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198 Sports Supplement Review BetaStaxTM: More Powerful
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396 Telling It Like It Is By Shawn Ray NEW!
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Fat Attack Usnic Acid And Other Uncouplers For Fat Loss: Safety And Toxicity By Dan Gwartney, MD
416 National Hero By Evan Centopani 420 The Pro Creator By Hany Rambod 424 Contest Guru By Chad Nicholls 428 Trainer of Champions By Charles Glass
RETURN OF THE RUHLER! 226
DRUGS 158 Research: Drugs By Steve Blechman & Thomas Fahey, EdD 178 Future Pharmacy By Douglas S. Kalman, PhD, RD, FACN 298 Testosterone Anabolic Steroids: Drug Abuse and Pathology: The Latest Research By Dan Gwartney, MD
334 Anabolic Research Update By William Llewellyn 338 Anabolic Edge By Jose Antonio, PhD 342 The Anabolic Freak By David Palumbo 362 Busted! Legal Q&A By Rick Collins, JD
HEALTH & PERFORMANCE 126 Research: Health & Performance By Steve Blechman & Thomas Fahey, EdD
168 Research: Sex By Steve Blechman & Thomas Fahey, EdD 194 Muscle Growth Update By Robbie Durand, MA NEW! 308 Bodybuilding Science What’s Best For Increasing Muscle Mass and Strength: Linear or Reverse Linear Training Programs? By Robbie Durand, MA
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No Juice Bodybuilding By Eric Broser
NEW! With Layne Norton 354 Ask The Doc By Victor Prisk, MD NEW! MD 22
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GEORGE FARAH’S UNTOLD STORY! 276
BIG LOU UNCHAINED AFTER 30 YEARS! 214
MD’S INSIDE STACK 24
Editor’s Letter By Steve Blechman
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Mail Room Where Our Readers Rave & Rant
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Who’s Hot! By Mike Yurkovic
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MD People
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The Romano Factor By John Romano
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Flex Critique By Flex Wheeler NEW!
MARK OF A CHAMPION! 260
TIMEA IS BACK! 288
288 Major Distraction By John Romano 318 Ramblin’ Freak By Gregg Valentino 436 Web Directory 438 Hot Shoppe By Angela T. Frizalone 440 MD Marketplace By Angela T. Frizalone & Manda Machado 470 The Last Word By John Romano
FEATURES 206 CYBER WARS: Is Dexter Jackson Destined To Be A One-Time Mr. Olympia? BY RON HARRIS
ED NUNN’S LOADED GUNS 244
214 LOU FERRIGNO: AFTER 30 YEARS, BIG LOU IS FREE TO TALK BY JOHN ROMANO
226 RETURN OF THE RUHLER: MARKUS RUHL BY RON HARRIS
244 BICEPS LIKE NUNN OTHER Super-Heavyweight and Overall Nationals Champ Ed Nunn Has Some High-Caliber Guns BY RON HARRIS
260 MARK OF A CHAMPION Mark Alvisi Is Next In Line For Stardom BY RON HARRIS
276 GEORGE ‘BULLETPROOF’ FARAH From Death’s Door To Success In The Pros: The Story He’s Never Told Before
BY FLEX WHEELER April 2009
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editor’s letter By Steve Blechman Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
BIG LOU BREAKS OUT! I am so pleased and honored this month to have ‘Big Lou’ Ferrigno gracing our cover! For nearly 30 years, this bodybuilding icon, TV and movie star— second only in notoriety to Arnold Schwarzenegger in our world— has been off-limits to most of our industry because of his contractual obligations to Weider— and even they haven’t featured Lou on a magazine cover since 1994! I can’t believe that this bodybuilding legend— the biggest to ever compete in the Olympia— has been off the market for so long! You can’t imagine how happy I was when John Romano came up to me and said, “Hey boss, how about we run a feature with Lou Ferrigno?” Are you kidding? If he could do that, I’d give Lou the cover! The rest is history. On page 214, Lou talks about how he started his bodybuilding career, the early years with Arnold, moving on to TV and starring in long-running shows such as “The Incredible Hulk” and “The King of Queens,” as well as his roles in major motion pictures, including his newlyreleased romantic comedy, “I Love You, Man,” starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Jaime Pressly and Rashida Jones. So far Lou’s performance has gotten rave reviews! His mainstream celebrity aside, Lou will always be thought of first and foremost as a bodybuilder who, at
age 42 in the early ’90s, made a remarkable comeback after being gone from the competitive arena for 17 years. The monster who came back from the ’70s was definitely not a ’70s bodybuilder! He was, even by today’s standards, from another world. Lou is so far the only bodybuilder to ever compete in the Olympia at over 300 pounds! The transformation was nothing short of amazing, as the photos here can attest. Having Lou featured in MD after all these years on the sidelines marks a great day for bodybuilding and I’m so proud that he chose MD as the place to be seen once again. Another giant in the bodybuilding world making a comeback is the ‘German Giant,’ Markus Ruhl. I guess he just couldn’t handle retirement and needed to come back to the stage to hear the crowd chanting “RUHL!” See what’s behind this landmark comeback on page 226. Is Dexter Jackson destined to be a one-hit wonder? Can he still improve and hold off the likes of Victor Martinez, Phil Heath, Kai Greene and the rest gunning for his illustrious title? On page 206, the latest edition of Cyber Wars picks apart this freshman Mr. O, to see if he has what it takes to bag another one. Super-heavyweight and overall Nationals Champ Ed Nunn has built some mighty high-caliber guns. What’s it like to train biceps like Nunn other? Turn to page 244
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Publisher/Editor-In-Chief Steve Blechman Senior Editor John Romano Senior Science Editor Robbie Durand, MA Managing Editor Angela T. Frizalone Creative Director Alan Dittrich, Jr. Associate Editor Alan Golnick Associate Art Director Stephen Kolbasuk Assistant Editor Louise Powell Contributing Editors Carlon Colker, M.D.,Thomas Fahey Ph.D. Dan Gwartney, M.D. Executive Assistant Michele Gampel Photographers Chief Photographer: Per Bernal Mike Yurkovic, Dan Ray, Bill Comstock Illustrators Bill Hamilton, Fred Harper, Jerry Beck
and find out. On page 260, rising star Mark Alvisi makes his MD debut. Is Mark next in line for stardom? Will he be our next ‘big thing’? Can he overcome the competition and turn pro? See what he has to say. Finally, what’s stronger than a speeding bullet? How about George ‘Bulletproof’ Farah? On page 276, in the exclusive story that he’s never told before, this ranking IFBB pro talks about his amazing journey from death’s door to his incredible success as a pro bodybuilder. I know you’ll be inspired by Farah’s unique story of survival and triumph against all odds. The rest of the book is jam-packed as usual with the best of the best in cutting-edge science, news and departments from the industry’s top experts and pros on building muscle and burning fat to help you build the body of your dreams! See you next month! Cover photo of Lou Ferrigno by Bill Dobbins. Photo of Timea Majorova is by Per Bernal
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mailroom Celebrate Kenny Kassel’s Life I have known Kenny for 25 years and of course met him at a bodybuilding show. Driving here today, two song phrases came to mind. The first one is, “Only The Good Die Young” and the second one is “Dream Weaver.”
Kenny loved people and made himself available every time he was asked, and volunteered the rest of the time. He trained, coached and gave confidence to competitors— with bookings for film, commercials and print work. There are many reading this who would not have reached the top if not for his groundwork. He helped so many across the globe achieve their
dreams. For over 15 years, Kenny and I shared rooms while working all of the national NPC shows as well as the IFBB Olympia. There were times I would never see Kenny in the room, since Kenny would return so late and rise early to be of service, preferring to stay up those three or four days to suck up every minute of it. We all loved Kenny, too! His trustworthiness, his honesty, his passion. And he had the biggest heart in our sport. The simple fact is that Kenny made everyone feel warm and welcome. And boy did he love to talk! What a smile he brought us when he would approach us wearing his trademark sports jacket, floral shirt and black baggies. Kenny was a great master of ceremonies, taking time with each competitor to make sure he was pronouncing the name correctly. His voice was a gift. As an expediter, his calming voice would make sure everyone felt confident and relaxed. As a world-class promoter, Kenny brought the women’s sport up several notches and with myself, even saved the IFBB Ms. Olympia contest in 1999. Together we successfully promoted the women’s strength extravaganza, which at the time was the only show that was just for women and was also way ahead of its time. As a coach, I wish I had a dollar for every quarter-turn that Kenny taught. I would tease him and ask him if he knew every woman competitor in America. Let’s just say it was a work in progress, doing very well. Kenny has many awards from both the entertainment industry and the bodybuilding world. One year Ben Weider nominated him personally for the Silver Medal for the IFBB. Kenny was a very special friend and we all learned so much from him. Just the day before his funeral, someone called my gym looking for a model. Normally, I would call Kenny
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ASAP. I then realized that I couldn’t, and I was frustrated, now realizing he really was gone. Kenny, man, we love you and will always miss you.
Kenny Kassel • IFBB & NPC official, show promoter • Seminar promoter— dispensing information about how to market yourself, and how to break into the entertainment industry. • Writer • Professional announcer • Talent manager • Casting agent • Owner, Beautiful Talent Agency • Mentor for many women who compete in fitness/figure/bodybuilding Bob Bonham, e-mail
MD Is Out Of This World! Everything you have been doing with the magazine/website is out of this world! MD is the reason why I stopped reading bodybuilding books and searching through random websites looking for the true answers, ‘cause MD has them all— it’s a book in itself! Every month, I swing by the office and grab a copy when it hits the main office, and the girls there are wonderful. They treat me with full respect and we chat it up all the time. It’s like you guys have your own little family there. I remember one time I was looking for the new MD before I went on my trip and couldn’t find it on the stands early. This was the first time I stopped by the main office to give it a shot. You were the only one there working late, and you not only gave me a copy, but you gave me six for free for the rest of my lifting buddies at the gym. You treat your readers with respect, and I believe this is one of the reasons why MD is the best/biggest bodybuilding magazine in the world, PERIOD! Keep up all the good work! Happy New Year and God Bless, John Redeker South Setauket, NY
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Photographed by Mike Yurkovic
Mary Alejo: Fitness Model, Florida
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April 2009
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Brandy Leaver: NPC Figure Athlete, Hawaii
Melissa Deal: NPC Figure Athlete, California
Jillian Mabin: NPC Figure Athlete, New York
Christina Morales: NPC Figure Athlete, Florida
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Krissy Chin: IFBB Figure Pro, California Sylvia Smith: NPC Figure Athlete, Alabama April 2009
Soleivi Hernandez: NPC Figure Athlete, Texas MD 35
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By TEAM MD
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Team MD presents highlights from the 2009 IRONMAN PRO!
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THE WAY I SEE IT
TheRomano Factor By John Romano
500-WORD SUBMISSION FROM THE MD ONLINE CREW… Once again, it is my pleasure to welcome back Gaoshang Xiongshou, AKA GX, as this month’s winner of the MD online 500-word essay contest, with his article entitled simply “405.” In a hotly-contested 14-entry contest, GX managed to eek out his third win, which ties him with Warrior in the all-time winner’s list. So, please join me in enjoying…
405 by Gaoshang Xiongshou The air is thick with the stench of toil and tangible discord. It may be cold… but I have warmed up. The dismal, washed-out color of the walls and ceiling tile give the place a feeling of dank depression. But that means nothing to me. I feel energized… electric… READY. Why? I am looking down at 405 pounds on the floor, ready to be relocated to the place of my choosing. I know… 405 pounds for a deadlift is not much. But this 405 means a lot to me. It means that I am in a new place, and it is not the same place that I was at yesterday. It means that I made good on a promise to myself: fight past the pain of the pull; fight through the frustration of missing something along the way in my program that would eventually get me here. It means that I gave everything that I had, except excuses, and worked with the little bit that I was given, to make a reality that once only existed in my deepest slumber. It means that while everyone else did a set of whatever, and took ten minute rest breaks to talk about stuff that did not matter, I kept it moving, and dead weight on the floor was reborn and alive anew once I wrapped my hands around cold Olympic steel, and drove vertical. It means that the whispers I heard, and the evil looks shot at me as weight pounded the floor again, and again, and again… all of that was wasted energy… THEIR wasted energy, as something greater could have come from it, but they chose otherwise. They have nothing to show for it. I was not going to let anything stop me, and I have the proof of my conviction. It means that my focus was on point… when it was game time, I took it to the wheels, quarters, nickels, and dimes as if my life depended on it. Forged from a desire… no guts, no glory. I would rather die than not meet my goal. Torn skin, cramped hands, and white lights dancing before my very eyes from overexertion… a small price to pay for the greatness that is progress. You have to want it. You have to feel it. You have to understand it. If not, you have to get out of the way of people like me, before you get run over. I may have to use a mixed grip… use lifting straps, just in case… take an extra minute or two before the pull, and only get a single. But you know what? I am here… and I am not going anywhere, except up. 495, here I come… THE WAY I SEE IT, GX has been taking writing classes! Damn boy, what-chu been doin’? That was great! One of the hardest things to do while writing colorful prose is exercising restraint. So many times a perfectly good work is destroyed with overused, flowery descriptions. This was just right; just spicy enough to wake up the taste buds without burning your tongue. Excellent, excellent job. Now, about the feat at hand— a 405 deadlift. Don’t let anyone convince you that 405 isn’t a respectable lift. That’s four plates on either side of an Olympic bar. That shit is heavy. I know there are lots more guys out there who can pull 600 plus, but, you know, it’s a matter of perspective. There are a whole hell of a lot more people to the left side of 405 than there are to the right. Anyone who can yank that beast is OK in my book. That’s a good lift, GX. Keep ’em coming!
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ERGOPHARM FANS FANATICS
O
ur own Patrick Arnold, founder of Ergopharm, has been raided by the DEA. (Ergopharm is the nutrition company that produces 6-OXO, the supplement that J.C. Romero claims caused a false positive on the drug test that got him suspended for 50 games.) And in a flash— a news flash that is— Patrick is aligned once again with the BALCO scandal and maligned in general. As usual, there is a cadre of media crackpot ‘experts’ on the matter, lacing up their hip boots and shoveling bullshit at a furious pace, paying no mind at all to the legitimacy of what they are reporting. Why should they? They have everything they need to weave the yarn: our national pastime; a famous, highly-paid baseball player who failed a drug test and denies any wrongdoing; and a convicted BALCO felon who made the stuff the ballplayer is blaming for the failed test. It doesn’t matter what the rest of the words say between those paydirt items. What matters is that the reporters get to write them and the public gets to read them. Truth, accuracy, plausibility, accountability and facts mean absolutely nothing. If the steroid scandal this country has weathered has taught us anything, it is the depth of journalistic bankruptcy in America.The following is a great example of what I mean. If you’ve been following this Romero thing, you know that the Phillies reliever is claiming that he took a supplement made by a nutrition lab owned by “one of the more notorious chemists in the country.” The supplement— 6-OXO— is alleged to have caused Romero’s false positive and almost immediately, Patrick’s company was raided by the Feds. Oh, yeah, and MLB banned 6-OXO after Romero failed his test— the quintessential knee-jerk reaction. As of this writing, no one is sure if it was Romero’s drug test that was directly responsible for the raid on Ergopharm. However, the one thing that I am sure about is that makers of performance-enhancing supplements across this country better start getting
April 2009
it through their heads that the government will in no way, shape, or form tolerate the idea that a grown man be allowed to raise his testosterone levels! To do so would be an egregious affront to national pride. All of us must never have a test level above a government official— which is somewhere in the girly range— and, if you are an athlete, you should probably think about taking estrogen. What we’ve witnessed so far among professional athletes is that smoking crack, wife-beating, torturing dogs and shooting people all receive less congressional attention and less adjudication than any attempt to increase athletic performance. If, and I mean IF a tainted batch of 6-OXO was the root of the DEA raid on Ergopharm, it is more than likely a simple and innocent case of crosscontamination. The idea that Patrick is this rogue mad scientist, intent on subverting the law to create an illegal substance through loopholes, is ludicrous. But, for media whores looking for a John, this is juicy stuff. At least to them it is; ignorance is bliss. 6-OXO is not an anabolic steroid, an illegal precursor, or any other substance that falls under the DEA’s jurisdiction. It is a legal substance that inhibits estrogen to trigger the body to produce more testosterone — and God forbid a man should produce more testosterone! And an athlete, no less?Time to get out the rope, Patrick needs to be hanged— again. Perhaps the best example of media whoring in this matter to date comes from a nasty little tart who pens caustic drivel for the Washington Post. In her latest shameless pandering to the uninformed, Ms. Sally Jenkins likens Patrick Arnold to a ‘king-pin dealer” who should be the one the feds seek to throw in jail. Not the likes of those poor cheating athletes who make tens of millions of dollars a year. Clearly Ms. Jenkins has seen “Scarface” one too many times. It’s the athletes who are breaking the law, buying drugs, taking them and cheating to win! A fact Jenkins conveniently misses. Instead of chastising those million-
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aire cheaters, Jenkins erroneously blames Arnold for being ‘back in the trade,’ turning out supplements ‘loaded’ with the anabolic steroid androstendione. The only problem with that statement is that it ain’t so— Patrick never left the trade— Ergopharm has been in business for over 10 years. It’s also funny how she has turned what I think could only possibly be minute trace amounts— if any— into an amount described as ‘loaded,’ without ever seeing a lab assay report on the product. Media-wise, that doesn’t matter; ‘loaded with anabolic steroids’ sounds much better than ‘possibly laced with minute trace amounts.’ And why bother using the word ‘allegedly?’ It only detracts from Jenkins’ drama. But because Romero took the 6OXO and failed a drug test, she is satisfied that cause and effect has been proven (something that is impossible in science but fares quite well in the media) and thus asks, “What is Arnold doing back on the streets, much less in the supplement business?” I guess life in prison is her idea of justice in a performance-enhancing drug crime. Perhaps she’d be happier living in a place like Thailand, where they would support her draconian views. These indignant attitudes are further supported by her baseless claim that Arnold got a ‘sweetheart deal’ of just three month’s jail time for his BALCO conviction, because he cooperated with the Feds in their ‘rabid pursuit of famous athletes.’ Really? Apparently checking widely known facts isn’t Jenkins’ bag. I guess you can pretty much say the moon is made of green cheese if you work for the Washington Post and anyone will believe you. In reality, what the record shows is that Arnold got sentenced pursuant to the applicable U.S. sentencing guidelines as they then existed without ANY leniency for cooperation in any way, shape or form. Interesting items they stick in Cracker Jack boxes these days, ey Sally? Oh, but Jenkins goes on and on bemoaning the harsh treatment of MD 53
The Way I See It—Romano Factor Marion Jones and the impending possibility of Bonds’ sentence, like she’s on the public relations payroll of the suspected Cheating Athletes Union. How dare Kirk Radomski never receive a day in jail after his admitted 10-year drug dealing spree, just because he threw Roger Clemens under the bus? “Clemens is facing indictment for fibbing to Congress to save his reputation. Meanwhile, the man who headed a drug syndicate that dealt out steroids, speed and HGH over a decade, Radomski, is practically holding hands with prosecutors.” She then asks if reading this is making you feel like you’re standing on your head! It sure does! Jenkins consistently distorts her facts. In conclusion, Jenkins surmises that, in all fairness to the investigators, going after the high profile ath-
letes and saving baseball is a far more interesting line of work and that the light sentences for the dealers and harsh sentences for those poor athletes is nothing but a looking-glass approach. How can the inverse of any sensible anti-drug effort be effective? This is a great reason why ill-informed journalists should not write about subjects about which neither their experience nor common sense prevail. If she knew anything at all about her subject, she’d know this had been a looking-glass approach from the very beginning! The sports doping model is the opposite of the traditional narcotics model, where the drug kingpins live in splendor and the users are strungout junkies. In sports doping, the users can buy and sell the dealers 100 or 1,000 times over. But Jenkins can’t stop playing her violin for them.
Jenkins does make one cogent point and that is that the prosecutions of Clemens and Bonds have turned into “persecutions at the expense of any common-sense definition of justice.” I’ll agree with that. But she could have made the point without shifting the blame onto Patrick Arnold and distorting or ignoring facts. Nevertheless, she ends her diatribe driveling on about how the jurors considering the Bonds and Clemens cases should ask themselves why, in light of much bigger fish lying under oath with impunity, “the real lowlifes walk free.” I chuckled when I read that last line. Ms. Jenkins, please define “lowlife.” I’ve read surveys which show that of all occupations, journalists— probably because of the unscrupulous writings of the worst of the lot— are held in the lowest esteem by the general public. I can see why.
We rely on the integrity of the media to give us the news— the truth. And what do they do? What does Jenkins do? She makes shit up. She makes it up because her fabrication sounds good— it sounds sinister and nefarious, and that is what sells. If anyone should go straight to jail, it is reporters like Jenkins.
THE WAY I SEE IT, Patrick Arnold is a scapegoat. And if there is any justice in this world he will one day be able to sue the government and win himself tens of millions of dollars for the wrong that has been done to him. Sally Jenkins can kiss my ass. Do you realize that after Arnold did his time, the government ruled the THG he was convicted of distributing was not an illegal anabolic steroid? Then why did he go to jail? OK, well, perhaps it was not illegal to take THG at the time and perhaps making a substance of its nature wasn’t the best idea, but prison? For that? I hate to say it, but if anyone should be going to prison, it should be the guys using the THG to cheat! Ahhh… but cheating isn’t illegal, it’s just immoral. We can all deal with that. In the real world, morality is cashed in every day. People are afraid of cops and the law, but not God and their conscience. It doesn’t help that mainstream media thinks it’s the guys making the chemicals that the rich athletes use who should go to jail. Actually, I think it’s the members of that media who sensationalize stories with fabricated facts and distorted truths who should be the ones to go to jail. They should start with Jenkins. Let’s assume for the moment that she was just too lazy and reckless to fact-check and that she actually made up stuff to make her article sound better. In that case, she cheated to win. She bamboozled the public to buy her line because she has bragging rights— she works for the Washington Post! If Jenkins knew anything about the topic, or bothered to do any research, she would have found out that the metabolite of 6-OXO is very similar to the metabolite
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Andro leaves in urine and it is the legal 6-OXO itself that could possibly cause a false positive for the banned prohormone. She might also have found out that during the manufacturing process of 6-OXO, minute trace amounts of Andro might be left as a byproduct; however, certain processes are used to remove it. With the sophisticated processes used today, only the slightest possible remnant could possibly be left in the finished product— if any. This would be an amount well below the level of what would constitute a tainted supplement and a far cry from anything that would kick out a false positive in a drug test. At the very least, common sense should have prevailed at this point and made Jenkins wonder why Patrick would lace a very effective legal supplement with minute trace amounts of the weakest, most ineffective prohormone ever made? That pretty much shoots a gigantic hole in Jenkins’ sensational assertion that a ‘lowlife’ like Arnold is “back in the trade turning out supplements loaded with the anabolic steroid androstendione.” Yep, the truth will do that. We rely on the integrity of the media to give us the news— the truth. And what do they do? What does Jenkins do? She makes shit up. She makes it up because her fabrication sounds good— it sounds sinister and nefarious, and that is what sells. If anyone should go straight to jail, it is reporters like Jenkins.
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The Way I See It—Romano Factor
WILL OBAMA LEGALIZE JUICE?
As
I sit and write this, Barack Obama is but one historic eve away from sitting himself behind the desk of the highest office in the land. Reflecting back on a grim day 40 years ago when Martin Luther King was assassinated, I can only marvel at the progress our society made with respect to its views on human equality.Tomorrow is going to be a day when America casts aside the hate that has negated the good ideas and intentions of honorable people merely because their skin was a different color. It will be a proud day indeed. To Mr. Obama’s credit, he is a smart, young and vibrant man with fresh thoughts and new ideas that, if executed with alacrity, could bring this nation back from the brink. And while the idea of legalizing anabolic steroids is probably quite near the bottom of his to-do list— if it’s on it at all— I can only surmise that his intellect, common sense and respect for the constitution may one day have this mess turned around and worked out in our favor. In an interview this past October on ESPN, Obama noted that this country is mired too deeply in economic woes and international threats to democracy to have Congress spend so much time debating the steroid issue. One must bear in mind that Obama’s Republican associate, Representative Henry Waxman, presided over two separate steroid hearings that totaled more time than Congress spent debating the war in Iraq, health care, or why the levies burst in New Orleans after Katrina hit. On the issue, Obama stated, “We’ve got nuclear weapons and a financial meltdown to worry about. We shouldn’t be worrying about steroids as much as I think sometimes we do.” While this attitude is a welcome departure from Congress as usual— and the 2004 state of the union address challenge that “steroids send
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a bad message,” the next hope we have comes from Obama’s choice for White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. While Emanuel is known by the nickname ‘Rahmbo’ for his strong aggressive intensity— Obama even joked during a 2005 roast in honor of Emanuel, that he evokes many of the stereotypical characteristics of a steroid user— Emanuel’s significance is because of his brother. Ari Emanuel owns the Endeavor Talent Agency, one of the top five entertainment agencies in Hollywood whose client list includes my good friend Christopher Bell, the guy who made the critically-acclaimed steroid documentary, “Bigger Stronger Faster.” I think there a good chance we can get Chris to bug his agent to get Ari to send a copy of the film to his brother, who will screen it for the President and hopefully show him that there is indeed a case for steroid reform. While that may seem farfetched, it’s pretty damn plausible and hell of a lot closer than our cause has ever been to getting in front of a possibly sympathetic president. If, after watching the film, Obama finds cause to bounce some ideas off someone who has some experience in the matter opposite his congressional associates, Obama can talk to the guy who is making a biographical film about his wife and him. Screenwriter and outed HRT steroid user Tyler Perry is said to be producing a film detailing
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the love story of Barack and Michelle Obama. How do we know Perry is on hormone replacement therapy? His name was leaked publicly in the Signature Pharmacy scandal. Perry would most probably not only have a few good words for Obama about steroid reform, but also patient privacy issues and rouge district attorneys who operate outside their jurisdiction. At Obama’s age, he is right in line to be eligible for HRT. Can you imagine a jacked president?There was one day no one could imagine an African-American one, so, don’t rule anything out. THE WAY I SEE IT, this is about as far-fetched a scenario as could possibly exist— but it’s fun to think about. It’s also fun to try and push it along. Could Chris Bell get a copy of “Bigger Stronger Faster” into his agent’s hands? Of course he could. Could Ari be convinced that he needs to get that film over to his brother, the White House Chief of Staff? More than likely. Could the President’s right hand man get the Commander-In-Chief to watch the film? I would say there is a betterthan-good chance that it could happen. If we got to that point, there is no doubt that the following might happen. First, Obama could find the film, as nearly everyone else has, eye-opening and informative. If he did, he might decide to investigate further. Who knows, he might even get the idea to talk to his biographer about his HRT therapy. Perry might tell Obama how good he feels and show him his abs. Obama might go, Whoah!! Then the gears might start turning… Hmmmmmm… maybe steroids aren’t so bad after all? In his acceptance speech, Mr. Obama said he was going to go through the national budget line by line and get rid of things that were old and ineffective.Topping the list of old,
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The Way I See It—Romano Factor ineffective and not to mention expensive follies that the government spent billions on was Dick Nixon’s drug war. Does anyone think that mess was effective? Mired in the remains of that drug war is the Steroid Control Act of 1990— championed, unfortunately, by our new Vice President, Joe Biden. And therein lies the rub; they are not just going to reform the Steroid act. If Obama is to ring true to his pledge to overhaul the national bud-
get, then the entire drug war needs reform. The steroid war was waged specifically by Dan Lungren and Joe Biden. If you have seen any of Biden’s speeches to support his idea to control steroids, then you know this man is passionate about the cause— in fact, possessed might even be closer to the truth! Can Obama change his mind? Would he try? Good question. If our new president sets out to
keep his promise, he first needs to hoist up the white flag and stop fighting the drug war. It is a line item on the national budget that needs to be addressed for its expense as well as its ineffectiveness. If he believes that steroids are not as bad as the vice president thinks they are, then we have a chance. There is probably a better chance of monkeys flying out of my butt, but it is a chance nonetheless.
$6 MILLION TEXAS STEROID TESTING In 2007, Texas lawmakers appropriated $6 million to test between 40,000 and 50,000 public school athletes during a two-year period, which ends in June. The first 10,000 steroids tests found only four positive results. The program, conducted by National Center for Drug-Free Sports using a urine sample, is the largest and at $6 million, the most expensive in the country. High school athletics are a big part of most communities and concerns about student athletes using steroids to enhance their athletic performance are legitimate— but in the grand scheme of things, how legitimate? With tough economic times ahead, the enormity of the expense, compared to the paucity of results, would indicate that the problem isn’t as big as Don Hooton thinks it is. And it would make better sense to use the money it would take to continue the testing program to fund other educational purposes. If you remember, Don Hooton is the father of Taylor Hooton, the 17-year-old baseball player who committed suicide after he went off his light steroid cycle cold turkey and got on the anti-depressant drug Lexipro. In spite of the overwhelming data to support suicidal ideation resulting from treatment with Lexipro and none from steroids, Hooton declared that he doesn’t care what the intellectual argument is, he knows steroids killed his son. Hooton appeared on Capitol Hill in front of Congress during the steroid hearings and blamed baseball for his son’s death. This coaxed millions of dollars from Bud Selig’s baseball coffers to fund the Taylor Hooton foundation, an organization that preaches steroid awareness to high school kids— of which the surviving Hooton is president. While preaching psychotropic drug awareness to clinicians would clearly save more lives, keeping kids off juice is still a good idea. But spending $6 million to ferret out four positives among 10,000 athletes is a total waste of time, money and resources. In light of the findings, Texas Governor Rick Perry said last week that steroids don’t appear to be a serious problem among Texas teens. Perry suggested that the program could possibly be scaled back and those funds used for more useful expenses. Hooton, of course, takes issue with the governor, stating that those results may
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prove the program’s worth. “This program isn’t designed to tell you if you’ve got a problem or not,” Hooton said. “This program is designed to be a deterrent. That we had low positive results suggests maybe the program is working just as it should be.” The governor disagrees, stating “That may be a bit too much money, a bit too much work for the return. The good news is we’re finding out our kids aren’t anywhere near as enthralled with these enhancing drugs as some people seemed to believe two years ago.” Hooton has a different take. He believes the low results either mean the tests are deterring use or that the tests, which search for 10 banned steroids, aren’t complete enough. Hooton cited a survey of Texas high school students, conducted by Texas A&M in 2007, which suggested that approximately 2 percent had used steroids. A University of Michigan national study approximated usage at 2.7 percent in 2006. Regardless of the fact that the legitimate scientific steroid community agrees those questionnaires are totally unreliable, Hooton, anticipating a flood of positive results, is still hopeful that his scheme will bear fruit. He said, “It’s too early for the state to conclude there isn’t a problem.” According to Hooton, his experts had only recently received the data from the first batch of test results and haven’t had time to completely review the protocol or the results. He has not yet received the second round of test results. www.musculardevelopment.com April 2009
The Way I See It—Romano Factor “I’m disappointed at the stance that is being taken before all the results from the field are in,” Hooton said. “I was under the impression we’d get at least one full year of results with football players before there was any recommendation.” THE WAY I SEE IT, you have to give Hooton props for keeping up the good fight. The bereaved dad is doing all he can to avenge his son’s death, just as I or any other father would do. However, the sad inevitable truth is that his efforts will ultimately prove futile. And to spend $6 million worth of Texas taxpayer money to try to make a point is an egregious affront to the student body as a whole, whose education and scholastic livelihood would be much better served if Hooton’s witch hunt was subverted. Let’s be realistic. In the past 50 years, how many high school students have died as a DIRECT result of using steroids? Zero. Hooton can stand on his soapbox all day long, preaching the dangers of juice and the suicide that befell his only son, but the guy hasn’t got a shred of proof that the scientific community will accept to confirm his assertion.There is just too much evidence to the contrary. The instances of suicidal ideation among adolescents treated with psychotropic drugs, specifically Lexipro, are undeniable in the scientific literature. Of the other bereaved families listed on the Taylor Hooton Foundation website, none can claim that steroids were the direct culprits of their personal tragedies with any credibility that the medical community can accept. No one knows what definitively causes teen suicide; the best we can do is guess. And a guess for steroids is a wild one. As far as steroid testing as a deterrent goes, haven’t we proven yet in this country that there is no such thing as a deterrent? Texas employs the death penalty— does that mean there is a zero murder rate? Of course not. There is no effective deterrent. So, cross that idea off Hooton’s list as well.That $6 million has pretty much been wasted. Now let’s step back a minute and look at what other dangers teens face and what we’re doing about it. Alcohol, tobacco, crystal meth, cocaine, heroin, painkillers and inhalants have all been proven to have a lethal effect on the user and teen use is certainly prevalent in high schools in Texas. How much is being spent on alcohol testing? Are any kids being tested for crystal meth? What about the other lethal drugs kids take? I think the disconnect here is astonishing and a testament to the axiom that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Hooton was able to make enough noise in Texas over the erroneous connection between his son’s suicide and steroids so that the state spent $6 million to find nothing. In light of other more prevalent dangers to high school kids, that money could easily have been better spent. To put Hooton’s suicide into perspective— according to the 2004 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report, 15,000 emergency department visits concerning drug-relat-
ed suicide attempts were reported in 2004; nearly half of all attempts involved pain medication— none involved steroids.The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports that more than 60 percent of all suicides involve handguns. Anyone want to try and outlaw handguns in Texas? It would be easier to outlaw rocks on the moon. But kids are killing themselves! Go after the steroids, leave the guns alone? Come on. What about tobacco? According to the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, almost 90 percent of smokers started smoking before they were 18.Young smokers are more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs and do poorly in school. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 million of the children now living in the United States are expected to eventually die prematurely of a smoking-related disease. How much money is being spent testing Texas kids for tobacco as a deterrent to them smoking? None. Two percent of Dallas Independent School District students in grades 9 through 12 reported having tried heroin at least once, and 5 percent reported using some form of cocaine in the past 30 days during the spring 2005 survey. This is as much and more than reported using steroids according to Hooton’s statistics. Where is the high school heroin and cocaine testing as a deterrent to these drugs? There isn’t any. What about the biggest killer of them all, food? The number of obese children has doubled during the last 20 years and the number of obese teens has tripled. An overweight child has a 70 percent chance of becoming an overweight adult. Serious health risks are associated with being overweight, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, certain cancers, breathing problems, arthritis and joint problems. Children who are overweight are at greater risk of social stigma and low self-esteem and they are less likely to succeed in school. In addition, the medical costs of obesity are high: Texas spent $10.5 billion on overweight-related healthcare costs in 2003. Almost 14 percent of high school students in Texas are overweight, whereas only 11 percent of high school students nationwide are overweight. Wouldn’t that $6 million Hooton spent on steroid testing have been better spent implementing mandatory weight training and physical fitness and nutrition regimens for high school kids? Making it your life’s work to avenge your son’s death is a course I would certainly take if I had to bury my son. I can only imagine the feelings Don Hooton and his wife must deal with day in and day out. That said, as far as steroids go he’s barking up the wrong tree. Spending $6 million testing 10,000 kids to find four positives is proof that his battle should be kept to himself. I’m really sorry his son is dead, but, clearly, steroids didn’t kill him— and testing 50,000 kids for steroids isn’t going to bring him back. !
Let’s be realistic. In the past 50 years, how many high school students have died as a DIRECT result of using steroids? Zero. Hooton can stand on his soapbox all day long, preaching the dangers of juice and the suicide that befell his only son, but the guy hasn’t got a shred of proof that the scientific community will accept.
