More Arnold Classic Poobah

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
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This is going to be in multiple parts, as the forum keeps rejecting my single long post. Here goes:

Folks,

Here’s the truth about the Testosterone staff at the Arnold Classic:

Yes, Chris Shugart was indeed at least half drunk each night when he was posting. So take what he said with a grain of salt!

Cy Willson is not 28 years old!

John Berardi is in actuality a light eating vegetarian. The guy picks at salads, eats carrots, and is scared of meat!

OK, enough tired joking. I am tired, though, ‘cause like a real T-Man Bob and I DROVE 600 miles to Columbus; none of this having others fly the airplane for me while I snooze stuff. Of course, we have to drive ‘cause Bob schmoozed hundreds of free MRP packets from vendors, and between the two of us we bought a small warehouse of stuff at bargain prices.

The Testosterone/Biotest booth was an event inside an event. Designed by Jeff McCarrell, traffic flow from three sides gave all of us remarkable access to the massive input from attendees. Nobody in the biz has ever seen a booth setup like this, and it allowed us to handily give out Grow! packets, 15,000 copies of the mag, and many boxes of Biotest t-shirts. A staggering number of people signed up for the Testosterone-leather jacket drawing, and a great deal of product was sold, also.

Putting the staff together in one place was a first-time event for us, and one of the highlights for myself. The pre-show meeting and dinner was a rollicking good time, and I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that there were a lot of guys practicing “Massive Eating”! You should have seen this crew dig in, you’d have been proud.

TC was the “personality” of the booth: surprise surprise, eh? The man is wonderful with people, enjoyed the hell out of meeting so many readers, and kept us all loose. Even when stressed, TC laughs and keeps it all fun. Thanks for bringing Laurie to the show, too. We needed more beautiful women to shield our mugs from the crowds.

Cy Willson is quiet and seemingly introspective, but we loosened him up along the way. A great guy, and a big eater!

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Part two: John Berardi is a gem; he’s got a mile-wide smile, patiently talked in depth about our products to anyone who asked all weekend, and bailed me out quite a few times when the science questions got me in over my head. The man eats big, too; you should have seen the group of us at breakfast each day, taking full advantage of the buffet. Meat and eggs, then oatmeal and fruit, then more meat and eggs. Three courses each morning. Most fun with John was working out, though. John, his brother Steve, Cy, my son Bob and myself hit the nearby World Gym Friday night after work, and it was a zoo in there. Very crowded with big people, an amazing sight. John and I found out we’re pretty similar in the gym; we won’t give up. Intensity is the name of the game; it was great fun (he kicked my ass, if anyone is wondering).

Gunther Schlierkamp was working out, but the real highlight was the entrace of big Dave Palumbo. He walked by our group (all wearing the colors, of course) and said “it’s nice to see that the Testosterone staff are gym dogs like I am!” Hey, that’s high praise from Dave. He then proceeded to load a bar with 315# and crank out two warm-up sets of bent over barbell rows, bicep grip. This was his warmup! Incredible.

The whole shebang at the Arnold was engineered by big Jeff McCarrell and Billy Amicarelli, the Biotest sales and marketing heads. These guys are workhorses, as are Becky and Trish, Jeff’s wife and Billy’s lady love. They also brought up from Florida some fellow gym rats to work the show: Mike, Rob and Jeff. Guys, it wouldn’t have happened without you all. Allison, our head of International Sales for Biotest, worked hard too, inbetween her many meetings with overseas distributors and retailers.

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part three: Chris Shugart was outstanding. You think he’s got a lot of personality on the forum; in person he’s a dynamo, constantly deep in conversation with readers. Chris, you’re a pleasure to work with.

A highpoint was a visit at the booth from Lee and Kathy Priest. We’ve kept in touch since the interview, and he knew I was concerned about recent rumors of ill health, heart problems. Lee looks fine, and assured me it was a one-day slowdown of his left ventricle, it’s cool now, and though the doctor pulled him out of the gym for a couple of weeks to monitor it (thus his pulling from the Arnold Classic competition), Lee is already back in the gym and says he’ll be on stage at the Olympia come October, ready to go. Hell, he looks “ready” right now.

So does Dorian Yates, who indeed spent a while in our booth Sunday. Jeff McCarrell has been working for months to set up an interview with the big man, and now it’s going to happen. Dorian wanted to meet me, make certain I could walk and talk at the same time, and see whether this was going to work for him. I passed the test, ‘cause it’s in the works now. Dorian looks big and thick, by the way, and told us he’s weighing 275# right now.

