PinK Will Never Be The Same...

First thing's first... this is not the right colour of pink. The pink that I wanted to write in is the pink you can only find in a highlighter or a 2011 Arnold Amateur Figure Class A Champion's jacket! The bright pink I'm talking about always reminds me of a really fun day, the day Ange won the Arnold.

The Arnold is a super sized fitness event of epic proportions. I'm not even sure that statement makes any sense, but this thing is massive and excellent. Every fitness vendor in the universe is there along with all sorts of fitness superstars. Pro football players,MMA guys, bodybuilders, pro table tennis people.... it's nuts and last year, I got to go.

As I started telling everyone in my last post, my friend Sherri and I packed up and took off for Columbus, Ohio last year on a Thursday. We went to see our friend Angela DeFrancesco compete in the Arnold Classic Figure competition.

For those of you who aren't too sure about what it means exactly to compete in a figure competition, I found this handy definition.

When judging a figure competition the judges shall assess the athleticism of the physique. This is not a bodybuilding contest. A SMALL DEGREE OF MUSCULARITY WITH SEPARATION IS DESIRED, WITH NO VISIBLE STRIATIONS. The muscle tone should appear firm and round with a small amount of body fat over the muscle, and no excessive leanness. The figure competitions provide alternatives for athletic women who (a) Train. (b) Do not wish to gain muscle size and vascularity and (c) do not have a strong gymnastic / dance background. All Figure and Fitness competitors must have reached their eighteenth (18) birthday by the day of the contest.

The long and short of it is, you are supposed to be pretty, have good muscle tone, but not too much, and you will be judged on the symmetry of our muscles. I wasn't too sure about the exact criteria last year either, so just thought I'd throw it out there.

When we made it there, we went to the Convention Center and got to see the prejudging segment. Ange was first call out, which in regular talk, means the judges liked her best and she was favoured to win! Yay Ange!

The next day, Sherri and I got to experience the expo. SO much to see... Good thing I'm not shy or we never would have made it anywhere! We got a boat load of free stuff, met a ton of fitness celebs, and I finally got to meet Tosca Reno, the woman from Ontario whose book had inspired my new way of eating. Such an awesome day aside from the fact that Sherri and I both looked like drowned rats since it was pouring rain that day and we had to walk a good 20 minutes from our parking spot just to get in to the expo. Needless to say we both have a love/hate relationship with all of our pictures from that day. Don't judge.

After showing off all of our swag to Tammy and Ange, we made the decision to get up extra early and drive them both to the finals of the show the following day for 7AM. We did this because we are amazing friends, and because ProTan and rain don't mix. Our soon to be champ couldn't be seen on stage with a runny tan! We made it our duty to make sure Ange made it in to the show without so much as a drop of rain on her extra brown painted skin!

This included another wet day for us, but Tam, Sherri and I all knew, this day wasn't about any of us. The three of us got our muscled DOWN friend into her show without so much as a drop of rain grazing even a fingernail. Anyone who could have seen this transpire would have thought we were absolutely out of our minds. It was quite the process which ended up involving a driver, a door opener, an umbrella holder, a jacket holder in case of any splatter, a luggage carrier, and a lot of good luck! We made it! Ange mae it in, tan in tact! Success!

Sherri and I got our seats as soon as the expo opened at 8 AM. We were among the first people inside thanks to some sneakiness from yours truly. 3 seats saved for the show as Tammy would be meeting us after she helped with hair, make up and suit prep. We were all so excited to see our friend take the Arnold stage. We all had our cameras poised, when Tammy and I decided to take it ONE step further. Why not try to get into the press pit? Neither one of us is shy, so when we got stopped at the entrance, it didn't take very long until we were both finessing our way past security. Just a few pleas of how very excited we were to be seeing our friend on stage, a couple of promises to move if we were asked and we were in!

Ange came out first since she is in class "A", which is for girl's 5'1 and under. If there is a way to kill your competition in figure, it happened right on that stage, no joke. I know I wouldn't have wanted to be  any of the other girls sharing the stage with her that day!  They did all look great, but she OWNED it, slaying he other girls in her class with her spot on poses and identical muscles. We watched classes B through F and then they brought out the top five from class A to announce the winners.

Fifth place was given out, fourth, third... and what do you know? Our girl from little old Sault Ste Marie is still standing! Tammy was beside herself. I swear, I had no idea what was wrong with her, but she was tearing up. As I looked on stage, I could see Ange beginning to breathe a bit quicker and harder... not much is hidden in those suits, not even your breathing! At this time, I didn't know how insane it would be if Ange pulled out the win. AAAANNNND second place goes to.....


SOMEONE ELSE! That means Ange wins!!! Angela DeFrancesco of Sault Ste Marie is the 2011 Arnold Amauer figure Class A Champion. As this is being announced, we are cheering our faces off, Tammy is crying, and Ange is having her arms raised as high as they could go, and being crowned the champ! Seriously, awesome moment!

Then I get the text... it read something like, "Get up here. I have something to show you girls. I won a SIIIICK pink jacket." We all raced up to the area where the girls prep to meet our champ. This is how we were greeted:

 What happened next may be even more amazing then the win AND the jacket. After many congratulations and a little bit of chocolate, we were going to go check out the expo with Ange and Tammy. For anyone who knows Ange, this next part is shocking. She was going to head down to the expo dressed exactly as you see her in these pictures. Pants, suit top, and jacket. This is an individual who DOES NOT EVER show off her muscle. I tell her still to this day, I think she was drunk on winning. We went down to that expo, which had to have had at least 30, 000 people in it, and she paraded around booth to booth with a confidence I had never seen and a set of abs no one could compare to. It was amazing to see and so well deserved.

After a few booths and some fun things, I thought, shouldn't Tosca and the Oxygen team get to meet our newest champ from Ontario? Off to the Clean Eating booth we went. It didn't take long for Tosca to refer us to her hubby, and publisher of Oxygen magazine, Robert Kennedy. We had a blast with him and he told Ange that he hoped to see her in the pages of Oxygen. What an awesome day this was turning out to be! What's the only way such a perfect day can be capped off? An amazing dinner with great friends and even better wine of course!

We went to a great place and enjoyed steak, lobster, scallops, sea bass, calamari, and the best chocolate peanut butter ganache torte any person could ever dream of! The champagne, wine, and drinks were flowing, but the conversation and the friendship was the best part! Being able to celebrate such a huge accomplishment for such a good person with a few great girls will never be forgotten.

That was the first weekend I got to meet Tammy and we have become such great friends since then. Sherri and I got to bond even more over our 20 hrs or so of travel time and over our awesome experience at the expo. Ange and I got to be more of friends, rather than just client and personal trainer. It was a few days packed full of craziness, but I wouldn't trade it for anyone else's Arnold experience, that's for sure! The best part is that I got to add Tammy and Ange to my little group of good friends. At this point in my life, adding friends doesn't happen very often because I have such an awesome small, close group of good friends, but the exception had to be made for these guys! This week end for sure goes down as one of my best, not only for Ange's win, but for the incredible times had with now incredible friends. 

Although this year we couldn't make the trip, we had sushi and wine while Sherri, Ange and I watched the live stream of the show together. We were missing one of our soldiers, but we still  had a great night and planned a shopping trip for the 4 of us in the near future, which is sure to be a gongshow.  

So, PINK is not just for girls. It's just for champs!  Get it right! Congrats on the big win one year ago Ange! Sherri, Tammy and I will forever be cheering you on and getting you through the rainy days! 2012 is gonna be HUGE!