The NPC Los Angeles Championships always has some great competitors, and this year was no different. The winners of the Men’s Open class included Toto Djong, Art Shahnazarian, Akeshi Toyonaga, Danny Hester, Justin Rayner, Mohsen Ghorannevis and Reginald Brantley. Here are a few pics from the contest.

(Comparisons)

(Justin Rayner)

(Mohsen Ghorannevis)

Round Two of the battle between Phil and Kai as they tour the Weider offices in Woodland Hills, for who will get the Olympia Cover. Here is the link.

Always enjoy the hype for the Olympia with Flex Magazine, as they started the new series of Phil Heath vs Kai Greene in a face off on how will get the cover of the 2010 Olympia issue. Here is the first segment on the battle between the two powerhouses of bodybuilding. Pretty interesting.

The following memo was given to all IFBB Pro Figure competitors today, and it involved the elimination of the one piece swimsuit round. Effective today, only the two piece swimsuit will be presented. Here is the memo from the IFBB Professional League.

From: IFBB Professional League
To: ALL IFBB FIGURE COMPETITORS
Date: Monday, July 12, 2010

Subject: IMMEDIATE ELIMINATION OF 1-PIECE SWIMSUIT ROUND IN PRO FIGURE

At the IFBB New York City Pro Figure on Friday July 9th, several members of the IFBB Professional League Pro Committee were on hand, including Chairman Jim Manion. A meeting was called that included a quorum to discuss the immediate elimination of the 1-Piece Swimsuit Round in the IFBB Pro Figure. This will take effect starting with the 2010 IFBB Pro Bodybuilding Weekly Championships on July 17th. This was originally proposed to take effect at the 2010 IFBB Houston Pro Figure as stated on Advisory Notice from Tuesday, June 15th. All IFBB Pro Figure competitions from this date forward will only consist of one (1) round, the 2-Piece Swimsuit. This includes the 2010 Figure Olympia.

The first contest to be effected by this rule will be the Europa Battle of Champions Contest in Hartford, Connecticut on July 23-24th.

Team BSN athlete & IFBB Pro bodybuilder will be appearing tomorrow (July 10th) at the Supplement Giant in Lakewood, Colorado. Stop by and get a free autograph from 10am-5pm. The store will also be giving out free supplements, t-shirts and samples all day. Check out the latest from BSN, Dymatize, VPX, Muscle Fortress, Axis Labs, MAN Sports, iSatori, Epic Performance & More.

If you stop by the store look for the tallest guy in the room wearing a BSN shirt and tell him that Getbig sent ya. He’ll have a special prize for you.

The store is located at:
7134 W Alaska Drive
Lakewood, CO 80226

Phil Heath was in town here in Woodland Hills, California, where he was working on some pictures and videos featuring Phil and Kai Greene, for the upcoming Olympia and Flex Magazine. What garnered everyone’s attention is that Phil was wearing a Muscletech T-shirt and not the usual Met-Rx. Well, it was confirmed that Phil did sign a supplement contract deal with Muscletech, and now is representing them. Phil joins a multitude of other high profile bodybuilders that are with Muscletech, including Jay Cutler and Branch Warren. Congratulations.

Muscle Beach, Venice, California is known for a lot of things, including where many bodybuilders worked out, competitions and sheer spectacles. But on this warm, sunny day on July 4th, 2010 – top NPC competitor Jerome ‘Hollywood’ Ferguson married the love of his life, IFBB Pro Marnie Holley, right on the stage at Muscle Beach. It was a beautiful ceremony, complete with Marnie coming down the boardwalk in a horse drawn carriage. Here are a few of the pics, as it was a pleasure to attend.

Here is a link to a lot more pictures from the ceremony.

On June 26th, the 2010 NPC West Coast Classic Bodybuilding, Figure and Bikini contest is going to be held at El Monte, California. With a record number of competitors competing in this National Qualifier event, it is going to be a great contest. Ron Avidan will be there covering the event for Bodybuilding.com, Hardbody.com and Getbig.com. Here is the information regarding the contest. See you there.

Friday and Saturday, June 18th and 19th, in Rosemont, Illinois, the 2010 NPC Jr. National Bodybuilding, Figure, Fitness and Bikini Championships are going to be held, with close to 400 competitors. Here is the information regarding this competition.

The 2010 NPC California is going to be a tough bodybuilding contest, but one competitor giving his all to be the best is Justin Lovato. Here is Justin at Gold’s Gym Venice one week out as he prepared. Wishing Justin the best in getting that first place recognition in his class!

The largest Fitness Expo in Idaho will be held on May 7th and 8th at the Qwest Arena in Boise, Idaho. Hosted by Bodybuilding.com, it is going to feature a ton of vendors, lots of various stars and competitors, and a fot body competition, and of course, the ever popular Mister Puniverse. Here is more info on the fitness expo. See you there.

We had a new guest emcee at the 2010 NPC Orange County Muscle Classic here in Anaheim, California, and it turned out to be none other than Hany Rambod, know as the ‘Pro Creator’ and the founder of the FST-7 training system. This was Hany’s first time as as an emcee, and he co-emceed it with veteran Mike Stolle. Hany did a good job, with confidence and looked like he was enjoying himself up there in front of a crowd of a thousand plus. Here are some pics.

Hany and Mike on stage

Going over notes before finals

Jay Cutler came to the 2010 NPC Orange County Muscle Classic, and guest posed, much to the delight of the 1,000+ crowd who was at hand. Even offseason, the current Mr. Olympia is still huge and impressive. At the mic, Jay said he will win that coveted 4th Sandow trophy. Here are some pics, with more to be on bodybuilding.com in a few days.

The 2010 NPC Emerald Cup contest, on April 17, 2010, in Snoqualmie, Washington, was a lot of fun, with over 300 competitors. Here are the pictures the event, including backstage and misc pics.

Here are the results from the 2010 NPC Emerald Cup

Congratulations to Joe DeRousie, overall men’s bodybuilder winner of the 2010 NPC Emerald Cup. Joe looked incredible. At last year’s contest, in the Heavyweight division, Joe was second to his good friend, Roger Baker, who went on to win the overall. This year, Joe rocked the house, and received a huge response.

Outside the meeting rooms – various pictures of the IFBB pro competitors and happenings around Columbus….

Outside the Competitor Meeting Pics Link