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SPONSORED THIS MONTH BY:
muscular development.com By Gregg Valentino “Sometimes I wonder if we’re just hosting a retard contest here and we ban the best ones.” —John Romano THAT WAS MY FAVORITE ‘QUOTE OF THE YEAR’ BY JOHN ROMANO, REFERRING TO SOME MEMBERS OF THE MD FORUM. IT’S “WAR OF THE WORLDS” ON THE MD “NO BULL” FORUM— CARBS vs. KETO-DIET— AND GET THIS: STEVE BLECHMAN COMES OUT SWINGING HARD!!! STEVE BLECHMAN TAKES ON DAVE PALUMBO & JOHN ROMANO, WITH A METAL CHAIRTO EACH GURU’S HEAD— IT’S AN MD FREE-FOR-ALL, A CYBER ‘STEEL CAGE’ MATCH WITH ALL SIDESTHROWING EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK AT EACH OTHER! THIS IS A MUST-READ!! YO, TRUST ME, IT’S A GOOD ONE!!! I’M GOING TO SIT THIS ONE OUT THIS MONTH, BECAUSE THIS IS SO GOOD, I WANT ALL OF YOU TO SOAK THIS IN— IF YOU REALLY LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING, GO TO MuscularDevelopment.com AND READ FOR YOURSELF, GET INVOLVED, THROW YOUR 2 cents IN OR JUST LEARN SOMETHING NEW! SEE YA THERE!! ENJOY THIS NOW!!! Steve Blechman: Debate is healthy! It expands the mind and stimulates new thoughts. Debate is very much part of the scientific community; intellectual debate
is not a personal attack on one’s character. This thread about the carbohydrate debate has made me proud to be ‘The Boss’ of MD. The readers on the MD forum have listed educated responses why they feel that carbs are needed for optimum muscle mass gains… Steve Blechman: Again, the point I am trying to make is that based on scientific research, zero-carb diets are not optimal for muscle growth!! Even if they contain adequate fats and essential fats!! Insulin has also been well documented to suppress the stimulation of cortisol, a major catabolic hormone. With these facts presented, can you see why I do not condone a zero-carb ketogenic diet? I do advocate high protein, low-carb, and moderate fats. I just choose to think brief, periodic increases in insulin are necessary for anabolic and anti-catabolic actions. Let’s just say regarding ketogenic diets, we agree to disagree!!! I believe you will find our up-to-date scientific review article next month in MD very informative and enlightening. Steve Blechman: If fish oil at moderate doses inhibits COX-2, is there then an added effect by a daily intake of fish, olive oil, nuts oils (such as macadamia) and peanut butter?? This is the concern!! Can you imagine if you also took NSAIDs
Romano: I have both dieted and bulked on both lowcarb and high-carb diets. Few if any of the rest of you have. So, I’m going to go ahead and give you my observation: On a high-carb/low-fat bulking regimen I consumed 1,000 grams of carbs a day, 350 grams of protein and no added fat except for the 2 tablespoons of olive oil on my salad at night. I got big, my strength went up and I was fat as a pig ready for slaughter. I dieted on 500 grams of carbs, 250 grams protein and no added fat. My strength went way down, I had to do 3 hours of cardio each day, and I did get pretty shredded but I had no energy and I felt like shit. NOTE TO CARB GUYS: I don’t want to know why, that’s just the way it was. Bulking on a low-carb regimen, I’m consuming 450 grams of protein, 100 grams of carbs immedi-
(such as ibuprofen) on top of this? Scary!! I just can’t see this type of diet being optimal for maximum muscle growth!! Victor Martinez told me before the 2007 Mr. Olympia that he cut out fish as part of his Olympia prep. He said in the past it made him “look flat.” Look at the diet of bodybuilders of the past. They ate steak, chicken breast, turkey and eggs (all low in omega-3). Eight time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman lived on a low omega-3 diet of chicken and rice!! And for this year’s Mr. Olympia, I told Kai Greene to cut the 10 pounds of fish daily!! Why can’t you just eat 1 pound?? Unfortunately, the mentality of the bodybuilder today is that ‘more is better.’ Of course this is not always so. Steve Blechman: I don’t know one Mr. Olympia Champion who followed a zerocarb or no-carb diet!! Lee Haney ate tons of carbs. Ronnie Coleman lived on chicken and rice for his pre-competition diet. Dorian Yates in a recent interview said the following, “If I take very low carbohydrates, I can’t walk, so obviously I need more carbohydrates. In the off-season I was on 2,000 grams of carbohydrates a day and 400-500 grams getting ready for a contest and my contest condition was better than most, for sure, so my body fat was very low on 400 grams of carbohydrates.”
ately post-training, 175 grams of fat— mostly from nuts and olive oil. My strength went up, I’ve stayed lean enough to have veins and striations in my legs all the time and I can see my abs— none of which was visible on 1,000 grams of carbs a day. So far I’ve gained 15 pounds since starting this regimen 5 months ago. Prior to starting this, I dieted down using Dave’s diet. I ate no carbs at all except for whatever carbs were in the nuts and the veggies I ate. I dropped my fats to 100 grams, protein to 350 grams. And I only
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musculardevelopment.com had to do ONE hour of cardio. My body fat dropped at least as low, if not lower than it did eating carbs and doing three hours of cardio— and I never stopped my Sunday cheats. The pic of the side of my legs on my profile page was the result of this diet. I also had tons of energy, I got great workouts and felt awesome the whole time. If Dave didn’t pull me off the diet I’d still be on it. As opposed to the carb diet where I felt horrible, drained, no energy, shitty workouts and dreaded doing 3 bouts of an hour of cardio a day. While quoting the literature might make you sound impressive, without the empirical knowledge to back it up your argument only holds half the water. Obviously, as long as there is a calorie deficit you will lose fat. Other factors such as drugs and genetics also play an important role. There is no doubt that carb diets work. It worked for me, but at the expense of losing three hours a day of my life on stairclimber and feeling like shit. I was just as full and hard without the carbs and I got to enjoy my life while dieting. I think before anyone denounces either diet with referenced research they should at least give them both a try. Research is great, practice is a whole other ball game. It’s interesting how followers of Dave’s diet— me included— have all gotten the results the carb guys— especially the Boss— say are impossible. Dave: If you’re feeding someone high protein and moderate carbs, you can’t be giving your clients very many EFAs— if you did, they wouldn’t lose weight because there would be no calorie deficit. Something’s gotta go. Since carbs are unessential, that’s really the most logical choice. Steve Blechman: I have no doubt that Dave’s very low-carb ketogenic diet works! It actually works in many people!! Some it doesn’t. What works for one person may not work for another!! All I am saying is that based on scientific research, a very low-carb ketogenic diet is not optimal for achieving maximum muscle growth in bodybuilders. Dave
“John, in my previous post I said that fish oil (omega-3 fatty acid) and olive oil (omega-9 fatty acid) are NOT ESSENTIAL fats. This is correct. They are not essential fats in humans. Fish oils contain omega-3 fatty acids but they are NOT essential in humans. Only linolenic acid is an essential omega-3 fat. “ agrees with me on this!! Very low-carb ketogenic diets are superior for fat loss but unfortunately at the expense of losing lean body mass!! I am also very concerned about the potential ramifications of inhibiting COX-2 (and PGF2), a major anabolic pathway that can inhibit protein synthesis and optimum muscle growth!! Look at the bodybuilders of the past. They ate steaks, chicken breast, turkey, eggs (all of which are low in omega-3 fatty acids). This diet certainly may not be the healthiest but it might be the one that produces the most gains in muscle size!! Also many people are confused— fish oil (omega-3) and olive oil (omega-9) are healthy fats but are not essential fats!!!!!!! In humans, essential fats are linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and arachidonic acid!! Also fish oils do not lower cholesterol!! In fact they slightly raise LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol). They are though very effective for lowering triglycerides and approved as a prescription drug for that purpose. Romano: Bro, what are you talking about? Omega-3 fats are essential. Steve Blechman: I am correct!! You are confused!! You are not interpreting the Wikipedia Encyclopedia correctly!! Look at the 2nd to last sentence in the Wikipedia statement you listed above. It states, “There are two families of EFAs: ω-3 (or omega-3 or n−3) and ω-6 (omega-6, n−6). Fats from each of these families are essen-
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tial.” THIS IS CORRECT!!!! John, let me give you a lesson in nutrition: ESSENTIAL FATS IN HUMANS Omega-3 Essential Fats: Linolenic Acid and Omega-6 Essential Fats: Linoleic Acid, Arachidonic Acid John, in my previous post I said that fish oil (omega-3 fatty acid) and olive oil (omega-9 fatty acid) are NOT ESSENTIAL fats. This is correct. They are not essential fats in humans. Fish oils contain omega-3 fatty acids but they are NOT essential in humans. Only linolenic acid is an essential omega-3 fat. Check out any authoritative nutrition textbook. THIS IS STANDARD KNOWLEDGE!!! It is what it is. I hope you learned something today!! NOW get back to work, your articles need to get in before you come up to NY tomorrow for the Christmas party. We are having a set menu. You have a choice of fish, chicken, or steak. If I know you, you will probably order the steak!!!! I look forward to seeing you in NY!!! Romano: I guess we should clarify for the people who don’t know: fish oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, etc., are comprised of more than one fatty acid component. Fish oil, as a whole, is nonessential— but that’s not what you said. You said “omega-3 fish oil” which I took to mean the alpha linolenic acid COMPONENT of fish oil. You should have just said “fish oil” not “omega-3 fish oil.” The omega-3 component IS essential. Obviously fish oil contains components that are nonessential, but the component that you specified— omega-3— is essential. Alpha-linolenic acid is the parent omega-3 compound
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musculardevelopment.com found in fish that the body converts into DHA and EPA. That’s what I thought the standard knowledge was. Please correct me if I am wrong. Steve Blechman: Slow down. Take a deep breath and listen to me carefully! You’ve got it completely wrong! You say above that “omega-3 fish oil which I took to mean the alphalinolenic acid component of fish oil.“ John, fish and fish oil do not contain alpha-linolenic acid!! A rich source of alpha-linolenic acid is flaxseed oil. Canola and soy oil also contain small amounts. I am definitely going to buy you a good nutrition textbook for Christmas!! Romano: Bro, I’m sure you’re right, you are just explaining it in a very confusing way. According to this entry from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oil is recommended [1] for a healthy diet because it contains the omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors to eicosanoids that reduce inflammation throughout the body. Fish do not actually produce omega-3 fatty acids, but instead accumulate them from either consuming microalgae that produce these fatty acids, as is the case with fish like herring and sardines, or, as is the case with fatty predatory fish, by eating prey fish that have accumulated omega-3 fatty acids from microalgae. Such fatty predatory fish like mackerel, lake trout, flounder, albacore tuna and salmon may be high in omega-3 fatty acids, but due to their position at the top of the food chain, these species can accumulate toxic substances (See biomagnification). For this reason, the FDA recommends limiting consumption of certain (predatory) fish species (e.g. albacore tuna, shark, and swordfish) due to high levels of toxic contaminants such
as mercury, dioxin, PCBs and chlordane.[2] There are vegetarian, DHA omega-3 products made from algae available if toxic contaminants are of concern. I hope the book you get me for Christmas is less confusing than the one you’re reading. Dave: Guys, keep it simple! My original explanation should make the subject very clear in your minds. The real point here is that we need to ingest fats! Even Steve won’t deny that fact. This is why I feel that while dieting to maximize fat loss, HIGH PROTEIN/MODERATE FAT (coming predominantly from EFAs and heart-healthy monounsaturates like extra-virgin olive oil and macadamia nut oil)/LOW-CARB (since they’re nonessential) is the most prudent way to go. OK, off to the MD CHRISTMAS PARTY! This should be a fun evening chock-full of debate! After a few glasses of wine, who’ll even remember what the debate was about??? Dave: Steve, I think we’re splitting hairs here and doing nothing more than confusing people. We’re here to educate and simplify the science, not make it more difficult. Isn’t this why we teach sixth graders that when you breathe in, you take in OXYGEN and when you breathe out, you expel CO2 and water— and then, when you get to high school, you find out that OXYGEN, and CO2 (as well as NITROGEN) are all contained in the same air we breathe IN and OUT? Then, in college, they teach us about the KREBS CYCLE and ATP. In medical school, they further that knowledge by discussing the intricate biochemistry of the molecules. Steve Blechman: Dave, Great seeing you at the Christmas Party last night. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I did happen to
“As far as low-carb ketogenic diets are concerned I agree they are effective for weight loss. Unfortunately for athletes and bodybuilders they are not optimal for muscle growth or for preservation of lean body mass during dieting!!”—SB 72 MD
catch you and John eating bread. That’s OK. Dave, how can you be Italian and not eat bread or pasta?? As far as low-carb ketogenic diets are concerned I agree they are effective for weight loss. Unfortunately for athletes and bodybuilders they are not optimal for muscle growth or for preservation of lean body mass during dieting!! Dave: BLECHMAN, aren’t you supposed to be doing your RESEARCH BYTES?? Quit harassing LAYNE NORTON—LOL—I eat carbs— I’m not dieting to lose body fat. As for your FISH OIL theory of Muscle Inhibition, I’m not buying it. KAI GREENE added 35 pounds of muscle in 8 months last year eating 8 pounds of the stuff per day. I think that as long as you’re getting enough of both families of essential fatty acids, that will create optimal growth. Steve Blechman: Dave, Kai Greene ate 10 pounds of tilapia a day. A recent Wake Forest University (American Dietetic Association, 108, 1178-1185, 2008) study found that farm-raised tilapia is very high in arachidonic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) and very low in heart healthy omega-3s. Arachidonic acid does not inhibit COX-2. “Keep talking guys, I always yawn when I’m interested.” Ya know, if I really wanted to, I could make a monkey out of you all, but why should I take all the credit? LISTEN UP: THIS SHIT GOES ON & ON, BACK AND FORTH FOR PAGES… IT’S DEFINITELY ALL IN FUN BUT THERE ARE LOTS OF REAL FRIENDLY BARBS BEING THROWN AROUND… LOTS OF KNOWLEDGE AND INTERESTING STUFF IS COMING OUT OF THIS TEAM MD’s FRIENDLY WAR… OOPS, I BETTER ZIP MY LIP, AND YOU BETTER GO SEE THIS STUFF FOR YOURSELVES…. OH SHIT THE BOSS JUST POSTED A REPLY TO PALUMBO’S COMMENT, I GOTTA GO CHECK IT OUT…SEE YA ON THE FORUM… “War does not determine who is right... but instead who is left.”
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musculardevelopment.com SOMETIMES I GET A LITTLE TOO CARRIED AWAY WHEN I SEE A HOT BABE LIKE Adina Zanolli! OH YEAH BABE! It’s a thankless job, but I’ve got a lot of karma to burn off, AMONG OTHER THINGS. I GOTTA ASK MY FRIEND ADINA A QUESTION…UMMM, Do you know karate? ‘Cause your body is really kickin’! Name: Adina Zanolli Forum Name: FitAdina Age: 39 Zodiac Sign: Virgo Hometown: Carthage, Texas Height: 5’5” Measurements: 38-28-38 Eyes: cat-eye green Off-season Weight: 145 Competition Weight: 135 (I don’t compete. I just like to look good when I go to the pro shows, which is one of my favorite things to do!) Favorite Food: string cheese Favorite Junk Food: pork rinds or corn nuts Favorite Quote: For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin— real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that this was my life. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness IS the way. —Fr. Alfred D. Souza Favorite Makeup: drug store stuff (I’m not fancy.) Favorite Body Part to Train: shoulders I see the wheel is spinning, but the hamster looks dead. Name: Akram Bacha MD Forum Member Screen Name: Paradox Hometown: New York City Age: 25 Years Bodybuilding: 7 Goal for the Future: Apply to medical school, and eventually work in emergency medicine, then focus on competitive bodybuilding. In the meantime, continue to train hard and diligently add on necessary mass to compete with the big boys of NPC and maybe even the Pro. Favorite Bodybuilders: Hands down, Ronnie Coleman! How can you not love the man? He presented a package that was beyond belief, with size, shape, symmetry and conditioning that the bodybuilding world has never seen— nor will it see anytime in the near future. He wasn’t named the ‘Big Nasty’ for nothing. I clearly remember watching his training video with absolute amazement! The sheer mass, muscularity and shape he carried in his video— unbelievable— was out of this world, not to mention that he so effortlessy moved around hundreds of pounds, screaming out at the end of every set
Your Best Asset (Body Part ): calves Future Plans/Goals: getting my weight loss/motivational book published “I do not recall what day of the week I started my diet, but I know it wasn’t a Monday. Nor was it the first day of January. And it certainly wasn’t my first attempt at dieting. I started a diet every Monday for twenty years. That’s a lot of wasted time, y’all. But I always thought something magical would happen on Monday. Willpower would kick in. Temptations would go away. The stars would align and spell out diet success for me. Only, it never happened that way.There is nothing magical about the first day of January, yet people wait for months and months for that day to come thinking the secret to their success can be found in that day.You know what? I was born the 13th day of September on a Wednesday. My body thinks Wednesday is the first day of the week, September the first month of the year, and 13 the ultimate lucky number. If there is something you need to do, go after it. Don’t wait for a Monday, and certainly don’t wait for the first day of January. I found success, because I found the secret: you don’t wait. You don’t put off getting started in making changes you need to make. Not ever. Not for anything. When you have a goal in mind, and you feel the fire of change burning, THAT is the day to start. No, if you were to ask me what day I started my diet, I could not tell you. But I can tell you this: I started on the day my ‘fed up’ met my ‘fired up’ and they did not care that it wasn’t a Monday in January.” Hey ADINA, Can I get your picture to prove to all my friends that angels really do exist???— LOVE YA, MOMMA
“Woohooo— lightweight baby, nothin’ but peanuts!“ This became his trademark saying before all heavy sets in gyms all across the world! Dorian Yates brought a whole new meaning to the words ‘blood & guts.’ He brought inspiration to many bodybuilders. Even with numerous injuries and torn muscles, he trained with an intensity that very few people have witnessed. With the discipline of a monk and the tenacity of a raging pit bull he forged ahead, regardless of circumstances; he presented a body during his era that was very hard to beat and left many in amazement. Dexter Jackson winning the ’08 Mr. O opens up doors and gives hope to many other pros. Who knows, this may be a historic event— no longer will a Mr. O win based on name alone. The message is clear: show up ‘off’ and you will lose your title. Though many are quick to say that BB is heading in a negative direction, I say it’s heading in the right direction— slowly, but surely. BB’s can actually make a decent living now, and many other doors open for them as well. So long as we (the fans) continue to support BB, the culture that has embraced BB will be around for a long time. Some drink at the fountain of knowledge… others just gargle. But I kinda like the way your mind malfunctions— WELCOME TO THE MD FAMILY, AKRAM!
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musculardevelopment.com In the dog-eat-dog economy, the Pit Bull is boss…AND MD IS DEFINITELY THE PIT BULL OF THE BODYBUILDING WORLD!!!!!.....YO’, SPEAKING OF PIT BULLS, I GOTTA TELL YA ABOUT MD’s BODYBUILDING SCIENCE EDITOR MY BOY ROBBIE DURAND, WHO HAS BROUGHT A WHOLE NEW VERY FRESH DIMENSION TO THE ALREADY SUPER-POPULAR MuscularDevelopment.com! IT’S CALLED “THE TEAM MD SHOW”….OH YEAH BABE AND IT IS HOT!!!... STEAMING HOT!!!!... CHECK IT OUT, EVERY WEEK— ROBBIE DURAND GETS INTO THE MIND OF MD’s BODYBUILDING SUPERSTARS AND THAT MEANS YOU FANS GET TO LISTEN TO YOUR FAVORITE MD STARS OPEN UP TO ROBBIE AND SHOW YOU A SIDE OF THEM THAT YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE… NOW TELL ME THAT AIN’T SOME AWESOME SHIT!!!!!... IT’S REALLY VERY INTERESTING!!!! EACH WEEK ROBBIE DURAND POSTS A THREAD ON THE NO BULL FORUM, TELLING EVERYONE WHO
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HIS NEXT INTERVIEW WILL BE, AND ROBBIE ASKS YOU FANS WHAT QUESTIONS YOU WOULD LIKE ROBBIE TO ASK THE MD STAR… YES, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT, YOU THE FAN GET TO ASK THE QUESTIONS THROUGH ROBBIE… OH YEAH BABE, AND ROBBIE GETS THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS WE ALL WANNA KNOW!!!! YO’, YOU WOULD ALL BE SHOCKED TO HEAR WHAT THESE STARS REVEAL TO MY BOY ROBBIE !!!! HEY, THE FIRST SHOW HAD FLEX WHEELER OPEN UP TO ROBBIE AND SHOW EVERYONE A SIDE OF FLEX THAT NO ONE ELSE KNOWS… ROBBIE SHOWED US ALL KENNY WHEELER THE MAN AS WELL AS FLEX WHEELER THE LEGENDARY BODYBUILDER… OOOPS, ROBBIE EVEN GOT ME TO SHARE A FEW CRAZY STORIES FROM “BACK IN THE DAY”… YUP, THAT’S RIGHT, THERE’S EVEN A SHOW WITH ME AND NEW PRO MIKE LIBERATORE, OH HELL YEAH BABE, YOU’RE MISSING OUT ON SOME COOL SHIT IF YOU DON’T CATCH THESE
SHOWS… NOW KEEP IN MIND, ROBBIE DURAND ALSO DOES THE “MD RESEARCH SHOW” & THE “MD SUPPLEMENT SHOW,” ALL FOR YOU FANS AND FOUND ONLY ON MuscularDevelopment.com! YES MY BOY ROBBIE DURAND HAS BEEN VERY BUSY LATELY AND MuscularDevelopment.com AS ALWAYS, IS THE ONLY PLACE WHERE “YOU, THE FAN” GET A CHANCE TO MINGLE WITH THE PROS, GET ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS YOU WANNA KNOW AND BEST OF ALL, BE PART OF THE BEST DAMN BODYBUILDING TEAM ON THE PLANET >> TEAM MD BABE, WHERE OUR MOTTO IS “In these tuff times sometimes life’s a bitch— so why not be its pimp?” YA HEARD!!!! MD RULES!!!! YO’, WAIT UP… BEFORE YOU MOVE ON, I WANNA REMIND YOU ALL >> DON’T FORGET TO CATCH MY INTERVIEW WITH ROBBIE, YOU WON’T BE SORRY!!!!!!!... “A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.”
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April 2009
By Flex Wheeler
FLEX Critique
How Can Jay Cutler Get His Title Back? First: A Reminder— Check The Name Of This Column! Before I get started this month in my discussion of Jay Cutler, I want to commend him for both his very impressive track record and for the professionalism he has always displayed on and off the stage. You would be hard-pressed to find a better representative for pro bodybuilding than Jay. He’s a happily married man who has kept his nose to the grindstone and stayed out of trouble for many years. In spite of what some people seem to think, I do wish him all the best. If I have been critical of Jay here in MD, please refer to the name of my monthly assignment: “The Flex Critique.” MD doesn’t pay me to praise everybody and be a cheerleader. Obviously these guys all look pretty damn good if they are competing at this level. I am charged with the responsibility of offering my opinion about physiques, contest predictions and contest results. And that’s all it is— my personal point of view. You don’t have to agree with me. And I am talking about physiques, not
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the person. I know from my own experience as an athlete that it can be almost impossible not to take this type of criticism personally. In fact, some guys have taken my words on as a challenge and set out to prove me wrong. Awhile back, I said here in MD that Troy Alves would never make the top 10 at the upcoming Mr. Olympia that year. Troy actually came up to me after the show, where he did in fact break the top 10 for the first time and thanked me. He said that even though it made him upset to read that I didn’t consider him a viable threat for that contest, it was exactly what he needed to hear to take his training and diet up another notch, and that’s what put him over the top and caused him to look the best he ever had. Of course, Troy knows me pretty well and never once thought I was putting him down out of malice. Many of Jay Cutler’s fans post on the forums and e-mail me because they think I have it in for the guy, due to the things I say about his physique. Again, my job is to find the flaws and point out what needs to improve. In the end, I have the utmost respect for Jay. The man won the Mr. Olympia twice, and that’s two times more than I ever did in almost 10 years as a pro.
A Moment In Time: The 2001 Mr. Olympia Jay is up against some phenomenal competition this year in the form of Dexter, Heath, Wolf, Toney and more. The Jay Cutler I have seen at the past two Olympias wouldn’t be one I would bet on to come out on top against all those dudes— but there is a Jay that sure could give them all a living nightmare. I’m talking about the Cutler who came within a hair of knocking Ronnie Coleman off his throne back at the 2001 Mr. Olympia. He was huge, full and rock-hard from top to bottom and front to back. His upper body had plenty of deep, clear separation and detail. There was no loose skin on his lower back and glutes at all— all that sh*t was tight. His waistline was smaller and his overall Vtaper was much better than what we’ve seen more recently. There was no noticeable disparity in the size of his left and right limbs. When the man hit a side triceps pose, nobody on the planet at that moment could touch him. He looked thick and shredded in every muscle group. He even had those hatches in his triceps! Though I am known to be a friend and a fan of Ronnie Coleman’s, I have to say that from where I was sitting, Jay had Big Country handled that year. And if you could put that Jay in a time machine, set it forward eight years to the 2009 Mr. Olympia, I think he would most likely handle Dexter, Phil, Dennis and anybody else out there right now.
Come In Lighter? If you analyze Jay Cutler’s physique at various shows over the years, you could make a pretty convincing argument that he looks his best in the rare shows that April 2009
he’s come in at under 260 pounds. That’s where he was at the 2001 Olympia, as well as his third consecutive Arnold win in 2004. That version of his physique was never called blocky. He had a great taper down from his mega-wide shoulders, down to a tight waistline and then it all flared out again with his meaty, cross-striated quads. But Ronnie kept getting bigger and bigger every year, and Jay saw that his only shot at taking him down and winning the sport’s ultimate title was to beat him at his own game. Cutler went up as high as 280 pounds. That’s when you started hearing people refer to him in terms of a kitchen appliance. At the last Olympia, Jay knew the more streamlined Blade was breathing right down his neck after the prejudging and took drastic measures of drying out to drop almost 15 pounds for the next night. But losing all that water weight and getting up there at around 245 pounds only made him look flat and stringy, and further exaggerated his relatively wide waist. Dexter is the king of fullness and this only served to point that out as he stood alongside the deflated two-time champ. So when I suggest that Jay might stand a much better chance of regaining his title if he comes in lighter, that’s not the type of ‘lighter’ I mean. He needs to stop worrying about being the biggest man up there, because Ronnie the superfreak is gone. Now the game has changed and you have a few guys who combine a very full, round look with great V-tapers and killer conditioning. MD 83
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FLEX CRITIQUE Is Jay Too Old To Change? Age may be a limiting factor in most sports, but pro bodybuilding is one endeavor that has witnessed plenty of athletes hit their stride well into their late 30s and even 40s. Vince Taylor looked a hell of a lot better a couple of years ago than the Vince that I was competing against in the early days of my pro career. We all watched the late bloomer Ronnie Coleman get more and more dominating as he finished out his 30s and into his early 40s. Toney Freeman didn’t even become a top pro until he was just about 40. And even though Dexter has been looking awesome for a long time, he didn’t hit his career pinnacle until he won the Olympia a couple
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weeks before hitting 39. Jay is only 35; he’ll be 36 at the Mr. Olympia this fall. At that age, Ronnie still had five more Olympia wins ahead of him. Jay been doing this a very long time, and that has to take a toll on any human being— but I don’t think he’s too old to turn things around and get at least most of that look back, that got him to where he was.
What Will It Take For Jay To Win A Third Mr. Olympia Title In 2009? So far I’ve been talking in terms of physical attributes that Jay needs to focus on. The things we see on the surface, such as his fullness, condition, taper or lack thereof, are all
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FLEX CRITIQUE important and need to be addressed. But what will really make the difference isn’t on the exterior; it’s Jay’s state of mind and his mental attitude that are going to truly determine whether the package he brings to Vegas this year is going to be good enough to snatch the title back out of Dexter’s hands, or if he’s going to shuffle on down the lineup and land somewhere around fifth place or worse. Jay was at his best when he was hungry; a fierce young warrior storming the castle walls and trying to take down the king. Once he became the king, you could argue that he went soft, literally and figuratively. Being Mr. Olympia is a huge responsibility and Jay did a heroic job of acting as an ambassador and traveling the world to spread the good word about bodybuilding. But in the process, he lost something, and that’s what he needs to find again. I could make all types of silly analogies and compare him to the Rocky Balboa character in Rocky III, but it’s all been said before. The Eye of the Tiger is what took Jay Cutler from an average pro to Ronnie Coleman’s worst nightmare, and it’s what he must seek to regain if he wants his title back from Dexter. Once he has that burning desire again, he will be able to do what it takes to bring his physique back to what it was not so long ago. And Dexter, you’re my boy and all, but Jay would give you a battle once he does that. As a fan of the sport, I love to see a great battle. So I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say that I do hope Jay Cutler rallies and brings the pain to Las Vegas this year.
You Want To Hear Truly Brutal Criticism? For those of you who think I am rough on Jay and some of the other guys, you don’t know what rough is. Back in the day, before everybody was worried about being so nice and sparing everyone’s feelings, you would hear some really biting commentary. You wouldn’t hear that somebody was ‘a little off.’ Uh-uh— they were ‘smooth as a baby’s ass!’ People were a lot more honest and direct, even if it was harsh at times. I will never forget watching the ESPN coverage of the 1989 NPC Nationals, my first year trying to turn pro after having won the Cal earlier in the season. Laura Creavalle was doing the color commentary for that broadcast and she told the guy that my legs were too small. Not only that, but she said she knew why— she watched me train them at Gold’s Venice all the time and I didn’t work very hard on leg day! I was crushed. Rather than confront her, I couldn’t even look her in the face because I knew she was right. And from that day on, I really started beating the crap out of my legs, and they grew and grew until they were not even remotely a weak point on my physique. Nobody ever makes drastic improvements and takes his or her physique to that next level if all they ever hear is how wonderful and perfect they already look. So keep that in mind whenever you read a critique and think I or some other writer is being harsh. Maybe we’re just trying to help! !
