Chicago 2014: Olympia Bound

We begin a seven-day celebration of the ladies at last weekend’s Wings of Strength Chicago Pro with those who left the stage with a date in Vegas in September. Out of a grand total of eighty-four competitors across Fitness, Figure, Physique and Bodybuilding, this quartet of champions are now bound for the Olympia.

WINNER: Fitness
FIONA HARRIS

Canadian fitness winner Fiona Harris is now anticipating her third consecutive appearance at the Fitness Olympia. Words cannot express how excited I am to win, how shocked, she told RxMuscle, no surprise when you learn that this was her first win as a pro (a common theme among the Chicago champs this year, we will find).

Apparently, raising her game in the “Routine Round” was the key to her win. Typically Fiona doesn’t fare as well in the routine rounds, Hardbody News reported, but not on this occasion. The former gymnast won both the routine round and the “Physique Round”. In fact, she finished way ahead, the clear winner on the judges’ scorecard. For her to take the win in both rounds is a huge improvement, the report continues, and “a huge improvement” is probably just what Fiona will be looking for in Vegas in September, as her previous Olympia finishes have been 12th (last year) and 14th.

From start to finish, the events of the weekend far exceeded my expectations, Fiona told her Facebook followers a few days after her victory. To earn my first IFBB Pro Fitness win and a qualification for the 50th Olympia is truly a dream come true.

WINNER: Figure
CYDNEY GILLON

Here at FMS we’re not always the most attentive of the brethren towards the wonderful women who compete in the Figure division, but we have never been able to ignore Cydney Gillon‘s tiny waist, nor her beautifully broad shoulders. Do you see the V? How much more V could she be? And nor are we immune to this former collegiate athlete’s many other qualities either, not least that absolutely dazzling smile.

It’s been an eventful few months for her. She called time on her athletics career, graduated, and was also featured right here on FMS for the first time – in April, see Mirror, Mirror, and a couple of more recent posts featuring the beautiful Ms Gillon. Now she has her first pro victory in her second pro year, and can look forward to her Olympia debut. Perhaps not quite as good as being on FMS again, but definitely better than the proverbial poke in the eye, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time.

In the Figure division, we saw rising star Cydney Gillon shine her brightest yet, Hardbody News said. Gosh, if she starts to shine any brighter (sorry to go on about it and all, but that smile must light up whole auditoriums), we’re going to need darker shades than the ones we’ve got. The 21-year old has huge potential, Hardbody News reckons. We’d better get down to Specsavers before she does us permanent damage.

WINNER: Physique
LEILA THOMPSON

Edging out last year’s Chicago physique champ and FMS fave Jamie Pinder (don’t fret, we’ll be all over Jamie later in the week), Leila Thompson is the third first pro title winner, and will make her Olympia debut this year. I’ve not even ever been, Leila (pronounced Lee-AY-la, apparently) gushed to RxMuscle after stepping off stage.

She won because of pinpoint conditioning, nice overall structural balance, excellent detail in all her bodyparts, and a stage presence that seems to grow with each passing contest, according to Steve Wennerstrom, and I am not going to argue with a man who wears a stetson. And her win is all the more remarkable when you consider that this time last year, she was going home having finished down in 12th!

Leila says, I’m going to take a week off, enjoy some food… Then get back at it.

WINNER: Bodybuilding
MARIA RITA BELLO

And finally, Rita Bello may be going to her second Ms Olympia in a row, but she’ll be going for the first time as a pro champion. The woman dubbed “The Argentinian Anatomy Chart” triumphed over 18 other women – a big big line-up in every sense.

The man in the stetson (I’ve got to get me one of those) has nothing but praise for the 50, yes, 50-year-old Argentinian. For the last 17 years, she has brought the same level of muscular definition to each contest she has entered. Virtually every part of her structure is lathered with highly defined groups of muscle tissue. Her back, real delts, triceps, gluteal tie-ins and pecs that are striated right up to her clavicles are all primary focal points of her physique. Even in repose, she appears flexed, he says, adding that in the decades that have passed since women’s bodybuilding has taken hold, few, if any women have displayed her level of chiseled muscularity.

So, that’s three from three for South American female bodybuilders in this year’s pro shows, a good week for Argentina all round, and a great week for Rita Bello, Leila Thompson, Cydney Gillon and Fiona Harris. All four of them Olympia bound.

Congratulations to them on their first pro wins!

And we’ll be in Chicago all week. Enjoy!

Ts of the Day: On Her Back(side)

Crossfit women wear their slogans on their backs. Probably because they’ve just run (or walked on their hands) past you, so a front-facing slogan would be a waste of time.

(left): Tracy O’Donnell did qualify for the North East Regional (she finished joint 18th place after The Open), but she isn’t listed among the starters on the leaderboard, so I guess this 27-year-old Bad Ass Beauty from Massachusetts won’t be competing. Shame, because she really is bad ass. And she really really is a beauty.

(right): Most definitely competing in her Regional, 20-year-old Lauren Fisher must have Grown Strong, because she finished 3rd overall and has therefore qualified for The Games later in the year. It’s impressive enough that she is still very young to have achieved that feat, even more so when you consider her Southern California region is one of the most competitive of all. But on top of that, her Regional was her very first experience of Crossfit competition as an individual athlete. Definitely one to watch for the future (and it won’t be a chore to do so). Why not join me at her Instagram?

