Dan from TAFs Meets the Two Arnolds at Muscle Beach!

A couple of months back, the return of Arnold to movies & the fitness and bodybuilding community was bolstered by the announcement he was finally signing his name to a supplement company. For years, no, decades, there has been no bigger name in bodybuilding than SCHWARZENEGGER, so it was always surprising that Arnold never had his own line of supplements in a billion dollar industry.

Well wonder no more, as Arnold recently signed to MusclePharm for his own line of “Arnold Series” supplements including Iron Whey (Protein), Iron Cre3 (Creatine), Iron Pump (Pre-Workout), Iron Mass (Mass Gainer), Iron Dream (Pre-Sleep), Iron Cuts (Green Tea) and finally Iron Pack (Multi Vitamin). I personally train in the gym and while I don’t use a lot of supplements, basics like Whey Protein, MultiVitamin and a Pre-Workout can help AND I enjoy MusclePharm as a highly reputable brand so I’m SUPER keen to support Arnold’s product and give these a go!


I recently had a month long visit to the US and to my surprise my LAST day in LA was going to be an amazing one, when I saw a Facebook Post on MusclePharm’s page that they were “ hosting a one-of-a-kind experience at the famed Muscle Beach in Venice, CA on Friday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. PST. The event will celebrate the launch of the much-anticipated Arnold Series of nutritional supplements and the October issue of Muscle & Fitness AND an appearance by None other than Arnold Schwarzenegger in person!”

Considering I stayed the extra week to originally attend the premiere of Escape Plan with Randy Jennings (which got delayed by a month) after I booked my flight home, this was an AMAZING turn of fortune.

On the morning of September 20th, 2013 I woke up excited that once again I was going to meet my idol Arnold. I waited 37 years to meet Arnie and finally, just months before I had met him in my home town of Melbourne, Australia when he was the key note speaker at a financial summit and I paid big dollars to get a guaranteed one on one photo with him. That experience was surreal, but today was different….it was on Arnold’s turf – CALIFORNIA and even better Muscle Beach in Venice!
I spotted a few celebrities in the Muscle Beach Gym, Arnold’s long time friend and True Lies Co-Star Tom Arnold had arrived around 2pm, MusclePharm Co-Founder Cory Gregory was being interviewed by numerous media outlets talking about his excitement for Arnold’s range and that it was something “The Fans have been waiting for”.

Two queues were being formed, the general public queue was a mile long, then Reddit competition winners were being herded together, given their gold wrist bands for “priority” signing & meeting of Arnold. Security had arrived and it was clear Arnold was only minutes away.

Time now pressing 3pm, fans were getting impatient AND excited…Then the black SUV arrived, the men in black rolled out, the crowd started roaring and here comes Arnold right in front of me shaking my hand. I felt like Dillon in Predator “ You Son of a Bitch”.


Arnold was followed in by his son Patrick and I managed to get his attention and say I follow him on twitter and that I’m a big fan from Australia. I think he enjoyed being recognised and spoken to. After Arnold settled into his signing area, fans were advised Arnold would sign 1 item that they had a lot of people to get through and no photos with Arnold were allowed, but photos of him and of him signing were ok.

After a brief introduction by Tom Arnold, who managed to get a lot of laughs out of the crowd in just a few minutes of speaking, he handed the Mic to Arnold who welcomed everyone, thanked everyone for coming and said “regardless of whether you have 21 inch biceps, 22 inch, 23 inch or so on, supplements are essential but they are on a PART of what you need to do”. He made it very clear that he joined MusclePharm because they are a great company that doesn’t make outlandish claims (ahh hmmm Muscletech cough cough) but uses quality ingredients that ASSIST in what you need to put in in the gym. So with a brief welcome and endorsement of the product, Arnold was pointed to the “Signing Spot”.

I was about number 20 in the queue and therefore I had a few minutes to strike up a conversation with the guy next to me Marcos that had come from San Diego for the event. We devised how we were going to get a photo, what we were going to say etc. As I was going first, he offered to take photos of me talking to Arnold and so on, I agreed to do the same for him.

It wasn’t long before it was my turn, I walked up to Arnold and clearly in a happy mood he smiled when he saw my Terminator T-Shirt from Urban Outfitters and said Hello. I said my name’s Dan, I’m from Australia and recently met you on your speaking tour there. He said “ Nice to see you again and thanked me for coming out for the event”. I also said I was with TheArnoldFans.com and Randy Jennings from the site says 'What’s Up.' I opened my Muscle & Fitness Mag to the page I wanted signed and he again shook my hand – he looks in great shape, had the beared and was nicely tanned. He looked really happy, refreshed and genuinely excited to be there.


Unlike my experience in Australia, I actually got a quality 30 or 40 seconds with Arnold to converse, shake hands and get my autograph. I was beyond thrilled. TWICE in 3 months had I met Arnold – once in my hometown and once on where he began his domination of the United States and California on a business, sportsman and entertainer’s stage.


Arnold signed for a good hour, but unfortunately since most people got a photo with him (I was surprised neither he nor security were strict on stopping photos), that he did run out of time to sign for everyone. I felt for those that had lined up and missed out, but I think it was those that lined up from 2pm onwards. I guess the turn out was larger than they expected.


Regardless, a fantastic day was had by all. Men & Women of all ages from All over the world had the opportunity to meet a legend and their idol. Arnold signed all sorts of things, magazines, photos, shirts, hats, he signed it all.


A few promotional tees were given away; I was lucky to get one, as were wristbands, product samples (Which I missed out on) and also some of the Escape Plan Daybill posters and Escape Plan can/stubby holders.
I also met Cory Gregory, MusclePharm's spokesman. I asked him what other products he envisions to come out in the Arnold Series line and asked how involved Arnold was in the process.

Cory Gregory: "If we see a need or if Arnold wants to do more, we will work on it. He was extremely involved. He is a champion and we listen to him...then add our new age research with old school applications and it's an awesome combo!"

MusclePharm also tells TheArnoldFans to stay tuned because they have some awesome contests coming in the future.

A great way to finish my trip in the US and a brilliant, well-organised day by the promoters of the supplements.

Special thanks to Cory from MusclePharm, Dan Ketchell, Randy Jennings and Tom Arnold for making the report and meeting of Arnold possible.