Ed Coan also came by to see Chris and myself. Gee, another big guy! Go figure. Something outstanding about Ed is that’s he’s such a regular guy, no ego whatsoever. Very nice to finally meet him in person.

Arnold, of course, visited the booth, and that was a most interesting few minutes. A topic he was interested in was our efforts at securing newsstand distribution for Testosterone, and he related his work for Weider in that area in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Quite a thrill to hang with Arnold, even if only for a few minutes.

All in all, being on the “inside” at an event like the Arnold Classic is an experience that can’t be surpassed. We worked hard, very hard, but the feedback and response to the mag and to our Biotest line of products was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. I’m already getting stoked for October in Vegas, so make your plans now.

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Thanks for the compliments John. I had a great time at the Arnold and it was extremely pleasurable to finally meet with my fellow contributors.
I too, would like to give you a quick summary on what I found with each T-mag personality.


John Koenig is a very cool guy. In fact, I and some of the other writers agreed that we were a little jealous of Bob, John’s son. Not because of Bob’s amazingly heavy lifts for his age, but because John is a guy that would we’d love to have as a dad. He’s the embodiment of the “cool” father. Oh, and did I mention his workout intensity is amazing.


John Berardi is a very nice person. Come to think of it, probably the nicest person I’ve ever met. A pretty smart sum bitch too. I had the chance to work out with John and I must admit it was very exhausting. As a piece of advice, never volunteer to join him on his “metabolic training” day. The lactic acid accumulation was so high, I nearly puked twelve times. Oh, and John also has a great physique. Which is a compliment that I rarely bestow upon anyone. His brother Steve has the same great qualities, except he has a better sense of humor than John. I still love ya though John. :slight_smile: I only ate so much because I wanted to demonstrate just how much of a “massive eater” I could be. :slight_smile:


Chris Shugart is just one very cool and funny guy. Didn’t get a chance to work out with him but I’m sure I will in the future. Chris is very open and honest and truly believes in what he says, as well as practices what he preaches. Oh, and in case you don’t know, he’s one hell of an editor. Makes the pieces of slop we writers throw at him into nice shiny articles that you see each week.


TC, well, he is just as he appears on T-mag. What can I say? He’s himself. Extremely grounded and friendly. He isn’t full of himself, even though his astounding accomplishments could allow him to be. A true to life T-man. Oh and did I mention he bought me a bee…er I mean soda. :slight_smile: Oh and Laurie is hot! Just don’t tell TC I said that.


It was also very cool meeting some of the readers. Jake, Mike, Max, Tim or Timbo, just to name a few. Thanks for the support guys. I’m here for you. Good luck with school Jake.
In closing, I’d just like to say “you suck” to whomever stole my sweatshirt while in the gym. I had to walk back to the hotel in a beater! Unless, it was a hot chick with a sweaty sweatshirt fetish. Then it’s cool.

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It sounds like this is the first time alot of you met each other. Is this so?, even though you work for the same zine…

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What exactly does John Berardi’s metabolic conditioning routine look like?? Is it a form of the 3X3 leg press/dip/pullup workout?

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Fe- That’s true. Most of our contributors are spread throughout the country, with a few in Canada even. Even though we talk on the phone and exchange a few hundred e-mails a week, this was one of the few times a lot of us have gotten together, especially with some of the newer guys like Berardi and Cy.

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I guess it’s my turn to chime in. To all the guys who hung with us this weekend, all I can say is that despite my bronchitis and strep throat, you made my weekend a real blast and I thank you for it.

Thanks for the complements Cy and John. I think you guys are just makin all that up so you can get some free samples of the new post workout drink :slight_smile:

To the readers, if you can get to a No Holds Barred or an expo like this one, do it! The experience of meeting, training with, eating with and hanging out with some of the guys that shape the direction of your training is priceless.

At each and every event I do with t-mag, I learn something. This weekend I learned from TC, Chris, Cy, John, my bro, the readers, among others. That was priceless for me!

John K and I are like blood brothers. We even have the same damn first and middle names. He is an animal in the gym and a sharp and interesting guy outside the gym. He does alot behind the scenes for t-mag and we all appreciate his work! We spent alot of time together and laughed alot together. He has a son named Bob that's 16 yet lifts amazing wts (not to mention the fact that he knows how to score free crap - I think he took aver a hundred free MRP samples home with him).

