll agree…
ANDRULLA BLANCHETTE1996-2001, MS OLYMPIA 2000
Hackney’s greatest export and Britain’s one and only Ms Olympia started training in the mid-80s as a means to improve her strength as a judoka. It was, apparently, obvious from the get-go that she had exceptional strength, and this enabled her body to develop so prodigiously that within a year she was the British Junior champion, and within three she was competing at European and World level. She turned pro in the early 1993 after winning her class (lightweight) at the World Games, and competed at the Ms International four times and at 6 Ms Olympias – equalling Carolyn Cheshire‘s number of appearances, but far surpassing Carolyn in terms of placings.
As much as Paula Bircumshaw was unfortunate to have been competing when she was, Andrulla had the good fortune to have been reaching her absolute peak just when weight clases were introduced. Consider this: at the 1999 Olympia she finished 7th, with 5 of the top 6 all giants (Chizevsky, Gates etc.). A year later, when Valentina Chepiga was crowned Heavyweight champ, Andrulla beat Brenda Raganot, Renee Casella, Cathy Le François and Jennifer McVicar to win the Lightweight title. It was the only occasion there was no overall posedown for the title. Would she have beaten Valentina? Maybe, maybe not. The point is, she didn’t have to.
So, our only Ms Olympia was, in many respects, more than a touch lucky, but I don’t want you to be in any doubt that I absolutely lurved (and still absolutely lurve) Andrulla. Look for a flaw in her magnificently muscled physique, and you’ll be looking forever. Try to find a posing routine of hers that isn’t artistic, powerful, unrelentingly sexy, and totally and utterly captivating – you’ll never find one. She had it all, and quite simply was, and, for me at least, remains, the best of British. Our Queen!
There’s plenty of Andrulla on You Tube, but sadly only one or two of her routines, and only one which is taken from the Olympia, and this one has no sound. But fear not, you can pay full tribute to the Queen thanks to Ozzy’s Female Muscle blog! Andrulla’s 1997 Ms O routine – with sound – AND Ozzy’s own inimitable description of its effects on his younger self. I’m sure you will be able to relate to it, especially if you are, like me and Ozzy, of the female muscle on VHS generation. Ah, the memories!!!
GAYLE MOHER1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 & 2006
And at the same time as Andrulla was peaking towards Ms Olympia immortality, the most successful British professional female bodybuilder ever had emerged from the East of England to take top placings in US shows such as the Jan Tana: Gayle Moher.
Where Andrulla had been all frentic, funky and raw animal power, Gayle’s posing had a much slower, more poised, almost balletic grace to it. And, generally speaking, it was a style the judges of the era liked. But her long and successful career was possible only because she effectively adopted the US as her home (and as far as I know she still does live in Arizona). By moving across the Atlantic she was able to compete so much more regularly than any British woman had before (or has since). But I’m not judging her success solely on the quantity of pro shows she entered. Between 2000 and 2005 she competed in 15 pro shows and never once finished outside the top 5, a record unrivalled by only a handful of other FBBs of the period from any country.
JOANNA THOMAS2001, 2004
And so we come to the last of our British Olympians (the last to make her debut, anyway, if not the last to compete at the Big Show). If you’ve seen it, you will probably never forget Joanna Thomas‘ 2004 Barbie Girl routine (why would you want to?). And if you haven’t, you should probably watch it right now (click here!!!).
An asthmatic child, Joanna became interested in bodybuilding as a teenager, and at 22 was the EFBB British champion. A few years later and she had a pro card, and was finishing 10th in the lightweight class at the Ms Olympia. Like Gayle Moher, she decamped to the USA and stayed, using those Barbie Girl assets to become one of the most photographed female bodybuilders in the world over the next few years. That routine you have just (re)watched helped to earn her a fourth place Olympia finish in what must be the highest quality lightweight field ever. It proved to be the high point of a pro career that promised much, but never quite got there. Like Paula Bircumshaw, she was in the right place but at the wrong time, a 5’3″ FBB reaching her peak just as the weight classes disappeared from competition. 2004 was her second and most successful appearance at the Olympia, but also, sadly, it was her last.
So, the 2014 Ms Olympia will mark the eighth year since Gayle Moher‘s last appearance there in 2006, the longest period without British participation since the contest began in 1980. And it’s not getting any easier for UK female bodybuilders to make it there. Gone are the IFBB shows held outside the USA that qualified winners for the Big Show, meaning that British women with Olympian dreams have to travel to the States to compete in the handful of pro shows there. In 2014, apart from Lisa Cross (who made her pro debut in Tampa), only Wendy McCready made the trip, achieving a creditable 8th place finish in Toronto and an even better 6th place in Omaha, neither of these placings gaining her a single Olympia qualification point.
I hope I’m wrong, but it seems to me that despite Wendy’s Olympian efforts, it’s highly unlikely that this very exclusive eight-woman club of British female bodybuilders will be getting a new member any time soon unless they are prepared to follow the Moher-Thomas blueprint of, to all intents and purposes, ‘becoming’ American. It’s a sad thought, but one which makes all of these eight British Olympians seem even more special and worthy of remembering. National treasures, every one of them.
