I remember, as a child going to the Royal Agricultural Fair, sitting on a rough wooden bench amidst the scent of cow crap and funnel cakes, staring at a wall upon which this slogan was emblazoned, puzzling over the vibrations in my eyeballs that the complementary-colour green maple leaf presented when juxtaposed with the giant quasi-cursive red “D” in the logo. (Was it accidental that this slogan was chosen, in light of the suggestion that according to Biblical tradition, Old Man Upstairs gave humans “dominion” over the animals? And low, low prices every day?)

Some years later, I watched the deliciously atrocious 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special on a bootlegged videocassette. (Younglings: “videos” were once plastic boxes containing long flat tapes upon which movies and home pornography attempts were inscribed.)

Aside from Carrie Fisher’s cracked-out coke glaze and the peculiar social interactions of Wookiee families, what struck me most wasn’t the show itself, but the ads. Watching the episode a decade later, in the chilly and paranoid depths of the Reagan years, it seemed like an innocent anachronism: ads to “buy union”.

Yes, dear readers, this was a time when unions were viewed not as a charmingly naive anachronism or Commie plot, but rather, a way of life for millions of average North American schmoes who punched a clock with the secure knowledge that no matter how shitty life could be at the widget factory, they had enough money for a cold Molson Golden and a TeeVee upon which to enjoy episodes of Barney Miller.

Anyway, much like stubby beer bottles, plaid Chesterfields (that’s “sofa” for you Americans), culturally celebrated labour organizing, and Hollywood women having their own boobs, meat-eating as a point of pride seems like a relic from a previous age. It’s hard to imagine a mainstream supermarket now trumpeting its carnivorous wares.

These days, we’re often uncomfortable with our meat-eating history. It’s a bit itchy for many of us now. We all grapple with it in our own ways.

And we struggle particularly with the “truth” of human needs: What, as a species and as individuals, is “best”? What is “healthy”? How do we balance competing desires and slog our way through the mucky, emotion-muddied morass of this decision? Etc.

Recently I posted about protein sources and the importance of “quality protein”. Here’s another layer to this discussion. In an upcoming article in the American Journal of Human Biology, researcher Staffan Lindberg reviews the diets of modern hunter-gatherers to see what they can tell us about Paleolithic diets.

Why study these diets? As Lindberg explains:

Paleolithic diets are increasingly acknowledged as templates for healthy diets, partly because very low age-adjusted rates of cardiovascular disease and other nutrition-related disorders have been observed among contemporary hunter-gatherers and traditional horticulturalists. Another reason is that the majority of Westerners are affected by atherosclerosis and associated abnormalities, and our understanding of the main underlying causes is very limited. If there is a healthy diet for humans in general, irrespective of ethnicity, it makes sense to focus on the time period up to the emergence of fully modern humans in Africa.

The article covers a lot of ground, which I won’t go into here, but one point stuck out at me: meat consumption. Lindeberg writes that meat:

…is consumed in considerable amounts by the chimpanzee. In one observational study, adult chimpanzees consumed an average of 65 g meat per day in the dry season. For humans, available archaeological evidence is consistent with, but does not prove, regular high-meat intake in the last 2 million years. Contemporary hunter-gatherers have generally been able to eat large amounts of meat or fish, although the figures are based on rather imprecise ethnographic data. Of the 229 hunter-gatherer populations studied during the 20th century, the majority (73%) were estimated to get more than half their caloric intake from meat, fish, and shellfish.

Among those five African populations, for which more exact, quantitative data were available, meat and/or fish constituted on average 26, 33, 44, 48, and 68% of the food.

Now bear in mind that “meat” isn’t just the proverbial woolly mammoth steaks, but also includes small game such as turtles and rodents. (In the case of the chimpanzees, “meat” often includes “other chimpanzees”. Humans have a similar self-nibbling streak, and in fact cannibalism persisted in isolated regions until the 1960s or so. Don’t think you’re so evolved, Europeans — you were eating people regularly in the Middle Ages, FYI. Soylent Green!!)

Nevertheless, the numbers are very interesting. OK, so, are these folks a heart attack waiting to happen? Apparently not.

