O, What A Weekend
by Naturalguy
Heading out to Vegas on Wednesday morning, I was anxious. I knew there was a lot ahead of me as this weekend would mark the return of Animal to the Olympia Expo. Animal has not been at the Olympia for the past 3 years, but as 2008 was Animal Pak’s twenty-fifth birthday, why not celebrate in style? I knew that a lot of work was put into planning for this event and I knew that there would be a lot of work to do once we got to the Expo. I worked The Cage at the Arnold this past year which prepared me for this event. However, I was not prepared for some surprises that popped up this weekend. It was a weekend that I will not forget.
Wednesday, 11:43 am.
I arrived in Vegas on Wednesday afternoon and went to the Expo hall to start set up on our booth. This wasn’t The Cage, which is reserved as the signature event at the Arnold, so the set up was fairly easy. However, there were still challenges, like making sure everything arrived on time. We were there getting our hands dirty and setting up our own booth. Some companies hire outside labor to set everything up, but, like most things at Universal Nutrition, we do things “hands on”.
Though it’s tough work, I think this approach really says a lot about how Universal Nutrition does things. It’s all about getting your hands dirty, like I said. There was a special delivery that I was waiting for that almost didn’t make it, but I got lucky and the package arrived in time. We were planning on debuting the highly anticipated Animal Lifting Straps, which people have been asking about for quite some time. I was happy (and relieved) that we had them at the booth.
Thursday, 7:03 am
Thursday was a full set up day. As I saw the Animal booth coming together, I was getting pumped knowing what would lie ahead in the next few days. The Expo always get crowded and there is a lot of energy. Here I was in the Expo hall watching the behind-the-scenes of how these great booths come together. Yeah, it was pretty neat.
Thursday, 6:05 pm
Here we are in Sin City where most people come to party, but what does the Animal Crew want to do? The guys like G Diesel, Hola Bola, Rage and the others want to get a good meal in and hit the gym. That is exactly what we did. We hit up Gold’s Gym, the same gym that we were going to have the Animal Barbell Club (ABC) event at on Sunday. There were several pro bodybuilders training there plus our Crew. The atmosphere was electric.
Friday, 6:28 am
Friday morning I woke up really early, partly because of the time difference from the East Coast, and partly out of excitement for the day ahead. I had an early breakfast to fuel up for the day and then headed to the Expo. I wanted to get there early and get ready for the crowd. A half hour before the Expo opened the athletes showed up: Ox, Wrath and House – the “Young Gunz” as we call them. Now that is a lot of beef.
It’s cool working alongside these guys. Not only are they large individuals and accomplished pro bodybuilders, they are also genuinely nice, articulate and intelligent people. The doors to the Expo opened at 10am and the crowd rushed in. It was pretty much non-stop all day, talking to customers, handing out some free give a ways and selling some cool, limited edition Animal Gear. Many people mentioned how happy they were that we were back at the Olympia. The people that visited the booth got to meet the pros. Our bodybuilders are not sitting behind a desk, signing autographs. You can walk right up to The House, shake his hand, and ask him whatever you want. They are really down to earth and love the sport and its fans.
Friday, 7 pm
Friday night we headed to the Orleans arena to see the pre-judging of the Mr. Olympia contest. We had close up seats and we got a good look at all the Olympians. Usually, you can tell who the winner is from the call outs at pre judging, however, there was some interesting call outs, which made you think that something exciting might go down. The buzz was that the reigning champ would take it again. We would have to wait until tomorrow to find out. I was very tired after the show and hit the rack early as I knew there would be a big day ahead. Little did I know how big.
Saturday, 7:12 am
Saturday morning was another early rising. Again it was either the time difference or anticipation of the day ahead. Saturday was much busier at the Expo, as could be expected. Every hour on the hour we had free giveaways. Now anyone who’s been to The Cage knows that we don’t typically do a lot of free giveaways. Instead of brochures and samples and freebies, Animal focuses on delivering an experience–knowledge and information. But since this was Animal Pak’s twenty-fifth birthday, we wanted to share the love.
People had the choice of either a limited edition white Animal t-shirt or a can of Animal Pak 15s. People were lined up 10 minutes before the top of the hour waiting for the giveaways. Corporate was very generous at this event. At 12 noon I was asked to go to the stage with Rage and Ox because bodybuilding.com was giving out their annual supplement awards (as if I really needed to be asked). I went over flanked by these two big guys.
Saturday, 12:38 pm
Backstage they told us to be ready to go up three times as we won several awards. Rage, Ox and I stepped up for the first award which was for the “Labels of the Year.” Glad to see all the hard work at Universal paid off, as these Animal Iconic labels are really badass in my opinion. As many may know, everything Universal does in in-house, from the ads to the new label designs. So this win was really a win for Universal.