Cy blows me away for a 20 year old. The dude is very big and lean. In addition, he is very bright. Shit, he's light years ahead of where I was at 19. He even got up at the expo and gave an impromptu talk on protein that was really good. I would have probably studdered, vomited, and slinked away with my tail between my legs if I was asked to do that when I was 19. Keep up the good work, Cy.

Chris Shugart is a damn stand up comedian. Everything that comes out of his mouth is funny. He had me rolling in the aisles. John K made a comment that Chris has a very “agile” mind and that was very accurate and even perhaps an understatement. Chris seems to see the humor in everything but is still able to see truths that most people miss.

And TC is so cool and real that you wouldnt think that he was the freakin pioneer that started off hardcore bodybuilding media. When meeting him you just think, “now that’s a cool guy”. He really knows how to make someone feel welcome and comfortable. He busts balls with the best of them, but thats part of the charm. Oh yeah, and if you spend enuf time with him, you will probably pee yourself laughing.

And last but not least, my bro is a real stud. We only get to see eachother a few times a year, but it’s always a pleasure to chill with him. We are so alike in many ways but so different in others. Steve also got up and did an impromptu speech (which was probably his first of the kind) and handled himself very well. In addition he added a tremendous comic relief by getting “horny goat” hand puppets (from Pinnacle’s horny goat weed product) and proceeded to go around the expo getting fitness chicks and pros to pose with him while they were wearing the horny goat. Not even lee labrada, dorian, lee priest, or arnold himself were immune to Steve’s hijinx. Great one bro!

All in all, I had a fantastic time and loved all my fellow writers. And yes, this was the first time that I got to meet them all. But I hope it’s not the last.

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My workout program is a little wierd, esp metabolic day.

Cy and John hung in well (both guys have damn good physiques). Normally I train chest and back (w/calves and cardio) on monday, bis and tris (w/abs and cardio) on wed, quads and hams (w/calves and cardio) on friday, and the famous “metabolic day” on sat.

On this day I do 4 sets of shoulders, then 2 sets of chest and 2 sets of back, then 4 more sets of shoulders, then 2 sets of bis and 2 sets of tris, then 4 sets of shoulders, then 2 sets of quads and 2 sets of abs and 2 sets of calves. This workout is done in 1 - 1.5 hours and uses high reps (10-15) with low rest between sets. The low volume of chest, back, bis, tris, legs, etc helps with recovery of these body parts by enhancing blood flow to them.

And Cy tells no lies when he says that the lactic acid is staggering.

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So - are these famous ‘goat photos’ going to make an appearance somewhere on the site? Especially the fitness girl ones? And don’t say they’ll be in the printed mag, please - I live in Australia and printed T-Mag’s are as hard to come across as Tyra Banks surrounded by her bodyguards. :slight_smile:

BTW - must say, this is one of the most interesting forum posts i’ve read.

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John K, you mentioned that you bought “a warehouse of stuff at bargain prices.” I assume that this was primarily unsold items left at the close of the Expo that the exhibitors would rather dump than transport back. What kind of deals did you get? I spent Fri and Sat at the Expo but left before Sun. If the discounts are that good I’ll probably stay the extra day next year and start stocking up.

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I was there on Sunday only and got 3 months worth of Micronized creatine for 12 bucks. along with 3000 grams of glutamine for 100 dollars. the key to those events is sunday, you can hit the small dealers all day for deals but most of the bigger distributors won’t make deals to the end.

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I wanted to write and thank all of you who worked the classic, it was my first, and I’ll admit, it was one hell of an intersting experience, but meeting all of you, and talking with you was something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, I was there saturday, and talked to Chris for a while, along with John, and I learned more talking to those two guys than I have in a long time, especially John’s stuff on nutrition, after talking to him, I can’t wait to get my hands on the new post workout supplement. Ohh, and I was impressed with one other thing, I’ve been on the chocolate grow, but I think the vanilla might be even better, hope the ultimate protein and post workout stuff tastes that good, are you guys going back next year? I hope so…

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Okay, here’s the real scoop on the Biotest/T-Mag booth and the staff. Everything written in this post is absolutely true. I wore my T-Mag shirt to the Expo and made my way to the Biotest booth first.
As soon as I walked up I was greeted by TC. He is totally cool and a down-to-earth guy. He introduced me to John Koenig who was way cool as well. John Berardi spoke to me for atleast five minutes regarding his Masive Eating program. I attended the No Holds Barred seminar and discussed the program with John. He was friendly and personable. He has an awesome physique and obviously practices what he preaches. Later I found Chris Shugart and spoke with him for a few minutes. He put me on the spot by asking what my favorite part of T-Mag was?.. He was funny and sincere, all the guys were. Meeting them was the biggest highlight of my expo attendance, other than being two feet away from Timea Majorova as she made her way to the fitness competition stage. OH MY GOD! She is so edible!