Hunter-gatherers have had exceptionally favorable levels of serum cholesterol, blood pressure, and other cardiovascular risk factors, even with very high-meat consumption.

Truswell and Hansen found no evidence of sudden, spontaneous death when interviewing 96 adults among the San tribe, hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari desert, Botswana, South Africa. However, wild game meat has a lower fat content and a higher percentage of omega-3 fatty acids than domestic meat. Animal experiments do not suggest that meat causes atherosclerosis, the main underlying cause of cardiovascular disease. The notion that “animal protein” causes atherosclerosis is based on studies with milk proteins, typically casein. In Western human populations, an association between coronary heart disease and reported consumption of meat/meat products has been found in a few case–control studies, while other epidemiological studies have been less convincing.

One problem with knowing the “truth” about meat consumption is that we simply are not eating “meat” like our ancestors did. There is a huge difference between a wild-caught game animal (especially one you caught yourself, expending physical effort in the process) and a piece of baloney.

Still, it’s food for thought. Are we still, as a species, who we are “mainly because of the meat”?

Contador suspended, stripped of Tour de France win – Yahoo! News ]]> http://www.hardsweat.com/27860-contador-found-guilty-4/feed/ 0 http://www.hardsweat.com/27861-mainly-because-of-the-meat/ http://www.hardsweat.com/27861-mainly-because-of-the-meat/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:40 +0000 admin http://www.hardsweat.com/27861-mainly-because-of-the-meat/ Folks who grew up in Ontario in the 1970s may recall a slogan that a largely-defunct grocery store chain, Dominion, used: Mainly because of the meat! It even had a little jingle.

I remember, as a child going to the Royal Agricultural Fair, sitting on a rough wooden bench amidst the scent of cow crap and funnel cakes, staring at a wall upon which this slogan was emblazoned, puzzling over the vibrations in my eyeballs that the complementary-colour green maple leaf presented when juxtaposed with the giant quasi-cursive red “D” in the logo. (Was it accidental that this slogan was chosen, in light of the suggestion that according to Biblical tradition, Old Man Upstairs gave humans “dominion” over the animals? And low, low prices every day?)

Some years later, I watched the deliciously atrocious 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special on a bootlegged videocassette. (Younglings: “videos” were once plastic boxes containing long flat tapes upon which movies and home pornography attempts were inscribed.)

Aside from Carrie Fisher’s cracked-out coke glaze and the peculiar social interactions of Wookiee families, what struck me most wasn’t the show itself, but the ads. Watching the episode a decade later, in the chilly and paranoid depths of the Reagan years, it seemed like an innocent anachronism: ads to “buy union”.

Yes, dear readers, this was a time when unions were viewed not as a charmingly naive anachronism or Commie plot, but rather, a way of life for millions of average North American schmoes who punched a clock with the secure knowledge that no matter how shitty life could be at the widget factory, they had enough money for a cold Molson Golden and a TeeVee upon which to enjoy episodes of Barney Miller.

Anyway, much like stubby beer bottles, plaid Chesterfields (that’s “sofa” for you Americans), culturally celebrated labour organizing, and Hollywood women having their own boobs, meat-eating as a point of pride seems like a relic from a previous age. It’s hard to imagine a mainstream supermarket now trumpeting its carnivorous wares.

These days, we’re often uncomfortable with our meat-eating history. It’s a bit itchy for many of us now. We all grapple with it in our own ways.

And we struggle particularly with the “truth” of human needs: What, as a species and as individuals, is “best”? What is “healthy”? How do we balance competing desires and slog our way through the mucky, emotion-muddied morass of this decision? Etc.

Recently I posted about protein sources and the importance of “quality protein”. Here’s another layer to this discussion. In an upcoming article in the American Journal of Human Biology, researcher Staffan Lindberg reviews the diets of modern hunter-gatherers to see what they can tell us about Paleolithic diets.

Why study these diets? As Lindberg explains:

Paleolithic diets are increasingly acknowledged as templates for healthy diets, partly because very low age-adjusted rates of cardiovascular disease and other nutrition-related disorders have been observed among contemporary hunter-gatherers and traditional horticulturalists. Another reason is that the majority of Westerners are affected by atherosclerosis and associated abnormalities, and our understanding of the main underlying causes is very limited. If there is a healthy diet for humans in general, irrespective of ethnicity, it makes sense to focus on the time period up to the emergence of fully modern humans in Africa.

