Global Gossip

About 5 years ago while on vacation with Gary Strydom at my second home in Thailand I met a guy at the gym from Holland.  I thought man this guy is lucky as he was good amount of muscle, goodlooking and very outgoing.  As we became better friends we recalled having seen each other 1 year before having a huge water fight against each other as everyone does for Thai New years.  At first upon meeting Johnny he was by no means contest condition that he is now known for but he was alittle bigger.  Johnny was also a Muay Thai fighter and did alot of training in Thailand.  Johnny would ask alot of questions about diet and training he was always hungry to learn more.  But what really showed me how serious he was is that if we went to a nightclub he would take diet food on his motorcycle and ever few hours he would be out to his bike to eat.  At the club he was so outgoing you would have thought he had several drinks to be that relaxed; however, the funny thing is he didn’t drink it was just him being himself.  To fastforward things Johnny came to America a few years ago to visit me here in LA and I showed him around the gym where he made friends right away.  We also took a trip to Hawaii for a week and Stan who is one of Johnny friends from Holland came along.  So when I had to work they made a trip to Las Vegas and had a great time.  Johnny pulled me aside one day and said ” Im going to move here and make it.”  I never douted Johnny as I have seen his drive.  Johnny now lives in Vegas with his beautiful wife Noy and they also have a place here in Marina Del Rey.  

With that I’ll end this by saying Johnny is now one of the top Tv stars of a new reality show called “Superbodies” So stay tuned as in a few days I’ll update you on Johnny and Noy as a couple and later a one on one video interview with Johnny De Beer.

A few days ago I recieved a e-mail from my good friend "Mo" Mona Liza, who Im sure many of you know from the fitness stage. I first came to know Mo about 1 1/2 years ago but we had only talked by phone or computer.  Right away I could tell that not only was she a great fitness competior but a wonderful person.  Mo seems to be one of the few of us that has her life in order with God, family, the man in her life and helping others.  Mo has always looked great when she competes and she has done a lot of appearances on the web site "My Fit Tribe".  Well, at this years Mr. O I finally met Mo in person and it was just like seeing my sister that I hadn’t seen in awhile.  She was there more for photo shoots that she was doing not just to watch the Mr. O.

Well, when I got my e-mail this week Mo said she had been doing some Boot-Camps ever month and just held a canned food drive for the homeless with her last Camp, Talk about a giving person!  It seems that the Boot-Camps have become very busy so now she has increased them to 3 x per week and will be starting one with MMA Fighter Josh "The Punk" Thomson.  But to my real surprise Mo is going to be stepping back on stage soon but is going to pursue her first love of running and has started training for the Maui Marathon in Sept 2009, which Im sure she will excell at as with everything she does.

If you were into training back in the 80’s then Im sure you would remember Mr. America and Pro Bodybuilder Dean Torabene.  Dean went from being a Pro bodybuilder to a career in the Health and Fitness field. Dean holds over 50 patents with such items as the "Ab Rocker" or "Ab Swing" just to name a few.  He is now involved with a company called lookcut.  About a month ago Dean gave a product for me to try and now Im hooked on it.  The supplement is "BODYGLO".  This product is full of vitamins and minerals along with antioxidants and has over 70 natural ingredients.  I was talking with Dean today and just looking at the veins on his forearm I could tell he was staying in great shape.  To my surprise Dean said he just finished shooting for a upcoming cover of Ironman magazine.  It seems that now alot of guys in their 40’s are in better shape then guys in their 20’s.

If you have ever been to BSN website then Im sure you’ve seen their Muay Thai athelete Julien.  Julien moved to America from St. Barts about 5 years ago with only $400 in his pocket.  After coming to the US Julien stayed focused with his training and diet.  Believe me he diets all the time with his cheat food being sushi.  But this is the livestyle Julien enjoys and it shows.  Julien is married to a beautiful wife who is very supportive and they have a little baby girl.  Since knowing Julien I have never heard him speak a bad word about anyone!  You dont see that to often here in LA.  If that wasn’t enough Julien is always willing to help his friends to try to move ahead, he’s by no means is a selfish person.  Being good friends with Julien he knows I work with alot of people on diets so he contacted me on his last photo shoot for M&F.  Not that he really needs help as he knows his body well but this time we were able to bring Julien in about 9lb heavier than his last shoot.  This shoot put Julien on the cover of M&F for Feb 2009 that will be in 6 different countries.  In the next few weeks I will be finished writing the interview that Julien and I did this week so don’t miss it as Im sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did just doing it.

