À la recherche du chaude et dure perdu: Sophie Duquette

In this last week of voting for the FMS Hot and Hard 100, I don’t wish to unduly influence the waverers among you who are still compiling your lists by posting too many images of the hottest hard women of the last year [like you did yesterday?! – ed.] And on top of that, as I’ve recently reached, shall we say, a “certain age”, I’m kind of in the mood to look back on my female muscle lovin’ life thus far.

So, all week on FMS, it’s some of my all-time favourite female muscle moments, starring some of my all-time favourite muscle women. And with apologies to Monsieur Proust, we’ve decided to call it À la recherche du chaude et dure perdu, or…

REMEMBRANCE OF HOT AND HARD PAST

1. These Glutes Were Made for Walking

She walks towards the camera, which then swings around and follows her up a staircase and onto a landing. Then we switch point of view as the camera overtakes her and now she’s walking towards us again. She smiles into camera as she passes along. Fade out.

Described as above it doesn’t sound like much. But when “she” is Sophie Duquette in heels, when her mouth-watering body is at its full and curvy muscle peak, when that fantasy body of hers is covered only by a triangle of fabric up top and a “skirt” that barely manages to cover 50% of her glorious rear… well, it’s amazing how scintillating a forty-seven second clip of a woman doing nothing but walking can be.

It’s so far from the HD clarity we are so spoiled with now – I’m guessing it’s about ten years old – but I tend to think it’s actually better for it, or rather, I’m all the better for it. If, ten years ago, I’d watched Sophie in HD – particularly the walking up the stairs behind her rippling legs section – so excited would I have been that I might well have found myself in intensive care, never able to safely watch the clip again. Ever.

And to think there are actually men out there who wouldn’t find this sexy.

//www.youtube.com/get_player

Click here and you can watch the clip on a continuous loop. Careful now!

And I shall be biting into another madeleine tomorrow…

Hot and Hard: The Virtuous Circle

When Kristin Rance joined a CrossFit gym in Washington [DC] about a year ago, she had one vision: muscle. The 30-year-old mother of two wanted to look in the mirror and see someone ‘who looks like (she) works out – without flexing’.

How she didn’t want to look? Skinny.
Washington Post, 13th October 2014

“Strong Is the New Skinny” was trademarked in 2012 by Marsha Christensen, a personal trainer and blogger from Texas. I imagine Marsha has made a fair few quid out of it, being as it is, as I’m sure you are well aware, on T-shirts as well as about 399 other products too. It has a Facebook page with over 100,000 likes, and plenty of gyms have built entire marketing campaigns around it to get women to weight train.

A measure of its popularity, particularly in North America, as the new ideal for women is the fact that the backlash has already started. It may be a healthier body image than the stick-thin supermodel look, critics say, but it is no more achievable.

The female athlete portrays a little bit healthier body image than Kate Moss, but it’s not realistic, says Boise State University psychologist Mary Pritchard, an eating behaviour and body image specialist, for example. We have kids, we have families. Our job is not to look and be like an athlete.

Nevertheless, the phrase, and the more general notion of self-empowerment through strength training, is, as they say, ‘trending’. Quite apart from the seemingly inexorable rise of CrossFit and the growth of interest in muscle building among women in North America, the trend has entered the mainstream, with high profile companies as diverse as Chevrolet and Always creating “pro-sporty girl” marketing campaigns.

And now, it seems, that trend is spreading across the world – well, the English-speaking world, the part of the world FMS‘ limited language skills allows us to monitor anyway!

Women across Ireland are abandoning the weighing scales and picking up weights to sculpt their bodies, according to the Irish Independent. In South Africa, the sport [of female bodybuilding] is reported to be “building momentum quickly”, and it’s a similar story in New Zealand. And here in Britain, the phrase ‘Protein Princesses’ has been coined to describe the new generation of gym-obsessed women, most recently mentioned in a Daily Mail piece that focused on how British women who work out are ditching sugar-dense cereals for protein-packed breakfasts.

