Supplement Scams

Supplement Scam Alert! Read here about supplement scams the food supplement industry does not want you to know about (because if you did, they'd go broke and you'd make some gains!).

Think about it for a minute: If all those nutritional supplements worked, then why don't we all look like [insert hottest body on the planet right now – examples might be Dexter Jackson, Brad Pitt, or Megan Fox]?

Why don't food supplements work? Here's a key question in seeking out that answer: How could the supplement industry stay in business if they did?

Here's the lowdown on the supplement scams the food companies run on you every time you open up a fitness-, health-, or muscle-building magazine.

Did you know that all the fitness-related magazines were either controlled, owned, or heavily influenced by the supplement industry? Look it up. Advertising is big business and there's no bigger business in the health-related magazine industry than food supplements.

Muscle&Fitness sells nothing but supplement ads, many of which are promoting Joe Weider's own supplement line. Here's an excerpt from an ad in the July 2009 edition of Flex Magazine (another Weider publication):

New Super-Molecule is 2,000 Times More Potent Than Anything You've Ever Taken!

Is that hyperbole? Yes, absolutely. Does it sell? YES! ABSOLUTELY!!

You're not in this game to get 5 -10 percent gains. You want 2,000 percent gains!

SUPPLEMENT SCAM #1: If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Choking down a pill or mixing up a powder is far easier than hitting the gym, running up stairs, and eating healthy food. That's why people take supplements, for the most part. It's for the magic elixir, the instant gratification.

Don't get me wrong: Some supplements DO work. But they aren't miracle workers. None of them will do what anabolic steroids do, either. Some claim to have “anabolic effect.” But so does steak and eggs, heavy weight training, and steroids.

The supplement companies have a vested interest in keeping you from reaching your peak. Think about it: If you “became” Ronnie Coleman by taking Supplement X, then, when you got there, wouldn't you stop?

If a drug cured you of cancer, you surely would stop taking it once your cancer was in remission.

If you got to your goal weight of 330 pounds of rock-solid monster muscle, would you keep taking your weight-gain powder?

If you lost 100 pounds and looked the best you ever looked, would losing 120 pounds make you happier? You'd have to keep taking the supplement forever and, soon, you'd be dead, weighing a whopping 37 pounds!

So, supplements have to give the appearance of working, yet they simply cannot deliver on their promise, or else they'd go out of business. Hence, the supplement scams!

In the latest edition of Flex, page 38 had the first “editorial content.” Guess what was on the first 37 pages? Supplement advertisements. I'm not kidding.

SUPPLEMENT SCAM #2: If you have to “sell it” that strong, it's probably too good to be true!

Here's another trick the supplement industry uses to sell their “goods” (we should call them “bads” in this case): They take a bodybuilder, have him “bulk up” (i.e., get fat), then have him take their supplement while he works his arse off in the gym and eats like a concentration camp victim.

“Miraculously,” the dude trims down, loses 10 percent body fat and gains 10 pounds of muscle, all in “less than 28 days!”

What a crock! First, they took somebody who had already “been there,” and took him “back there.” That's too easy. Give me ANY pro-caliber athlete and in 3 months' time, I can have him looking like he used to look. It's simple.

Arthur Jones did this 40 years ago with his Nautilus training machines. He took a young Casey Viator who had been in a car accident, after having been crowned the youngest Mr America ever, and “transformed” him using the Nautilus method (high intensity, single sets per body part, isolation exercises, training to failure, etc.).

Casey could start training today and get back to 80 percent of his best shape in 3 months!

SUPPLEMENT SCAM #3: Beware the “Before-After” photo scam.

The supplement guys also strategically place “testimonials” next to the “Before-After” photos (or outright lie about it) to imply that THOSE models gave the glowing review.

Also beware the “phony review,” where an internet marketer is selling supplements by giving an “objective review” of a product. Most likely, he's getting paid for any sales of the product made through his page. It's called “affiliate marketing” and the FCC is about to crack down on this practice.

(By the way, I do the same thing here on these pages, but I only sell what I take myself and I only take what works.)

Another thing you may not be aware of: Nutritional supplements are not regulated or tested by any government entity. Manufacturers can claim nearly anything. Further, they can put just about ANYTHING in their products!

Did you know that? Here's a line for a product called “EPONOX.”

