I had planned this trip for some time. The friend who was going with me had to cancel the trip. So, I was thinking if I should skip it or go anyway. I decided to go anyway and I am glad I did. I had plenty to do the days before departure. I went to LA via Seattle. The security in Seattle was a pain in the a**. I was "red-carded" and had to speak to another one. It seemed that they did not believe my line of work. At the same time I was in a hurry so I would not miss the flight to LA. Finally they let me in. I know they have to be careful, but I think there has to be a limit on how suspicious one should be. Next time I will plan the flight with 3-4 hours (since 2 hours is hardly enough) in between. To make things worse, I traveled without food and that was a big mistake, so when I finally got on the flight to LA, I was exhausted and hungry. When in LA, I quickly grabbed some food and took a taxi to the apartment in Venice and I fell to sleep, looking forward to all the fun stuff ahead.

I woke up and quickly went out to buy some food, detergents etc and then grabbed 2 bars so I could go to Gold’s Gym to train. I heard from one of my friends that Gold’s were not as hard core anymore. Well, I did not notice that at all. The energy and the intensity was there. Despite having slept too little and had too little food, I had a killer workout (shoulders and bicpes). I was so pumped so I almost looked good.

I saw Günther Schlierkamp, Bob Cicharello, Tom Prince, Paulina Tallus and Joanna Thomas. Günther was training with long sleeves so it was difficult to see if he was ripped or not. He was huge though. Chic was also very big but a bit soft. Tom Prince looked pretty big despite his previous health problems. Most important though, he looked healthier. A bulky Paulina Tallus was training back with heavy weights. Paulina is a real powerhouse and it would be interesting to see her trying powerlifting or strongwoman. I talked to her during the Olympia expo because I saw her, when I was in LA in feburary, doing squats in the squat machine with enormous amounts of weights. I thought she did something around 800 pounds but she did 1040 pounds! Now, that is power! I also asked her about doing powerlifting but she does not want to do that. She wants to do bodybuilding and will probably do Ms International. Joanna Thomas looked good and maintained her great shape from the GNC. Joanna’s V-taper is among the best in female bodybuilding.

Before I went to LA, I had been trying to get an interview with Helle Nielsen. But since she was dieting she did not have the energy to do it. She was planning to do the GNC and then Ms Olympia. Due to last minute severe carb-loading (she was overdieted), she suffered gastrointestinal dumping and could not keep anything. Because of that she was dehydrated and had to withdraw from GNC and Ms Olympia. So when I contacted her in LA, she did not have any contests to do and was full of energy and we could finally do the interview. We met at Schatzi’s and had some great food and wine and talked about everything. Later on, we continued and partied all night. Helle turned out to be a very interesting and intelligent woman with very clear goals and I am sure she will reach the very top in the sport. A profile on Helle is hopefully coming out.

Then it was time for Olympia after a great time in LA. I arrived to Las Vegas and cought a cab to the hotel. I stayed at Tropicana instead of Mandalay where the contest was. Tropicana was an "inferno in gambling and smoking". So the next time, I will certainly stay at Mandalay instead. Mandalay is a huge hotel that has everything. It is like a small city. You can eat all kinds of food, shop in different shops and use the very nice spa. The spa also had a gym, but that was really softcore and not too much to get excited about. One of the best dining experiences ever, I had at "Fleur de lys" at Mandalay. French cuisine and service at its best. We had foie gras, truffles and very high quality meat and fish. It was all presented in a very nice way. Highly recommended.

I hung out with Helle Nielsen and met her webmaster and physique photographer Roland Walliser. Roland was very happy with the results of the Ms Olympia since he also is a webmaster for Iris Kyle. Helle was working for PTA (www.privatetrainers.com), and I met the founder Joe Antouri. He is a nice guy with a good business and he really cares for the bodybuilders working for him. His idea is to provide professional private trainers for clients.

At the "meet the Olympians", it was easy to see why Ronnie Coleman was the winner. He is so much bigger than everybody else. The only one that can stand next to him and do not look small is Markus Ruhl. Seeing the size of these guys was simply increadible. Of the female athletes I was very impressed with Yaxeni Oriquen. Onstage, she is not quite hard enough to beat Lenda Murray or Iris Kyle. But offstage she is so impressive with her mass, lines and charisma.

The Olympia banquette was not so well organized (I think Wayne DeMilia would have done a better job). There were way too few tables and chairs. Also, the food was not what I have expected with a buffet. I hope they do it better next year where everybody can sit down and have real food, wine and service. It is the biggest contest in bodybuilding, it has to have some class. At the banquette, I had the opportunity to meet Lisa Aukland and we talked on how to improve female bodybuilding. Lisa is an intelligent lady with some great ideas (www.lisaaukland.com). There should be more bodybuilders like Lisa that cares about the sport as a whole (and not just themselves).

Speaking about the future of female bodybuilding, I had some great conversation with Tré Scott, Steve Wennerström, Mary Lynne McKinzie, Juliette Bergman and Helle Nielsen, and they are all very important to the sport. I noticed at the Olympia weekend that female bodybuilders were very popular among the fans. Men, women, kids went up all the time and wanted to talk to them, take pictures and having autographs. I certainly did not notice that female bodybuilding is dying (more on that issue in a later article).

One night I was dining with Helle Nielsen, her Danish friends and Dennis James. It was great fun to watch Helle and Dennis eating plate after plate. The owner of City Fitness was there. City Fitness in Copenhagen is a real hardcore gym and a favorite of Dennis James and Helle Nielsen (www.c-f.dk).

The day after the dinner, it was time to go home and luckily I did not drink very much alcohol the night before, so the trip went well. I will try to go next year again. It was an increadible experience.

 

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