Inside the Mind of Deserusan

Christopher Bell, director of BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER*, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Chris Bell’s Bigger, Stronger, Faster opens in select theatres today across America. There is no doubt in my mind this movie will change the perspective of those who view regarding performance enhancing drugs and quite possibly the supplement industry itself.

I have yet to see it and most certainly will when it comes to my town in mid June. For all of you out there I highly recommend you check out the movie trailer. This is sure to be one movie which will have a great impact on our little world here at Bodybuilding.com.

* warm up sets not included

Close-Grip Bench Press: 285lbs x 8 x 2

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Bodyweight Dips: failure x 2

Cable Extensions: 200lbs x 10 x 2

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Overhead Cable Extensions: 200lbs x failure x 2

Underhand Grip Cable Extensions (rest pause): 120lbs x 10,6,4

Cambered Bar Curls: 115lbs x 10 x 2

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Dual Arm High Pulley Curls: 40lbs x failure x 2

Hammer Curls: 60lb’ers x 8 x 2

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FreeMotion Crescent Curls: ? x  failure

Hanging Concentration Curls: 30lbs x failure (X-Rep)

I really don’t have much to say about this workout. I kept it short and sweet most likely because my mind was somewhere else. Some jackass whom I’ll leave nameless actually went crying to my bosses today because I called him an alcoholic and a rat for bashing the products for the company I work for.

What’s funny is that in the process of complaining they left out the fact the "arguments" were actually started by said jackass just like they have been for years while he was drunk! I’d really love to name them but again, I don’t need anymore drama. Regardless, if you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen and if you can’t hack the debate, don’t start it.

Single Arm Iso-Lateral High Row (rest pause): 180lbs x 8, 5, 3

Low Pulley Row: 250lbs x 8 x 3

Single Arm Dumbbell Rows (rest pause): 120lb’ers x 8. 5. 3

Wide Grip Lat Pull Down: 200lbs x 8 x 3

Dumbbell Pullovers: 100lb’er x 8 x 2

Seated Dumbbell Curls (rest pause): 45lb’ers x 8,5,3

Single Arm Preacher Curls: 30lb’ers x 8 x 2

Reverse Grip Cambered Bar Curls: 75lbs x 10 x 3

I forgot to post this workout from the other day. I’m still sore from it.

Lately I’ve been monitoring site statistics for a few of the major forums and it was no surprise that Bodybuilding.com’s forum is the most heavily viewed in the industry. This is most certainly why you see numerous companies marketing their products and reaching out to their consumers. However, I have also noticed quite a few writers with vested interests in “competitor” companies bashing products of the companies which advertise in the publications they write for.

*warm up sets not included 

Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 60lb’ers x 8 x 2 

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Front Dumbbell Raises: 40lb’ers x 8 x 2 

Smith Military Press: 315lbs x 4 x 3 

Cable Rear Delt Raises: 60lbs x 6 x 2 

Rear Delt Dumbbel Laterals: 50lb’ers x 6 x 2 

Barbell Shrugs: 405lbs x 6 x 3 

Bent Over Dumbbell Shrugs: 60lb’ers x 6 x 2 

I’ve switched primarily to Smith and Hammer Strength pressing movements for shoulders just because it’s pretty hard to get up the dumbbells I need for proper stimulation. Also, regular barbell presses seem to bother my shoulders a bit too so I’ve been avoiding them as well.