NEW EPO Blood Building Technology for Extreme Muscle Growth

Does that sound a little scary to you? It certainly does to me! Basically, if this stuff does what it says it does (which it probably doesn't), you will be manipulating your body to build more red blood cells than it would naturally manufacture. Athletes call this “blood doping.” Lance Armstrong, 7-time Tour de France winner, was accused of blood doping through use of drugs that boosted EPO output.

(My take, by the way: He did use drugs, but only while in cancer treatment, but not while competing. I have no proof of this, other than the fact that he never failed a drug test while competing, and he was placed under far more scrutiny than any of his competitors.)

Not only are the proposed benefits of such blood-boosting dubious, they can be harmful! Imagine more blood coursing through your veins. Your blood pressure will rise, more stress will be placed on your heart pumping all that blood around. Remember, you cannot compress a fluid, so what happens is, if taken to extremes, your blood vessel walls get thinner. Not a good thing!

However, it's highly doubtful that this supplement delivers on its “promise.” But if it did, I'd run away from this supplement. Nothing long-term-good can come of it.

Finally, a word on ephedrine. Lots of “fat burners” have used this chemical compound, or a derivative, for years. A handful of people have died while taking supplements containing ephedrine. The FDA finally pulled it off the shelves. It's now a banned substance.

While I'm skeptical that the root cause of these deaths was due to ephedrine, I remain unconvinced that you cannot get similar results with — get this — HARD WORK.

I know, it's tough to get all excited about working in the gym and eating well. But it remains the best long-term method for building the body you want. It works. And it won't kill you.

Some of the stuff they put in food supplements is downright scary. Putting untested ingredients is not only part of the supplement scam, but it ought to be a crime.

As I alluded to before, there are supplements that work. You can find them here (it's a really short read).

You don't need fancy “blends” or “optimized” proportions. You certainly don't need the multi-color, multi-page “Special Advertisements” hawking such hyperbole.

And you certainly don't need the outrageous prices.

Building Super Hero Powers

Can you build yourself into a real-life super hero? Yes, you can. Here's how.

Super Hero Powers? Really?

Can you build super hero powers by weight training? In a word, no.

But you can build super-human strength. Progressive resistance weight training is the most effective means of developing the strength and size known to man.

The beauty of the principle is that it's infinitely adjustable. As you gain strength, you add weight. How easy is that?

Some of the best strength athletes in the world, like Mariusz Pudzianowski, Magnus ver Magnusson, and Bill Kazmaier practiced progressive resistance training, using weight lifting as the method.

All were involved in powerlifting, a form of competitive weightlifting that emphasizes strength and power and uses 3 exercises to gauge strength:

1. Squat
2. Deadlift
3. Bench Press

If ALL you did was these three exercises, you'd be doing just fine in your pursuit of super-human strength. All major muscle groups, from the thighs, to the arms, calves, chest, back, and core muscles, are used.

In fact, any deficiencies in any muscle group will limit your ability to compete in these 3 exercises.

Powerlifting can be coupled with the principles embraced by the bodybuilding community to build physiques similar to the aforementioned Pudzianowski.

Mariusz is a super athlete: He's strong, powerful, quick, and agile. He's truly amazing, and it's all due to HEAVY weight training.

The Student Diet: What to Eat, What to Avoid

When you go away to college, you are thrown into an unfamiliar environment. Sleeping in a bed that is not your own and dealing with a new roommate you don’t know may be difficult enough, but you can’t forget about learning how to eat healthy foods while at college. Healthy eating is important so that you keep the weight off and keep your immune system healthy.

It is first important to settle into an eating routine. At home, you would probably never eat after a certain time at night—don’t at college either. If you’re used to eating breakfast, wake up before classes in enough time to do so. At the very least, be sure that you have time between classes for a balanced lunch and dinner. Don’t skip meals.

If your schedule is hectic, as most people find, you’ll need to schedule time to eat. Instead of grabbing food from a vending machine when you are hungry, plan ahead. Take a healthy salad or sandwich with you to eat if you have class over mealtime. Most professors don’t mind if you bring food to class as long as your eat it quietly.

When you do have time to eat in the cafeteria, it is important to make healthy decisions. Most colleges offer pizza and a variety of desserts every day, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat them! Look for choices that have a balance of the food groups in every meal. A good indication that you have a nutritious meal is color. If your trey is colorful, with fruits, vegetables, and proteins, you are on the right track.

