2008 Olympia Blog

At the Olympia Expo this year, I finally got to meet IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Erik “The House” Fankhouser.  I somehow had missed him at the Arnold back in March, so I was glad to finally bump into him this time.

His calves, of course, are legendary - and for good reason:

I was able to get a video interview with his wife, Heather (”The Landlord” on BodySpace), which is among 135 such interviews we got last weekend, so check ‘em all out here:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2008_olympia_video.htm

Enjoy! 

Post by: BodySpaceAdmin

Hot off the press.

BSN has just announced that they have signed UFC Light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.

WW

Post by: webmaster

I’m running around the Las Vegas Convention Center again, for day 2 of the Olympia Expo.  I’ve been lucky to do some great interviews with lots of new and fresh faces in the industry, along with some familiar ones that we like to see. 

Check me out (LOL):

Back I go! 

Post by: bbcom_developer

We had our live JTV booth cam streaming continuously from 10 AM today until the close of the Expo at 5 PM.

Check out the footage and see who you can spot!  In this first 15 minute clip, you’ll spot smokin’ hot Fitness Model Ava Cowan, IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Markus Ruhl from Germany, IFBB Pro Masters Champion Bob Cicherillo, and more!

http://www.justin.tv/clip/7e3ae026b63

Enjoy! 

Post by: bbcom_developer

Check out these stylin’ new, gothic BB.com t-shirts that we’ll be giving away free at our Olympia Expo booth this year!

Stop by and say ‘hi’ and be among the first to sport the new look.  Kudos to Crystal in our Marketing Department for the sneak preview!

Enjoy! 

Post by: bbcom_developer

It was fantastic!!! I was all excited like a kid at Christmas. I met so many great people and witnessed one of the most amazing shows on the planet from a floor seat. Victor martinez was my winner hands down! I worked in the Ironman booth and had the pleasure of dining with the fine people of Ironman magazine who graciously provided my tickets to the shows. I met one of my best friends Rob Carbo from RealGainz magazine and had my 1st photoshoots. 3 in a row actually. I got to visit Red Rock out there and the scenery is beautiful. I worked with Dave Goodin in the booth and he is a wonderful and kind man.

Everyone was terribly nice and made my weekend the best I have ever had. okay, I had to sleep in an airport chair in Philly overnight and arrived a day late, but I am going to overlook that part. I met with the brainiacs of gaspari nutrition and the invited me to join their team to help women understand supplemental needs. Keep your eye out for the new addition to their forums (addressing women and their need to take supplements as much as men do.) I appreciate their realization that women are pretty much sold fat burners exclusively and left in the dark about everything else available! THAT needs to change! Hope everyone had a super week. i was jet lagged and dragging ass,but managed a few workouts this week. Drop by my profile and say hi.

Fern

Post by: MsFitness

Let’s see…  I met dave G for breakfast.  Spinach omelets are the shit! The expo was really crowded on Saturday.  Then my friend Rob Carbo showed up and made my day!  We had been friends since March and he helped me with my contest deplete and my crazy carb depleted chick emotions.  He is bigger than life!  I introduced myself to Charles Glass.  You can see him on here in "getting cut with Glass". I really wanted to meet him because it’s his videos I get most of my training tips from.  I could never afford a personal trainer on my own, so I walked up to him and told him so!! I also got approached by NBC for their American Gladiator series.  Yeah right, I was thinking!  I asked competitor or Gladiator and they said either.  I’m too old to get hit full force by another human being.  I like my kidneys, thanks!! I’m trying to think what else happened.  I did go off to look around a little, took a peek at the guys in the UFC booth.  Forrest Griffin was there, but you had to pay for autographs.that’s just bullshit if you ask me.  people with money shouldn’t be able to get everything, you know? What if you are some little kids idol and he finds out you don’t evn give a crap he is your fan. Lou Ferigno was there and you had to buy a picture just to take a picture with him.  Whatever happened to a little PR?

The expo was great otherwise.  i took some video of this little kid who is about 8 kicking ass using weapons in his  little karate uniform.  Ok, don’t know all the lingo for that sport but the kid was amazing!! I then ran into crazyhorse and jumped over to the Gaspari boot to meet Dan and see what was up with them.  He and I did an interview.  I looked bad, he looked good, I was nervous and my accent was so bad, he dropped the "f" bomb..hahhaaaaaaaa.  too funny.  He introduced me to the VP of marketing Joe V and we just chatted a little about their stack they were trying to get women to take.  It’s the same as the male version for the most part,but women are scared of the "sizeon" due to the word size alone.  As for pre workout drinks, like Superpump250,most women skip them altogether.  they know I used them, know I don’t talk crap and misleadpeople on products I don’t believe in…so they asked me to be part of the team.  There will a new section of their forum for women Not sure if I can say the new name yet, but anyway, it’s about what women can  take in supplements and a general Q&A.  Possibly some other stuff in the future as well. Onto the next night of the Mr Olympia show…….

1st off, tickets were a problem.  I did score one from the Ironman team, but it wasn’t on the floor and they thought they could get me xdown there, but it was a hassle, so I sat with Dave in the back. This was the big night!  The posedowns!!

