Your Guide To The 2024 Arnold Sports Festival

The 2024 Arnold Sports Festival is set for March 1st through to March 3rd, in Columbus, Ohio. In case you’re new to the industry, be advised—the ASF is, outside of the Olympics, the largest multi-sport event in North America, if not the world. Arnold Schwarzenegger has produced the Arnold Sports Festival since 1989, when it debuted as a one-day bodybuilding competition known as the Arnold Classic. The Arnolds, as it’s known to many fitness enthusiasts today, has grown into a four-day extravaganza that adds fans, events and exhibitors every year. The sports and events feature Olympic sports, IFBB Pro League contests, the Arnold Strongman Classic, and the world-famous Arnold Amateur Championships (taking place February 29th and March 1st). Athletes stepping on the Arnold Amateur Championships stage, do so with their sites set on earning their prestigious IFBB Pro Card.

The festival attracts thousands of athletes from around the world, competing in 80+ events and almost 185,000 fitness enthusiasts each year. The size and scope of the Arnold Fitness Expo can be difficult to comprehend if you’ve never attended before. It features the many of the biggest names in health and fitness presenting the latest trends in sports apparel, supplements and equipment. Celebrity sightings of athletes from the IFBB, the WWE, the NFL and Major League Baseball as well as film stars and the weekend’s namesake, Arnold Schwarzenegger, are part of the fun—and let’s not forget the MUSCLE INSIDER crew, who’ll be bringing you the most up-to-date coverage!

If you’re headed to Columbus, here are a few things to keep in mind as you prep for an intense weekend full of muscle and unlimited opportunities for high jinks and mayhem!

Arnold Sports Festival Grows Bigger, Better

The Arnold Sports Festival, the largest multi-sport event in North America, will host a multitude of sports and events as it goes into its 36th consecutive year in 2024. Some changes have taken place since the close of the Veteran’s Memorial in early January 2015. The Arnolds now takes place at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Ohio Expo Center and several other venues in Central Ohio. All professional and amateur bodybuilding contests will be held at the convention center. Other events like Cheerleading, Dance, Gymnastics, and MMA will be found either at the Ohio Expo Center, the Hilton Columbus Ballroom, Hyatt Regency Ballroom, or the Columbus Athenaeum. The Annual Arnold Classic (Men's Bodybuilding), Classic Physique, Men's Physique, Fitness International, Figure International, Bikini International, Wellness International and Arnold Wheelchair professional bodybuilding contests will be held at the Battelle Grand. Prejudging for some events will take on the Arnold Fitness EXPO stage. The 2024 Arnold Fitness EXPO, the heart of the Arnold Sports Festival, will be held March 1-3 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. It’ll feature the latest in sports equipment, apparel and nutrition and a stage that hosts unique, non-stop competitions and entertainment.

Survival Tips

Where to Stay. Where to Stay. Well, we hope you booked your hotel at least six months ahead. If you don’t, you’re pretty much SOL, so if you’re just now deciding that you want go this year, you’d better start hitting the travel websites as soon as you finish reading this. The best hotel in Columbus for seeing Arnold and other celebrities is the Hilton Columbus Downtown (401 N High Street). That’s the official hotel where all the Arnold Sports Festival competitors, officials, media, and the owners of the companies exhibiting in the expo will be staying. It’s also connected to the convention hall so you can leave your winter jacket in your room which you’re going to want to do because it’s hot as balls in the expo hall! What else would you expect when you enter an expo filled with 100,000 jacked muscle fans on thermogenics while crushing back protein shakes all weekend long? But be warned, it’s VERY hard to get a room at the Hilton unless you’re connected, or you book early in the year. But if you can get a room, book it immediately!

The next best hotel is the Hyatt Regency (350 N High Street). This is also connected to the convention centre and the food court! The second-floor lobby bar is a hotspot for the who’s who in the supplement industry. Million-dollar deals get done every day of the Arnold Sports festival on those high-top tables around the lobby bar (see photo below). Don’t look for tanned up pro bodybuilders to be hanging out with their jugs of water in this area, this area is reserved for the players who sign their cheques!How to Get Around. First come, first served goes for parking as well as hotels. If you can buy a parking pass ahead of time at one of the lots, do it. By midmorning you may as well leave your car at the hotel. The complimentary Arnold Shuttles carry visitors from the major hotels in to the Greater Columbus Convention Center, the major scenes of action, and there are shuttles from the parking lots as well. Find more info on this at https://www.arnoldsportsfestival.com/.

As for cabs, unless they’re on the spot when you need them, you could be looking at a 30-plus-minute wait.

