O, O, OMG.....I'm O Bound!

Hey everyone its about two days after the Europa and I am fatter than I was in the middle of the offseason..lol. Just playin but it feels like it for sure. I just finished my last day of shooting yesterday with MuscleTech and they were so nice to take me to the nicest buffet I have ever been too. Like that's what I needed was a buffet. Needless to say I ate enough for a small village and will never forget my night at the Brazillian Steakhouse which I am not too good to call a fine dining buffet, something I never thought I would see. Its actually a nice enough place to take a date as long as you can control yourself from refilling your plate six times like I did...lol
Last week was crazy, my head has been spinning and I have actually been so hard at work I haven't had a chance to sit and really think about the things I got to do last week or the things I accomplished.
After the last blog I told you guys I had a ton of work to do and that's what I did. I met a good friend of Steve Kuclo's down in Dallas named Max who was a stand up guy for sure. He was there to train with me and drive me around to get things I needed for the show and I will never forget his kindness for sure. Hope your shoulder injury gets better buddy. After slaving away on the hotel cardio machines Sunday and Monday morning, Max picked me up on Monday night and we went to Gold's to train. I tore it up. I have never trained that hard four days before a show before, I mean it was leg day and I was doing, squats, hacks, leg press you name it. All things I wouldn't normally do that close to a show but it just felt right.
Monday night I hit the cardio again as hard as I could and went to bed knowing I was going to be at the most hardcore place on earth the next day...MetroFlex Gym, shooting with Johnnie Jackson for MMI. I woke up Tuesday at 6:00am, smashed some cardio made sure I looked good, put on my little black booty shorts and headed out with my best Zoolander face on. When I got there I realized I had arrived in a place where being tired or slacking just wasn't aloud. The music was deafening and the dirt and dust in the machine made it hard to breath but the sound of DMX booming through four 20" subs was enough to make your blood boil and ready to train.
The MMI shoot was a fly on the wall shoot meaning me and JOJ got to train as if we were alone and the photogs just shot around us. Needless to say me and Johnnie trained back and I had one of the best back workouts I had ever had. It wasn't heavy but just the intensity inside that gym made you squeeze out reps you never thought you had in you. After Johnnie left I shot some Tricep shots and some Hamstring shots and we called it a day.
My day wasn't over however. I had trained Shoulders, Legs and Back and still had to fit in Chest and Arms with only a day left of training. So later on after getting back from the shoot I called Max and he picked up me and my girl and went to the gym to train. We hit Chest, Tris and a little Shoulders and again I had a great workout. For some reason, I don't know maybe it was being in Dallas but I had been training like an animal and loving every minute of it. We got back to the hotel late Tuesday night, I smashed out some more cardio and hit the sack because I had GASP to shoot with in the morning.
Wednesday the 13th. Again I woke up at 6:00am went down and busted out some cardio so I don't disappoint the GASP higher ups. Hopped in a cab and again got to hell on earth; MetroFlex for 8:30am. I shot with my man FLEX Lewis for something like eight hours in that gym and it was about 120 degrees in there. It was a long day but I know we got some good shots so it was all worth it even though I was half dead on the car ride home.
I was all done cardio at that point and training and had began carb loading for the show on Friday. So Wednesday we just went to bed, well I guess you could call it that. I don't think I have had a good nights rest in about 10 weeks but anyway. We woke up Thursday and I thought this girl has been with me going through all this shit and I haven't given her anything in return. So I said to my girl Sommer, lets hit the mall. So Thursday before one of the biggest shows of my life what do I do....I go shopping...lol...what a chick thing to do..lol. I ended up buying a whole bunch of stuff which made me feel better and at the same time I got my girl some new shoes that I thought she really deserved so all in all it was a fun trip.
Friday the 15th. Showtime. I woke up ready for some reason. I looked at myself in the mirror and I was a little nervous about the show but I new I was the best I had been out of all three shows and that I was going to do well. I didn't think I was going to win or nothing don't get me wrong I just knew that I was going to repeat my shape from the week before which was my goal.
Well when prejudging started I realized I had exceeded my shape from the week before because I got the first call out again in a deeper line up. It never fails, I wanted to jump up and down right there I was so excited. I love this sport. Toney Freeman congratulated me right there on stage during the call out and that's where the fun ended...lol. The judges wanted to see me compared to everyone. I was called out first and then second and then forth and then again and again and again, my legs felt like I had ran a marathon. At one point Tarek Elsetouhie pulled me aside and said to me jokingly in Arabic, 'what is this, are they trying to kill us as a joke'....lmao, we had a good laugh about it because he knew I felt the same way and we were called out together almost every time.
Prejudging ended and most people had me anywhere from 3-5th so I was happy and went back to the hotel with Sommer and just chilled out and tried not to think of the possibilities of what could happen the next day.
All I know is I didn't drink a single drop of water and I came back the next day for the finals harder and drier than the night before. I came to battle, I did my routine and then the top five posed down one more time. After our pose down they lined us up and began to read the placings. When they read the forth place name and I was still standing there I thought I was dreaming! I turned to Dennis James and he stuck his hand out to congratulate me and I think I almost ripped it off because I pulled him so hard for a hug thank you..lol. Toney Freeman I think was happier for me than I was for me, I swear he was like an older brother to me the entire weekend.
At that point all I did was try not to cry because I knew they were taking pics. After they were done I walked off stage and the first person I saw was a lady with a 'Press' badge. She looked at me and handed me a folder with '2008 Olympia' written on the front. She said "Here is your Olympia Qualification" and before she could finish saying it I burst out into tears because everything I had worked for, for ten years had finally come true.
Everyone backstage congratulated me and I ended up doing a Bodybuilding.com interview half in tears but I think everyone forgave me for that seeing as it was the biggest accomplishment of my career.
I was on cloud nine but here is the funny part, no celebration. Why you ask? Because I had more shoots!!!...lol. Me and Sommer went to the Cheesecake Factory where I had never been before, BIG mistake, I controlled myself but it was hard. We talked about what I had done and the show, we had a good meal and turned in.
Next morning, up at 7:00am hitting the cardio. Photo shoot with Muscletech at 12:00pm. It went well it wasn't too long but its work regardless. I shot with Darrem Charles and Johnnie again and the more I am around these guys the more I realize how real they are. They really inspire me to be better so I appreciate that.
After the shoot, no celebration. Why you ask? Because I had another shoot!!! Next morning up at 6:00am smashing the cardio making sure I look good for another MuscleTech shoot. Can't disappoint the people who got you there, so I always do my best not to flake out or show up looking sub par (that should be a lesson for you beginners). The shoot was at MetroFlex again, it was about eight hours long and it went really well.
At one point I stopped and zoned out. Imagine this, in one corner is FLEX Lewis shooting with Gaspari, in the other corner Johnnie is shooting with Muscletech, on the four 20" subs Tupac, DMX and Biggie are blaring so loud the only thing I can hear is Brian Dobson and his training partners pounding 500lbs worth of iron off the cement floor...bang....bang....bang. At that very moment I finally realized I was living a dream....

Sacrifice Without Regret!
Fouad Abiad