Fun at FitExpo

Okay, so one out of two ain’t bad. I said I would be going to the FitExpo on both Saturday and Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, but six hours and 20 interviews (at least) later, Saturday alone was more than enough to fill my weekend plate. And—can you believe it?—after five days of solid downpours and heavy winds, the sky opened up and pushed through the sun, so the weather was terrific.

It was a very good crowd on Saturday, and the IRON MAN booth was smokin’. Mainly due to the presence of pro fitness star Oksana Grishina and NPC figure competitor Heather Clay, who really shook things up Sunday when she appeared in her Wonder Woman outfit. Even Merv had his eyes wide open for this one. We gave out complimentary mags of the February, 2010 issue, with Michael “Titan” O’Hearn on the cover.

As you can see from the Yogi Avidan photo in this space, both Ruthless Ruth and I are confused why we haven’t graced the front of the book in our two decades plus of service. Michael Neveux won’t tell us, so if you have the inside scoop, let me know. O’Hearn joined IM Creative Art Director Terry Bratcher, among others, on the judging panel; from what I saw, the magistrates did a fine job with their selections, albeit a tough one to call in both the male and female categories.

Congrats to BodySpace winners Ben Booker and Jacqueline Kay, who earned a cover with IRON MAN Magazine, an interview with David Young and a year contract with Bodybuilding.com for their efforts. Booker, 28, is a father of two who hails from Sullivan, Illinois; Kay, 26, is from Virginia Beach, Virginia and a Washington State University grad.

Obviously I didn’t make it to the Jay Cutler seminar on Sunday, but we all know who did. Trevor Tihonchuck, the number one Cutler fan—and look-alike—in the world. Jay changes his hairdo prior to the ‘Olympia, of course Trevor follows in his footsteps.

Anyway, got to chat with a lot of folks (Mark Alvisi, Flex Lewis, Ava Cowan, Cathy LeFrancois, Hidetada Yamagishi, Greg Plitt and Danny Hester, to name a few); make sure you check back on the site periodically for my video interviews from the event.