WillBrink
03-11-2003, 12:08 PM
Hello All. Well it’s that time of year; my annual coverage of the Arnold Classic Fitness and Bodybuilding Weekend Expo. I like to cover the expo portion briefly in this here little column to give the vendors of the expo some exposure, and the readers of the BrinkZone list who have never been to the Arnold Classic, an idea of the other facets of the show beyond the bodybuilding competitions. The expo is a huge conference room full of pretty much every bodybuilding and fitness related company you could imagine. Supplement companies, clothing companies, magazines, equipment manufacturers, and everything in between even remotely related to fitness and bodybuilding. Working at those booths, is a sea of well known pro and amateur bodybuilders, fitness models, company owners, and wise guy writers like yours truly. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it! See me at the show:
http://www.brinkzone.com/photos.html
Ok, first things first. The models in the pic with me at the URL above, starting with closest to me, is Carmen Garcia, Deanna Merryman, and Bailey Horton. If you want to see more of them, and believe me you do, their web sites can be found at:
http://www.carmengarcia.com
http://www.deannamerryman.com
http://www.puresymmetry.com
They were working at the Lean System Seven booth (hence the body paint) and were a big hit with the fans. For info on Lean Systen 7, see: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/lean/lean.html
This year I could be found much of the time at the Europa booth, where many of the top fitness models and bodybuilders could be found ranging from Dorian Yates to rising star Tatianna Butler. As some of you may recall who read the muscle mags, Tatianna had a great photo spread not long ago in the pages of MuscleMag. How does she look in person? Impressive to say the least, though she did blow me off big time at the after hours party, but I digress… Check out Tatianna’s web page at:
http://www.TatiannaButler.net/
MuscleMag had its usual booth full of great stuff from magazines, to books (like where was Priming the Anabolic Environment gang?), to some of the worlds best known fitness models. Think Sarah Orbanic ( http://www.sarahorbanic.com/ ) and Tamea Majorova ( http://www.timeamajorova.com/ ) in bikinis and you get the idea…
One gadget I picked up was called “The Stick” which I found at some booth (I forget their name). I highly recommend this thing for rubbing out tight muscles after a workout. It looks simple, and similar to other devices designed to massage a tight hamstring or get a knot out of your back, but is far more effective and easy to use than others I have seen. It’s used by several major sports teams by trainers. Works best of someone else is doing it for you (like what else in life does not work that way?) but is effective when used on your own. Check it out at:
http://www.IntraCell.net.
One of the new trends on the market is pre made MRPs already mixed with water. I tried several of them at the Expo. Most tasted pretty good, though I personally still think the powdered MRPs you mix in a blender taste better. Though I didn’t try every one of them at the Expo, of the half dozen or so I did try, I found the one made by Labrada Nutrition to taste the best. See:
http://www.labrada.com/products/RTD.html
Of course you don’t always have a blender handy to make up a powdered MRP, so I can see throwing a few of these new pre made MRPs into your gym bag, or take on the road, etc, potentially worthwhile. Of course the better known companies were in attendance with big sprawling booths, such as Prolab Nutrition, MuscleTech, Labrada Nutrition, Biochem, EAS, and many others. I also went and checked out some of the equipment manufacturers latest stuff, and found the new machines to be better than ever, hopefully coming to a gym near you. There is no doubt, the Arnold Classic Fitness weekend is the pre eminent show to attend if you are in the bodybuilding/fitness biz.
Friday night, had way too much saki with Shawn Phillips, author of the book ABSolution (see: http://www.bestabs.com/ ). Shawn is proof you can drink a gallon of saki and still have great abs :-)
And what about that after hours party I hinted at above? Pro bodybuilder Craig Titus, and his wife, well known pro fitness star Kelly Ryan, put on the first annual Arnold Classic after hours party. This thing didn’t even get started until midnight and went into God knows when (I left at 4am), but was well attended by many of the top bodybuilders and fitness stars, as well a few thousand fans. Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman was there, as was Dorian Yates, Chris Cormier, Craig and Kelly, and many others I am forgetting. What can I say, a half dozen or so glasses of good wine will do that to you…what, you think I stand around at a good party and drink flax oil? Even we nutritional guru types have to party once in while. I did remember to take a multi vitamin and some whey before I went to bed of course, and red wine is full of anti oxidants, I told myself at 3am…Craig and Kelly are also putting on the official Night of Champions after hours party May 31st in NY, so if you are going to the Night of Champions, consider attending that party after the show. Interested see:
http://www.craigtitus.com/ or http://www.kelly-ryan.net/
Wine is on you!
