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Henrik's Big Bodybuilding Adventure

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In August of 1999, I went on a California dreaming vacation for 4 weeks, together with my two buddies Boris and Henrik2. Besides the usual tourist stuff (which turned out to be really exciting) the schedule looked like this:

Aug. 2-11: Staying in Venice (LA) training in Gold's Gym, World Gym, Muscle Beach.

Aug. 11-14: Staying in San Diego. Personal training with Frank Zane at Zane Experience.

Aug. 14-28: Staying in Santa Cruz, training in Dave's World Gym, meeting Dave, Laree and the Ragtopman Kevin C. (and many more).

Let me tell you right away that the vacation turned out to be AWESOME. I had high expectations but the real thing was almost too good to be true. If you've ever thought about doing something like it, all I can say is: DO IT, it's a lifetime experience.

Part 1: Venice, Los Angeles:

After traveling 20 hours from Copenhagen to Los Angeles via Amsterdam, we arrived at LAX, 2 pm local time and picked up our rental car - Chevy Lumina, V6 engine, air-condition, automatic transmission - what can I say, my European car seems like a piece of junk compared to that.

The first thing you notice as a European when driving in LA is the enormous amount of cars all over the place. Fortunately we had a good map so it was no problem finding the hotel. We were staying at the Marina Pacific Hotel on Pacific Avenue ( http://www.mphotel.com/ ). The hotel is absolutely perfectly located at Venice Beach and from our hotel room window we could see Muscle Beach only 200 yards away.

After a good night's sleep (did anyone mention jetlag?) we were up early next morning and took a long walk on Venice Beach. The place is simply beautiful. Long white beaches, big palm trees and from Venice Pier there's a fantastic view up the coastline with the Santa Monica Mountains in the background. There are active people everywhere, roller-skating, running, fast-walking, cycling, playing basketball or working out at Muscle Beach. Very inspiring.

Venice Beach

On Venice Beach there are also many street-artists doing things like breakdance, playing music or doing magic tricks. There are shops everywhere selling t-shirts, music, souvenirs, junk-food. Venice Beach is just a really fun place to be and we spent a lot of time there during our vacation.

Around noon we drove to downtown Santa Monica where we saw Santa Monica Pier and the outdoor mall at 3rd street (we also spent some time there in the evenings). Santa Monica is also a really beautiful place.

In the afternoon it was time to go train at Gold's Gym. It's located on Hampton Drive, only a 10 minute walk from the hotel, but not your usual 10 minute walk. On the way we first passed the original Gold's Gym still located on 1006 Pacific Avenue. It's closed up and run down, but you can still see the old Gold's Gym logo, just as it is in the book "Pumping Iron". The gym is standing there like a giant monument over the Golden age of bodybuilding. Just being there knowing that Dave, Arnold and Zane used to train there was something special.

Next we passed the famous World Gym that had relocated only one week before to a place on Washington Blvd. (I'll get back to that later).

And then we arrived at Gold's Gym Venice, The Mecca of Bodybuilding. After dreaming about training at this place for years I was finally there. Let me tell you, this gym is something else! First of all it's HUGE. 3-4 times as big as an average gym. There are 3 big rooms with weights and machines and one big room with machines for aerobic work. And the people you meet there! I walked in the front door and right there in front of me stands Ralf Muller, one of my bodybuilding hero's. He was world champion in 1986, is from Germany and now lives in LA trying to make a career in Hollywood (I believe you can see him on the Conan show in the US?).

Boris (in the background) doing pulley rows in Gold's Gym

We paid $15 each and went inside to train. On the walls there are big posters with all the Mr. America, Mr. Universe and Mr/Ms Olympia winners. And pictures of former and current bodybuilding stars. The place is packed with people who all seem to be BIG and in fantastic shape. Even though I'm 6'5" and 255 pounds, I felt like a beginner compared to the guys who walked around in there. I mean, even the guys that seemed to look like they were training for fitness and not competition, looked awesome! Even Boris who is one of the best natural bodybuilders I've seen in Denmark (has placed 5th at the Danish nationals heavyweights) looked like nothing special.

During our stay in Venice we trained 5 times at Gold's and each time we were there, we saw some of the famous bodybuilders and there was always some photo session going on for the magazines. The two bodybuilders that stands out were definitely Mike O'Hearn and Flex Wheeler.

