genextras - news from the world of female muscle

Helle Nielsen sent us this insane pic of her legs at 6 weeks out from the Tampa Pro. The 37 year-old who first exploded onto the scene exactly 10 years ago when she won the 2003 Jan Tana on her pro debut relocated from Copenhagen, Denmark, to LA last year. She now trains at Gold's in Venice, where she has been using all the equipment to fill out the gaps in her physique and especially to hit her back from every possible angle. "I've leaned so much since I moved to LA", she says.

At 5-foot-5, Helle is currently at around 175 pounds but says she isn't sure what she will weigh onstage in Tampa on August 9. "I've been too weight fixated in the past", she says. "This time I want to focus on the look rather than my weight." From the pics we've seen, she definitely looks like she is ahead of schedule. "Usually I'd be flat as a pancake by now" she says. "One thing is for sure: I'll be bigger, rounder and harder than ever."

It sounds as if there is going to be a stacked line-up of female bodybuilders in Tampa - the last chance to qualify for the Ms. O in September. But Helle says she is not thinking about who she might be onstage with. "I don't even know who's competing", she says. She is also not worried about the rumors that, after the Arnold dropped women's bodybuilding, this might be the last Ms. Olympia. "I don't believe that", she says. "But I do believe we need a new ambassador for our sport to lift it and blow some air into it."