http://www.brinkzone.com/photos.html
Ok, first things first. The models in the pic with me at the URL above, starting with closest to me, is Carmen Garcia, Deanna Merryman, and Bailey Horton. If you want to see more of them, and believe me you do, their web sites can be found at:
http://www.carmengarcia.com
http://www.deannamerryman.com
http://www.puresymmetry.com
They were working at the Lean System Seven booth (hence the body paint) and were a big hit with the fans. For info on Lean Systen 7, see: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/lean/lean.html
This year I could be found much of the time at the Europa booth, where many of the top fitness models and bodybuilders could be found ranging from Dorian Yates to rising star Tatianna Butler. As some of you may recall who read the muscle mags, Tatianna had a great photo spread not long ago in the pages of MuscleMag. How does she look in person? Impressive to say the least, though she did blow me off big time at the after hours party, but I digress… Check out Tatianna’s web page at:
http://www.TatiannaButler.net/
MuscleMag had its usual booth full of great stuff from magazines, to books (like where was Priming the Anabolic Environment gang?), to some of the worlds best known fitness models. Think Sarah Orbanic ( http://www.sarahorbanic.com/ ) and Tamea Majorova ( http://www.timeamajorova.com/ ) in bikinis and you get the idea…
One gadget I picked up was called “The Stick” which I found at some booth (I forget their name). I highly recommend this thing for rubbing out tight muscles after a workout. It looks simple, and similar to other devices designed to massage a tight hamstring or get a knot out of your back, but is far more effective and easy to use than others I have seen. It’s used by several major sports teams by trainers. Works best of someone else is doing it for you (like what else in life does not work that way?) but is effective when used on your own. Check it out at:
http://www.IntraCell.net.
One of the new trends on the market is pre made MRPs already mixed with water. I tried several of them at the Expo. Most tasted pretty good, though I personally still think the powdered MRPs you mix in a blender taste better. Though I didn’t try every one of them at the Expo, of the half dozen or so I did try, I found the one made by Labrada Nutrition to taste the best. See:
http://www.labrada.com/products/RTD.html
Of course you don’t always have a blender handy to make up a powdered MRP, so I can see throwing a few of these new pre made MRPs into your gym bag, or take on the road, etc, potentially worthwhile. Of course the better known companies were in attendance with big sprawling booths, such as Prolab Nutrition, MuscleTech, Labrada Nutrition, Biochem, EAS, and many others. I also went and checked out some of the equipment manufacturers latest stuff, and found the new machines to be better than ever, hopefully coming to a gym near you. There is no doubt, the Arnold Classic Fitness weekend is the pre eminent show to attend if you are in the bodybuilding/fitness biz.
Friday night, had way too much saki with Shawn Phillips, author of the book ABSolution (see: http://www.bestabs.com/ ). Shawn is proof you can drink a gallon of saki and still have great abs :-)
And what about that after hours party I hinted at above? Pro bodybuilder Craig Titus, and his wife, well known pro fitness star Kelly Ryan, put on the first annual Arnold Classic after hours party. This thing didn’t even get started until midnight and went into God knows when (I left at 4am), but was well attended by many of the top bodybuilders and fitness stars, as well a few thousand fans. Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman was there, as was Dorian Yates, Chris Cormier, Craig and Kelly, and many others I am forgetting. What can I say, a half dozen or so glasses of good wine will do that to you…what, you think I stand around at a good party and drink flax oil? Even we nutritional guru types have to party once in while. I did remember to take a multi vitamin and some whey before I went to bed of course, and red wine is full of anti oxidants, I told myself at 3am…Craig and Kelly are also putting on the official Night of Champions after hours party May 31st in NY, so if you are going to the Night of Champions, consider attending that party after the show. Interested see:
http://www.craigtitus.com/ or http://www.kelly-ryan.net/
Wine is on you!