The article covers a lot of ground, which I won’t go into here, but one point stuck out at me: meat consumption. Lindeberg writes that meat:

…is consumed in considerable amounts by the chimpanzee. In one observational study, adult chimpanzees consumed an average of 65 g meat per day in the dry season. For humans, available archaeological evidence is consistent with, but does not prove, regular high-meat intake in the last 2 million years. Contemporary hunter-gatherers have generally been able to eat large amounts of meat or fish, although the figures are based on rather imprecise ethnographic data. Of the 229 hunter-gatherer populations studied during the 20th century, the majority (73%) were estimated to get more than half their caloric intake from meat, fish, and shellfish.

Among those five African populations, for which more exact, quantitative data were available, meat and/or fish constituted on average 26, 33, 44, 48, and 68% of the food.

Now bear in mind that “meat” isn’t just the proverbial woolly mammoth steaks, but also includes small game such as turtles and rodents. (In the case of the chimpanzees, “meat” often includes “other chimpanzees”. Humans have a similar self-nibbling streak, and in fact cannibalism persisted in isolated regions until the 1960s or so. Don’t think you’re so evolved, Europeans — you were eating people regularly in the Middle Ages, FYI. Soylent Green!!)

Nevertheless, the numbers are very interesting. OK, so, are these folks a heart attack waiting to happen? Apparently not.

Hunter-gatherers have had exceptionally favorable levels of serum cholesterol, blood pressure, and other cardiovascular risk factors, even with very high-meat consumption.

Truswell and Hansen found no evidence of sudden, spontaneous death when interviewing 96 adults among the San tribe, hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari desert, Botswana, South Africa. However, wild game meat has a lower fat content and a higher percentage of omega-3 fatty acids than domestic meat. Animal experiments do not suggest that meat causes atherosclerosis, the main underlying cause of cardiovascular disease. The notion that “animal protein” causes atherosclerosis is based on studies with milk proteins, typically casein. In Western human populations, an association between coronary heart disease and reported consumption of meat/meat products has been found in a few case–control studies, while other epidemiological studies have been less convincing.

One problem with knowing the “truth” about meat consumption is that we simply are not eating “meat” like our ancestors did. There is a huge difference between a wild-caught game animal (especially one you caught yourself, expending physical effort in the process) and a piece of baloney.

Still, it’s food for thought. Are we still, as a species, who we are “mainly because of the meat”?

Contador suspended, stripped of Tour de France win – Yahoo! News ]]> http://www.hardsweat.com/27859-contador-found-guilty-3/feed/ 0 http://www.hardsweat.com/27858-contador-found-guilty-2/ http://www.hardsweat.com/27858-contador-found-guilty-2/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:27 +0000 admin http://www.hardsweat.com/27858-contador-found-guilty-2/ Well after two years, it has finally come to this….

Contador suspended, stripped of Tour de France win – Yahoo! News ]]> http://www.hardsweat.com/27858-contador-found-guilty-2/feed/ 0 http://www.hardsweat.com/27857-contador-found-guilty/ http://www.hardsweat.com/27857-contador-found-guilty/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:25 +0000 admin http://www.hardsweat.com/27857-contador-found-guilty/ Well after two years, it has finally come to this….

Contador suspended, stripped of Tour de France win – Yahoo! News ]]> http://www.hardsweat.com/27857-contador-found-guilty/feed/ 0 http://www.hardsweat.com/27856-ifbb-natural-pro-division-4/ http://www.hardsweat.com/27856-ifbb-natural-pro-division-4/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:23 +0000 admin http://www.hardsweat.com/27856-ifbb-natural-pro-division-4/

We all dream of the day when the IFBB will have a Natural Pro Division, that would give natural competitors at the NPC level, a place to go. By natural, we don’t just mean "tested" (e.g. NPC Team Universe), we mean natural – free of AAS; however, the next hurdle involves, what exactly do we consider "natural."

