Dexter Jackson Wins the Olympia.

In case you haven't heard, Dexter Jackson won the Mr. Olympia title and there was a stunned hush throughout the land.

Followed by wild applause.

The stunning news was that Jay Cutler (the defending champion) showed up to his second Mr. Olympia in a row in less than stellar shape, leaving some to wonder if his best days of competing are behind him. His soft appearance at the Friday pre-judging left the judges with no choice but to select Jackson as a winner, lest they risk losing all credibility with the fan base.

In the end however the judges got it right, an oddity for the show, and there's a remarkably small amount of carping about the results in opposition to prior years.

If, like me, you are looking forward to next years' competitive season with anticipation instead of dread it could be because there's been a glimmer of hope in the judging this year, where the best physique has been rewarded with placings instead of the usual political decisions.

Good job to AMI and the IFBB for putting on a good show.

Other winners:

Ms. Olympia - Iris Kyle: After her Ms. International debacle (7th place after almost being disqualified for "boils" on her glutes) Iris needed a good showing here. When she's on she's the best in the land. She was on.

Fitness Olympia - Jenn Henderschott: I thought she retired? Guess not.

Figure Olympia - Jennifer Gates: Um...ok. Congrats. It's figure.

Does the Mr. Olympia still matter to the Health and Fitness Industry?

This weekend, juiced up, oiled up, sexed up, pumped up bodybuilders will descend on Las Vegas for the 2008 Olympia Weekend as the 800lb Gorilla of bodybuilding organizations, The International Federation of Bodybuilders settles in to name its pre-determined champions in all of its contested divisions.

Maybe the worst kept secret in the industry is that bodybuilding is not now, nor has it been for some time, a legitimite competition. So rigged is the judging that Vegas won't even run betting lines on a competition being held in its own back yard. The casino's roll up their carpets (for fear of getting them stained) and only the Spearmint Rhino does any gussying up for the penultament event on the bodybuilding calendar. Absent any drama in the competition, the bodybuilding industry tries to invent drama by creating controversy that doesn't exist or by making one's selves a spectacle.

Yes, the bodybuilding industry is bereft of many of the principles that made it relevent in the past, creating the physical culture, comraderie, adherance to a healthful lifestyle. Those tenets are gone only to be replaced with false "gangsta" bravado, disposable female models willing to shoot nude (and have sex) at the drop of a hat to 'further their career', a chemical lifestyle, and a 'bunker down' mentality that places their thought processes outside of normal society. In short, its full of insecure men and pathetic women convincing themselves that they are somehow 'pretty' or 'manly' because of their ability to drop trou or their isolation. Bodybuilding men have convinced themselves that they really are modern-day equivilents of the gladiators of old. Bodybuilding women have convinced themselves that they are Amazons placed somewhere higher than males.

The sad thing is, they HAVE to convince themselves of this fact in order to make up for the fact that none of it really matters any longer.

At one time, bodybuilding training techniques were the most advanced in the industry. Football players and other athletes could use these cutting-age techniques and apply them to their sport. Today's bodybuilder is a luddite in the world of high-tech training. Yes, lifting weights is still the foundation, but the anciliary workouts that bodybuilders often ignore have progressed leaps and bounds past the archaic relics that bodybuilders adhere to. Nutrition and supplementation have progressed as well, leaving bodybuilding and its practionioners sucking the dust of an industry that's moving past the marketing of flavored powdered sugar, and into the realm of fresh whole organic foods supplemented with a few basic necessities for muscle growth and good health.

If you're still training and eating like a bodybuilder, you're at least 5-10 years behind the times.

Las Vegas is going to play host to a dinosaur's convention this weekend, sadly all of the attendees will be too self-absorbed to realize they are obsolete.

Don't miss this blowout sale.

Received this via e-mail today:





In case you're wondering:

5lb: $3.04 off of $39.99 is 7.60%

10lb: $2.04 off of $76.99 is 2.65%

Be sure to run out and snap up these fine deals while they last!!!

News Flash: Governor likes strawberries!!!

File this under stupid press releases...

(from PR-net)

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ben Weider met at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Bodybuilding Classic in Columbus, OH, where the Governor held up a copy of Weider's newly published book, The Wars Against Napoleon: Debunking the Myth of the Napoleonic Wars, by authors General Michel Franceschi and Ben Weider and published by Savas Beatie LLC.