And we’ve even come across evidence of participation in female bodybuilding growing in India. Starting last Friday in Mumbai, Indian women took part, for the very first time, in an international bodybuilding contest in their own country at the magnificently-entitled “6th World Bodybuilding Championship & Physique Sports Competition” organised by the India Bodybuilders’ Federation (IBBF). Athletes from over 50 countries were reported to be taking part, and in the build-up to the contest, the Indian media focused on pioneering female athletes like 31-year-old Leela Phad, who was due to be the first ever Indian woman to compete in the Physique division.

Pioneering Indian Physique competitor Leela Phad

To this day, her parents do not know she practises bodybuilding, the Times of India reported, which is not the whole truth, but does give an indication of the kind of extra problems female bodybuilders face outside the West. They know I am a trainer, Leela told dnaindia, but they don’t know that I will be competing. They are conservative and don’t like women wearing that particular attire [bikini] on stage, and are angry that I haven’t taken up the secure job of sales tax inspector to pursue sports.

One result of all this media attention on the rise of the muscular woman is a kind of redefinition of what a “female bodybuilder” is. To give one typical (and perhaps unintentionally hilarious) example, health24 begins its piece on “What It Takes to Be a Female Bodybuilder” thus: Female bodybuilding has become extremely popular worldwide with participants, often called fitness models, inspiring women all over the world to begin fitness training, modelling and competing.

It seems a “female bodybuilder” ain’t what she used to be!

But it would be churlish to complain too much about this when there’s so much to be thankful for. From Manchester to Mumbai and from Dunedin to Durban, more and more women are lifting weights, and more and more of them are going on to compete, even in countries where traditions have made it an especially difficult task.

And as their national media reports this rise, yet more women might be inspired to take up the sport. It’s like the opposite of a vicious circle, apparently known as a “virtuous circle” (although I’d never heard that phrase before).

The women of the world getting hotter and hotter and harder and harder…

Which only leaves us female muscle fans scratching our heads and wondering,
Where exactly is this new horde of muscle-building women when I go to the gym?

Enjoy!

IK Rules, OK? VI

IRIS SEZ…

Today, a few more extracts from The Tao of Iris…

The way you “THINK” is the “DRIVING FORCE” that fashions your world, thereby governing the kind of life that you live… Study the past if you would define the future… Remember, “Life” is not made up of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years, but of moments.

Being gifted doesn’t mean you’ve been given something – it means, you have something to give… Shine with all you have. When someone tries to blow you out, just take their oxygen and burn brighter… Just believe and you will achieve… You feel me????

DEM HAMS DOE!

Tomorrow we are going back upstairs, but for now we complete our celebration of Iris’ lower body – and the fact that these are the last of her leg muscles we’re looking at by no means indicates they are the least of them – with those great thick ropes of muscle that bulge out (rippling) from the base of dem (rippling) glutes on down.

In 2011, she told Physical Fitness Rx, I keep my reps up for my hams. I’ll do sets of 15 in the off season, and pre-contest I go to sets of 20 (lying leg curls, stiff-leg deadlifts and seated curls). Also, precontest I’ll do high-rep sets of hypers (back extensions) every day to really bring in my hams, my glutes and my lower back.

So, whether you are a man who wants to break the habit of a lifetime and stop neglecting your hamstrings, or a woman who wants to have the kind of “gammies” that make people walk into stuff as they stare at them, that’s all there is to it. Simples!

KYLED HARD FACT OF THE DAY

Iris says her favourite music is R&B, jazz and sensible rap. “Sensible”?!

KYLE BY NUMBERS

Ten times Ms Olympia: 2004, and then nine times in a row, from 2006 to 2014.