I, for one, believe that a natural bodybuilder, taking pro-hormones, should have no issue competing as such. Prohormones, while very potent, are no where near as powerful as the pharmaceutical agents flooding most NPC shows (beyond Level 3) and throughout the IFBB. Additionally, assuming that any pro-hormone could mimick AAS, a person would have to be popping pills non-stop day and night to get up to the dosages that some bodybuilders shoot up — not only is it unlikely, it’s not practical. If you take prohormones, you’re still 100% natural in my book.

I think there are many genetic freaks walking around the gym that would love to compete, but don’t want to get annihilated in terms of size and definition [in "open" or "untested" shows]. It used to be, that a natural could upstage a juicer if he came in FREAKY DRY, but even those days are becoming much fewer and far between. I see NO EVIL with AAS - I think they have a far more legitimate claim to be decriminalized and made available to the public (under medical supervision) than Marijuana (any day of the week). However, I’m also keen to the fact that it’s just NOT FAIR to have a line up with guys taking roids to grow, then diuretics to get ripped, while the poor bastard that trains off of a bump of creatine and who’s living off asparaus to get every last drop of water out of his body is dying because he feels bloated and tiny.

I think companies like IronMagLabs offer the poor bastard (above) some options, which is great news for naturals, but it’s still not enough. Another issue, probably the most important (for the promoters), is one that IronMagLabs Nat’l Spokesperson, Aaron Singerman, discussed in his recent interview for StrengthAddicts ( :coffee: Aaron Singerman of RxMuscle.com – Speaks to – StrengthAddicts.com :clapping: ).

We should figure out a solution — one day. The naturals I know, do not want to compete in a crazy federation that has a Wall of Shame (an online, musical list of people that "fail" their ridiculous test). They also don’t want to compete in organizations that ban Prohormones, Ephedrine, and even DHEA. DHEA, seriously?! What’s next, creatine? Dextrose too?! There’s natural and then there’s stupid.

Everyone wants to compete on an NPC stage – it’s the biggest, baddest show on Earth. Take a champion like Shiloe Steinmetz (NPC Natural Mr. Ohio), he’s not only won his state’s top title, but he’s also won the Heavyweight at Team Universe. Where would Shiloe go if he actually won the TeamU overall and went pro? Has Jeff Willett won any IFBB titles since going pro? And why did Skip LaCour qualify several times at TeamU but never applied for Pro status? In fact, one of the only TeamU winners winning Pro shows, is Kai Greene. I’m sorry, but I have a hunch Kai is no longer NATURAL, lol.

The NPC has a natural circuit, which I believe are essentially feeder shows for Team Universe; however, the Pro ranks offer nothing for those natural champions. These guys (and ladies) are NPC veterans, they don’t want to skip out and do battle on a WNBF, MuscleMania, or IFPA stage! We have bodybuilding and physique, why not have a natural division?

Sadly, we need to come back to reality as well. Aaron’s point in StrengthAddicts’ interview is on point. Will Natural Bodybuilding pay for itself? If not, the last thing the promoters want, is another division that requires subsidies in order to survive.

I believe that in time Natural Bodybuilding will provide sufficient interest to warrant gutsy promoters to take a healthy risk on it. The real deal is getting that MARKETING that only the NPC/IFBB have been able to develop – as being the top dog for so many decades.

The natty federatons (and there’s several of them) have taken care of some of the guess work for us. They have proven that natural bodybuilding on its own, can fuel shows, keep a national magazine afloat, and garner interest from the supplement companies for advertising. Now it’s a question of whether the Big Fish in the pond wants a bite?

Finally, I believe that Ben Weider’s vision for bodybuilding as an Olympic sport, continues to be echoed by many of the sport’s most respected champions, journalists, and fans. If and when the NPC/IFBB decides to make this a priority again, it will be a guy like Skip LaCour representing the United States, not Ronnie Coleman. Cheers! ]]> http://www.hardsweat.com/27856-ifbb-natural-pro-division-4/feed/ 0 http://www.hardsweat.com/27854-ifbb-natural-pro-division-2/ http://www.hardsweat.com/27854-ifbb-natural-pro-division-2/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:21 +0000 admin http://www.hardsweat.com/27854-ifbb-natural-pro-division-2/

We all dream of the day when the IFBB will have a Natural Pro Division, that would give natural competitors at the NPC level, a place to go. By natural, we don’t just mean "tested" (e.g. NPC Team Universe), we mean natural – free of AAS; however, the next hurdle involves, what exactly do we consider "natural."

