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ok who else is up for strawberry protein with pizza?
pm me or bioflex so we can get the ball rolling and organise something,
or if yous like i can organise hurricanes at bondi,
ok who else is up for strawberry protein with pizza?
pm me or bioflex so we can get the ball rolling and organise something,
or if yous like i can organise hurricanes at bondi,
...this part of the convo should head on over to the Australasia thread so people don't get confused.
So...my Australian Grand Prix weekend experiance...one of the best, if not THE best weekends of my life!
Kind of like a quick and easy alternative to the usual Thailand bodybuilding holiday that some take.
Day 1: arrive on Friday early morning and can't check into my room untill 2pm.
So leave baggage there and walk over a couple of streets to Brunswick Doherty's gym.
I've dreamed of visiting this place for so so long now and when i finally saw it, first thing i did was take a picture of the building.
I walk in and first thing i notice was the seating area where competitors have their meals prepared for them via a special chef in the gym that cooks up and prepares all their meals on site! I personally met the chef (forget his name) - but a top bloke that went out of his way to leave the kitchen and come out to chat with me explaining after i had asked for a menu that it was mainly for competitors that needed their meals prepared for them and not so much the public so meat had to be spared for Tony's guests but offered me a Thai dish that he explained was the best in the area and i wouldn't regret it. I poltitely rejected though as i felt it wasn't my place to be making him go out of his way as i had just stepped foot in the gym and was yet to meet Mr. Tony Doherty. But i will take up his offer next time after a workout out!
So there is Kai Greene sitting there also. I grab a table next to him skulling down a water i so desperately needed. He looked drained and probably doing it tough trying to hold condition since the Arnold Classic a week prior so didn't dream of bothering him.
More and more familiar faces start popping up.
I look over across the gym and there's Con Demitriou looking thick as and Lee Priest with his arm still in a sling.
Mike Kefalianos soon pops in looking very shapely through a red baggy t-shirt.
I take a walk through the gym and come back to reception to see Tony just pop in.
I introduce myself and from then on the hospitality is just awesome.
The time he took out for me, given just how bloody busy he is, was greatly appreciated for the time that i was there.
If you are reading this, it was great to finally get a few minutes to chat about things.
Just in this short visit and with everything that was going on in there, it was one of the biggest bodybuilding moments of my life!!
So not really wanting to put myself through a workout with only 2 hours sleep the night before for the sake of killing time, i take a walk through the shopping centre there in Brunswick and get to know the neighbourhood in which i would be staying at for the next 5 days.
I return back to the gym with still time to kill and there was Toney Freeman and Silvio Samuel having a workout! Wow!
I mean to see them in the flesh was one thing, but to see them actually going through one of their workouts was another!
Absolutely amazing site to witness!
I didn't want to be one of those idiots that were pulling out their camera phones and asking them to pose for the shot inbetween their sets like some were, so i grabbed a treadmill and admitedly discreetly watched them from the reflection in the mirror in front of me, lol!
That alone was a rare opportunity and a rare opportunity that will only happen in your own backyard at Doherty's Gym and no where else in Australia!!
Don't think for one second that a ticket to the show just buys you seats to sit in and watch the Grand Prix...it is everything leading up to the show in Brunswick in Tony's gym that you will not see anywhere in Australia, ie; the pro's in their natural state. Training the way they do for everyone to see and eating what they do at the seating area near kitchen, laughing and joking about.
2pm soon comes around. Check in and get some sleep and then it was off to T.G.I.F on Chapel St to dig into some Americanised burgers.
Day 2: Saturday, the day of the show. Get up and get ready for pre-judging.
Pick up a couple of mates on the way and head on down to the Dallas Brookes Centre.
Along what the others have commented on, i have to mention when kai Greene stepped on stage...Oh man!
He goes in to hit his side chest pose, and there was a huge gasp from every member of the audience of just how striated and deeply seperated the side of his legs were.
Glute, hammy, quads especially is what made everyone at the same time just gasp for air when he went into that pose.
The cheer for him as he walked off stage was huge.
I won't go into the entire show as most of the posts have covered all the main bits.
A break inbetween the pre-judging and night finals show gave me enough time to head back to Brunswick at Dohertys and get in a workout.
Went through a shoulders giant set workout with a couple of mates, walked back to the apartment to shower and get ready for the night show and back to Dallas Brookes we went.
It was here that i slowly met up with everyone from our forum.
We all eventually found one another like a dominos effect and sat together watching the All States compete (CONGRATUALATIONS MICK!!!!).
What unique and awesome personalities each of you have!
PD, Gav, Big fRIGen giant...aah i know there were more of you (sorry, time of night).
PD after the show starts performing magic tricks. Makes this napkin disapear in front of our eyes and then brings it back out of no where. Pulled out this magazine out of thin air also (where the hell did that magazine pop out from, lol!) Personalities instantly mixed given we knew we were all into the same thing so of course its never going to take long to know what our hobbies are ect as we already know this and just a matter of putting a face to the name.
Awesome bunch to all that i met while in Melbourne (good to meet you too FLEXO! - another top personality).