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By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
RESEARCH
Training Don’t Train On An Empty Stomach Muscles need amino acids to grow. You need plenty of them around following a weight workout. Amino acids such as leucine are the building blocks of muscle proteins and serve as signaling chemicals that turn on protein synthesis. Researchers from Great Britain and the Netherlands found that protein synthesis was 20 percent higher in an exercised leg compared to a nonexercised leg after eating a high-protein meal. They studied the rate of muscle protein synthesis by measuring the muscle uptake of a labeled amino acid following unilateral leg presses and leg extensions (one leg exercised, while the other was inactive; 8 sets of 10 reps). They took muscle biopsies from both legs. A practical application of this study would be to consume a high-protein energy bar or shake about 30 minutes before a weight-training workout. (Medicine and Science Sports Exercise, 41: 144-154, 2009)
Super Slow Training Has Minimal Effects On Blood Pressure Super slow training involves weight training at deliberately slow speeds, such as 10 seconds for the concentric phase (shortening) and five seconds for the eccentric phase (lengthening). Most studies show that super slow training is less effective than weight training at traditional speeds for building strength and muscle size. However, it remains popular with many bodybuilders and recreational weight trainers. Some medical experts fear that prolonged muscle tension might trigger large increases in blood pressure and overload the heart and blood vessels. Jason Wickwire and colleagues
from Kennesaw State University in Georgia found similar increases in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and perceived exertion when young adults performed exercise at slow or traditional speeds. The important finding from this study was that recreational levels of weight training at normal or slow speeds pose minimal cardiovascular loads and are safe for most people. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 23: 72-79, 2009)
Calculating The Volume Of A Workout Workout volume is an important marker of the relative load and effort of a workout. Volume is determined by factors such as sets, repetitions, load, weight displacement, and body mass. Volume load (VL), the most common technique for measuring training volume, is calculated by multiplying repetitions x weight x sets. Other techniques include maximum dynamic strength volume load (MDSV: reps x [bodyweight - lower leg weight + weight lifted]), time under tension (TUT: eccentric time + concentric time), and total work (TW: force x displacement). Researchers from Appalachian State University in North Carolina found large differences between the four methods when calculating volumes, following workouts designed to develop either strength, power, or muscle mass. For the average bodybuilder, VL remains the easiest and most practical method of assessing workout volume. It is useful as long as you don’t try to compare one type of workout with another (e.g., workouts designed to build power versus muscle mass). (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 23:106110, 2009)
Weight-Training Helps Overweight Kids Lose Fat More than 18 percent of children in the United States are overweight or obese, an increase of 100 percent since the 1970s. Reasons include increased consumption of fast foods and high-sugar soft drinks and physical inactivity. Obese children have an increased risk of becoming obese adults. Australian researchers found that an eight-week weight training program (three days per week) decreased body fat by 2.6 percent and increased lean body mass by 5.3 percent in 10-year-old children. The kids also increased squat strength by 74 percent, push-up performance by 85 percent, and vertical jump by 8 percent. Supervised weight training has positive effects on physical performance and body composition in pre-pubertal children. It might be an effective way to help kids lose fat. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 23: 80-85, 2009)
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By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
RESEARCH
Training Best Way To Breathe During Weight Training Most experts advise avoiding the Valsalva maneuver (holding your breath and straining) during weight training because it causes dramatic increases in blood pressure. Scientists have measured systolic blood pressures as high as 400 mm of mercury in athletes using the Valsalva maneuver during heavy squats (120 mm Hg is normal at rest). Some powerlifters argue that the Valsalva maneuver helps stabilize the trunk, which can dramatically increase strength. Elizabeth Ikeda and colleagues from the School of Physical Therapy at the University of Montana found few differences in force output during movements of the knee, shoulder and elbow on an isokinetic device when people breathed normally; breathed in during the active phase of the lift; breathed out forcefully during the active phase of the lift; or used the Valsalva maneuver. Researchers concluded that forced expiration during the active phase of the lift is the most effective and safest way to breathe during weight training. These results may not apply to experience strength-trained athletes lifting free weights. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 23: 127-132, 2009)
Wide Stance Squats Activate Glutes Best Bodybuilding and weightlifting coaches often instruct athletes to vary their squatting stance to target specific muscles in the lower body. This advice is based more on popular wisdom and urban legend than scientific data. Using a technique called electromyography, Italian researchers determined that wide-stance squatting activated the gluteus maximus muscle better than more narrow stances. They measured muscle activation in eight thigh and hip muscles during a narrow stance (feet placed at
hip width), moderately wide stance (150 percent hip width), and wide stance (200 percent hip width). With the exception of greater gluteus maximus activation during a wide stance, stance width had no effect on muscle activation levels in the thighs or hip. The gluteus maximus muscle is the strongest in the body and absolutely essential to powerful movements such as jumping and sprinting. This study showed that wide stance squats are best for activating all the muscles in the thighs and hips. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 23: 246-250, 2009)
Restricted Blood Flow Training: The Controversy Continues Several Japanese studies showed that weight training with restricted blood flow increased strength more than weight training with normal blood flow. Athletes doing knee extensions with a tourniquet wrapped around their thigh increased muscle size and strength more than athletes doing lowintensity knee extensions without a tourniquet. Muscles grow in response to physical or chemical stress, so it seems reasonable that restricting blood flow to muscles during training might promote hypertrophy. Cutting off blood flow may trigger cell damage, inflammation, and increase stress and anabolic hormone release. A study by Brazilian and American scientists found that restricting blood flow during an 8-week weight-training program was no more effective for increasing muscle size or strength than weight training alone. Takahiro Sumide led scientists from Japan’s Juntendo University in a study which showed that restricted blood flow training increased strength at moderately-high movement speeds (180° per second). Why the differences? People vary in their response to exercise. Factors such as age, athletic experience, gender, measurement methods and motivation influence study results. We need more research to determine
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the effects of restricted blood flow training on muscle hypertrophy and strength. (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 12: 107-112, 2009; International Journal Sports Medicine, 29: 664-667, 2008)
Planned Overreaching May Bring You To The Next Level Factors that influence increased muscle size and strength include muscle tension, time under tension, calories, key amino acids, genetics and rest. Most sports training and nutritional programs have been developed through trial and error, because the process is complex and individual. Programs appropriate for weightlifters or discus throwers are inappropriate for bodybuilders (and vice versa). However, certain basic principles apply to the training programs of all athletes. An interesting article by Emidio Pistilli and colleagues from the Department of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, proposed that short-term overreaching might result in accelerated gains in strength and performance in weightlifters. Overreaching is a short-term increase in training volume and intensity, while overtraining is a more long-term condition characterized by chronic exhaustion and decreased performance. They argued that increasing the volume and intensity of workouts for a week (no more than three weeks), followed by a period of reduced training intensity, might produce a rebound increase in strength and performance. This is an interesting concept that might have applications for bodybuilders. The important components are large increases in training volume and intensity for short periods, followed by normal or moderate-intensity workouts. This concept is as much art as science, and its effectiveness will vary with the experience and adaptability of the athlete. (Strength and Conditioning Journal, 30 (6): 39-44, 2008)
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By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
RESEARCH
Fat Loss Gastric Bypass Improves Sexual Performance in Morbidly Obese Men
several hours. A study by Darryn Willoughby from Baylor University and colleagues found that Meltdown increased caloric expenditure and fat burning before and after a short, maximal bout of exercise in college-age men. They rested one hour,
Grossly obese men have an increased risk of sexual dysfunction, including erection problems and decreased sex drive. High levels of body fat trigger insulin resistance, which interferes with nitric oxide (NO) production— an important regulator of blood flow to the penis and the rest of the body. Ramzi Dailai, from the Albert Einstein Health Network, found that sexual performance improved following gastric bypass surgery in morbidly obese men (body mass index greater than 51 kg/m2; 30 is overweight). The amount of weight lost following surgery was highly predictive of improvements in sexual performance capacity. Sexual performance returned to near normal values in men who lost 67 percent of excess weight. Poor metabolic health is the principal cause of sexual problems in aging men, such as erectile dysfunction. Gastric bypass surgery improves metabolic function and sexual performance. (Journal American College of Surgeons, 207: 859-864, 2008)
Meltdown is a weight-loss supplement that includes synephrine, caffeine, phenylethylamine, yohimbine, and hordenine. Each of these substances is thermogenic (increases caloric expenditure). In our Supplement Research column this month, we reported a study by Jay Hoffman and co-workers, showing that Meltdown increased resting caloric expenditure by 20 percent for
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took 3 Meltdown capsules (500 mg) or a placebo (fake Meltdown), rested another hour, took a maximal treadmill test (approximately 12 minutes of exercise to exhaustion) and then rested another hour. Meltdown increased caloric expenditure by 10 percent during the two-hour experimental period (rest + exercise + rest) and increased estimated fat use by 6 percent. Blood pressure and heart rate were similar between Meltdown and placebo. Meltdown increases metabolic rate at rest and during recovery from exercise without imposing additional loads on the cardiovascular system. (Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 5: 23, 2008)
Green tea is a popular weight-loss supplement that also improves blood sugar regulation and influences fat cell turnover. While it is not a magic bullet that instantly improves metabolic health, it helps. Kevin Maki from the Provident Clinical Research, in Bloomington, Indiana showed decreases in total abdominal fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat (under the skin), and blood triglycerides (blood fats) in people consuming a green tea beverage containing 625 mg of catechins and 39 mg of caffeine for 12 weeks, compared to a placebo (green tea without catechins or caffeine). The people also did 180 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise. Caffeine and catechins— particularly epigallocatechin-3-gallate— speed metabolism and fight fat. Other studies found that green tea extract increased the conversion of testosterone to estrogen in fat cells, which might have negative effects in bodybuilders. Green tea is an effective fat fighter that complements the effects of exercise. However, bodybuilders should use it with caution. (Journal of Nutrition, 139: 264-270, 2009; Journal of Nutrition, 138: 2156-2163, 2008)
Caffeine Works Faster In Men Than In Women Ninety percent of Americans consume caffeine every day in one form or another. Most people drink coffee, tea, or other caffeinated beverages as pick-me-ups to increase alertness, or consume them as weight loss supplements to lose body fat. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that improves wakefulness, alertness, and some types of athletic performance. It affects some people more than others,
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Illustrated by Jerry Beck/www.ironasylum.com
Meltdown Increases Caloric Expenditure and Fat Burning Before and After Exercise
Green Tea Decreases Abdominal Fat
By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
RESEARCH
Fat Loss depending on tolerance, body size and gender. A University of Barcelona (Spain) study showed that caffeine had a greater, faster effect in men than women. The scientists measured the short-term (first 30 minutes) and long-term (rest of the day) effects of caffeine ingestion in nearly 700 college students. Coffee increased alertness within 45 minutes, but the effects were greater in men than women. Decaffeinated coffee also increased alertness, although the effects were less than regular coffee. In most people, the effects of caffeine last for 2-3 hours, but can last as long as 10-12 hours in pregnant women and in people with liver disease. (Progress in Neuro-Psychopharm acology and Biological Psychiatry, 32: 1698 DO, 2008)
Uncoupling Might Be Key to Future Weight-Loss Drugs Energy metabolism works through a series of coupled reactions. This means that energy released by breaking down fats, carbohydrates and proteins is captured in other reactions such as making ATP (a high energy chemical) or storing fats and carbohydrates. Uncoupling occurs when the energy from food breakdown is released as heat instead of being captured as ATP. The cell mitochondria (cell energy centers) contain uncoupling proteins such as UCP1, which convert energy directly into heat. All mitochondria contain UCP1, but they are particularly concentrated in brown fat. The body has evolved to store energy (fat) efficiently, but developed the ability to generate heat through uncoupling to protect itself from cold and hypothermia (drop in body temperature). Drug makers are targeting genes that cause uncoupling in cells to increase metabolic rate and help
people lose fat. This could lead to new, more effective drugs for weight loss. (International Journal of Obesity, 32, S32-S38, 2008)
Endurance Exercise Reduces Fat Surrounding the Heart Fat surrounding the organs, particularly in the abdomen, decreases metabolic health, which can lead to heart attack, diabetes and stroke. Heart fat (epicardial fat) restricts movement of the heart and increases blood pressure. Abdominal fat promotes insulin resistance, which interferes with important chemicals that regulate blood flow and blood pressure. A Japanese study found that 12 weeks of endurance training (three times a week for 60 minutes) decreased abdominal and epicardial fat. Blood pressure decreased in direct proportion to decreases in heart fat. Exercise is an effective technique for decreasing abdominal and heart fat and improving metabolic health. (Journal of Applied Physiology, 106: 5-11, 2009)
Sleep Less, Snack More Sleep-deprived people eat more snacks. Inadequate sleep is linked to obesity, but scientists aren’t sure why. Arlet Nedeltcheva and co-workers from the University of Chicago found that appetite and food intake from snacks increased more following sleep deprivation (5.5 hours of sleep per night) than normal sleep (8.5 hours). Eleven middle-aged adults lived in a sleep laboratory for 14 days and had free access to good-tasting food. During their stay, they were allowed long and short sleeps. Sleep duration did not affect caloric intake during meals. However, people ate 221 more
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calories and 4 percent more carbohydrates per day from snacks following sleep deprivation. Energy expenditure (metabolism plus physical activity) was the same on long and short sleep days. People eat more snacks when they don’t get enough sleep, which promotes obesity. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89: 126-133, 2009)
Rimonabant Combined With Metformin Promotes Weight Loss Rimonabant and metformin improve blood sugar regulation and promote fat loss. Rimonabant (Accomplia) decreases body fat and reduces heart disease risk factors in overweight people. The drug works by blocking the same receptors that give marijuana users the munchies. The endocannabinoid-CB1 system— the receptors that cause the marijuana high— promote food cravings linked to obesity. While it is widely prescribed outside the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has not approved it, because of its severe psychological side effects. Metformin, sold as Glucophage, Riomet, and Fortamet, is the most common drug used to treat type 2 diabetes, particularly when obesity and insulin resistance accompany it. It works by moving sugar from the bloodstream into the cells. It is a good drug for active diabetics because it rarely causes low blood sugar, even during intense exercise. A study conducted at the University of Hull in Great Britain showed that obese women who lost weight with rimonabant maintained weight loss with metformin. This drug combination is particularly effective in overweight people with diabetes. However, it is unlikely that the FDA will approve rimonabant anytime soon. (Clinical Endocrinology, 70: 124-128, 2009)
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RESEARCH
By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
Health Inadequate Sleep Depresses The Immune System The quantity and quality of sleep is important for normal immune function; inadequate sleep increases the risk of colds and flu. Researchers from Carnegie Melon University found that healthy adult men and women who slept less than seven hours per night increased the risk of catching a cold by nearly 300 percent. Poor sleep efficiency (percentage of time in bed actually sleeping) increases the risk by 550 percent. Sleep habits were assessed in 153 healthy adult men and women for two weeks. They were then quarantined and given nasal drops containing a cold virus. People who slept longer and more efficiently were more resistant to colds. The immune system is the ultimate limiting factor in athletics. A cold or flu will stop progress in a training program as fast as a muscle or joint injury. Bodybuilders have an increased risk of sleep disturbances because they have larger neck muscles than normal, which makes them more susceptible to airway obstruction during sleep. See your doctor if you have trouble sleeping or feel overly-fatigued during the day. (Archives Internal Medicine, 169: 62-67, 2009)
Growth hormone is important for bone metabolism in growing children and adults. The decrease in bone
Low Sex Hormone Levels Linked To Reduced Bone Mass In Aging Men Low bone mass is common in women after menopause. While less
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publicized, older men also lose bone density, particularly if they have abnormally low levels of sex hormones. In a study of nearly 1200 adult men, William Nelson and colleagues from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found that those with the lowest levels of free estrogen (biologically active form of the hormone) were 70 percent more likely than normal to have reduced bone density. The risk was 400 percent greater in men with the lowest testosterone levels. Lower levels of serum-hormonebinding globulin provided protection against loss of bone mass in aging men. This study showed that older men are not immune to the negative health consequences of falling sex hormone levels. (Clinical Endocrinology, 70: 26-34, 2009)
Pre-Exercise Icing Decreases Functional Performance Of The Hamstrings Ice decreases muscle and nerve metabolism, slows nerve conduction speed, and impairs the rate of muscle activation. Using ice during exercise or competition (e.g., while sitting on the sidelines or between lifts during a weightlifting contest) could decrease muscle performance and increase the risk of injury. Jennifer Fischer led researchers from Old Dominion University to find that applying an ice bag on the hamstrings for 10 minutes decreased performance in the shuttle run, singleleg vertical jump, and co-contraction test. The effects lasted for at least 20 minutes after exercise. Applying ice for three minutes had no effect on performance. Ice is a valuable modality for treating injuries and trauma during recovery from physical activity because it decreases inflammation, pain and swelling. However, it should
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Growth Hormone Supplements Increase Bone Mass In Adults With GH Deficiency
mass in aging women and men is partially linked to declining levels of growth hormone. A rare genetic mutation of the growth-hormonereleasing hormone receptor gene causes lifelong growth hormone deficiency. Brazilian scientists administered growth hormone supplements to 20 men and women with this gene mutation. Before treatment, they had lower bone mass than normal, but increased bone density and markers of bone metabolism during six months of growth hormone supplementation and six months after treatment. Growth hormone has the potential of slowing bone loss in older adults who are growth-hormone deficient. (Clinical Endocrinology, 70: 35-40, 2009)
RESEARCH
By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
Health not be used before or during exercise. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 23: 44-50, 2009)
Non-Surgical Treatment For Prostate Enlargement Enlargement of the prostate gland (benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH) is common in aging men. It can cause restriction of the tube leading from the bladder to the outside (urethra), leading to frequent urination, urine retention, urinary urgency and urinary tract infections. While bothersome, it is not considered a precancerous condition. A review of literature by urologists from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University concluded that the combination of 1-adrenergic blockers and 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors was effective for reducing the symptoms of enlarged prostate glands. The 1-adrenergic blockers, such as Uroxatral, relax smooth muscle, controlling urine flow, which makes it easier to urinate. The 5alpha-reductase inhibitors, such as Propecia and Avodart, interfere with the action of testosterone by blocking the formation of dihydrotestosterone. They concluded that the combination of these drugs was effective for reducing urinary tract symptoms in men with enlarged prostate glands and preventing progression of the disease. (International Journal of Impotence Research, 20: s33-s43, 2008)
Man Who Can’t Pee Many aging men have lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) linked to enlargement of the prostate gland, anatomical changes to the bladder, or alterations in the tone of the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight system). The many causes of LUTS often make it difficult to treat the condition effectively. Physicians usu-
ally suspect an enlarged prostate gland when middle-aged and older men complain of urinary problems such as frequent urination, urinary urgency, inability to urinate, urine retention, or urinary tract infections. Risk factors of prostate enlargement include family history, age, increased prostate-specific antigen levels (PSA), prostate volume, and sexual dysfunction. Other markers include slow urine flow rate and retained urine volume after voiding. Many men are embarrassed to see their doctor about LUTS. This is a mistake because physicians have effective treatments that can drastically reduce the symptoms. (International Journal of Impotence Research, 20: 2-10, 2008)
107 minutes after). Prednisolone caused decreases in testosterone, growth hormone, DHEA and hormones linked to fluid and thyroid function. Prednisolone most likely improved performance by increasing carbohydrate availability during prolonged exercise. However, prednisolone and other corticosteroids have severe side effects that eventually result in physical deterioration. Prednisolone is a banned substance in Olympic sports. (British Journal Sports Medicine, 42: 983-988, 2008)
Prednisolone Nearly Doubles Cycling Endurance Capacity
An inguinal hernia is a projection of the contents of the abdominal cavity through the wall of the abdomen through the inguinal canal. During the development of the urinary tract and reproductive organs, the inguinal canal serves as the pathway for movement of the testes from the abdomen into the scrotum. Consequently, men are 25 times more likely than women to suffer from inguinal hernias. In a review of literature, John Nyland and colleagues from the University of Louisville concluded that many athletic groin injuries are inguinal hernias. The injury occurs most frequently during cutting, pivoting, rapid changes in direction and kicking in sports such as soccer, rugby, ice hockey and football. The repetitive nature of these movements makes the injury more likely in these athletes. The injury can be difficult to diagnose, even with MRI or ultrasound. Laparoscopic surgery enables rapid recovery and is more effective than conservative treatments. The best way to prevent hernias is to maximize physical fitness and the strength, power and endurance of the core and lower body muscles. (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 42: 954964, 2008)
Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal cortex, a gland that rests on top of each kidney. It is a steroid, but not the kind that people take to increase muscle mass and sports performance. Rather, it helps maintain blood sugar levels, stimulates amino acid and fat breakdown for energy and suppresses inflammation. Physicians use more powerful and longer-acting synthetic versions of cortisol (collectively called glucocorticoids), such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone to treat severe allergies, inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis and altitude sickness. These drugs also cause immune system depression, skin weakness, reduced bone density, growth suppression and muscle breakdown, so they are not typically used to improve athletic performance. French researchers found that short-term administration of prednisolone (60 milligrams per day for 1 week) increased cycling endurance time in recreational athletes by nearly 100 percent (56 minutes before and
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Many Groin Injuries Might Be Hernias
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RESEARCH
Supplements Weight-Loss Supplement Ingredient May Be Toxic To The Liver Usnic acid, an ingredient found in some weight-loss supplements, may be hazardous to your health. Some weight-loss products include usnic acid because it causes thermogenesis— an increase in caloric expenditure and metabolic rate, which promotes fat loss. It is found in Usnea barbata lichen, a plant species composed of algae and fungus that grows on rocks and tree trunks. Usnic acid causes uncoupling in the mitochondria, the energy centers of the cells. This means that the cells lose food energy as heat instead of converting it into usable energy or storing it as fat. Drugs such as amphetamines, ephedrine, and dinitrophenol cause uncoupling but can have severe side effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported 23 cases of liver toxicity linked to usnic acid in weight-loss supplements. As a result, the National Toxicology Program is evaluating usnic acid and the Usnea barbata lichen to determine if they are poisonous and safe for human consumption. (Journal Environmental Science and Health, in press; published online October 2008)
The FDA banned the weight-losspromoting herb ephedra in 2004, and supplement makers have been searching for effective replacements ever since. Some plant extracts are thermogenic, which means they increase metabolic rate and caloric expenditure. Capsinoids (e.g., capsaicin), the active
scientists found that men with low levels of zinc also had low testosterone levels. In 2000, Brill and Conti found that ZMA increased testosterone levels by 30 percent in athletes. This study made ZMA an overnight sensation. Subsequent studies showed that zinc supplements did not increase testosterone levels in people with normal blood levels of zinc. A study conducted at the German Research Center of Elite Sport in Cologne, Germany found that ZMA supplements had no effect on blood levels of total testosterone or the biologically active free testosterone. Subjects took three ZMA capsules per day (30 mg of zinc per dose) for 58 days. While the supplements increased blood zinc levels, they had no effect on testosterone. (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 63: 65-70, 2009)
Energy Drink Increases Quickness And Alertness few side effects. Other studies found that capsinoids prevented fat cell growth, promoted thermogenesis, reduced hunger, triggered fat breakdown and had a small effect on fat loss. Capsinoids may be useful ingredients in weight-loss supplements. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89: 45-50, 2009)
ZMA Has No Effect On Testosterone Many bodybuilders take ZMA because they believe it increases testosterone levels and might be a ‘drug-free’ method of boosting muscle growth. ZMA contains zinc, vitamin B6 and magnesium. Zinc is involved in testosterone metabolism. In the 1960s,
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Many bodybuilders take energy drinks such as Red Bull, Rockstar and Redline Xtreme to rev up their workouts and improve performance. These drinks are high in simple sugars, caffeine and specific amino acids. Jay Hoffman and colleagues from the College of New Jersey found that male power athletes who drank a can of Redline Xtreme performed 8 percent better on a test of quickness and reaction time (Makoto testing device) than athletes given a placebo (fake drink). The researchers also reported greater energy and alertness. However, the drink had no effect on high-intensity exercise capacity (Wingate test). Bodybuilders may benefit from consuming an energy drink before workouts. (Journal International Society Sports Nutrition, 6: 2, 2009)
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Capsinoids Increase Fat Use
ingredient in red pepper, are promising thermogenic chemicals that might promote fat loss. They cause a burning sensation when they touch skin and are used in heat wraps and analgesic balms. A study conducted at the University of Maryland Medical School found that obese men and women given capsinoid supplements (6 mg per day for 12 weeks) lost more abdominal fat than people taking a placebo (fake capsinoids). The supplements were well-tolerated and had
By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
RESEARCH
Supplements Meltdown Increases Resting Metabolism Bodybuilders take weight-loss supplements to increase metabolic rate and suppress appetite. Accelerating metabolism burns more calories and promotes fat loss. Jay Hoffman and co-workers from the Department of Health and Exercise Science at the College of New Jersey found that young adults burned 22 percent more calories after taking three capsules of the weight-loss supplement Meltdown than a group taking a placebo (fake Meltdown). The supplement also increased resting oxygen consumption by 29 percent and resting heart rate and blood pressure by 6 percent. People taking the supplement also reported an increase in tension and confusion. Meltdown contains caffeine and several other supplements that cause thermogenesis (increased caloric expenditure). Meltdown may promote weight loss but might also cause increased blood pressure and nervousness in some people. (Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 6:1, 2009)
HMB Prevents Protein Breakdown Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) is a metabolite of the amino acid leucine. In 1996, Nissen and coworkers showed that HMB prevented protein breakdown and promoted hypertrophy in weight-training subjects. HMB sales went through the roof. Since then, HMB studies have rendered conflicting results. Nutrition researchers from the United States and Finland concluded that the effects of HMB depend on factors such as age, training experience, metabolic status and dosage. Some
studies found that HMB prevented muscle protein breakdown, stimulated muscle growth and promoted fat breakdown. A sophisticated study from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic using radioactive tracers, found that HMB promoted muscle hypertrophy by preventing protein breakdown rather than stimulating protein synthesis. HMB also positively affected protein metabolism in the gut, which could have beneficial effects on whole-body metabolism. (Food and Chemical Toxicology, 47:255-259, 2009)
Creatine Prevents Losses In Strength And Muscle Size During Immobilization Muscle mass, strength and endurance decrease rapidly during immobilization following an injury or surgery. Creatine monohydrate boosts muscle size and strength in athletes, older adults and people suffering from degenerative diseases. Canadian researchers, led by Adam Johnson, found that creatine supplements (5 grams, four times per day) prevented muscle deterioration in young men with arms immobilized in plaster casts for two seven-day periods. Casting without creatine caused a 3.7 percent decrease in muscle mass, a 21.5 percent decrease in strength and a 43 percent decrease in muscle endurance. During creatine supplementation muscle mass actually increased slightly, while strength and muscle endurance decreased by only 4.1 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively. Creatine monohydrate supplements prevented large losses in muscle mass, strength, and endurance in cast-immobilized limbs in young men. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, in press; published online in January 2009)
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L-Arginine Supplements Do Not Increase Blood Flow In Normal People Should bodybuilders take arginine and nitric oxide-boosting supplements? Nitric oxide (NO) is vital for muscle blood flow, sexual function, fuel and hormone delivery to muscles, tissue oxygenation and general energy levels. The body makes nitric oxide from oxygen and arginine. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences pooled the results of 13 studies on the effects of arginine on blood flow, using a technique called meta-analysis. They concluded that arginine improves blood flow in people with blood flow restrictions but has no effect in people with normal blood flow. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 89:77-84, 2009)
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Nutrition Protein Quality Affects Muscle Protein Synthesis After Weight Training
Essential Amino Acid Speeds Protein Synthesis After Weight Training
Muscles increase in size in response to training, provided there is adequate training stress and energy, and amino acids available to make new proteins, fuel the process and trigger chemical pathways that activate protein synthesis. A review of literature by Canadian researchers Jason Tang and Stuart Phillips concluded that the quality of protein consumed after weight training may influence muscle protein synthesis after exercise. Feeding protein during the first 2 hours after training promotes muscle protein synthesis and increases post-exercise tissue repair. Maximize muscle protein synthesis by consuming 20-30 grams of protein during the first 2 hours after training. Whey protein works better than casein or soy protein for maximizing muscle growth after weight training. Drinking whole milk after training is a simple, inexpensive and effective way to speed post-exercise recovery and protein synthesis. The availability of the amino acid leucine is particularly important for turning on biochemical pathways that stimulate protein synthesis. Several supplement makers have formulated products to harness amino acid triggers to promote post-exercise protein synthesis. (Current Opinion Clinical Nutrition Metabolic Care, 12: 66-71, 2009)
Cells use amino acids to make new proteins, but amino acids do a lot more than that. They activate signaling proteins in muscles that turn on protein synthesis and increase muscle fiber size. Muscle tension, blood levels of amino acids (particularly leucine) and insulin are key factors triggering muscle growth. They activate signaling pathways inside the cells that promote protein synthesis in the muscles and modify muscle protein breakdown, remodeling and repair. Chemicals called ribosomal
protein S6 kinase and the target of rapamycin (mTORC1) are important cell-signaling molecules that are sensitive to small changes in energy status and are major forces in protein synthesis. They work like biological computer programs to line up amino acids needed to produce new muscle tissue. Micah Drummond and col-
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leagues from the University of Texas Medical Branch, in a review of literature, concluded that weight training and essential amino acids independently activate protein-signaling molecules that promote protein synthesis and muscle growth. Bodybuilders should consume amino acid supplements high in leucine after training to maximize protein synthesis. Supplementing essential amino acids may prevent muscle wasting that occurs with aging, bed rest, inactivity, cancer, trauma and surgery. (Journal Applied Physiology in press; published online January 20, 2009)
High Protein Intake Enhances Protein Synthesis During Low Carbohydrate Diets Increasing protein intake during weight loss preserves muscle mass. Low carbohydrate consumption promotes weight loss, at least during the first 6-12 months of dieting. Sustaining muscle mass during weight loss maintains a healthy metabolism and normal functional capacity. Low-carbohydrate diets cause muscle loss, but high protein intake might counteract these effects. Researchers from the University of Michigan found that a seven-day high protein, low-carbohydrate diet promoted protein synthesis and whole-body proteolysis. They measured protein synthesis following a standard Western diet (60 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent fat, 10 percent protein) and after a low carbohydrate, high-protein diet (5 percent carbohydrate, 60 percent fat, 35 percent protein). There were no differences in growth hormone or IGF-1 responses to the diets. Bodybuilders often cut carbs when preparing for a contest. (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 90: 5175-5181, 2005)
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RESEARCH
Nutrition Low-Carb Diet Decreases Inflammation Inflammation promotes blood vessel disease, heart attack and stroke. Volek and co-workers found that a low-carbohydrate diet reduced markers of inflammation and blood fats better than a low-fat diet in people with the Metabolic Syndrome (MS). MS is a group of symptoms linked to poor metabolic health that include insulin resistance, abdominal fat deposition, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low HDL (the good cholesterol), inflammation, type 2 diabetes and blood-clotting abnormalities. Low-carb diets reduced inflammation and improved blood-clotting regulation better than low-fat diets in people with the Metabolic Syndrome. (Lipids, 43: 65-77, 2008)
How Much Protein Is Best After A Workout? Consuming protein supplements shortly after weight training boosts protein synthesis. Good-quality proteins containing essential amino acids, such as leucine, turn on signaling pathways of muscle protein synthesis and serve as the building blocks for added muscle tissue. How much should you take? Canadian researchers measured the effects of supplementing 0, 5, 10, 20 or 40 grams of whole-egg protein on muscle protein synthesis following a weight-training workout. Consuming 20 grams of protein is optimal for promoting muscle protein synthesis and albumen synthesis following resistance exercise. Albumin is critical for maintaining blood volume, which promotes cardiovascular capacity. Consuming approximately 20 grams of protein after exercise will promote protein synthesis, decrease protein breakdown and speed recovery. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89: 161-168, 2009)
Adding Fructose To Glucose In Sports Drinks Does Not Increase Carbohydrate Fuel Use Carbohydrates are the principal fuels during exercise and intensities above 60 percent of maximum effort. Carbohydrate sources include blood sugar (glucose) and glycogen stored in the liver and muscles. During prolonged exercise, consuming carbohydrates in sports drinks or meals is essential for maintaining blood glucose and sparing muscle and liver glycogen. The ideal nutrient content of sports drinks is controversial. British researchers, led by Carl Hulston, found that adding fructose to a drink containing glucose did not increase carbohydrate use. Conversely, Azevedo and co-workers found that fuel use was greater in a drink containing glucose, fructose and polylactate (Cytomax) than a drink containing high-fructose corn syrup (Gatorade). We can infer from this study that the gut contains specific transporters for various fuels and that drinks containing multiple fuels might promote carbohydrate availability and use during exercise. (Medicine Science Sports Exercise, 41: 357-363, 2009; PLoS ONE 2(9): e927, 2007)
Arginine Prevents Fat Gain In Overfed Rats Overfeeding gradually leads to increased fat mass. Arginine supplements prevented fat accumulation in rats fed high-calorie diets. Researchers from Texas A&M University fed genetically obese rats diets high or low in fat. Fat pad weights were 74 percent higher in rats fed a high-fat diet. Supplementing their diet with arginine reduced fat increases by 50
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percent. Arginine treatments resulted in lower blood levels of leptin (weight-controlling hormone), glucose, triglycerides, urea, glutamine and branched-chain amino acids. The arginine-fed rats also had higher levels of nitric oxide, an important marker of metabolic health. If these results apply to humans, administering arginine supplements might be useful in athletes trying to gain quality weight, such as football linemen. (Journal Nutrition, 139: 230-237, 2009)
Low-Carb Diet Prevents Prostate Cancer Growth In Rats Hormones such as IGF-1 promote cancer cell growth in established prostate cancer. A study from the Duke University School of Medicine showed that dietary composition may speed or slow cancer growth. Rats were fed a high-fat ketogenic diet (84 percent fat; 0 percent carbohydrate; 16 percent protein), low fat (12 percent fat; 72 percent carbohydrate; 16 percent protein) or Western diet (40 percent fat; 44 percent carbohydrate; 16 percent protein). The rats were infused with a gene mutation that triggered prostate cancer. Prostate cancer growth was 33 percent less in rats consuming the high-fat, ketogenic diets. Also, these rats showed lower levels of insulin and IGF-1, both of which are linked to cancer cell growth. High fat, ketogenic diets may not slow prostate cancer cell growth in humans. (The Prostate, 68: 11-19, 2008)
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By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
RESEARCH
Drugs Growth Hormone Therapy Cuts Fat and Builds Muscle Many bodybuilders and older adults take growth hormones to decrease body fat, build muscle mass and increase energy levels and joie de vivre (the joy of living). Synthetic growth hormone has been widely used for more than 10 years, so we have many studies to help evaluate its effectiveness. Kavya Mekala from the Lahey Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts and Nicholas Tritos from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston combined the results of 27 studies on growth hormone, using a statistical technique called meta-analysis. Growth hormone decreased fat mass by an average of 2 pounds, fat by 1 percent, visceral fat by 9 inches, low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) by 9 mg/dl and total cholesterol by 7 mg/dl. Lean body mass increased by 4 pounds. Five to 7 percent of people experienced side effects such as joint pain, swelling and numbness to the hands and feet. There were small increases in blood sugar and insulin, but these effects were shortterm and temporary. Growth hormone decreases abdominal fat and increases muscle mass, without causing changes in bodyweight. The authors cautioned that we need long-term studies to assess the effectiveness of growth hormone supplements and their effects on the heart and longevity. (Journal Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism, 94:130-137, 2009)
Growth hormone levels decline steadily with aging, which results in decreases in muscle and bone mass, connective tissue strength, energy lev-
highly controversial, in part because the hormone might promote prostate cancer. In fact, suppressing testosterone with drugs is a common treatment for men with prostate enlargement or cancer. Do testosterone supplements promote prostate cancer? In a review of literature, researchers from the College of Physicians and Surgeons Of Columbia University concluded that testosterone therapy did not increase the risk of prostate cancer nor did it increase prostate-specific antigen levels. (PSA is a test to detect prostate enlargement and cancer.) They evaluated 197 studies and made their recommendations based on 44 well-controlled experiments. Testosterone supplements do not increase the risk of prostate cancer. In fact, low testosterone levels are linked to an increased risk of the disease. (International Journal of Impotence Research, 21: 9-23, 2009)
Low Testosterone Linked To Poor Health In Aging Men
growth hormone levels. They initially suppressed growth hormone secretion by injecting them with IGF-I. Testosterone supplements are an effective way of increasing natural growth hormone production in aging men. (Journal Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism, 94: 246-254, 2009)
Testosterone Therapy Does Not Increase Prostate Cancer Risk Many physicians and aging adults have called testosterone a ‘fountain of youth’ since the hormone was first synthesized in 1934. Supplementing testosterone to prevent the effects of aging is
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Testosterone and the biologicallyactive free testosterone decrease with age in men. These changes are linked to decreases in muscle and bone mass, poor sexual performance, psychological depression, declining physical performance and poor mental function. Low testosterone levels in aging men increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and prostate cancer. A review of literature by Dr. BB Yeap, from the School of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Western Australia, concluded that it is difficult to separate the effects of declining testosterone from the normal effects of aging. Low testosterone could be a consequence of declining metabolic health commonly seen in aging men. We need long-term, well-controlled studies to separate the effects of aging from declining testosterone levels and their effects on physical well-being and performance. (International Journal Impotence Research, 21: 24-36, 2009)
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Testosterone Supplements Increase Growth Hormone Secretion In Aging Men
els and sexual performance. The pituitary gland in the brain releases growth hormone in pulses, but the pulses become more variable with age. Testosterone and growth hormone metabolism are linked and complement each other. Johannes Veldhuis and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic found that supplementing testosterone to aging men (50-70 years old) increased
By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
RESEARCH
Drugs Increased Estrogens From Testosterone Supplements Do Not Suppress Muscle Growth Factor Estrogen suppresses growth hormone (GH) and IGF-1 release and sensitivity. GH and IGF-1 are vital anabolic hormones for muscle growth. Testosterone and most anabolic steroids are partially aromatized (converted) to estrogens during their metabolism. Do these estrogens suppress IGF-1 levels? Researchers from the United Kingdom, led by Helena Gleeson, found that the type of testosterone supplement had no effect on growth hormone release. During two four-week trials, men were administered gels containing either testosterone (T) or dehydrotestosterone (DHT). T is partly converted to estrogen, while DHT is not. At the end of each four-week period the men were given an injection of growth hormone, which typically triggers increases in IGF1. The researchers found no difference in IGF-1 response following four weeks administration of either T or DHT. Testosterone supplements increase growth hormone secretion and sensitivity and are not influenced by aromatized estrogens. (Clinical Endocrinology, 70: 109-115, 2009)
Arimidex Increases Testosterone Without Increasing Muscle Mass or Strength Testosterone is partially converted to estrogen by a process called aromatization. Aromatase inhibitors, such as anastrozole (Arimidex), can block formation of estrogen and possibly maximize the anabolic effects of testosterone. Many bodybuilders take these drugs to prevent gynecomastia (development of female-like breast tissue). Researchers
from Harvard Medical School found that men given Arimidex for one year reduced estrogen by 20 percent and increased testosterone by 100 percent. However, they showed no changes in body composition or strength. Many studies led by Shalender Bhasin from Boston University found that muscle mass increased in direct proportion to changes in blood testosterone. The results of the Harvard study may be due to changes in testosterone receptor sensitivity, age of the men in the study, or their exercise habits. The results may not apply to younger bodybuilders. (Clinical Endocrinology, 70: 116-123, 2009)
Do Growth Hormone Supplements Cause Premature Death? Growth hormone supplements increase muscle and bone mass, promote vitality and make people look younger. While they increase the quality of life in some people, do they actually make you live longer? A review of literature written by scientists from the United States and Denmark, led by Darlene Berryman, concluded that the long-term benefits of growth hormone supplements are far from clear. They analyzed data on longevity in animal species, ranging from fruit flies to humans. Low-calorie intake and suppression of the IGF-1 growth hormone axis are linked to longer lifespans in many species. If these results apply to humans, then supplementing growth hormone might shorten your life. Conversely, growth hormone supplements increase muscle and bone mass and promote physical vitality, which increase the ‘healthspan’— the years of a healthy, vital life. Most people live reasonably healthy lives until the final 5-15 years before they die and then they typically suffer from disability and disease. It seems reasonable that increasing the healthspan would also increase the lifespan. While growth hormone supple-
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ments have many promising effects in older adults, their ultimate influence on lifespan is unknown. People who use these drugs may live longer, more vital lives— or they may be digging themselves an early grave. (Growth Hormone IGF Research, 18: 455-471, 2008)
Safflowers Genetically Modified To Produce Human Insulin Drug companies manufacture polypeptide hormones— such as insulin, growth hormone, and IGF-1— in the laboratory by altering the genes of bacteria. The bacteria pump out hormones identical to those made by humans. This is an extremely complicated and expensive process. A Canadian company called Sembiosys Genetics developed a technique for producing insulin by infusing human insulin genes into safflower plants. This process is cheaper and faster than current methods. One possible problem is that crosspollination between genetically-altered safflowers and other plant species could introduce the insulin-producing gene into the food supply, which could have unpredictable consequences. However, this technique shows great promise for increasing the availability and reducing the cost of a variety of drugs and hormones. (New Scientist, January 8, 2009)
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Sex Many Motorcyclists Can’t Get It Up Hollywood movies usually portray motorcycle riders as sexy tough guys. Motorcycles conjure up images of Marlon Brando, “Easy Rider” and the Hells Angels. While motorcyclists may be tough guys, many don’t perform well in bed. A Japanese study of 150 motorcyclists found that 25 percent had erectile dysfunction and 21 percent had severe urinary tract problems, such as difficult or painful urination. The problems tended to be more severe in older riders. These results are similar to those found in bicyclists. New designs in bicycle seats reduced the incidence of ED. Perhaps similar innovations could help motorcyclists. (International Journal Impotence Research, 20: 574-577, 2008)
Marijuana Promotes ED People want to get it on when they smoke grass. Unfortunately, marijuana may decrease their capacity to get off. A study from Sapienza University of Rome found that marijuana smoking increased the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) and reduced the capacity to regulate blood flow, compared to age-matched nonusers. Marijuana smoking reduced the release of nitric oxide (NO) by the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels. NO is important for blood vessel control and the capacity for erections. Marijuana smoking also triggers insulin resistance, which decreases metabolic health and sexual performance. The incidence of ED is extremely low in 20-30-year-old men. This study showed that marijuana smoking can create changes in blood vessels that can lead to serious problems with ED. (International Journal Impotence Research, 20: 566-573, 2008)
Penis Enlargement Surgery Falls Flat Size doesn’t matter— unless you are a guy with a small penis. Urologists from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in a review of literature, reported that most men are dissatisfied with penis enlargement surgery. The technique involves
cutting the suspensory ligament of the penis that makes it sag more when it’s soft. Most men can expect an increase of one-half inch in the erect penis, but the surgery makes the organ unstable. Another ineffective technique is injecting fat into the penis to make it thicker. This will make the penis look bigger when it’s soft but will not affect thickness when it’s hard. Also, the body will absorb the new fat relatively quickly and the fat penis will soon revert to its old size. Men complain constantly about their small penises, even though the majority of penises fall within the normal range. Most men also believe that women are obsessed with penis size and use it as an important measure of sexual prowess. In fact, most women rate genital size way down on the list of things they look for in a man. A position statement issued by The Sexual Medicine Society of North America stated that no study has shown that penis enlargement surgery is safe or effective, and the procedure should be considered experimental. (International Journal of Impotence Research, 20: 519-529, 2008)
ED Is An Important Marker Of Cardiovascular Disease Two-thirds of men with coronary artery disease have difficulty getting erections. The common thread between both problems is poor health of the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels. These cells secrete a chemical called nitric oxide, which helps control blood flow to the penis and blood vessels throughout the body. Endothelial function is an important marker of metabolic health and is critical for sexual performance and prevention of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Largescale studies published during the last five years showed that erectile dysfunction (ED) is a silent marker of heart dis-
Male Pride Interferes With ED Treatment Erectile dysfunction (ED) is extremely embarrassing to most men. Dr. D. Hatzichristou from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, in a review of literature, concluded that moderate ED harmed quality-oflife as much as severe ED. Men with any degree of erectile dysfunction are often reluctant to seek medical treatment. ED is an important symptom of cardiovascular disease, so failure to seek treatment could have deadly consequences. Physicians should consider general metabolic health when treating patients for erectile dysfunction. ED could be the tip of the iceberg and a symptom for more serious conditions that could lead to heart attack, stroke and diabetes. (International Journal Impotence Research, 20: S15S20, 2008)
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April 2009
By Steve Blechman and Thomas Fahey, EdD
RESEARCH
Sex ease. The blood vessels to the penis are smaller than others in the body, so they react more quickly to factors promoting disease, such as abnormal blood fats, cigarette smoking and high blood pressure. The onset of ED in men may precede symptoms of cardiovascular disease by two or three years. Erectile dysfunction is a valuable marker for predicting heart disease. (International Journal Impotence Research, 20: 9-14, 2008)
Scientists Find Link Between Blood Vessel Health, ED And Heart Disease Erections require precise coordination between the nervous and blood flow control systems. A firm erection requires increased blood flow to the penis, relaxation of the smooth muscles controlling blood flow and restriction of venous blood leaving the penis. Normal erections require healthy endothelial cells lining the arteries leading to the penis. These cells secrete nitric oxide, which trigger reactions causing increased blood flow to the penis. Poor metabolic health interferes with nitric oxide secretion from these cells, which upsets the delicate processes necessary to achieve firm erections. Scientists discovered that the same factors involved in erectile dysfunction also interfere with blood vessel health, which can trigger heart attacks and stroke. Scientists are actively seeking viable treatments to improve the health of endothelial cells, which will promote sexual and general health. (International Journal Impotence Research, 20: 2-8, 2008)
Does Cialis Promote General Metabolic Health? Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, originally developed the drug to help fight high blood pressure. A notable side effect observed by men in the study was a
remarkable improvement in the capacity for erections. Cialis is a second-generation erection-promoting drug that also boosts blood vessel health. While some studies found that Viagra and similar drugs caused improvements in blood flow, these drugs are less effective than others used to treat high blood pressure. However, it is possible that drugs like Cialis will have general health benefits that go beyond promoting erections. We need large, long-term studies to determine the effectiveness of these drugs in promoting cardiovascular health and preventing heart attacks. (International Journal Impotence Research, 20: 21-22, 2008)
Sleep Apnea Increases Risk of ED For some men with sleep apnea, rigor mortis is the closest they’ll get to a hard-on. In obstructive sleep apnea, tissues in the throat block the airway, which decreases oxygen levels in the blood and disrupts sleep. Some people wake up more than 60 times per hour and their oxygen levels decrease by more than 30 percent. Korean scientists found that sleep apnea increased the risk of erectile dysfunction by 50 percent and was most severe in men with the lowest blood oxygen levels during sleep. Sexual problems occur in 10 percent of men in their 40s and 80 percent of men in their 80s. Much of this is due to poor metabolic health triggered by cardiovascular disease and poor sleep habits. Mayo Clinic researchers found that snoring— a common symptom of sleep apnea— is also linked to sexual problems. They studied more than 800 men (average age 64) who had regular sex partners. Heavy snorers were 130 percent more likely to report poor sexual satisfaction than men who didn’t snore. Snoring is a warning sign of sleep disturbances that can cause serious health problems and interfere with sexual performance and satisfaction. See your doctor for a sleep evaluation if you snore, wake up frequently at night or have problems falling asleep. (International Journal of Impotence Research, 20: 549-553, 2008; Journal Sexual Medicine 5: 898-908, 2008)
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April 2009
Future Pharmacy By Douglas S. Kalman, PhD, RD, FACN
Winning The Battle Of The Bulge very month I receive questions that ask whether there is a way to just lose fat when dieting down for a show. Now, some diet or nutrition gurus might tell you that it is possible to lose pure fat weight, retain muscle mass and have no negative visible body composition effects. Is this possible? Can you truly just lose body fat when cutting calories or dieting? The answer is not so simple. How many calories your body is expending each day; the frequency, intensity and duration of your exercise; your gender; when and what you eat as well as various other factors all affect your fat-loss success. However, before getting into the ‘hows’ and ‘ifs’ of how it can be done, let’s take a look at what’s new in the world of pharmaceutical and natural product development.