Governor Schwarzenegger organizes yearly the Arnold Schwarzenegger Bodybuilding Classic (http://www.arnoldclassic.com/). Every year he selects an outstanding individual and honors him for his contribution to health, fitness, and bodybuilding.


This year, Governor Schwarzenegger selected Ben Weider, who is the Founder and Honorary Lifetime President of the International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness (http://www.ifbb.com/). Ben Weider is also the president of The International Napoleonic Society (http://www.societenapoleonienne.com/english/frameSetAccueil_Eng.htm).


Governor Schwarzenegger presented Weider with The Lifetime Achievement Award in front of 5,000 cheering fans. When asked about his opinion of Governor Schwarzenegger, Ben Weider replied, "Arnold Schwarzenegger is indeed one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. His perseverance, charming personality, and ability to solve problems and achieve results are what make him an outstanding individual."


Governor Schwarzenegger is also interested in history and was pleased when Ben Weider, a Napoleonic historian, signed a copy of his new book entitled The Wars Against Napoleon: Debunking the Myth of the Napoleonic Wars (http://savasbeatie.com/books/Napoleon_book.htm).


"I have read The Wars Against Napoleon, and I liked it," announced Governor Schwarzenegger.


Popular and scholarly history presents a one-dimensional image of Napoleon as an inveterate instigator of war who repeatedly sought large scale military conquests. General Franceschi and Weider dismantle this false conclusion in The Wars Against Napoleon. Publishers Weekly called the book "Provocative . . . revisionist . . . and controversial." According to Library Journal, "The authors argue strongly, persuasively, and intellectually for what is, essentially, the other side of the usual story. They will surely provoke debate within the historical community wherever there is interest in this period. Recommended for all libraries adding to their Napoleonic collections."


Weider explains that his and Franceschi's long persuasive essay turns our understanding of the French emperor on its head. "Napoleon's desire to spread 'liberty, fraternity and equality' to all citizens of France, and then to all citizens of countries that were occupied by the French Army, is what gained my respect and interest in Napoleon and the period in which he lived," explained Weider.


NOTE: IF USED, GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S QUOTATION CANNOT BE ALTERED OR EDITED IN ANY MANNER.

NOTE: I did not alter this in any manner. The press release was reproduced as written.

NFL Star sues supplement company

It was bound to happen...

(From Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune)

Athletes who fail drug tests these days often give the same excuse:
“It wasn't my fault. I didn't know my vitamins were tainted with steroids.”

To skeptics, it sounds like a schoolboy claiming that his dog ate his homework.

But recently many athletes have been taking their arguments to court to prove they mean it – often with successful results.

The latest attempt came Friday in San Diego Superior Court, where former San Diego State and NFL running back Femi Ayanbadejo filed suit against a Nevada supplement company and local distributor. Ayanbadejo tested positive for a steroidal substance last year, leading to a four-game suspension and his release by the Arizona Cardinals and Chicago Bears.

“I took a supplement that had a banned substance in it that was not listed on the bottle,” Ayanbadejo said yesterday. “I know a lot of guys have been using that excuse. But I said from the beginning that I was going to sue the company and make sure that whoever was responsible would face the music.”

If his claims are true then I hope he wins the suit and the company in question is fined severely. The fight to keep supplements legal is going to involve holding company's feet to the fire regarding accurate label claims.

S.B. 1082 - Consumer protection or Drug Industry hat-tip?

Mike Adams has done a lot of heavy lifting on the pros (and cons) of S.B. 1082 regarding the future of Dietary supplements....

The present concern is that the bill will pass with ambiguous language that could allow its regulatory powers to threaten free access to dietary supplements and functional foods. While the bill's supporters claim there is no such language contained in the bill that would subject foods and supplements to new FDA regulations, they nonetheless refuse to support the food and supplement protection amendments authored by Jonathan Emord (a high-profile attorney specializing in FDA regulatory law) and generally supported by the health freedom movement.

While S.1082 contains some useful provisions that limit advertising for new drugs, it could also ultimately be misused to threaten consumer health freedoms. Furthermore, the bill deepens the financial ties between Big Pharma and the FDA while doing nothing of substance to end corruption at the FDA or to halt Big Pharma's monopolistic trade practices in the United States. Thus, the bill is widely viewed by most people in the health freedom movement as a net loss to consumer safety, which is why grassroots opposition to S.1082 has steadily grown.