We went off stage and were told to wait to go back up for 2 more awards. We got called up twice more back to back to accept awards for “Multivitamin of the Year” (four years in a row) and “Joint supplement of the Year” (three years in a row) for Animal Pak and Animal Flex, respectively. It was great to walk away with the hardware.
Saturday, 5:12 pm
The rest of the day was rockin’ at the booth. When the Expo closed at 5, it was time to break down the booth and pack up. Again the Animal Crew got in there and got their hands dirty. We got everything packed up. It was not easy as we were quite tired from the day. However, we got it done. After break down we were tired and hungry. The plan that evening was to go to the Mr. Olympia Finals. I was told by one of guys at Universal to make a “special” phone call to another guy who is high up at AMI (Flex, M&F magazines). I didn’t know what it was about but I was told to make sure not to miss making the phone call. We went to grab some food and I took a quick shower before heading to the arena.
Saturday, 7:38 pm
When we got there, I made my phone call and I was later greeted at the entrance by the mysterious AMI guy. He said, “I have a special treat for you. Put on this wrist band… We are going backstage.” My jaw dropped, and I said, “Are you kidding me???” He wasn’t joking. He took me past security and down a hallway to the backstage area. You have to understand what a thrill this was for me. I’ve been a fan of this sport for a long, long time, not just as a fan, but also as a competitive bodybuilder. I remember back before the internet when I had to call a 900 number to find out who won the show. Then, I had to wait 2 months to see pics in the magazines. In 1998 I was fortunate enough to attend my first Mr. Olympia when it came to New York. I’ve been to two others as well but this time I was going to see it from backstage. It was a dream come true.
Saturday, 8:04pm
The show was already underway and I was watching from the side of the stage. I was so close up, you could see the detail on everyone. I had full access to the backstage area so when they come off the stage I would get to see the behind the scenes action. Up on stage, I witnessed history as Dexter Jackson got crowned Mr. Olympia. It was a surprise as the incumbent Jay Cutler was the favorite. The crowd went crazy and Dexter was crying on stage. I could see the tears.
The contestants then filed off stage and I went to go see the reactions backstage. It was interesting to see how they handled the results. Phil Heath was ecstatic to place 3rd in his first Olympia appearance–he was genuinely happy. Jay Cutler seemed to take the loss professionally and he sat down and reflected on what had happened. Dexter Jackson was mobbed by everyone wanting to take pics and congratulating him. What a cool experience this was for me, a once in a lifetime opportunity. And it never would have happened if I wasn’t here, working on behalf of the best company in the supplement industry. Could this weekend get any better?
Sunday, 8:31 am
Sunday morning I got up and met the Animal Crew for breakfast. I knew I had to fuel up as we had a special Animal Barbell Club (ABC) event and I was going to train arms with none other than Wrath. We headed out to Gold’s Gym and when we got there it was literally a “who’s who” in bodybuilding as Muscular Development had just finished a seminar. There were at least 10 pro bodybuilders there. After we met everyone it was time to get down to business Animal style.
We, as members of the Animal Crew, train and we train hard,. That is what we do. This would be an epic event as we had the the “Young Gunz” there as well as Sgt. Rock. Training with Wrath was a very motivational experience. Honestly, you can’t help but get pumped up while training with him. Hola Bola, an online rep who was sent to the Olympia, also trained with us and that dude is jacked and strong. G Diesel and the Enforcer, from the FORVM, were hitting shoulders. J-Dawg was there training with some other members of the Animal forum. Sgt. Rock was deadlifting over 700 lbs. The House was training arms while Ox was hitting shoulders. The atmosphere was awesome. This, guys, is what it’s all about at Animal. I love the fact that the Animal Crew talks the talk and walks the walk. After we trained we hit up some grub and then headed to the airport.
Sunday, 4:15pm
On the flight home it hit me what a great weekend I had just experienced. Man the time goes so fast when you are enjoying what you are doing. I reflected on how fortunate I was to have all these great experiences. I am so pumped and motivated after training and hanging with the pros. I could not have asked for a better team to work with at the booth. My boys G Diesel, J-Dawg , Enforcer, Rage and Hola Bola, along with the Young Gunz This has got me fired up for the Arnold and The Cage. Every year, it’s all about The Cage and this time around, it’s not going to be any different. And though it’s several months away, I am counting the days. What’s in store for me in Columbus? Time will tell.
The Cage is like no other. There are no free samples, no free t-shirts given out. When you come to The Cage you come there for to see Animal come to life. You get to meet and hang with the pros. They are not behind a desk signing autographs, you walk up to them, shake their hand like men, talk shop, ask them questions. If you want an autograph you get one, no purchase necessary. Come hang out, see some awesome lifting exhibitions heck you can even enter various lifting contests and win cool prizes. Ox, House, Wrath, Vinny, The Freak, BigAl, BigAnt and G Diesel were there all weekend.
The Animal Barbell Club is a movement that is taking place across the country.
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