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Guest Posing in Oregon
On Saturday, May 3rd, 2008, I traveled out to Bend, Oregon to guest pose at the NPC Bill Pearl High Dessert Classic. Thanks to the efforts of Bill Hayes and his lovely fiancé (now wife) Michelle, I was able to visit the beautiful state of Oregon as one of the featured guest posers for the Bill Pearl Classic.
Bill Hayes is a big supporter of Natural Bodybuilding and, although this show was not drug-tested, Bill wanted to bring out a natural bodybuilder to guest pose at his first contest promotion. Bill and Michelle could not have been any more accommodating as hosts and I had a wonderful time during my stay in Oregon.
I was also interviewed by the local television station in Bend, Oregon on Friday, May 2nd in an effort to help promote the contest. The legendary Bill Pearl was the featured guest at the competition and it was great to see Bill looking so healthy and fit at the age of 78 years old.
I used the outfit from the movie “300” to begin my guest posing performance. My bodyweight was about 208 pounds for the guest posing as I was in the process of dieting for my photo shoot a couple months later (see story below). Thanks again to Bill and Michelle Hayes for bringing me out to Oregon and for their efforts to support Natural Bodybuilding.
NPC Illinois State Bodybuilding Championships
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With my cousin Amy Nielsen and her Dad Patrick celebrating her 1st place win. |
At the Optimum Nutrition booth with Jenifer Digiovanni and Daniel Stevens |
On Saturday, May 24th, 2008, Chuck Sanow and Ron Altieri promoted the 2008 NPC Illinois State Bodybuilding Championships. The show was a big success and the featured guest poser was rising star and future Mr. Olympia Phil Heath. Phil was huge and relatively hard considering it was his off season after winning the Pro IronMan Invitational and taking a very close second to Dexter Jackson at the recent Arnold Classic.
I was working the Optimum Nutrition booth with big Bob Corbett along with local Figure Champion Jenifer Digiovanni and Danny Stevens. Danny was dieting for the upcoming NPC Collegiate Nationals and I was still dieting hard for my photo shoot so we stayed away from the concession stand at the Gateway Theater and stuck to our diet food.
It was great to see my cousin, Amy Nielsen, win her first contest, the Illinois State Fitness Championships at the contest. Granted, she competed unopposed this first time out but she did great nonetheless and I hope she continues to improve and compete again. See, fitness runs in my family!
NPC Junior Nationals
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At the Optimum Nutrition booth with Alex,
Jessica Paxson and George Farah.
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With my friends Dave Vignasse and John Turk
at the Jr. Nationals
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At the Jr. Nationals with all the expediters
that help me at my shows. |
With Chuck Sanow and Mel Chancy.
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The NPC Junior Nationals returned to Chicago during the weekend of June 20-21st at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. The show was bigger than ever and Optimum Nutrition was the host sponsor for the event. Recently signed Optimum Nutrition athlete Sean Allen won the Super Heavyweight class and the Overall in the Men’s division. Congratulations to Sean!
I worked the Optimum Nutrition/ American Body Building booth on Friday and Saturday evening. It was fun working the event with the other Optimum athletes including Jessica Paxson-Putnam, George Farah, Chuck Sanow, Sean Royer, Danny Stevens and Jenifer Digiovanni.
We handed out samples of Pro Complex and Casein Protein Powders along with Vassive-NO and Recovery 2:1:1 (my favorite!). With all the dehydrated bodybuilders walking around after their competition was over, the samples of Aqua Force Water and Turbo Tea were a very in-demand item. I’m looking forward to September when the crew will travel to Las Vegas for the Mr. Olympia Championships and do it all over again.
California Photo Shoot
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In the gym right before my photo shoot in California.
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In the gym right before my photo shoot in California.
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Shooting in the gym with Rick Schaff.. |
After an incredible 24 weeks of dieting, I finally traveled to Southern California for a photo shoot with Rick Schaff and gorgeous fitness model Dina Al-Sabah. Although I normally shoot with IronMan Magazine whenever I travel to California, I wasn’t able to schedule a session with them this time because of the busy schedule of head photographer Michael Neveux.