My man Victor was tight!  I thought he had it all the way. Jay looked better on the 2nd night, but I am just not impressed with his physique.  Going for sheer size.maybe, but aesthetics?  NEVER. Ronny Rockel looked amazing as well.  Ronnie Coleman, massive in size was nearly matched size with Dennis Wolf and these 2 were often put against each other in pre judging.  Dennis Wolf had alot of new fans there!  I think he was a huge crowd favorite.  then there was a teary eyed Coleman, giving his speech as it was his last show ever! Everytime he launched into a most muscualr pose, the audience went nuts.  he got a standing ovation.  As for the posedowns…..as a chick, (yes, I am still a girl) it was HOT. Jay would walk to one end of the stage and the others would follow, all trying to out do each other. Then Victor would turn in front of him and pull a lat spread that was out of this world. I was once again like a kid at Christmas…amazed..I am truly a geek.  Thats kind of a good thing because many people at my age have done many thing.  I have experienced nothing like this, no traveling,no plane rides, just going to work and taking care of kids.  Almost everything I see still amazes me.  NEVER lose your childish wonder people.  I was very dissapointed the Victor didn’t win.  HANDS DOWN, he should have one.  yes, i know I will get someone here who is going to argue with me, but too bad.  The guy is fantastic. HUGE with a small waist, no bloat, ripped….and he has a good looking face to boot.  What else to write about?  Went to dinner after my major upset with a couple people from Ironman.  It was sweet because I got to have filet mignon!  Holy crap…real beef! Oh, and who can resist garlic mashed potatoes? Notme dammit!! ARE YOU STILL READING? It was a looooooong day……I probably left stuff out.  after that we went to the Rio hotels rooftop club called VOODOO.  There I met the Gaspari Girls and that dude with the crazy tat in the cytolean ads who used to weigh 300lbs, but is now ripped. I also met their spokesmodel Marzia Prince  who wom Miss Bikini universe .  She’s really very sweet and friggin funny!  No mistaking a bikini model, that’s for sure! Tanji Johnson was there too as well as Dan. I admit to having 2 drinks, but that’s it.  OH, standing in line for the ladies room, some drunk guy tried to feel me up…….his hand kept coming closer and I had to smack him.  I then told him if he touched me, he’d lose his front teeth. Cocktail dress or no cocktail dress…….

Thats about it.  It flew by…the whole Saturday.  I got back to my hotel at 2:15 am and had to get up at 7am to get ready for my photoshoots and pack my bags .  checkout was at 11am..THAT SUCKED.

i’ll finish up the story tomorrow.  I did workout last night.  I did abs and lats and am so sore.  No workout tonight.  It’s UFC night…time to chill.  I also threw in some legs cus I am back on 2 legs day a week.  still not happy with the quads.  I want them more ripped and need size, so when I lose some of the fat, I do not end up with chicken legs…ya know? I did 15 of cardio.  I still feel tired….

Note: originally posted here.

Post by: MsFitness

Congratulations to MHP Athlete Joe Mazza for winning the lightweight division at the Kings of the Bench contest at the 2007 Olympia!

The complete MHP’s Kings of the Bench contest video is now posted up on Bodybuilding.com. Click the link below to view:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2007olympia_vids.htm

(Scroll down to just below the Graphic Muscle Interviews.)

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN JOE!!!!

Post by: bbcom_developer

Hey everyone!  Here are some shots from the expo and show.  Hope you enjoy them.  T-

Expo-Did you stop by the Bodybuilding.com booth- I did!

The stage was set- The Finals!

Most of the top six

Must pay tribute-  Ronnie Coleman, 4th Place

The Top Three

Dexter “The Blade” Jackson, 3rd Place

Victor Martinez, 2nd Place

Jay Cutler, Mr. Olympia 2007

Post by: arieseyes

Despite an agreement that barred Bodybuilding.com from shooting any video (ourselves) at this year’s Olympia venue, Pro Bodybuilding Weekly and The Fit Show were, however, allowed to shoot some incidental video for us.

Thus, here are some videos that you may or may not have seen yet from the Olympia:

• Fit Show: Brenda Kelly, Kim Oddo & The Olympia Ladies
• 2006 Supplement Awards
• Pro Bodybuilding Weekly Olympia Predictions
• 2006 Olympia Highlight Video
• Bus Ride Video (LOL)

Enjoy!

I took a lot of pictures over the weekend at the Olympia Expo, so I thought I would post a few of them up here for ya’ll to see… Enjoy!

View from the entrance.

Phil Heath and Jay Cutler (Future and Present)

Me and Bob

Stone Dragon Models

Champion Nutrition Models

Being my 3rd straight year going to the Olympia and the Expo, I had a new gameplan comapred to the previous years. This would be the first year that I planned to go both days.

