Global Gossip

IFBB Pro Rosa-Marie Romero has landed her sixth cover. This time it is for Hardcore Aussie Muscle. The magazine is set to hit stands next week. This Australian beauty is the first female to land on the cover. The photo was taken by our Canadian friend Gary Phillips, location: Gold’s Gym Venice. Congrats Rosa-Marie!

Originally posted on Hardbody.com.

Gina Joy Carano may have spent too much time in the hospitality room of American Gladiators. Gina (nicknamed “conviction” in the MMA world) failed to make weight for her upcoming fight. Carano weighed in at 144.5lbs (weight class is 140lbs) and according to MMAmania.com, the New Jersey Athletic Control Board Deputy Attorney didn’t want her to cut any more weight. The fight will still go on but Gina will surrender a percentage of the purse. Gina will fight as part of the new CBS deal with EliteXC coined “Saturday Night Fights”. The fights air this Saturday on CBS.

Did Ron Avidan from getbig.com provide her with dieting tips while on the American Gladiator Set? Perhaps she should visit the bodybuilding.com store for a fat burner.

If you were to stroll into Gold’s Gym Venice and day Im sure you’d see some sports star, an actor, singer or even an upcoming furture star as the all seem to want to visit and train at the Mecca.  With living here and training at Gold’s on a daily base you seem to forget that.  However, my good friend and National level bodybuilder Ernie "Mongo" Chang brought that to my attention last week while here staying with me on vacation.

The picture above is of John De Beer of Holland who has made Cali his home for 6 months out of the year.  John, on the left, I met while living in Thailand is both a fitness model and a Muai Thai fighter who at 6′3 and 225 lb is a big match for anyone. Next in the middle is myself Joe “Ino Malie” Tong I will be doing the Masters Nationals in 7 weeks. On the right is Mongo who from Hawaii is looking at either the Nationals or 2009 USA.

This picture was taken after a workout while visit Scott who works at Max Muscle and in the picture Im sure you will know the man in the middle as maybe the next 2008 Mr. USA Brando Curry and His beautiful girl Brandy Leaver of Muscle and Fitness from all her Photo shoots, she’ll also be on stage at the USA.  Also in the picture is Brandy’s beautiful daughter Zoie and myself and Mongo.

After being offered the Gossip girl columnist position for the Canadian sector of athletes, I knew my dream had come true.  Come on!  Working alongside high-calibre athletes in FAME events and now I get to write about their upcoming fitness careers and dive a little bit into their personal ones?  This is a dream position for anyone in the fitness field!

I received the initial email from Richard Barnet that started off my blogging journey and after many days pondering over what piece of news I can kick off the Canadian section with, I knew the one I’m about to tell you took the top spot!  

I’m talking about the highly anticipated, largest fitness event that is happening ONLY 14 days from now…

The 2008 FAME World Championships and Pro Showdown!!!

This event not only brings top athletes from all over the world including a huge team from Australia, it also promotes the new mantra FAME is launching to the public…and that is to be BODY-PROUD!  This goes beyond having an outstanding physique…it is an internal self-awareness factor that slowly exudes to what we continuously see and say “Oh my god, I want her abs” or “How can I get as big as him?”  The BODY-PROUD phenomenon goes beyond diligently training and eating clean.  It’s an internal satisfaction and positive belief that you can do whatever you put your mind to.  

To promote this lifestyle, there will also be a Marketplace Expo in the Convention Centre where the three-day fitness event will be held.  Not only is this expo free to the public for the first time in FAME history, highly reputable fitness speakers, authors and physicians will be on hand to help anyone and everyone get the path started to becoming body-proud themselves by offering all natural tips for the mind, body and soul.  

Now onto all the competition hungry people that visit Bodybuilding.com everyday.  Huge names will be competing in order to earn the top title FAME offers every two years.  Julie Marsland, Diana Chaloux, Paula Ryff, Marzia Prince, Nicole Costa, Rob Riches, Annette Milbers, Renaldo Gairy, Kendall Wood, Ava Cowan, Larry Vinette and bodybuilding.com’s own Kris Gethin are just some of the athletes that will showcase their bodies on stage and be having meet and greets with the public.  

So stay tuned for more developments to come and make sure you check out  the FAME website, www.FAMEworldtour.com to get the latest scoop on this event that is sure to make history.