Of course, not every college has a cafeteria, and even if yours does you might choose to eat elsewhere. It’s very tempting to order Chinese food or other delivery, especially when participating in study groups. Try to find the best options here and allow yourself to splurge only on special occasions. For example, if someone is ordering pizza, see if the pizzeria also offers salads. This may be a healthy option. Try to stay away from fried or greasy foods.

College is one of the best times of your life. Don’t let poor eating choices ruin the experience. You might also want to note as a closing thought that alcohol has more empty calories than most of the foods you can eat at the cafeteria combined. Staying away from it can not only keep you safe, but also healthy. Add an exercise routine at a local gym, and you’ll never see that freshman fifteen!

Steve Reeves

From wikipedia:

Childhood

Born in Glasgow, Montana, Steve Reeves moved to California at age 10 with his mother, Goldie Reeves, after his father, Lester Dell Reeves, died in a farming accident. Reeves developed an interest in bodybuilding in high school and trained at Ed Yarick's gym in Oakland. By the time he was 17, he had developed a Herculean build, long before the general interest in bodybuilding. After graduating from high school, he enlisted the Army during World War II, and served in the Pacific.

Acting

After his military service, Reeves invested in an acting career. In 1954 he had a small role in his first major motion picture, the musical Athena playing Jane Powell's boyfriend. The same year Reeves had a small role as a cop in the Ed Wood film Jail Bait. This is one of the few movies where his voice was not dubbed. In 1957, Reeves went to Italy and played the lead character in Pietro Francisci's Hercules, a shot-on-a-shoestring epic based loosely on the tales of Jason and the Argonauts, though inserting Hercules into the lead role.

From 1959 through 1964, Reeves went on to appear in a string of sword and sandal movies shot on relatively small budgets, and although he is best known for his portrayal of the Greek hero Hercules, he played the character only twice – in the 1958 film Hercules and the sequel Hercules Unchained (released in the U.S. in 1960). He played a number of other characters on screen, including Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Glaucus of Pompeii; Goliath (also called Emiliano); Tatar hero Hadji Murad; Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome (opposite Gordon Scott as his twin brother Remus); the famous war-time messenger of the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides (The Giant of Marathon); pirate and self-proclaimed governor of Jamaica Captain Henry Morgan; and Karim, the Thief of Baghdad. Twice he played Aeneas of Troy and twice he played Emilio Salgari's Malaysian hero, Sandokan.

After the box office success of Hercules, Reeves turned down the role that finally went to Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) because he couldn't believe that “Italians could make a western”.[2] He also claimed to have turned down James Bond's role in Dr. No (1962).

During the filming of The Last Days of Pompeii, Reeves dislocated his shoulder when his chariot slammed into a tree. Swimming in a subsequent underwater escape scene, he re-injured his shoulder. The injury would be aggravated by his stunt work in each successive film, ultimately leading him to retire from filmmaking and weightlifting.

In 1968 Reeves appeared in his final film, a spaghetti western that imitated the Sergio Leone epics, which he also co-wrote, titled A Long Ride From Hell. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe. His last screen appearance was in 2000 when he appeared as himself in the made-for-television A&E Biography: Arnold Schwarzenegger – Flex Appeal.

Death

Later in his life, Reeves promoted drug-free bodybuilding and bred horses. The last two decades of his life were spent in Valley Center (Escondido), California. He bought a ranch with his savings and lived there with his second wife Aline until her death in 1989. On May 1, 2000, Reeves died from complications of lymphoma.

Sergio Oliva

“The Myth,” Sergio Oliva is a bodybuilding god. He won the Mr. O 3 times in a row (1967, 1968, and 1969) and finished 2nd to Arnold Schwarzenegger twice.

Known for his mass, Oliva probably had the biggest arms of his era. His arms, if looked at from a front double biceps pose, were bigger than his head.

Oliva was quite the character and had a very exciting life, even before bodybuilding:

In 1962, the National Weightlifting Championship for Cuba was won by Alberto Rey Games Hernandez; Sergio Oliva took second place. Because Games received an injury, Oliva was chosen to represent Cuba at the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games hosted in Kingston, Jamaica.

During his stay in Jamaica, Oliva sneaked out of his quarters while the guards were distracted. He ran at top speed until he was safely inside the American consulate. Arriving breathlessly, he demanded and received political asylum. Soon, 65 other Cuban nationals followed him, including Castro's entire weightlifting team and their security guards. Soon afterward, Oliva was living in Miami, Florida, working as a TV repairman.^[3]

He was a cop in Chicago for 25+ years and died in 2012 at the age of 71.