Ts of the Day: Toronto Bound

Like London buses, these days you have to wait forever for an IFBB pro female bodybuilding contest and then two come along at once. On the first weekend in June the brand new Omaha Pro will take place (Shannon Courtney fellas!) but before that, next weekend the big girls will be back at the Toronto Pro Show.

Two of the women who’ll be pumping up in Toronto model today’s Ts.

left: FMS fave Gillian Kovack posted this to her Facebook back at the end of March, calling it her “badder ass look”. She has also revealed she’s pretty pleased with “the roundness/shape my shoulders & overall frame is taking this year.” Hard to disagree on this evidence. I am curious about whether there used to be a question mark under the WHAT, but the thought of seeing Gillian flexing on stage again all ripped and oiled somehow makes that seem, well, rather an unimportant issue right now.

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right: Lisa Giesbrecht was a deserved winner in Toronto back in 2012, and consequently qualified for the Olympia, but she took a break from competing last year, so her return is another welcome one. Meanwhile, it seems Lisa has been gaining quite a reputation for her coaching techniques in her native British Columbia…

And if Gillian and Lisa don’t whet your appetite for Toronto, other confirmed competitors as of May 21st were Nancy Clark, Roxanne Edwards, Aurelia Grozajova, Margie Martin, Britain’s Wendy McCready, Tananarive McGowan, Joanne Williams, Melody Spetko, Alana Shipp, Sherri Gray, Christine Envall, Tonia Moore, Simone Oliveira and Virginia Sanchez. It’s gonna be BIG!!! Just seven days to go…

Thighs of the Day: Know Your Thighs

The quads, quadriceps, quadriceps extensor, or, to give it its full name, the quadriceps femoris is a muscle group – and a large one at that – that includes the four major muscles on the front of the thigh. Apparently, ‘it is the great extensor muscle of the knee, forming a large fleshy mass which covers the front and sides of the femur’. In fact, quadriceps femoris means ‘four-headed muscle of the femur’ in Latin.

left: Rene Marven right: Kashma Maharaj
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Kashma has already competed, taking the heavyweight class at the Arnold Amateur recently. Rene should, all being well, take her pro bow at the start of June at the Toronto Pro. So there’s four four-headed muscles of the femur to watch in 2013.

The quads is, unsurprisingly, subdivided into four ‘heads’, each with its own name. And there are worse ways of getting to know the four heads than looking at pictures of female bodybuilders and their sexy, ripped thighs. It’s certainly more fun than looking at anatomical diagrams, isn’t it? Imagine you’re a medical student. Which image would you recall more readily? Could female bodybuilders be a potential teaching aid?

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left: Fabiola Boulanger right: Gillian Kovack
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Considerably more interesting to look at than an anatomy book.

The rectus femoris occupies the middle of the thigh. The vastus lateralis is on the outer side of the femur, and the vastus medialis (can you guess?) is on the inner thigh. The vastus intermedius is the one muscle of the quads you are unlikely to see unless you are a surgeon, as it’s under the rectus femoris. Female bodybuilding judges are only really concerned with three of the four ‘quads’ then. Interesting…

left: Roberta Toth right: Anne Freitas
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Even in their native Brazil, where most women’s thighs seem to have impressive structure, muscularity and tone, Roberta and Anne’s three visible heads are standouts. Coxas muito sensuais, as they say in Bahia. Probably.

All four of the quads are extensors of the knee, and come in handy if you want to walk, run, jump or squat. They can be trained by doing leg presses, squats, or, if you really want to isolate them, leg extensions are boss.

left: Lisa Giesbrecht right: Amy Sibcy
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Just look at the vastus lateralises and the vastus medialises on them, he said.
To which I could only reply,
And their rectus femorises ain’t bad either.

More quadriceps femorises (femori? femorae? help!) tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Winners of 2012: Part One

Our look back at the year gone by begins with a celebration of some of the women who have fulfilled the dreams for which they have sacrificed so much and worked so hard.

IFBB Europa Battle of Champions
ANNE FREITAS
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As images from the Freitas training camp of her prep emerged in the weeks before this contest, her victory was predicted by both those in the industry and fans alike before she had even set foot on the stage. As one forum poster put it: I would anticipate that she is gonna own her competition in Hartford on July 6-7th.