The “I Was Runner-up to Iris Kyle at the Ms O” Club has six members. Dayana Cadeau was Lightweight champion but lost the Overall posedown to Iris in 2004, and then finished second outright in 2006 and 2007. The wonderful Betty Viana was runner-up in 2008, followed by Heather Policky in 2009. Yaxeni Oriquen – familiar with the feeling from all her Ms International runners-up medals – came second in 2010 and 2011. And most recently it’s Debi Laszewski (2012), and Alina Popa (2013 and 2014) who have held Iris’ hand before the inevitable happens!

EVERYBODY LOVES IRIS

Anne Freitas never misses the chance to get a pic of herself with The Champ, even though she herself is a champ these days. Above right, a towering Iris congratulates Anne on her win backstage at this year’s Omaha Pro (with Tonia Moore).

IN BLACK & WHITE

KYLE IN MOTION

IRIS KYLE 2013 ARNOLD CLASSIC IFBB PRO Ms INTERNATIONAL FINALS

From the brilliant watatiwatatio, Iris’ routine at the (sadly, in all probability last ever, and therefore) historic Ms International last year. Going out on top is always the best way, says Iris, something that she managed to do both here and at the Ms Olympia.

Iris’ reign concludes tomorrow…

Olympia 2014 Review: The MUSCLE

The other day, when we profiled all five female winners at the 2014 Olympia, I may have had you spitting out your breakfast cereal by saying I was impressed, yes, impressed by the muscularity of some of the fitness and figure competitors.

MUSCLE IN FITNESS


Regiane Da Silva, Whitney Jones, Fiona Harris & Amanda Hatfield (previously Amanda Swallow – remember her?)

My surprise that there was so much muscle in the, let’s say, ‘smaller’ divisions – and note I’m not talking about the bikini girls here – has nothing to do with these women suddenly getting big, and everything to do with my own ignorance. At any other show I go straight to the female bodybuilders, spend some time with the physique women, and pay little or no attention at all to the fitness and figure contests. But this year’s Olympia was different. I’ve pretty much watched all there is to watch of the contests from bikini to bodybuilding (the women, that is – I don’t think I’m about to break the habit of a lifetime and start checking out the men!). I stand by my first impression. I haven’t changed my mind. There sure is some muscle in fitness and figure.

MUSCLE IN FIGURE


Krista Dunn, Jessica Graham, Zsuzsanna Toldi & Candice Lewis

The shame is that they don’t get to really FLEX it!

Of course the physique competitors do get to flex it, and they clearly love every minute of it. And what a thrill it is to see them in all their lean muscle glory!

MUSCLE IN PHYSIQUE


Jillian Reville, Karin Hobbs, Jacklyn Abrams & Sabrina Taylor

But having said all that, the difference in muscularity between the three divisions pales in comparison to the difference in muscularity between the physique division and the pure, unadulterated BEEF of the freaky Olympian female bodybuilders.

If watching the physique competitors flex their way through prejudging, comparisons and their delicious funky routines is a thrill, when the BIG girls come out and start hitting their compulsory poses, it’s pure female muscle lovin’ ECSTASY.

THE MUSCLE

One by one these magnificent women emerge and take their place front and centre. Just watching them walk makes me swoon as their thigh muscles ripple with every step they take. I’m instantly transfixed, instantly intoxicated. And then they start to flex…

I’ve said before that if you accept the definition of sthenolagnia as “sexual arousal from the display of strength or muscles”, then the keywords for this particular sthenolagniac are display and muscles. As a result, and much as I’ve already enjoyed the walk-on, it’s unsurprising that the moment of greatest excitement for me is when the first compulsory pose is hit – or rather, the moment just before, the moment of preparation for that first pose, the moment when my anticipation of that pose reaches its climax, and I can hear my heart pounding inside my chest. The days and weeks counting down to the Olympia have led to this. The display of the muscle is about to begin.