Ben from Bioflex, good to catch up with you also.
Do it all again this weekend for the Australasia in Sydney.
Got signed pics and photos with Toney, Silvio and Kai (added in the albums section) and another with Luke as we had a funny moment prior to taking the pic so wanted to cherish that moment.
Off to Lygon with some mates. Trying to swim through the restaurant owners that jump out in front of you and hassle you to come into their restaurant (bloody hell, some of these guys just don't get it untill you lose your cool or have to raise your voice!) but eventually sat at a resturant for some pasta that we were happy with.
Back to apartment.
Day 3: Sunday, hired a car and should have done this from the start. Local taxi fares alone had reached near $200 come day 2!
A whole day spent in Doherty's and loved every minute of it!
If there was ever a Doherty's to open up in Sydney, Messiah/Tony, as mentioned to you, i am the first to put my hand up to be apart of the staff!!!
I know i keep repeating this, but the atmosphere is just something i cant describe and we NEED one in Sydney with the same gym conditions you have for your gyms in Melbourne. To everyone else reading this, YOU HAVE TO do the whole Australian Grand Prix weekend thing in Brunswick if you are after a bodybuilders holiday for yourself. I very much HIGHLY recomend it.
It pretty much goes like this - Doherty's - train - eat locally - melbourne local night life - sleep. Just awesome. No one to go with? Not to worry - I for one will always be there every year from now on so you atleast have me to meet with for a workout and some eat time if you like.
Leave the gym at night and get home for a nap, then off to check out the casino.
Day 4: Monday, It would have been very rude of me not to have visited my good mate GTO while in Melbourne so made the effort to visit his new gym in Noble Park called Next Level.
Totally different to Doherty's gym. If you had to ask which gym is better, it's not something you can answer. Totally 2 different worlds and atmosphere.
GTO, from the moment i stepped in the door, hospitality was awesome. "Sit down, what do you want to eat? What do you want to drink?" were words that constantly came out of his mouth. As always when i meet with GTO, i always learn something knew. Stories from the old days and new hints and tips secrets learnt.
I just sit there and absorb it all! You made me feel as if i owned the gym and you were handing it to me mate. Thankyou so much.
The gym is QUALITY rather than quantity. Everything you need and nothing you dont.
A great new age bodybuilders gym with the latest from Hammer Strength machinery and some of which i have never seen before.
Smashed out a giant sets back workout while i was there absorbing every single back machine he had in there. The way they target every little single muscle in the back is just awesome. New technology at its best and this is another recomended thing on the to-do list during the Aus Pro weekend for an ultimate bodybuilders weekend.
How could i not check out Tony Doherty's 2nd Dohertys gym in Dandenong just a suburb away while in Noble Park!
I got so lost and took a whole lot longer to get to, but the trip was worth it.
Shout out goes to the manager there, Andrew (?) who was kind enough to let me spend as much time as i wanted checking out the place. Hardcore old school bodybuilder feel to it here also.
My preferance over the 2 Doherty's would definently be at the Brunswick one though.
Head back to apartment, showered and ready for another Lygon dinner and back to sleep.
Day 5: Tuesday, departure day.
Had a proper walk up and down Chapel St for some unique clothing but nothing too different that you can't find back in Sydney.
Took hire car back and off to airport to go home.
Did i write all of that?
I've skipped so much too! LOL.
To sum up, HIGHLY recomend people do the Melbourne Pro show weekend next year.
-Stay at Parkville Apartments in Brunswick
-Train at Doherty's 2 streets away
-Hire a car for $25-30 a day
-All around attending the actual show (morning and night) on Saturday.
I wish i was back in Brunswick now but life goes on and back to reality now.
Can't wait till next year.
No joke, 51 weeks to go and counting every week and hope to meet the same bunch there in next years 10th anniversay plus some new faces!
great write up mo,
definiately also couinting down the weeks,next year should be another big one,
outlaw spent a great time at the gym,not training of course,lolOriginally Posted by RazZ
i seen him there in the cafe area on sunday,
my understanding is,outlaw had a good chance competing o/s if he kept going the way he use to,is this correct?
Yer Outlaw is our resident social butterfly... Craig used to have quite a good physique before the accident that ruined his head.. I used to have a few pics of him from back then, will see if I can find them.
yeah would love to see some pics of craig,
alot of guys have said great things about craigs physique from back in the days,julian from pd been one of them
Out of everyone i wanted to meet and greet while up there, Outlaw is the only one i missed out on.
I saw him twice, the back of him while sitting at the judges table and one other time at Doherty's in the dining/eating area where he looked like he was in a deep conversation with some other guy.
I had a member who i had kept waiting for 30 minutes at the gym because i was late when i saw him there and wasn't prepared to break the conversation for the sake of saying "hey im MO"
First impressions last and that would have been a dicky one, so if you're reading this Outlaw, sorry mate.
Australasia this weekend if you are there perhaps.
mate there a couple of pics of Craig in HCAM. Couple of issues back
Pictures from MessiahOfMuscle/TD:
More.............
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geez i reckon con has improved in leaps and bounds over the last 12 months and ivan is one huge dude
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