This Is Why I Squat

Not a Crossfitter, but physique pro Cydney Gillon was a collegiate sprint hurdler, so it’s hardly surprising her message for you is on her back. Or her backside, to be exact. And given that it’s the kind of backside that one reader called “unnaturally small, petite and muscular”, what we have here is a walking, talking, flexing advertisement for the beloved squat. But I wonder, dear reader, if you’re thinking what I’m thinking: if only that vest were a touch shorter, and those shorts were a touch tighter, then it would be the best possible advertisement of all!

Enjoy!

On the Beach…

…with Cyd & Kash

You have to admire the dedication. Even beside the seaside there’s no relaxing for Cydney Gillon and her impressive shoulders. Thanks to Cyd’s glute message, we don’t have to complain that we don’t know where this beach is. Go girl!

Burying Kashma in the sand while she was having a doze seemed like a good idea at the time, just a bit of fun. But now she’s finally dug herself out she’s all pissed off. If that dude doesn’t get away quick, he might find himself buried in the sand – head first.

Enjoy!

A few more of Cydney Gillon‘s beach workout here

The Look of Love: Mirror Mirror

Yesterday’s musings about how it feels to be the hottest, most lusted after physique competitor in the world and then going up on stage and showing it all off while your fans are going wild… Well, it’s had me thinking all sorts of things about the FBB and their body image. Or to put it another way, I’ve been delving in the FMS archives for images of musclelicious self-admiration. FBBs looking at themselves, looking at their own beautiful muscles, with what can only be described as “The Look of Love”.

It’s easy to imagine that Marja is thinking what a stone cold alpha muscle goddess she is. She’s saying to herself, It’s so sexy that my bicep is as big as my head. She’s perhaps wondering if she should maybe tone it down a shade or two on the tan next time, but that all in all, she’s feeling somewhat enamoured of her own amazing body.

And it’s also easy to imagine Joanna getting all turned on by her own reflection. After all, it’s a very arousing reflection, so naturally I’d assume she’s arousing herself by looking at it. Joanna’s clearly taking her time drinking it all in. Each muscle flexed and appreciated in turn until she can’t bear it anymore and just rips off her top and starts to hit most muscular and abs and thigh poses till she collapses, panting for breath.

FBBs are always looking at themselves in the mirror. I reckon Denise Rodrigues likes what she sees when she looks in the mirror at the gym. Nathalie Foreau isn’t about to miss an opportunity to check out how cut and sexy she is when there’s a mirror in the lift. Denise has barely got in the door and she’s ripping off her clothes and flexing in front of one of her (many many) mirrors. And meanwhile back at the gym, they’ve switched off most of the lights and shut up the office, but none of the weary staff are about to ask Eva Lagerhorn Blum if she’d like to call it a night on the mirror posing.

Obviously, my imaginings are my own fantasy of what a muscle woman sees and feels when she flexes for herself in the mirror. I was curious to see if there was anything out there written by the women themselves. In time-honoured research tradition here at FMS, I typed a few words into Google. And I found this on Tumblr…

I love my sport. But with it comes a negative side. Just like anything. The distortion you get of your own body is crazy. Please know that when I say I feel like a fat cow I’m serious. I mean it for myself and myself only. I have no expectations on anyone else and how they look. Being insanely lean and depleted of all water is very unhealthy and I realize that. However, the image that sticks in a competitors head is that day or two before the show. I realize that I’m not fat on anyone else’s terms. But for me and the way I see myself I feel like a size 16 when in reality I’m a 4.

Clearly my imaginings were not 100% on the nail. But, hey, it’s not ALL bad news. Granted, it is a bit of a shame that this particular NPC competitor can suffer from the kind of insecurities about body image that can afflict anyone, but on the other hand, she does imply that around contest time she is going to be lovin’ her muscular body in the mirror all over again. And thankfully, most of the mirror-posing photo shoots Swell found in the FMS archive just happened to have been taken with the women getting into, in, or post-contest shape, so we can all just go back to the fantasy.

With added definition!

Figure turned pro physique competitor Cydney Gillon admires herself – her contest-ready self – backstage during her amateur days. Perhaps she is thinking what sensational genetics she has been blessed with, that she has the potential to be really big, big like Lenda. Or perhaps she is just thinking that with this much muscle already she had better start planning for a career in the physique division now. She might be wishing that the NPC would allow her to pose in a thong, that it’s a damn shame all that work she has put into getting her glutes so very tight isn’t going to be fully appreciated by the judges or the crowd. But I think she’s looking at her baseball biceps. I think she’s loving how they peak when she twists her wrists inwards. I think she’s been there twisting those wrists back and forth for a while, hypnotised by her own strong body, utterly lost in admiration of her own hard, pumped muscles…

Oooof! Got a bit lost myself there.

And if I start imagining what a glistening, rippling, and self-admiring Nicole Ball (and when she was still a bodybuilder to boot!) is thinking about here, then I may get myself so lost I may never be able to find my way back to reality again. So you will have to imagine this one for yourselves. I’m sure, dear reader, you are more than capable.

Enjoy!