So, while Swell was away from FMS HQ during August, he found himself at a dinner to mark the successful end of a project he had been working on. And during that dinner, one of his erstwhile colleagues (male) was talking another of his erstwhile colleagues (female) about Tinder, which, according to Marie Claire, is the dating app that came out of nowhere and now completely dominates the UK dating scene.
“Yeah, I’d probably fuck her,” he said (with all the class I’ve come to expect from him) as he swiped to the right (which means “Yes”). “No way I’d fuck that,” he said, swiping to the left this time (left means “No”). And on he went. Left, left, right etc.
Don’t panic. I’m not about to weigh into the Tinder debate that seems to be going on everywhere from the media to the pub (and at the dinner I was at as well). If you are in the UK and have single friends, you’ve probably heard it already anyway.
“Jesus Christ! Look at her muscles!”
Tinder Boy was suddenly holding up the phone for all to see. And, to my surprise, what all saw was some proper female muscle. And proud female muscle at that, making damn sure you could see it. She was flexing her right bicep, her teeth gritted. “Yessss!” she seemed to be saying. “Look at that and right swipe if you dare boys!”
THE MADNESS!
I wanted to grab the phone from his hand and get a real good gander. I seriously wondered whether I’d recognise her – a local UKBFF or NABBA competitor perhaps? Given where the dinner was taking place it could have conceivably been a number of women I’d blogged about… Turned out grabbing wasn’t necessary. The phone was being passed around now. And yes, you guessed it, all the usual “looks like a dude”/”would kick the shit out of you” type comments were being made.
I waited my turn, and as I did I was still curious who she might be, but I was also getting more than a little righteously vexed. After all, my own wife has been busting her behind to gain some muscle in the last four or five months, and the thought that similar comments might be made about her at some point in the future when she had the muscle to match this lady, well, it was making my blood boil, I can tell you.
The phone came my way. I didn’t recognise the lady at all, and her arm wasn’t nearly as big as I’d thought it had been after that first glance (probably The Madness making everything seem bigger than it really is), but still, she was impressive. And hot.
I passed the phone on and waited till Tinder Boy had it back and had safely swiped Ms Muscles to the left. Now, at this point I should say that I had had a couple of drinks. Had that not been the case I would probably have let it lie, but I didn’t. Not this time.
What I said exactly is a little hard to remember, but it started with a question to the parents at the table about whether they would like it if their daughter’s photo had been passed round in such a way. When Tinder Boy responded that it was just a little bit of fun (“Relax, man!”) I asked the table whether it would have been a bit of fun to pass round and ridicule a very fat woman, a black woman, a disabled woman?
According to the table, those instances would be “different”.
And at that point I started up about the wife. And once I got going I found myself becoming less and less angry, and more and more effusive about the benefits of her newly-toned body. The benefits for her self-esteem, the benefits for her health. The compliments she gets, the admiration of her friends. And then, smelling blood, I started to talk about the benefits for our sex life, about strength, flexibility, stamina, and even, I’m almost ashamed to say, the greater control of certain hidden muscles.
The Madness, the drink… No doubt I remember myself as slightly more eloquent and a lot more heroic than I actually was. When I’d finished, one of the ladies broke the silence and made everyone laugh by saying somewhat suggestively that she couldn’t wait to meet my wife. I probably came across as a bit of a twat/weirdo to most of the assembled, and I dare say some of them may well have decided that no matter how good I might be at my job, they won’t be calling on my expertise in the future.
Whatever.
I hardly told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but I felt like something needed to be said and I said it. It felt and it feels good to have done so.
A couple of weeks on from the incident and I find that I haven’t told the wife about this. I’ve been telling her, as I have from the start of her fitness regime, how wonderful she is, how wonderful she’s looking (and not just telling her, if you know what I mean). But about my speechifying, nothing. And I’m not sure why. Perhaps I don’t want her to get self-conscious about her muscles before she has the sort of muscles that might make her feel self-conscious. Perhaps I don’t want her to start thinking about whether there was more to it than just defending her lifestyle choices!
And I’ve also been thinking about the Tinder Muscle Lady. I’m no longer very curious about who she is. I don’t want to find out her name and then broadcast that she is looking for fun. I’m not about to “out” her or anything like that. But I have been thinking that Tinder is probably a good thing as far as she’s concerned. After all, she has almost certainly cornered the market within her specified geographical radius for female muscle lovin’ single guys (and even the odd naughty non-single guy as well).
And in this week of good news, I’ve found that the Tinder Muscle Lady that my erstwhile colleague came across is not the only one out there. On the forum whose first rule is you do not talk about it, there’s a member from Texas who is happily posting images of all the muscle women he finds on Tinder in the San Antonio area – and if you care to have a look for his thread, you’ll find they are surprisingly numerous.
I’m not suggesting you move to San Antonio, I’m just saying that it seems that there are muscle women out there and advertising for dates. If I were you, I’d get myself a job/a haircut/in shape/a new wardrobe/whatever it takes to get a right swipe…
Where the hell was this app when I was young, free, beautiful and single?!
Enjoy (responsibly)!
And by the way, NONE of the women in this post are either from Tinder (as far as I know) or my wife. They are purely for illustrative purposes. All are culled from Femularity (aka “tenantcomplex”) on Tumblr, which I find is a great source for an unidentified girl-next-door-type female muscle fix. And more! Recommended.
Female Muscle Slave 