Archive for April, 2009

Physical Fitness Bill Introduced in Congress
by SportsOneSource Media

According to the SGMA, Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI) has introduced the Personal Health Investment Today Act of 2009 (PHIT) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressmen Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Zach Wamp (R-TN) joined Kind in sponsoring the PHIT Bill.

The PHIT Act would change current federal tax law to allow for the deduction or use of pre-tax dollars to cover expenses related to sports, fitness and other physical activities. Americans could invest up to $2,000 annually to pay for physical activities by investing money in existing pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Medical Savings Accounts (MSA) and/or medical reimbursement arrangements. PHIT would only expand the expenses eligible for reimbursement to include physical activity costs as a form of prevention; PHIT would not increase contribution limits to these accounts. Once an individual or family spends 7.5% of their income on qualified medical expenses, they could deduct physical activity expenses directly.
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“Why We Train” to be featured at the Muscle Beach Classic Venice CA, Memorial Day Monday May 25

“Why We Train,” the personal story of Guile Branco’s preparation for his last competition. Along the way he meets several champions and gains their insight into why physical training so important

PRLog (Press Release) – WHY WE TRAIN, the new documentary film on bodybuilding, fitness and powerlifting produced by Guile Branco, will be featured by Joe Wheatley at the 2009 Muscle Beach Classic, on Memorial Day 2009, Monday, May 25.

WHY WE TRAIN star Guile Branco will appear in person, along with other cast members. Advance DVD copies of the film will be awarded to every class winner at the Muscle Beach International Classic and it will be available for purchase during the event. The very next day, WHY WE TRAIN will be available for purchase on AMAZON.COM

The primary purpose of Guile’s new documentary film is to shine a positive light on bodybuilding, power lifting, health and fitness.
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TapouT Signs Licensing Agreement with Champion Nutrition

GRAND TERRACE, Calif., Apr 28, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — TapouT, the premier mixed-martial arts apparel, gear and lifestyle brand, announced today a licensing agreement with Champion Nutrition to offer sports enthusiasts TapouT Sports Nutrition products. Under this relationship, Champion Nutrition will design, distribute and market the Tapout Sports Nutrition brand to all retailers in the United States and abroad. TapouT Sports Nutrition products will be available in mass-market retailers beginning this summer.
“TapouT is thrilled to be working with Champion Nutrition to offer our fans, fighters and every athlete premium sports nutrition products that will let them train harder and reach their goals,” said Punkass, TapouT Co-CEO and Co-Founder. “TapouT is about expressing your passion and attitude, and whether it’s through our clothing or nutritional products, we want our company to help take that emotion to the next level.”
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Universal Flu Vaccine Holds Promise

ScienceDaily — An influenza vaccine that protects against death and serious complications from different strains of flu is a little closer to reality, Saint Louis University vaccine researchers have found.

“This is a significant first step in developing a universal vaccine to help protect against pandemic influenza,” said Robert Belshe, M.D., director of the Saint Louis University Center for Vaccine Development.

Belshe, the lead researcher who studied a vaccine made with proteins from strains of influenza viruses A and B, presents his findings on April 27 at the National Foundation for Infectious Disease Conference for Vaccine Research in Baltimore.
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Gregg Valentino on ESPN 60 – Brutally Honest
By Joe Pietaro

If you missed this week’s episode of “ESPN 60,” then you did yourself a disservice. No, I’m not referring to the Stephon Marbury piece, although that was interesting, as well. The second segment on the magazine-style series on “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” featured Gregg Valentino and the New York native was seen in a different light that the public has never seen before.

Being a personal friend of Gregg’s and having spoken to him about this appearance for months now, I had figured that – for the most part – he would be portrayed the way he has been in a number of other mainstream media outlets the past few years. For the first part of the story that held true. The reporter spoke to Chris Bell, director of “Bigger, Stronger, Faster” and – in a part that should have made the cutting room floor – a brief word or two from Dan Clark who played ‘Nitro,’ one of the original American Gladiators who has admitted to being a steroid user for 20 years.
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MLB’s J.C. Romero Suing Supplement Makers Over Positive Steroid Test
By Michael O’Keeffe and Nathaniel Vinton

Suspended Phillies reliever J.C. Romero is suing the makers and distributors of nutritional supplements that he says are responsible for his positive steroid test last August.

