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naturalguy
03-07-12, 9:53 am
The Arnold weekend is a long one for me, it's actually almost a whole week but it is inspiring and motivating.

I'll give you my perspective on the weekend. For me it started Tuesday night flying out from Newark to Columbus with Aggression and we met up with G Diesel when we landed, he was coming from Philly. Wednesday morning we walked into an empty expo hall and started to build The Cage.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0568.jpg

Putting The Cage together is no easy task, there is a lot involved and some heavy equipment to move in and it requires a lot of logistics. There are many people who are involved in making it go smoothly from corporate all the way to Ghost who helped us with some last minute things (thanks again Rob).

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0569.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0574.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0589.jpg


It takes two full days and many hands to put this together, on Thursday we got reinforcements from J-Dawg, JUGGERNAUT, C.Coronato, The Big O & CP3. Friday morning The Cage was ready to rock. Thursday night we grabbed some grub and headed to Metro Fitness, which turned out to be the only night I got to train. I hit shoulders with J-Dawg and The Big O.


Friday felt like the busiest Friday for the Arnold weekend that I can remember, we sold almost all of the black limited edition shirts, by Saturday morning they were all gone. The limited edition gear and products were flying off the shelves.

All the guys working The Cage from internal staff to athletes to the interns worked really hard and everyone puts a lot of love and passion into the weekend. It rubs off on you, I feed off the energy from everyone. I am always impressed by the passion and enthusiasm from the fans of our brand. Friday night I had to go to the women's finals were I handed out two awards for bodybuilding and figure on behalf of Animal. It is a very cool experience. After that I met up with the guys and got a great meal in at Barley's which is the best kept secret in Columbus.

Saturday is well known as the busiest day at the expo, it's also the longest as far as expo hours. Saturday is just non-stop action, the shop was cranking, the lifts in The Cage were nothing short of amazing. Around 2:45 Arnold came by, he does every year and takes a picture at the booth but it's usually quick and he runs out. This year he spent some time, he made Wrath flex his forearms and he introduced us to his son.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0597.jpg

After an exhausting day on Saturday I headed to the finals. I was going there as an award presenter for Animal but I was there as a fan and rooting on Ox. I gave out 3 awards, one for strongman, most muscular I gave to Branch Warren and a great moment was giving out the check to Ox (although I wanted him to win and get 1st):

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/AnHH2f_CQAAbibz.jpg

cont.........

naturalguy
03-07-12, 10:06 am
Saturday night after the show I passed out, very tired but looking forward to Sunday. Sunday at the Arnold is bitter sweet. It's the last day of the expo so you know it's almost over and you won't see a lot of these people again for a year. I try to soak it all in. There wasn't much left to sell in The Shop to sell. All the hats and t-shirts were gone by the afternoon and the last of the product would soon follow. People were grabbing up all the special sized Animal Rage that we had.

I was incredibly inspired, motivated and humbled by the lifting exhibitions. Seeing Hoss squatting 1015, The Ant deadlifting 610 for 5 reps, HIGA doing some crazy lifts, Seath squatting, Powerswitch deadlifting, The Westside boys blowing up the bench, even the Pros v Bros were incredible with Josh Halladay doing some crazy amount of reps and Nick Lepore doing the same. I may be missing some people but the events were rocking.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0616.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/1330709759147.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0617.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0599.jpg

I was inspired by the work ethic of all involved and the interns that show so much passion and heart:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0615.jpg

The whole crew was really amazing and a great bunch of guys to work with, I thank you all for motivating me. Next year we do it bigger and better:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0653.jpg


Sunday night after the expo closes and everyone goes home we have to break down The Cage, it's sad in a way but no time to think about it as it's a lot of work. Special thanks to those who stayed to help - HIGA Monster, Seath308, G Diesel, JUGGERNAUT, Aggression, C.Coronato, The Big O, CP3 and The Chase Browning. You guys helped a lot. After the tear down, everyone is tired, feet are hurting, we are hungry so we hit one last meal at Max & Erma's and reflect on the weekend. I copied C.Coronato's meal to the T and it was great:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0618.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0619.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/er1994/IMAG0620.jpg

Monday morning C.Coronato, Nick Lepore and I fly back to NJ. Tired yet inspired. What a great weekend.

smoothballer
03-07-12, 10:27 am
It was great seeing you again Eric. I had an absolute blast interning this year. The whole weekend was amazing for me.

Oh and those cookies are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

naturalguy
03-07-12, 10:33 am
It was great seeing you again Eric. I had an absolute blast interning this year. The whole weekend was amazing for me.

Oh and those cookies are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was great to see you also, thanks again for all the help.

The cookies were good, the glass of milk really made it awesome

Kowboy
03-07-12, 11:58 am
It was an honor and a privilege to work with you and the entire crew this weekend. It was so far above any of hte expectations that I had that I have no way to honestly express it. I enjoyed it enough to where if you need me to drive to NJ to help w/ anything just let me know lol. I will make a promise that this time next year during the Arnold I will be bigger and stronger and it will all be because of the Animal brotherhood.

I am also thinking I may need to come up w/ a new Forvm name.

Universal Rep
03-07-12, 12:07 pm
Great thread with words and pics... Nice.

Mr. Dead
03-07-12, 12:30 pm
Great thread with words and pics... Nice.

What he said... And, it was truly great to get to see you, again, NG...!!! I enjoyed working, hanging out, and talking shop with ya...!!!

Nix0r
03-07-12, 12:32 pm
I'm going through cookie withdrawal already.

Razor
03-07-12, 1:47 pm
Great write up NG! The weekend was insane yet amazing beyond belief.

wedge
03-07-12, 3:28 pm
Nice write up NG. I agree with you about Barley's. I ate there several times over the course of the weekend.

Phil800101
03-07-12, 5:42 pm
Always great to see ya my man! Hard to believe another year has come and gone.

naturalguy
03-08-12, 8:50 am
Great write up NG! The weekend was insane yet amazing beyond belief.

Agreed. It's the best weekend of the year


Nice write up NG. I agree with you about Barley's. I ate there several times over the course of the weekend.

Barley's is the shit and it's not overly crowded like the other places although now that we are all talking about it, everyone is going to want to go there next year lol


Always great to see ya my man! Hard to believe another year has come and gone.

Yeah, it went to quick

C.Coronato
03-09-12, 4:12 pm
I promise to never steer you wrong when im driving in the direction of food!

Chase "BIG COUNTRY" Browning
03-09-12, 4:17 pm
I want a cheeseburger now. Thanks.

naturalguy
03-09-12, 4:42 pm
I promise to never steer you wrong when im driving in the direction of food!

I'll just follow you around and eat what you eat, will I look like you?????

Enforcer
03-09-12, 9:00 pm
I couldnt agree more NG, every year after the Arnold, I feel that fire once again light under my ass. Its a reality check. Yeah sure you might be the biggest or strongest guy in your home gym but at the Arnold you are just another number. Just makes me work that much harder to reach my goals