As I mentioned before, my wonderful girlfriend and I decided to head to Columbus, OH this year and check out the Arnold Sports Festival.
The Arnold Sports Festival is the largest multi-sport event in the United States and has been held for the past 25 years every year in the capital of Ohio.
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| Columbus, OH with Arnold Statue |
In addition to the various bodybuilding and fitness competitions, several other amateur and professional sport events are held over the course of the weekend along with a huge fitness expo, attracting over 175,000 attendees and athletes from basically all over the world.
The expo alone featured 700 vendors and packed the main hall of the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
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| Fitness Expo |
While the expo itself is worth a trip, another good reason for us to make the 8 hour one-way road trip across 5 states was that my coach, IFBB Pro Fred "Biggie" Smalls, was competing in this year's Arnold Classic for the first time.
So early Friday morning we got on the road straight from the gym and started our little adventure.
Since I am in the middle of preparing for my next competition on May 11th and my girlfriend started "to get ready for the summer/beach" we had all meals for the weekend prepared in advance and traveled rather heavy.
Four coolers full of chicken, brown rice, oatmeal, broccoli, water, ice, protein powder and vitamins ensured that we could follow our diets to the tee and wouldn't miss one single bite; not even during a snow storm somewhere in between Western Maryland and West Virginia or on I-70 in Ohio.
Nothing says dedication and commitment more than eating cold chicken and brown rice, smothered in mustard in a parked car next to some rusty gas station is some god forsaken jerkwater town in the middle of nowhere.
Well we survived the drive, the snow storm and the cold chicken and made it safe to our hotel right on time to refresh, eat another meal and head over to the Veterans Memorial Auditorium to watch the Ms. Fitness and Figure finals.
Even more interesting than the actual show was the people watching in the 3,916 seat venue. Pros, fitness celebrities, amateur athletes and fans packed the auditorium and were interesting to observe.
A friend of mine referred to the scene as "freak show" and it was surely nothing less. Bodybuilders and fitness athletes of all shapes, size and bother genders made for quite a show at the show.
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| Female Bodybuilding |
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| Bikini |
Saturday morning we took advantage of the nice hotel gym for our daily cardio session and enjoyed a nice view over the state house and downtown Ohio while sweating on the treadmill.
After a warm breakfast, thanks to the hotel microwave, we packed our meals for the day and headed to the convention center to walk the expo.
Can you say PACKED? Just like our tupperware containers in the cooler we were cramped in between masses and masses of people, trying to walk the expo floor.
We pushed our way from booth to booth, trying out protein bar samples, collecting supplement samples, taking pictures of and with fitness celebrities, watching various sport events and demonstartions and "playing" with all kinds of workout equipment.
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| Working on my Strongman skills |
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| IFBB Pro Shawn Rhoden |
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| IFBB Pro Branch Warren |
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| IFBB Pro Kai Greene |
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| IFBB Pro Dennis James |
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| Former Baltimore Raven Jamal Lewis |
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| IFBB Pro Fred Smalls |
After a fun-filled but also exhausting day of walking the expo, we went back to the Veterans Memorial at night for the main event of the weekend, the Arnold Classic men's bodybuilding competition.
Besides the men's final, the show also included the bikini and Strongman final rounds, as well as award ceremonies for all three events.
Freddy, my coach, put on quite a show and provided some great entertainment with his creative routine.
Even though he did not make it under the top 6, he won the best posing award and took home a nice check for $10,000.
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| Arnold Classic Winner with the Governator himself |
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| Arnold Classic Lineup |
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Fred Smalls winning best posing trophy
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Sunday morning we started our journey back home and made it back through the snowy Appalachian without any problems. Now it's time again to prepare more meals since my next business trip is coming up this Tuesday. Hopefully Phoenix, AZ will not surprise me with another snow storm and I will have some time to catch some rays and soak up some sun while being out there.
"Some quit due to slow progress, never grasping the fact that slow progress... is still progress"
Unknown