And she didn’t disappoint, her first win as a pro. Resulting predictions of her victory at the Olympia proved a bit wide of the mark, but do bear witness to the frenzy she had whipped fans into. One commentator summed up what many had been thinking: The last few months have been very interesting watching her transform into a massive ripped hulkess. She’s gotten absolutely massive. I love it.

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IFBB North Americans
TAMMY JONES
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As always, it’s better to let Tammy herself have her say: I am just so excited I can’t stand it! I got my pro card! Thank you to all of you who have supported me throughout this journey… those that have sponsored me and have been loyal to me through thick and thin, for years and years. Those that no matter what place I took along the way, remained positive and encouraged me to keep going. Those that always had faith in me and proved it week to week by staying in touch, sharing their thoughts, sending cards or donations or flowers, “being there” for me when I needed it most… to answer those that now want to help celebrate in the victory but never took part in the hard work and for those that actually have the balls to ask for advice on training or diet, photos from shoots, letters, autographs (?), etc… and never once reached out to send a smile or good luck or any type of support, you probably won’t ever hear from me. By the way, it’s IFBB Pro to you now, not baby.

Word.

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Follow Tammy’s blog

UKBFF British Championships
ROSANNA HARTE
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2010 Lisa Cross
2011 Rene Campbell
2012 Rosanna Harte
Not a bad roll of honour to be adding her name to! Congratulations to Rosanna.

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NPC New York Metropolitan + NPC Team Universe
GLENESE MARKES
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Double winner Glenese was Middleweight and Overall champ in New York in March, then Heavyweight and Overall champ at the Team Universe in July. Not content with these achievements, she then competed again at the IFBB North Americans (won by Tammy Jones, see above) and was runner-up in the Middleweight division. Phew!

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IFBB New York Pro
JULIANA MALACARNE
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Say what you like about the Physique class, but it’s not all bad, and the return of La Malacarne to the stage in New York in May is high on the list of 2012’s Reasons to be Cheerful. And of course she won! How could she not win? Look at her! Ai, Caramba!

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NPC Masters Nationals
SHERRI GRAY
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Don’t the Heavyweights always win? And if they don’t, the Light-Heavyweights clean up, don’t they? I don’t know much about these things, but it seems to me that to be the Middleweight winner and then to be the Overall winner is fairly unusual. But that’s what Sherri achieved in the 35+ Bodybuilding. And she’s not only causing a stir on stage, but also on the forums. Typical comments about Sherri posted recently include: At age 41 she just keeps getting HOTTER… Totally unbelievable… one of those rare women who look sexier with age… MILF of the century.

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IFBB Toronto Pro
LISA GIESBRECHT
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The statuesque Lisa beat a small but high quality field for her first professional win, fast-tracking her way to the Olympia later in the year in her first season as a pro. Not at all bad for a woman who didn’t start competing until the age of 35, although perhaps less surprising when you know that Lisa says training is my life. And she’s not lacking in ambition either, with her eyes set firmly on the biggest prize of all: I’m excited about the future. I always am, no matter how I do in a show, I’m always excited, because I like the process. If you do it for the end result, lots of people would be disappointed because lots of people don’t even get a Pro Card, a lot of people don’t even win a show, or go to Olympia. So I’m happy that I’ve gotten to where I’ve got, but I’m also excited because I love the process of it. I love the training, I love the dieting, I’m excited about getting bigger. I’m going to keep my lines, I’m going to keep my femininity, but I do need to get some size if I want to be competitive. I’m excited about that though. You and me both, Lisa!

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Texas State Championships
GINGER MARTIN
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Another tick in the plus column for the Physique division, one of FMS’ Women of the Year from 2011, Ginger Martin won her state championships in October.

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More 2012 Winners to come in Part Two…

You Can’t Trust A Man Called Piers

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News that Piers ‘Morgan’ Moron (© Private Eye) thinks Madonna’s arms are too muscular is resolutely refusing to go away. Once a self-publicist, always a self-publicist, and re-locating to the USA (my condolences) hasn’t affected Piers’ ability to generate column inches for himself. Seeing as David Furnish had already put the boot in on Her Madgesty after the Golden Globes, Piers, couldn’t resist kicking a woman when she’s down, and getting himself all over the media just before a new series of his US talk show begins. Yawn.

Wait! I hear you cry. Aren’t you just adding to those column inches? Don’t do it! Walk away!

