Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Chocolate and Cocoa Polyphenols Vindicated in the War Against Heart Disease
by John Phillip

(NaturalNews) Researchers from the University of Cambridge in England have finally published solid evidence to demonstrate the consumption of chocolate is associated with improved heart and vascular health. Writing in the prestigious BMJ (British Medical Journal), Dr. Oscar Franco and his team determined several factors including diet, exercise, body weight control and lifestyle changes could help reduce the risk of heart disease, a condition expected to claim the lives of nearly 24 million people worldwide by the year 2030. The study authors found that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of cocoa from chocolate consumption could reduce heart disease risk by one-third and could also reduce the risk of sudden death from a heart attack and stroke incidence.
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Feds go after baseball, but not bankers?
By Roland S. Martin, CNN Political Contributor

Roland Martin says everyone should tell the truth, but something is amiss
investigating baseball players isn’t terribly important, he says our Legal system should focus on banking practices that crashed the economy, not pro sports.

(CNN) — Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds were long considered first ballot Hall of Famers, but the steroids scandal that has dominated baseball since the ’90s has destroyed their reputations and could very well keep them out of Cooperstown.

Clemens is spending his days in a federal court in Washington accused of lying to Congress about his own steroid use. Bonds is appealing an April conviction of obstruction of justice for giving an evasive answer to a grand jury, but was acquitted on the more serious charges.
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Clenbuterol Threshold Discussion Opens Door to Major Changes in WADA Anti-Doping Protocol
by Millard Baker

Bodybuilders have used clenbuterol for its well-known fat loss properties and its purported anabolic properties ever since Dan Duchaine recommended the substance over two decades ago. Clenbuterol is a well-known drug within the bodybuilding world but has remained largely unknown to the mainstream up until recently.

The news that Tour de France champion Alberto Contador tested positive for clenbuterol at the 2010 Tour de France added a new drug to the public’s lexicon of performance-enhancing drugs. Contador was caught with infinitesimally small amounts of clenbuterol. Contador claimed the clenbuterol resulted from the consumption of contaminated. Many experts think this is a very plausible explanation for the small amounts of clenbuterol discovered.
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60 Minutes Says Steroid Allegations Against Lance Armstrong Are Truthful
by Millard Baker

The Lance Armstrong legal and public relations machine has, for the most part, squashed the doping allegations that have followed the seven-time Tour de France champion for most of the past decade. He has used his considerable influence to discredit journalists and cyclists that have accused the cancer survivor of using performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids and erythropoeitin (EPO). This strategy succeeded against people like Floyd Landis, Greg LeMond and Frankie and Betsy Andreu. However, the aggressive strategy seems to have lost some of its bite recently.
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University of Calgary Research Suggests Long Warm-Ups Can Sabotage Race Performance

University of Calgary Faculty of Kinesiology researcher Elias Tomaras says the idea came to him while watching track and field sprinters warm-up for a race. “If you watch sprinters, short distance speed skaters or cyclists before their race, they will often warm-up for one to two hours, including several brief bouts of high intensity exercise. From an exercise physiology point of view, it seemed like it might be pretty tiring.”

Many coaches and physiologists believe that a longer warm up provides an increase in muscle temperature, acceleration of oxygen uptake kinetics, increased anaerobic metabolism and a process called postactivation potentiation of the muscles. However, very few studies have studied if warm ups has a detrimental effect on performance.
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Potato protein targets sports nutrition market

Dutch start-up Solanic is promoting the bioavailability and sustainability of its potato-derived protein isolates, ahead of a global launch at the Vitafoods Europe trade fair next week in Geneva.

Nutrition goal: Extracts from these potato fields may end up funding and recuperating efforts on sporting fields

Managing director Michiel Puttman said its PRO GO ingredient was beginning to win the interest of sports nutrition companies, even ahead of the formal launch.

PRO GO was a vegetable protein isolate (VPI) but Puttman emphasised that it was not pea or soy protein isolates it viewed as its main competitor, but dairy-based whey protein isolates (WPI).
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Benefits of Outdoor Exercise Confirmed

ScienceDaily – A systematic review carried out by a team at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry has analysed existing studies and concluded that there are benefits to mental and physical well-being from taking exercise in the natural environment. Their findings are published in the research journal Environmental Science and Technology on February 4th 2011.

The research team, supported by the NIHR Peninsula Collaboration in Leadership for Applied Health Research and Care (PenCLAHRC, part of the NIHR family of health and research initiatives) in collaboration with the European Centre for the Environment and Human Health (ECEHH), analysed data from a number of sources including 11 randomised and non-randomised control trials incorporating information from 833 adults.
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Fitness Guru Jack LaLanne Dies at Age 96
By Elizabeth Weise and Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

Leaders of the fitness world are remembering Jack LaLanne, who died Sunday at age 96, as a pioneer who set an example all his life that inspired people of all ages.

LaLanne, widely considered the founding father of the fitness movement in this country, preached strength training and healthy eating long before it was fashionable.

He had a fine singing voice and would often burst into song around Elaine, his wife of 51 years, singing an old standard from World War I.