E
Orexigen Is Orexigenic!
When examining the data for comparative weight loss, Contrave was significantly better than the placebo. Thus, with the additional Phase 3 drug studies planned by Orexigen in 2009, there is a very real possibility that Contrave will get FDA review and approval in 2010— especially if the FDA studies continue to demonstrate the relative safety and effectiveness of the product. It should be noted that reported side effects of the product included nausea, hives, anxiety, 1 headache, constipation and dizziness. Wyeth is releasing its own version of an updated buproprion that is known as Pristiq (desvenlafaxine). Whether this product, when mixed on its own with naltrexone, would have the same or similar weight-loss effect is unknown.
There is a very real possibility that Contrave will get FDA review and approval in 2010— especially if the FDA studies continue to demonstrate the relative safety and effec- Joint Pain? Many of us, especially those of us tiveness of the product. Astonishingly enough, the 8,000patient data set that was amassed indicated a weight-loss synergy when these two medicines were combined in specific doses and ratios. Moving forward to 2009, Orexigen reports that their recent FDAapproved Phase 3 weight-loss study has positive results. The average weight loss for those taking Contrave was 20 to 25 pounds; 41 percent of subjects who lost weight lost at least 10 percent of their starting bodyweight, compared to only 20.2 percent of those in the placebo group.
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who have been involved with sports or exercise for more than a few years, experience joint pain and or even develop osteoarthritis. Many of us use glucosamine-based joint-relief products, either as a preventive measure or as a natural means to enhance quality of life. A new study illustrates that osteoarthritis-induced arthralgia (joint pain and/or discomfort) can be helped or improved with 2 the use of AR7 Joint Complex. One-hundred adults were randomized to either the AR7 product or placebo and instructed to take one capsule daily for the 12 weeks of the study. The
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ILLUSTRATION BY LYMAN DALLY
Orexigen is a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical development company. Orexigen is in a tizzy of clinical research, with the goal of being the first company in many years to market a new weight-loss supplement in the United States. Contrave is comprised of slow-release naltrexone and buproprion. Naltrexone is an opioid receptor antagonist used primarily in the management of alcohol dependence and opioid dependence. Buproprion is commercially known as Wellbutrin, Effexor or Zyban. Generic Wellbutrin also exists. Buproprion is in early clini-
cal studies and in addition to having antidepressant properties, was found to reduce appetite, with a small jump in metabolic rate. In other words, when this drug was being developed, other effects in addition to the mood lifting were noted. The ‘anorexic’ effects did not go unnoticed. In fact, a Los Angeles-based physician started treating his overweight and obese patients with the combination of buproprion and naltrexone while documenting the positive and negative effects.
Future Pharmacy study researchers employed standardized quality-of-life measurements along with X-rays of the affected joint, in order to determine subjective and radiographic effects of the supplement. While study subjects maintained their normal lifestyle, 89 percent were able to complete the study. Compared to the placebo group, the AR7 Joint Complex group had significantly greater improvement in joint pain and tenderness. This indicates a strong improvement and something beyond placebo effect alone— meaning that the positive effects are more likely to be real rather than only the result of chance.
Watch Out, Pro and Nuvigil The pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has been feverishly working on a histamine H3 antagonist that is 3 orally active. The histamine-specific receptor (the H3) is located (expressed) in the brain and it is a presynaptic autoreceptor on neurons that control the release of histamine and more importantly, it modulates many neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters include gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), noradrenaline, acetylcholine, dopamine and serotonin. In fact, H3 is likely involved with the sleep/waking cycle (arousal), food and water ingestion and cognitive function. Can you guess just what Johnson & Johnson is developing this product for? Well, while I would love to see the weight-loss effects of the JNJ-31001074 products evaluated, Johnson & Johnson has decided to concentrate on developing this medicine as a ‘wakefulness’ product. That means this supplement is intended for a nightshift worker who needs to stay awake with decent cognition and then sleep without affecting sleep quality. The military also uses medications such as these, but that’s fodder for another column— you just have to love the ‘tactical athlete’ in the military! JNJ-31001074 penetrates the bloodbrain barrier and is metabolized in the liver by the CYP3A4 enzyme pathway. It is important to monitor liver function if using this medicine; to date, the studies have not demonstrated a safety concern. The dose range that was tested for this drug is 10 to 400 mg; the
optimal dose for an ‘ergogenic’ effect is unknown. The ‘best guess’ from researchers is 10 mg to 30 mg per day. The drug’s ergogenic potential for athletes is there. Clinical studies have noted increased concentration and hypervigilance, with loss or reduction of appetite. Modafinil and its enantiomer (also known as Nuvigil and/or Provigil) have been shown to enhance athletic performance (running times) and modafinil was admittedly one of the drugs that Victor Conte used with 4 some of his athletes. This class of medications is not to be used by those with active heart disease, or a history of it, including mitral valve prolapse. Therefore, blood pressure should be monitored by those who use modafinil or the newer compounds. The ‘take home’ message from this section of my column is that JNJ31001074 is being developed for the person with ‘shift-worker sleep disorder’ and it also appears to have weight-loss effects, ergogenic potential and potential use in the military. Therefore, watch for World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) to put this on its radar. The best way to make gains in the gym is by making gains in the brain. Reading, using the MD forums and website and even finding a training mentor are all worthwhile means to reach your goals. This column aims to help by being a provider of information that may be applicable or useful in helping people reach those goals. Please note, the utility of maintaining yearly check-ups and communicating with your health care team cannot be understated. This is a good habit to develop early in life. Think about all of the surprise deaths or health scares that we are now hearing about on the Internet and elsewhere. ! References: 1. “Orexigen says obesity pill works.” Terri Somers, Union-Tribune staff (San Diego). January 9, 2009. 2. Nutrition Journal, 2008,7:31. www.nutritionj.com/content/7/1/31, 3. Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development. IND for JNJ3001074. Accessed January 5, 2009. 4 http://grg51.typepad.com/steroid_ nation/2007/05/balco_boss_vict.html.
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April 2009
fatattack
By Dan Gwartney, MD
Usnic Acid And Other Uncouplers For Fat Loss: Safety And Toxicity
F
at loss has always held a dominant position in the desires of the American public and the needs of competitive bodybuilders. In response to the conditions that plagued our distant ancestors, the human body adapted such that the storage of food energy (calories) was promoted in times of plenty to survive periods of famine. Civilization has since developed stable food production and distribution; in combination with the availability of adequate housing, progress has all but removed the threat of famine. Sadly, the incidence of man-made ruin (i.e., war, pollution) has not lessened worldwide, but the U.S. has been largely insulated from these matters within its borders. Citizens of developed nations should be healthier than any prior generation. Yet, even with the mixed blessing of abundant resources, human nature and physiology have plunged the population into an obesity epidemic. The term obesity epidemic has been criticized, as bodyweight concerns are considered by some as being a matter of vanity; others observe that many of the co-morbidities (associated health problems) can be managed medically. Frankly, the ‘objectivity’ of these comments does not serve the public interest. Obesity increases the risk of many metabolic disorders, malignant diseases, fertility problems, etc. Being underweight (BMI> YO’ WHAT’S UP….WHAT’S HAPPENING…..WHAT’S GOOD…WELCOME TO MD’s HOME OF FREAKS , WITH MD’s “KING OF FREAKS” …ME!!!! …GEEZ WHO ELSE WERE YOU EXPECTING????……YO, BEFORE WE START I GOT 2 WORDS FOR YOU ALL….FUCK OFF!!!!!….MAN THAT FELT GOOD!!!!... People think it must be fun to be a super genius like myself, but they don’t realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world.…SO HOW’S ALL MY MOMO’S
AND PINHEADS DOING THIS MONTH?????...(THAT MEANS YOU, SITTING THERE ON YOUR TOILET, READING THIS CRAP.) Confucious say: He who stand on toilet seat is high on pot!!! (IF YOU DON’T GET THAT ONE THEN YOU REALLY ARE A PINHEAD.) I like to con and insult people, that’s why I really should have become a Consultant.… OK THAT WAS KINDA DRY LAMEHUMOR, FORGIVE ME…. ANYWAY, I LOVE YOU ALL, YOU READERS ARE MY HEART… OH YEAH BABE, “It’s me and you against the world…. So when do we attack?” I WANNA THANK ALL YOU RAMBLIN’ FREAK READERS FOR MAKING MY SHIT HERE NUMBER ONE!!!… IT’S NO SECRET THAT “I do for bullshit what Stonehenge does for rocks!!!” RAMBLIN’ FREAK RULES!!! Attn: ALL YOU VALENTINO
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“INTERNET SHIT TALKERS & HATERS,” >>The 10th Annual “Big Buff Bodybuilder Muscle Worshipping/Ass-Kissing Contest” is next Friday… I am asking that you NOT participate, so someone else can win this year!! THANKS, CHAMPS!!! (wink) “When I was a kid, I had just 2 friends, and they were both imaginary, they would only play with each other and leave me out of all the fun... that really hurt me very much.” I REMEMBER YEARS AGO WHEN I JUST GOT OUT OF SITTING IN A JAIL CELL, I WAS STRESSING OUT BIG TIME… SO AS ALWAYS I CALLED MY CHILDHOOD FRIEND DR. COLKER AND I TOLD HIM THAT MY DICK DON’T WORK ANYMORE AND ON TOP OF THAT, I THINK I HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE FROM ALL THE STRESS I WAS GOING THROUGH … COLKER REPLIED “Oh Gregg you’re fine, just simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure on your veins, and remember to use a timer, 3 minutes exactly.” FOR A SPLIT SECOND I THOUGHT HE WAS SERIOUS AND I WAS THINKING ABOUT TRYING IT… IN ACTUALITY, HE WAS JUST TRYING TO CHEER ME UP BY PLAYING AROUND WITH ME… When you fall, a friend helps you up— a BEST FRIEND laughs at you and trips you again!... YA SEE DR. COLKER IS MY VERY CLOSE FRIEND FOR OVER 30 YEARS, HE LOVES ME, I DON’T NEED TO SEE NO SHRINK (A PSYCHIATRIST, YA PINHEAD), I JUST CALL COLKER INSTEAD AND HE HELPS ME DEAL WITH THINGS… Hey, in my opinion anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined!!!… COLKER ALWAYS JOKES AROUND AND SAYS TO ME Cheer up bro, the worst is yet to come!!!” SOMETIMES COLKER TELLS ME: Gregg, you’re a paranoid schizophrenic... Well, he didn’t actually say it, but we know what he was thinking!!! AND LET’S NOT FORGET THAT DR. COLKER IS THE ONE WHO TOLD ME THAT “MASTURBATING EVERYDAY IS GOOD FOR THE SEX DRIVE” AND IT KEEPS MY BALLS ACTIVE… AND… AS DR. COLKER ALWAYS SAYS “ACTIVE BALLS ARE HAPPY BALLS AND HAPPY BALLS MAKE LOTS OF YUMMY TESTOSTERONE”… THAT KINDA BRINGS
TEARS TO MY EYES, JUST FROM THINKING ABOUT THOSE “HAPPY LITTLE FURY FELLAS” (MY BALLS, YA MOMO) BULGING WITH YUMMY TESTOTERONE… OH YEAH BABE, IT’S BEEN TOO LONG!!! YES, DR. COLKER HAS A WAY OF MAKING THINGS VERY VISUAL AND HE ALWAYS REMINDS ME TO “KEEP MY EYES ON THE PRIZE” >>>MY FAT CHUNKY BALLS (IN THIS CASE)… SO WHENEVER I WOULD START COMPLAINING, DR. COLKER WOULD SAY: “STOP FUCKING WHINING AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT” “YOU’LL NEVER GET LAID COMPLAINING TO A GIRL, KEEP THAT SHIT UP AND “The only way you’ll get laid is if you crawl up a chicken’s ass and wait… get my drift??” “Till then, masturbate and stop complaining for God’s sake!!!” MY BOY DOCTOR COLKER IS THE VOICE OF REASON!! HOW DO YOU ARGUE WITH THAT… HE HAS A WAY WITH WORDS!!! IN MY MIND,Worrying is good. Think of it as meditation for realists… ANYWAY, THAT WAS ALL GOING ON 8 YEARS AGO… AS FOR RIGHT NOW, I GOT THE GIRLS BUT I’M STILL NOT GETTING LAID “My life is like a porno-movie, without the sex”… I BEEN THINKING THAT MAYBE I SHOULD SLOW DOWN ON MY CHRONIC “RELEASING THE HOSTAGES” MEANING MASTURBATING, JERKING OFF…I CALL IT “RELEASING THE HOSTAGES”... YOU KNOW, LETTING MY LITTLE TADPOLES GO FREE… HEY I’M NOT REALLY WORRIED… Quitting masturbating is easy, I’ve done it a hundred times!!!... TRUST ME I CAN DO THIS… AS A MATTER OF FACT, I phoned my father to tell him I had stopped masturbating and he called me a Goddamn Quitter!!”… AS FOR DR. COLKER, HE GETS MAD AT ME— HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND WHY I DON’T JUST BANG MY GIRL… WHY ALL THE DRAMA??? I TOLD COLKER THAT RIGHT NOW MY DICK WASN’T HAVING ANY PART OF GETTING LAID… I went to Dr. Colker’s today and I told him “My penis is burning.” The doc then told me, “Oh don’t worry you’re fine, that just means somebody is talking about it.”…. YES IT’S TRUE, I CURRENTLY GOT THE THE SORE WEENIE THING HAPPENING, MY HERPES IS ACTING UP, IT KINDA FEELS LIKE SOMEONE
PUT A CIGARETTE OUT ON MY FAT ITALIAN SAUSAGE… I TOLD MERCEDES: I hope you don’t mind that I have a little infection going on down there… AND SHE HAD THE NERVE TO GET PISSED OFF AT ME… IT’S JUST A LITTLE SORE... HOW DARE SHE!!!!... SELFISH BITCH!!!! I ASKED MERCEDES: “How come when you get mad at me I fight back with you, but when I get mad at you, you never fight back. How the hell do you control your anger???” MERCEDES REPLIED: “I clean the toilet.” TO WHICH I SAID: “You clean the toilet, how the hell does that help???” MERCEDES REPLIED “Because I use your toothbrush!!!”… SIMMER DOWN… SIMMER DOWN… IT WAS A JOKE… SHE WAS JUST KIDDING… I HOPE!!!!... I TELL YOU GUYS IF YOU’RE GONNA GET LAID, MAKE SURE YOU WEAR CAMOUFLAGE CONDOMS, so the bitch won’t see you cumming!!!... WHEN IT
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COMES TO SEX I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it… YA KNOW WHAT, THAT’S IT… NOW I’M NOT MAKING SENSE… NO WONDER WHY STEVE BLECHMAN CALLS ME THE RAMBLIN’ FREAK… YO’, THAT’S ENOUGH SAID ABOUT MY SEX LIFE…I’M SO DONE HERE THIS MONTH… Women are like hurricanes: when they come they’re wet and wild, and when they leave they take the house, the car and everything else!!!!!! STORY TIME:“Love is like a booger: You keep picking at it until you finally get it, then ya wonder what to do with it once you got it”… YO’, AS OF LATE, I BEEN TELLING YOU A FEW STORIES ABOUT MY FRIEND JIMMY “THE IRON BULL” PELLECHIA AND HIS “HAPPY-GOLUCKY” CRAZY LIFESTYLE… MY BOY JIMMY PELLECHIA IS A GREAT GUY AND HAS SOME VERY VERY CRAZY STORIES— YO’, THAT’S WHY WE GET ALONG SO WELL…JIMMY AND I HAD CHRISTMAS DINNER TOGETHER AND HE TOLD MANY STORIES, THIS ONE HERE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES... KEEP IN MIND, JIMMY IS A VERY FUN GUY TO BE AROUND AND WHEN HE HAS A FEW DRINKS IN HIM, THE FUN GETS EVEN CRAZIER… ANYWAY, HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT I MEAN >>>>AWHILE BACK, JIMMY ‘MY HORMONES ARE RAGING BULL’ PELLECHIA WAS AT AN AFTER-WEDDING PARTY aka A RECEPTION FOR HIS COUSIN KATHERINE… OK NOW, THE WEDDING RECEPTION WAS AT HIS COUSIN’S HOUSE IN THE LARGE BACKYARD… THE RECEPTION WAS PACKED WITH JIMMY’S FRIENDS & FAMILY AND YES, AS YOU CAN ONLY IMAGINE, EVERYONE WAS HAVING A GOOD TIME, OH YEAH BABE, THE BOOZ WAS FLOWING… NOW, AS YOU MIGHT HAVE GUESSED, JIMMY ‘THE THIRSTY BULL’ WAS DRINKING WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND AND AFTER LOTS & LOTS OF DRINKS, BOTH JIMMY & HIS GIRLFRIEND HAD TO PEE REALLY-REALLY BAD, SO THEY BOTH STAGGERED DRUNK & HAPPY UPSTAIRS TO JIMMY’S COUSIN KATHERINE’S APARTMENT WHERE THEY BOTH USED
THE PORCELAIN CONVENIENCE (THE BATHROOM, YA FRIGGIN’ PINHEAD)… WHEN IT WAS JIMMY’S GIRLFRIEND’S TURN TO RELEASE SOME ALCOHOL, JIMMY ‘THE CURIOUS BULL’ STARTED GOING THROUGH HIS COUSIN’S DRESSER DRAWERS…. OH YEAH BABE, ASIDE FROM SOME SNIFFING A FEW PAIRS OF HIS HOT COUSIN KATHELINE’S SEXY THONG PANTIES, JIMMY ‘THE HORNY BULL’ FOUND HIS COUSIN’S BIG DILDO… LISTEN RELAX, I GOT A HOT COUSIN TOO, SHE WAS “MY FIRST LOVE” AND “MY FIRST”,,,, UMMM, NEVERMIND!!!!if you can’t keep it in your pants, then keep it in your family!! (wink)INCEST: A game the whole family can play!!” “Incest is best, put your cousin to the test” OH YEAH BABE, AND THAT’S JUST WHAT I DID, MANY MANY TIMES….OK OK OK, SIMMER DOWN, I’M ONLY KIDDING… OK MAYBE NOT, BUT I REALLY DO LOVE MY COUSIN… NO REALLY, I MEAN IT, I’M JUST A LITTLE EMBARRASSED BECAUSE MY COUSIN IS SO DAMN HOT & ONE HELL OF A GREAT KISSER!!!!… BAM!!!!... WOOF, IT’S A LITTLE HOT IN HERE, LET ME GO OPEN UP A WINDOW… ANYWAY, WHERE WAS I, OH YES JIMMY FOUND A BIG DILDO AND THEN JIMMY ‘THE SNOOPING BULL’ STARTED LOOKING THROUGH HIS COUSIN’S CLOSET… AND GUESS WHAT HE FOUND?? A BLOW-UP DOLL… NO, I SWEAR TO GOD— I SHIT YOU NOT— THIS IS A TRUE STORY… THE BLOW-UP DOLL WAS NOT INFLATED YET, SO WHILE JIMMY’S GIRLFRIEND SAT ON THE TOILET, JIMMY ‘THE BLOW UP BULL’ BEGAN BLOWING UP THE DOLL…. WHEN HIS GIRLFRIEND CAME OUT OF THE BATHROOM THE DOLL WAS ALL BLOWN UP AND JIMMY WAS NOW TOTALLY NAKED!!!!!!... OH YES, I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING— BUT NOT ONLY IS THIS A 100% TRUE STORY BUT THERE’S MORE… JIMMY ‘THE NAKED BULL’ STARTED HUMPING
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THE BLOW-UP DOLL ON HIS COUSIN’S BED… IT’S AMAZING WHAT ALCOHOL DOES TO A GUY!! ANYWAY, JIMMY’S GIRLFRIEND JOINED IN THE MADNESS AND SHE TOOK OFF ALL HER CLOTHES AS HER MAN, MY BOY JIMMY BAREASS NAKED STARTED PUMPING AWAY ON TOP OF THE BLOW UP DOLL SO SHE DID WHAT ANY OTHER DRUNKIN’ GIRLFRIEND WOULD DO— SHE TOOK OF HER CLOTHES AND JOINED IN THE THREESOME… Never do anything that you wouldn’t want to explain to the paramedics later. YES!!! JIMMY, HIS GIRLFRIEND, AND A RED-HEADED BLOW-UP DOLL (IN JIMMY’S WORDS “CARROT-TOP RED HAIR”) WERE ALL BOUNCING AROUND ON TOP OF JIMMY’S COUSIN’S BED IN A HEAT OF PASSION… THEN A CRAZY THOUGHT HIT JIMMY’S HEAD (DON’T SAY IT, I KNOW WHAT YOU READERS ARE THINKING, KEEP IT TO YOURSELVES)… JIMMY WAS FEELIN’ KINDA CRAZY AND VERY HORNY AT THE SAME TIME, SO HE OPENED UP THE BEDROOM WIN-
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DOW AND STUCK THE BLOW-UP DOLL’S HEAD AND TORSO OUT OF THE WINDOW WHILE HE WAS BANGING AWAY ON THE DOLL’S PLASTIC MUSH-POT, DOGGY STYLE!!!!... THE WHOLE WEDDING RECEPTION PARTYING IN THE BACKYARD SAW JIMMY GRINNING LIKE A “DIRTY OLD MAN IN A PEEP SHOW BOTH,” AS HE WAS POUNDING AWAY ON HIS PLASTIC PRINCESS’S “PLASTIC HAM SANDWICH” (HER PUSSY) AS THE DOLL’S BRIGHT RED HAIR WAS VIGOROUSLY BOUNCING AROUND OUT OF THE UPSTAIRS BEDROOM WINDOW FOR ALL HORRIFIED WEDDING PARTIERS TO SEE… UMMMMM, NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE WHOLE WEDDING RECEPTION GASPED AT THE OUTRAGEOUS SIGHT, ESPECIALLY JIMMY’S COUSIN KATHERINE WHO HAD TO LATER THROW HER BLOW-UP DOLL AWAY… NO NOT JUST BECAUSE HER
COUSIN JIMMY ‘THE DOLL- LOVING BULL’ WAS TEARING IT UP, BUT BECAUSE JIMMY LEFT A LITTLE PRESENT IN THE DOLL’S PLASTIC ‘CLAM CAVE’… OH YEAH BABE, IT’S GROSS BUT IT’S TRUE, YOU ALL GOT IT RIGHT — JIMMY LEFT A LITTLE PEARL IN THAT ‘CLAM’ … YUKK!!!... JIMMY LATER TOLD ME THAT WAS THE FIRST RED-HEAD HE EVER FUCKED… I FORGOT TO ASK HIM IF THE DOLL ALSO HAD RED HAIR, UMMMM… FORGET IT, I REALLY DON’T WANT TO KNOW…If most people said what’s on their minds, they’d be speechless… MY BOY JIMMY ‘THE IRON BULL’ PELLECHIA IS A STRAIGHT-UP MOTHERFUCKER, THAT’S WHY I LOVE HIM & HIS CRAZY SIDE… I GOT 2 WORDS FOR YA ALL— FUCK OFF!!!! DON’T FORGET TO GO TO MY WEBSITE: WWW.GREGGVALENTINO.NET…. MY MAILING ADDRESS IS >> GREGG VALENTINO 3663 LEE RD. # 415 , JEFFERSON VALLEY NEW YORK 10535. BUT PLEASE UNDERSTAND, IT’S VERY HARD FOR ME TO WRITE BACK… F/O
Checkout the totally outrageous uncensored interview with the Ramblin Freak only on Musculardevelopment.com in the MD Audio online!!! 322 MD
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TRAINING, NUTRITION, DIET, & SUPPLEMENTATION
NOJUICE Bodybuilding By Eric Broser
Unless you’ve been in outer space, lost in the jungle, or hiding under a rock, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the debate going on regarding keto vs. low-carb diets, both on the Muscular Development discussion board, as well as in the hardcore pages of MD magazine itself. Even ‘Boss Blechman’ has thrown himself into the mix, posting more often in the last few weeks than at any other time in the board’s existence! If you are a regular reader of my No Juice column, then certainly you are aware that I recently finished up a three-part series on why I feel that natural bodybuilders should avoid keto-contest dieting, and instead opt for a well-timed, low-carb approach (with high protein and a good amount of EFAs). Apparently my colleague and fellow MD columnist, Dave Palumbo, spent some of his valuable time reading my words, as he took up a good amount of space in the March issue in order to “hold me accountable for my bold statements.” When I read this I actually laughed so hard that my waxy maize starch post-workout recovery shake shot out of my nostrils like water from a garden hose. (Wait— doesn’t Dave sell waxy maize? Isn’t this like Gregg Valentino selling “Go Red Sox” banners?) So why did I laugh? Well, because Dave simply amuses me— and heck, no matter what, I like the guy and respect what he’s doing in the industry— as he does me. And with that in mind, I will now proceed with my final words on this matter… When I first read Dave’s little tirade, I immediately began gathering research that backs up the points I mentioned in my last few columns— then I came to the realization that
both Robbie Durand (MD’s Senior Science Editor) and Steve Blechman (Bossman and absolute research freak!) have already reported dozens of pertinent studies on this subject, both in the magazine and on the boards— and they all support my side of this debate! So I thought, why should I take up space simply repeating what has been put forth so many times before? And more importantly, why waste my breath when I know Dave will simply wave these studies off as unreliable, false, stupid, biased, poorly-executed, typed in the wrong font, performed in too small a build-
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ing, or executed by scientists not fond of small dogs… but I digress. I have known Dave long enough to see that he only backs research that supports HIS concepts and dismisses everything else as carb-induced ridiculousness! If there is one thing I can tell you guys for sure, it is that you cannot teach a blind person to see, or a deaf person to hear. I once knew a guy back in NY who used to hang out behind a 7-11 and talk to the wall for most of the day— and I bet he is still out there, talking… And you know what I just don’t understand? Please, humor me for a
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moment. The goal in the off-season is to gain as much muscle mass as possible, while attempting to add on as little fat as possible. During pre-contest, gears are switched so that the goal becomes: lose a maximum amount of body fat, while retaining as much muscle as possible. In Dave’s last column he stated: “Remember, carbs spare the protein and fats you consume so that they may be used for building and repairing muscle. If you don’t eat enough carbohydrates, some of the fats and protein will, invariably, get used for fuel.” OK, in the off-season Dave recommends the use of dietary carbohydrates, because he knows they help to build muscle size, right? So, when dieting for a contest, wouldn’t it make sense to simply cut back on overall calories (so you are burning more than you ingest), but still keep some carbs in the diet to help maintain muscle mass? Is it necessary to cut carbs completely, when they obviously play a role in the building and/or maintenance of lean tissue? Doesn’t it stand to reason that cutting them out completely would influence a loss in muscle while one is cutting body fat? Yes, keto diets do work at burning fat, but the question is, “Are they optimal for a dieting bodybuilder, whose goal is not only to get shredded, but also to retain the greatest amount of their hard-earned muscle mass as possible?” Would keeping a small amount of properly-timed carbs in the diet prevent you from burning fat? Absolutely not! Will they help you to retain muscle? Yes they will! Will one single cheat meal of carbs (as the Anabolic Freak recommends) out of the 42-56 you consume per week take care of the negatives associated with long-term ketosis? Doubtful. Another thing that bugs me is that every top trainer in the industry will tell you that there are no absolutes in bodybuilding. While each of us has a basic philosophy that we believe in and work with, we also understand that every person is unique, and thus needs a slight variation of our basic plan based upon gender, lifestyle, metabolism, genetics, body type, etc., as well as whether the athlete is natural or enhanced— sorry, this does make a difference!! As far as I know,
Dave recommends a keto fat-loss approach to everyone, whether male, female, drug-free, enhanced, ectomorph, endomorph, mesomorph, dwarf, giant, Democrat, Republican or alien! OK, I am making fun, but you get the point. Each person must be dealt with on an individual level and in my experience no two people react exactly alike to the same diet. But hey, I don’t blame Dave for relentlessly proclaiming his keto diet as the Holy Grail of fat loss! This is what he has become known for, just as Mentzer was known for his heavy duty training, which he shoved down our throats at every opportunity, despite the millions of trainees who have gotten huge while working out 4-5 times per week at 1-2 hours at a clip! Perhaps Mike truly believed his system was superior, or maybe he
knew that selling something different could make him seem like he knew something the rest of us didn’t. Regardless, arguing with Dave today would prove just as successful as arguing with Mike… and Dave is still above ground. Let me conclude this whole thing with one final point: before making a judgment in any facet of bodybuilding, make sure you give everything a fair try. In other words, be your own scientist and experiment on yourself to discover what works best for you— even if under the guidance of a good coach. Always remember, what you have done in the past might have ‘worked,’ but it may not be OPTIMAL— which is what we must always be in search of if we are to reach our full potential. Godspeed, my friends! ■
By Layne Norton There are a few things in bodybuilding that are just accepted as fact; they are beyond reproach or question. We all KNOW that to optimize mass gains, it is crucial to consume adequate amounts of high-quality protein. We all KNOW that the best way to consume high protein intakes is to spread them out into small frequent meals, to keep amino acid levels elevated constantly, in order to constantly keep ourselves in a state of anabolism. We know that eight meals per day is the best way to go! We are ALL WRONG!
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How often protein should be consumed is just as important as how much should be consumed at each meal, as the summation of the anabolic response to the meal is not only how high the response peaks, but how long the response lasts. In other words, when a high-protein meal induces an increase in protein synthesis, how long does that response last and when can you stimulate it again? This will determine optimal meal frequency to maximize anabolism. Our lab has demonstrated that the anabolic response to a complete meal
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NO JUICE BODYBUILDING containing protein, carbohydrates and fats peaks at 90 minutes and returns to baseline by 3 hours.1 So that makes it easy, right? We should just eat every 3 hours. Well, before you go running off with this information, read the rest of what I have to say. What is REALLY interesting about our findings is that while protein synthesis had returned to baseline after 3 hours, plasma amino acid levels were still elevated above baseline and plasma leucine (the amino acid responsible for increasing protein synthesis) was elevated almost 3x above baseline! Accordingly, the activation of the mTOR pathway (mTOR activation initiates protein synthesis) was still maximized at 3 hours, whereas protein synthesis had returned to baseline. Thus, increases in plasma leucine were able to trigger mTOR signaling and protein synthesis, but sustained elevations of plasma leucine and mTOR signaling were not sufficient to maintain elevated protein synthesis. This suggests a ‘refractory’ response of protein synthesis to prolonged elevations in plasma amino acids. Bohe et al. also demonstrated the refractory response to constant elevations in amino acids during a 6-hour infusion of essential amino acids.2 The infusion produced constant elevations in plasma EAAs; however, protein synthesis lasted only 2 hours and could not be further stimulated during the 6-hour period. It is unlikely that eating another meal 2-3 hours after the first meal would be sufficient to increase protein synthesis again, since amino acid levels are already elevated. Therefore, in order to avoid refractoriness and maximize anabolism, it may be best to consume larger doses of protein to maximize protein synthesis, while allowing enough time (4-6 hours) for amino acid levels to
fall between meals, in order to resensitize the system. Now I’ve probably shocked you so much that you spit your protein shake out all over your magazine and now you are cursing me for 1) ruining your new issue of MD, and 2) telling you the bodybuilding meal-eating protocol you’ve been following for so long may not be optimal for making gains! You worked so hard for so long, to ensure that you were always getting a constant level of amino acids in and now you’re being told that this refractory jerk is saying all your efforts are for naught! Well, I apologize for ruining your magazine, but I won’t apologize for busting on musclehead dogma— that is just what I do. One possible mechanism to explain refractoriness (it really is a word, I checked), is that there is a membrane-bound protein stat, either extracellular or intracellular, which is sensitive to relative CHANGES in amino acid concentrations, rather than absolute concentrations. In this case, producing constant elevations in plasma amino acids would produce a refractory response, as an unchanging elevation in amino acids would not be sufficient to activate the protein. One
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possible way to overcome this would be to consume a sizable dose of freeform amino acids in between meals to produce a rapid supraphysiological increase in plasma amino acids, which would also quickly decrease, to resensitize the system. Another possible explanation for refractoriness may involve insulin. The time course of plasma insulin in our study seemed to track protein synthesis.1 Bohe et al. also showed a similar pattern during their infusion study.2 While increasing insulin is not required to initiate protein synthesis, it does maximize the anabolic response to amino acids.3,4 Perhaps elevations in plasma insulin are required to MAINTAIN protein synthesis after a meal. If this is true, it is likely that the mechanism is independent of insulin’s effects on the mTOR pathway, as our lab demonstrated that the refractory response can occur even when mTOR signaling remains elevated.1 While insulin is not required to initiate protein synthesis, it is known to stimulate peptide elongation (the elongation of a growing protein as it is synthesized) in skeletal muscle.5 If declining plasma insulin concentrations reduce peptide elongation, it could possibly ‘short-circuit’ protein synthesis and explain refractoriness. Consistent with both of these theories, PaddonJones et al. fed three highprotein meals, spaced 5 hours apart, with or without a 15-gram essential amino acid/30-gram carbohydrate supplement in between each meal and measured the anabolic response to each treatment.6 They found that over the course of the day, the group that consumed the supplement had a greater anabolic response than the group that did not receive the supplement. Perhaps consumption of the free-form amino acid supplement along with carbohydrate was sufficient to overcome the
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NO JUICE BODYBUILDING refractory response, or the supplement merely optimized the anabolic response to each meal. In either case, it appears that consuming larger doses of protein spaced further apart (4-6 hours), while supplementing with a freeform amino acid and carbohydrate supplement between meals, is an effective way to maximize muscle protein synthesis and possibly overcome the refractory response. Layne Norton received his BS in biochemistry from Eckerd College and he is a PhD candidate in nutritional sciences at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on optimal protein intake and muscle protein metabolism. Layne is a natural pro bodybuilder and is the owner of BioLayne LLC, a consulting business for contestprep coaching, general nutrition and training consultation. Please visit http://www.biolayne.com for more information. References: 1. Norton LE, Layman DK, Garlick PJ, Brana DV, Anthony TG, Zhao L, Devkota S, and Walker DA. Translational controls of muscle protein synthesis are delayed and prolonged associated with ingestion of a complete meal. FASEB J, 2007 21: 694.6 2. Bohe J, Low JF, Wolfe RR, Rennie MJ. Latency and duration of stimulation of human muscle protein synthesis during continuous infusion of amino acids. J Physiol, 2001 Apr 15; 532(Pt 2):575-9. 3. Anthony JC, Lang CH, Crozier SJ, Anthony TG, MacLean DA, Kimball SR, Jefferson LS. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2002 May; 282(5):E1092-101. 4. Greiwe JS, Kwon G, McDaniel ML, Semenkovich CF. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2001 Sep; 281(3):E466-71. 5. Yoshizawa F, Tonouchi A, Miura Y, Yagasaki K, Funabiki R. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem, 1995 Feb; 59(2):348-9. 6. Paddon-Jones D, Sheffield-Moore M, Aarsland A, Wolfe RR, Ferrando AA. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2005 Apr; 288(4):E761-7. Epub 2004 Nov 30.