Hello from Texas Connection:

With the NPC season well underway, we would like to thank Robert "Supermann" Blount and his wife Rochelle, Prince Harrison and Lee Haney for a very warm welcome to the Lee Haney Challenge in Shreveport LA. The show was a success and with the added Fit For Life events helped in promoting health awareness.
Some key individuals at the Lee Haney Classic were, Ronnie Coleman and his wife, Victor Martinez and Stephen Frazier. Look for Victor to guest pose at the Lone Star Classic on June 7, 2008.

We would also like to remind you about the Pose Down Challenge at the South Texas Classic in San Antonio TX….Your guest posers are Beni Lopez, Trish Warren and a special seminar given on the Sunday after the show by Kevin Levrone.

Pose Down is also giving away several trophies and awards this year!!!

Other important events are as follows:

Branch Warren Classic

Capital Of Texas Roundup

Europa Super Show

Fitness Texas and Model Expo

Remember for all updated information please visit
www.posedownmag.com “Coming To A Stage Near You”

On a sad note, we would like to say goodbye to a dear friend within the industry. Below is a memorial written by Sheilae Brown in memory of Deborah Louise Moore.

Less than two weeks left, and I have seen a lot of hot, chiseled bodies around the gyms; lots of competitors getting ready for the MaxMuscle Mile High Natural Bodybuilding & Figure Championships in Englewood, Colorado… check it out!

A big congratulation’s goes out to Colorado’s Sara Hurrle; she won the overall title in her first show last summer, the Colorado Pro/AM, and now she has done it again; taking the overall title in the NPC portion of the California Pro! Sara is working with nutrition guru to the pros Kim Oddo, and she is now heading to Jr. Nationals in hopes of coming home a full fledged pro herself!  Great job Sara!

photos: courtesy of musculardevelopment

The NPC and IFBB lost a dear friend this week when John Organ passed away in his Florida apartment. I loved this guy, he was always easy going and upbeat. I covered the West Palm Beach show for the last two years and it was always a pleasure. Just last weekend I was telling a makeup artist friend of mine that I was going to make the trip a bit longer and do photo shoots on the beach again. The show’s future is still undecided at this point but I will keep you posted on any news. John will be missed by many and at age 49 you never know when your time is up.

Rest in Peace my friend.

Below is the information for his funeral arrangements as well as his obituary. You can leave a tribute to him and his family here. Thanks to Bodysport.com for the link.

Visitation:
Sunday May 25, 2008
2:00 pm until time of Service

Visitation Location:
Quattlebaum Funeral Home, 1201 South Olive Avenue, West Palm Beach, FL 33401.

Service Date:
Sunday May 25, 2008 3:00 PM

Service Location:
A Reception will be held at the Funeral Home immediately following the Service

John Porter Organ, 49 years old, of West Palm Beach, FL, died at his home on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 following sudden cardiac arrest. Born in Hammond, Indiana, he was a resident of the Palm Beach area since 1963 and graduated Forest Hill High School, Class of 1976. John was a well known Personal Fitness Trainer who operated “Bodies Are My Business”; and was a trainer at Ultima Fitness Downtown. He was also a Nationally Accredited Judge for fitness competitions; and organized and promoted many bodybuilding and fitness shows.

John is survived by his mother, Joan M. Leary (James) of Lake Worth, FL; and father, Orlin J. Organ, Jr. of Eldorado, IL; four siblings, Gary Organ of McLeansboro, IL, Sherry L. Fieser (Brad) of Deland, FL, David L. Organ of Lake Worth, FL, and William “Joey” Thomas (Gena) of Tallahassee, FL; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews.

A Memorial Service will be held at 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 25, 2008 at Quattlebaum Funeral Home, 1201 South Olive Avenue, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 with Rev. William Michaels, Associate Pastor of Trinity Church International, officiating. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Sunday beginning at 2:00 PM, and at a Reception immediately following the Service. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in John’s memory to: American Diabetes Association, Memorial Program ADA, 1500 West Cypress Creek Road, Suite 104, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309 www.diabetes.org.

The past week it’s been very unusual hot at about 100 degrees here in LA and along with getting hit by a heat wave were also getting hit by alot of various stars.

Just Mon, while I was leaving Golds a casting agent ask me if I was intrested in casting for a new movie being filmed by Dreamworks Production next week? These are the same people that casted IFBB Pro Will Harris a few years ago for a movie.  The next date Muscle Mag was shooting for the second time this week and across the floor in another cornor Binais Begovic was shooting for a Sweedish magazine, he’s the model/ bodybuilder you see in the Gasp clothing ad’s.