For the past year my client and good friend Ernest "Mongo" Chang who is sponshored by VitargoS2 has been coming at least every other month from Hawaii to Cali to train for the 2009 USA.  Mongo who once competed in the Hawaii Strongest Man competitions which to Bodybuilding a few years ago and since every showed he has entered he walks away with best poser award.  Mongo works in Hawaii as a Police officer where they stand behind him and give him alot of time off to travel.  Since I started working with Mongo he has came to visit me in LA while training with Charles Glass, Big Will Harris, Armin Scholz and also Aiman of Germany.  His training partner back in Hawaii is IFBB Pro Mike Dragna who is making a comeback in May 2009.  Mongo was picked up this year along with myself my Genr8 who is the true supplier of VITARGO.  Mongo right now is 5′9 and 280 so he is planning to be the 1st full Asian to compete as a superheavy weight at the USA.
The picture below is 1 year ago with Mongo, Mike Dragna, myself Joe ‘Ino Tong, Silvio and Hide.

Ever year in Dec LA holds the NPC Excalibur which always brings competiors from all over with 2007 having competiors as far as Korea.  This year was no exception with 1 superheavy weight coming from Brazil.  The contest was on Sat and Sun when I was training at Golds you could see a few photo shoots going on.

One competior I had the chance of talking with was Richard "Eddie’ Torres who sis 33 yrs old from St. Louis Mo.  I was impressed with Eddies overall shape. He has wide shoulders and big flaring calves.  Eddie was only able to walk away with 3rd in the SuperHw class but that was with only training for 4 1/2 months as he was sidelined last year with a bacvk injury for over 7 months.  Two years ago Eddie placed 4th at the lightheavy weight class at the Team Universe then went on to win the overall at the NGA Diamond Classic.  Im sure if Eddie keeps at it  we will see alot more of him in the magazines.  Eddie said he hopes to come back to Cali to work with Charles Glass.

After my workout the other day I saw the young but rather massive wrestler Chris Masters.  As many of you might remember Chris Masters "The Masterpiece"  was let go due to some personal reasons with Triple H and the WWE.  I have known Chris for over 10 years and he’s always takes time out to come say hello.  Chris said it has slowed down with the holidays but he is still on the stage across the country, as a matter of fact he was on his way out of town for a appearance.  Chris promised me a interview within the next few weeks so keep a lookout.

The NFL writes, “For your own health and success in the league, we strongly encourage you to avoid the use of supplements altogether.” Really? Is this the type of thing that the world’s best football league should be encouraging? Their athletes deplete themselves week after week and yet they are paid to perform at the highest level. Yes, a proper diet and nutritional plan are the foundations  but supplements shouldn’t be discouraged from being used. Rather, wouldn’t it make more sense to educate players on the benefits of supplementation and how this can improve their game?

Six NFL players have recently tested positive for diuretics. The supplements are not to blame. The players are the ones who need to man up and take responsibility for taking a product that is on the NFL’s banned list. According to an article by Lorraine Heller, the supplement in question are StarCaps supplements. The supplement contains the banned ingredient bumetanide. Lorraine writes, "In the announcement of the suspensions, NFL said it had warned front officers, trainers and players unions in December 2006 about the supplements. It said it had added the company that distributes StarCaps to its list of prohibited dietary supplement companies." 2006! This means the company had been on the banned list for TWO YEARS. HELLO?! If the NFL players aren’t smart enough to know which supplements are on the banned list, how is that anyone’s fault but their own?

Diuretics are thought to be a masking agent for steroids. The six players are claiming that they were using StarCaps as a weight loss supplement and that the company didn’t list one of the banned substances as one of its ingredients. If the article by Lorraine is accurate, the players still violated the league’s policy because StarCaps were on the list of companies not approved by the NFL.

We’ll see how this unfolds but I for one am tired of hearing grown ass men try to pass the buck instead of owning up to making mistakes.