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We’ve all watched the typical bodybuilding DVD. Usually they are so boring and low quality that watching a 2hour DVD can seem like 10 hours!
“Layne Norton Unleashed” is packed with information from start to finish! Natural pro bodybuilder and PhD candidate Layne Norton lays out his training and nutritional theories, but goes more in-depth and explains the science behind his theories and how you can incorporate it into your routine for maximum gains. The DVD features non-stop action from start to finish, with high-quality footage and video editing! This DVD bridges the gap between hardcore training and real science and is a video you’ll want to watch over and over! Please visit http://www.biolayne.com to purchase!
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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Anabolic ResearchUpdate By William LIewellyn
Warning: Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of this magazine’s publisher or its editorial staff. MD does not condone any form of illegal drug use for bodybuilding or for any recreational purpose. MD also does not condone abuse of legal drugs for any purpose. Why is my nose bleeding? I started getting nosebleeds during my last cycle of testosterone and trenbolone. It happened several times while training during the same week and took awhile to stop each time. I don’t normally get nosebleeds, so I know it is the steroids. My friends tell me it is normal. It freaked me out, so I stopped taking steroids for awhile. I want to start again, but I’m nervous. I know people are talking. Can you help me understand what caused this and if I can avoid it in the future? As you suspect, nosebleeds are a known possible side effect of steroid use. They occur at one time or another to a fair percentage of users. Physiologically, this problem is most directly caused by a combination of two factors. To begin with, when used at therapeutic and moderately supratherapeutic (above normally prescribed) dosages, anabolic steroids tend to decrease blood-clotting ability. If you want to know specifically what is happening, it appears the drugs increase plasmin, antithrombin III, and protein S levels, stimulate fibrinolysis (clot breakdown), 1,2 and suppress clotting factors II, V, VII, and X. If you look, you’ll see that the prescribing guidelines for anabolic/androgenic steroids in the U.S. warn of potential increases in prothrombin time, a measure of how long it 3 takes for a blood clot to form. This ‘thinning’ of the blood also seems to make a full noticeable nosebleed more likely, and when it does occur, slower to stop. Before we move on to the next factor, you need know that steroids don’t always reduce blood clotting. In fact, when used at high supratherapeutic dosages, these drugs can actually have the exact opposite effect on the blood. It seems that anabolic steroids can also elevate levels of 4 5 thrombin and C-reactive protein, as well as thromboxane 6 A2 receptor density, which support clotting. At a certain dosage level, which is yet to be determined and likely varying between individuals, the pro-clotting changes in the blood appear to overtake the anti-clotting effects discussed earlier. These changes have been well-documented in some 7 steroid abusing subjects, as are reports of (sometimes fatal) 8,9,10,11,12 blood clots, embolisms, and strokes. I don’t mean to confuse you, but I do think this is important to know. And in a small regard, the nosebleeds you reported may be a positive sign that your blood does not have an increased clotting tendency that would increase the risk of stroke. The second big factor is probably very obvious: blood pressure. Although clinically consistently elevated blood pressure (hypertension) is not common in steroid users, it
does occur with some frequency. I would first and foremost make sure I was not suffering from hypertension, as this is something that should never be ignored and can contribute to serious health issues. Often, elevated estrogen can be a key culprit in this side effect and slight changes in BP might be mitigated with a reduction in the estrogen level. Note, however, that hypertension is sometimes also reported with the use of non-aromatizing (purely anabolic/androgenic) compounds, so you can’t always rely on estrogen exclusively. Of course, during intense training, your blood pressure may become temporarily elevated as well. This likely explains why the nosebleeds were occurring during your training sessions. So increased blood pressure and reduced clotting could both be working hand in hand to support those nosebleeds. I am not a physician and can’t advise you on what you need to do. With that said, as you probably know by reading my column, I believe you should always put safety first. The first thing I think any logical person would tell you is that you should go to the doctor for a full checkup. This is always a good idea when you cycle, and really a necessity if you are noticing strong side effects. If you don’t want to do this, you need to at least rule out hypertension. Blood pressure is an especially easy thing to check. I’d call some local largechain pharmacies, as many of them will have a blood pressure machine on site for free use. I would say that, provided hypertension or any other pathological condition is not the cause, an occasional nosebleed is probably not serious. Certainly it can be very uncomfortable, frightening, troubling and even embarrassing to endure— and as you now know, it may indicate a more serious underlying issue, so you don’t want to just ignore it.
Trenbolone Acetate or Enanthate? I want to use trenbolone and don’t know if I should get acetate or enanthate. I have access to both. What is the difference? What do you like better? The first thing you need to keep in mind is that esters affect the release of the active steroid, in this case trenbolone. So either way, free trenbolone will be the drug actually doing the job. Provided both products were pharmaceutically pure and properly dosed, both would be acceptable choices if you wanted to use a trenbolone. But indeed there is a big difference between these two steroids, which is found in the rate in which trenbolone is released into the blood. Acetate is a very fast-acting ester and needs to be admin-
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AnabolicResearchUpdate istered very frequently to maintain consistent blood levels. Usually it is given every other day, to every third day at the most. This can make for many repeat injections during a cycle. The short ester can also be painful for some people, caused by the inherent irritating properties of free shortchain fatty acids. Enanthate, on the other hand, is slow-acting (taken once per week usually) and more comfortable for most people to use. You might want to also consider that short-chain esters, such as acetate and propionate, are not widely used in human medicine at all. They were used regularly a long time (many decades) ago, but have since been brushed aside for longer esters, such as enanthate and cypionate. Enanthate actually dominates the global market for injectable testosterone right now. You won’t find testosterone acetate anywhere but in an obscure veterinary steroid these days. In general, if you do find a short-chain ester like an acetate or propionate, it is in a veterinary preparation. Obviously, the mental and physical comfort of an animal tends to be of a much lower priority. All things being equal, a long-chain ester like enanthate is preferable, as it would be more comfortable (if not necessarily more effective). There is another thing to consider, though. No registered drug company anywhere in the world is making a prescription trenbolone enanthate product. This material is used in the production of underground steroid products exclusively and while I’m sure there are many pure trenbolone enanthate products available, you should keep this in mind. Conversely, trenbolone acetate is still made by a number of U.S. and international drug companies. The U.S. Finaplix pellets, which have been sold in the U.S. without the same strict regulations, are also still available and almost guaranteed legitimate pharmaceutical-quality. The chance of obtaining pharmaceutical quality trenbolone acetate is, therefore, higher. So ultimately, there are some plusses and minuses whichever way you go— but either way, you are going trenbolone. If it were me, I’d make the choice based solely on my confidence in the sterility and purity of the preparation, regardless of the ester.
Liver Support? Do you think it is a good idea to take a natural liver supplement during oral cycles to help with liver stress? Is it necessary, or are all these products ripoffs? On the one hand, life-threatening liver toxicity is very rare with steroid use. Many steroid users take orals frequently and very few deaths are attributed to this. That is not to say they cannot cause liver failure— indeed, these drugs can and have. But I don’t want you to be too alarmed. If you use reasonable dosages and take the drugs for only periodic cycles, your odds of encountering a life-threatening issue are very low. On the other hand, serious issues like high elevations of hepatic enzymes and jaundice (bilirubin buildup caused by bile duct obstruction) are somewhat more common. Stories about yellowing of the skin or notable ‘sickness’ marked by nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, or other ill feelings are quite common. I remember years ago my training part-
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ner telling me, “Dude, you’re turning yellow, man.” Sure enough, I was— so I’ve been there myself. While discontinuing the orals took care of the problem for me (and most people who have had these issues), I would have liked to have avoided getting there in the first place. In this regard, a good liver-support product can be a great thing to have. Indeed I don’t believe they are usually rip-offs, and in fact there are a lot of clinical data supporting the beneficial effects of certain natural ingredients. Products like Liv-52 (Himalaya Drug Co.) and Essentiale forte (Aventis) are wellknown to reduce liver toxicity and are even prescribed in many countries to treat such things as hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver. I also recently developed a product called Liver Stabil, under Molecular Nutrition, that incorporates a very wide range of proven hepatic support ingredients, and feel very comfortable recommending this to you as a first option as well. All of these products are very affordable. Regardless of which one you choose, I do think you should use one of them during all oral cycles. While nothing is for certain, a good liver supplement may very well help you avoid an unwelcome problem with liver toxicity. ■ Know Your Gear! William Llewellyn’s ANABOLICS 9th Edition (2009) is out NOW. Order your copy of this monster steroid reference guide today, by calling 888-828-8008 or visiting www.AnabolicsBook.com. References: 1. Anabolic steroids and fibrinolysis. Lowe GD. Wien Med Wochenschr, 1993;143(14-15):383-5. 2. Effect of anabolic steroids on plasma antithrombin III. alpha2 macroglobulin and alpha1 antitrypsin levels. Walker ID, Davidson JF, Young P, Conkie JA. Thromb Diath Haemorrh, 1975 Sep 30;34(1):106-14. 3. Depo-Testosterone. Pharmacia. U.S. Prescribing Information, Revised August 2002. 4. Anabolic-androgenic steroid abuse in weight lifters: evidence for activation of the hemostatic system. Am J Hematol, Ferenchick GS, Hirokawa S, Mammen EF, Schwartz KA, 1995 Aug;49(4):282-8. 5. Raised concentrations of C reactive protein in anabolic steroid using bodybuilders. F M Grace, B Davies et al. Br J Sports Med, 2004;38:97-98. 6.Testosterone increases human platelet thromboxane A2 receptor density and aggregation responses. Ajayi AA, Mathur R, Halushka PV. Circulation, 1995 Jun 1;91(11):2742-7. 7. Androgenic-anabolic steroid abuse and platelet aggregation: a pilot study in weight lifters. Ferenchick G, Schwartz D, Ball M, Schwartz K. Am J Med Sci, 1992 Feb;303(2):78-82. 8. Pulmonary embolism associated with the use of anabolic steroids. Liljeqvist S, Helldén A, Bergman U, Söderberg M. Eur J Intern Med, 2008 May;19(3):214-5. Epub 2007 Sep 19. 9. Coronary thrombosis and ectasia of coronary arteries after longterm use of anabolic steroids. Tischer KH, Heyny-von Haussen R, Mall G, Doenecke P. Z Kardiol, 2003 Apr;92(4):326-31. 10. Massive pulmonary embolus and anabolic steroid abuse. Gaede JT, Montine TJ. JAMA, 1992 May 6;267(17):2328-9. 11. Steroid anabolic drugs and arterial complications in an athlete— a case history. Laroche GP. Angiology, 1990 Nov;41(11):964-9. 12. Death caused by pulmonary embolism in a body builder taking anabolic steroids (metanabol). Siekierzy ska-Czarnecka A, Polowiec Z, Kulawi ska M, Rowinska-Zakrzewska E. Wiad Lek, 1990 Oct 1-15;43(1920):972-5.
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AnabolicEdge
By Jose Antonio, PhD
THE DEBATE OVER ANDROGENS:
When Brawn Triumphs Over Brains Chesticles And Doltish Behavior ‘Nitro’ from “American Gladiators” told Fox News that steroids gave him ‘man boobs,’ shrank his privates and turned sex into a painful experience. “Man boobs— breast-chesticles is what they’re called on the street. Gynecomastia is the scientific name. No matter what you call it, I [had] it,” Danny Lee Clark, who was ‘Nitro’ on the smash reality series, reveals in his memoir, Gladiator: A True Story of ‘Roids, Rage and Redemption. Where does one start with this? Mmm… OK, so Mr. Clark had been using steroids for 20 years. Count ’em— 20 friggin’ years. That’s two decades; that’s back when Madonna dressed like a gypsy and most kids had actually heard of Prince, before he renamed himself (what was that name again?). Don’t you think that the wise thing to do is go to a physician to make sure your gonads aren’t shriveling into dust and your pecs aren’t turning into ‘breast-chesticles?’ WTF? The one thing Mr. Clark is certainly guilty of is being dimwitted about what happens when you abuse a drug for two decades. Like any drug, it’s all about dose and duration. If you were to take 600 mg of testosterone enanthate for 10 weeks, every other year, I’d speculate the most that would happen is that you’d be bigger, faster and more powerful than a locomotive. OK, maybe not a train, but you’d be stronger than your average househusband in Cleveland grilling steaks for the wifey and kids. But if you’re a com-
plete dolt and choose to do a 20-year cycle, then, well, ‘breast-chesticles’— that’s your fate.
Low Testosterone Is No Christmas Present Unlike Mr. Chesticles in the story above, someone who tells you that you have low testosterone is certainly the bearer of bad news. It would be like Santa Claus appearing on your doorstep, saying you’ve been naughty
have found that reduced androgen levels associated with hypogonadism or androgen deprivation therapy increase cardiovascular risk factors and produce marked adverse (that means bad, very bad) effects on cardiovascular function. The Metabolic Syndrome has been associated with hypogonadism and erectile dysfunction (ED), and the Metabolic Syndrome may be considered a risk 1 factor for ED. Also, low testosterone precedes elevated fasting insulin, glu-
OK, so Mr. Clark had been using steroids for 20 years. Don’t you think that the wise thing to do is go to a physician to make sure your gonads aren’t shriveling into dust and your pecs aren’t turning into ‘breast-chesticles?’ WTF? instead of nice, and giving you keys to your brand-new Ferrari. Oh wait— the Ferrari is on an iceberg off the coast of Tierra del Fuego. Go get it— it’s yours! Yeah, that would suck. Well, having low T is indeed very, very bad. For instance, you’ve all heard of the Metabolic Syndrome, right? It’s considered the most imporst tant public health threat of the 21 century; OK, at least by a few alarmist physicians. This syndrome is characterized by a bunch of bad things including increased central abdominal obesity, elevated triglycerides, reduced high-density lipoprotein, high blood pressure, increased fasting glucose and hyperinsulinemia. These factors increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and/or type 2 diabetes. Scientists
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cose and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C) values and may even predict the onset of diabetes. The bottom line is this: having low T is associated with Metabolic Syndrome, diabetes, increased deposition of visceral fat and a whole host of 2 other bad things. What’s the cure? A little T and a lot of exercise.
Face It: T-Men Look The Part This was a fascinating study in that it examined the human face. Yes, the male face, specifically. For instance, in many non-human species, relationships have been demonstrated between androgens and the size of sexually dimorphic male traits. It is often assumed that a similar relation-
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AnabolicEdge ship exists for human male faces. So that’s what these eggheads sought to determine. Researchers indeed found that after experimentally determined success in a competitive task, men with a more masculine facial structure show higher levels of circulating testosterone than men with less masculine faces. Yes, guys like Richard Simmons would likely be lower on the T scale and those like Charlton Heston would be on the high side. In this study, participants randomly allocated to a ‘winning’ condition, and testosterone was elevated relative to pre-task levels at 5 and 20 minutes post-task. In a control group of participants who were allocated to a ‘losing’ condition, there were no significant differences between pre- and post-task testosterone. An index of facial masculinity based on the measurement of sexually dimorphic facial traits was not associated with pre-task (baseline) testosterone levels, but was associated with testosterone levels at 5 and 20 minutes after success in the competitive task. These findings indicate that a man’s facial structure may afford important information about the func3 tioning of his endocrine system.
Miracle Drug For Burn Victims And not to pee on the parade of Mr. Chesticles (aka Nitro), but there is ample evidence that the proper use of androgens— in this case oxandrolone— has benefits for adults and kids who have suffered from burns. Yes, you read that right, kids! One study examined whether early oxandrolone treatment in severely burned adults was associated with improved outcomes during acute hospitalization. One hundred and seventeen patients were included in this analysis. Mean patient age was 43 (age range, 18-86); 77 percent were male, with an average TBSA (total burn surface area) of 44 percent. Oxandrolone treatment did not impact the length of stay, but was associated with a lower mortality rate. Examination of early oxandrolone treatment in this cohort of severely burned adults suggests that
this therapy is safe and may be 4 associated with improved survival . Another study determined the role of oxandrolone in pediatric patients with severe burn injury. Here’s what the researchers found. Oxandrolone stimulates protein synthesis, by binding to androgen receptors. Yep, we knew that. Oral oxandrolone with a dosage of 0.1 mg/kg twice daily increased protein synthesis, lean body mass accretion and muscle strength; it improved serum visceral protein concentrations, promoted weight gain and increased bone mineral content. Remember, this is in kids. During the post-burn rehabilitation period, oxandrolone given at 0.1 mg/kg/day improved muscle strength, especially when combined with exercise. Based on clinical studies, oxandrolone 0.1 mg/kg twice daily is safe 5 when given for up to 12 months. Certainly with kids, the risk of using any drug is tremendous; but there’s just no reason for adults to NOT be given the option of taking oxandrolone to treat severe injuries such as burns. Now if we can use it to treat burns, why not use it to treat musculoskeletal injuries? Why do folks care so much if androgens are used at all? ■ Jose Antonio, PhD, is vice president of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He has a PhD in muscle physiology and is chief executive of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. References: 1. Traish AM, Guay A, Feeley R, Saad F. The dark side of testosterone deficiency: I. Metabolic syndrome and erectile dysfunction. J Androl, 2009;30:10-22. 2. Traish AM, Saad F, Guay A. The dark side of testosterone deficiency: II. Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. J Androl, 2009;30:23-32. 3. Pound N, Penton-Voak IS, Surridge AK. Testosterone responses to competition in men are related to facial masculinity. Proc Biol Sci, 2009;276:153-9. 4. Pham TN, Klein MB, Gibran NS, et al. Impact of oxandrolone treatment on acute outcomes after severe burn injury. J Burn Care Res, 2008;29:902-6. 5. Miller JT, Btaiche IF. Oxandrolone in pediatric patients with severe thermal burn injury. Ann Pharmacother, 2008;42:1310-5.
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BODYBUILDING WITHOUT GENETICS
The Anabolic Freak By Dave Palumbo, Editor-in-Chief, musculardevelopment.com
Warning: Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of this magazine’s publisher or its editorial staff. MD does not condone any form of illegal drug use for bodybuilding or for any recreational purpose. MD also does not condone abuse of legal drugs for any purpose.
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of the problem? Besides, merely blocking estrogen receptors does nothing to curtail the quantitative loss of muscle-building testosterone. While some people will insist that SERMs are great for increasing pituitary output of LH during the postcycle period (due to estrogen receptor blockade), the best way to raise pituitary LH levels is to eliminate the substance (estrogen) that causes the negative feedback in the first place. Aromatase inhibitors solve this problem, as well. Every time I get my blood work done, my liver enzymes are two to three times what’s ‘normal.’ I remember you saying that for bodybuilders and athletes, it’s normal to have high enzyme levels. Have there ever been any clinical studies done to prove that fact? I’m happy and proud to say that there’s finally a study out there that helps prove what I’ve been saying for years— weight training causes skewed liver function tests! The study, “Muscular exercise can cause highly pathological liver function tests in healthy men,” appeared in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Volume 65, Number 2, February 2008, pp. 253-259(7). The study clearly concluded that weightlifting results in profound increases in liver function tests in healthy men. What was even more significant was that these increases in liver function (i.e., AST, ALT, LD, CK and myoglobin) remained high for at least seven days after weightlifting. What this means is that if you want
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PHOTOS BY PER BERNAL
Dave, I heard that there’s a new estrogen-inhibitor on the market called Fareston that’s stronger than anything else out there. Have you heard of it? How does it work? Should I stop taking Arimidex and start taking that? Fareston (toremifene citrate) is a class of drug known as a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM). All the glitz aside, this is just a fancy way of saying that Fareston blocks estrogen receptors. If this mechanism of action sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Nolvadex (tamoxifen citrate), a drug that’s been around for over 20 years, has the exact same mechanism of action— it antagonizes the estrogen receptor. Having said this, it becomes quite apparent that Fareston is nothing more than a glorified Nolvadex. Aromatase-inhibiting compounds such as Arimidex, Femara and Aromasin are much more potent estrogen-inhibiting drugs. They block the conversion of testosterone into estrogen and thus, nullify any estrogen-related side effects associated with the hormone. Why worry about blocking receptors when you can just eliminate the source
BODYBUILDING WITHOUT GENETICS to get an accurate assessment of liver function in the body, weightlifting should be restricted for at least seven days prior to getting blood work. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that most bodybuilders won’t skip going to the gym for an entire week just to get an accurate read on some blood test that they could care less about anyway. What’s most important about this landmark study is that bodybuilders finally have some solid evidence to bring to their physician when getting blood drawn. Perhaps the days of hearing about how steroids are destroying our liver may be a thing of the past? Unfortunately, that’s not very likely! What are the implications for a type 1 diabetic following a ketogenic diet? Would they be able to drastically reduce their insulin
dose? My training partner has diabetes and follows a moderate protein/moderate-carb regimen, but stays fat all the time. I want to get him on a keto regimen but I’m not sure of the consequences. His dietitian at the hospital always tells him he absolutely needs loads of carbs to function. Dave, what’s the truth? When I received this question, I knew that the only person who could truly give me an accurate, progressive answer was my fiancée, Colette Nelson—a type 1 diabetic and Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE). Here’s what she had to say: Type 1 diabetics have been told for years that they must have carbohydrates in their diet because of the fact that they take insulin. However, the truth is that insulin is needed, even in
the absence of carbohydrates or any food, for that matter. Another common fact that even the most educated dietitians fail to realize is that about 40 to 50 percent of the protein we ingest gets converted to sugar via gluconeogenesis (the conversion of amino acids into glucose). This occurs over a long period of time, so it takes about 1 to 3 hours to see the rise in blood glucose. Believe it or not, even fat (about 10 percent), increases blood sugar over a 7-hour timeframe. Given these truths, a type 1 diabetic certainly can follow a ketogenic diet and safely reduce insulin levels without becoming hypoglycemic. The question is how, and which types of insulin should be used to treat them? Type 1 diabetics need to use two types of insulin to control their blood sugars: (1) Long-acting or basal insulin, taken one or two times every
Name: Brandon D. Chiles Age: 29 Height: 5’11” Weight: Off-season: 315 pounds; contest: 265 pounds
Brandon was cruising home from the gym on his bike when a car pulled out in front of him and launched him 25 feet in the air. When he landed, he suffered seven broken ribs, kidney and liver damage, two herniated disks and a torn oblique muscle. Brandon ended up in a coma for two weeks. He even had to Contest Highlights: endure a tracheotomy for one and one2005 NPC Jr. Nationals, 6th place, half years. Humbled and as far super-heavyweight removed from the big, cocky, body2008 NPC Red River Classic, 1st builder as one can get, Brandon was so place, super-heavyweight severely injured that he had to learn to Brandon Chiles was always a walk again. big, strong, guy. Growing up, his When he reflects back on his life parents nicknamed him ‘Jethro’ before the accident, Brandon remembers from the TV show “The Beverly a specific instance when he received Hillbillies.” As an adopted child, what he calls a “divine inspiration to do Brandon had no idea what his true good for young people.” Throughout his genetic potential was. By the entire ordeal, this epiphany of sorts eighth grade he weighed a thick never left his mind. Brandon believes 175 pounds and by the time he that the accident showed him that his got to college, he was clearly the priorities were all wrong and that he strongest guy on his football needed to use bodybuilding as his tool to team. After graduating, Brandon reach out and help those less fortunate continued lifting weights to stay than him. It was this desire to get his life in shape. Despite the urging of his back on track that not only enabled friends, Brandon refused to enter Anabolic Brandon to learn to walk again; it drove a bodybuilding competition. That Freak of the M onth: him to reconstruct the great physique he all changed on April 6, 2000 when Brandon D. Chiles once possessed and to return to the stage his son was born. It was at that very to win the super-heavyweight class at the moment that Brandon had an awaking of sorts 2008 NPC Red River Classic. With a new love for life, a to his true genetic gifts and he made a decision to enter new passion for bodybuilding and a renewed motivation his first contest. Five years later, Brandon was a selfto better the lives of others, Brandon intends on making admitted ‘cocky prick who walked around like his shit a bold statement on the 2009 NPC national bodybuilddidn’t stink.’ However, a devastating motorcycle acciing scene. Don’t count this warrior out. He’s back and dent changed his attitude and his life, forever. better than ever! Two weeks out from the 2006 NPC Junior Nationals,
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BODYBUILDING WITHOUT GENETICS 12-24 hours and (2) short-acting or ‘bolus’ insulin, taken every time food is ingested. Doctors always try to simplify this treatment by limiting the number of daily injections; however, this isn’t the way to effectively manage diabetes. Most people just end up ‘feeding the insulin’ rather than feeding the body and supplying just enough insulin to maintain normal blood sugars (70-120mg/dl). With the new advances in insulin technology, Lantus (glargine) insulin becomes the preferred basal (longacting) insulin of any progressivethinking diabetic. I suggest taking it twice per day (rather than the usually prescribed one shot per day) in order to better control your daily blood sugars. Despite what the pamphlet says, Lantus insulin doesn’t quite last 24 hours. For short-acting insulin, I recommend using a combination of Humulin R (regular) and Humalog with every meal. Most physicians prescribe one or the other but I’ve found that the combination of the two perfectly manages blood sugar rises associated with meal consumption. Going into a meal, your blood sugar should be around 70100mg/dl. In order to properly correct for blood sugars over 100mg/dl, you should use Humalog. For example, 1 unit of Humalog (on average) drops your blood sugar approximately 20 points. Therefore, if your blood sugar was 140mg/dl going into a meal, you’d take 2 units of Humalog. Next, due to the fact that Humulin R starts working after about 30 minutes, and hits its peak in about 2 to 4 hours, this makes it perfect for someone following a ketogenic high-protein/moderate fat diet. Since we know that 40 percent of ingested protein will be converted to glucose; a 50-gram protein serving will, ultimately, yield about 20 grams of glucose over a period of time. Since 1 unit of Humulin R generally covers about 10 grams of carbohydrates, you’d need to take 2 units of HumulinR in this instance. So, in this example of a type 1 diabetic with a blood sugar of 140mg/dl who’s ingesting 50 grams of protein (with a
moderate amount of fat), he/she would take approximately 2 units of Humalog (to lower their existing blood sugar) and 2 units of Humulin R (to satisfy the meal they’re about to eat). Remember, you should always test your blood sugar prior to eating and then make adjustments accordingly before administering any insulin. I would even advise testing 1 hour post-prandial (after the meal) to make any necessary adjustments. Remember, glycosylation of red blood cells (RBCs) begins at 126 mg/dl, so make sure to keep your blood sugars under 120! Keep in mind, playing with insulin can be very dangerous. I recommend always speaking with a physician or certified diabetes educator (CDE) before making any changes in your insulin regimen. Any diabetics interested in learning more about Colette’s advanced insulin regimen can contact her at
[email protected]. Dave, I’m growing like never before on your off-season diet, but now I have a new problem: stretch marks! Any thoughts on how to prevent them or even better, get rid of the ones I have? Think of stretch marks as a warrior’s battle wounds! If you don’t have any, it means you’re probably not packing on massive amounts of muscle. In my experience working with bodybuilders, pretty much all elite-level guys get them. At one point in my career, when I was over 300 pounds, I was getting new stretch marks from getting massages. Remember, when the skin gets stretched thin, the skin becomes extremely vulnerable to small microtears (stretch marks). Can you prevent or get rid of these scars? I’ve tried vitamin E, cocoa butter, scar creams and even laser treatments and the only thing I found that helped was having faith in the saying, “Time heals all wounds.” Luckily, stretch marks fade over time and, eventually, you won’t even notice them anymore. The bright red
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BODYBUILDING WITHOUT GENETICS discolorations turn white and, after several years, you forget you ever had them. Remember, it’s the guys who don’t have them that should be asking themselves, “Am I doing something wrong?” I have a small case of gynecomastia that developed during my off-season cycle. I was very careful to take Arimidex every other day during my cycle, so I don’t understand how this developed. And now that I am dieting for a show, it’s become more evident. Is there anything I can do to reduce the gyno before my show? The best solution for gynecomastia is to have it surgically removed. Even though you took the aromatase inhibitor (Arimidex), you obviously have a genetic predisposition for the condition. If you’re prone to it, no matter what precautions you take, it’s going to flare up. Many individuals get gynecomastia without ever touching a single anabolic steroid. Not only is surgery the only permanent solution, if you calculate all the money you have and will spend on anti-aromatases to prevent and reduce the gynecomastia, surgery becomes a much more cost-effective option. In the meantime, since you won’t be getting the surgery before your show, I recommend increasing your dose of Arimidex to 1 mg every day. For over-the-counter alternatives, you can try Gaspari’s Novedex XT or Species’ Testostolyze. At a dosage of 4-5 pills per day (of either), your estrogen levels should drop sufficiently to reduce the estrogen-related side effects. As a final precaution, 10 mg of tamoxifen twice daily will block estrogen receptors and nullify any pre-existing estrogen that might still be hanging around causing problems.
Reminders My Personal Training Certification Course, S.M.A.R.T., is now available online at smarttrainingonline.com. Become a certified personal trainer from the convenience of your own home. I personally wrote the informa-
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tion-packed 100-page manual and I guarantee it’s the most comprehensive diet, supplement and training manual available. By popular demand, a paper copy version is now also available for $39.99. Check out the web address above. To purchase my book, Perfect Prison Physique, please send a $25 money order to the address below or order online at www.davepalumbo.com. Dave Palumbo P.O. Box 1122 Seaford, NY 11783
Prison Bodies Jimmy Wakefield, currently incarcerated at the Federal Satellite Camp in Memphis, TN, claims to be a longtime reader of Muscular Development; however, he admits he’s only truly dedicated himself to the bodybuilding lifestyle for the last six months. While preparing for the annual ‘peel-off’ at his prison camp, Jimmy dropped his bodyweight from a fat 230 pounds (at six feet tall) down to a ripped 205 at 7 percent body fat. He credits the ‘cutting-phase diet’ and ‘peel-off preparation’ he read in my book, Perfect Prison Physique, and the invaluable information from the pages of MD for his incredible transformation. As his photo clearly indicates, in six short months, Jimmy truly changed himself into the person he always knew he could be. More importantly, he’d like all the MD readers out there to know that with willpower and determination, anything is possible. As a final note, Jimmy would like Muscular Development to bring back the ‘hard-body’ girls for all the guys out there who are currently locked down and need something pretty to stare at. I agree! ■
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MuscleTech RESEARCH REPORT By Team MuscleTech Research and Development
BODYBUILDING Q&A Q:
There are a ton of supplements out there that promise to build muscle. What is one supplement that should be a staple in every bodybuilder’s supplement stash? One of the most important supplements that bodybuilders can benefit from is a highquality, scientifically formulated amino acid product. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are essential for bodybuilders because they aid in the repair, growth and development of muscle tissue. The best amino acids are derived from quality whole-food protein sources such as fish, meats, grains, peas, legumes and dairy. It’s common knowledge that maintaining amino acid intake is important to keep gains coming and to increase significant muscle growth— this is especially true for bodybuilders, so supplementation is the key to growth. The simple truth is, without critical amounts of amino acids delivered to your muscles, you will not grow. One amino acid complex that has been engineered with a clinically proven ratio to build muscle is Alpha Amino Prototype 216™. The Medical Branch at the University of Texas tested a key complex in the Alpha Amino Prototype 216 formula on human subjects and the results were astonishing. By consuming this key complex with a carbohydrate mixture before their intense training session it was discovered, by looking at plasma amino acid concentration and blood flow, that blood amino acid delivery was increased by an incredible 650 percent 1 directly to the muscle. Team ™ MuscleTech , the creators of Alpha Amino Prototype 216, make it possible for a precise portion of key amino acids to be rapidly delivered directly
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into muscles by engineering this formula with ultra fast-absorbing nanoparticulated amino acids. With intense training and this increase in amino acid delivery to hardworking muscles, Alpha Amino Prototype 216 is the critical element you need to add to your diet and training program if you want to achieve rapid muscle growth.
Q:
I get really confused when taking certain supplements because the label says to take it one way and people at the gym and on bodybuilding forums tell me something else. I need a straight answer with proof— when is the best time to take an amino acid supplement? Supplement timing is one of the essential elements you need to get right if you want to maximize your muscle-building potential. Consuming your supplements at an inopportune time can keep you from taking advantage of the hard work you put into your diet and training program. Although the concept of supplement timing applies to all supplements, it is most important when it comes to your amino acids. In fact, a revolutionary study was conducted at the Medical Branch of the University of Texas to find out how the timing of amino acid ingestion can alter the anabolic response of muscle to resistance exercise, and what they discovered was truly groundbreaking. This scientific research study was designed to determine whether oral consumption of an essential amino acid/carbohydrate supplement before exercise results in greater anabolic response than supplementation after resistance exercise. The study showed that the administration of a precise dose of essential amino acids and car-
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bohydrates taken right before training boosts anabolic muscle response more than when this same combination is taken post-workout. You can still get anabolic if you take amino acids and carbohydrates after your training, but not as anabolic as before training, according to a third-party clinical study. This was shown by a 216 percent increase in myocellular uptake of L-phenylalanine, a key marker of muscle protein synthesis at the cellular level. The researchers conducting this clinical study employed a very precise method of testing done by drawing and analyzing blood from human subjects 60 minutes following intense exercise, resulting in an immediate 216 percent increase in muscle growth 2 activity. Knowing the importance of protein synthesis as it relates to muscle ™ growth, Team MuscleTech — the industry leader in scientifically engineered supplements— created the next generation of super-amino muscle growth, Alpha Amino Prototype 216. By utilizing the power of Nano™ Diffuse technology, as well as cuttingedge clinical science as the driving force behind the Alpha Amino Prototype 216 formula, just one serving consumed with your favorite sports drink 15 minutes before your workout can trigger an immediate increase in muscle growth activity by an incredible 216 percent, as shown by the University of Texas study. Alpha Amino Prototype 216™ is one of the most scientifically advanced amino acid supplements available. ■ References: 1,2. Tipton, Kevin, et al. (2001).Timing of amino acid-carbohydrate ingestion alters anabolic response of muscle to resistance exercise. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 281, E197-E206.
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INJURY & REHABILITATION By Victor Prisk, MD
AskTheDoc When I squat, I get a lot of pain and swelling in my knee, especially when going deep. Now my knee has a painful click and catches when I walk. What’s up, doc? Deep squatting, or going below parallel, puts an extraordinary amount of stress on many structures in the knee. On numerous occasions in MD, I have discussed the stress of deep and heavy movements on the tendons around the knee, such as the patellar and quad tendons. However, these structures don’t often result in clicking and catching, although the knee may give way when walking. Your clicking or catching is what I would call a mechanical symptom. Mechanical symptoms usually occur when structures within the knee joint have some kind of derangement. Deep squats, especially with heavy weight, may result in a meniscus tear. What is the meniscus, you ask?The menisci (plural, there are two) are cushions on the inside of your knee at the periphery.There are medial (inside) and lateral (outside) menisci that lie between the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone).The menisci are made of tough cartilage and conform to the surfaces of the bones upon which they rest. The menisci help distribute and dissipate forces within the knee joint.They also contribute to stability of the joint, acting as secondary restraints with the ligaments.The cushioning effect helps protect the cartilage that lines the ends of the femur and tibia (articular cartilage). The meniscus can have many types and patterns of tears.These often result from a traumatic event or by progressive degeneration due to stress such as heavy squatting or running. When the meniscus has a bad tear, all of its functions go out the window and the articular cartilage breaks down, which is otherwise known as OSTEOARTHRITIS.
horn of the medial meniscus.These should be evaluated by X-rays to diagnose degenerative changes of arthritis and an MRI to characterize the meniscus tear.
Meniscus tears that are symptomatic and interfere with daily activities are repaired or debrided surgically. Initially, physical therapy and other conservative measures may be taken, but the meniscus has poor healing potential. In certain types of tears the meniscus is repaired arthroscopically. Unfortunately, the recovery from a repair is longer and more tedious than a simple debridement or shaving, called a meniscectomy. Repair requires a period of non-weightbearing on crutches. However, meniscectomy results in a greater chance of osteoarthritis and further joint damage down the road. If the tear is degenerative or ‘frayed’ there is often no choice but the meniscectomy.