Thur, after I finished training with Mongo( a up and coming bodybuilder from Hawaii ) our close friend Brandy Leaver, her beautiful daughter and her man big Brandon Curry showed up.  I’ll be working with Brandon on his diet for the USA so since he was in town for a shoot with Silvio and Gunter I wanted to check him out.  Watch Out is what I can say.  Man is this guy looking good for 8 weeks out.  Very thick, great shape and not much to drop, but most important this kidd is serious!

FIBO 2008 Experience
By Hugo Rivera & Mercedes Khani

We attended the FIBO 2008 event Friday early afternoon before the huge weekend crowd came in.  It was a great idea on one aspect as the event was not nearly as crowded as it was over the weekend, which enabled us to enjoy the expo more and see all of the athletes without being pushed over by a crowd.

The event was graced by the presence of bodybuilding greats like 8-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, Markus Rühl, Dennis Wolf, and Phil Heath, just to name a few.  We also spotted other big names, such as 6-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates, Chris Cormier, Flex Wheeler and German bodybuilding champion Ralf Moeller (who competed in the 1988 Olympia and who you may know through his appearances in the movies Cyborg, Universal Soldier and Gladiator).

Throughout the weekend several shows and guest posing presentations happened on the stage making the event a most interesting one.  In addition, there were countless of companies displaying their latest and greatest fitness products to the consumers passing by.

The downside to attending the FIBO early in the day, was that when we were walking around in the fitness and bodybuilding hall early in the afternoon on Friday, there was not a strong and exciting vibe in the air. It felt empty and lacking of enthusiasm. This was most probably because all the fans would arrive later in the weekend, as later in the weekend the FIBO was packed.

So for those of you who are looking for the most excitement out of the event, we recommend you attend the expo later in the weekend.  However, if you are looking for a more relaxed atmosphere and to be able to interact with the athletes more at peace, then earlier in the day would be the perfect choice. Either way, be sure to have a great time at the FIBO!

http://www.fibo.de/en/

In case you happen to be passing through the Denver Metro area early next week, be sure to check out one of the following GNC locations as Cathy LeFrancois will be in-house and offering 20% off all Gaspari products while she is there doing a demo for Gaspari.

Cathy will be at the following locations:

May 19th
TIME: 11am-2pm
GNC
Smoky Hill Road & Gibraltar Way
5616 S. Gibraltar Way
Aurora, CO  80015
303-400-9512

May 20th
TIME: 11am-2pm
GNC
Denver Pavilions Mall
16th Street & Glenarm, second floor
500 16th Street
Denver, CO  80202
303-454-9611

Thanks to GNC store owner AND 2007 Figure Class winner at the Colorado PRO/AM Marina Lopez (she runs the store on Smoky Hill Rd.) for bringing Cathy to us   Here is an awesome shot of Marina last year from the show

So come check it out and meet Cathy and grab some Gaspari products and samples while you are there!

Gold’s get’s it share of superstars from all walks of life but only the past few months we have gotten use to seeing Cold Stone Steve Austin training here several times a week in the early afternoon.  It just happen last week we had Stone Cold training delts in the back room and across the floor from him was Chris Masters the Masterpiece hitting chest and looking quite large having just returned from Spain.

Then who comes walking in but the one and only Hulk Hogan who was there with his new girlfriend who I was told his living here in LA so I guess we’ll see alot more of Hulk Hogan around.

Over the past couple of months I’ve started to see Brandon Rey at Gold’s venice on a regular bases.  The first few times I didn’t want to bother Brandon who is always training with his girlfriend( That’s another story as this girl is sure to make pro in the future) However, after my workout as I was resting down the street at Max Muscle before I went to do Cardio Brandon and his other half came in the store.

What a nice guy Brandon is as he was very polite and outgoing, not to mention very smart as he holds a job in D.C for CNN.  Brandon is gearing up for the USA and seems very excited about it.  So it looks like we’ll see B.Rey and B. Curry, what a tough weight class that will be.  With only 10 weeks out it’s coming fast.

Hello again from Texas!

I want to share with you a very inspirational story by Brian Dobson of Metroflex Gym in Arlington Texas. Brian is the author of Raw Power for Pose Down and always brings some very unique individuals to us. (See below):

This months article will be on one of the toughest, hardest working athletes I’ve ever had the privilege to train. I’m not talking about Ronnie Coleman, or Branch Warren but a young sweet looking little girl named Tiffany Mckinney.