Whitt KN, Ward SC, Deniz K, Liu L, Odin JA, Qin L Seminars in Liver Disease. 2008 May;28(2):226-31.Cholestatic liver injury associated with whey protein and creatine supplements. Semin Liver Dis. 2008 May;28(2):226-31

    We present a case of acute cholestatic liver injury associated with the combination of whey protein and creatine supplements. The difficulty of diagnosing drug-induced liver injury is emphasized. The patient is a healthy, 27-year-old man who presented with painless jaundice. He had no occupational exposures to solvents, was not taking prescription medications, and did not use recreational drugs or alcohol. He was an enthusiastic weight-lifter and had been taking creatine for 8 to 9 months and whey protein supplements for 4 weeks prior to the development of symptoms. Laboratory tests revealed elevated total bilirubin (54.7 mg/dL) and alkaline phosphatase (436 U/L), minimally elevated transaminases, and a creatinine of 3.1 mg/dL. Serologic work-up was negative for viral hepatitis and autoimmune liver disease, and Wilson’s disease was ruled out. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatogram was unremarkable, but a liver biopsy showed marked cholestasis with ductular proliferation. He had dramatic clinical improvement with intravenous fluids and discontinuation of the nutritional supplements. In patients with acute liver injury, clinicians should inquire about dietary supplement usage and consider immediate discontinuation of all unnecessary products. We describe a case of profound jaundice related to a commonly used and reportedly safe combination of such supplements”

As many of you may or may not know, there are relatively new adverse reaction reporting protocols in place for dietary supplements which began December 2006. Essentially, this serves as a collection house for healthcare professionals and consumers to report negative experiences with dietary supplements. Politics aside, this has been put in place to protect consumers and to hopefully root out dangerous or mislabeled dietary supplements.

Now if you read the abstract above, you are probably wondering how could creatine or whey protein cause cholestatic liver injury? The fact of the matter is, supplemental creatine would only raise creatinine to a significant degree and not the other clinical markers (1,2). So should we point the finger at whey protein for elevating the questionable clinical markers since creatine most likely did not?

In reality, whey protein has actually proven to have a positive impact on the liver in many clinical studies (3-5)  often lowering the same parameters including bile duct proliferation (3). The same can be said for casein protein and whey hydrolysates (3,5) but that is a moot point. Regardless, we are still left with the question of what could have potentially caused this man’s cholestatic liver injury?

One use of terminology that I found rather intriguing in this citation was the term “enthusiastic weight lifter” and also the time frame in which he began using “whey supplements.” Now I may be going out on a limb here, but perhaps instead of starting whey protein four weeks prior to his ailment, could there be a possibility he was taking some form of oral steroid? It’s not like anyone hasn’t done a four week cycle of oral steroids before and had elevated liver values right? Either way, it is a definite possibility that an “enthusiastic weightlifter” might turn to steroids to increase their strength and muscle mass. There is no doubt about that.

Let’s think about this for second. Have oral steroids over cause cholestatic liver injury? Have oral steroids ever been attributed to elevated bilirubin that can cause Jaundice? Have they been attributed to raising liver enzymes such as the ones noted in the case study? The answer quite succinctly is yes (7-13). For detailed description of how this occurs please read A Closer Look at Steroid Liver Toxicity by M. Fischer. Now what is absolutely disturbing regarding our case study is that they did not even think or have the wherewithal to investigate this possibility. Instead, they based their conclusions on the patient’s testimonial regarding creatine and whey protein instead checking for an elevated T/E ratio or serum testosterone levels.

Now what is more alarming? The fact that these hepatologists do not even know how some of the most widely consumed dietary sport supplements effect the organ which they specialize in? On the flipside, is it even worse the board of reviewers who accepted this case study for publication didn’t think to question their results either? Perhaps the stark possibility this case study might be presented one day as justification to remove access to proven ergogenic aides? We could speculate all day what a travesty this is, but the fact remains this misinformation is still out there. Even the safest of supplements are sure to be scrutinized under false pretenses.

The reason why I brought your attention to this particular case study is that it really illustrates just how ill-informed and prejudiced the established medical community can be against dietary supplements like creatine and whey protein. It is my hope that many of the myths regarding supplementation are dispelled so the tide of ignorance that is quite prevalent among some medical researchers doesn’t catch the watchful eye of Uncle Sam anymore then they already have. It’s up to every one of you to help secure your rights to freedom of choice before those choices are taken away from you.