Some prefer the smoother, “off season” look, but from the very beginning of my female muscle slavedom I have always derived the most excitement, the greatest ecstasy, from the “contest-ready” look. Ripped, shredded, cut – whatever you want to call it – wins every time as far as I’m concerned. Every pulsating vein, every striation, every ripple of every muscle is there, fully pumped and visible in perfect detail.

And having explored the on stage experience of the female bodybuilder earlier in the year (see The Agony & the Ecstasy), FMS felt that this year we had a new level of appreciation of how the Olympian women were feeling on that stage in Las Vegas. I felt I could (unless I’m kidding myself) sense the experience they were having of being in their bodies, of being at their absolute peak – what Tanya Bunsell calls “the latent image in her mind’s eye”. This year it was more than pride that I saw in their faces, this year, as I watched them finally getting to display their work – their bodies, their muscles – the result of the agony of their contest preparation, I sensed their ecstasy.

For the first time in a while, highlights of the Olympia were (or are going to be) broadcast on nationwide TV in the USA on NBC. Now I doubt the persons responsible for the highlights show looked too hard for any narrative, any stories within the female bodybuilding division with which to grab their mainstream audience’s attention, but if they had wanted narrative, the stories were, most definitely, there.

Here was Yaxeni in her 17th (yes, SEVENTEENTH!) consecutive Ms Olympia. Here, for the first time, were more competitors from outside the USA than from within – and the majority of those, like Yaxeni, from South America. Here was Alana, making her Olympia debut and breaking into the top 5, and here was Christine, another first timer – two women whose journeys to the Vegas stage couldn’t have been more different. Here was Alina, the (STILL) uncrowned Queen, adored by the female muscle fans, adored by the female bodybuilders themselves – the current paragon of the female bodybuilder. And here was Iris, champ for the ninth year in a row and the tenth time in all…

I’ve been told that the majority of the audience at the Olympia is male and that they attend to see the men. But I would bet that all around the world there are other men, like me, like you perhaps, who, for financial reasons or reasons that are more personal (the very reasons that prevented me from watching the Olympia live, for example), have not been to and probably never will go to the Olympia or any other bodybuilding show, but who nevertheless make up an enormous audience for these magnificent women and their show, the greatest female MUSCLE show on the planet.

13th SIMONE OLIVEIRA (Bra), 12th LISA GIESBRECHT (Can)

11th CHRISTINE ENVALL (Aus), 10th MARGIE MARTIN (USA)

9th RITA BELLO (Arg), 8th JENNIFER SEDIA (USA)

7th SHEILA BLECK (USA), 6th ANNE FREITAS (Bra)

5th YAXENI ORIQUEN (Ven)

4th ALANA SHIPP (USA)

3rd DEBI LASZEWSKI (USA)

2nd ALINA POPA (Rom)

Ms OLYMPIA IRIS KYLE (USA)

Enjoy!

And you can watch these magnificent women hit their first round poses here.

Tube of the Week

What else would it be?

You’ve probably watched it more than a few times already, but we say give yourself a Friday treat and watch it all over again. Alina Popa‘s 2014 Ms Olympia routine…

And FMS‘ Olympia review begins tomorrow…

Enjoy!

Haway the Lass! Georgina Wins Again

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!]

//www.youtube.com/get_player

Read Georgina’s recent interview with RxMuscle here.

Enjoy!

Ms Olympia 2014: The Line-up

It’s September. Time for the BIG show. This Friday, the 35th Ms Olympia takes place in Las Vegas. Your appetite probably doesn’t need much whetting, but for the last two years FMS has previewed what remains (for now anyway) the premier female bodybuilding event of the year with some sort of week-long countdown. In 2012 it was a celebration of every previous Ms Olympia winner, and last year we compiled profiles of the 2013 competitors for your (and our) viewing pleasure.

We’ve decided to count down to 2014’s prime female muscle meat exhibition with a bit of both – some history AND a preview of this year’s line-up (with particular focus on three of the women who will be making their Olympia debuts on Friday).

And MORE besides!

