women

Bodybuilding and physique shows are all about the muscle and how the body looks, but there is a big mental aspect as well. Don’t believe me? Ask reigning Ms. Olympia Andrea Shaw, and she will validate that statement. In fact, she spoke with Isabelle Turrell on this week’s episode of the “Fit...

There are a total of 11 pro divisions that hold contests at the Olympia in the IFBB Pro League. One of the great benefits of having so many divisions is that more athletes are eligible to participate should they qualify as professionals. This also means that if an athlete desires, he or she can...

The world of fitness encompasses many athletes who have had to overcome adversities to achieve triumph. Each story has its own way of inspiring others to move forward and be their best. Serena Settlemier and Sara Hurrle are two athletes who are very familiar with both the highs and lows that...

Natalia Coelho could be considered much more than one of the most popular athletes in the Women’s Physique division. The Brazilian’s popularity could rank up among the best in the entire IFBB Pro League. The two-time Arnold winner and Olympia runner-up joined Dennis James on this week’s episode...

When it comes to weight loss, men seem to have an advantage over women. A 2018 study published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism followed 2,224 overweight adults on low-calorie diets for eight weeks and found men lost 16% more weight than women. In addition to gender differences in...

Belly fat, scientifically known as visceral fat, has been linked to increased inflammation and problems like Type 2 diabetes. Recent research, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, shows having excess belly fat is correlated with an elevated risk of heart disease. What’s...

At the ripe old age of 24, WWE Superstar Rhea Ripley (Demi Bennett) has already lived the career of a pro wrestling veteran. Since leaving home in Australia in 2017 for the bright lights of WWE, she has lifted the NXT UK and NXT women’s championships. This past Sunday at WrestleMania 37, Ripley...

In the last couple of years there has been a wave of competitors who have successfully moved up from women’s physique to women’s bodybuilding — including Andrea Shaw, of course, who won both the Rising Phoenix and the Ms. Olympia last year. Inspired by their success, there will be another wave...

Our bodies tend to favor storing fat in certain places over others. How and where we store fat depends on many different factors including gender, height and weight, as well genetics and how many adipocytes (fat cells) we have in certain areas of the body. Men and women store fat differently...

Femme Flex Friday host Alina Popa and current co-host Whitney Jones are no stranger to facing judges. The former Rising Phoenix World Champion and two-time Fitness Olympia winner have been compared to other athletes by IFBB judges Sandy Williamson and Steve Weinberger multiple times in the past...

The journey of Caitlin Rice from fashion model to fitness guru has been one of great introspection. Now slaying Instagram with well over a million followers, owed to her combination of stunning good looks and rock-hard physique, success came when she ditched skipping meal plates and picked up...

One of the big stories in women’s bodybuilding in the last couple of years has been the influx of physique competitors who have moved up to compete with the big girls – and have been spectacularly successful. Andrea Shaw, the 2020 Ms. Olympia winner, made the transition from physique to...

Three years ago, WWE made history when the first Women’s Royal Rumble dropped on the wrestling world like a Macho Man flying elbow, instantly lifting the sport’s glass ceiling. Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch were the first to enter the ring in that inaugural event, before nearly two dozen WWE...

This article was written by Bill Dobbins, and appeared in Muscle & Fitness magazine, in the February 1981 issue. With the Ms. Olympia now a standard tradition, it is interesting to note how it was started, and how the way of thinking in 1980 was. “My God,” said the young man, looking in the...

Since modern female bodybuilding began in the late 1970s, women in the sport have often been accused by some of trying to look like men. However, Charles Gaines, author of Pumping Iron, has called this kind of female body a “new archetype,” something never before seen any time or any place in...

Robert Hughes, a former art critic at Time magazine, once pointed out the degree to which art used to be able to provoke outrage and instigate social change. I was able to able to experience this phenomenon a few years ago as I was prepping for my first one-man photo exhibition. I brought in...

One reason I have such an impressive library of female bodybuilding photos is that, over the years, Joe Weider assigned me to shoot so many legendary women and gave me access to them. Since I started working for and with Jake Wood and Wings of Strength, this kind of access to many of the top...

When I was in college, I took a philosophy course in aesthetics – the nature of beauty. Now it is a fact that the perception of beauty is highly subjective. That is, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But it is obvious that human beings have a built-in aesthetic sense, something that is...

Any bodybuilding fan worth their salt knows that the sport saw a boom in the 1960s and ‘70s, when some of the most well-known male competitors of all time took the Olympia stage—including one Arnold Schwarzenegger. But before the inaugural IFBB Ms. Olympia in 1980, bodybuilding was a man’s...

That flash in the sky, what could it be? A comet? A meteor? No, it’s the meteoric rise of the career of pro physique champion Rachel Daniels! Some excellent muscle contest competitors need to pay a lot of dues, taking many years to earn their pro cards. Not so for Rachel. I went online looking...