Meniscus tears cause pain along the joint line on the side that they cushion. Swelling, popping, clicking, locking, catching and decreases in knee motion are all symptoms of meniscus tears. Deep squatting often damages the posterior
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AskTheDoc— Injury & rehabilitation Arthroscopic surgery is performed by making two small (1 centimeter) incisions and inserting a camera into the joint. Through one of the incisions, instruments are introduced into the joint to shave, cut/trim, or repair the meniscus. Other repairs, such as fixing the articular cartilage or an ACL reconstruction, can be performed at the same time. The procedure can be performed under spinal or general anesthesia. If you are brave enough to stay awake, the surgeon may even let you watch the
surgery on a TV. When I had a knee arthroscopy for a meniscus tear at 16 years old, I watched my surgery and that is why I enjoy doing them today! When can you return to lifting or sports? It depends on the tear. If repaired, it may take up to 3 months to return. If debridement is performed, as I had, you may be able to return to sports in 3 to 4 weeks. The key here is that everyone is different; only your surgeon can tell you exactly what your specific rehab should be.
What are your thoughts on Chiropractic care for low back pain? Low back pain is a clinical entity that is very painful for the PHYSICIAN. Back pain that is associated with instability and neurological symptoms can be surgically treated and often should be. However, numerous studies suggest that weight loss, physical therapy and other modalities are more effective than surgical management and pose less risk. Risks such as infection, nerve damage, or paralysis will make one think twice about having back surgery for pain alone. Only a spine surgeon (orthopaedic or neurosurgeon) is trained to understand what can or can’t be done surgically, at least in their hands. That being said, chiropractic care can be quite beneficial to some. Just research the D.C. as you would for any physician. Look up their education and research their reputation. Most D.C.s run private practices that may or may not take insurance. They may take cash and have an incentive to encourage you to return or undergo unnecessary or repeat procedures. Discuss the expectations of treatment. See your physician and have X-rays to rule out pathology that may be made worse by manipulation. Don’t be fooled into thinking that scoliotic curves and ‘slipped’ disks or ‘unstable’ SI joints will be corrected or cured by manipulation. Ask if they think they will be able to cure you, or if you are going to have to have an indefinite number of visits to get relief. Often ‘cure’ from manipulation alone is not to be expected. If you want relief, and manipulation continues to work week to week and month to month, then you may continue. But the D.C. should encourage you to make lifestyle changes such as weight loss, core strengthening and other exercises that should reduce your number of visits over the course of time. I encourage patients who I have evaluated thoroughly to pursue chiropractic care, acupuncture and alternative medicine techniques for low back pain, after they have failed physical therapy. Injections, braces, medications and surgery can all be complementary. Good luck in your pursuit of relief.
What’s Up With Dr. Prisk?
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF DR. VICTOR PRISK
I am currently trying to stay in shape for the competition season. I have been enjoying participating in swing dancing for my cardio. It’s a fantastic workout! Done twice a week for 2 hours, I’ve dropped 4 percent body fat. I used to do it professionally. Check out my videos at www.victorprisk.com. Here I am with my mentor and Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery, Dr. Freddie Fu, and colleagues at a function for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
BODYBUILDING’S MOST POWERFUL TECHNIQUES
Extreme Muscle Enhancement By Carlon M. Colker, MD, FACN
I’ve taken a great deal of flack in the press for pulling Jeremy Piven from David Mamet’s Broadway smash play “Speed the Plow.” Piven is best known for his role in the popular HBO show “Entourage” as the explosive, smarmy and ever-antagonistic super agent Ari Gold. With the blessing of my patient, here’s the ‘full story scoop,’ straight from the Doc, exclusively for my MD readers: Piven was under my care for symptoms of extreme fatigue and difficulty concentrating, among other conditions. In September, after some cursory blood work revealed very little, I tested him for heavy metals. Piven had a potentially toxic level of mercury in his system. The actual blood value of 57mcg/L was tested and verified by Quest Diagnostics. To put it in perspective, the upper limit tolerable in the respective reference range is no more than 10mcg/L. So he came in at almost six times the allowable range. This level was so high that it actually exceeded the highest level I’ve seen in the last decade of practice. It shocked my colleagues. You really have to practically run a toxicology lab to see higher levels, and in those instances they are usually some type of acute occupational exposure. But suffice it to say that once you get into the upper 50s, things can get serious. Psychological symptoms at this stage can go beyond simple fatigue and rapidly progress to conditions of irritability, restlessness, anxiety and nervousness, vertigo, memory loss and difficulty breathing. If coupled
with a lack of adequate rest, things can progress to depression and even suicidal tendencies. Manifestations of physical symptoms can begin with bleeding gums and progress to chronic diarrhea/constipation, headaches, abnormal heart rhythm, glaucoma, high blood pressure, renal insufficiency and even heart attack. With no other source apparent, the etiology of his blood mercury was most probably due to his penchant for consuming large volumes of sushi twice each day for many years. As a daily fixture of Nobu in Malibu, this should come as no surprise. Piven was also taking some exotic Chinese herbs for general health purposes and this may have contributed to his condition, but I was never able to confirm my suspicions. In an effort to accommodate Piven’s persistent desire to keep working in his Broadway play, my instructions at the time were clear— I acquiesced and let the show go on but insisted on oral chelation therapy, coupled with a strict diet and rest regimen. I warned him that the rest component was critical because, as mercury is liberated from the body via this method, he could feel a lot worse, long before feeling better. The effects of mercury vary greatly in terms of type and intensity, from one person to the next. At the time I suggested putting off the play altogether for a few months, but this was not something he was willing to consider. Though he was compliant with all my instructions and his mercury dropped considerably (first to 20 after a couple of months, and then to
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16), as predicted, his symptoms of fatigue and difficulty concentrating actually magnified. He also exhibited disconcerting new symptoms of irritability. At this point— around December 10, 2008— I drew the line and told him to immediately step away from his work on the play. I wanted him to rest completely, hopefully as an outpatient, and continue to receive proper medical care for the remainder of his treatment. Under the intense pressure of the producers, he decided to ignore my recommendation, push through his advancing symptoms, and return to the rigors of work. As a result, only days later his condition further decompensated, to the point of worsening neuromuscular symptoms, forgetfulness, vertigo with presyncope, and finally the development of an abnormal EKG, confirming a marked sinus bradycardia. At that point I admitted him to Greenwich Hospital. During this stay, Piven was seen by Robert Stark, M.D. (a renowned Yale cardiologist with 29 years experience), Walter Camp, M.D. (a highly respected senior staff neurologist and professor emeritus), and myself. Both specialists agreed he could be discharged on the third day and followed closely as an outpatient; they also agreed wholeheartedly that he has pushed, or allowed himself to be pushed too hard, and should immediately step away from the show, convalesce and continue treatment. In particular, along with these other recommendations, Dr. Stark’s words “enforced rest” are particularly noteworthy.
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ExtremeMuscle Enhancement At that point I discharged him from the hospital with a caution that some or all of his symptoms would likely persist and possibly even continue to advance for weeks or months after this level had normalized (which it still had not). He was tired and disappointed; I sent him packing back to L.A., for rest and followup with my colleagues at the Beverly Hills office. After a few more rough weeks, his health has finally started to come around. So what’s the moral in all this? Well for one, thanks to the way we’ve polluted our environment, something as healthy as fish is being ruined by the dumping of commercial and industrial waste into the oceans. It’s become such a serious problem that now almost all fish contain some degree of mercury, with the worst being shark, swordfish and mackerel, as well as older and larger fish toward the apex of the food chain. Mercury is stored in large amounts in muscle; this is a medical fact verified by autopsy studies. It’s for these reasons that the larger, older fish, with more lean muscle, contain more mercury. Second, despite what some misinformed ‘experts’ say, it’s a documented scientific fact that mercury toxicity is now more pervasive than ever. The problem is that not enough physicians out there are experienced enough to look for it in their patients. Mercury toxicity affects nearly every organ system and can be fatal. So if you’re out there feeling symptoms or suffering health problems that your doctor can’t figure out, I urge you to get your mercury levels checked. What does this all mean to the bodybuilder? Well, a lot. Bodybuilders and physique/fitness fanatics are perhaps the highest per capita consumers of canned tuna and sushi in the United States. I personally recall consuming many, many a can during my competitive days. Tuna straight out of the can, tuna salad with low-calorie mayonnaise, tuna with low-calorie creamy Italian dressing, and tuna with apple sauce and raisins (yes, I fully realize that the last version was a weird one, but it’s the truth). I always hated that chunk-light tuna version; to me, it always stunk like
cat food and I suspect tasted no better. So I would usually go high-end for the albacore tuna packed in water. The problem is that the albacore version is the highest in mercury among the commercially available canned tunas. And though it varies from fish to fish, sushi and sashimi (sushi minus the rice) can harbor large amounts of mercury. As a result of this shameful, manmade toxic scourge, I don’t eat much tuna these days— maybe about a can or two a month, compared with the old days of a can or two a day! I still eat sushi on occasion; I love the taste and elegance of a big plate of sushi and sashimi adorned with the usual accoutrements. By limiting my consumption of these favorites to once or twice per month, I know I am safe from mercury overload. For the muscle builder, excess mercury can create big problems, the most obvious of which is neuromuscular weakness. And mercury interferes with normal metabolic functions and energy pathways. The problem is that once mercury is deposited into your system in excess, it’s not so easy to get out. If you just cut things from the supply side it can take years to work its way out of your system. Using chelating agents, antioxidants and enzyme system catalysts, mercury can be liberated in an exponentially shorter time frame. So if you are a bodybuilder who eats a great deal of fish and you are experiencing an unexplainable drop in strength coupled with increasing amounts of fatigue, get to your doctor and have your mercury levels checked. There are a number of ways to do this, including blood measurement, urine testing and hair analysis. We utilize all methods in our clinic and, depending on the case, some patients may undergo one or more of these tests. The point is, if you suspect this could possibly be an issue for you, check it out. You just might be surprised to find out that it’s heavy metal that’s keeping you from moving the heavy metal! ■ Dr. Colker’s book, Extreme Muscle Enhancement: Bodybuilding’s Most Powerful Techniques is available by calling 1-800-310-1555 or ordering the book online at www.prosource.net.
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Busted! LegalQ&A By Rick Collins, JD
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Beneath the cartoon was the caption: “Undetectable! Foolproof! Re-usable!” According to court documents, the site contained testimonials from satisfied customers including, “I thought I had no chance of landing a new job because I smoke so much. When I saw the Whizzinator it was like a dream come true …” and “I have to pass DOT [U.S. Department of Transportation] drug screens every quarter and your product saved my job countless times…” Although it’s been argued that the merits of workplace drug testing are outweighed by the privacy invasions, others see testing as a necessary evil to ensure that certain workers aren’t compromised by illegal drug use. Certainly, our families are safer if train engineers and truck drivers aren’t flying high on the job. We don’t need coked-up cops or pill-popping pilots. The Whizzinator also defeated the system by which probation departments monitor drug offenders in order to ensure they don’t relapse into bad habits. “If not for the Whizzinator, I would be serving thirty days in the workhouse,” boasted one testimonial on the site. “Instead I passed my drug test and my stupid probat. [sp] officer had no idea.” Identifying drug paraphernalia can be challenging for the government because products are often marketed to pretend they were designed for legitimate purposes, even including ‘disclaimers’ that they be used only for legitimate purposes. The Whizzinator web testimonials made the government’s case easy. But don’t assume that disclaimers will always insulate a company from prosecution if it sells items used for drugging— it didn’t work for Tommy Chong of the pot-smoking duo “Cheech & Chong” when he sold bongs online and it may not work for companies selling items used to manufacture underground steroids. The feds will consider many factors, including the specific ways the items are displayed and described. The Puck defendants are currently awaiting sentence, scheduled for a date in April, and the judge might not ‘go soft’ on them for their prosthetic penis scheme. ■ Rick Collins, JD, CSCS [www.rickcollins.com] is the lawyer who members of the bodybuilding community and nutritional supplement industry turn to when they need legal help or representation. [© Rick Collins, 2009. All rights reserved. For informational purposes only, not to be construed as legal or medical advice.]
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April 2009
ILLUSTRATION BY LYMAN DALLY
I read that the guys who sold a fake penis that helps athletes beat doping tests were arrested. Has the War on Steroids really gone this far? Thanks for giving me a reason to insert a ‘penis’ into a magazine column title! Got your attention? Yup, these guys are facing, ahem, ‘hard’ time for distributing a prosthetic penis over the Internet. The device, called the Whizzinator, was initially thrust into the headlines when former Vikings running back Onterrio Smith was caught with one at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport in 2005. We can only imagine his embarrassment when a TSA inspector asked him, “Sir, is that your penis?” The plastic device, which came in five different colors to match the skin tones of various ethnicities, came with a heating element and a bag that emitted synthetic urine or reconstituted urine from freeze-dried crystals. When affixed in place by an athletic supporter, it was intended to fool somebody watching the collection of a urine sample. The two guys who sold the contraption through a company called Puck Technology were indicted in a Pittsburgh federal court on charges including conspiracy to sell ‘drug paraphernalia’ (equipment used to produce, conceal or consume controlled substances) and conspiracy to defraud. They pled guilty. Uncle Sam had reasons to target Puck Technology, having nothing to do with athletics, and was likely more focused on narcotics and recreational drugs than steroids. While the possibility that professional ball players or Olympic competitors might have been using this little nasty to beat anabolic steroid tests may have been one factor in provoking the government’s wrath, the allegations in the indictment were unrelated to fooling sports anti-doping authorities. Instead, the concern was fooling the U.S. government agency responsible for overseeing the scientific and technical requirements for federal employee drug testing programs. The government’s position was that the Whizzinator was intended to defraud the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) into thinking some employees were drug-free when they weren’t. What was the evidence of the Puck owners’ illegal intent regarding their product? Their own website! It reportedly pictured a construction worker in front of a urinal winking, while a lab-coated man with a clipboard said, “Next!”
MIKE LIBERATORE—THE LIBERATOR
IRON Mike By Mike Liberatore I read about how you are bringing up your chest and back to match your huge arms. What would you recommend for someone with the totally opposite problem? My entire torso is pretty big and thick and I am pretty happy with the overall development of my chest, back and shoulders. But my arms— dude! They just don’t match. Would you suggest I cut back and only train the torso muscles every couple of weeks and blast arms two or three times a week? I am up to trying anything if you have some ideas. It would have been helpful if you had given me some idea of the methods you have already tried, because then I would know what doesn’t work for you. That being said, I think the knee-jerk reaction most guys with stubborn arms have is to train them more often. In some cases this works, but a lot of times the arms wind up overtrained and never have a chance to grow. With this in mind, I suggest that for a period of 6-8 weeks you train triceps with either chest or shoulders, and biceps with back. Don’t do a thing for them on any other days. Assuming you train body parts once a week like most guys, this will assure you that they will have a full week to recuperate between workouts without having to be called into action to assist in training a larger torso muscle group. See how that works out. Then, for another 6-8 weeks, train arms on their own day with a standard workout of about four exercises for 4 sets each, as well as a couple sets of biceps on back day and triceps on chest or shoulder day. Gauge your results once more, and you should at least have an idea of whether your arms respond better being worked a little more often or if they require more rest to make progress. I don’t think cutting back on your torso training would be the answer for you, as the heavy work for back and chest does quite a bit for the arms whether you realize it or not.
What does your off-season leg routine look like? And, does it change much when you go into pre-contest mode? I’m also curious about your leg strength. Mine always goes down toward the last eight weeks or so from all the cardio— does yours? Here’s what I do for legs in the off-season: Leg Extensions Warm up, then 3 sets of 20 reps Lying Leg Curls Warm up, then 3 sets of 20 reps Front Squats 5 working sets, 8-15 reps Leg Presses 5 working sets, 8-15 reps Seated Leg Curls 3 sets, 12 reps Hack Squats 5 sets, 8-15 reps Squats (If I am up for it) 3-5 sets, 8-15 reps Lunges (Every 2-3 weeks) 3 sets, 24-30 steps In the past, I used to do much higher reps for legs in the pre-contest phase because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do, but I found I only lost mass from that. Now I don’t change anything except that I will do lunges at every workout pre-contest rather than every second or third. My strength only really dips down over the last three weeks or so. But I attribute that more to the fact that I am so lean and my body doesn’t have as much water and fat to lubricate the joints. I cut back on the weight really not even so much because I don’t have the strength anymore, but because I feel the strain on my joints and connective tissues more and don’t want to tempt fate. Cardio shouldn’t be affecting your leg strength unless you’re doing a lot of high-intensity work and hitting the fast-twitch fibers more than you should be.
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! W N E M N LU O C
Congrats on the win and the pro card. I wanted to ask a rather odd question but first wanted to state that the static holds for the triceps (top position of parallel bar dips) work great. I tried doing them at the end of my arm training session and it really made them sore. I don’t get sore in my biceps but my tri’s get nasty sore. Now for my question as it pertains to fast food. I know you said you like to eat at various places to get in extra calories during the off-season. When you do this, do you plan what you will eat or just say f*ck it and eat whatever you want? I guess I mean, do you ditch the fries for an extra burger or whatever or just go all out? I’m glad you liked the triceps holds— they burn like hell! I always have a simple but important ‘plan’ when it comes to cheat meals. I always address my protein first whether it’s clean or not. So I usually like to get a double cheeseburger with bacon. I have some fries for flavor and usually an unsweetened iced tea with Splenda. Once in a while, I have a Dr. Pepper or Coke/Pepsi. I won’t eat at places like McDonald’s or Burger King, because the quality of the meat isn’t very
good. I really like Checkers/Rally’s a lot, but they are no longer in Chicago. When I moved to Louisville they had them there so I was pumped. Now I go to Chipotle. I eat the whole burger, bun and all (the zero-carb diet is only for pre-con-
test). The point to eating fast food is the calories and to break up your clean meals, so enjoy it. But be careful. If I ever get to a point where I can’t see my abs, I’ll stop eating junk. Sloppy and fat is not big— it’s just being a fat ass!
A Pretty Mellow New Year’s Eve I’m really not into crazy parties at big clubs. For New Year’s Eve, my wife and I hung out with our friends at my friend Jae’s bar, Red Moon, in Arlington Heights, Illinois. I reflected a bit on the last year and set some goals for ’09. Along with the improvements I want to make before I compete again in 2010, I want to sign with a good supplement company. I had a rough experience recently with a company that I was only with briefly, and the kicker is that I’m not allowed to sign with anyone else until six months have passed. But it will all work out.
After A Delay, It’s Time For My Honeymoon! PHOTOGRAPHY BY PER BERNAL
Because my wife and I both had so much going on over the second half of 2008, we put off our honeymoon until late January of this year. Soon we’re headed for a week at an all-inclusive resort in Ixtapa, Mexico. I like the idea of not having to worry about where I’m going to eat next, and not having to break out my wallet every time I eat or order some drinks. It’s just so much easier to pay once up front and have it all covered, especially for someone who eats five or six times a day like I do. My diet is pretty relaxed now. I’m only eating when I’m hungry, which comes out to three or four meals and two shakes a day.
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Mike Liberatore—The Liberator Fishy But Delicious Recipe: Scallops! Bodybuilders are no strangers to fish. They eat tons of tuna, salmon, tilapia, cod and orange roughy. Me, I like shellfish: lobster, crab, shrimp, and especially scallops. I eat scallops year-round. They are a real treat during my diet, because during the last couple weeks I really need something to look forward to. Here’s how to prepare them: I cut them in half so they cook up faster if they are the giant ones. If they are itty bitty, just leave them. Put them in a pan with some no-stick spray. Brown on both sides and add whatever seasoning you like. Sometimes Mike, how do you feel about training body parts twice a week? I am currently doing 4 on, 1 off and love it, but I am just four weeks out of Navy Boot Camp and might just be getting a rebound effect after all that cardio and calisthenics. The split works well for me because I have duty every fifth day (which is my off day in the split) and I can’t get to the gym that day. I train high volume with 20+ sets for everything (yes, even arms). I’d appreciate your input. By the way, you looked ridiculous at the Nationals. It wasn’t even close. Chest/Shoulders Back Legs
Arms Off Repeat
I’ll spray them with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray. It depends on where I am in my dieting. You can do the same on the grill, too. You need a cookie sheet with holes in it for the air to pass through. With this I would cook all of my fish, scallops, and shrimp. If you are sick of tuna, salmon and tilapia, give it a try! Each 12-ounce serving provides: 300 calories 56 grams protein 0 grams carbohydrates ( fits perfectly into a keto diet) 4 grams fat
Thanks for the support. Your split looks good to me. You are giving each body part four days rest, which should be enough as long as you are getting proper nutrition, supplementation and sleep. If you are making gains then it is working for you and that is what matters, no matter what anyone else says. If you are feeling tired don’t hesitate to take an extra day off. Sometimes we all need that extra day or two if we aren’t eating as well as we should, not getting enough sleep, or have some type of unusual stress going on in our lives. Basically, just listen to your body— it will always tell you what it needs.
Still Taking Things Easy Right now I am only training four times a week and not going all-out by
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any means. It’s tough not being as big and full as I’m used to being, but it’s all part of the plan. I start my real offseason assault as soon as I get back from my honeymoon in early February, so my body needs to be totally rested and ready to hit it hard again.
How Jay Can Get The Olympia Title Back I was arguing today with a buddy of mine who feels Jay Cutler is the most overrated bodybuilder around. I disagree! Two Olympia titles, three Arnold Classic titles, and runner-up five more times at the O— you don’t suck and have a track record like that, dude! I also feel Jay can get his title back this year. The key is to stop being a businessman, and just be a bodybuilder. He makes a lot of appearances. In fact, I think he’s on the road just about every weekend of the year. That takes a toll on anybody’s physique. No matter how well you have adjusted to a travel and appearance schedule like that, there is no substitute for staying home, training at your own gym, and eating in your own kitchen or dining room. Jay has enough money; I think it’s safe to say this. If he wants to be Mr. Olympia again, he needs to buckle down, get hungry again, and train and diet the way he used to back in his late teens and early 20s when nobody could match his drive and determination. If he can do that, I have no doubt in my mind he will win a third Mr. O title. ! Got a question for Mike? E-mail it to
[email protected] and you could see it answered right here in MD!
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KAI GREENE
The Predator
By Kai Greene
My Pilgrimage To The ‘Mecca’ People seem to assume that because I’m a pro bodybuilder, I must have been out to Venice Beach on many occasions and trained at the world-famous Gold’s Gym. The truth is that until a couple weeks ago, I had never so much as set foot inside Gold’s. Five years ago I visited L.A. one day when I was staying four or five hours away and stopped for a minute to take a picture outside the place, but that was it. I’ve dreamed about being a pro and getting ready for a big show there ever since I saw “Pumping Iron” as a kid. One of the very first scenes in the movie shows Arnold walking into the original Gold’s. A bulletin board reads “101 Days Until The Mr. Olympia.” Arnold walks up to the front desk and jokes, “I’m here to get some muscles.” Even though it took me all this time to finally get inside Gold’s and train, it was worth the wait. I also felt like I had worked hard to get there and I deserved it. They say the place isn’t what it used to be, but there is still an enormous amount of energy and enthusiasm in those walls and it still resonates with the spirit of all the great champions who have called it home. I literally got chills more than once just looking at all the photos on the walls of stars from years past. I’ve been doing this bodybuilding thing for 20 years now and it was almost like being in a museum of sorts with all that history. There were some names and faces on the walls I hadn’t thought of in quite some time, and many are no longer with us, but it still brought a big smile to my face to be in what truly is the ‘Mecca’ of bodybuilding.
Training With The Master: Charles Glass The main reason I was out in Venice was to work with the ‘Trainer of Champions’ himself, Mr. Charles Glass. It was surreal to work with the same man who has trained the best of the best: men like Flex Wheeler, Chris Cormier, Paul Dillett, and so many more. Just to have that opportunity was almost overwhelming for a guy who not so long ago was waiting in line to buy pictures of my idols like Flex and Shawn. I did my best to pick Charles’ brain and soak up as much wisdom as I could, and he was more than willing to share and educate me. He was also more than generous in setting me up with a place to stay just minutes away so that I could focus completely on the task at hand, training for the Arnold Classic. I am heading out there again at least one more time before the show. Ideally, I would love to spend the last four or five weeks before the contest training with Charles every day. I consider myself a hungry student of the sport, and Charles has so much to teach.
That Magic Moment
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I worked with Charles twice a day, to take advantage of the brief time I had out there. If there was one moment that stood out above all others in my four days and nights training at Gold’s, it was when I was posing for him. This was at the back of the first room, which looks out on the back parking lot; it has a large portion of the wall open, to let in the sunlight. No doubt you have seen numerous legends posing in photos and videos in that exact same mirror, because the light is amazing. If you don’t look awesome in that mirror, forget it! I had seen so many greats over the years getting ready for shows like the Olympia and Arnold, posing in that mirror while Charles and other pros looked on, and here I was standing there eight weeks out from the Arnold doing the same thing! For a minute there I almost felt like pinching myself to make sure it wasn’t all a dream! I got goose bumps and thought for a second that a breeze had blown through the doorway, but it was just the unreality of the situation hitting me. I was 293 pounds that day and still a ways off from the condition I need to be in for the Arnold, but something about hitting my poses in that magic spot made me feel like everything was going to be just fine.
Tomorrow is my bodybuilding competition; right now I am 194 pounds and my body fat is 4 percent. When should I start loading carbs? Should I eat both yams and sweet potatoes at the same meal? How much water should I be drinking? Thanks in advance, man! The day before your contest is not the time to be seeking information like this! One thing in your favor is that at least you have in fact gotten rid of all the body fat you needed to— if, in fact, you are actually down to 4 percent. A lot of guys don’t get in shape and look for last-minute tricks to ‘pull a rabbit out of a hat,’ so to speak, and somehow be transformed into a champion. If you aren’t lean enough, nothing you can do with manipulating carbs and water will make a difference. Most of the time, when competitors think they are holding water, they are really just not as lean as they should be. And if you have flattened out and lost muscle, no amount of loading carbs is going to restore that muscle mass in time for the show. Essentially, you need to look pretty darn good for the process of carb and water manipulation to give you that finishing touch. As far as how many grams of carbs, how much water and so on that you should be taking in, I can’t tell you that. Even I do something slightly different each time. Your best bet for next time (your e-mail reached me too late to help you for this contest), is to work with someone who’s very experienced in these areas and who can guide you through the process. It’s simply not possible for me to give you a blanket prescription to eat X grams of carbs and drink X amount of water to look your best onstage. April 2009
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KAI GREENE—The Predator Return Of The Ruhler! I think it’s great that Markus Ruhl is returning to the stage for the first time since the 2007 Mr. Olympia and will be competing in the New York Pro. Markus has a huge fan base and a lot of his fans are right here in the New York area. People around here seem to really appreciate the freaky look he brings, with gobs and gobs of muscle mass. When Markus is in condition, he is a real sight to see. You can argue back and forth about what type of physique is best, but there is no denying that a giant like Markus definitely brings excitement to the sport and the industry as a whole.
Learning About Yourself I remember reading something Lee Labrada said in the late 1980s about his Mr. Olympia preparations. Lee said that he learned something new about himself every time. There’s something to be said for that. Every time I get ready for a contest, it’s a new series of questions and tests. My mettle is tested by obvious concerns such as wondering if I can stay on my diet and by the more subtle issues such as: Can I maintain the consciousness of mind to not succumb to all the pressures and expectations placed on me? Can I pay my bills and maintain good relationships with the people who care about me, even as preparing for the contest is an all-consuming state of mind? Can I maintain my intensity every day, even when mind and body are sinking deeper into exhaustion? You learn so much about who you really are when you prepare for a bodybuilding contest. Anyone who thinks it’s all about working out, doing some cardio, and eating a bunch of plain chicken breasts doesn’t know what it’s really all about!
Will I Teach Posing? Because I have a certain reputation for being an innovative poser, there have been some inquiries as to whether I would consider helping other bodybuilders put creative posing routines together for their competitions. I’m flattered that people would want to hire me for this type of service, but right now I am too focused on trying to be a top pro. It’s so easy to get distracted and allow yourself to be pulled in many directions once you have achieved a certain level of success. But I am really just getting started and I’m still a new guy trying to secure my place in the sport, so I have to keep my focus on that. In the future, I may very well begin working with other bodybuilders on their posing and presentation, but not at this time. ! Got a question for Kai? E-mail it to him at
[email protected] and you could see it answered right here in MD!
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VICTOR MARTINEZ
THE TRUE VICTOR By Victor Martinez My name is Omar and I’m 32 years old. I also am Dominican and grew up in Washington Heights. I have always been in love with bodybuilding. I trained when I was a kid at Elmo’s on 158th but I was always extremely overweight and had no luck. I moved to Jersey when I was 18 and the suburban living made it worse. Everything was a drive and I really became depressed and even thought of suicide. I tipped the scales at 460 pounds of pure fat and I would have to pop pain meds before I got home just so I could go up a flight of stairs! Just 16 steps and I would be in agony and out of breath. I tried everything: personal training, NutriSystem, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, you name it. I finally was told I would never make it to 30 if I didn’t lose the weight so I had the gastric bypass surgery. I was told that if I ever made it down to 300 pounds, be appreciative and content. I was upset with that and really wanted to get down to 200. The weight came off super fast. I exer-
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cised daily and 16 months later I was 280 pounds. I should have been happy with that, but soon came my addiction. I ballooned to 320 and I became obsessed with bodybuilding. I stuck myself in a gym and read every article known to man and now I am down to 223 pounds. Still not happy, I am nowhere near as large and as hard as I would like. I train as hard as I can. I had my shoulder redone last year so I am a little cautious, but I am a machine in the gym. I wanted to know if there was anything you could do to help me or if I could just come in to your gym and watch you train. Please don’t think I’m a crazy fan. I’m just hungry for knowledge and I would do anything to reach my goal. I also am going to try to get certified as a trainer since this is what I feel passionate about and I want to spend the rest of my life helping people like me attain their goals. Omar, we must have missed each other at Elmo’s. I practically lived in that place from 1989 until it shut down in ’93. Anyway, I am happy to hear about all the progress you have made so far. To get down from the point where you were pushing 500 pounds to 223 is something to be proud of. When you say you aren’t as big and lean as you would like to be, I really hope you’re not comparing yourself to me or the other pros you see in MD like Kai and Dennis Wolf. Not that we don’t all work hard, but we are genetic freaks who were meant to look this way. The average person just can’t get this look no matter how long he trains or how badly he wants it. I don’t say that to discourage you. I just want you to have more realistic expectations so you aren’t always disappointed at your results. You should start thinking in terms of setting shortterm goals, like gaining a half-inch on your arms, losing an inch off your waist or increasing your squats by 10 pounds. Short-term goals are the best way to go after the bigger, long-term goals, because they all add on each other. As for coming to watch me train, sorry, man. That’s like asking one of the quarterbacks playing in the Super Bowl to hang around his last couple practices before the big game. When I train, I am 100 percent focused because it’s my job. The guys I am up against are the best bodybuilders on the planet, and they all want to beat me. Every workout of mine counts and could make the difference between edging them out, or them edging me out. If you want to see how I train and maybe pick up some tips, I have done three “In the Trenches” videos for MD where I trained back, shoulders and arms. Most of all Omar, know that you can keep improving your body if you just stick with it. Take every day one at a time and do the best with your workouts and your eating that you can. Don’t worry about looking like me. Be the very best Omar you can be, and believe that you can always get just a little bit better thanks to the bodybuilding lifestyle.
A Day In The Life: Eight Weeks Out From The Arnold Classic It’s great to be back on a contest prep after sitting out all of 2008. The weird thing is that it doesn’t even feel like work this time. It’s fun! I appreciate it so much more because I got a scary glimpse of what it might be like if I never got to do this again. That’s the key phrase: “I get to do this,” not “I have to do this.” My day is totally regimented. Here’s how it usually breaks down: 10:30 p.m. 11:15 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 5 p.m.12 oz. 6 p.m. 6:30-7:30 p.m. 7:45 p.m. 10 p.m. 11 p.m. Midnight
45 minutes cardio on the StepMill, treadmill or stationary bike Bowl of oatmeal and MHP Probolic shake 12 oz. steak and vegetables Chicken breast and medium baked potato Pre-workout: Dark Rage by MHP Weight train 12 oz. tilapia, medium baked potato 12 oz. steak and vegetables 45 minutes of cardio Probolic shake
Then sleep, wake up and do it all over again! I should note that in the offseason I do have a post-workout shake with carbs (Dark Matter by MHP), but we cut that out around 12 weeks out from the contest. April 2009
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Victor Martinez—The True Victor Jay’s Chances Of Getting His Title Back? Two words— slim and none. He hardly won in ’07 when he beat me, and he looked a lot worse this last time. I just don’t see him being able to make a miraculous comeback and fix all the issues he has going on with his physique. Between me, Heath, Dexter, Kai and Wolf, I just don’t see Jay ever winning the Olympia again. But come on— he’s a twotime Mr. Olympia and that’s nothing to cry about.
Special Thanks Victor, in your opinion, what is the very best type of pressing movement for shoulders that will build mass the quickest? I have heard people say it’s the military press, but when I do them I only feel them in my front delts. Is there any press that hits all three heads pretty good?
Because of the anatomy of the shoulders, it’s impossible for all three heads of the shoulders to be activated completely by any pressing movement. The rear delts are only worked in pulling movements like any type of row or pulldown for the back, deadlifts and upright rows. Of course, you can hit rear delts directly with rear lateral raises using dumbbells, a machine (I like the one that’s also a pec flye if you flip around and face forward) or cables. Military presses do work front delts the hardest because the bar is in front of your head. Behind-neck presses actually do a better job of involving both the front and side delts, but they can be murder on the rotator cuffs for a lot of guys. If I had to pick the best shoulder pressing movement that works the anterior and medial heads almost equally (any press will always favor the front heads), I would go with dumbbell presses. Because the dumbbells are directly over the shoulder joint, the medial heads can participate in the movement pretty well. A lot of guys like to use the Smith machine for military presses because they can load up more weight, but those aren’t as effective for adding mass to the shoulders. I think you would get more out of pressing a pair of 75-pound dumbbells overhead for a good set of 10 than you would doing 10 reps with two 45s, or 90 pounds, on each side of the Smith machine bar. For complete shoulder development, you should do dumbbell presses, side laterals and rear laterals.
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I want to thank Brian Gurney for all the work he’s been doing on my knee for the last year. Without you, bro, I don’t know if I’d be feeling so good about winning the Arnold and then the Olympia later this year. Lately I’ve been training with my friend Steve Dickerson, who happens to be the cousin of 1982 Mr. Olympia Chris Dickerson. I also train with my buddy Jakob, or even on my own a lot of the times when I’m not being tortured by Victor Munoz. This will be the last column of mine to come out before the Arnold, so thanks to all of you who believed in me and who have been so supportive and encouraging over this rough last year.
Update On My Restaurant Finally, I wanted to let you all know that we’ve pushed back the grand opening of my Muscle Maker Grill in Edgewater, New Jersey to March. With everything involved in my prep for the Arnold, it didn’t really make sense to do it until the contest was over and I could devote the proper attention to it. ! Got a question for Victor? E-mail to
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LEE PRIEST
Confirmed!
By Lee Priest
A Bit of News— I Got Married! Just in time for Christmas, I married a woman from South Africa named Warate. It may sound awfully sudden, but I have actually known her for a couple years. Only recently did things get more serious and I knew the time was right. Her name is now Warate McCutcheon. My legal name, as some of you know, is Lee McCutcheon. I go by Lee Priest in the magazines and when I compete. Priest was the last name of my stepfather, and I took it on when I was a teenager— which didn’t make my father too happy. Anyway, I am going to keep Warate out of the public eye. My personal life in general needs to be more private. I’ve been very open and honest throughout my whole career and it doesn’t seem to have gotten me too far. I know my fans appreciate it, but others have held it against me and called me a troublemaker or what have you. I guess you can consider it my New Year’s resolution, to not put every little detail of my life out there online and in the magazines. Now maybe I will have a little mystery about me, eh?
Third Time’s the Charm For those of you keeping score, this is my third marriage. I was married to a girl named Tracy back in the first couple years I lived in LA; then, of course, everybody knows about Cathy. Contrary to a stupid rumor, I was never married to Adela Garcia. I have been engaged more than once before, but those don’t count. Obviously if I had really wanted to marry the woman in question, I would have. But you can be sure that there are women in this world walking around who got very nice diamond rings from me, even if they never got my name.