I, for one, believe that a natural bodybuilder, taking pro-hormones, should have no issue competing as such. Prohormones, while very potent, are no where near as powerful as the pharmaceutical agents flooding most NPC shows (beyond Level 3) and throughout the IFBB. Additionally, assuming that any pro-hormone could mimick AAS, a person would have to be popping pills non-stop day and night to get up to the dosages that some bodybuilders shoot up — not only is it unlikely, it’s not practical. If you take prohormones, you’re still 100% natural in my book.

I think there are many genetic freaks walking around the gym that would love to compete, but don’t want to get annihilated in terms of size and definition [in "open" or "untested" shows]. It used to be, that a natural could upstage a juicer if he came in FREAKY DRY, but even those days are becoming much fewer and far between. I see NO EVIL with AAS - I think they have a far more legitimate claim to be decriminalized and made available to the public (under medical supervision) than Marijuana (any day of the week). However, I’m also keen to the fact that it’s just NOT FAIR to have a line up with guys taking roids to grow, then diuretics to get ripped, while the poor bastard that trains off of a bump of creatine and who’s living off asparaus to get every last drop of water out of his body is dying because he feels bloated and tiny.

I think companies like IronMagLabs offer the poor bastard (above) some options, which is great news for naturals, but it’s still not enough. Another issue, probably the most important (for the promoters), is one that IronMagLabs Nat’l Spokesperson, Aaron Singerman, discussed in his recent interview for StrengthAddicts ( :coffee: Aaron Singerman of RxMuscle.com – Speaks to – StrengthAddicts.com :clapping: ).

We should figure out a solution — one day. The naturals I know, do not want to compete in a crazy federation that has a Wall of Shame (an online, musical list of people that "fail" their ridiculous test). They also don’t want to compete in organizations that ban Prohormones, Ephedrine, and even DHEA. DHEA, seriously?! What’s next, creatine? Dextrose too?! There’s natural and then there’s stupid.

Everyone wants to compete on an NPC stage – it’s the biggest, baddest show on Earth. Take a champion like Shiloe Steinmetz (NPC Natural Mr. Ohio), he’s not only won his state’s top title, but he’s also won the Heavyweight at Team Universe. Where would Shiloe go if he actually won the TeamU overall and went pro? Has Jeff Willett won any IFBB titles since going pro? And why did Skip LaCour qualify several times at TeamU but never applied for Pro status? In fact, one of the only TeamU winners winning Pro shows, is Kai Greene. I’m sorry, but I have a hunch Kai is no longer NATURAL, lol.

The NPC has a natural circuit, which I believe are essentially feeder shows for Team Universe; however, the Pro ranks offer nothing for those natural champions. These guys (and ladies) are NPC veterans, they don’t want to skip out and do battle on a WNBF, MuscleMania, or IFPA stage! We have bodybuilding and physique, why not have a natural division?

Sadly, we need to come back to reality as well. Aaron’s point in StrengthAddicts’ interview is on point. Will Natural Bodybuilding pay for itself? If not, the last thing the promoters want, is another division that requires subsidies in order to survive.

I believe that in time Natural Bodybuilding will provide sufficient interest to warrant gutsy promoters to take a healthy risk on it. The real deal is getting that MARKETING that only the NPC/IFBB have been able to develop – as being the top dog for so many decades.

The natty federatons (and there’s several of them) have taken care of some of the guess work for us. They have proven that natural bodybuilding on its own, can fuel shows, keep a national magazine afloat, and garner interest from the supplement companies for advertising. Now it’s a question of whether the Big Fish in the pond wants a bite?