Who to Bring. Bring your buddies, your significant other or anyone who loves the fitness scene! With all that is going on, you won't be disappointed.

What to Bring. Bring a backpack. Aside from having a place to put all the supplement samples and swag you’ll collect at the expo, you’ll need some essentials. Top of the list is water. At the convention center, a 500ml bottle could cost you more than $5! Also, bring food, especially if you’re dieting for a show. Yeah, there are plenty of samples at the expo, but it all starts to taste like sawdust after a while. One more essential: pack your camera/cell phone. There are so many celebrities and so much to see walking around that you’re going to want to take some pics, if only so your friends will believe your stories.

What to Wear. Dress comfortably, whatever that is for you—we’ve seen everything from leather butt huggers and chaps to feather boas and even the Arm Blaster on Arnold-goers—and wear comfortable shoes. You’re going to spend hours on your feet at the expo, and there’s almost nowhere to sit.

Your Schedule of Events

Thursday. The ASF actually starts on Thursday with the Arnold Amateur. Here you’ll start to see the future stars of the industry. Over 700 competitors from 68 countries will be competing in the IFBB Amateur Division. Apart from the host country of the USA, the biggest teams will come from Canada, Brazil, Italy and Mexico.

At ngiht, you’ll want to head into the Meet & Greet With IFBB Pros, where you can rub shoulders with the world’s best physique athletes, who’ll be competing over the weekend.

Friday. Friday is the first day of the Arnold Fitness Expo, so get ready for an experience you’ll never forget. By midmorning, the crowd at the convention center will be on its way to epic proportions. The pounding music and roaring crowd will be deafening. The isles will be jammed with people storming the booths for a chance to meet their industry idols and the hundreds of fitness models, as well as collect samples of the newest supplements.

The IFBB pros hit the stage at the expo with prejudging for certain classes. If you want a seat, make sure to get there early. Another showstopper is the Arnold Strongman Classic, where the world’s strongest men take the stage to shatter records through sheer power and strength.

Meanwhile over at the Battelle Grand, more of the Arnold Amateur prejudging and finals takes place.

On Friday night, the action shifts back to the IFBB Pros, where the winners of the classes that took place that afternoon will be crowned.

This will be a great night to go wild on the town. A fine place to grab a bite is Max & Erma's, with its casual dining and reasonable prices, “guilt-free” menu, and locally brewed beer—but you can’t stop there. 

Saturday. After a Friday night with a probable storyline reminiscent of *The Hangover, you’ll be ready to do it all over again. This time, though, you’ve got some experience under your belt, not to mention a massive headache, but no matter. You’re ready to face the even bigger crowds, more events and more yoga-pants-wearing dream girls and tank top wearing dudes offering free samples and swag that are the ASF expo day two.

As evening falls, you’ll make your way back to the Battelle Grand for the pro finals. The Arnold Classic is the premiere event of the Arnold Sport Festival, featuring the world’s leading pro bodybuilders. The crowning of the new champ will be followed immediately by the heart-stopping final round of the Arnold Strongman Classic—right on the Battelle Grand stage.

At this point you’ll be starving, and for that there’s nothing better than the best steak in town. Mitchell’s Steakhouse, near the convention center, is an award-winning restaurant that raises the bar for beef, seafood and wine in Columbus.

Sunday. An event not to miss is the Arnold Sunday Showcase. It will celebrate the 34th Anniversary of the Arnold Classic with a lineup that features Arnold Schwarzenegger and other bodybuilding stars. The Arnold Sunday Showcase feature the weekend’s BEST and ONLY opportunity to engage with in an open forum where you can hear the Governator speak and ask questions.

Sunday also gives you another day to catch any booths you missed at the expo. It’s also a good time to rehydrate, make sense of the night before and offer any necessary apologies. It’s also a great day to get in a workout. Pro’s Gym (Power House Gym Downtown) boasts 16,000 square feet of space. It’s where most of the IFBB pros hang out and the scene of many post competition photo shoots. You get to train where the pros train, but remember to be respectful. No one wants to be interrupted in the middle of a set.

With your workout done, a postworkout meal is in order. One option is the local Cheesecake Factory. The menu at this beloved-by-bodybuilders chain features more than 200 selections made from scratch, and the staff will gladly make changes to meet your dietary needs. Be warned, however: the place is famous for its generous portions, and, well, it’s not called the Cheesecake Factory for nothing!

If you’re looking for a challenge, you’ll want to hit The Thurman Cafe in Columbus’s German Village district and order The Thurmanator burger—two 12-ounce patties, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle, banana peppers, bacon, ham, sautéed mushrooms and onions and three types of cheese on a bun plus fries.

So there you have it—the 411 on the ASF. See you there!

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