Inside the Mind of Deserusan

Underhand Hammer Strength Pulldown: 360lbs x 8 x 3

Overhand Barbell Rows: 335lbs x 6 x 3

T-Bar Rows: 225 x 8 x 2 superset w/

Dumbbell Pullover: 100lbs x failure x 2

Single Arm Hammer Strength Rows: 225lbs x 6/6 x 2

Neutral Grip Pulldown (6-2-0-2): 150lbs x failure x 2

 Dumbbell Hammer Cross-body Curls: 70lb’ers x 8/8 x 2

Cambered Bar Reverse Curls: 80lbs x 10 x 2

 Rotary Calf Presses: 300lbs x failure x 10

One trick I’ve learned which really brings back development to a whole new level is starting every rep from static hang. Essentially you begin from a full stretch with a pause integrated into the movement or lack thereof. When you combine this with a slow eccentric contraction you literally feel you fibers being torn a part. This also takes out any potential momentum from the movement which helps incorporate more of the appropriate back muscle and less of the arms, legs, etc. Give it a shot sometime!

For those of you that read my blog on a regular basis you have probably surmised that I can be a sarcastic prick at times, or maybe I’m just that way all the time. I don’t do it on purpose but sometimes I let me emotion get the best of me and the filter most “normal” people have doesn’t seem to be fully functional when I’m passionate about certain topics.

In all seriousness, the only drawback I have experienced since becoming affiliated is that I do need to think twice about everything I say these days. I guess that is a good thing, but at times I’d really like to let someone have it for being a scumbag, or to “out” a company for contributing to the potential demise of the supplement industry. Rich Gaspari doesn’t need the headache of me flying off the handle on here just as much as I need another lawsuit for my big mouth. I think I’ve gone about a four weeks without a complaint right now so I’ll give myself a pat on the back.

Fortunately, there are writers out there who can speak their minds utilizing the power of the internet to reach the masses. I’d like to feature one of my favorite blogs to read today and perhaps give you guys something to think about. The blog is called Anthony Roberts Blog -The CNN of the steroid world… and really is quite an eye opener into the dark world of anabolic steroids.

Here you can find the latest information regarding the fallout of Operation Raw Deal or how some professional bodybuilders make complete asses of themselves on forums such as our beloved Bodybuilding.com. What I find intriguing about this well known author and current Senior Editor of Steroid.com is that he pulls no punches but presents his arguments with witty eloquence few writers have the talent to do. It’s sort of like Dennis Leary meets Keith Olbermann.

There are few websites I visit on a daily basis and this is certainly one of them. Honestly, I’m not terribly interested in the cyberworld of steroids. However, I do see some people I’m forced to interact with here on the Bodybuilding.com forums that give me hard time get castrated quite often over there. While being “one of the good guys” is often just a term which is based on your relative position on a given situation these days, I do feel Mr. Roberts is one of the good guys. It’s people like him who inform the masses of some of the cold hard facts often left not brought to the light because some of us can’t without fear of repercussion.

My hat goes off to Mr. Roberts and all I have to say to him is keep up the good work. It doesn’t go unnoticed and while some people have certainly felt the wrath of your sharp tongue and make it their lives to give you a hard time, there are many more out there who would like to give you a high five and buy you a beer.

“Why hate someone for the color of their skin when there are much better reasons to hate them.”

-Dennis Leary

I did laugh when I saw the name Blue Steel in a recent MedWatch release. However, this warning is legit and the real product is shown below. Personally, I’ve tried some of these spiked sexual enhancers with sildenafil analogues in them with great success. However, you do suffer the same side effects as it’s prescription cousin sildenafil citrate (aka Viagra) so not having these warnings on the supplemental version is quite dangerous and irresponsible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FDA MedWatch 3.25.08 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is advising consumers not to purchase or use “Blue Steel” or “Hero” products, marketed nationally as dietary supplements, because these products contain undeclared ingredients, which may dangerously affect a person?s blood pressure level. They are considered unapproved drugs and have not been proven to be safe or effective. These products are promoted and sold over the Internet for the treatment of erectile dysfunction [ED] and for sexual enhancement. They contain undeclared and unapproved substances similar in chemical structure to sildenafil, the active ingredient in an FDA-approved prescription drug for ED. The undeclared ingredients in these products may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs (such as nitroglycerin), and can lower blood pressure to dangerous levels.

__________________

Unless you have been living under a rock you have probably noticed that food prices are on the rise and have been over the past year or so. This has affected everything from whey protein prices to even the costs of diet soda. Basically, the culprit responsible for this is rising fuel costs because all of these items need to be transported to their given retail outlets as do the materials from raw materials sources to the manufacturing plants. I’m sure many of you here on Bodybuilding.com have certainly noticed those whey prices creep up dramatically and aren’t too happy about it.