The 27-page lawsuit, filed Monday in New Jersey Superior Court in Camden County, blames the product 6-OXO Extreme for traces of androstenedione found in the pitcher’s urine on Aug. 26, 2008.

The numerous counts in the lawsuit include negligence, intentional misrepresentation and consumer fraud. The four defendants named are GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, Ergopharm and Proviant Technologies.
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Death of Matthew Dear and Manufacturing Steroid Hysteria in the United Kingdom
by Millard Baker

Teenage bodybuilder Matthew Dear died on April 20, 2009 reportedly from an overdose of anabolic steroids. The parents of Matthew Dear were the first to attribute their son’s death to anabolic steroids. The news of Matthew Dear’s “steroid death” was initially reported by “The Daily Mirror”, a British tabloid but was soon picked up and legitimized by mainstream UK media outlets such as BBC News, the Daily Mail, and the Sunday Times. Could the steroid-attributed death of Matt Dear spread steroid hysteria throughout the United Kingdom much like the death of Taylor Hooton affected the steroid discussion in the United States?

The assertions that anabolic steroids were responsible for causing enlarged pupils, blindness, intoxication, severe abdominal pains, convulsions, brain swelling and kidney failure are pretty outrageous. These side effects are not medically substantiated adverse effects of anabolic steroids. Matthew Dear’s doctor even told the parents that he never witness any such reaction to anabolic steroids. The parents of Matthew Dear nonethless felt compelled to blame anabolic steroids.
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IronMagLabs Flex Rx Joint Builder Now Available

*Rebuilds Joints & Connective Tissue
*Helps Alleviate Joint Pain
*Reduces Joint Injury Recovery Time
*Helps Maintain Joint Flexability
*Helps Relieve Symptoms of Osteoarthritis
*40 Servings Per Bottle!

Ingredients:

• Chondroitin 1200mg
• Glucosamine 1500mg
• MSM 2000mg

Complete Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM joint builder. There are products like this on the market that either do not contain all 3 of these ingredients or not in adequate amounts to be effective. Flex Rx™ is your answer to maintaining healthy joints and connective tissue to keep you in the gym training hard!

Glucosamine sulfate and Chondroitin sulfate are components of normal cartilage. They are the building blocks for proteoglycans and stimulate chondrocytes to make new collagen and proteoglycans. Because these supplements stimulate the production of new cartilage components, the supplements may be able to help the body repair damaged cartilage. There is evidence from patients that Glucosamine and Chondroitin can reduce pain from osteoarthritis, usually within several weeks to months after initiating therapy. MSM has shown benefits for a range of health problems including arthritis, muscle and joint pain. MSM has shown promise in the inhibition of pain impulses along nerve fibers, (analgesia), lessening of inflammation, increasing blood supply, reducing muscle spasms, and softening of scar tissue.
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Heavy Muscle Radio with Brian Dobson, Lyle Mcdonald, Jim Germanakos: 04-27-09
by Dave Palumbo

HEAVY MUSCLE RADIO!

Brian Dobson runs the most hardcore gym of all time, METROFLEX GYM in Arlington, Texas. He tells us how me manages to run a business, feed the homeless, run the Ronnie Coleman Classic and other events, and have time for his family!

Lyle McDonald discusses the science and reasoning behind low-carb dieting and dispels the myriad of myths and misinformation we all have to sift through on a daily basis.

One of the champions from the TV show, “The Biggest Loser”, Jim Germanakos, was an unexpected but much welcome guest to Heavy Muscle Radio. Find out how he made his dramatic transformation, and why he thinks that Jimmy “The Angry Bull” Pellechia is exactly what The Biggest Loser needs to boost its ratings!

