I had the privilege of taking my children with me to The San Jose Fit Expo. The Fit Expo will be an even that I will always try to attend whether its in norther or southern California. For many of you who may not know the fit expo is an event that changed my life. It opened me up to so many different avenues of fitness. They have something for everyone. It doesn't matter if your into bodybuilding, cross fit, zumba or even mixed martial arts. It doesn't even matter where your at in your fitness journey. the first time I attended was to meet UFC hall of fame legend Tito Ortiz. I was tipping the scales at about 350 lbs and felt so out of place around all these fit people. As I was on my way out the door I saw the GNC booth. I walked over to see what they where handing out. Little did i know that split second decision would change my life for ever. This is where I met my trainer Bill Sienerth. Ill never forget what he told me that day. He said when I was ready he would change my life. Almost three years later he has helped me do just that. I went from being an over weight dad who couldn't play with his kids with out getting winded to a dad preparing to train for half marathon. the journey has not been perfect but I continue to plug away at it.
Having Karley (5) and Nathan (4) attend this years expo was such an awesome and emotional experience for me. to expose them to all the different kinds of fitness from Cross fit to Parkour to Bodybuilding. It was fun to see Karley watching a demonstration and her mimicking what the lady was doing while she was waiting in line to meet Kali Muscle. I usually have a game plan when i go to the Fit Expo. I will pick my top vendors i want to visit and hit them first. Of course that went out the window with the kids in tow. We hit the bodybuilding.com booth first. As we stood in line I actually got a little emotional. I was thinking back to three years before and feeling out of place and tired from walking around at 350 lbs to being in line weighing 230 lbs that day and sharing this day with my children. We got to meet the bodybuilding.com athletes we took a group picture with Jerome Ferguson.and Karley got to take a picture with Jessie Hilgenberg. As my plan of attack went out the window we walked around to the booths that the most noise or lights. One of the must meet athletes was 4x Mr.Olympia Jay Cutler. My son has meet Jay before but Karley just had to meet him. My kids have seen him in pictures with my trainer Bill so they just had to meet muscle man Bills friend. The kine moved fairly quick and Karley finally got her wish to meet Jay Cutler. She was so excited that he gave her an autographed picture. It was so awesome seeing the way these athletes interacted with not just my kids but all the kids that they met that day. We moved onto the Allmax booth to meet the Mark "Flex" Anthony. He is the first ever Men's Physique Mr.Olympia. I had meet him a few times before with Bill. He took the time to talk with the kids a bit and autographed a picture and took a photo with the kids. We then stepped across the way to The Evogen Nutrition booth, It amazes me how much our kids remember at such a young age, My son had met the Hany earlier in the year. Although he didn't remember his name he remembered he had meet him. He ran up and said hello. The kids then got to meet Evogen Athlete Ifbb Pro Steve Kucklo. WE made the rounds to more boths and got to meet other athletes like Ufc Hall of famer Tito Ortiz, Kali Muscle. One of our last stops was to 1 day you may booth. The kids got to meet Rich Piana. It was funny seeing the kids next to him. I think his bicep was bigger than both kids put together. I let the kids pick one thing they got to buy from the expo. Nathan picked some sort of snack food he like and Karley actually picked a poster signed by Rich Pianna. I took the kids to watch a cooking demonstration by fellow Fitfluential Ambassador Magan Pettit. She was showing how to make protien pancakes and smoothies. My kids absolutley loved both so mush we had to make them at home.
I saved the best booth for our last stop. We hit the Gnc booth on the way out just as I had three years ago. Although my trainer Bill was in Florida I still wanted the kids to Meet some of the other Gnc Athletes.The kids know the big red letters is where there friend muscle man billy works. Nathan thought for sure I was joking when i told him Bill was not going to be here this time. The kids got to meet Ifbb Bikini Pro Narmin Assria and Ifbb Men's Physique pro Trent Calavan. We talked for a bit and they took an awesome picture with the kids.
It is great to see how all these athletes interact with there fans. It is especially great to see how they interact with the little ones. Even though the expo was a few weeks ago my kids talk about it like it was yesterday.If you have never attended The Fit Expo in San Jose or In Los Angeles i highly recommend it. Maybe one day ill be able to stand on stage at and share how this event not only changed my life but my families as well.
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