Finally, I believe that Ben Weider’s vision for bodybuilding as an Olympic sport, continues to be echoed by many of the sport’s most respected champions, journalists, and fans. If and when the NPC/IFBB decides to make this a priority again, it will be a guy like Skip LaCour representing the United States, not Ronnie Coleman. Cheers! ]]> http://www.hardsweat.com/27854-ifbb-natural-pro-division-2/feed/ 0 http://www.hardsweat.com/27855-ifbb-natural-pro-division-3/ http://www.hardsweat.com/27855-ifbb-natural-pro-division-3/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:21 +0000 admin http://www.hardsweat.com/27855-ifbb-natural-pro-division-3/

We all dream of the day when the IFBB will have a Natural Pro Division, that would give natural competitors at the NPC level, a place to go. By natural, we don’t just mean "tested" (e.g. NPC Team Universe), we mean natural – free of AAS; however, the next hurdle involves, what exactly do we consider "natural."

I, for one, believe that a natural bodybuilder, taking pro-hormones, should have no issue competing as such. Prohormones, while very potent, are no where near as powerful as the pharmaceutical agents flooding most NPC shows (beyond Level 3) and throughout the IFBB. Additionally, assuming that any pro-hormone could mimick AAS, a person would have to be popping pills non-stop day and night to get up to the dosages that some bodybuilders shoot up — not only is it unlikely, it’s not practical. If you take prohormones, you’re still 100% natural in my book.

I think there are many genetic freaks walking around the gym that would love to compete, but don’t want to get annihilated in terms of size and definition [in "open" or "untested" shows]. It used to be, that a natural could upstage a juicer if he came in FREAKY DRY, but even those days are becoming much fewer and far between. I see NO EVIL with AAS - I think they have a far more legitimate claim to be decriminalized and made available to the public (under medical supervision) than Marijuana (any day of the week). However, I’m also keen to the fact that it’s just NOT FAIR to have a line up with guys taking roids to grow, then diuretics to get ripped, while the poor bastard that trains off of a bump of creatine and who’s living off asparaus to get every last drop of water out of his body is dying because he feels bloated and tiny.

I think companies like IronMagLabs offer the poor bastard (above) some options, which is great news for naturals, but it’s still not enough. Another issue, probably the most important (for the promoters), is one that IronMagLabs Nat’l Spokesperson, Aaron Singerman, discussed in his recent interview for StrengthAddicts ( :coffee: Aaron Singerman of RxMuscle.com – Speaks to – StrengthAddicts.com :clapping: ).

We should figure out a solution — one day. The naturals I know, do not want to compete in a crazy federation that has a Wall of Shame (an online, musical list of people that "fail" their ridiculous test). They also don’t want to compete in organizations that ban Prohormones, Ephedrine, and even DHEA. DHEA, seriously?! What’s next, creatine? Dextrose too?! There’s natural and then there’s stupid.

Everyone wants to compete on an NPC stage – it’s the biggest, baddest show on Earth. Take a champion like Shiloe Steinmetz (NPC Natural Mr. Ohio), he’s not only won his state’s top title, but he’s also won the Heavyweight at Team Universe. Where would Shiloe go if he actually won the TeamU overall and went pro? Has Jeff Willett won any IFBB titles since going pro? And why did Skip LaCour qualify several times at TeamU but never applied for Pro status? In fact, one of the only TeamU winners winning Pro shows, is Kai Greene. I’m sorry, but I have a hunch Kai is no longer NATURAL, lol.

The NPC has a natural circuit, which I believe are essentially feeder shows for Team Universe; however, the Pro ranks offer nothing for those natural champions. These guys (and ladies) are NPC veterans, they don’t want to skip out and do battle on a WNBF, MuscleMania, or IFPA stage! We have bodybuilding and physique, why not have a natural division?

Sadly, we need to come back to reality as well. Aaron’s point in StrengthAddicts’ interview is on point. Will Natural Bodybuilding pay for itself? If not, the last thing the promoters want, is another division that requires subsidies in order to survive.

I believe that in time Natural Bodybuilding will provide sufficient interest to warrant gutsy promoters to take a healthy risk on it. The real deal is getting that MARKETING that only the NPC/IFBB have been able to develop – as being the top dog for so many decades.

The natty federatons (and there’s several of them) have taken care of some of the guess work for us. They have proven that natural bodybuilding on its own, can fuel shows, keep a national magazine afloat, and garner interest from the supplement companies for advertising. Now it’s a question of whether the Big Fish in the pond wants a bite?

