Didya miss me?
We had such an awesome time at the Arnold!
I'm gonna split all the pictures up into 3 days...yes, I took a TON!
Today I'll show you the Expo!
Tomorrow, the mani I sported and some cool pics of the ride there.
And Wednesday I'll share my haul!
Ok, Let's Dive right in!
First....Let's clear up some facts about this weekend.
There were 18,000 Athletes participating in the sports festival. PARTICIPATING! That's insane! That's almost 3.5 times the athletes that they Olympics had!
They don't have the official attendance number yet, but I can tell you there were SIGNIFICANTLY more people there this year than last year, and last year they had over 130,000 in attendance!
Ok...On to the Pics(which you will have to excuse the quality of...zoomed way in and people moving made for blurry pics!)!
There were LOTS of famous Faces:
Randy Couture, Lou Ferrigno, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallone
Lou is nice and clear cause I was all of 2 feet away when I took his pic!
Check out the Crowd :
(this pic shows about a 16th of the space of the main expo hall)
Yes, even a Rock Wall:
There was Arm Wrestling:
Check out the arms on the girl on the left!
AWESOME! That's what I will look like some day!
There was a Deadlift Competition too:
Can't remember his name (sorry dude!)
But this guy ROCKS! He's a bike builder, and competes in the deadlift comp every year!
Here he's lifting 805lbs!!!
Love the tatts!
Yes I am terrible, I can't remember her name either!
She is in the weight class I would compete in!
Here she's lifting alittle over 500lbs! (can't remember exactly!)
Here's the Pro Figure Competitors:
The Amateur Female Body Builders:
She is so cute!
This chick was massive!
She has the physique of a Pro!
Funny thing was the smallest amateur male bodybuilders came out right after her and the difference was hysterical! She looked better than every one of them!
Who wants to see the Amateur Male Body Builders?
Here's a sampling:
Now...The Pro Female Bodybuilders:
Iris, the girl in the Purple suit won yet again!
Look at the difference in the three up front!
The middle girl was my favorite!
Here's a few more of her:
Whether you want to look like that or not,
you gotta admire the work and dedication it takes to look like this!
And for those who don't know, no they don't look like this all the time, they are much smoother and less "ripped" off season and in between contests.
Ok...ready for my Fav's?
There were many Strongmen Competitors.
Sadly I didn't get pics of everyone, But here are a few pics of the various lifts and a few of my favs
(didn't even get all my favs)
First Lift was the Manhood Stones:
(had to take a pic of the screen, stupid pro photographers kept getting in my way! The nerve!)
In this lift, they had to pick up the stone (533 pounds or 452 pounds) and lift it over the barrier as many times as possible in 90 seconds.
Apollon's Wheel:
Starts off as 366lbs, but has weight added progressively.
This is particularly hard due to the fact that the wheels and bar are one solid unit, so as the competitor 'cleans' it up to his shoulders, the wheels want to spin, causing the whole bar to spin in his hands, really making a grip next to impossible
This is Mikhail Koklyaev of Russia.
I just love this guy! I call him "Happy Guy", cause if he's not actually lifting a weight, he's smiling! You can't help but love him!
Phil Pfister
Travis Ortmayer
Watch out for this guy, he's significantly better every year and I bet will be a major player in Worlds Strongest Man in the next year or two. Cute story about him though...he met his wife at the Arnold on 2006, got married right before it in 08 and had his son born 1 day after it last year! He seems like a total sweetheart!
Circus Dumbbell
228lb dumbbell with a handle that is bigger than a coke can!
Must be lifted overhead as many times as possible in a time period. Can only use 1 hand to get it from the shoulder to a lockout position.
This is Derek Poundstone.
Won the whole thing for the second year in a row!
Also won runner-up int he Worlds Strongest Man!
Yet another to keep an eye one!
He too get's better every year!
Hummer Deadlift:
Yes, those are hummer wheels and tires on a bar!
Zydrunas Savickas
The strongest man in history...seriously!
He has broken every record and has been named by many in the know strongman historians to be the strongest man to ever walk the planet!
Here he's deadlifting a record breaking 1027lbs.
And yes, he came up like it was a warm up set for him!
And I just had to show you this guy!
David Webster, renowned Scottish strongman historian.
But I guess I didn't have to tell you he was Scottish did I?
It's he AWESOME?
Well that is finally it for today my wonderful readers!
I hope you enjoyed the recap!
Have a great day!
{{{Hugs}}}
Christy