I hear you, but here in the UK we haven’t forgotten exactly why it is that Mr ‘Morgan’ Moron has gone stateside. The condensed version is that when he was the editor of the UK daily newspaper The Mirror, it was, according to one of the senior journalists who worked for him, ‘very unlikely’ that he did not know that phone hacking was used by representatives of his newspaper, and Piers said as much to the recent enquiry into the phone hacking scandal: Mr Morgan admitted he had listened to a tape recording of a voicemail message left by Sir Paul on his then wife’s mobile phone was how it was reported by The Daily Mail. So, someone played him a tape recording of a message left on Heather Mill’s voicemail, but he didn’t know that people who worked for his newspaper were hacking phones. Yeah, right. And this from the man who resigned because his paper had printed fake pictures of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, and I think you can see why Piers thought a trip West would be a good move.

You can’t trust what comes out of Piers. In some instances, the opposite of what he says is, in fact, the truth. So let’s assume that Piers wasn’t breaking the habit of a lifetime and that what he said about Madonna and her arms isn’t really what he thinks at all. He’s given us no reason to believe him before, why should we do it now?

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And if Piers was lying, how does he really feel about Madonna, and her ‘caveman’ arms? The only reasonable conclusion is he thinks they’re hot. He doesn’t want her on his show because he knows he won’t be able to control himself. Minutes into the interview the urge to jump over his desk, grab Madge’s bicep and start slavering all over it will be too much. And then he’ll be finished in America too.

Since the Piers/Madonna story broke, Female Muscle Slave has been tirelessly hacking Mr ‘Morgan’ Moron’s phone and personal computer, and we can reveal, exclusively, that Piers is one of us. A female muscle addict. Some of the evidence is presented below. All the pictures were recovered from the ‘Morgan’ Moron phone or PC.

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Heather Foster left a voicemail on Piers’ phone soon after the TV interview threatening to come over and punch him into next week if he mentioned any other woman’s arms again. Lisa Giesbrecht left a similarly angry message, promising Piers that he had licked cream off her biceps for the last time, while Betty Viana was so angry she had to resort to her native Spanish to express herself fully. The Female Muscle Slave translation team are still working on the English transcription of the message. So far, they have Now listen you hairless boy who licks fuck sticks… We imagine much of the rest of the message will be unprintable.

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This picture of Kim Perez was recovered by our hacking team from a folder named ‘You’re So Vein’. Get it? His gift for language is stunning, isn’t it? Also in the folder was a document in which Piers laid out what he’d like to do to poor Kim’s vascular pythons. Needless to say, it wasn’t ‘ban them from television’.

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This stunning pic of Aleesha Young was Piers’ most recent screensaver. No, really.

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Skadi Frei actually sent this picture of herself to Piers after she heard his comments on a Swiss news channel. These are big arms you silly little man, her e-mail read. Now I dare you to come to my house in the Alps and call me a caveman to my face. Julie Bourassa was also in touch soon after the interview. I could crush your head like a grape, she said on his voicemail. And if you bag muscular women publicly again, I just might. Marja Lehtonen also called to say that Thursday at 2pm is fine. Piers hasn’t been seen since he boarded a flight from New York to Helsinki on Wednesday night.

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A hacked e-mail exchange with Sarah Hayes further reveals Piers’ female muscle lovin’ tendencies. Mr ‘Morgan’ Moron begs Sarah for a muscle worship session, and when Sarah explains she doesn’t do sessions, Not for anyone, and especially not for you, there follows much undignified pleading from Piers.

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Sarah finally threatens to forward the entire exchange to his wife in order to get him off her case, to which Piers replies, Do it! I’m leaving her for Fabiola Boulanger anyway! Now, a terrible liar and a bit of a pest he may be, but at least he’s got good taste (when it comes to muscle women anyway).

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And finally, this image of the magnificent Brigita Brezovac looking particularly magnificent was one of the ones that came up when the hacking team searched his phone for ‘Most Recent Documents’. In fact, if our time calculations are correct, he must have banged one out to Brigita just after his interview finished, rushing to the studio toilet as soon as his mic was off. No, that’s unfair that last bit. That’s just something I made up. He probably waited until he got in the lift to do that. Or the limo. Or both.

Enjoy! And remember, when Piers says he’s repulsed by women with muscular arms, what he means is he loves them.

He probably reads this blog.