I arrived to the LVCC on Friday around 10:30 or so with some friends of mine, and were amazed at the size of the expo. It seems like it keeps getting bigger and bigger each year. Because the expo was downstairs this year, it allowed more room for the vendors to try and one up each other with booth size and attractions. We quickly decided to start on one side and go up and down each row… although we kept getting sidetracked with free giveaways and sexy fitness models. We spent most of the day just walking around getting the free stuff while I took mental notes on the booths I wanted to visit again later that day when my friends left, and also the following day when I took most of my pictures.

Instead of writting about every booth I visited, I will just give an overview of my favorites and least favorites at the expo:

Favorite booths                 

Scivation/Primaforce                 
This was one of the first booths I visited while at the Expo (both days) for many good reasons. First, it was towards the front side where we started each day. Second, I wanted to meet all the faces of these comapnies like Chuck, Derek, and Layne, which I did meet and talk with. They were all super nice and were glad to meet their customers. I even enquired about Chuck’s diet services which he is well known for, and this is something I might take advantage of. Finally, one of the real reasons I stopped by was because of the great deals they had on their products. I purchased some Xtend and some Substance WPI for a great price! They even threw in a free shirt, a free book, and a free gym bag. How cool is that!?!

BSN             
Even though I dislike how big their company is and how overpriced some of their products are, I must admit that they did a great job with their booth at the expo this year. Almost everyone at the expo had one of their shiney bags in hand with a ton of free goodies in the bag! I believe when I finally went through my bag, I had free samples of every product they make from Syntha-6 to No-Xplode to True Mass to Cellmass. They even had free stickers, magnets, and pens! Also, to my surprise, I was actually able to talk with one of their representatives about some of their products. Being how busy they were, this impressed me a lot. I even got a 4 serving sample of one of their newest products, Endorush, which is supposidly stronger than NO-Xplode! I can’t wait to try it out for my next wrokout.

Bodybuilding.com           
One of my favorites from the past turned out to be a present favorite as well. With models like Christina Lindley and Fawnia Dietrich working the booth along with IFBB pro Bob Cicherillo, this booth was a must see for any fan at the expo! I stopped by both days in order to get a chance to meet everyone and it was worth it. I talked to Christina for a bit, and then got to pose with Bob (and his championship belt!) for a picture. They also had some laptops set up so that you could sign up for their website to get a free shirt. This year they were promoting their latest craze, BodySpace. I believe with their current marketing and word of mouth, it is only a matter of time until this thing gets huge. Some other companies were promoting simliar sites to BodySpace, but with bb.com’s size and power, they clearly stand on top of all the others. Great job this year bb.com!

Vyotech         
Not only was Vyotech’s main booth stacked with Pro’s like Melvin Anthony and Bill Wilmore and some hot models, but they had 2-3 more smaller booths in the expo hall! This may sound like overkill, but it wasn’t. Their main booth had great giveways as they were promoting their new goat whey… yes, GOAT whey. I’m sure you will be hearing much more about this new whey in the coming weeks. Also, they had a brand new motorcycle on display that they would be giving away on Saturday afternoon. I didn’t win it, but I made sure to enter as many time as I could throughout the day. As with the previosu booths I mentioned, the Vyotech booth stayed on course with all the cool features, including the most important, friendly and helpful representatives. This is what sets a good booth apart from the great booths. Even the “only there to look good for the crowd” models knew their products. Way to go Vyotech… you guys keep impressing me with good stuff.

MuscleTech                 
This is going to sound a lot like the BSN review above, but it applies to MuscleTech as well. I don’t really care for thier overhyped and over advertised products, but they had one my favorite booths in the expo. Even though their giveaways and customer reps were lacking, they made up for it with the quantity of athletes at the booth. I got a chance to meet Jay Cutler, Chris Cormier, Gustavo Badell, and King Kamali. Also, Phil Heath stopped by and was chatting with Jay, so I was able to snap some pics with the 2 of them together (the current Mr. O with a future Mr. O). The lineup of atheletes is what set this booth apart from the others. With Muscletech’s bankroll, I am glad they could bring all their athletes out to meet the fans during the 2-day expo.

Least favorite booths                 

ThermoLife       
I know that some people who attended the expo will disagree with me on this choice, but hear me out. Yes, I did like to look at the almost naked models standing in front of their booth, but it did cause a lot of problems. For one, I was afraid to approach their booth because the models were being swarmed by people taking pictures and it seemed like the booth reps were more consered with watching the girls too rather than helping people. Secondly, the girls were standing out in the aisle, which caused a huge traffic jam to the already packed aisles. My suggestion would have been to put the girls behind the table (inside of the booth) to help with traffic. They had the right idea with the girls to help promote their booth, but it was poorly executed, and caused more damage than good for the company, IMO.

LVCC Food Court     
I was actually looking forward to getting in a meal at the expo this year, because last year was so good. In the food area last year the LVCC served up griled chicken breast plate with a sweet potato and vegetables. This year was different, and disappointing. The choices were a hot dog, a hamburger, and a chicken sandwhich, all served with french fries. They also were serving beer throughout the expo. This is a health and fitness industry event, who wants to buy that grabage? After spending all day promoting health and seeing all these fit people, who wants to eat fried food? Not me! I was very upset, and had to resort to eating free protein bar smaples for lunch. Hopefully next year will be better.