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I thought the NHB Seminar in Orlando was good, but I really must have missed out by not going to this one! It would be nice to meet some of the other T-mag contributors (Chris Shugart, TC, John Koenig and Cy). I may need to take some time off next year to check this thing out! And I’m sure I’ll go to another NHB Seminar in the future!

Great work guys. Sounds like it was a total blast! Look forward to more opportunities to meet and speak with all of you, as well as other T-mag readers.

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Buster, when I say we bought a lot of stuff Sunday, I’m not kidding. In addition to a case of Grow! and several jugs of Advanced Protein (at the same discounted prices available to everyone, I hasten to add), I purchased several cases of Dorian’s MRP at @1 per packet. That deal was available to anyone on Sunday until they ran out; Bob and I bought all the chocolate!

The deals get crazy on Sunday afternoon; the show closes at 4:00 and from about 2:00 p.m. on it’s a selling frenzy. I couldn’t get around, but Bob did on my behalf and trucked stuff back. Champion glutamine was another great buy that day (can’t have too much glutamine).

The freebies are almost endless if you spend enough time walking the aisles. I trained Bob in the technique the previous two Arnold Expo's, and John Berardi underestimated his haul. The kid actually ended up with several hundred MRP packets, bars, and about two cases of the EAS drink-in-a-can.

Someone commented this is one of the more entertaining threads on the forum. Let me tell you, getting together with all these people is almost a life-changing event, for crazies such as all of us are.

Something not mentioned in the talk of working out is that we all were running on four hours of sleep for several consecutive nights, and should have been relaxing in a hot tub somewhere with fitness chicks. Instead, we end up in the gym, where it’s all for real and one finds out a great deal about their friends, new and old. Satisfying beyond words, really.

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First off, just wanted to thank the T-mag guys for being just as cool in person, if not cooler, than on the forum and in the mag. These fellas are some really fun guys to hang around and they’ll talk to you as long as you bug 'em. I only got the chance to hang with JB, Cy and John K. Unfortunately TC had taken off by the time I got there and Chris–well, Cy told me Chris was rubbing one off when I was there:-) So, Shugs, I was there my man, and I waited around for ya. Thanks guys for making the drive completely worthwhile. I just want to add that this thread is really neat. It’s awesome to hear how much you guys enjoyed yourselves as well. I’m glad to hear that you got to have some fun because I know you worked your tails off, and I, for one, really appreciate it.

JB, just one quick question for you…when you do cardio following weight training, do you down your postworkout cocktail before the cardio or do you wait till after? Also, your metabolic day sounds like one helluva roller coaster ride. I was looking to add something like this to my arsenal but wasn’t exactly sure how to structure it.

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John K and Nate thanks for the info. I think I’ll turn next years visit into a 3 day weekend instead of a 2 and I’ll remember to bring a wheelbarrow and lots of money on the last day. Jeff I’ve got to agree with you about the Timea and edible comment. But next time stick with me and you can get a lot closer to Timea than 2 feet :wink: I got a chance to talk to her for a few minutes on Saturday (I love that accent) and even wrap my arms around that hot, tight, beautifully-proportioned body…sorry had to take a break for a few minutes. Ah, a memory that will last a lifetime and probably produce wood for years to come.

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Timbo, during the wt portion of my training I drink a gatorade drink (33g of carbs) with 1 scoop of power drive and 4-5g glutamine. This is finished by the time I get to cardio. Then after 30 min cardio, I drink my pw shake in the car on the way home. Give it a shot. It works wonders

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Okay, enough with the damn love-fest. Everybody get back to work!

Nahh, just kidding. I'll let myself get all warm and fuzzy for a minute, too. Thanks to all you pudknockers for making the expo a success. It was a blast, and I only hope this damn pec heals so I can join you in the gym next time and show you how one tough sumbitch trains!