Today, it’s the line-up.

Those of you who keep an eye on such things will have noticed that among the automatic qualifiers a certain Brigita Brezovac is listed, as a result of her 5th place finish at last year’s Ms O, after which she announced her retirement from competition. Now I’m sure we would all be absolutely delighted if Brigita made a surprise comeback on Friday, but judging by her latest Instagram offerings, great as she looks in her beloved pink, she hardly looks like she’s preparing for a bodybuilding contest.

Point is, if I know she’s retired then you probably know too, and so would anybody else who cares to or NEEDS to know – the organisers of the Ms Olympia, for example.

Why is this important? you might ask. Well, instead of having one less competitor on the stage, the woman with the next highest number of points from her finishes at this year’s IFBB pro shows could have taken Brigita’s place. Or, the automatic qualification place could have been given to the next highest-placed finisher at last year’s Ms Olympia. The former alternative would, I reckon, have given us the pleasure of seeing Mmmmonique Jones this Friday; the latter, Juanita Blaino.

I don’t know whether Mmmmonique or Juanita feel like they’ve been cheated out of a place at the Olympia, but I feel I’m being cheated of the opportunity to see at least one of two of the best FBBs in the world take their place alongside the rest of the elite.

Here endeth the rant.

The last thing I want to do is spend the week moaning about the shortcomings of the IFBB and its minions re: female bodybuilding (God knows I’d need more than a week for that). This week is a celebration, so, let the celebrations commence…

YOUR 2014 Ms OLYMPIA LINE-UP

(all 13 when it should be 14 of them!)

RITA BELLO

Argentina, Winner Chicago Pro 2014

SHEILA BLECK

USA, Winner Tampa Pro 2014

CHRISTINE ENVALL

Australia, 3rd Omaha Pro 2014 & Chicago Pro 2014

ANNE FREITAS

Brazil, Winner Omaha Pro 2014

LISA GIESBRECHT

Canada, Runner-up Chicago Pro 2014

MARGIE MARTIN

USA, Runner-up Omaha Pro 2014

SIMONE OLIVEIRA

Brazil, Winner Toronto Pro 2014

YAXENI ORIQUEN

Venezuela, 4th Ms Olympia 2013

JENNIFER SEDIA

USA, Runner-up Tampa Pro 2014

ALANA SHIPP

USA, Runner-up Toronto Pro 2014

DEBI LASZEWSKI

USA, 3rd Ms Olympia 2013

ALINA POPA

Switzerland, Runner-up Ms Olympia 2013

IRIS KYLE

USA, Winner Ms Olympia 2013

Now if that doesn’t get you excited about the impending festival of prime female muscle meat that is the Ms Olympia 2014, I don’t think anything will.

I just wish there were 14 of them…

Rosu Watch

NB Neither this post, nor any of the links to other sites contained herein are what they call “safe for work”. Not remotely safe for work, in fact (unless, of course, you are a lighthouse keeper or something similar – you get to go hog wild with it).

I yearn after your pretty curvy body, after your super sexy legs that I would love to caress and kiss. You’re the best, you sweet woman!

FMS‘ Andrea Rosu post does bring out the poet in you readers (the above comment by “Leglover” is just one example of the passion (and vocabulary) this “sweet woman” continues to ignite). As a result, Rosu Watch was born in order to keep us all up to date with the more muscle-oriented activities this “fetish model” has been getting up to.

So, once again, we enter the alluring but VERY NSFW world of Andrea Rosu…

And first up, I Love Showing Off My Sweaty Hard Body is a new(ish) clip that is a custom-made commission (can’t help wondering if it was commissioned by an FMS reader – if so, consider our caps doffed in your general direction, sir!).

