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sgerwel1985
03-09-15, 10:10 am
This weekend was my first time at the Arnold Classic, and i just wanted to take a moment to say "Thanks" to; Animal, the athletes, the interns and everyone who did everything to put this weekend together. I came solo to the event from Pittsburgh, and i spent most my day walking around the expo Friday. I did end up getting in line at animal to buy two shirts, and the interns kicked ass at handling that "circus," kudos to all of you. After walking around the expo a few times i always somehow found myself back at the cage. There is just something unexplainable about it. The lifts were just insane, the environment was great and everyone was just so nice and supportive. The athletes just walking inside, outside and around talking to everyone. Engaging everyone! Wasn't some "line circus" like you saw at a lot of other booths just to get a photo and say hi. Something very genuine about it! No doubt it was the best booth at the Expo, there was/is no close second.

For me, the best part was the ABC event on Saturday. Got a chance to meet and talk to a lot of the athletes that inspired me and other fans/supporters like myself, i've never felt so welcomed and comfortable somewhere in my life. So many other companies would of probably charged a hundred dollars per person. Not animal. Free gym, free interaction with the athletes, some free goodies, and a post-workout meal! Would love someone to explain to me how that isn't world class!

My experiences with the athletes were as followed:

Brandon Lilly, I was slated to train with Brandon, but he suffered a slight injury lifting in the cage and wasn't able to train. He could of easily told me "sorry, now shove off guy!" But he didn't, he talked to me (for quite a while) and offered me more than just a few hours with him at Metro! After talking to Brandon for a little while i decided it was time to finally lift, so i made my way to the flat bench!

Gunz was lifting (bench) with a few guys and they allowed me to work in with them, gave me some priceless tips and helped me hit a new PR of 350 on the bench. He was so nice, encouraging and engaged the entire time it was amazing. Thank you very much!

Dan Green came over to the bench when he saw Gunz start ripping some plates, guess he had to let everyone know he was in the building too... As if we all didn't already know that! He was kind enough to take time and take a picture with me and, that meant a lot to me.

Frank, well what can i say... he is one scary looking son of a B, but as nice as they come! I got the chance to talk to him for a few moments, he is the nicest, softest spoken man i've ever met. Tremendous guy, tremendous story and best of luck when you compete in May.

Rex, saw him on the way out. Asked him for a quick picture and he said yes. Also thanked him for his tips on correcting my meal planning on this forum. Has helped me a lot in just a few short weeks. Your english is much better than i expected. My father came from Poland over 30 years ago and he still has a tough time talking/interacting with people!


Long story short, Animal does it right. From their supplements, interaction with customers/fans, to the booth and most of all the athletes they decide to sponsor. Keep doing the amazing stuff you're doing. It means a lot to some people, like myself!

See you next year!

MikeHerman
03-09-15, 12:01 pm
Was going to make my own thread, but this seems like a good place for us all to post our thanks. I had an amazing time on Saturday and can't thank everyone enough. Got to meet some of my favorite lifters of all time, saw some old friends, and even met a couple of new ones at the ABC. Took pictures with Dan Green, Brandon Lilly, and Frank McGrath, hit a PR of 405x2 beltless deadlift, and ate some delicious food afterwards. I have to say my favorite part of the ABC was getting deadlift tips and form correction by Richard Hawthorne. Not to mention, I got to be about 3 feet away from him when he pulled 600x4. Gives me hope for being such a small guy. Not as small as him, but let's just say the other lifters made me look like a sheet of paper. Haha. Walked away with some merchandise, and even better than that, an experience that I won't soon forget.

Thank you, Animal.

npcdusty
03-09-15, 1:26 pm
There is a def need for a huge thankyou! This was one of the best weekends ever. My main focus fro the arnold was the cage and the ABC and once again i was reassured why i follow Animal! Just like family nothing was overlooked. From the interns, pros, to the forum brothers and sisters it was a blast to be around you all. My wife and i always have a plan if seperated to find a safe meeting place. I told her there is no safer place than the Cage. I told her go there and wait in the Box and ill find you! Thanks to the cage and the box, well we never really left to get lost. The ABC was amazing, working out with Dan Green was priceless, he and his wife Sparkels were so nice and we had a great time meeting them. Having Derek Kendall give me a lift off at the bench was something in its self. Guns Griffin letting us work in with him on close grip was a sight, woke up real quick with 5 plates coming off the bar when it bounced out of the rack. Funny, he got up and said there is no way in hell i missed that, lol.... The Animal family is def a home for me. Looking forward to many more years and events to come. Higa was so funny, Deanna7272 was so nice and talked about Animal just how i feel about it. Looking for ward to having a home town ABC soon to help spread the word. From the clothes, supplements, food and the conversations it is truly family. Looking forward to another great year! NPCDUSTY

Robb
03-09-15, 4:27 pm
So many other companies would of probably charged a hundred dollars per person. Not animal. Free gym, free interaction with the athletes, some free goodies, and a post-workout meal! Would love someone to explain to me how that isn't world class!



Well stated this really sums up Animal.

