Tuesday, May 18, 2010

November 7,1976

On November 5th 1976 my wife and I boarded a train for Montreal about 3 hours from our home town. On November 6th we were to attend the Mr. Universe Contest and November 7th I had tickets to a day long seminar with Arnold. Although I had travelled to Montreal many times by car or motorcycle we decided to take the the train as my wife had to return by herself to Kingston on the 7th. Also on one my past trips I totalled a police car and did not feel comfortable returning by car.
Usually I would hit a different gym each time on my visits but this time we decided to enjoy the beautiful city. As usual my diet consisted mainly of steak which I could eat every meal if possible.
The Mr. Universe was won by Mohamed Makaway (probably spelled wrong)who a few years later gave a seminar in my home town at the gym trained at. Arnold showed up as a guest at the contest wearing blue jeans and a sports jacket.Even his clothing style was unique.
On the 7th I attended the seminar which was held at the hotel I was staying at. I was armed with my camera and tape recorder and got a seat right in front of where Arnold was speaking and demonstrating exercises.There was only a small group attending which surprised me but allowed me to ask more question.He was very honest an imformative even to the point of debunking some of Weider supplement claims. Although his arms were big they were nowhere the size o f when he won the 1981 Mr.Olympia . John Balik (now the editor of Iron Man magazine) also spoke. Danny Padilla a high ranking bodybuilder stopped by.
All and all it was an excellant seminar and a enjoyable weekend.