The Great Carbohydrate Debate Needles to the Rescue
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No, I’m not talking about syringes or tattoo needles! Recently I started getting a type of acupuncture treatment called Toyo Hari— also known as meridian therapy— for my shoulder/biceps tendon injury. You can Google it for more info, but I can tell you it uses special tools like silver needles, Japanese cups, and spheres of silver, gold, zinc and copper. I thought it sounded like a bunch of New Age hippie crap until I tried it. Before this I was really wondering how I was going to make it to my contest without the pain taking away from my training so much that it would affect my physique. Now I’m not worried. I’ll still have to get surgery to re-attach it when my show is over, but I am confident I can get through the prep now. The funny thing is that the guy who’s doing it— Rod Hay— was a bodybuilder who was competing back here in Newcastle when I was just starting out at the age of 13. Who would have thought that I would even see him again, much less that he would be helping me get rid of pain?
I want to offer my opinion on the current debate going on about whether ketogenic diets are the be-all, end-all of diets that all bodybuilders should follow to get in shape for contests. I have always, I repeat always, had carbs in my diet year-round since I began bodybuilding at age 13. I train twice a day with weights and do cardio twice or sometimes three times a day during contest prep. I don’t need a guru to tell me I need carbs— I already know I do! If you train hard, you need carbs, not just protein and fat. All the guys in the old days ate carbs. In the ’90s, we all kept some carbs in our contest diets and I think as a whole we were harder and drier. I am no scientist and I never attended med school, but I say the no-carb diet is bullshit. Hard-training bodybuilders need at least a moderate amount of carbs to fuel workouts. I take in about 200-400 grams a day when I diet, with the higher end being for days I train bigger body parts like back or legs. Yet I have never had a problem getting in shape, despite the fact that I used to go as much as 80-90 pounds over my contest weight in the off-season. I think people are always looking for the next big thing, so many have latched onto this no-carb craze like it’s the Holy Grail. Of course you can lose weight by cutting out carbs. You would also lose weight if you stop eating food and drinking liquid, but pretty soon you’d be dead! Is it healthy to go without carbs? I tend to think it probably isn’t, in the long run. The human body doesn’t do too well with extremes. I have dieted on rice, potatoes, pasta, vegetables, oatmeal and even some bread. According to some of the brainwashed lemmings out there, I should never have been able to get in shape. But somehow I did. Imagine that! So if you’re buying into the no-carb craze because you think it’s the only possible way to get in shape, think again.
Feast or Famine! Hi Lee— My boyfriend is a bodybuilder. I am very proud of his accomplishments and fully support his goals for the future. He’s a great guy! That said, from the woman’s viewpoint, it seems that bodybuilding is a case of ‘feast or famine’ in more ways than one! It seems as if you guys are either eating like there is no tomorrow, or restricting with cutting diets. But my question about famine has to do with the bedroom. When my boyfriend is on a cycle, he is Superman! When he comes off a cycle it’s like he’s got kryptonite in his pocket for months! Please tell me what I can do to help ‘jump-start’ him. I’ve tried everything I can think of and spent a fortune in lingerie! He says it’s not me, and that a boatload of Playboy playmates wouldn’t have any effect, either. Any ideas? Help! ‘Blue Lady’ P.S. I love your column... you are the greatest! I can’t say I have ever had this particular problem related to being on or off the stuff. Around contest time, sometimes I don’t feel like sex, just due to things on my mind and the stress of the show and the dieting. So when your man is dieting, rest assured it’s not you. It’s not that you’re not being sexy enough that’s causing him to lose interest in sex. And not to be a jerk, but at least now you know how us guys feel when we want sex and you women always have some excuse! I also hate to throw this out there, but maybe he’s getting his needs met with someone else. When he gets home, he isn’t interested because he’s shot his load for the day. Hopefully this isn’t the case since you seem to really love the guy. Now that I’ve got you all in a panic, relax. His sex drive is directly related to his testosterone levels. Most guys experience a major crash in the month or two after a cycle because their own bodies have stopped producing testosterone, since the hormone was being supplied in ridiculous amounts artificially. A lot of guys use certain drugs like HCG or Clomid to help ‘jump-start’ their own testosterone production. If your boyfriend doesn’t want to look into that or maybe even have his doctor help him out— assuming his doctor won’t run and call an exorcist at the mention of steroids— then you are just going to have to deal with these periods when he isn’t interested in what Borat calls ‘sexy time.’ Or, he could just quit using steroids and compete in natural shows!
Judged by his Tattoos? Hey Lee— I love your answers to the stupid questions you get. Tell those fuckers straight up how it is. Anyway, I was wondering if you could answer my question since it has to do with tattoos. I’m from Hawaii and have a big family heritage tribal tattoo that goes from my right pec, over my right delt and down to my right bicep. Then there’s another one with the island chain on my left side in the oblique area and a big tribal visionary across my back. April 2009
Do tattoos generally detract from your score at competitions as far as presentation is concerned? I’m just concentrating on my total package right now. I don’t really give a shit if they do lower my score because of my tattoos, but have you been criticized at competitions because of yours? Your input is appreciated with a big “Aloha” from da island boys. The only time I think this would be any kind of real issue is if it were excruciatingly close between you and another guy, and they needed a reason to pick one of you over the other one. But I have seen a lot of guys here in Australia winning shows with tons of tattoos. I think it all depends on what contest you are in and who you are up against. Also, there could be some judges out there who really hate tattoos for whatever reason. But most of the time, a nice dark base tan (which I think you have naturally, right?) and a good tanning product will make even the most extensive tattoos really hard to see. You’ll get a good idea of what I mean once you see my photos from the Australian Grand Prix in a few months. I am the most heavily tattooed man in the IFBB, but I bet you will hardly notice them. MD 383
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LEE PRIEST—Confirmed
Stupid Question of the Month! Question about juice, bro: how much do the other pros take? I have heard that some use pretty wild amounts. What is one of the stacks like for some of these guys over 250 pounds? I have been pretty conservative with my gear use so far, but I am seriously considering taking it to the next level so I can get my pro card. I wouldn’t know what others take and I really couldn’t care less. I have heard plenty of rumors, but unless I see it with my own eyes or at least hear it directly from the guy, I don’t believe it. I lived with Paul Dillet for eight months leading up to the 1998 Mr. Olympia contest. They don’t come much bigger than Paul, who competed at about 275 and would get up to around 320 pounds in the off-season at times.
I had heard rumors around Gold’s about how much shit he used for a couple years before we were roommates. Let me tell you what a bunch of bull those rumors turned out to be. Paul didn’t even use a quarter of what they said he used. And I know because it was all there right in the apartment and I saw what he took with my own eyes. After that, I never listened when I heard about some guy who allegedly took bucket loads of steroids. People would say, “I know for a fact what this guy uses.” Fuck you, you do! I am one of the only pros, actually maybe the only one, who has discussed my gear use in interviews and my columns, and I’ve laid out exactly what I take. Then people still come up to me and start talking about cycles— by far the most popular topic among wannabe pro bodybuilders— and they let me know that they heard I used X amount instead
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of what I wrote or said in an interview. Oh, really? I think I have a pretty good idea of what I use, but I guess other people must know better than me! It’s so retarded how much focus people put on the drugs in bodybuilding. Steroids are a big part of pro football, but you don’t hear NFL players going on and on about it, or their fans debating back and forth online the way bodybuilders do. At least their fans realize that those guys are exceptional athletes with unique genetic gifts, and that the average chump sitting on his couch isn’t going to suddenly get a $20million contract with the Patriots or Giants just because he sticks a needle in his ass a few times. Steroids will not make you a champion, as painful as it is for some to accept. Champions in any sport were born to be champions. Nobody in any sport has gone from
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April 2009
LEE PRIEST—Confirmed being terrible to incredible thanks to drugs. This nonsense started back in 1984 when they tried to say Winstrol was what made Ben Johnson run so fast. I have used Winny before shows, a cc every third or fourth day, and I can’t run as fast as he did! It ain’t the Winstrol, you fools. Take an 8,000 horsepower dragster— that car was built to go ridiculously fast. Put some high-octane racing fuel in it and it will go fast— but it was always going to be fast anyway. Put some nitro fuel in the car and it practically flies! But putting nitro into a Toyota Camry won’t make it go as fast as the dragster. Take a genetically-gifted athlete in any sport and give them steroids and they will be even better. But putting the same drugs in a person lacking those genetics will not produce the same superb athlete. Can I make it any simpler for the fucking morons out there with their heads up their asses? Steroids will
not make anyone a champion! I have seen literally thousands of guys take steroids over the 24 years I have been in this sport and only a few ever looked like a pro bodybuilder. Most got bigger, but some didn’t even look like they trained. Only the ones who had the right genetics responded with the extreme muscle growth that the pros have all experienced. I hope this is the last time I will have to get up on this particular soapbox, but sadly there will always be delusional cretins out there who are convinced they can compete in the Arnold and the Olympia if they just use more steroids. Got a question for Lee, preferably a really stupid one? E-mail it to
[email protected] and you could see it answered right here in MD!
Down To One Show Well, I was going to do back-to-back shows at the Australian and New Zealand Pro events for my big comeback, but the New Zealand contest has been cancelled. I will compete later in the year at some show in the States, I just don’t know which one yet. I still have nine weeks to get ready for the Aussie show, and I ‘confess’ (like a good Priest should) that I am not feeling wonderful about how I am looking yet. I know from years past that I can definitely get into contest condition in that amount of time. I’ve been carrying a lot more fat at this far out previously and still got ripped. I think it’s just a nervous jittery lack of confidence that comes from not having competed in a couple years. Logically I know everything will be fine, but every time I look in the mirror, a voice in my head whispers, “Look at you, ya fat fuck, you’ll never get in shape in time!” I just have to tell that voice to shut the hell up. !
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April 2009
BRANCH WARREN—THE TEXAS TITAN
MASSwithCLASS By Branch Warren
Up Where We Belong
I’ve started doing legs again recently, but I’m not a big fan of squats. Will leg presses with heavy loads still help me gain considerable mass? Thanks in advance! I’ve said it before— usually it’s the exercises you hate the most that are the most productive for you. Me, I hate deadlifts. Seriously, they are just about the most uncomfortable thing I can imagine and I f***ing hate them! But I do them because working hard on them gives my back a thick, powerful look that is almost impossible to get otherwise. The same thing goes for squats. Can you build big legs without squatting? Yeah, you might be able to work hard and heavy on leg presses and get some decent wheels— but you’re fighting an uphill battle. Squats are the most direct path to gaining mass in the legs. It’s like asking if you can drive cross-country in a beat-up jalopy that keeps breaking down and taking the back roads. You’d probably get there eventually, but you’d get there a lot quicker and more reliably driving a new car and taking the interstate. Hopefully this makes sense. Unless you have some real reason to avoid squats, such as a lower-back injury, you should be doing them even if you’re not a ‘big fan.’ Not many people are when it comes to squats, but they do them because they work so damn well!
What is a good way to bring up the upper inner chest? I hit chest first in the week and start with dumbbell flyes or cable uppercuts to isolate the chest and then move to incline presses next. Any ideas? I respond well to the prefatigue technique. My first question to you is, what the hell is a cable uppercut? An uppercut is a type of punch as far as I know. I am guessing you mean cable crossovers on an incline, or maybe cable crossovers done with the pulleys set at the bottom. The pre-exhaust technique is fine for guys who have a real problem with either their triceps or front delts taking over on pressing movements, but otherwise I think you are sabotaging your results by doing it all the time. I say this because it takes away from the weight you can handle, and heavy weights in good form are what build mass. I think you would see better results from pressing 100s instead of 75s. You have the right idea by doing incline pressing movements first. My upper chest used to suck until I started doing incline dumbbell and incline barbell presses first in my routine, then moved on to flat presses and dips. I save all the flye and cable movements for the end, as I just don’t consider them to be as valuable for mass gains. Try doing it my way for a few months and see if that doesn’t make a difference.
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April 2009
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PER BERNAL
Squats— The Exercise We Love To Hate
Yes, I Got This Way Lifting Two-Pound Pink Dumbbells Branch, my training partner (35 years old, 240 at 6-7 percent body fat— not a small guy, haha) hasn’t competed in SEVEN years and he is just maintaining his size and shit. I told him if he wants gains he needs to lift much more intensely and lift heavier weights, but he doesn’t want to. “My joints would be destroyed,” he says, “and besides, do you really think the pros train heavy all the time? It’s only for photo shoots to look like a hero.” Being that you are known for your intense training sessions and your
April 2009
strength, could I get an honest response from you to the statement above? Sure, I only train heavy when I’m at a photo shoot. Usually I am using the little chrome dumbbells and cables with just a little bit of weight on the stack. Get real! Some pros definitely train heavier than others, but we all train heavy. That’s the only way to build the extreme levels of mass that we have. Honestly, I don’t know how your buddy managed to get to 240 at 6 percent body fat with his lazy attitude. I’m sorry to say his claim is almost definitely an exaggeration— 6 percent isn’t far from contest condition, and not many people can walk around like that year-round unless they are Dexter’s twin brother. You didn’t say how tall he was, so maybe he’s like 6’4”, in which case a lean 240 would be big, but nothing spectacular. I don’t mean to bag on your friend; it’s just that I find it hard to believe he carries that much lean muscle without training with heavy weights and intensity. Maybe he’s just a true genetic freak, in which case he would be 10 times bigger and more impressive if he did push himself harder. I should also say that in some photo shoots, guys do try to use a little more weight than what they normally would, just to make the shot look more hardcore. That’s not too smart because when you’re in contest condition (which is when almost all photo shoots are done), you are a lot more susceptible to
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BRANCH WARREN—THE TEXAS TITAN injuries than you are in the off-season when you carry more body fat and water. I also know that sometimes, fake weights are used. But training DVDs are a pretty accurate glimpse into the type of weights we use in our everyday workouts. You may get the occasional stunt, like when Ronnie loaded up the leg press at Metroflex to 2,500 pounds for his video, but usually it’s just us pros training like we always do— hard and heavy. As for me, I can say that with the exception of the 2-4 weeks I take off from training after a contest to let my
body heal, and the 2-3 weeks it takes me after that to gradually ease back into heavy weights, I definitely train heavy all the time and push all my sets to failure or beyond. Even with great genetics and all the best food and supplements in the world, it still takes some serious effort to make muscle gains once you’re past the intermediate level. Your friend can believe whatever he wants to. Obviously he doesn’t really care too much about getting bigger and seems to be comfortable with his current size. Stop wasting your time worrying about him and you keep doing your thing and getting bigger and better!
CHEC
T musculardevelKopOU ment.com FOR COM PLET CONTEST E COVERAGE !
Ringing In The New Year Trish and I had a few friends over for New Year’s Eve. They all drank while we ate our chicken and rice. I can’t even remember the last time I ‘partied’ on New Year’s— I’m always dieting! But booze ain’t going anywhere. My main goal this year is to win the Arnold Classic, so celebrating can wait. Right now I am focused and doing everything 100 percent right to make sure I am the best I can be. After that, it’s up to the judges. I also just renewed my contracts with both MuscleTech and MD, and the MuscleTech deal is a long-term one. 2009 is going to be a great year! And I can’t forget to mention the Branch Warren Classic in Houston on July 11th. Visit www.metroflexgymproductions.com for more info and I hope to see a lot of you guys there competing and in the audience!
Last Trip Before The Arnold As I write this mid-January, I am done with appearances and traveling until the Arnold Classic. A few weeks back, Trish and I went to visit friends of ours on Long Island. While there, I trained at the most hardcore gym on the East Coast: Bev Francis and Steve Weinberger’s Powerhouse Gym in Syosset. It’s like Disneyland for bodybuilders; they have every piece of equipment you can imagine! You could end up there all day if you’re not careful! Bev and Steve are always super nice to us too. If you ever get out that way, you really need to drop in for a workout. ! Got a question for Branch? E-mail it to him at
[email protected] and you could see it answered right here in MD!
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April 2009
TELLING IT LIKE IT IS By Shawn Ray
ShawnRay
The Price of Fame Before embarking on a career of fortune and fame using bodybuilding as your vehicle, let me recommend that you ‘pump your brakes’ and take a good long look at what it might cost you to be ‘The Man’ in an industry that’s very unforgiving and transitory at best regarding the ‘Champions of Today’ and the ‘Chumps of Tomorrow.’
backs that the ordinary guy would turn and walk away from. As with many professions, there are literally thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people out there aspiring to be the next Dexter Jackson, Jay Cutler or Victor Martinez, but more often than not, they wind up chasing a dream that will take them everywhere but the winner’s circle. When I began bodybuilding I was immediately taken aback by how time-consuming it all was: eat, sleep, train, cook, think about eating, think about training, oh yeah, practice my posing, find the right music, work on my tan, choose the right contest and on and on, year in and year out like a neverending story… I began to think about what I was going to have to give up in pursuit of this dream to hit it big and become somebody in this business, and at what cost to my
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social life and my private life if I should become successful? The old adage, “Be careful what you wish for,” kept creeping into my thoughts, but I was a young hungry lion, so I jumped in with both feet to see how big of a splash I could make. At 18 years old, there really wasn’t a lot going on in my life. I was entering my senior year of high school, playing football and lifting weights. I decided to make a life-changing decision to walk away from 10 years of football prior to going to college, to pursue a dream of becoming a teenage national th bodybuilding champion before my 20 birthday! I had already won a couple of small teenage contests and had six trophies to show for my efforts; somewhere in the back of my mind I thought maybe I could become ‘the best’ teenage bodybuilder in the country, if I didn’t play football.
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April 2009
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHAWN RAY
You see, while not everyone who picks up a barbell or dumbbell will become the next Arnold, you can best believe as I write this now that a future Mr. Olympia is being readied for the game and even he doesn’t know it yet! Far too many people come into the sport of bodybuilding with unrealistic expectations from a few hours, days or week’s worth of pumping iron, thinking that the payoff is right around the corner regarding becoming the ‘Next Big Thing.’ Sadly, that reality usually hits home after a year or two of spending your last dollar on protein bars designed to get you ripped and massive while calorie-free they’re NOT! The deal of becoming famous in the sport of bodybuilding is that you have to develop rather thick skin along with savage determination to be the best. Individuals who achieve success in this business do so typically by staying the course and fighting the good fight through defeat and set-
Shawn Ray—Telling It Like It Is
Running around and practice was burning off my hard-earned muscle and then I was too tired for training at the gym after school. So off I went with no real plan as to how to cash in. I figured if I trained harder and ate more than the other guys in my school, maybe I could be a contender. I stopped partying with friends on the weekends. I didn’t have time for steady girlfriends. I adopted a ‘why run when I can walk?’ mentality to save everything I had for the gym so I could later show it all off on ‘the stage.’ It would take me two years and two attempts to eventually win the overall title in the NPC Teenage National Championships in 1985, but at what price? I had no job, I lived back-and-forth between my divorced parent’s houses, I needed gas in my car, had no pocket change for the right kind of food, not to mention money for supplements or protein powder. I was a starving college student on a budget of a 12-year-old, which begged the question from my parents, “How in the hell are you supposed to become a bodybuilding star without a way to pay for it?” Sure I had trophies, but they didn’t pay the bills. Yes I was ‘famous,’ but only to a handful of knuckleheads at my gym. I trained 14 weeks for that victory,
mostly alone while eating tuna out of a can, bumming food off of friends, passing on family outings and vacations so I wouldn’t miss a workout and worst of all, sleeping through a lot of the fun my friends where having, because I had read somewhere that you grow when you sleep. I had a teenage national title and a trophy to prove it, but I didn’t have two nickels to rub together for my efforts, which left my parents wondering how in the hell I was going to make a living someday, walking around flexing my muscles? As in most stories, the road to fame was paved with more questions than answers. I made the most of my time, taking a full load of college courses in business management in junior college before transferring to Cal State Fullerton to study social psychology so I could become a juvenile delinquent counselor one day. I moonlighted before and after school as a wannabe professional bodybuilder taking on all comers, to hopefully one day get discovered by Joe Weider and live the dream of Arnold and Franco in Venice Beach, training at Gold’s Gym while being sponsored by the ‘Master Blaster!’ However, reality is a bitch; after winning the Teen Nationals and later the Jr. World Championships, I still had no contract, no money, no fortune and no fame. The daily grind of training at 5 a.m. so I could be in class by 8 a.m., eating sack lunches and scraping by to make ends meet was taking its toll on my dream of hitting it BIG! After school I’d piece together some healthy food on a poor man’s budget, then head back to the gym and clock another 2 hours of training before coming home to hit the books and do homework. I wondered at times if it was all worth it. My friends were busying themselves with career interests while I was looking at half-naked men in magazines, trying to emulate their poses in the mirror of my mom’s bathroom. I had no hobbies beyond going to the movies to escape my reality of a ‘gym rat’ who repeated the same cycle week after week and
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month after month, which became year after year of the same old daily grind, praying my hard work would one day pay off. By 1987, I had added a few more titles to my resume— most notably, Mr. California, joining the ranks of famous bodybuilders such as Bob Paris, Rory Leidelmeyer, Mike Christian & Troy Zuccolotto, en route to the epic showdown at the NPC National Championships in Atlantic City, NJ, where I’d face my toughest competition to date. At 22, this was a contest that would determine if I’d become famous or if I’d turn and walk away to seek greener pastures in my educational field of choice. I was at a crossroads regarding my ‘love affair’ with the iron and real life, regarding my financial future.
I was smart enough to know that the price I was paying to be famous wasn’t balanced with my investment of time, sacrifice or social life. I had spent every dollar I had on the best quality foods and blew off every opportunity to enjoy entertainment, social gatherings and sporting events I’d loved my entire life. I had shut out so many of life’s pleasures, in pursuit of a life I had only read about in magazines of the ‘built & famous.’ My focus on my future was blurred by the vision of that glamorous life the magazines illustrated, without including instructions as to how I could achieve it. Staying home on a Friday night became routine for me, as my training left me consistently tired and
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April 2009
Shawn Ray—Telling It Like It Is
sore. Saturday night became no different, as I typically would go to different gyms to train, rather than different night clubs to relax. My existence was on the verge of obsession and self-absorption. I had no answers for friends and family as to why I wasn’t engaging in typical 20something activities, except to say that I felt my calling was to push the envelope and see how far I could go in this business. In October of ’87 I took inventory of what I wanted from this life and looked around at where I was and what I had achieved, but I was unfulfilled and wanting. And it was there, at that point of my life, that I made the commitment to become ‘somebody’ and join the ranks of the sport’s finest! I felt like I had given so much and received so little from my dedication, that if I didn’t win the National title and become recognized as the best amateur in the
country, I’d simply hang up my posing trunks and redirect my life’s path. It was a pivotal point that proved to be just what I needed to get to the next level. I felt lonely, isolated, desperate and hungry to be the ‘next big thing’ in such a way that my workouts nearly killed me. My isolation from the outside world became my place of security and my longing to become somebody my life’s work. My feet were set on a ‘date with fame’ and nothing was going to stop me from getting there! Broke and beaten, I was proclaimed the NPC National Overall Champion, beating 163 other competitors who showed up with the exact same dream I had, but only I would be the ‘last man standing!’ I knew upon the announcement of my name that life was about to change in a dramatic fashion, owing to the work and time I had invested in becoming the best I could be. One month after nd my 22 birthday, I stood alone once more, only this time it was on the victory platform! After countless photo shoots and guest-posing offers from around the world, Joe Weider and I signed a contract allowing me to officially declare to the world my status as a professional bodybuilder! My IFBB pro card was basically my diploma, one I’d received for the calendar competition year of 1988, three long years removed from high school graduation, which at this moment felt only like yesterday. Gone were the endless nights of sore body parts, isolated self-pity, empty pockets and wondering about my future. Now, I was on virtually every bodybuilding magazine cover in the world and getting paid for training, receiving free supplements, eating like a stallion and cashing checks like a rock star! I’d almost given up on my dream— like so many great athletes before me, starting out at the bottom and working toward the top is a lonely existence. However, for the select few who dare to dream, being alone and lonely is but a blink of an eye compared to the fortune and fame that brings All Eyes On Me while sitting on top of the world trying to figure out which restaurant I’m going to
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eat at. The fan mail is cool too, as I began to realize I was only alone while doing the business of becoming the best I could be, while the rest of the world was awaiting my arrival, to share in my success and sacrifices! I guess for me the moral of the story is: the price of fame is different for everybody. In a way we all give up something to gain something. It’s not always monetary and it’s not always a sad story; mine fortunately had a happy ending. In hindsight, I look back on those early years with amazement and fascination. I long for those days of isolation and training sessions; it was a simple time back then. Eat, sleep and train sounds rather simple, while mom and dad took care of all the bills and provided security for my existence. The real question is: how much would I be willing to pay to have those days again? The mid to late ’80s was a time when bodybuilding and its cast of characters was at its peak in popularity and the camaraderie was at its best. We busy ourselves worrying about the future while the past is slipping by. Fame is what you make of it whether you’re a bodybuilding champion or simply a guy who works out for recreation. When all is said and done, there can be no price tag on fame because it only exists in our mind and it changes with time. My daughters think I’m Superman while the new Jacks in the gym refer to me as a legend. I’m humbled daily by varying opinions of me on this thing called the ‘Internet’ where I can ‘Google’ my name and find out from some of the younger guys in the sport that I am nothing more than an old man at the ripe age of 43 who had a good run. Mom and Dad’s thoughts? Well, let’s just say they were both extremely relieved when they found out they would no longer have to buy my groceries and put gas in my car. As well, they both conceded that I made a much better bodybuilder than I would have been as a counselor! Stay hungry and follow your dreams wherever they may lead you. Shawn ■
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April 2009
BRANDEN RAY By Branden Ray
Road tothe USAs Body Spray, Mouthwash and Gorillas In Heat We are now in ’09 and before I get into my main topic for this column, I want to discuss another element of gym etiquette. Ever walk into the gym and say, “DAMN!”? You know that somebody is smelling like old deli meat and it’s really disturbing your workout. How do you handle this? Well, to prevent being the suspect for curling everybody’s nose hairs, use body spray. There is nothing like asking someone for a spot and they’re standing over you with stinky balls. Happened to me once and I almost dropped 405 on my chest. This dude smelled like 30 gorillas in heat and just zapped my energy. Then there’s the person who’s breath doesn’t agree with their preworkout shake and when you’re spotting them and they’re breathing out hard trying to get those last reps, the smell damn near takes your eyebrows off and peels the paint on the walls.
All of these ailments can easily be combated with a little body spray and a little mouthwash after your shake. You will not lose your hardcore status if you wear a different sweatshirt to train in— it doesn’t have to have blood and sweat from the last time you trained that body part. I know that civilians want to blame the biggest guy in the gym so I make sure that I’m fresh out of the shower with the nice Axe body spray and the mouthwash after my shake. You can thank me at the Arnold.
Dedicated To Gym Warriors Everywhere
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April 2009
PHOTO BY PER BERNAL
I would like to dedicate this column to all of my gym warriors who are able to fulfill their passion for pumping iron and staying in shape, despite working full-time jobs to provide for their families. I believe that if anyone here at MD can give advice on how to achieve your physique goals and work within a demanding schedule, it’s me. I will break this down into three different sections that are the basis for bodybuilding: training, rest and eating. I’ll start with training. Now, as many of you know, I work for CNN in Washington, D.C. My work schedule is Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 3 p.m.-11 p.m… yes, I work on the weekends. Working in broadcast journalism can be very spontaneous and I am often called in to work different shifts, so I always have to be prepared. I can’t tell my job to wait until I finish my last few sets if we’re in breaking news. To prepare myself for the unexpected, getting called in or having to stay a couple of hours late, I take full advantage of my ‘off’ days. I always train legs on Monday because, as we all know, leg day can be a bitch… or better yet, should be a bitch. I get in early and knock it out, allowing myself the rest of the day to take a nap right after my workout, and then run all of my errands for the remainder of the day (i.e., laundry, grocery shopping, etc.). On my Tuesday (which is most people’s Sunday), I hit the gym twice. I usually train chest and calves in the morning and arms in the evening. With three body parts trained in two days, I now have five days to train back, hams, delts and traps. I usually combine back and traps, and hams and delts. With this program, you are able to hit every body part in four days, allowing your body plenty of rest. This is the perfect segue to my next topic, rest. When you’re working 40+ hours a week and for many of you, raising children, it’s really hard to get the required rest that you need to grow. If you really are dedicated to developing your physique, you’ll be more than willing to put Leno and Letterman to the side. Because muscles grow and repair when we sleep, I always supplement with melatonin and GABA at bedtime. Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland that allows an individual to sleep better
BRANDEN RAY— Road tothe USAs and without frequently waking up throughout the night. GABA is an amino acid that, when taken at bedtime, can stimulate the production of growth hormone naturally. The combination of melatonin and GABA allows me to get the proper rest that I need to not only recover, but also wake up in the morning and be functional at work. One very important tip for those of you who train in the evening or at night is to avoid supplements with stimulants! For many of you who train right before bedtime and wonder why you can’t sleep, most of it has to do with the pre-workout supplements that you take. Yes, these supplements can give you the energy to power through your workout, but then you find yourself at the end of the night lying in bed just staring at the ceiling. I was like that for awhile and could not figure out what was wrong. I would finally fall asleep at like 4 a.m. but would have to wake up at 8 a.m. for work and would be miserable throughout the day. It really affected my mood, especially if I was dieting. It wasn’t until I started using VPX’s SytheSize that I was able to train at night and get the proper rest afterward. SyntheSize is stimulant-free but still packs NO, creatine, beta-alanine,
amino acids and an incredible 20 grams of protein per scoop! Most important, I’m able to sleep on the days that I’m not able to leave the gym until 10 p.m. The last thing that you want to do is have bodybuilding interfere with your productivity at work. Bodybuilding can be very taxing, especially those heavy squat days or heavy deadlift days, but we still have to make sure that we are punctual at work and alert throughout the day. It’s already hard for ‘civilians’ to understand how or why we live this lifestyle. The average person cannot fathom how there is enough time, when in all actuality, we are only in the gym for 1 or 2 hours a day. The average civilian spends more hours channel-surfing. The final and very important part is how to manage your food. One of the most challenging things to do when at work is to get those meals down. We all know that you have to eat to grow. Here’s my advice: first, cook like you’re preparing to feed a small army. I’m pretty sure most of us do this already, but for those of you who try to cook every day, good luck. My Monday and Thursday nights are dedicated to prepping my meals. I’ll cook about 5 pounds of ground beef, about 20 pieces of chicken breast, and about 5
pounds of steak all at once with rice in the rice cooker and potatoes being baked. When complete, I portion everything out, weigh it, and pack up my meals. This way when I’m running out of the house with my work bag and car keys, I can just grab my ‘already packed’ meals and go. A saving grace has been mealreplacement shakes. I keep dozens of packets in my desk drawer. I usually drink a shake on my way to work and on my way home. The shake on the way to work helps tremendously on the days that I’m bombarded with work the moment that I step in the door. Meal-replacement shakes are also good when you have those long meetings to sit through. Getting these meals in is extremely important, especially if you’re a competitive bodybuilder. Just keep in mind that you may miss a meal, but the guy standing next to you onstage didn’t. Competing at a very high level and having a career does require a lot of sacrifices, but it can be done. It just requires a lot of discipline and dedication. I really admire all of my brothers and sisters in iron who are hitting the gym hard and not allowing their passion to interfere with their responsibility.
Training Tip of the Month We all focus on biceps peak. The image of Arnold posing on the mountaintop with two peaking boulders stays in our head. However, to really make the arm impressive, you must develop the brachialis muscle to give the arm more density. Well-developed forearms are also essential to having impressive arms. My coach, Hany Rambod, wanted my arms to not only look impressive when I’m in my poses, but also when I’m relaxed. We started to achieve this by using reverse-grip preacher curls for my final 7 sets for biceps when using Hany’s FST-7 training system. My arms quickly responded and the development of the brachialis and forearms made my arms so much more impressive. This is an exercise that’s usually an afterthought, if thought of at all. I highly recommend it because it also brings out the arms in the side chest pose and the side triceps. I do 7 sets of 12 reps with a 30-second pause between each set. You want to show the guns, but walking down the street in a front double biceps is not a good look. If you get the forearms and brachialis popping, eyes will pop without you even flexing! !
406 MD
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April 2009
DENNIS WOLF— THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE
The Big Bad WOLF By Dennis Wolf
Front military press Side laterals Lean forward laterals
408 MD
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Hey Dennis, I gotta tell ya, when someone asks me who my bodybuilding idols are, there are only two names that ever come to mind: Dennis Wolf and Arnold. I gotta ask though, what does your shoulder workout look like during your offseason? I have never seen cannonballs like yours. It is insane! I am just wondering what concept you use— heavy weights and low reps, light weights and high reps— and how often do you train them? Any information would be great! Thanks in advance. Thank you so much for your words, I really do appreciate it! I’m glad you didn’t say I was ‘The Next Arnold.’ There was only one Arnold, and there will never be another. He was one of those guys who only comes around once in a hundred years, and will probably be remembered for a few hundred more. With that out of the way, I should tell you that my shoulder workout looks almost the same whether it’s off-season or pre-contest. I believe that heavy free weights are what gives your muscles mass and density, so you can’t start switching to lighter weights and machines unless you want to start losing both. I try to keep my sets in the 8-12 rep range, which is heavy but not so heavy as to be dangerous. I’ve already had a knee injury and a hernia now, and I would very much prefer that those be the extent of my training injuries for the remainder of my career. For shoulders, I keep it very simple. I do three exercises of 4 sets each. Once in a while I will also do an exercise for my neck. I think it’s important that my neck doesn’t start to look skinny compared to my shoulders and traps. That’s a very ‘weak’ look and it takes away from an otherwise powerful upper body. I usually use a Hammer Strength neck machine for that, but it’s probably only once a month, if that. Just enough to maintain some size there. Normally this is what I do for shoulders: 4 sets, 8-12 reps 4 sets, 8-12 reps (rear delts) 4 sets, 8-12 reps www.musculardevelopment.com
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April 2009
I have been training for about seven years now, but have not grown much stronger in the past year. I do seem to still be putting on a little bit more mass here and there, but the weights I use are not changing. Should I be worried about this? A lot of ‘experts’ say you have to keep using heavier and heavier weights all the time. But if that’s true, wouldn’t everybody be bench-pressing 2,000 pounds and squatting 5,000 pounds eventually? Do you try to use heavier weights all the time? First of all, don’t worry about that. You can’t get stronger and stronger every year forever. If that were possible, everyone who trained for 15-20 years would be throwing cars around and smashing through walls like the Hulk! But still, seven years doesn’t really sound long enough to have reached your ultimate strength potential. And I do think that you should continue trying to build strength until then. Being able to handle heavier weights in good form will allow you to keep adding mass. There will come a point where you’ll have to find other ways to stimulate growth, but I really don’t think you are quite there yet. So what I would suggest is to add more carbs and overall calories to your diet. Don’t be afraid to gain a little bit of body fat, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand and you completely lose sight of your abs. Rest is also very important to the recovery process. Make sure you are getting at least 8 hours of sleep every night and maybe even a nap here and there when you get the chance. You could also be overtrained. Take a serious look at your program and see if perhaps you are doing too much— too many exercises, too many sets, or not allowing enough rest days in the week. How many of those a person needs is a personal thing, but in general I think most guys should take at least two and possibly three days off to recover and let the whole system recharge. Best of luck to you!
My New Year’s Resolutions: 1. Stay healthy. No injuries or illnesses! 2. Be successful. Whether that means winning the Mr. Olympia or not, I want to do the best I can do and make the most of my career as a pro bodybuilder. I know it won’t last forever. 3. Do everything I can to make sure my family is healthy and happy.
Hernia Update As of this writing at the very start of the new year, the pain is almost gone. I definitely still feel twinges here and there that remind me I had the surgery, but I think that’s a good thing. It keeps me from doing anything dumb to put myself in danger of interfering with the healing process.
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Dennis Wolf— The People’s Choice Christmas Memories Looking back at all the Christmas mornings of my childhood, I remember how much I loved every gift I got. The funny thing is, kids nowadays seem to demand very expensive things like video game systems and computers or else they get upset. My family never had a lot of money, so the presents I received would probably be considered very modest to most Americans. But I knew my dad loved me very much and he did the best he could to get me something I would like every year, and that was good enough for me.
Let it Snow— Somewhere Else! Luckily for me, in the western part of Germany where I live, we don’t get much snow at all. Usually we get a couple of small ‘storms,’ if you can even call them that, and most of it melts after a few hours or else it turns to rain. I haven’t even had to shovel out my steps and driveway for a few years. Sometimes I am watching CNN and they show these horrible storms that they get in the USA every winter, where cars can’t drive and it takes people days to shovel and plow all the snow away. That does not look like much fun at all, and I feel for any of you who have to deal with that. This is why if I do move to the USA, it would have to be someplace nice and warm like Las Vegas!
My Overtraining Days Sometimes I think back to my first year in the gym. I only trained four days a week, so at least I didn’t make the common mistake of working out every day. But it was not uncommon for me to spend a good 3 hours training. I always worried that I wasn’t doing enough, and that the more exercises and sets I did, the faster I would get huge. I was ignorant, but at least I had a lot of enthusiasm and drive!