DENVER, CO, Dec 04, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — Today, DC Brands International, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: DCBR) is proud to announce that they have reached a very significant deal with legendary professional sports strength coach and trainer Mr. Steve Hess. Mr. Hess is one of the most respected trainers and experts in his field and has a very close network of friends, associates and contacts throughout the world of professional and amateur sports. For well over a decade, he has been an Assistance Coach/Strength and Conditioning for Denver’s only professional basketball team. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Mr. Hess has very high level contacts with a wide range of owners, coaches and players from basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer, rugby, bodybuilding and more.

Mr. Hess is also the trainer to the stars. When not on the road with the team, Steve works out the "who’s who" of athletes at his 60,000+ sq ft. state-of-the-art facility, located in the same building as the new Denver Ritz Carlton. Steve’s clients come from around the world, paying serious money to have him bring them to their fullest potential as an athlete or perhaps rehab what could have been a career ending injury.

The relationship with Mr. Hess is owed to the company’s own Ashley Coors. Due to Ashley’s standing in the community and her professional relationship with Mr. Hess, she was able to convince him to come to the company’s headquarters just over a month ago. Admittedly at first, Mr. Hess was very skeptical and doubted some of the company’s claims and the power of their products. After spending almost 2 hours with "Dr. Bob" Nikkel, he agreed to give the products a try himself and to get his players on them as well. Most specifically the product known as Podium Potion, which Mr. Hess has helped rename WIN!

Steve Hess is now a 100% believer and so are the players and athletes he has on the products. In the last 30 days, the WIN product has been strongly embraced as a pre-workout, pre-game ritual by the vast majority of Steve athletes and clients. Additionally, he has forwarded products to the "who’s who" of Denver Sports from our pro football and baseball teams, to lacrosse and more. Steve’s passion for making athletes the best they can be also allows him to work with and help youth athletics, which is near and dear to his heart. This provides an enormous reach into all of the high school and college teams, not just in Colorado, but all over the country.

Anyone serious about sports either knows Steve, knows of Steve, or after learning of his track record and credentials really wants to know Steve. Mr. Hess is so resoundingly respected in the world of sports that he sits on the Under Armor Training Council, which has its tentacles deep within all aspects of sports. Starting this month, a full sized H.A.R.D. Nutrition refrigerator and display will make our products the only nutritional products or supplements available at Mr. Hess’s unbelievable downtown Denver training facility, Forsa Fitness.

Mr. Hess said, "I am very proud and excited to be a part of the H.A.R.D. Nutrition Team. In my line of work, I have seen every kind, shape and form of supplement or sports products you can imagine. I have worked my entire life to build a reputation that allows some of the best athletes and high profile clients on the planet to trust me with their most valuable asset, their bodies. When I train someone, I take over every aspect of their health and nutrition. I instruct them on how to train, what to eat, and, yes, what supplements to take. The facts are that good supplements do work and the products I have tried and given to my people from H.A.R.D. Nutrition are simply the best I have ever been exposed to. They really do what they say they will do; they really work. I will be an aggressive champion for these products and this brand because I believe in them. After spending so much time with Mr. Pearce, Dr. Bob and the rest of the team at H.A.R.D. Nutrition, I completely believe in them. They have been fantastic to work with and a great group of people. I believe that with what they have developed and with the contacts I have, we can take these products to places they may not have even thought they could go."

About DC Brands International:
DC Brands International, a publicly traded company under the ticker symbol (PINKSHEETS: DCBR), presently specializes in and manufactures health products. Established in 1998, DC Brands went public in 2005 producing a number of lines of energy drinks. DC Brands then purchased the assets of H.A.R.D. Nutrition and began its quest to produce a new health line of products. DC Brands is now proud to announce the release of their new H.A.R.D. Nutrition Functional Water Systems, which are set to revolutionize the functional beverage category.

For more information on DC Brands International, visit their website at www.HardNutrition.com.

Ron Avidan and I caught up with the overall Figure Champ, Erin Stern in Atlanta, GA. I photographed Erin the day after her big win and when the shoot was complete we did an amusing little interview with the champ and her sister, "Dewey". Look for Erin to have an immediate impact in the pro ranks. She has an amazing physique and a great sense of humor to match it. This is one competitor I’d like to see in the Arnold Figure lineup.

She’s also part of the Spokesmodel Search here on bodybuilding.com. You can see her profile as “trackfiend”