Who's the first pro you met?

[Mrbig7]

I remember meeting Bertil Fox when I was 17yrs old. I couldn't believe the size & thickness of that man! When he sat with his arms crossed in front of him, it looked like his biceps would touch. I just watched one of his workout tapes(from 1991) last night(Brutal Fox II-who would have known how fitting that title would eventually be ).. Anway, I think he was ahead of his time as far as size & strength were concerned.. On the tape he did DB flat presses with 180lbs for 11 reps. INSANE!! I think probably only Ronnie could beat that, and he weighs much more. Anyway, as big & thick as Bertil was, he still had a relatively small waist. Too bad today's champs can't maintain that kind of look.

[ifearnoman]

King Kamali and Art Atwood at the 2003 NPC Jr Nationals.

Both great guys.

I see Art all the time b/c he does a lot of appearances at this nutrition store out here (fitrx)

[Tim Wescott]

Mike Katz..................about a million years ago!!

Since then I have met tons of pros, from Arnold in his prime,to Ronnie in his.

Most all of them were great guys and gals!!

[In-Human]

Oh man, now I feel old, lets see I meet Arnold in Columbus in '79, others Ken Patera, Franco Columbo, Mike Katz, Lou Furigno, Casey Viator and training at the gym I train at now many many photo shoots since '91, Flex Wheeler, Andreas Munser, Ronnie, Ruhl, Chorimer, Kaz, Boyer Coe, Shawn Ray at the Gold's in Venice, Mike
Christianson, Lee Labrada, Platz, Rory, Deherer, Strydom, and you know a few more but I am old like Ski so I forget, but everyone of these guys was very cool to have a brief conversation with except Flex and Ray...

[Mrbig7]

In-human,
I've never seen Lee Labrada in person, but he's one of my favorites.. I know he competed anywhere from 175-195lbs at his biggest, but I was just curious to know how big he looked in person compared to someone around the same height, say Shawn Ray or Lee Priest? I've only seen contest photos.

[Intensity]

The first and only pro i ever saw is Francis Benfato who guess posed at a local show in Montreal! I dont know how old he was (It was 3 years ago) but even if he was already reteire at that time, he was in a incredible shape!

That year, i saw almost all the local Show in the province of Quebec... but the only show i missed was the show where a M. Coleman make a surprise appearance

Mo

[Troyster]

Was in... '92 I believe. The big man, Dorian Yates was touring here. I still have a T-shirt that I bought and never wore!!

T

[Milly]

Even though he is not a pro I would say Vic Richards.

First real pro I met was Claude Groulx who worked at a gym I belonged to years ago.

MY dream? To snap a pic of Lou , just to get him going

[str8flexed]

Dave Goodin... natural WNBF champ

nice guy... really good powerlifter too

[In-Human]

Mrbig7 said:

In-human,
I've never seen Lee Labrada in person, but he's one of my favorites.. I know he competed anywhere from 175-195lbs at his biggest, but I was just curious to know how big he looked in person compared to someone around the same height, say Shawn Ray or Lee Priest? I've only seen contest photos.

I have only seen Lee Preist from a far at Gold's but when I met Labrada he was very short, like 5' 4", and I would say at that time he was maybe 188 and he looked great and was very cool to talk with, he even was asking me about my training and diet...

[In-Human]

This is my Yates story from another thread here:


I would say this was maybe 14 years a go Dorian Yates came into our gym for a photo shoot, they had these shoots two times a month for Flex and Ironmag, so Dorian was doing Incline DB Presses with 200s, so he is sitting on the bench getting all oiled up laughing and joking around with members of the gym, so the photographer is ready, two guys hand Yates the DBs, he hoists them up to the top of the movement and the photo guy says, "ok hold it", then he brings the DBs down to the bottom and starts to go back up, the photo guy says, "hold it in the middle", so Yates does he snaps a couple of pics then Yates throws the DBs down on the floor and says to the guy, "do you think I am strong or something", we all lost it, he was cracking me up...

[sockrocker]

I just realized that I have never actually met a pro...


