Fouad Reports on His 2013 FIBO Expedition

Its been a few weeks since my last blog so I thought I would touch base with you guys and let you know what’s going on and what I’ve been up to.  I’m sitting on the plane right now on the way back from FIBO (Germany) and have pretty mixed emotions about weekend.

I say that for a few reasons.  First off, for those of you who don’t know I’m currently prepping for the 2013 Toronto Pro Show, which is about 7 weeks out now.  This is the primary reason I have mixed emotions about my trip.  Normally I generally shut down when I get ready for a show, I mean, seriously shut down.  I don’t even like to go to the corner store unless its for something in my prep.  This is the first time in my career I’ve had to travel during my prep, first to Paris for an expo and now to Germany. 

I really wanted to stay home and make sure I was on point for Toronto and also make sure nothing in my prep suffered.  In life there are things that come up and part of being a professional is dealing with them to the best of your ability.  One of the things I always pride myself in my bodybuilding life is that I am always honest with my fans, whether it be about my weight, my struggles, my injuries, etc.  This is gonna be no different.

I’m just gonna let you know I had the best intentions for this weekend.  I packed five days worth of food, Pre and Post workouts, vitamins, workout and training gear.  The whole bit, I had every intention of making sure nothing suffered while I was away.  Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

In five days in Germany I missed cardio more than once, missed training and my food had gone bad by day five so I am making do with what I can on the way home.  Call it what you will, call it laziness, call it ill preparation, regardless of what you want to call it, its driving me nuts.  I can’t wait to get home to my stepmill, to my gym, to my kitchen, to my grocery store….to my wife!  (not in that order of course)

Ok so now you guys know that even as pros, it’s not all perfect, we fuck up too sometimes and the hard part comes upon my arrival at home.  I have less than seven weeks to correct the mistakes I made this past weekend and I’m confident that my body will rebound nicely to where it was before I left home.  I will be in shape for the Toronto Supershow, mark my words.  There are lots of people counting on me and I want to make sure I bring a package I’ve never brought before to my hometown crowd.  I am really excited to be competing in front of friends and family that generally never get to see me compete.  I even have a pretty badass routine planned that I think my peeps will appreciate.

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So was Germany all bad?  Of course not, aside from being tired from jet lag and stressed out from being off my routine, I got to meet tons of my fans from overseas.  FIBO is bigger than the Arnold and the Olympia and the Euro fans are nuts!  They love bodybuilding and muscle and seem to really appreciate what we do.  I met people from all over Europe that had nice things to say about my Arnold showing, who support me moving forward.  Signing people’s belts, t-shirts, even signing one guys phone!  He had my picture as the screen saver and wanted me to sign the back of the phone, not the case, but the actual phone lol. 

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My mom and I spoke after the Arnold about my career, she asked if I was upset about my placing.  I told her a story about a fan posting a video with his 2-3yr old son copying my posing routine.  I told her it was things like that, that make it all worth it.  Sometimes we lose site of what’s important and we think selfishly.  Sure I wanna be home getting ready for my show but some of the fans showed genuine appreciation and joy that they were able to meet their bodybuilding hero’s this weekend.  That kind of reception is flattering and I’m always blown away that I have an impact like that on so many people.

That kind of thing makes the stress, being tired and the extra work when I get home all worth it.  Knowing that I’m impacting other people’s lives in a positive way makes me want to keep doing this forever.  Sometimes we forget and think bodybuilding is just about placings, money and the dark side of the sport.  When what we should really be focused on is the lighter side of the sport that makes it all worth it.  The guy at my gym that told me I was his inspiration because he was 300lbs and had dropped 80lbs because I motivated him through video and articles I wrote.  Or the guy I met at FIBO this weekend that told me he was 130lbs when he started bodybuilding and was sick all the time and had numerous injuries until he started to strengthen his body.  He said my videos motivated him to work hard and get to a solid 180lbs and that his life has turned around because of it.

This is the shit that keeps us (IFBB Pro’s) going when we wanna quit or after a bad placing, at least I know it’s a major part of what keeps me going.  Don’t ever be scared or intimidated to go up to your favorite pro and let them know your story because chances are your helping them as much as they helped you, just by telling them.  Thank you to all my fans and supporters, I truly appreciate each and every one of you even if at times I seem cranky or tired.

Sacrifice Without Regret,

Fouad ‘Hoss’ Abiad