Global Gossip

Pose Down Muscle and Figure would like to thank Prince and Debbie Fontenot for a great show this past weekend. With Trish Warren, Beni Lopez as guest posers, the sold out audience were clapping on their feet. Saturday night brought over 50 competitors all of which won free subscriptions to Pose Down Muscle and Figure; for just being in the show. The event had emcee’s from FOX 29 TV and if that was not the enough, Sunday morning had a special seminar given by Kevin Levrone. We thank you Kevin and EST for being part of this!   We look forward to next year Prince and Debbie.  Make sure you visit Prince who is a competitor, judge and all around great guy!!! AT: www.princefontenot.com

A special thank you to Millard Baker from Muscle Time (courtesy photos shown). To see videos go to www.posedownmag.com Coming To A Stage Near You!

Got a call from Ernie Mongo Chang the other day with some news. Back in Hawaii the USA is always a big contest for the local guys to train for then travel to as a team.   I competed back in 96 after winning the Hawaiian Islands and what a wonderful feeling to be part of this.   Well as we speek Brandon Curry has been staying in Hawaii getting ready for the USA.  Since im doing his diet for the show I had a close friend check his bodyfat for me the other day and she called along with Mongo to say Brandon at 5 1/2 weeks out is at 3%.  So are we now looking for this kid to be getting a pro card at the USA?  Think so!

He’s posted he may be making a comeback after a 13 year layoff. Viggo hits the gym in a couple youtube videos. Originally posted at on body.se

I’m entering the IFBB show Atlantic City Pro Masters, Friday September 12th. If I crack the top 3 I may even compete the next day, (September 13th), in the last qualifier for the Mr. Olympia. The Atlantic City Pro Show is a two day event with many different classes/categories. They even have a Pro Masters for women, and one of my trainers here at my gym is doing that show. It’s the very first time that IFBB have a pro show for women over 35. It’s going to be a huge event, and I expect to meet and compete with many of my old friends!

    * 1980 Jr. Mr. Norway
    * 1982 Jr. Mr. Scandinavia
    * 1985 No.5 mr.World Games
    * 1986 Mr. Denmark - Heavyweight
    * 1990 Overall Mr. Germany
    * 1991 No. 5 Pro. Mr. Universe (W.A.B.B.A)
    * 1993 No. 5 Pro. Mr. European Grand Prix (IFBB)
    * 1995 Retired from IFBB Pro Bodybuilding
    * 2008 Comeback at Atlantic City Pro. Masters September 12th/13th

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) were found in Camp Taji, Iraq.

But we’re not talking about nuclear weapons. We’re talking about explosive quads, massive traps, and monstrous biceps. On May 25, 2008, Camp Taji held its first Bodybuilding, Hard body, and Fitness/Figure competition. While members of the Armed Forces are fighting the war against terrorism, they still manage to find the time to stay in immaculate physical condition. There were a total of 20 competitors: ten for bodybuilding, four for fitness, and six for hard body.

The first display of WMDs was the hard body competition. Armed with two massive boulders for shoulders, Specialist Chapman took first place. This event was judged solely on the contestant’s upper body. Chapman was awaiting a flight home for rest and relaxation, and due to harsh weather conditions he was unable to leave for home. He figured while waiting for a flight, he might as well compete! When Chapman showed his most muscular pose, the crowd cheered loudly. USARMY Cavalry Scout William Chadly Hill wasn’t too far behind, winning second place. He can’t wait to compete in the next show.

Typically when women compete in figure or fitness they wear posing suits. The female/figure contestants did a great job of improvising a suit. With creativity, each female contestant stepped out on stage looking her best while performing each quarter turn. Mechanic Specialist Amber Gil won first place for figure/fitness.

The bodybuilding competition was the last event in the show and by far the most competitive. Following the individual performances, all ten soldiers came on stage for the pose down. This was the first competition for USARMY Ranger and Sniper Staff Sergeant Tyrel Tierney. After winning the title of Mr. Taji, he has the determination and ambition to compete in more shows.  Tierney has hopes of competing in NPC sanctioned events when he returns home from Iraq. USARMY Air Traffic Controller Sergeant First Class Jeff Herzog won second place. He is a veteran competitor from Oahu, Hawaii who has competed in The Paradise Cup 2006 and the Armed Forces Bodybuilding Hawaii 2007.

The day after the show the gyms were overflowing on the base. We are all hoping for even more competitors for the next show. All the competitors were incredibly grateful for the support provided by Bodybuilding.com. The soldiers enjoyed the gifts and souvenirs they provided. Soldiers left the show with towels, t-shirts, sample supplements, drink bottles, and more from the military-friendly site! Stay tuned for the next event, November 23rd, 2008, with hopes of an even bigger display of our Armed Forces Weapons of Mass Destruction.