Being a bodybuilder like myself or even just someone who is trying to eat healthy by staying away from foods high preservatives you probably know that a trip to the grocery store is not cheap. Organic foods are always more expensive and trying to maintain a high protein diet using real animal meats certainly costs more than frozen chicken nuggets or fish sticks. Also, if you are a bodybuilder your caloric requirement probably has you eating close to double what a normal person would eat and you do it consistently day in and day out.

The reason I’m bringing all of this up is to not depress you guys into saying **** it pass the Doritos. I’m not sure if you have these in your area but Trader Joe’s is a godsend to anyone trying buy healthy foods in a frugal manner. Last year food prices rose about 4% according the USDA and are expected to increase about the same this year so hopefully a Trader Joe’s pops in your area soon.

Trader Joe’s reminds me a bit of Whole Foods Market minus the ridiculous prices. There are many items a typical supermarket wouldn’t carry. My daily diet is pretty bland consisting of 24 egg whites split over two meals, 1 pound of 96% lean ground beef split over two meals, 1 pound of chicken breast split over two meals, a couple cups of oats and whole wheat pasta as carb sources, with some protein powders and waxy maize starch as well. I also add some broccoli and asparagus to a few of those meals bringing the total to about 8 per day. However, I do get creative when it comes to adding things like cashew macadamia nut butter on my chicken breast or adding assorted frozen berries to my morning oatmeal. That’s the thing, Trader Joe’s has great prices on poultry and an amazing assortment of atypical gourmet food items to brighten up the boring diet of the fitness enthusiast.

If you have the chance, my suggestion is to check the Trade Joe’s website and see if one is coming to your area or if one already exists. If so then you are in for a real treat. My only criticism for Trader Joe’s is their lack of produce. However, for the prices they offer on everything else, they are still my favorite place to buy most food items these days.

My Easter weekend was spent traveling and not really celebrating anything except for the Wisconsin Badger’s victory of over Kansas State. Typically I fill out a bracket or two in the office betting pool but this year I haven’t been following any basketball at all really. My free time is spent in the library and many of my weekend are spent traveling giving me virtually no down time. Hopefully it pays off in the end and recent events have pointed to that, but I can’t get into any details yet.

While traveling around the Chicago suburbs I do make it a point to train and stick to my diet. This includes typically packing about 10 meals with me in a cooler and staying at hotels with full kitchens if possible. Also, my home away from home gym is now XSport Fitness.

Today I trained at the XSport in Arlington Heights, Il close to Schaumburg and Woodfield Mall. I would have come back home the night before but gym was closed so I figured I’d stay the night away and go to a great gym sneaking in a training session. Fortunately as I travel around and since I work for Gaspari many gym owners are getting to know me and don’t make me pay for a guest pass. That’s pretty cool if you ask me and it doesn’t go unappreciated.

Today’s leg session was pretty brutal. Typically I start of my workouts with about 20 minutes on a stationary bike to really get the blood perfused in the target quads and hamstrings. Since I’m getting bigger and pushing much more weight, I take this very seriously as I don’t want to risk injury with the amount of weight I’m moving. If I did, I’d be really screwed.

You’ll also notice I typically with lower reps and higher poundages moving onto higher reps and lighter poundages towards the end of the training session. The reason being, the first two movements I reserve for strength building and the last few I reserve for eliciting as much hyperemia as possible. The goal is to force as much blood into every single fiber as possible. When I tend to lift REAL heavy the duration of the workout it just doesn’t help me grow the way this strategy has. That’s the key here, I’m as strong as I want to be, but I’m not as big as I want to be.

[youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfMtivHV47A[/youtube]

Leg Press: 1260lbs x 10 x 4

Hack Squat: 540lbs x 6 x 4

Leg Extensions: 300lbs x 10 x 3

superset/w

Lying Leg Curl: 200lbs x 8 x 3

Standing Single Leg Curls: 90lbs x failure x 2/2

Single Leg Extensions: 100lbs x failure x 2/2

Stiff Legged Deadlifts: 225lbs x 25 x 3

I remember back in high school when I worked a couple of really crappy jobs just to have some money to call my own. My dad did give me an allowance for yard work and random projects. In all fairness, he did go above and beyond in what parents should provide their children.

I always wanted my own money which I didn’t have to be held accountable for. Ya know, for those times when I was seventeen to go on trips to the drive through liquor store in southeast DC to buy booze from the Chinese or to take my girl out to what I considered a REALLY nice dinner at the time, Maggiano’s. Yeah I was big pimpin’ in my Ford Tempo back in the day in the DC burbs.