Holiday Eating— All Bets Are Off! I won’t even tell you how badly I have been eating over the holidays. At least I’m sure I’m not the only one! I have been eating all of my wife’s good cooking that I can’t have when I diet, and sweets like cakes. Some people would get mad if they saw the amount of junk I have been eating, because I still have pretty low body fat. I know that most people would have gained around 10 or 15 pounds of pure fat eating like this. But I am lucky like that; at least I recognize it and I’m grateful for it.
My Two Favorite Off-Season Restaurants One is a steakhouse. We actually go out to eat there when I diet too; I just won’t order certain things with my steak like French fries. If I’m dieting, I will get a good steak with a plain baked potato and a salad. My other favorite restaurant is a Chinese food place here in my town. I love Chinese food! In the early stages of my contest diet, I still have cheat meals a couple times a week. Guess where I go for those? OUT CHECK
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The Greatest Arnold Classic Champion Hands down, I have to give this one to Flex Wheeler. I don’t think anyone will ever beat his record of five titles, just like I don’t think anyone will ever win more than eight Mr. Olympia titles like Lee Haney and Ronnie did. But more than that, of all the physiques that have won the Arnold, and this includes guys like Ronnie and Kevin— I think Flex Wheeler comes closest to perfect. !
410 MD
ST CO CONTE
Got a question for Dennis? E-mail it to him at
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April 2009
ERIK FANKHOUSER—NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION
Erik ‘The House’ Fankhouser
By Erik Fankhouser
House Calls
412 MD
online on all the forums and you should definitely post them on the MD website. If you post them on my thread, I will give you some feedback. I don’t blow smoke up anybody’s ass; I will tell you how it is. Another good form of exposure is going to all the shows and expos that you can. I remember going to the Arnold Classic expo and hitting up all the booths, passing out contact info. I also remember trying to show some of the pros pictures of me from my shows, and most of them just looked at me like I was crazy. But, oh well. Little did they know that I would be a pro standing onstage next to them someday. That is one reason I always give time to anybody who comes up to me at an expo. You never know, I could be talking to the next pro. It is funny that you should ask how Universal Nutrition found me. It ties right in with the question. Irv Gelb, a well-known photographer, saw some of the photos I had posted and he set up a shoot for me and got me in contact with Universal. Universal then saw pictures of me that I had posted online. They e-mailed me and at first I thought it was people messin’ with me, but I followed up with it and they ended up signing me over the phone in a few days. It was crazy; I went from Mr. WV to being signed with them. They signed me before I had even stepped on the national-level stage. Getting signed with Universal was my first big step in bodybuilding, and now being with MD is just a dream come true. I also have to say my wife has also been very supportive and she is my biggest promoter. She is always talking on the boards and keeping me in the light while I am training hard.
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House, you busted onto the bodybuilding scene pretty damn quick. Could you give me some tips on how to get my name out there and get noticed? It would be nice to pick up a supplement sponsor. How did Universal find you? Yeah bro, it has been a fast ride so far. I only did four shows in three years before I turned pro. It was pretty awesome. I still remember doing my first show. It was the Upper Ohio Valley NPC show. I had no idea what was going on. I was dieting while I was still in college, but I was lucky to have some good people in my corner to show me the ropes. So yes, it all happened pretty quick. Getting your name out there is pretty important and doing that will get you noticed. I think that the Internet is one of the best tools for any bodybuilder at any level to get noticed. I used the Internet early in my career to get my face out to different people. Once I started dieting down for my shows, I was posting pictures online for people to give me some input. It is funny to look back at what people thought of me then. There were people who ripped me and said I would never win shows, but when you put pictures out on the ‘net, you got to be ready for that. It never bothered me when people would talk shit on me, and besides, they still do today and I just use it as motivation. So for you, I would start posting pictures
House, I am in need of a good back workout. My back is lacking, even though I train it hard. What have you been doing to bring your back up? I remember when your back was behind, but now it looks spot on! Bro, all I got to say is your back will be dead without deadlifts, bro, LOL! That is no lie. Every since I stepped onstage and all the judges told me I needed to bring my back up, I have been hitting deads each workout. I use deads as the core of my back workout. Yeah, I know they are freaking tough, but they have given me tons more thickness in my back. I have grown to love deads. At first, I didn’t want to do them, but once I started to see results and got stronger, I looked forward to doing them. I did deads all the time in college when I was playing football, but got away from them when I started bodybuilding.
Now I don’t do a back workout without doing them. My second favorite exercise to build a pro back is plain old pullups. Chins are also tough and some people shy away from them because they can’t do many. I say that’s not a good reason; it actually gives me more motivation. Shit, bro, if most people can’t and don’t do them, then I want to do them! I have found that just because most people do things doesn’t mean it’s the right thing. I feel lat pulldowns are good, but the chins are better. My third favorite exercise for the back is bent-over rows. Bent-over rows are a great mass builder and they add tons of thickness. When I do my back workouts, I either do my deads first or my bent rows. I change it up each back workout, so in one workout I am fresh for deads and the next workout I will be fresh for the rows.
Here are my two back workouts:
Back Workout #1
Back Workout #2
Deads 6 sets 8-12 reps Chins 4 sets failure Bent rows 4 sets 8-12 reps DB pullovers 4 sets 8-12 reps
Bent rows Chins Deads Barbell pullovers
6 sets 8-12 reps 4 sets failure 4 sets 8-12 reps 4 sets 8-12 reps
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Eric Fankhouser—North American Champion House, we all know your legs are your strong point and they are killer, but what is your opinion on lunges? I have been doing them for awhile now, but I don’t see too many people doing them. Well, bro, how many people do you see walking around with 30-plus-inch quads? Let me answer: not many! Most people are walking around on toothpicks. Maybe, just maybe, if we saw more people doing lunges, we would see more 30-inch quads. Bro, keep doing your lunges. I flippin’ love lunges! Lunges are a great workout, and there are tons of different ways to do them. Walking lunges with DB’s are my favorite way to do them. Sometimes I just grab up some DB’s and lunge on the treadmill at the gym when I
House Builders
Training Journal
If you just had a good chest and tri workout and now you feel the need to burn it all the way out, you got to try this one. If you liked my centuries on legs then you will like this— I call it the curb bite. I will explain the name later LOL! It’s simple— first thing, get your big ass up on the dip bar and have your training partner stand behind you. Second, do 10 dips, then have your partner lift your legs up so you are in a push-up position on the dip bar— then do 10 push-ups. Then you will do nine dips, then nine push-ups etc... all the way down to one dip and one push-up. There is no rest time just switch from dips to pushup. Yeah, buddy. How did this one get it’s name you ask? LOL! Well, I was showing some hard-ass at the gym this one and when he was on his fourth push-up, his hand slipped off because he had gone to failure and he bit the front of the dip bar. It was not a pretty sight— blood was everywhere. So be warned— this one is tough— just don’t bite the curb LOL!!
My training is going better than ever. I am stronger and bigger than ever before. This is the first time since I started bodybuilding that I am taking some time off to grow. All the other years I would get a good six months to gain, then I would start my diet for the shows. It always seemed that right when I was starting to see gains, that’s when I would have to start my contest diet. Well, this time it’s different. I have a full 12 months to grow, and that’s what I am doing. I’m not worried about weight; I just want to put on goodquality size. I’m eating 47 clean meals a week and two meals a week of whatever I want and so far, it’s working great! I’m eating four solid meals per day and drinking three shakes. I feel shakes are a great way to add good-quality calories.
New Tenant I just want to let everyone know it is damn true and we are very excited! My wife Heather is pregnant! We have one son named Xavier and now he is going to be a big brother. We’ve wanted another child for awhile now,
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am doing cardio. I have been trying different types of lunges at the gym and I found a great way to do them. I have never seen anyone do them this way before, so I am taking credit for this one. I started to do them in the standing calf raise machine. You might be saying WTF— how ya do that?! Well, let me tell ya. The Bodyshop has some huge pieces of wood laying around for people to use when they work out. Most people use them to prop up the benches or to do stiff-legs off of, but I slid the wood into the standing calf raise and started doing my lunges. It works great because you can use heavy weight and be safe at the same time. I will have to make a video of this and post it up on my thread on the MD forum. You guys will like this one.
and now it is real. There is no better feeling than the feeling of being a daddy. I always put family first, so we are blessed to have another child on the way. Xavier is going to be a great big brother! We were at the store and we told him he could pick out a toy for himself and he said ‘Hey dad, can I get one for the baby?’, and he got the baby a toy and didn’t even want one for himself. I also want to tell my sister Trista congrats on getting engaged. All I got to say is getting engaged is better than getting a sweeper— LOL! Also congrats to my sister Jayme for giving birth to a baby boy Dominic.
Special Thanks I want to say thanks to Universal Nutrition for helping me achieve my bodybuilding goals, and a special thanks to Rick Bayardi for giving me a home to train in, and thanks to Steve for letting me be a part of the best bodybuilding magazine ever, hands down! UT
O CHECK ment.com op el ev rd la cu mus FOR COMPLETE AGE! T COVER CONTES
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April 2009
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EVAN CENTOPANI
NATIONAL HERO By Evan Centopani
It Has Begun!
416 MD
Diet Yes, Cardio— Not yet I started my contest diet at 18 weeks out, which is the longest diet I’ve ever done. But I am holding off on starting cardio for the first six weeks. Until then, I want to just let the diet itself take a good amount of body fat off. The main reason I am waiting on adding cardio is because I have added a lot of good mass to my legs over the last year, and I really don’t want to lose a lot of that from doing too much cardio for an extended period of time. My legs were the one area that people focused on the most as being something I needed to bring up before I stepped on a pro stage. I’ve done that, so I want to make sure they still look thick and full in May. My weight-training workouts are usually at least an hour and a half anyway, and often closer to 2 hours for legs or back. So I’m burning some calories, regardless.
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After a very long and productive off-season, I began the diet for my pro debut on January 4 at a bodyweight of 316½ pounds (can’t leave out that half-pound). Some guys gradually ease into a contest diet, but to me that always seemed pretty halfassed. I’m either on a diet or I’m not. One very surprising thing about this diet is that it won’t be the standard ketogenic diet that Dave Palumbo has had me use for the last three shows we have worked together. Because I have put on so much more mass, Dave is going to allow me to have three carb meals every day as long as I keep leaning out. If we hit a sticking point and the fat isn’t coming off, plans will probably change. But if not, I am excited to see what type of look I can bring to the New York Pro with carbs in my diet throughout the prep— hopefully a lot fuller and rounder than what you saw at the 2007 NPC Nationals.
The Low-Carb Controversy
late that going without carbs for very long periods should make your body ultra-sensitive to them, so you would fill out even more from eating them. I don’t find that to be true at all. In fact, for about a full month after a contest diet, my body reacts to the reintroduction of carb meals with extreme bloating and gas (not fun, I assure you). It makes me wonder just how well I am even absorbing and utilizing the carbs during that time while my body is getting used to them again. Others I have spoken to who follow zero-carb diets have reported similar situations. I don’t know if it’s the total solution, but I happen to think that eating carbs a few times a week might prevent all of that. That’s not based on any research or studies; it’s just what makes sense to me.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL COMSTOCK AND MICHAEL PINTO
Since I am one of the ‘poster boys’ for the no-carb diet that Dave has popularized in the bodybuilding world over the last couple of years, I thought I should ‘weigh in’ with my opinion on the big debate. First of all, I have no doubt that a person can look phenomenal while still keeping carbs in his diet. Many great champions over the years have proven that to be true. I also believe that more than one type of diet can be successful at different times, for the same person. One reason the low-carb diet got a bad rap is that a lot of athletes reported losing muscle on it. But what needs to be pointed out is that in most of those cases, dietary fat was
also kept very low. The concept of high protein and high fat (healthy fats, I should note) is a newer one, and it makes a lot more sense than just cutting carbs. I don’t believe that you need carbs for calories or even for providing energy. In fact, I can honestly say I have a lot more energy on a high-fat diet than I do when I eat a lot of carbs. What you do need carbs for is to stimulate the thyroid gland, for IGF-1 production, and to fill out your muscles. The major problem I have found with a zero-carb diet is that it doesn’t seem possible to carb-up properly right before the contest. It’s almost like your body is treating the carbs as a foreign substance and won’t utilize them and convert them into glycogen. I have heard some people specu-
April 2009
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Evan Centopani— National Hero Your V-taper is ridiculous! Could you give me some advice on pulling in my waistline? I’m 6’2” and about 230 pounds. My body fat isn’t high. I used to be really top-heavy but have brought my legs up quite a bit to help with proportion. Though I have wide delts, I know I still need work on my lats. I always feel heavy squats, deads, etc. a little in my obliques and I think that might be making things worse. Any advice would be appreciated, as I don’t want to accept any excuses for just having a genetically wide waist. I’m not sure if this question will ever be answered to everyone’s satisfaction. If you’re squatting and deadlifting 500-600 pounds, your midsection and core are going to have to be pretty powerful. It stands to reason that the area would become thicker just as an adaptation. Then again, you look at Branch Warren, and his midsection isn’t huge at all. Even Ronnie’s midsection didn’t start getting big until the last couple years he was competing, and he had been doing heavy squats and deads for around 20 years at that point. My best advice would not be to stop doing these exercises, but maybe keep the reps higher. Bodybuilders don’t need to go any lower than 6-8 reps on squats and deadlifts. And with regard to ‘pulling in your waistline,’ I think you can definitely reduce the thickness from front to back. But the side-to-side width of your waist is a reflection of the size of your hipbones. If you’re dieted down to a very low body fat and your waist is still wide, I’m afraid that’s what you’re stuck with. Nothing you do or don’t do in the gym is going to change you’ve bones. I would focus on building up the lats a lot more and continue to work on shoulder width. This will enhance your V-taper.
Obama The Messiah? I watched the inauguration of our new president, Barack Obama. Although I’m happy to see a change being made, I worry that there are too many unrealistic expectations being put on the man. It seems like people expect him to be able to fix all the USA’s problems right away, from the economy to the war, and everything in between. Come on! He’s a very smart man and he’s dedicated to doing as much to improve the nation as he can, but Obama is still just a man. People need to remember that so they don’t get angry in a couple years if there are still problems to be dealt with.
Stimulants— Not My Cup Of Tea (But I Have A Cup of Coffee) People write to me and want to know what type of stimulant/fat burners I use to get ‘amped up’ for my workouts. They are usually surprised to hear that I don’t use those products, and really don’t care for them much. They make me jittery, and I find that after a while they actually seem to make me weaker instead of stronger! Dave Palumbo warns people that using (and more so, abusing) any type of stimulant over time will fry your adrenal glands. I think there’s something to that. If anything, your body gets used to them and you have to keep using more and more to get the same stimulant effect. I will occasionally have a cup of coffee before training legs or back. As I get close to a show and my energy levels are dipping, I might have a couple cups of java throughout the day, but that’s it.
A Chance To Stand Next To RUUUUHL!!! I was happy to hear that Markus Ruhl is coming out of retirement to do one last show, and it just so happens to be my first pro show, the New York Pro. I have been a fan of his for many years and would be proud to stand next to him. Even though I can’t say I know the guy, he always seemed really cool. If you appreciate the mass monsters, and I do, they don’t come much bigger than Markus. ■ Got a question for Evan? E-mail it to him at
[email protected] and you could see it answered right here in MD!
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ThePROCreator By Hany Rambod
My New Mission: Helping Jay Cutler Get His Title Back
always treat all my clients equally and do my best to help them reach their goals— whether it’s to win a regional NPC show, earn their pro card, or move up the ranks in an IFBB event. And though I don’t rank any of them higher than another, my latest mission could be viewed by some as somewhat more significant in the grand scheme of things. The latest project for the Pro Creator is nothing less than to help two-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler regain his title this year.
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My History With Jay I’ve known Jay Cutler since the late 1990s. We’ve been friends for awhile, occasionally talking on the phone, but more often catching up at the various NPC and IFBB events we both attend throughout the year. I saw a lot more of him when he used to live in Southern California. We never spoke about working together in a professional capacity until shortly after the 2008 Mr. Olympia. After seeing the
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improvements I had been able to bring about in clients like Phil Heath and Ed Nunn through my FST-7 Training system, Jay decided it was time to see what I might be able to do for him.
The Fallout From Chasing Ronnie It’s widely agreed that Jay Cutler looked absolutely amazing at the 2001 Mr. Olympia. He had a winning package of size, fullness, condition and a
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ThePROCreator tight and tapered midsection that almost toppled Ronnie from his Olympia throne. Many felt that he deserved the title that year. Another argument could be made that if Jay came on the scene in 2006 looking like that as Ronnie was on his way out, he would have been assured a five or sixyear reign as Mr. Olympia. After losing by such a narrow margin in ’01, the chase was on. Jay sensed he was knocking on the door and needed to beat Ronnie at his own game, edging him out on freaky size, in order to get the nod. After taking runner-up three more times, Jay finally became Mr. Olympia in 2006. But the chase had taken its toll on Jay’s body. By the next year the signs were evident and he had a rough time defending his title against Victor. He seemed to be losing that round, full look and the condition that had taken him to the top. Also his midsection appeared to lack the taper it previously had.
The Challenge After losing to a fuller, more tapered Dexter Jackson at the 2008 Mr. Olympia, it’s clear what Jay Cutler needs to do. To regain the Mr. Olympia title, he needs to recapture the look he had in 2001. Obviously, nobody can turn the clock back eight years, but that doesn’t mean significant improvements can’t be made over what Jay has shown in the past two title defenses. What needs to be understood in his case is that his strong points, namely his width and overall size, become his weak points if he’s flat. A man with a more narrow structure, such as Heath, can be flat and it doesn’t take away as much from his overall look because it’s far less obvious. So the key for Jay is to be as full and round as possible, which also enhances his muscle separation and shoulder-to-waist ratio.
Don’t Count Jay Out— He’s Back In His Zone Now! Anybody who dismisses Jay Cutler as being all done doesn’t know the man’s history. Jay was at his very best when he was the underdog, the second-place man,
chasing the man most considered unbeatable: Ronnie Coleman. I have never seen Jay so focused and determined so far out from a contest. In fact, he began his FST-7 training program back in December. Some would question what difference FST-7 training will make for Jay, since he’s been known to be a volume trainer for many years. That may be true, but his routines have never had a clear structure to them until now. Exercises have been selected for both his straight sets and sevens, to specifically meet the needs of his physique and the improvements he wants to make. Currently we are in the process of setting both short- and long-term goals that will culminate in his attempt to retake the Olympia title this September. For those who say he will never be Mr. O again, remember that for a long time people also said he would never win the title in the first place. Yet he went on to win two Sandow trophies. Will he be able to get a third this fall? With challengers like Dexter and Heath standing in his way it will be no easy task— but it’s a task that Jay and I are up for. Taking second place has always brought out the best in Cutler and that’s what the critical difference in this year’s prep will be. All eyes will be on Jay as the months go by this year. His will be the most highlyanticipated transformation in the world of pro bodybuilding, so stay tuned! ■ Note: My website is now up and running. Visit www.hanyrambod.com or www.fst-7.com for previous articles, news, an interactive forum, video clips and member profiles and blogs. You’ll also find updates on my current clients and which ones are preparing for upcoming contests. Free registration gives you full access to all of it. Got a question for Hany you would like to see answered here? E-mail him at
[email protected]. Due to the high volume of e-mail he receives and limited editorial space, only selected questions will be answered and used.
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CHAD NICHOLLS
The Contest GURU
Pro Bodybuilders,
Knee Wraps and Obama W
hy some pro bodybuilders are jerks in the gym, how to wrap knees and what President Barack Obama’s stance will be on pro sports, performance-enhancing drugs and the fitness industry as a whole are just a few of the many great questions filling my mailbox this month. Enjoy this month’s read and keep the questions coming! I train at two or three different gyms in California. I’m 21 years old and like to travel to the different gyms— more than anything to meet the different pros, see their training methods and on occasion, I hope to have the chance to pick their brains. Some of these pros have been complete asses! I have heard all kinds of stories about these great pros who took new guys (like me) under their wing and helped them— trained with them and so forth. For a beginner like myself, these macho heads aren’t really a point of inspiration to continue bodybuilding. Have times changed? Bodybuilding, like any other sport, has good apples and bad eggs. When approaching the pros, there are good ways and bad ways to do it. You may think you are asking an innocent question or just trying to be friendly, but to the pro who is standing underneath a 500-pound squat, it is annoying and could be dangerous. For many, bodybuilding is their career. You will meet all types of individuals in the sport— outgoing, fantastic people, shy people, jerks, etc. When all of them come to the gym, this is their office— their place of work and that
work is creating the best physique possible— the physique worthy of winning the title, prize money and endorsements that come with it. It’s not so much that times are changing in how athletes act, but more in the way they view their sport. During the early years of bodybuilding (think the days of Arnold, Franco, Sergio, etc.), before the athletes were able to make full-time careers from the sport, their preparation was strict and their training was rigorous and hardcore. The mindset was not, “If I have a bad day in the gym, it could throw off my training and chances for winning, then I could lose my contract and so on.” It was a more laid back time. Even then you had outgoing guys who spent their entire day in the gym training one body part because they spent the time between each set talking to everyone— just as much as you still had guys who were strictly business back then, just wanting to get in and out of the gym uninterrupted. One of my good friends, Nasser El Sonbaty, told Kim and me this story of a person who followed him around the gym his entire workout, asking questions the whole time. Nasser was prepping for the Olympia at the time and he finally asked the person, “Where do you work?” The person responded that he worked for a doctor. Then Nasser asked, “How would you like it if I came to your place of business and followed you around all day while you were trying to work?” When you think of it in those terms, I think you will understand why sometimes the athletes can be standoffish or a bit reluctant to make too
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many friends during their time in the gym. My advice? Wait until after their workouts to try to strike up the conversation and don’t judge them too severely for not wanting to hold social hour during their workouts. I have a question that may seem very elementary, but I feel I have never put my knee wraps on correctly— or put them on so that they feel comfortable and allow me full range of motion without cutting off my circulation or being so loose that my knee pops through the wrap! You’ve been in the business a long time and I value your opinion. Do you have any insight? When looking through my mail and questions this month, this is one that stood out in my mind for two reasons. First, it is a good question. When I first began training— I was about 19 years old and began training at a ‘dungeon style’ hardcore gym— it was actually in the basement of a YMCA and there were quite a few weightlifters, bodybuilders, powerlifters and in particular, Olympic lifters. One Olympic lifter was 1984 Olympic medalist Guy Carlton. The facility was named after Guy and when you are 19 years old, just starting out and training at a gym with an Olympic medalist, you are not only in awe— you hope to catch a glimpse of his tried-and-true methods for success. After training for about a month, one afternoon I was beginning to prepare for a big leg day and start with squats. As I set my wraps on the bench in preparation to wrap, Guy
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Chad Nicholls— The Contest Guru Carlton sat down on the bench next to me and introduced himself, which was incredible. Not only was he a fantastic athlete, but a great person. He didn’t need to take time out of his day to talk to a scrawny beginner such as myself, but he did anyway. He must have noticed I was struggling a bit, trying to figure out the best way to put the wraps on. Not only did he take the time to explain the proper way to wrap the knee, but for the first set, he actually wrapped my knees for me! This is just something that has always stuck with me, and Guy’s way is the way I have always wrapped my knees ever since. It’s the way I showed Kim to wrap her knees and it’s the way I show my clients and people needing help in the gym. It’s just a great way—comfortable, not overly tight, but still giving plenty of support to the knee while allowing you to complete a full range of motion and not cut off circulation. So what is this method? Kim and I refer to it as the ‘X’ or crisscross method. Before even thinking of putting the wrap on your knee, make certain you unfold the wrap completely and roll it up into a ‘cylinder.’ Here we go: 1. Holding the bulk of the cylinder in your writing hand, take the loose end and hold it to your skin— right above the knee. Make certain that you are sitting on a bench and your leg is out in front of you, completely straight. 2. With your writing hand, take the ‘roll’ and wrap it clockwise, once around the leg. When you have completed one roll, pull the wrap down, diagonally across your knee. 3. When you get to just below your kneecap, make one complete wrap around your leg, just below your knee. After completing the wrap, pull the wrap up and diagonally the other way across your kneecap to form an ‘X’ or crisscross. From this point, wrap the excess back down your knee like a bandage and tuck the end tightly underneath the wrap. Try this and see how it works. It worked great for Kim, myself and many, many athletes and clients who I have trained and
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prepped over the years. Good luck and kick ass! I’m very glad that Barack Obama was elected president. I like the fact that he is pretty sports-oriented and doesn’t seem to be out to kill pro sports and the supplement industry like McCain was. What is your opinion on how the pro sports ‘witch hunt’ and regulating the supplement industry will end up now that Obama has been elected? I like your question— it is interesting and off the beaten path of typical training and diet questions— and it’s important to our industry. Had McCain been elected, I’m sure he would have continued on with the ridiculous ‘witch hunt.’ I think President Obama ‘gets it.’ He plays and thoroughly enjoys basketball and has mentioned it’s his “second passion.” He’s much younger than McCain, so staying fit and enjoying the benefits of working out and sports would naturally be more important to him than they would John McCain. Will his election stop all the nonsense of placing the ‘steroid’ drug stigma on athletes or stop the witch hunts of pro athletes who use steroids? I don’t know about that, but I can tell you that President Obama is a man of sense and a man who knows the importance and priorities of problems and crises in our country. Trying to regulate the supplement industry or worrying about whether sports athletes are using performance-enhancing drugs are far from the forefront of his podium. With his enjoyment of sports, I would like to see President Obama place more importance on physical fitness and reinstitute the now-defunct “President’s Council on Fitness.” This time of change could be a great time to embrace the importance of the fitness industry as a whole, to get our kids off the couches and on the playgrounds and playing fields. I can more likely see this scenario than digging the hole deeper for our industry and its athletes. ■
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CHARLES GLASS
Trainer of of Champions Champions
THE BODYBUILDING What’s your take on decline benching? I have been reading in several magazines that decline pressing can build upper chest with minimal delt involvement— kind of goes against everything I have learned in my 9 years of training. Would you recommend the 3 presses, or stick with the flat and incline? I would like to know which magazines printed that, because decline presses certainly don’t hit the upper chest very well at all. Common sense would tell you that, once you did a few sets! I like to do four different pressing movements for chest: an incline, a flat, a decline, and the Hammer Strength wide-grip press. Between those four, all the muscle
fibers in the chest are thoroughly stimulated. I will also include dumbbell flyes, in which I don’t lock out the movement, or cable crossovers. The key with chest pressing is to achieve complete contractions of the pectorals. Once you learn to do this without locking out the elbows, which takes stress away from the chest muscles, results usually follow fairly rapidly. Getting back to your original question, you probably don’t need to do declines at every chest workout. Since flat presses hit the mid as well as the lower pecs, you should only do declines at every workout if the lower chest is a weak area for you. That’s pretty rare; most of the time it’s the upper chest that lags behind in development. If that sounds like your chest, I would prioritize the area by doing inclines first, most of the time.
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY PER BERNAL
Some days I am stronger than other days— and it’s not just a little. I am talking about something like 1520 percent! Is this normal? Is it something I should be worried about? I seem to be making slow but steady progress with my physique regardless, but it bugs me that my strength seems to go up and down so much. I get this question a lot, because there is the common misconception that your strength should be totally consistent at all times. Maybe if we were robots, that would be possible. But as human beings, there are many variables that can have an impact on how strong you are on a particular day. How much sleep did you get the night before? How well have you been eating? Did you eat more or less carbs than usual today? Did you drink more or less water? Are you under any stress related to school, your job, family matters, a relationship, finances (a common concern these days for a lot of people)? Are you dealing with some type of minor injury or illness? Even a slight cold will affect the weights you can handle. How motivated you are on a particular day will definitely play a role, too. We all experience highs and lows in our motivation levels. Some days you burst into the gym feeling like King Kong, while on others you’re more like Little Bo Peep! Don’t worry about these fluctuations in strength. Think of it like those charts that make little up-anddown zigzags but still make a steady upward climb from left to right. As long as you are indeed continuing to make progress, everything is fine.
Charles Glass—Trainer of Champs Can lat pulldowns be as effective as chin-ups? Try as I might, I have never been able to master the form on chins and really feel them in my lats. With pulldowns, I have a very good mind-muscle connection and actually get a good pump. I can also do a good set of 10 reps with the entire weight stack of 250 pounds, though I can only do maybe 5-6 good widegrip chins at a bodyweight of 210. So how much am I missing out, if at all, by doing lat pulldowns instead? Either exercise can be productive as long as you are doing it correctly. Rarely do I see people performing chinups correctly. The fact that you can only do a few leads me to believe that maybe you’re doing them right, since a properly executed wide-grip chin-up is quite difficult. But if you feel lat pulldowns work better for you and your back is responding, you aren’t missing out on a thing. I should point out that I do see a lot of cheating on those too. Guys lean back and proceed to rock back and forth with the reps to use more weight. I am a little suspicious of your form when you say you can handle the whole stack. Not many bodybuilders can do wide-grip lat pulldowns with that much weight using decent form. But if you are in fact feeling them work well, then perhaps you have built up some outstanding strength in that exercise. I would still do a couple sets of chin-ups to start the workout and continue to work on recruiting the lats more. It’s such a good exercise that I hate to see anybody give up on it completely. First I would like to say I enjoy reading your articles in MD very much, as they give me great insight. I am in the military, stationed in Iraq and can get to the gym anytime or day I need to. Since March of ’08 I have been working my ass off to better myself, but quite frankly— I still look like hammered shit! I don’t see any improvements or gains or anything and need assistance— I wish I had a trainer! When I assist (train) other soldiers they see great results, so I’m like WTF is my issue? I need your help! I know you can’t fly your ass to Iraq and help me train, but any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. I have attached my average workout plan and nutritional intake, so you may see where the problem may lie. I am 5’9”, averaging 210 pounds and 20 percent body fat. 38-inch waist 48-inch chest 16-inch right arm, 16.25-inch left arm 25.25-inch right leg, 25.5 left leg 16-inch left calf, 15.5 right calf I wish to be 225 pounds and 12 percent body fat. 34-36-inch waist 50-inch chest 18-20-inch arms 28-inch legs 17-18-inch calves Thank you for your time and I hope for your assistance.
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Gabriel A. Jimenez WO1, AD 75th Fires BDE BDE AD System Integrator Technician COB Speicher Iraq Gabriel, first and foremost I want to express my gratitude for the fine job you and the other soldiers are doing over there, and I hope you are sent home safely, as soon as possible. I also want to thank you for sending me so much detailed information. Too often people write to me with concerns and it’s difficult for me to diagnose what the problem may be as they fail to provide me with enough relevant info about what they’ve been doing and how they are currently training and eating. I want to say up front that considering you have only been training seriously for nine months as of the time I received your e-mail, you have made some very good progress. You definitely have built some muscle. You want and expect more, and that’s only natural. Except for those who were genetically blessed, nobody ever makes gains as fast as they would like to. Considering the short span of time you have been at this, you’re doing just fine. If others that you assist might be getting results at a faster rate, that’s just the way it is. Some people put on muscle and lose fat faster than others. It just means you have to be a little more dedicated and work a little harder. Based on the detailed breakdowns of your workout and diet, I doubt that will be a problem for you. In looking at those (space did not allow me to print them here), your weight training looks fine. Your diet looks good too, except that I see you are eating dinner rolls as a dessert with a couple meals. White bread is something to definitely avoid when you’re trying to lose fat. I also saw no mention anywhere of cardio. Diet alone will not do the trick when you want to lean out, especially if you don’t have a fast metabolism. Few people enjoy cardio as much as they do weight training, but it’s absolutely critical to burn the fat and keep your metabolic rate up. I suggest gradually working up to doing an hour a day, every day— though you have to ease into that over a period of at least four or five weeks. Start with three 30-minute sessions one week, add a fourth the next, and so on, then begin adding time in 5-10 minute increments per day. As for your measurement goals, as long as you keep
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Charles Glass—Trainer of Champs working hard the way you have been, it’s only a matter of time until you hit them. Everybody wants instant results, but the human body doesn’t work that way. These things take time, but in the end it’s worth the wait, as you will be looking fantastic!
The Predator Goes West! I recently spent four days training MD’s own Kai Greene when he came out here to work with me. We trained every day, sometimes twice a day, and he’s already planned to return for a week around the time of the Pro Iron Man at the end of January. Kai is great to work with because he’s openminded and listens to everything I have to say. He’s always willing to try new exercises. Kai is used to
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training very heavy almost all the time, and at first it bothered him a bit that he couldn’t use much weight on some of the things I was showing him. But he really liked the new feeling in the muscles he was getting. I’m excited about working with Kai because I think he is going to make an even bigger impact this year than he did in 2008. He was 293 pounds at nine weeks out from the Arnold, so mass isn’t an issue. With Kai, it’s all about details now. We are working on thickening up his lower back and adding overall back detail, adding mass and shape to his triceps, and continuing to thicken his chest. I would really like to see more chest and back thickness when he’s standing sideways. And even though his legs are already amazing, we are working on adding sweep and bringing out little areas like the sartorials, which will create a more three-dimensional look to his quads. We had a lot of fun training together and the best is yet to come! ■ Got a question for Charles? E-mail it to
[email protected] and you could see it answered right here in MD!
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hotshoppe By Angela T. Frizalone
Information for products discussed in Hot Shoppe comes directly from the companies represented and does not imply endorsement by Muscular Development.
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lastword
efore I get into this, I want to state that I am in no way trying to impart the idea that our industry is in trouble. There are, in fact, more amateur and pro shows this year than ever before, in which a record number of competitors will no doubt participate. The sport is definitely NOT dying. While many industries around us spiral into the abyss, there seems to be a neverending parade of buff gym rats willing to stand onstage, practically naked, to exhibit the fruits of their training in front of their adoring minions. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for growth. And, as with any industry fostering growth, it is incumbent to ask— at what expense? It would seem that if there were a way to exponentially increase the number of competitors competing in a show, it would concomitantly increase the number of tickets sold. It’s been established that nearly every competitor is accompanied by a mother, a father, a wife or a girlfriend. I don’t know what the number is, but I imagine there is a statistical average for paid tickets per competitor. So, obviously, in order to grow the business of contest promotion, the first step would be to increase the number of competitors who enter a show. To that end, they first combined women’s bodybuilding with men’s. This might actually have come about because women’s audiences were dwindling; nevertheless, it increased the number of total competitors and thus, to some degree I would imagine, revenue. Then fitness came along and attendance on both sides of the stage grew. Ultimately, figure was born and the floodgates opened. Today, some NPC shows see com-
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petitor lists that include not only men’s and women’s bodybuilding, fitness and figure, but also wheelchair, masters and teen divisions. Today, a show with 300 entrants is considered average, and shows topping 400 are becoming common— so is the marathon it creates. If the entry fee is $125, a show with 400 competitors means the promoter is going to realize $50,000 just from contest entries. Add to that the statistical average of ticket sales per contestant, live gate revenue and the sponsors’ dollars, and it’s not hard to imagine that on any given weekend a promoter could be raking in a six-digit gross. Compared to the days of bodybuilding contests where 30 guys competed, this is a huge improvement and a huge incentive for promoters to continue doing what they do. Accordingly, the tenet of contest promotion seems to be if you want to increase attendance, you need to add women— pretty women— and the hotter, the better. Which brings us to the inclusion of the new bikini division along with the bodybuilders, fitness and figure girls. Now, I would be the last guy to complain about seeing more pretty girls traipsing around half naked, but I’m a little concerned about this ‘bikini division’ eroding the concept of ‘physique’ competition. Regardless of the flack I take, I still believe bodybuilding is more of a pageant than a sport. Even though athletes are the ones participating, there is very little ‘sport’ in the competition. At the same time, there is no denying the athleticism of bodybuilding and fitness competitors. And while they don’t do very much onstage, there is no doubt that figure girls work out. So, regardless of the
474 MD
By John Romano
lack of sport in the spectacle, there is no argument that we are enjoying the fruits of a high-end, finely-tuned, athletic endeavor. Can the same possibly be said for a bikini division with such criteria that mandates ‘no capped delts?’ It is conceivable that an NPC bikini champion would likely employ a plastic surgeon rather than a personal trainer and moonlight at Hooters or any gentleman’s club lit in purple neon. And then they’ll get pro cards? (The Jr. USA will see our first two bikini pros crowned.) If the rate at which they currently hand out figure pro cards is any indication of what could happen in bikini, I just can’t help but imagine the possibility of being in a strip club one night and the hottie grinding on my lap for $20 a song informs me that she is an IFBB bikini pro. While no sane person could possibly consider lap dancing a sport, it would inevitably be the fault of the IFBB that such practitioners could in fact be professional athletes. This doesn’t bother anyone? It seems that the lure of more money to contest promoters by way of cavernous cleavage and prodigious booty is like offering nineyear-olds ice cream. Where will it come from? They don’t care. What effect will it have on them? They’re not thinking about that. How long will it take to eat? It doesn’t matter. All they’re thinking about is the ice cream. So, in the near future, serious hardcore athletes are going to be joined in competition by bikini girls. And a cadre of people involved are going to act just like nine-year-olds. They want ice cream. ■
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April 2009
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