1. Robinson TM, Sewell DA, Casey A, Steenge G, Greenhaff PL. Dietary creatine supplementation does not affect some haematological indices, or indices of muscle damage and hepatic and renal function. Br J Sports Med. 2000 Aug;34(4):284-8.

2. Bizzarini E, De Angelis L.Is the use of oral creatine supplementation safe? J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2004 Dec;44(4):411-6.

3. Morifuji M, Sakai K, Sugiura K.Dietary whey protein modulates liver glycogen level and glycoregulatory enzyme activities in exercise-trained rats. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2005 Jan;230(1):23-30.

*warm up sets not included

SLDL: 315lbs x 8 x 3

Hack Squats: 360lbs x 10 x 2

Front Squats: 315lbs x 6 x 2

Single Leg Curls (rest pause): (80lbs x 10,6,4) x 2

Leg Extensions (rest pause): 300lbs x 20, 12, 6

When is going to start warming up? Apparently my suspicions about the potential shift in season or intensifying weather patterns is not in vain. I rented a DVD the other day called An Inconvenient Truth which received an Oscar. The movie is the brainchild of ex vice president Al Gore who is one of the few politicians in our time who has made any attempt to make real efforts against global warming.

Some of you are thinking, “Damn Dan I didn’t know you were an environmentalist.” For the most part I’m not. We don’t have any recycling programs where I live and obviously living the bodybuilding lifestyle doesn’t mean I have much regard for livestock. However, I do make stringent efforts not to use excessive amounts of fuel for my car and I even own a Yamaha Zuma (80mpg) which I use in the immediate area where I live. I also attempt to walk most place as both my gym and job-site our close to home.

What I found most disturbing about Gore’s video is that I have noticed certain trends in the increased strength of certain weather patterns and so has my father. Seasons also seem to come later, and when they do come it seems records are set far too often. It’s no wonder we are starting to typhoons in areas which have never seen them, tornados in areas that they would seem absurd, and the number of class 4 or 5 hurricanes increasingly rapidly.

Solutions are few and far between based on the current short sited political environment we live in which is a shame. Hopefully the new presidential candidates will address this issue head on because our growing need for energy and our role as the number polluting country in the world is getting out of control. There is a very real danger and hopefully the masses wake up to the fact that mother nature is pissed off.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

- Upton Beall Sinclair

*warm up sets not included

Deadlifts: 465lbs x 6 x 3

Lying Cable Curls (rest pause): 160lbs x 10, 6, 4

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Cable Extensions (rest pause): 200lbs x 14, 10, 6

Seated Dumbbell Curls: (50lb’ers x 8, 6, 2) x 2

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Overhead Dumbbell Extensions: (110lbs x 10, 6, 4) x 2

Single Arm Concentrations Curls: 30lb’ers x failure

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Underhand Cable Extensions: 150lbs x failure

Some of you are probably wondering why I’m doing deadlifts on my arm day. Well, I have no where else to put them to be honest. Every other workout seems to already be challenging it terms of time and energy expenditure. Believe it or not, these are not interfering with my arm training at all, especially since I perform my deads with straps. I’m also trying to grow my forearms a bit so pre-exhausting them with some deads won’t hurt either. Thankfully they are starting to respond a bit better.

*warm up sets are not listed

I’d like to take a little time here to wish IFBB Hall of Fame member and Gaspari Nutrition CEO Rich Gaspari a happy 45^th birthday today. I don’t ever get sappy around Rich so I won’t here either. All I can say is that he’s living proof of what a bodybuilder with a great work ethic can achieve in life and example to us all what dedication truly is.

Other famous birthdays today belong to……

Pierce Brosnan (1953)

Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band (1964)

Krist Novoselic of Nirvana (1965)

Tori Spelling (1971)

Janet Jackson (1966)

Gabriela Sabatini (1970)

Tucker Carlson (1969)