Click to Download MP3

Heavy Muscle Radio website

Swine Flu: Public Health Emergency Declared, Investigation Continues

ScienceDaily — As new human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection are identified in the United States and internationally, health officials around the world are continuing their investigation and response effort surrounding the outbreak of swine flu.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the current situation regarding the outbreak of swine flu is evolving rapidly. As of April 27, 2009, the United States Government has reported 40 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1), with no deaths. Mexico has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection with the same virus, including seven deaths. Canada has reported six cases, with no deaths, while Spain has reported one case, with no deaths.
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Real Time Body Transformation Contest: Watch the Trailer
by Tom Venuto

On Friday, May 1st, 2009, the world’s first-ever Real Time Physique (RTP) transformation challenge will begin. The entry deadline is April 30th, 2009. The fitness contest is a first, but not just because of the unique prize package, where winners will be flown to New York, put up in a luxury hotel overlooking the Manhattan Skyline, escorted in style to the gym to train with 2 fitness celebrities and then dined and entertained on Broadaway (with cash prize money lining their pockets).
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Is Swine Flu ‘The Big One’ or a Flu That Fizzles?
By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe, Ap Medical Writer

ATLANTA – As reports of a unique form of swine flu erupt around the world, the inevitable question arises: Is this the big one?

Is this the next big global flu epidemic that public health experts have long anticipated and worried about? Is this the novel virus that will kill millions around the world, as pandemics did in 1918, 1957 and 1968?

The short answer is it’s too soon to tell.

“What makes this so difficult is we may be somewhere between an important but yet still uneventful public health occurrence here — with something that could literally die out over the next couple of weeks and never show up again — or this could be the opening act of a full-fledged influenza pandemic,” said Michael Osterholm, a prominent expert on global flu outbreaks with the University of Minnesota.

“We have no clue right now where we are between those two extremes. That’s the problem,” he said.
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FDA Lab Tests Find More Tainted Weight Loss Supplements

Lab tests conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have identified 34 supplement products supplied by the same firm as containing undeclared sibutramine, a drug ingredient used for weight loss.

The findings have prompted the company in question – Universal ABC Beauty Supply – to issue a voluntary recall for the products on the basis that they are unapproved and therefore their “safety and effectiveness (…) is unknown”.

Sibutramine is a controlled substance that can cause high blood pressure, seizures, tachycardia (rapid heart beat), palpitations, heart attack or stroke. The company has discontinued distribution of the products in question.

The lab tests by FDA follow on from a previous agency clamp-down on adulterated weight-loss supplements. At the end of 2008 and the start of 2009, FDA identified around 70 fraudulent products as containing undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients including sibutramine, rimonabant, phenolphthalein and bumetanide.

The agency requested voluntary recalls and warned that it would take further enforcement action of necessary.

NY Metropolitan Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure Championships
Written in Stone
By Joe Pietaro

NY Metropolitan Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure Championships Took on New Meaning in ‘09 – The chatter began in the area of the judge’s table and photographer’s pit as soon as he walked on the stage.

“Where is this guy from again?”

“He looks real good.”

There was definitely a buzz in the air when the overall winner of the men’s bodybuilding class made his appearance, fittingly the last one to hit the spotlight. Audrius Jegelevicius was clearly the star of the show at the 2009 Steve Stone New York Metropolitan Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure Championships and deservingly took home the top trophy of the night, which he proudly held as he made his way home via the Number 1 train headed uptown from the Chambers Street stop.
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IronMagLabs Whey Protein Isolate Now Available at Bodybuilding.com

IRONMAGLABS WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE – NO SUGAR!
Increase Lean Muscle Mass / Burn Body Fat

• 100% Pure Whey Isolate
• 26 Grams of Protein Per Serving
• Sugar Free & Fat Free
• Only 1 Carbohydrate
• Sweetened with Stevia
• Mixes with a Spoon
• Awesome Taste!
• Vanilla, Chocolate & Strawberry!

Made in the USA! – our whey is derived from US sources only.

IronMagLabs Whey Protein Isolate is 100% Pure Isolate, we do not use any concentrated forms of whey, nor any fillers or other types of inexpensive protein like soy. Each serving has 26 grams of high quality whey protein. It contains no sugar, fat or cholesterol, and is sweetened with a natural herb called Stevia. It tastes great, and will mix into water or mik with a spoon!
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