Every year for the last three, I have represented ProTan at the Arnold Classic. The sheer magnitude of the crowd that attends this event is staggering. Showing up in the morning for work, there is a line out the door. The very second the clock strikes the exact moment the expo opens, a tsunami of people washes over the event, carrying off literature, millions of tiny cut-up pieces of protein bar, child sized cups of pre-workout drinks, samples packets of powdered supplements, as much MHP Power-Pak pudding as they can carry, some T-shirts, and innumerable other odd items. The whole thing is a fascinating process in which company's new and old, get small amounts of product into the hands of the consumers they hope will become paying customers.

At the ProTan booth, we have no samples. What we do have is lower-than-anywhere prices on products that most people are familiar with. This has become common enough knowledge among the initiated, that they bring cash with them so they can purchase said products in bulk. Now you have the set up. It's sort of like a yard sale for tanning products, and it's a blast! We get people from various different countries with a limited command of the English language, and little to no idea what the dollar is. But they do know what ProTan is! I can't help but laugh when I tell them the price of whatever they are looking for, and they just shove a wad of American money in my face saying, "You take... you take", because they don't know how to count it out.

We also spray tan people at this event. As you can imagine, this ups the interesting factor more than a little bit. Any time you have the general public, stripping down to their underwear or one of the disposable bikini's we provide, it's going to draw a crowd, and it's going to be crazy! At this expo, I have sprayed every shape and size human, ranging from age 9 to 65. Women, dudes, dudes with back acne wearing what looks like a sweater, but turns out to be body hair, and the list goes on…

The interesting thing to me is, one person may be so shy that she just wants her arms and face sprayed, while another person will strip down to her underwear like it's an airport security mishap. It's never what you would expect either! The shy one could be an in-shape twenty-something, but a mid-sixties three hundred pound plus, acts like it's a Girls Gone Wild video shoot. I applaud everyone who has the guts to step up on our little stage in front of thousands of people and get their bronze on! We have tanned everyone from A to Z. The general idea being everyone looks better with a tan! Of course, sometimes I think some waxing, and possibly a trip to the dermatologist wouldn't hurt either.

The crowd at the Arnold is awesome and extremely varied. Once you weed through the guys with tennis balls under their arms, carrying invisible luggage, and the vendors walking around trying to sell you something, like a wrist band that will "up your bench 40lbs, cure tendonitis, muscle aches, joint pain, pre-menstrual cramps... gone! ...Immediately! ...As soon as you put this on!", it's a great opportunity to meet tons of people. I really appreciate getting to answer questions, meet extremely enthusiastic fans of the sport, and take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. This year, most people actually knew how to use their camera, which is nice. That means we aren't stuck there in a frozen, awkward smile, while they fumble around for a half hour trying to snap the shot.

As usual, the event was a huge success. The energy at the expo was off the chain and the excitement in the arena during the show was so thick, you could serve it with an ice cream scoop. If you haven't been to this event, I suggest making arrangements for next year. It's definitely something you have to experience to understand. You can get your hands on anything from supplements to Chinese stars and whatever you can imagine is in between! You will find interesting people, bold claims, good and bad tastes, and a decent amount of foul air, thanks to the industry for not finding a suitable substitute for malitol as a cheap, low-calorie sweetener.

The event, as a whole, can definitely renew your sense of commitment and enthusiasm for our growing industry, and that to me, carries over into the gym. The gym is where this whole thing started. All these products, ninja stars aside, are designed to bring us more results for our effort in the gym. If they do half of what they say they do, it's worth trying. I may have 40lbs added to my bench on chest day... what?! For the record the guy gave me the bracelet for free, and the hologram technology is supposed to split my blood cells and block cell phone wifi to create a more harmonious... ok... whatever. Even if it doesn't work, it looks cooler then the ugly yellow live strong thing.

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