– Kelly Dean

*Photos from the show are provided by Army Sergeant Nicole Brown, who will be competing in the next show. (Coming soon!)

Top 3 Results:

Bodybuilding
1. Tyrel Tierney
2. Jeff Herzog
3. Hiram Barbosa

Fitness
1. Amber Gil
2. Christiana Martinez
3. Yolanda Middleton

Hardbody
1. Chapman
2. William Chad Hill
3. Alexander Granderson

Best Poser
Jeremias Lopez

The Lone Star Classic held in Plano Texas, show cased athletes who were ready to take their trophies home on June 7, 2008.  Your guest posers were Victor Martinez and Stephen Frazier.

Overall winners:
Novice Men HW - Ali Taktak
Open Men HW - Jamie Davilla
Figure Class B - Jessica Brichta
Novice Women LW - Barbara Rabon
Open Women  MW - Holly Chambliss

Pose Down was proud to present our first trophy this year to our Best Posers:

Lorenzo Jones and Stephanie Irick

Remember go to www.posedownmag.com - Coming To A Stage Near You!

It seems anytime a show nears in Cali then Gold’s Venice is the plae to be.  The intensity becomes unreal with all the top Pros there.  A few weeks ago "Mongo" Chang of Hawaii was in Venice visiting me and Armin Scholz of Germany was to arrive in LA in a few days so we could start training for me to do the Masters Nationals and Armin a Pro Show in Texas come July.

While training I noticed this fit pretty girl doing legs with a JS Nitro shirt on.  Since I also work with JS Nitro myself I felt this was my in to make my move.  After talking a few minutes with Yoly Pyfer, I became aware that Yoly and her husband Rob were in town for the contest that weekend.  Rob was in great shape and was getting ready for the Jr Nationals.  What a great set of wheels Rob has.

World Leader in Fighting Action Figure Toys JAKKS Pacific® Secures Ultimate Master Toy License For Ultimate Fighting Championship®
JAKKS Strengthens Action Figure Portfolio of Major ‘Fight’ Brands with UFC® License

MALIBU, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The world leader in fighting action figure toys, JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (Nasdaq:JAKK), announced today that it has signed an exclusive, four year worldwide Master Toy license agreement with the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization, with a planned product launch expected to commence in 2009.

The new UFC product line from JAKKSTM will be collector-focused, and the license covers UFC legend Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, Brock Lesnar, Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira, Michael "The Count" Bisping and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva, among others. The license also includes the famed UFC Octagon™, and role-play items based on the UFC brand and its classic and current roster of star fighters.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship organization is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts group, regulated by the most prestigious sports regulatory bodies in the United States. UFC live pay-per-view events take place at preeminent destinations including MGM Grand®, MEN Arena, Mandalay Bay® and O2 Arena, and they consistently draw sell-out crowds with record-breaking gates. Presenting more than twelve pay-per-view events per year, the UFC stands as the largest pay-per-view content provider in the country.

The UFC also dominates television with its reality series, The Ultimate Fighter®, now heading into its eighth season. The Ultimate Fighter has reigned supreme for years in the coveted 18-34 male ratings demographic, and it regularly enjoys higher ratings than traditional franchise sports such as the NBA®, NHL® and NASCAR®, as well as NCAA® football and basketball. In partnership with Spike TV® cable network, the UFC also presents ten live UFC® Fight Night™ events and 26 taped programs of the popular program UFC® Unleashed™.

“The UFC is a perfect match for JAKKS, given our extensive expertise in developing and marketing collector driven sports action figures,” said Stephen Berman, President and COO, JAKKS Pacific. “UFC’s enormous and growing popularity amongst adults, coupled with the extensive roster of physically powerful star fighters, gives JAKKS a substantial base to work with, and should be a powerhouse combination for the line. Our objective is to give collectors an authentic UFC experience.”

“We are thrilled to have JAKKS on board as our first official UFC action figure partner,” said Dana White, UFC President. “The demand for UFC is tremendous, and through this relationship with JAKKS, we can present authentic UFC products and have them available to our loyal UFC fans all around the world.”

Fitness professional, personal trainer and radio talk show host are just three elements that describe newly turned FAME Pro Melissa Tucker.

Add on her new “Fitlicious” line of products and anyone can imagine the hectic lifestyle she leads.  To Melissa, however, it’s her passion.

Her new “Fitlicious” line stemmed from her love of food.  She knew that in order to balance her life she needed to somehow turn her passion for food and mesh it right with her love of fitness.  Being a certified personal trainer, Melissa knew that 70% of the results from fitness came from clean nutrition.  She played around with recipes trying to concont some way of coming up with lean recipes but still keeping the meals interesting and tasteful. She even went as far as going to culinary school and getting her certificate in order to successfully accomplish this goal!