However, those jobs I had back in the day sucked and made crap wages compared to my overbearing retail managers. These days, I can’t say it pains me to see a large corporation get bent over for their overzealous first tier management trying to mooch of their subordinate’s tip money.

According to the Associated Press, Starbuck’s has been ordered to pay a $106 million settlement in stolen tips to their California Barista’s both new and old. Basically that comes out to about $1060 per employee which isn’t bad if you ask me. I guess there is some justice in the world and if you are a Starbuck’s manager the lesson to be learned here is to keep your hands out of the tip jar!

What puzzles me though, is that I have feeling these workers might screwed over in some other way. The company’s stock has been slowly declining over the past few years and they are crying that the tips were also used to pay shift supervisors. Hey Starbucks! You made over $9.4 billion dollars last year so perhaps you should pay your employees a bit more or at least not use tips to make up for your greed! Apparently California Superior Court Judge Judge Patricia Cowett agrees too hence the ruling.

Me personally, I don’t hold this against Starbucks. They make decent coffee and are pretty convenient where I live. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be able to claim I speak a little Italian by knowing what “Venti” means and sure wouldn’t get a lot of joy asking for a Orange Mocha Frappuccino flamboyantly. Just like Britney, Starbucks seems to invade everyone’s stream of consciousness sometimes.

There was a recent meta-study which showed a potential for the glycerol as a potential ergogenic aide but drew attention to the fact more studies need to be carried out. A few studies have been positive in the cyclists and a few haven’t in terms of performance. However, we have seen the rise of this compound in a few forum popular supplements like Glycergrow, SizeON, and PlasmaJet.

From my own use, it does seem to have some merit for hyperhydrating before weight training. It’s possible the this could help with force generation a bit but still needs to be observed in a clinical setting. Have you noticed any immediate “strength” increases while using it? I’d personally recommend 1-3 grams of GMS preworkout and intraworkout total if you want to experiment with it.

Here’s the meta-study I referenced above.

” Sports Med. 2007;37(11):981-1000. Links

Exploring the potential ergogenic effects of glycerol hyperhydration.

Nelson JL, Robergs RA.
Exercise Physiology Laboratories, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-1258, USA.
During athletic competition or recreational pursuits, a body’s hydration level can become compromised, resulting in a decrement in performance. Glycerol (1,2,3-propanetriol) has been used to induce hyperhydration in an attempt to offset the deleterious effects of dehydration. When glycerol is consumed orally, it is rapidly absorbed primarily in the small intestine. It is reported to be evenly distributed among all fluid compartments, with the exception of the cerebral spinal fluid and aqueous humour, and promotes hyperhydration by inducing an osmotic gradient. Through an increase in the kidney’s medullary concentration gradient, water absorption in the nephron is enhanced. When glycerol is consumed, the plasma glycerol concentration increases in proportion to the dose ingested, which easily exceeds the glycerol saturation point resulting in urinary glycerol excretion. Thus, without supplemental glycerol ingestion, there will be a decrease in the osmotic gradient resulting in a loss of hyperhydration. The ergogenic nature of glycerol has been investigated as to its effect on fluid retention, thermoregulation, cardiovascular responses and performance. While many studies provide evidence of hyperhydration, others do not. Only two studies reviewed showed a thermoregulatory advantage. Furthermore, the preponderance of evidence neither weighed for or against cardiovascular or performance advantages. What makes one study provide favourable results while another study does not is unclear. Possible explanations may include subject characteristics, environmental factors, research design, whether fluids with or without glycerol were given during exercise, the rate at which fluids are initially given to induce hyperhydration, the time between peak hyperhydration/peak plasma glycerol concentration and the trial (i.e. exercise), the glycerol dose (i.e. 1.0 g/kg body mass) and what it is based upon, the percentage glycerol solution (i.e. 5%, 20%), the variation of time between the end of the hydration protocol and the beginning of exercise, or perhaps the intensity of exercise (fixed, variable, percentage maximum oxygen uptake). What is clear is that glycerol has the capacity to enhance fluid retention. In so doing, glycerol hyperhydration may be a logistically preferred method due to concomitant decrease in urine output and free-water clearance, which may give a performance advantage by offsetting dehydration. Future research should focus on maintaining plasma glycerol concentrations at levels necessary to maintain osmotic forces required to support continued hyperhydration. Potential benefits of glycerol should be further explored to identify the circumstances or factors that may contribute to an ergogenic effect."