I contacted Rick about possibly shooting with him. I had some great photo sessions with Rick back in ’95 and ’96 so I was excited about shooting with him again. Rick is one of the true physique photographers in the industry. He knows just how to direct you to look your absolute best for the photos. There are probably only a handful of individuals who are true physique photographers in this country and Rick is one of them.
I was also extremely happy to have the opportunity to shoot with the beautiful Dina Al-Sabah. I have been a fan of Dina for years and, when she was competing in the professional Figure division, I always felt she should have placed much, much higher than she did because of her incredible body. When I saw Dina on the recent cover of IronMan Magazine, I contacted her to ask if she would join me for a photo shoot.
Getting ready for this photo shoot was incredibly taxing. I started my diet on January 21st, after I got home from my vacation in Costa Rica. I had let my bodyweight get up to 230 pounds and my waist was at a truly expansive 37 inches. The diet worked great in the beginning and I was about 10 pounds down with over an inch off my waist after the first four weeks of dieting.
After that initial progress, however, I hit a major sticking point. It took me almost four months to lose the next two inches off the waist. It’s amazing how the body continues to change as we get older. Although I was using the same diet that I used the last few years when I was getting ready for a contest or photo shoot, it was no longer effective this year.
After consulting with my friend, fellow natural bodybuilder Joe Silzer, I made some slight modifications to my diet in order to get that last bit of bodyfat off. The changes worked and I was able to come into the photo shoot at a bodyweight of 200 pounds and the waist was down to a ripped 33 inches.
Rick and I started the photo shoot at the Golds Gym in Hawthorne, California. After shooting for a couple of hours, Dina joined us for some photos. We took a break for lunch and then met up at Hermosa Beach for the second part of our shoot. We drove up to Palos Verdes and shot some magnificent photos with the ocean as our backdrop. Rick couldn’t have picked a better location and the photos look fantastic.
It was a pleasure working with Rick again and it made all the dieting and sacrifice over the last 24 weeks worth it. It was also great meeting Dina and getting to know her. I can honestly say she was the coolest “fitness model” I have ever met. Totally down to earth with no attitude and it was awesome that she came all the down to L.A. from Vegas for the day just to shoot with me. She’s the best!
ABA Natural North America
I promoted my third contest in the last year on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at Romeoville High School in Romeoville, Illinois. This was the 2008 Natural North America Championships and we had an even bigger crowd and more competitors than last year.
In addition to the contest itself, we also held the first Champions Seminar this year. All the overall winners from last year’s Natural North America Championships (men’s winner Vince Robbins, women’s winner Paula McBride and Figure Champ Sara Clark) along with our guest performer, Vanda Haderean, the reigning Ms. Fitness World, assembled onstage and talked about the training and nutrition programs they use to prepare for competition. The Seminar went very well and I look forward to holding more of these in the future.
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John attends the After Party with competitors Bobbi Kongsgaard and Art Miller and Art's wife Peggy. |
Lorenzo Gaspar, Benny Cruz, Thomas Anderson, John Hansen, Vanda Haderean, Suzanne Gramis and Sean Lee after the Natural North America competition. |
We also had a big After Party immediately after the contest. Held at the nearby Brunswick Zone, we had a large room with a DJ who played music all night. There was also free pizza and soft drinks for all the hungry competitors who showed up after posing onstage. Both the Seminar and the After Party were free for all the competitors in the show.
I want to thank all the sponsors who helped me promote the sport of Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness. Our main sponsor was Optimum Nutrition and American Body Building. They were joined by JM Steel, Pride Nutrition, Nutrition Discounters, House of Pain and IronMan Magazine (who supplied all the winners with a one-year free subscription to the magazine). Thanks again for all your help and support!!
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With Lisa Roti after her performance. |
Singer Lisa Roti
I finally made it out to see my good friend Lisa Roti perform on Saturday, August 16th in Skokie, Illinois. Lisa is the youngest sister of my friend Nick and she is a very accomplished singer. She sings jazz songs, specializing in love songs.
I’m very proud of Lisa and her incredible talent. I’ve known her since she was a little girl so it’s pretty wild to see her now all grown-up singing onstage. Check out her website at www.lisaroti.com and if you are looking for some great love songs, check out her “Comes Love” CD.
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