Melissa created recipes using equations and other newly founded knowledge from her culinary school.  The outcome?  “Fitlicious”

“Fitlicious” is a line of products that reapproaches the way fitness is normally approached.  The products make fitness and health fun, sexy and approachable. Her “Fitlicious” food prescription cookbook, the first product to kick off the “Fitlicious” line, shows illustrations focussing more on the motivation to stay fit rather than how good the food looks when you make it.  Her theory: most people are very visual and it’s the celebration of a fit body combined with food that equals “Fitlicious”.

The cookbook also focuses on the macronutrient ratios and helps anyone of any size and goal measure out the right amounts to help them achieve their end result.

In addition to the cookbook, Melissa is focussing on creating an apparel line, “Fitlicious” bootcamps, workout DVD’s, and various photoshoots to help women and men of any age, size, and goal embrace what they have and help develop what they can become.  Her goal with this specific project will be to develop a book of physiques to show that every body type is art and will break away from the ideal most are seeing in the media today.

Aside from her new products, Melissa will be the co-emcee, along with FAME president Jeffrey Kippel, for the FAME World Championships this upcoming June 13th-June 15th.  She will also keep focussing on her competition career and will have her PRO debut in Miami this fall.  

“Goals should be ever-evolving.  Start with baby steps, then take longer steps until you stride” is Melissa’s philosophy, and it’s a philosophy that has taken Melissa from a newbie, to a personal trainer, to a culinary chef, to now an entrepreneur and a new FAME Pro.  One that not only shines on the outside with her chiselled physique but also one who took it upon herself to not only show people she is Body-Proud but to also help others get to that sense of contentment as well.

If anyone wants to check out Melissa Tucker live at the FAME World Championships check out www.FAMEworldtour.com

You can also visit her website at www.melissatucker.com

Editor’s Note: Melissa’s back was recently featured on Bodybuilding.com as a Wallpaper of the Week!

So if you want to make it in the movie business, Gold’s Venice might just be the place to be!

Last week while training, there was an agent at Gold’s casting for bodybuilders for a new upcoming movie.  This is the same lady the casted Big Will Harris for his role in the film business last year.  Then of course there is the new movie everyone is talking about called "Bigger, Faster, Stronger“  Then the other day Aiman from Germany seen about was casted and fly to New York for 10 days to shoot for a role as a Russian Bodyguard.

Don’t miss our upcoming Justin.tv video chat on MONDAY, June 9, 2008 at 1:00-2:00 p.m. MDT (-0600).

Join our guest hosts from Down Under: Mr. Australia Murray “Mad Dog” Graham and Tiger G on the BB.com live Justin.tv video chat for part 2 of “FAME World Championships Prep!”

Learn all about worldwide pro natural bodybuilding, what it’s like training for a Canadian show down in Australia, and their prep for next week’s FAME World Championships - and get live answers, instantly!  (Or just tune in to hear their cool accents!)

For more info, click here:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/justintv.htm

http://www.justin.tv/bbcom/126960

Related chat session:

2008 FAME World Championship Prep, Pt. 1

I originally wrote this on HARDBODY.com but I wanted to share this tragedy with the bodybuilding world here. Many of you know Amanda and followed her career. It is with great sadness I report this new.

I’ve been on the phone all morning with those closest to Amanda Jo. Everyone’s story is consistent at this point. The last time anyone heard from Amanda Jo was on Monday night. Her family and friends tried to reach her but there was no response. They contacted the police and filed a missing person’s report as this was unlike her. She hadn’t been to the gym in a couple days and Amanda never missed a workout. When she hadn’t logged onto myspace or been to the gym, friends knew something was wrong. She was preparing to do the Europa Super show, a show which she had won two times before.

Amanda was very close to her family and her father’s health had been failing as of late. AJ loved to be on her MYSPACE page. She enjoyed using the “mood” feature on the site and checked her email there several times a day. I had been talking with Amanda about her returning to the stage and we were planning out a photo shoot for the Europa. I’m numb as I write this as she was an amazing woman who I cared about as did many in and out of the fitness industry. She was anxious to return to competition and show everyone how hard she’d been working since the Olympia. We joked about being hungry and how dieting can be challenging.

News is still being collected but it appears her ex-boyfriend Dave Jacobs shot her and then turned the gun on himself. The two were found in his home of Texas. Dave Jacobs has been in the news over a steroid bust and was recently convicted for the incident. Despite friends and family encouraging Amanda to keep her distance from him she fell back into his control several times. Dave’s mentality was one that if he couldn’t have Amanda Jo no one would and at this point it appears he took it to the ultimate extreme.

UPDATE: the New York Times article is now available.

The Road to the Arnold

A documentary on Ryan "Bench Monster" Kennelly, 4x Arnold Classic Heavyweight Bench Press Champion is now playing in streaming video at:

www.HardcorePowerlifting.com

This film is sponsored by House of Pain Ironwear.

Good luck with your training and the sponsors hope that you enjoy the film!