Mr. Olympia - Where legends are made

Arnold Schwarzenegger winning Mr. Olympia 1975

Fitfam, it's that time of the year again...

Worldwide, there are qualified athletes like Dana Linn Bailey, who have been deeply focusing on their preparation over the past few weeks to out-stand their rivals who are as inveterate as themselves. 

From the 18th to 21st of September people from all over the globe are going to Las Vegas , Nevada for Joe Weider's Mr. Olympia competition weekend. Joe Weider created this competition to enable the Mr.Universe winners to continue competing and actually also to earn some money. Organized by the IFBB, it was held for the first time on the 18th of September 1965 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in NYC, with Larry Scott winning the first of two straight titles. 

Lee Hanley and Ronnie Coleman are the ones that co-hold the title eight times.Everyone who hits the gym and lift weights should have seen the movie ' Pumping Iron'... It was published in 1977 and featured the build up to the '75er Mr. Olympia in Pretoria, South Africa. 'Pumping Iron' launched the acting careers of Arnold Schwarzenegger and of course Lou Ferrigno (You know, that huge guy from King of Queens? hihi). After all, the Olympia contest is not only for men, but for women as well. Female bodybuilders compete for the 'Ms. Olympia' title, whereas Fitness competitors seek to win the 'Fitness Olympia' and the Figure competitors the 'Figure Olympia' title. All contest take place the same weekend. 

If you ever want to compete at the Olympia you have to be :

• a previous Olympia winner
• top 6 finalists from the previous' year's Olympia contest
• top 6 finalists from the same year's Arnold Classic (More about that in another post)
• top 5 finalists from the same year's NY Men's or Women's Professional
• top 3 finalist from any other competition in the IFBB
• or just be the winner of the Masters Professional World Championships (why not?)

The event organizer also have the right to nominate one specific competitor who actually didn't qualified by other means, he/she will just compete as a 'special invitee'. 

Let's talk about that weird trophy, what's that with the Sandow Trophy?

Eugene Sandow, the first famous bodybuilder, transformed his music-hall performance into a career as a professional strongman. He had ,what we call, 'the perfect genetics' for bodybuilding, so he invented some equipment. What came out was a thing called 'spring-grip dumbbells'.
So with Sandow, bodybuilding was born. Soon he began to demonstrated his strength and physique to an audience. He posed as a Greek statue to attract attention to himself. 1898 was the year Sandow was considered the most famous man alive, especially when he started publishing the 'Physical Culture'-magazine, which became later 'Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture'. In 1925, he died, but he made bodybuilding a profitable enterprise. 

But the Mr.Olympia weekend is not only about competitions, it's like the FIBO in Cologne, but way bigger (we are talking american style here) . You can find everything, from hair accessories for the gym to shoes and supplements. Of course supplements, could you imagine a bodybuilding Expo without Supps? I don't haha... And when you're done spending money on precious supps and gymgear you may also enjoy several show like the Arm Wrestling, The Battle of the Bars (No, not protein bars...), Boxing,Jiu Jitsu Grappling, The Strongman Challenge and many more.

If anyone of you planned to go there, or is already there, you HAVE TO tell me everything... I already thought about saving some money to spend some kind of vacation there and of course to have a look at all those amazing athletes. Who knows, maybe one day you will see me there too (Yes, keep on dreaming haha). 

I wish you all a nice rest of your weekend and I hope that I motivated some bodybuilder (male or female) to work for their goal. Keep pumping. 

Phil Heath, winner of 2013's Mr. Olympia

Ashley Kaltwasser, winner of Bikini Olympia 2013

Dana Linn Bailey, 1st to win Women's Physique Olympia 2013