Seated Dumbbell Side Laterals: 50lb’ers x 8/8 x 3

superset w/

Cambered Bar Front Raises: 85lbs x 8 x 3

Military Press: 245lbs x 8 x 3

superset w/

Reverse Pec Dec: 225lbs x 8 x 3

45% Upright Cable Rows: 200lbs x 8 x 3

superset w/

Barbell Shrugs: 405lbs x 8 x 3

FreeMotion Cutler Laterals: Failure x 2

Some of you out there might have noticed I’ve put on a bit of weight since the Olympia. All in all, I’ve gained about 46lbs. Right now my I’m getting in about 4,400 calories on training days and 4,000 on non-training days. The only real difference between the two is that I’m including a post workout shake on training days.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not terribly lean weight but who cares. I’m not worried about putting on some fat because I know I’ll take it off while cutting. Also, I do know I can appear in a before and after ad for Gaspari so there’s some extra motivation as well. It would be cool if the ad was for the project I’m currently working on behind the scenes. It might be an industry first but I can’t give out any details yet!

For those of you looking taking a peek at my convoluted perspective you have probably noticed I’m a bit sarcastic, just a bit. In all seriousness I censor so much of what I say it’s not even funny but it keeps me employed. However, I must say after reading this story I thought to myself, “could people get any dumber?”

Now we all know Jay Cutler is sponsored by MuscleTech so you would figure that every other supplement company in the world would know not to use his images to market their products. APPARENTLY NOT!

“Bodybuilder Jay Cutler settles LA lawsuit against nutrition firm

(03-10) 14:38 PDT Los Angeles (AP) —

Bodybuilding champ Jay Cutler has settled a lawsuit claiming a nutritional supplement company used his image without permission.

The terms of Cutler’s settlement with Omaha, Nebraska-based NDS Nutritional Products Inc. were not revealed in court papers released Monday.

The 34-year-old Las Vegas resident filed suit in July 2006 in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming misappropriation of image and likeness, invasion of privacy and unjust enrichment.

It claimed NDS used an image based on a photograph of Cutler, the reigning Mr. Olympia, taken at a bodybuilding contest and placed it on its products without paying him or getting his permission.

The settlement was filed March 3rd.”

Can you believe this? Anyway, I’m glad to see justice was served and appears MR. O will be compensated accordingly. I’ve met Jay and must admit he is really cool and doesn’t deserve to be put into a scenario like this.

On a side note, just to show you how cool Mr. Cutler is I’ll share a little story with you. On the last day of the Arnold Expo this year it closed down a bit earlier than then the first two days and companies were busy packing away their booths and products. I had to catch a flight a few hours afterwards. So as I was walking out I noticed that Mr. O was still signing autographs a half an hour after the expo had shut down and the line was still pretty long.

I thought to myself what a class act. After a long arduous weekend of shaking hands and smiling for the cameras he still went above and beyond the call of duty and proceeded not to let any of his fans down by signing autographs for every last one of them. I’ll always be a Jay Cutler fan after seeing that.

Drug representatives: giving you lunch or stealing your soul?

Dermatol Online J. 2007 Oct 13;13(4):5.

Higgins SP.

Division of Dermatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC,  USA.

“Pharmaceutical companies and their representatives attempt to influence the practice of medicine by giving gifts. Gifts, even those of trivial monetary value, impart a sense of obligation that conflicts with the provider’s primary responsibility to the patient. Providers are less likely than their patients and peers to believe that gifts change their own prescribing habits, making them vulnerable to manipulation by industry. Providers who interact with drug reps must exercise caution to prevent compromise of the patient-physician relationship.”

In today’s day and age it has become apparent that the pharmacuetical industry has infested much of your daily lives. You see commercials for drugs which treat symptoms of diseases which never existed ten years ago, your favorite magazine probably has an advertisement with a full page disclaimer in text size that takes a magnifying glass to read, and you probably know at least one person taking something to treat their attention deficit disorder.

Over the past few years I have seen quite a few journals addressing the growing overbearance of pharmaceutical reps attempting to lure physicians into pushing their drugs. I guess my point in presenting this study abstract to all you of out there is that while your doctor may be a great person who truly loves medicine, never forget that they too succumb to the pressures of HMO’s and the contractual agreements of the health system they practice in. This means that certain treatment options give way to quick drug dispensing protocols which may not be the best route for you to become healthier for whatever ailment you may have.

Now I’m not saying all doctors or healthcare systems are bad because the majority of them are dedicated to their patients. However, just be weary of quick fixes in the form of a pill. The same could be said of the supplement industry but that’s a whole other ball of wax. As always, do your research into your condition and make an informed decision. After all, be a successful patient these days often encompasses being an informed consumer sadly enough.