As usual with these things, it’s better to let Andrea do the describing…

I get home after a hard and long workout, and I can’t wait to peel my wet clothes off of my sweaty glistening body. [Don’t know about you, but I’m already sold.] Better yet, [how much better can it be?] I love to show off all of my hard work and how my body is strong, chiselled and sumptuous. Would you like a personal, up close show off me flexing my defined muscles, my tight abs, my thick strong thighs? [Mmmm. Let me think…] Wouldn’t you like it even better if I were naked?! [Mmmm. Probably…]

I Love Showing Off… is available from Andrea Rosu’s Kinky Explorations

Better yet (How much better can it be? I hear you cry), Andrea has posted an “Unedited Photo Set” of a very similar scenario – sweaty, workout clothes off, show off muscles etc. – on her fantastically titled Tumblr What is Etched Onto My Eyelids.

And the best thing about this set (by TMPhoto) is the prominence it gives to the very things that attracted FMS to La Rosu in the first place, and I dare say a fair few of you readers as well: those magnificently muscled, heart-stopping LEGS of hers.

Better yet (!) it turns out she’s quite the flexible lady…

And it also turns out that if you type “rosu” into Google Translate, English to Romanian, it translates as “all my Christmases come at once”. Or it is possible that I dreamed that was true after seeing this photo set and especially the above pic for the very first time.

Better yet (really!!!) the photo set saves the best for last with Andrea, well, I guess you could say that she is (more or less) “in exactly the position you would want her”.

Or something.

Enjoy!

August Picture Post: The Queen of Tampa

They could have given her the Best Poser award before the contest began. The overall victory, though, was still in doubt until Jennifer Sedia‘s name was called in second. After the South American female muscle beasts had claimed the first three IFBB pro female bodybuilding titles of the year, it was refreshing to have Sheila Bleck triumph in the final show before the Ms Olympia and claim her first pro title.

I feel that there’s something reassuringly old school about Sheila. The aesthetics of her physique, and her belief that conditioning can beat sheer size takes me back to the years in which I first fell in love with female muscle. There’s the unenhanced chest, and her conviction, à la Diana Dennis, that she is, above all, an artist, and that her physique and her routines are her art, her means of creative expression.

Plus, there’s the basso profondo voice (sexy sexy SEXY), and the memories of the camshows I’ve been fortunate enough to have with her as well (and they are as artistic, gymnastic and captivating as her routines (if not more so, for reasons you can imagine, I’m sure). Her win in Tampa (after she’d had a pretty tough 2013) reminds me of the old sporting adage that “form is temporary, but class is permanent” quite simply because Sheila Bleck is, for me, one very classy lady bodybuilder.

Congratulations to the Queen of Tampa!

And there’s a bit of that award-winning routine, more hard yet elegant flexing (and the basso profondo – YES!) in this post-contest interview with RxMuscle.

Enjoy!

Gif AND Tube of the Week: Alana Shipp

I hope you will all let me know AS SOON AS you have had enough of me presenting you with the glorious muscle goddess Alana Shipp, because unless you do – BE WARNED – you’ll have to put up until I have had enough of Alana and her magnificent mouth-watering muscles – and that doesn’t look like it is going to happen any time soon.

Our first offerings today are courtesy of another whose Alana fascination seems to know no bounds. We featured sexyfemalemusclefan‘s previous gif tribute to Alana a couple of weeks ago, and see no reason not to feature his latest Alana-themed post as well. Taken from clips originally seen on Female Muscle Clips and HD Physiques, we get up close and personal with some freakily exciting muscularity in this series, which you can see along with another couple of similar gifs, on the original post.

And if you can take any more, check out RxMuscle‘s interview with Alana as she trains back and biceps below. Definitely a must for fans of wide, juicy backs and pumped up peaks, pushed to the limit. Fans of lush, deep and sexy female bodybuilder voices will also want to click play. And no matter how much you enjoy the gym action, you’ll want to keep watching as Alana does some posing practice from 7.30 until the very end.

Follow Alana via Facebook and Instagram as she prepares for Tampa and beyond.

Enjoy!