Before the traveling circus, a.k.a. the bodybuilding industry, moves onto this weekend’s Australia Pro Grand Prix I need to give a recap on the events that were in this year’s rendition of the Arnold Sports Festival. Snow was falling, AT&T was causing phone problems, history was made, and new champions were crowned. The show that was supposed to lack star power with many top names sitting out turned out to be quite the contrary with a star studded lineup of pro’s in attendance. So here we go with all the action as I saw it go down.
Men’s Bodybuilding
If Vegas had a line on the show the odds had to have been with Dexter Jackson. From the second I got into Columbus I could just sense that it was going to be his weekend. When 2pm rolled around on Saturday afternoon and prejudging began it reaffirmed my initial feelings. Dexter didn’t just walk out for his mandatory poses, he strutted out the way a man about to make history would do. He came in hard, crisp, and full, matching his conditioning from last year’s Master’s Olympia.
It didn’t look like anyone would challenge Dex for the title, but I was eagerly waiting to see what Cedric McMillan was going to come in looking like. After all, he’s working with Chris Aceto and looked great at the 2012 NY Pro. Out walks Cedric for prejudging and you could just tell it wasn’t going to be his day. His color was too light, he was holding a film of water, and overall lacked the graininess that would have been needed to garner a first callout. He came back for the night show looking better and darker, but it was too little, too late. Although, he was far from 6th place in my eyes, I had him 4th.
Ben Pakulski was the real shock of the weekend for me. He was the only competitor in my eyes to really challenge Dexter. He nailed his conditioning and did show improvements in his upper body. I think we’re looking at the next coming of Branch Warren only with a higher ceiling for improvement.
Overall, Dexter was in a class of his own this weekend. He wasn’t pushed in callouts and sailed home to a well-deserved and record tying 4th Arnold Classic championship. Fred Smalls not only looked great, but had the best routine by my view and rightfully took home an extra 10k for his best posing award.
And lastly, I couldn’t help but notice Ed Nunn completely copying the 2002 Mr. Olympia posing routine of Kevin Levrone, not only with identical moves, but the same exact song. I welcome you to compare their routines on YouTube and see for yourself.
Women’s Bodybuilding
Iris Kyle is a real treat to watch compete. She reminds me of Ronnie Coleman during his reign as King of Bodybuilding from the standpoint that everyone else is competing for second place. I would like to see Iris come in a little bigger than she was this weekend, but when she has a structure that could compete with many male bodybuilders it’s hard to ask for much better than what she brings. A very solid victory this weekend, although she was pushed hard by the top 4 in this year’s competition.
My personal favorite in the women’s lineup was Brigita Brezovac. She doesn’t overpower the lineup with her mass, but she is very aesthetic, comes in razor sharp, and just permeates everything good about female bodybuilding. When Iris steps down as champion, I could see Brigita being a game changer for female bodybuilding and a welcomed bright light to the industry the way Kim Chizevsky was in the 1990’s.
The top poser to me was Cathy LeFrancois. I loved the performance that clearly showed the extra time put in from working with the world’s best poser – regardless of division – Oksana Grishina.
Fitness
With Adela Garcia out of the competition this year it really opened up the door for two women in Oksana Grishina and Tanji Johnson. Tanji has been knocking on the door for years and Oksana is the hottest name in fitness and a true artistic genius. As much as I love Oksana for her incredible routine and grace, her physique isn’t quite on the level as Adela or Tanji in terms of balance and flow. Tanji, on the other hand, has always come in a little too soft in the physique round of scoring, but this year she looked tremendous. She had much better condition and as she always does, brought an exciting and athletic routine to the stage.
The trouble with fitness is that except for Tanji Johnson and Oksana Grishina the girls seem to all look alike in terms of their dance routines. It doesn’t matter if you’re in attendance or watching on the live stream it feels like a throwback to the 1990’s and I’m listening to Jock Jams in my CD player. The high energy stuff is great, but it gets redundant really fast. I think all it will take is a girl to channel her athleticism and enthusiasm the way Tanji and Oksana really connect with the crowd with their stage presence to catapult someone out of the pack and into the top of the line with the favorites.
And speaking of the high energy girls, Bethany Cisternino was the best of the group and looked great in the physique round coming in a very convincing 3rd place.
Figure
Finally Candice Keene is placed where she should be taking home her 1st Arnold Classic win. The table was set for her to pull off the win and somewhat of an upset over Erin Stern and she did not disappoint. Her physique was the best I had ever seen it before and at the same time Erin looked like she took a step back from her always dominating form.
Erin Stern coming in 3rd was clearly a shock to the fans, but even more of a shock to her I’m sure was getting nudged out by Heather Dees for 2nd. Erin is a tall girl and I know she loves to talk about her training on the track and the sprints that she does, but with her frame she needs to carry the muscle and every athlete knows that running can make an athlete look a bit too stringy. If she can get back to basics Erin will find herself back on top, if not I expect a long reign as #1 for Candice Keene.
The other news this weekend from figure was Nicole Wilkins. I’d be lying if I didn’t notice her fuller appearance at the expo on Friday. The trouble with everyone going off the deep end with Nicole is that this is how she always looks when she isn’t gearing up for a competition. She’ll be fine once she decides when to return to the stage. Her bigger concern shouldn’t be her off season weight, but how she is going to be able to fend off a red hot Keene, an angry Stern, and a rising star in Heather Dees.
Bikini
I was sitting in the audience at Saturday nights show and I leaned over to my fiancé and said, “This is why IFBB bikini blows away Victoria Secrets models or a random Hawaiian Tropics bikini competition.” And on bounced Nathalia Melo to the stage for her quarter turns. These girls actually carry muscle—well, some of them. You don’t have to look like a twig with two tits to be a bikini model, and the lineup continues to prove that sentiment with India Paulino, Nathalia Melo, and Nicole Nagrani rounding out the top 3 spots. Talking about who should win this competition is really like arguing over who’s richer, Bill Gates or Warren Buffet – who cares!? When you’re as hot as these girls there are no losers, although it was great to see India take home the title, but it could have gone to any one of the ladies in the top 3.
Strongman
One of the coolest events of the weekend is the strongman competition. I’m used to standing next to giants when I played football, but these guys were even bigger than anything I had seen before. 6’6’’ 375lb seemed to be par for the course. Then on comes this “little” dude named Vytautas Lalas standing 5’10’’ and weighing 300lb, coming into the final event on Saturday night he was in second place behind Brian Shaw. This mighty mite stormed the stage with a purpose for the one arm dumbbell press. Not only did he win the event, but overtook Shaw for his first Arnold Strongman championship.
Standing next to Vytautas backstage after the event was very impressive. He was very lean for being 300lb and could easily compete in bodybuilding if he had decided to go that route.
Final Thoughts
And for those who couldn’t make it out to Columbus, Ohio for this year’s event you missed seeing the past 25 years of Arnold Classic champions live on the stage. Kevin Levrone was out sick and who knows what went on with Nasser not showing, but it was truly a spectacular sight to see bodybuilding royalty all under one roof. Plus it was pretty funny to see Ronnie Coleman still sporting an oversized suit all the while carrying 60lb less muscle than before. We love you Ronnie!
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