I think that i saw troy alves outside of a sushi place once though, lol

[Liftingchic]

Jay culter

[Mrbig7]

In-human,
Yates was doing the 200's on incline?? Did he struggle a bit, or do you think he could have done quit a few reps w/them? Here's my Yates story: I saw him guest pose here in Ohio(the 1995 or 96 Npc Northcoast, I believe) and when he went to step up on the stage, he couldn't get his leg up high enough to get up there, so he had to try it 2 or 3 times before he could get up there. He was around 300 lbs, but pretty hard at that weight. Later, I saw him at his table & his lats were just hanging there on either side of his arms, which were on the table in front of him. When I was standing in line waiting to get a pic, I joked to my wife that if he went to shake my hand with his bad arm, I was going to say, "No, give me the good one".. It was humorous at the time. Anyway, he was real quiet, but very nice. He took a pic with me and didn't even make me buy one of his own. I guess he could teach ol' Louie a few things about how to treat your fans!

[youngblood]

I saw Jay Cutler ath the 2003 SF Amatuer show, 3 weeks out from the Olympia. Only BBing show I've ever been to. Also there was Tevita Aholeilei (sp?), and I didn't even recognize him. He was taller than I imagined and offseason as well. He couldn't even hold a single bicep shot (with a fan for a picture) without shaking like an olive tree in a windstorm.
Jay looked thick as a house though.
Idrise Ward-El was there, Ray Arde, Julie Shipley (I wanted to propose to her, but I think her hubby wouldn't have liked that, I got a free protein drink instead ) and maybe a couple of more just hanging out.

[Troyster]

Shaun Ray is visiting my city this weekend and Cutler will be at the same place signing autographs in January!! I've never met either, so we're looking forward to it.

T

[Tim Wescott]

I met Shawn Ray on two different occasions,once in Orlando, where he appeared standoffish,and once in Pittsburgh at the Masters Nats, where he was really cool and sat in the pump-up room shooting the breeze with us just like one of the guy`s, before he went up to do his guest posing stint!!

I later asked Shawn if I could take a picture of him even though he was eating, and he said sure no problem.

They have a healthy buffet at the venue in Pittsburgh, and I saw Shawn up there for at least 5 meals!!

Jay Cutler is really cool and kind of an almost shy person!

I`ve seen him a zillion times, and attended a seminar with him, Chris Cormeir,and I beleive it was Kim Chivesky or Shelly Beattie.........I can`t recall.

The guest poser I have seen most often,even though he is not a pro, is Dave Palumbo...........this guy is getting paid!!

[In-Human]

Big, I did not ask him what his weight was at the time but he looked like 270-275 and was tight for the shoot, he did 130s for a few reps to warm up then did 165s for maybe 6 then the 190s for 4, so I think he could have maybe got 4 with 200s and maybe more if he didn't do so many warm ups...

[1705total]

The first Pro I ever met was John Hnatashak (or how ever you spell his name LOL) then I met Ivan Putski (although not a pro, damn well near as big and ripped), then I met Ron Love in 1987. What a nice guy! really great to just talk to and he was extremely friendly.
I met him again in 92 and he actually remembered me!
I've also met
Mike francois
Shawn Ray
Matt Mendenhall
Lee Haney
Rich Gapsari
Vinne Comerford
Renel Janvier
Sonny Schmidt
Milos Scarcev
Frank Hilldabrand
Sergio Oliva
Bill Pearl
Larry Scott
Lee Labrada
Lee Priest
Ronnie Coleman
Jay Cutler
Gunter Schlierkamp
Chris Cormier
Nasser el Sonbaty
Flex Wheeler
Ken Brown
Dave Palumbo
Jim Quinn
Eddi Robinson
Dexter Jackson
a couple more then I've forgotten

Arnold Schwarznegger (how could I forget)


But I'm not braggin or nothing LOL ;D

[Ken B.]

I think it was Rick Wayne in 1976 or 77. He was writing for the Weider Mags at this time and preparing the Three More Reps books but he still had a good bit of his muscle.