Tiffany was first brought to the gym 4 years ago by her Dad Craig who is one of the original Metroflex gym members. Craig is a big, tough dude with monstrous forearms who would train like an animal after putting in a 12 hour day hanging drywall. He now mainly works with granite doing quality work through his company Stonemasters of DFW.

When he brought Tiffany here knowing my history of making champions he told me not to try and make her into a bodybuilder as she was an all star guard in basketball and was here to get better at that sport not be a bodybuilder. She trained on her own for 6-8 months or with her Dad. It was very obvious she was something special when I saw her pumping 45# dumbells on the incline bench. Shortly after that Craig hired me to start training her and her progress has been exceptional ever since.

She was an excellent bench press lifter from the start getting 185 without a bench shirt her first meet at 148# weight class. After several years of winning every power meet she ever entered she decided to do a bodybuilding meet winning the teen and novice hw at the Branch Warren event last year.

What has always impressed me about this young lady is her tremendous work ethic and the fact she NEVER has one time complained to me about anything. The leg workouts at Metyroflex are legendary and while she may not be doing the weight of some of the pros the effort is just as great. I remember after one leg workout where I had her do 8 sets of full squats starting with 25 reps and ending with 5  with all sets near max effort. Followed with drop sets on leg press started at 1000 pounds dropped it 100 pounds at a time all the way down to 300. Followed by parking lot lunges and sled drags than hamstrings both standing and seated. I trained with her that day and was thinking how hard it was going to be to  walk that night and next day. We were on to do calves when she told me she had to leave in 5 minutes to make it to her game that night . Her team was in the playoffs. Not only did the team win, she was the leading rebounder. If only all my trainees had heart like that.

She went away to Texas A&M this year for college choosing not to play basketball but to put all her efforts into becoming a world class powerlifter. It was a very sad day when she left Metroflex after her last session to go bless the A&M powerlifting team. Her winning ways have continued there as well  winning the collegiate nationals this past April. I look for her to be a future world champion very soon.

Hi Guys, it has taken me awhile to sort this out, so bear with me I am a virgin to this blog stuff.

As you might know I write for Hardcore Aussie Muscle mag, a new magazine on the Australian Bodybuilding scene.  Owned by two of the biggest bodybuilding fans and two great friends of mine.  So, why I am writing these blogs? Because they have sucked me into doing it for them.  haha.  Truthfully it’s because Kris Gethin is one of our best mates.

Myself I have been training since first walking into a gym in 1984, time flies!  Started competing in bodybuilding in 1991, still competing and winning of course to the dismay of many I am sure.

Currently I am lying on the couch after tearing my calf last week during leg training.  How? Who knows? What did I do? Stuffed if I know.  All I do know is that after 5 days of mega doses of pain killers, ice packs and eating chocolate I can finally walk.  Treatment starts tomorrow.  But like all crazed bodybuilders I have been training upper body the last 3 days.

2007 was a big year downunder for all on the bodybuilding stages, a few new faces blew us all away, some old faces reappeared and the regular greats just kept on being great.  One who made a return to the stage was Taylor Young.

Taylor is probably one of the most under rated and uncelebrated Australian Women in Bodybuilding and Powerlifting. She not only holds numerous Powerlifting titles (and is the true Australian Strongest woman) but has many bodybuilding victories to her name.  Looks like us Aussie women can do both, just like the great Bev Francis.

Probably Taylor’s greatest wins was the NABBA Miss Universe Physique title in 1999 (a feat that no other Aussie has accomplished since).  Taylor’s best competition lifts are:

Squat - 215 kg
Bench - 120 kg
Deadlift - 215 kg
Best total - 535 kg   (that’s 1177 pounds!)

Taylor, at around 50 yrs of young, returned to the stage in 2007 as a figure competitor, thinking maybe she didn’t have the muscle for bodybuilding anymore.  Come off it girl, Taylor went on to the Universe but found out pretty quickly - she had a little too much muscle for figure.

2008 we will see Taylor returning to where she belongs, look out this lady is on her way back to bodybuilding. Next I have to do is encourage her to get back to the Powerlifting stage and show the girls of today how to lift some serious weight.

Taylor is not only a great ambassador for this sport she is one of the most beautiful ladies I have met in this sport and proud to call a friend, you go girl!!!