AJones148
03-09-15, 10:49 pm
I also wanted to thank everyone at Animal for making this such an awesome experience for me. This was my first time at the Arnold and I'll definitely be back next year.
Thank you Gunrock for letting me ride with you and the Georgia ABC, making this trip possible for me.
Thanks to everyone who let me take pictures with them: Higa Monster, Dan Green (and Sparkle), Oak Strong and Sam Byrd.
Thank you J Wong for helping me with my squat and giving me advice about how to deal with the bad training cycle I'd been having.
Thank you KnotAHumanBeing for talking to me about my upcoming meet and being encouraging.
Also thanks to all the people who were working the cage who facilitated everything. Everyone was really nice and I ended up spending most of my time at the Arnold in the Cage.
This was exactly what I needed to get motivated again and feel better about this meet I got this Saturday. It was hard for me to not PR at the meetup, and I would have liked to lift more there but I had to refrain cause my meets so close.. Next time I'll make sure to not have a meet scheduled right after the Arnold weekend. I can't wait to be back next year, but next time I'll be staying the whole weekend and I'll bench my whole bodyweight for reps, instead of half.

J Wong
03-09-15, 11:18 pm
I'll give some thanks here too:

First off, thanks to all the people that came out and supported Animal, the lifters, and the Cage. Without all of them, none of this would have been possible. All you guys and girls are great.

Second...gotta give big thanks to all the people behind the scenes. All the employees work their asses off to make this all come into effect. The interns/volunteers as well. They come to the Arnold and put in a significant amount of time just to keep everything running smoothly. The support that this company gives and gets is great.

HIGA MONSTER
03-10-15, 1:20 am
I also wanted to thank everyone at Animal for making this such an awesome experience for me. This was my first time at the Arnold and I'll definitely be back next year.
Thank you Gunrock for letting me ride with you and the Georgia ABC, making this trip possible for me.
Thanks to everyone who let me take pictures with them: Higa Monster, Dan Green (and Sparkle), Oak Strong and Sam Byrd.
Thank you J Wong for helping me with my squat and giving me advice about how to deal with the bad training cycle I'd been having.
Thank you KnotAHumanBeing for talking to me about my upcoming meet and being encouraging.
Also thanks to all the people who were working the cage who facilitated everything. Everyone was really nice and I ended up spending most of my time at the Arnold in the Cage.
This was exactly what I needed to get motivated again and feel better about this meet I got this Saturday. It was hard for me to not PR at the meetup, and I would have liked to lift more there but I had to refrain cause my meets so close.. Next time I'll make sure to not have a meet scheduled right after the Arnold weekend. I can't wait to be back next year, but next time I'll be staying the whole weekend and I'll bench my whole bodyweight for reps, instead of half.
Your welcome brother!

HIGA MONSTER

GunRock
03-10-15, 4:54 am
Thanks to the Animal family for all of the love shown to me and mine this year. I brought seven first timers up with me and I couldn't be more excited about how they are fired up about Animal now. I've been hyping up the experience for six months and I know they all felt that I might have been exaggerating. Instead what they saw exceeded my description.
Thank you to Cammarhino and Naturalguy for the tremendous support in our local ABC's that gave people the desire to join The Georgia Convoy. Thanks also for the love shown to me, my son, War Machine and my brother Uncleboo56 This was War Machine's first Arnold and another thing checked off before he heads to Parris Island. It means a lot to me that he got such a warm reception.
Thanks to my brother Uncleboo56 and the Animals from Tennessee who led the way up to Ohio. They are are always huge supporters of my crazy notions.
Thanks to Deanna7272 for giving me updates via Instagram on road conditions and the warm welcome at The Cage.
Finally thanks to all of the Animal athletes who gave their time and treated my whole crew like family, from breakfast with Higa and Ibn to seeing Derek Kendall again and having he, Richard Hawthorne and BJ Whitehead school War Machine to take him beyond where I could. Sam Byrd, Ibn and J. Wong transformed my squat.
I am humbled beyond words and grateful to you all.
Let's hit the gym and come back even stronger next year!!

jabs2
03-10-15, 11:42 am
I had such a great time! I came all the way down solo from Alberta, Canada. I wasn't an intern or in pros vs joes this year but I spent about 90% of all 3 days in the booth or on the benches inside the cage when I got a chance to sneak in there. HUGE props to all the animal athletes who lifted and took the time to shake my hand and all the interns and promoters for doing an amazing job. Especially When BOSS and Derek took the cage floor it was utter insanity! cage was completely full, booth was overflowing and spectators were standing on benches, ive never seen anything like it!

Thank you all for making my solo mission a success cause I had no idea what to expect going into it. See you next year! I would love to lift in pros vs joes.

MikeHerman
03-10-15, 11:50 pm
Especially When BOSS and Derek took the cage floor it was utter insanity! cage was completely full, booth was overflowing and spectators were standing on benches, ive never seen anything like it!

I was front and center for that battle. As soon as everyone cleared out after Malanichev finished squatting, I made a mad dash right to the middle of the floor behind the camera guys. Haha. It was intense.