On Sunday, it was Elaine who sang to him: “If I were the only girl in the world and you were the only boy. Nothing else would matter in the world today. We could go on loving in the same old way.”
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MMA Fighter Chael Sonnen Case and the Testosterone Replacement Therapy Problem
by Millard Baker

Chael Sonnen and Donovan Craig of Fight! Magazine, Photo: Isaac Hinds / Lift Studios

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Chael Sonnen recently appeared before the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) to appeal a suspension after testing positive for anabolic steroids (testosterone) at UFC 117. Sonnen’s suspension was reduced to six months from one year. The CSAC seemingly accepted Sonnen’s defense of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). However, they did not exonerate him entirely since he failed to follow proper procedure in notifying the commission of his medical condition.

The Chael Sonnen appeal, broadcast live on the internet, exposed a commission entirely unprepared to deal with the controversial issue of testosterone replacement therapy.
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Performance Improved with Sodium Bicarbonate

TAICHUNG, Taiwan—Consuming sodium bicarbonate supplements before intermittent, high-intensity exercise could benefit performance and fight off fatigue, according to a new study (J Intl Soc Sports Nutr. ePub 26 Oct 2010;7:33. DOI: 10.1186/1550-2783-7-33). Researchers from National Chung Hsing University, China Medical University and Hospital and the National Taiwan College of Physical Education coordinated a study to investigate whether sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) could fight fatigue onset and related declines in skilled performance in prolonged tennis matches.
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Hell Has Frozen Over! Bodybuilding is on ESPN
by Joe Pietaro

If you are even a casual reader of MuscleSport Mag or have only taken in a few episodes of MuscleSport Radio or TV, then you are well aware of our stance on how the mainstream sports media – more specifically ESPN – has totally missed the boat by ignoring bodybuilding and covering such ridiculous activities such as poker, competitive eating and spelling bees.

Well, maybe the powers that be at ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports’ has heard us and our fans because we are stunningly proud to announce that on Wednesday, August 25 at 4 PM Eastern time on ESPN2, the boys over in Bristol are featuring “The Olympia Elite” on SportsNation.
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Athletes’ Interest in Vasodilators for Performance Grows

LONDON – There is growing interest among athletes in the possible use of nitric oxide and associated vasodilators to enhance performance, which could lead to misuse and serious health effects, according to a review out of Kingston University (J Intl Soc Sports Nutr. ePub 29 June 2010. DOI: 10.1186/1550-2783-7-25). The research team conducted a retrospective analysis of anonymous inquiries recorded in the Drug Information Database (DID) between January 2006 and June 2008 (inclusive); a total of 198,023 inquiries were received. While phophodiesterase type-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors, such as Viagra®, were 16th among substance groups, there was another notable increase in the nitric oxide precursor supplement products in the period leading up to the Beijing Olympics.
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Olympic gold? A new effect of caffeine boosts performance

New research shows increased muscle performance in sub-maximal activities, which in humans can range from everyday activities to running a marathon.

With no current regulations in place, the scientists from Coventry University believe their findings may have implications for the use of caffeine in sport to improve performance.

The scientists present their work at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Prague on Wednesday 30th June 2010.

“A very high dosage of caffeine, most likely achieved via tablets, powder or a concentrated liquid, is feasible and might prove attractive to a number of athletes wishing to improve their athletic performance”, explains lead researcher, Dr Rob James.
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Arnold Sports Film Festival to debut at 2011 Arnold Sports Festival

Californial Gov. Arnold Schwarzegger among celebrity jurors

The Arnold Sports Festival and Ideas United have announced the first-annual Arnold Sports Film Festival will be held March 4-6, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio, in conjunction with the Arnold Sports Festival.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, co-founder of the Arnold Sports Festival, will be among the celebrity juries who pick the festival winners. The festival’s grand prize winner will be awarded a trip to visit Schwarzenegger on a Hollywood movie set.

The Arnold Sports Film Festival will be committed to the discovery, nurture and presentation of the best short-form international filmmaking focused on personal athletic endeavor.
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Victor Conte on Boxing, USADA, Steroids, Blood-Doping, EPO

I’m now a part of the anti-doping movement. I’m trying to help those at WADA [The World Anti-Doping Agency,] and, USADA [The United States Anti-Doping Agency] to develop more effective anti-doping policies and procedures. And that’s what I’m doing now, and I’m very outspoken about it.

The difference is that here is what people fail to realize, and that’s that from 1984, which is when I founded BALCO, and until the year 2000 — so, for 16 years — I did things the right way. The only thing that I did was to do comprehensive blood and urine testing of athletes, and to develop individualized nutrition programs for them.

But it got to a point, for me — and this doesn’t make it right, because it was certainly wrong, and it was certainly a mistake — but I had gotten to a point where I thought differently. I had gotten to a point when I realized that Olympic officials and those that control major league football and baseball were enabling, harboring, and, promoting this culture of drug use in sport. And I made the bad decision to join that culture. It was a huge mistake, and I wish now that I had never done it.
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