What's clear from the Senate's action on the bill is that consumers are not in any meaningful way represented by lawmakers. Rather than fighting to protect consumers' health and hard-earned dollars, the majority of senators have voted in accordance with the wishes of their corporate sponsors -- the drug companies themselves. Thus, the imminent passage of S.1082 is viewed by many as yet one more Senate sellout of the American public to the financial interests of powerful pharmaceutical companies.

Weighing on the Chron's mind.

Good to see that Houston's lone major daily is concerned about Houston's bulging waist-line is it not?

Here's some wit from one of the two Lisas on Houston's "fat":

(from Lisa Gray of the Chron)

Why are Houstonians heftier than people in other cities? A few years ago the culprit seemed obvious. Urban sprawl, the argument went, packed on our pounds.

Several much-quoted studies found a correlation between obesity and spread-out, car-loving cities like ours. People who live in tight-packed metropolises tended to be thinner than people like us, whose suburban-style lives involve freeways and parking lots.

Researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Rand Corporation argued that living in a car-hostile city where walking is part of daily life naturally keeps people lean.

The difference between living in Manhattan or a spread-out, car-dependent suburb of Cleveland? For an average adult, it's six pounds, according to the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth.

Sprawl was blamed for Americans' soaring obesity rates. And it seemed only natural that Houston, one of the most car-besotted places in the universe, was also one of the country's fattest. Here, only the intrepid dare to journey on foot to the corner store. In a loose-packed city like ours, places of interest often lie miles apart. Our streets, designed for drivers, leave pedestrians with daunting choices: slog across muddy sidewalk-less private yards or dodge SUVs in the road. It seemed no wonder that roughly two-thirds of Houstonians are either overweight or obese.

The researchers' arguments made intuitive sense, and the message seemed obvious. To avoid becoming XXXL tubs o' lard, we'd better move to Manhattan. Or make Houston more like it.

(snip)

Lately, a new round of research has raised objections to the original sprawl-makes-you-fat studies. Suburban sprawl, they point out, was around for decades before the obesity epidemic started. But in the '50s, '60s and '70s, Americans were much thinner than we are now.

Some academics say that the sprawl researchers' methods were flawed, that it makes little sense, for example, to compare whole counties to one another.

The University of Illinois' more specific ZIP-code analysis of Chicago found that race, education and income had much more to do with obesity than a neighborhood's density. In fact, that study found, the leanest Chicagoans lived in the city's near-in suburbs — places where residents tended to be white, wealthy and well-educated.

In typical Chron fashion Ms. Gray touches lightly on the corners of the obesity issue, flanks it, and then oversimplifies it.


She does get ONE thing right however and deserves kudos for that:

Matthew Turner, one of those researchers, argues that it's not where you live, it's who you are. A fit person who likes to walk naturally gravitates toward places where walking is a pleasant part of daily life — but will tend to exercise anyway, even if it's inconvenient.

An obese person, for whom walking is miserable, will prefer life with an SUV — but is unlikely to grow much thinner even if having to sometimes schlep groceries from the corner store.

Being fit and healthy are personal choices. They take effort and sacrifice like the young lady attending fat camp is being conditioned to make:

Isabel woke before counselors began their round of knocks on campers' doors.

"This is going to be a heck of a day," she thought, her feet sliding to the tile floor of the dorm room. Her sleeping roommate, a shy teenager from Wharton, had hung posters of boy bands next to her bed. Beside Isabel's, a Tinkerbell nightlight glowed.

It was the first full day at weight-loss camp.

"All right, do we have those pedos everybody? — Pedos?" counselor Katie Barthelmes asked before the morning stretch. "Great, you don't want to miss these steps. Trust me."

The campers stretched in brand-new sneakers and sagging backpacks, their pedometers — or pedos — clipped to belts or shoes. Filtering onto the trail, they formed a straggling line on their nearly 3-mile walk, soon to be one of many routines of their summer days.

Isabel caught up with two girls, Riley Bird and Alicia Stone, from her assigned team, "Blanco," a group of 10 teenage girls. The day before, counselors had weighed and measured each of them. Isabel logged in at 179 pounds and 5-foot-1.

There's no amount of development (smart or otherwise), Government intervention or planning that's going to change this.