July 3, 2009
Shape Versus Size: Sexy figure girl Terri (left) prepares to lock up against bodybuilder Lilli.
Armwrestling grabs the spotlight as powerhouse bodybuilder Lilli Ewing sizes up before facing off with cute, blonde figure competitor Terri Stevens in these decisive but entertaining highlights from a match at the ‘08 Emerald Cup.
It was an all-Washington battle as the muscular Lilli (strongwoman from Seattle) skillfully took advantage of her size and reach to overpower the small but mighty Terri (tough girl from Tacoma) in this mini Sisters in Arms segment.
The ladies hooked up for the playful test of strength after competing in the show. Lilli, who went on to win the Washington Ironman, placed fifth among middleweight bodybuilders while Terri finished a solid second in figure class C.
July 1, 2009
Figure Competitor Sarah Greenbank.
Sarah Greenbank, one of our dazzling new models on the studio, is a certified personal trainer and rising figure competitor from Northern California. We caught up with her making a turn on stage at the Contra Costa, the first of two popular amateur west coast shows this spring, where the stylish brunette finished fifth in class B. Two weeks later in Los Angeles, she jumped to fourth place at the NPC Cal State.
Getting even more exposure, Sarah was on TV earlier this year in a workout piece for an NBC news affiliate in Sacramento. The chic California Family Fitness maven expertly demonstrated using a foam roller to massage sore muscles and relive joint stiffness before and after workouts. Check out video of the entire segment.
Sarah is a personal trainer at California Family Fitness.
Not easily outshined, the new galleries of a steely, contest-ready Sarah posing in her stylish turquoise top and jeans near the airport are some of the best of the year. California was at her sunniest on this day, and many of the luminous shots of Sarah flexing against the blue skies — her beautiful, devastating smile and those bright, piercing cat-like eyes melting the lens — are quite possibly fitness magazine worthy.
June 29, 2009
Going Up: Jeni Hanson takes the stairs to the studio soon.
Today we introduce Minnesota figure champ Jeni Hanson, who won the overall at the NPC North Star last season before moving on to the national stage this year. The 28-year-old former elite high school cheerleader — once named a Universal Cheerleaders Association All-Star — placed 15th in her class at the always competitive Junior Nationals.
Before crossing over to the Gopher State, Jeni was part of the conference rival Wisconsin Badgers system, graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with honors. The 5-foot-3, 115-pound blue-eyed brunette has also been a dancer since childhood and has worked as a choreographer.
Practice Perfect: Jeni looks on inquisitively during her shoot. She was listening to directions and her expression here was irresistibly cute with a hint of poutiness. I love this pic!
Jeni turned up the heat in Chicago for our cameras, going from sporty to sophisticated in changing from a teal tube top with jean shorts to a sexy, little black dress. Striking vascularity and chiseled, split biceps — reminiscent of Jennifer Toth’s — highlight Jeni’s shapely, athletic physique as you’ll see in this sneak preview.
Special thanks to fellow studio model and Minnesotan Amy Gilgenbach, one of Jeni’s friends, who helped introduce her to the site. We’re happy to now have each of you sweet and charming young ladies on our roster.
June 25, 2009
Candid Peak: Lovely Heidi Hansen proudly shows off her impressive bicep at the Jr Nationals.
New photo sets of the extremely adorable Heidi Hansen should be making their way to the studio pretty soon. Our crew caught up with the flaxen-haired figure cutie at the Emerald Cup, where the 5-foot-2, 115-pound athlete competed and placed second in the 35-and-over class.
Heidi comes to us all the way from Ketchikan, Alaska, where she grew up playing cold weather sports like ice skating and skiing. The avid outdoor enthusiast also counts hiking, camping and even fishing — Ketchikan is, after all, known as The Salmon Capital of the World — among other favorite activities. She’s also been into track and swimming.
I wasn’t in Seattle for her premiere shoot but was lucky enough to meet our latest star last Saturday at the Junior Nationals. And what a wonderful meeting it was! Heidi just happened to be passing by when she paused to say a quick “hello” and popped a bonus flex right out of nowhere — the perfect preview picture!
Good thing I had my camera ready. What a sweetie! Thanks, Heidi!
June 24, 2009
Peak Performer: Rose has been at her best since returning to the stage last summer.
Just like her enormously entertaining and wonderfully creative routine suggests, when fitness competitor Rose Hendricks is on top of her game, she’s like money in the bank.
A longtime veteran of the sport, the inspiring 39-year-old from Seattle returned to the stage last August after a three-year absence. She made an immediate impact, winning the overall at the NPC Callaway Fitness Northern Classic in Lakewood, Washington.
It was just a preview of great things to come for this dazzlingly athletic, 5-foot-1 brunette beauty with the stylish blonde highlights, blazingly feminine lines, deeply serrated abs and perfectly separated, exquisitely peaked biceps.
Prime Cuts: The fitness star reveals the core strength that powered her routine to the pros.
Glowing with confidence, Rose took the stage the very next month at Team Universe and in her first national show since 2005 — when she placed fourth in her class at Nationals — finished second in the short class, enough to capture a pro card that had long eluded her.
Intriguingly, the three-thousand mile trip east from the Emerald City to the Big Apple was an appropriate metaphor for a competitor with over ten years experience in fitness. But the long journey was worth it when Rose’s high-energy routine and pitch-perfect physique finally lifted her into the top tier of the sport.
Still ahead of her IFBB debut, the newly minted pro got a much deserved ego boost back in her home state this past March. Check out Rose showing her stuff in an excellent guest routine — pure fitness entertainment and originality from the first second to the last — at the NPC Vancouver USA Bodybuilding & Tanji Johnson Fitness and Figure Classic held in Vancouver, Washington.
