The Mr. O weekend starts tomorrow and I'm following it a little more closely then I normally do. I tend to prefer amateur contests to the big pro shows. The amateurs at least seem to be real...I could imagine myself after years of training of building that kind of body. The pros on the other hand are just out of this world, another species, that sort of thing. But I'm starting to come around to the big guys. I think the conditioning at the pro level has gotten much better. Rich Gaspari-like 'rippedness' is back, bigger and better. No more chunky physiques with muscles groups so overdeveloped that muscle separation is non-existent. No more giant waists with big distending bellies. No more Marcus Ruhl basically. Less GH or better GH? I of course don't know.

So here's who I'm expecting big things from this weekend:

Dennis Wolf


Dennis was the guest poser at a show I went to this year. He was big and tight months and months from the only show (the Mr. O) he is doing this year. Plus he was great interacting with the crowd and his fans.

Fouad Abiad



What can I say that I haven't said already about this fellow Canuck. I love his blog, check it out if you haven't already!

Phil Heath

Ok, he is hyped beyond belief but he looked incredible at the Ironman and I credit his physique for changing the expectations at the pro level.

Fouad's Mr. O intro video:



A week to go to the big show...I really hope to see Fouad do well. He deserves it.

Voyer still looks huge when he's working out. I'm interested if he does any pro shows next year.

Nationals and Montreal

As I mentioned in the last post I was in Montreal for the same week as the CBBF Championships.  I attended the pre-judging (well sorta) and was underwhelmed in some ways, impressed in others.  But first: Pro Gym.

Prior to arriving in Montreal I'd asked an on-line bud from Montreal which gym to workout at in Montreal to get a hardcore experience.  Pro Gym Serge Moreau lived up to it's billing as Montreal's top gym.  $40 set me up with a week pass, not an unreasonable amount in my opinion for a gym of any calibre but a steal for a gym as well equipped as Pro Gym.  This place is huge, has huge members and I couldn't help but feel inspired and challenged.  2 huge weight pits, several dedicated cable stations, a huge machine section, enough cardio equipment for an infantry division, plus a bunch of other dedicated areas like a boxing area, powerlifting room, ab studio, etc means that this place gets the big thumbs up from me.  

The membership has a lot of hardcore members.  Simone Voyer who won is pro card in 05 worked out every morning while I was there, a couple other guys who I'd see on the stage at the Nationals also were there as well as a whack of huge guys who pounded away like crazy on the weights and machines.  Overwhelming visual stimulation was a common :)

Pro Gym is the kind of place that I'm not sure I'd want to work out at on a regular basis.  It is a very pro-steroid kind of place where an average joe like me gets some pretty unrealistic expectations about what can be done with the body, still I'm torn, it was so very cool to be somewhere that was unapologetically focused on bodybuilding.  This was not the kind of place that was trying to get office workers to part with some cash every month to use an elliptical trainer once in while.  I kidded to someone at my own gym this week that I sorted expected to have some syringes slide across the desk when I signed up for my pass at Pro Gym.  I'm a bit conflicted about all that.

The prejudging at the CBBF Championships was a major disappointment.  Compared to the Emerald Cup in Seattle this show was weak, mickey-mouse, and a tad bush league.  I'm mainly pissed because the prejudging started 35 minutes late, was so unorganized that each class took 20 minutes or more to be assessed and was a source for sovereignty grievances due to the lack of bilingual directions to the athletes.  So I didn't even get to see the big guys put through their paces because I could only stay a couple of hours.  This would have been plenty of time to complete the prejudging at a BC show or the Emerald Cup but at the Nationals this was only enough time for a handful classes to be judged.  People were pissed at the promoter for not allowing photographs which given the price of the seats and the nature of the event seemed ridiculous.  I would direct my wrath at the CBBF executive who clearly doesn't set up any parameters for the privilege of putting on the event.

Still I was inspired by what I did get to see.  Masters Heavy Weight class here I come in 2013! :)