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Chondroitin Sulfate for Cardiovascular Protection?

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by Mike Arnold

Over the last 10 years, the grim reaper has visited our community more times than I care to remember. In fact, more post-millennium professional bodybuilders have died in their 30’-40’s than in the previous 3 decades combined. While it is true that not all of these deaths can be attributed to the bodybuilding lifestyle, an alarmingly high percentage can be either directly or indirectly linked to PED use. A difficult statistic to ignore, bodybuilders are no longer able to casually dismiss the relationship between ill health and what they put into their bodies. As I see it, the days of “ignorance is bliss” are long gone.
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Dream-n-Grow ~ An in Depth Look

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by Mike Arnold

Along with training and diet, sleep is one of the foundational pillars on which any successful bodybuilding program rests. Slack in this area just a little bit, and progress will be compromised. This is not surprising, as sleep is the time during which the body recovers from the previous day’s stress and reenergizes for the day to come, but what is surprising is the level of inattention it usually receives. With such a profound influence on the body’s ability to recover and grow, the uninitiated might assume that bodybuilders routinely place special emphasis on this aspect of their program. However, this is rarely the case. Unlike training and nutrition, in which most of us agonize over every little detail, sleep is generally given short shrift, with little attention paid to quantity and even less given to quality.
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Super Nor-Andro Rx

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by Mike Arnold

With the FDA’s penchant for removing as many steroidal agents from the OTC market as possible, we all knew the day was coming when our freedom of choice would be finally stripped away, robbing us of our right to great designers such as dymethazine, methylstenbolone, epistane, and many more. They are all gone; never again to be seen on supplement shelves, but unlike previous post-ban comebacks, this time they will not be replaced. The passing of the 2014 Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act made sure of that.
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Clean Eating vs. Healthy Eating

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by Mike Arnold

“Are they one in the same?” Back in the 80’s, when the term “clean eating” became part of the bodybuilding vernacular, it was primarily used to describe a diet which was low in fat. Most bodybuilders of that era, and even into the 90’s, viewed fat, particularly saturated fat, as both unhealthy and counterproductive to their physique goals. Therefore, they were largely absent from the diets of most bodybuilders, with even naturally occurring sources being removed when possible. Eggs were de-yoked, dairy products were always low or non-fat, any meat within the diet came from the leanest cuts available, and animal-based fats such as butter were shunned completely.
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Red Meat – Good for Fat Loss, or a Fad?

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by Monica Mollica

Consumption of red meat has been associated with fat gain (and weight gain) because of its high fat / calorie content. Even though the old idea that “a high fat intake causes body fat gain” has been completely debunked in medical research [1-9], red meat still is a food that’s on the forbidden or avoid list in most diet plans. And for some reason, women tend to be especially afraid of eating meat…
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Get Off the Bullshit Creatine Bandwagon

by Josh Hodnik

New dietary supplement ingredients are being churned out at such a fast rate, it has become almost impossible to keep up with them all. When a new ingredient is released, they are often backed by a clinical study of some sort. More times than not, a supplement will be marketed and sold after a promising study is published, but when it is used in real world (bodybuilding and sports) applications, they fail. Many of the studies performed on new dietary ingredients are funded by a supplement company looking to push a new product. Many of the journals these studies are published in have connections with particular supplement companies, giving these journals zero credibility.
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A Guide to being a Sponsored Athlete

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by Louis Uridel

“The Entitled Athlete vs the Deserving Athlete”
“We live in an age of instant knowledge. And there’s almost a sense of entitlement to that.” – J.J. Abrams

When I think of this quote, I think of the age of instant gratification we currently live in. This is further magnified with such social networking gems as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumbler, Tout, Klout, YouTube, so on and so forth. I think of the trend (should I say “trending”?) of athletes assuming that being sponsored is something that they are entitled to, or at the very least, something they should have as quickly as they can update a status or get #Instagratification.
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Intelligent Arm Specialization

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by Chris Marzarella

I usually don’t follow articles about arm workouts because I think that most of the articles written neglect other parts of the body, and usually, they write for one or two specialization days during your training week without any thought as to how long, how much or when to move on. As a trainer, I usually incorporate arm work into the workouts for both online and in-person clients. That is unless they want specific work done and I will write a protocol that has that in mind. The easiest example to illustrate is a bodybuilder, physique or figure competitor that needs to bring up symmetry to score higher, or, on the other end of the spectrum, just a girl or guy who wants to look good in short sleeves while on vacation.
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