Money in the bank.
June 20, 2009
Bodybuilder Tracy Mason stretches her sleeves during a new shoot coming soon!
Fortunately, we had time to squeeze in a shoot with the impressive and very sweet bodybuilder Tracy Mason on Friday at the Junior Nationals, capitalizing on a brief window between heavy thunderstorms and sustained downpours that pummeled much of Chicagoland.
This was, of course, our second meeting with the incredible 49-year-old bodybuilder — a personal trainer and mother of two from Michigan — who was runner-up in the middleweight class at last year’s Nationals as well as overall champ at the Masters National for 45-and-over competitors.
Tracy wasn’t competing this weekend but is in contest prep for a show later this season. She was looking steely strong with great vascularity at 5-foot-3 and 130-pounds. Enjoy a sneak peek!
June 18, 2009
Hope everyone packed an umbrella, it looks like a decidedly soggy start to the Junior Nationals at check-in today. Warm but wet has been a running theme this week in Chicago — on Tuesday night, heavy rain even washed out the first game of the Cubs-White Sox series at Wrigley Field — and according to the latest forecasts, we may not see any sunshine until Saturday.
Fortunately, inside will be a storm of an entirely different sort beginning tomorrow. Well over two hundred contest-shape hopefuls from all divisions will flood the Hyatt Regency O’Hare for this annual NPC blockbuster.
Figure is not surprisingly the most heavily represented category, with the new bikini fleet a distant second. Fitness comes in as perhaps the most intriguing of the disciplines, with just over twenty competitors ready to bring their fast and flashy routines to the stage in hopes of snatching one of three pro cards up for grabs.
Teen Dreams: Victoria has a great chance to become the youngest fitness pro in history this weekend in Chicago. Photo: Mark Mason, Bodybuilding.com
Watch out for the kids this time.
Seventeen-year-old fitness sensation Victoria Larvie (Junior USA short class winner) and 16-year-old Ariel Khadr (Atlantic States overall winner) both come in with winning streaks and highly established gymnastic backgrounds. The two gifted teen stars each has a chance to become the youngest ever to reach the professional fitness ranks.
June 16, 2009
Figure Girl Parilee Bryngelson.
“I definitely won‘t be mistaken for anyone else with my name, now,” lightheartedly writes newlywed Parilee Bryngelson on her new last name, which changed from Parilee Selby when she was married last summer. Her first anniversary is set to take place during a busy upcoming month for the figure competitor from Scottsdale, Arizona.
A return to the competitive stage is among the festivities for the 30-year-old certified personal trainer and licensed massage therapist, who also recently launched a sharp, new website called ParileeFitness.com. Beginning with the Los Angeles Championships on July 18th, Parilee will compete on consecutive weekends, capping things off with a trip to the USAs.
It will be her first time competing since last year’s Junior USA, where she placed 10th in class F. Judging by a recent snapshot that Parilee shared, the 5-foot-8, 135-pound former high school distance runner hasn’t missed a beat during her sabbatical and looks more than ready for primetime.
In the gym, she’s been concentrating on gaining muscle and developing extra width in her back — a process certainly helped by these tautly demonstrated wide-grip pullups — and is excited to see how her hard work pays off. “The stage was calling me back,” Parilee writes enthusiastically on her return.
New name, new website, excellent new contest-shape look… will a new pro card be next?
June 11, 2009
Triple Play: Sandy chalked up wins in three catagories -- including the figure overall -- at the NPC Nevada State.
Congratulations to Sandy Scamman for scoring a figure hat trick Saturday night at the Nevada States Figure & Bodybuilding Championships. Yesterday, she shared the great news of her dazzling trifecta — which included first place in the tall class, first place in the 35 and over Masters class, and the overall figure title.
Plenty of beautiful and talented figure stars were on hand to help kickoff the celebration in what was surely a wildly entertaining night for fans in Reno. Among them, the always stunning Lindsay Cope — who previously beat Sandy for the top prize in the 2007 show — and figure pro Lisa Maloy, Sandy’s trainer, joined the new champ on stage to present the winning trophies.
Even NPC reps were swooning over Sandy, complimenting a physique that stood out as a paragon of what today’s figure competitor should look like. “Future competitions are set,” she told me, “and I’m more motivated than ever at continuing to improve my stage presence and overall balance of muscle.”
Later this summer, Sandy will have that bubbly streak of confidence on her side — and perhaps a slight home crowd advantage — at the USAs beginning July 24th in Las Vegas.
June 9, 2009
Two for Two: Bodybuilder Patty Corbett had back to back wins in a two week span last month.
A battle of ageless muscle unfolded on stage between Patty Corbett and Fatima Johnson at the recent California State Bodybuilding Championships. It culminated when Patty, 52, edged Fatima to win the overall bodybuilding title.
The last time Fatima came this close to winning was in 1998, when she won as a 42-year-old middleweight at the NPC USAs. Culver City marked her return to the sport after a near decade-long hiatus. Stay tuned for Fatima’s debut on the studio coming soon.
Far from being upstaged, Patty’s victory continued a scintillating west coast swing that began with the cool, fiery redhead winning her class just two weeks earlier at the Contra Costa Championships. The tireless 5-foot-2, 115-pound hardbody took first in the lightweights at the Bay Area event.
Take a look at Patty’s chiseled, vascular arms and peaking, baseball-biceps in this new highlight, featuring fitness girl Tracie Soder in a playful Sisters in Arms cameo. All kinds of muscle fun in the sun.