Mike O'Hearn because he is a great spokesperson for natural bodybuilding and he looks sensational. He HAS that natural look. No bloated traps/shoulders/upper pecs/abs and his arms don't hang out one foot from the body, he can walk like a normal person.

Flex Wheeler because he is spectacular and made everyone else look like nothing. I have a really ambivalent relationship with bodybuilding. On one side I'm against all kind of drug use, but on the other side I can't help being impressed by a guy like Flex. Comparing Flex to all the big bloated wannabes at Gold's, made it obvious that no matter how many drugs they take, Flex will always be in a class of his own.

Here's a little trivia about Gold's: It's 30,000 square feet, has 5,000 active members and we were told that there are 170 personal trainers who train their clients at Gold's!

Each time we were at Gold's, no matter if it was morning, noon or night, the place was packed with people. I asked a guy there if it was always like that. His answer: "Hey man, this is the scene" - and that's right. The Mecca of bodybuilding - I'm glad I got a chance to experience it first hand.

Two days after our first workout at Gold's we had decided to get up early and drive down to the new World Gym on Washington Blvd. We knew that Sven Ole Thorsen, the Danish bodybuilder who has turned Hollywood actor and Arnold's cigar smoking friend, trained there early in the morning and who knows, maybe Arnold would be there!

Henrik outside the new World Gym

In the parking lot in front of World there was parked a big black Jeep. Could it be Arnold's - no. On the license plate it said: Lee Priest - Superman (the bodybuilding stars are such humble persons). And sure enough, inside was Lee Priest doing some aerobic training. The guy at the counter was really friendly and when he heard we came from Denmark he let us train for free (don't know why).

World Gym was the total opposite of Gold's. No music playing, very few people and Lee Priest looked like the only serious bodybuilder there. It was mostly businessmen getting in a morning workout before driving to the office. So Boris and I quickly agreed that World was a little disappointing at first. But that only lasted a few minutes until we started working out. The equipment at World Gym is simply the best I have ever tried! It was like training in Gym heaven! The lat-pulldown machine is the most perfect pulldown I have ever used. It's difficult to describe in words, but the fact that I did 5 extra sets of pulldowns just to feel the joy of training on that machine, may give you a hint as to just how good it was. The handles were thicker than normal and fit perfectly into my (big) hands. The dumbbells also fit perfectly into my hands. They were thick on the middle while thinning out at the sides near the plates. The leg press had absolutely no friction and every single piece of equipment I tried was perfect.

After about 20 minutes of training Sven Ole Thorsen showed up. I had talked with him in February at the Danish Fitness Expo, so it was quite something when he went over to me and said in Danish "I know you". After exchanging a few words with Sven, it was back to the workout.

We only worked out that one time in World Gym. I guess we all preferred the more inspirational atmosphere at Gold's. When we left World Gym, Joe Gold himself was sitting outside talking to someone. We didn't meet Arnold and I'm not even sure he trains there. I have since heard that one of the reasons World Gym has relocated is because of a dispute between Arnold (who owns the old World Gym building) and Joe Gold.

During our stay in Venice there was a powerlifting contest at Muscle Beach. It was a push-pull contest consisting of the benchpress and deadlift. There were a big crowd there and it was fun watching this outdoor contest, which reminded me of the pictures I've seen from Muscle Beach from the 40's and 50's.

Being a tourist in LA was really exiting. There are so many things to see and we spent a lot of time driving or walking around the city. We didn't have time to see it all, but some of the things we did see was: Marina Del Ray, Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd. with the walk of fame and the Chinese Theater, Hollywood Hills, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, LA downtown, Universal Studios (Terminator 2, 3-D was awesome!). One day we drove up the coast on Hwy. 1 to see Malibu and we continued all the way to Santa Barbara. I have to say a few words about Santa Barbara. We all agreed that it is one of the most beautiful cities we have ever seen. All buildings are built in Spanish style and there are no skyscrapers. The ocean has this deep blue color and along the coast there are wide white beaches and long rows of palm trees. If I ever come back to California I'd like to spend more time there.

Boris in Santa Barbara

After 9 exciting days in LA it was time to move on to one of the highlights of the vacation, the Zane Experience in San Diego. On Wednesday Aug. 11th we took off from Venice. Driving down to San Diego made us realize just how big Los Angeles is. We drove 50 miles before we were out of the city!! When we were out of LA the rest of the drive along the coast was very beautiful but all I could think of was next day's meet with Frank Zane.

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