Obi Obadike, known in the fitness industry as “The World’s Most Ripped Fitness Expert”, is an internationally published fitness celebrity. He is the new co-Judge of a new reality fitness competition called Sweat Inc. which aired on SpikeTV on October 20. The show is hosted and judged by Jillian Michaels and co-judged by Randy Hetrick, founder of TRX. We interviewed Obi about the show.

Photo Credit: Sweat Inc. of Spike TV

Obi, tell us what it was like being on the show Sweat Inc.?

It was a great experience working on the Sweat Inc TV show. This show is so unique because it has so many layers to it that the shooting of this show was quite intense and tedious. I think the best part of the show was being around so many brilliant fitness minds on one stage at one time. It was an honor and privilege to be associated with such a brilliant cast, crew, and also with the celebrity guests that came on the show.

There must have been a lot of fitness experts that were trying to get on the show. How did you land this opportunity?

One of the production assistants from 3 Ball productions reached out to me on my Facebook and website and said they felt I would be a great candidate to be a judge on this new fitness show associated with Jillian Michaels. I did an interview/audition back in April and then within a month Spike execs made the decision to pick me out of all the best fitness experts all over the country. When I first found out, I was a little in disbelief about the whole experience. I didn’t realize how big this show was until I started shooting it and realized immediately that this was a big show for Spike TV.

What was it like working with one of the most successful people in this industry, Jillian Michaels?

To be honest with you, it was a lot of fun working with Jillian! She and I had great chemistry working together. It was almost like working with a sister. And in many ways we thought alike in many decisions and in some ways we didn’t think alike in decisions. That is the beauty of the dichotomy of this show is that sometimes all our decisions collectively on this show between Randy and myself contradicted each other. She is a really intelligent woman and a straight shooter! And you can always respect people who can tell it like it is which is probably why she has been so successful in these types of reality shows.

What was your preparation and regimen like during filming?

I think the biggest thing I did before filming was really brief myself on some of the biggest fitness trends in the fitness industry so I am really abreast on anything I haven’t seen before. YouTube is really great for that when it comes to doing that type of independent research.

Did you do anything different in terms of your diet or training?

It was really hard to train consistently when you are working 16 to 17 hour week days. I actually did my workouts on the weekends because it was almost impossible to workout during the day because the shoot of each daily show was so long. Diet wise I tried to eat as healthy as I could in terms of what was served to us by craft services. It wasn’t easy training under those circumstances but luckily I was able to get a workout in the first two weeks when we were filming when trying the workouts during the initial assessment rounds.

What was the criteria you set when judging the contestants?

The judging criteria were based on mass appeal, innovativeness, scalability, workout effectiveness and how honed their business plan was, as well as the potential and profitability of their respective business.

Were there any fitness entrepreneurs and products that you personally liked that didn’t make the cut?

There were quite a bit of fitness entrepreneurs that I liked in terms of their workout concept that didn’t make the cut. I am only one vote so the other judges can outvote me when we are making decisions on who gets eliminated. It is never easy eliminating anybody but it is a competition so essentially that is our job is to find America’s Biggest Fitness Phenomenon.

About Obi Obadike

Obi Obadike is a nationally recognized Celebrity Fitness Expert/Trainer and nutrition expert. In 2014 he was metrically recognized as one of the top ten most influential fitness experts on the web by Dr Oz’s Sharecare.com. He was 2012 Writer Of The Year for Bodybuilding.com, the largest fitness website in the world. He has graced over 50 fitness magazine covers and has been published in fitness magazines over 100 times. He was a Top Division I collegiate star track athlete at Cal State Fullerton where he was the school record holder in the 100, 200 meters and 400 relay.

He is one of the most educated fitness professionals in the fitness industry where he holds a B.A, B.S and M.S degrees and is certified with the ISSA as a nutrition specialist,(SFN) and Trainer (CFT).

He is the new co-Judge of a new reality fitness competition called Sweat Inc. which is set to air on Spike TV. The show is hosted and judged by Jillian Michaels and co-judged by Randy Hetrick, founder of TRX.

He currently co-hosts a national syndicated health TV show called Lifestyle Magazine which airs on several national syndicated networks across the country.

If you want to learn more from Obi or reach out to him, please check out his Website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.