Finally, I believe that Ben Weider’s vision for bodybuilding as an Olympic sport, continues to be echoed by many of the sport’s most respected champions, journalists, and fans. If and when the NPC/IFBB decides to make this a priority again, it will be a guy like Skip LaCour representing the United States, not Ronnie Coleman. Cheers! ]]> http://www.hardsweat.com/27855-ifbb-natural-pro-division-3/feed/ 0 http://www.hardsweat.com/27853-ifbb-natural-pro-division/ http://www.hardsweat.com/27853-ifbb-natural-pro-division/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:19 +0000 admin http://www.hardsweat.com/27853-ifbb-natural-pro-division/

We all dream of the day when the IFBB will have a Natural Pro Division, that would give natural competitors at the NPC level, a place to go. By natural, we don’t just mean "tested" (e.g. NPC Team Universe), we mean natural – free of AAS; however, the next hurdle involves, what exactly do we consider "natural."

I, for one, believe that a natural bodybuilder, taking pro-hormones, should have no issue competing as such. Prohormones, while very potent, are no where near as powerful as the pharmaceutical agents flooding most NPC shows (beyond Level 3) and throughout the IFBB. Additionally, assuming that any pro-hormone could mimick AAS, a person would have to be popping pills non-stop day and night to get up to the dosages that some bodybuilders shoot up — not only is it unlikely, it’s not practical. If you take prohormones, you’re still 100% natural in my book.

I think there are many genetic freaks walking around the gym that would love to compete, but don’t want to get annihilated in terms of size and definition [in "open" or "untested" shows]. It used to be, that a natural could upstage a juicer if he came in FREAKY DRY, but even those days are becoming much fewer and far between. I see NO EVIL with AAS - I think they have a far more legitimate claim to be decriminalized and made available to the public (under medical supervision) than Marijuana (any day of the week). However, I’m also keen to the fact that it’s just NOT FAIR to have a line up with guys taking roids to grow, then diuretics to get ripped, while the poor bastard that trains off of a bump of creatine and who’s living off asparaus to get every last drop of water out of his body is dying because he feels bloated and tiny.

I think companies like IronMagLabs offer the poor bastard (above) some options, which is great news for naturals, but it’s still not enough. Another issue, probably the most important (for the promoters), is one that IronMagLabs Nat’l Spokesperson, Aaron Singerman, discussed in his recent interview for StrengthAddicts ( :coffee: Aaron Singerman of RxMuscle.com – Speaks to – StrengthAddicts.com :clapping: ).

We should figure out a solution — one day. The naturals I know, do not want to compete in a crazy federation that has a Wall of Shame (an online, musical list of people that "fail" their ridiculous test). They also don’t want to compete in organizations that ban Prohormones, Ephedrine, and even DHEA. DHEA, seriously?! What’s next, creatine? Dextrose too?! There’s natural and then there’s stupid.

Everyone wants to compete on an NPC stage – it’s the biggest, baddest show on Earth. Take a champion like Shiloe Steinmetz (NPC Natural Mr. Ohio), he’s not only won his state’s top title, but he’s also won the Heavyweight at Team Universe. Where would Shiloe go if he actually won the TeamU overall and went pro? Has Jeff Willett won any IFBB titles since going pro? And why did Skip LaCour qualify several times at TeamU but never applied for Pro status? In fact, one of the only TeamU winners winning Pro shows, is Kai Greene. I’m sorry, but I have a hunch Kai is no longer NATURAL, lol.

The NPC has a natural circuit, which I believe are essentially feeder shows for Team Universe; however, the Pro ranks offer nothing for those natural champions. These guys (and ladies) are NPC veterans, they don’t want to skip out and do battle on a WNBF, MuscleMania, or IFPA stage! We have bodybuilding and physique, why not have a natural division?

Sadly, we need to come back to reality as well. Aaron’s point in StrengthAddicts’ interview is on point. Will Natural Bodybuilding pay for itself? If not, the last thing the promoters want, is another division that requires subsidies in order to survive.

I believe that in time Natural Bodybuilding will provide sufficient interest to warrant gutsy promoters to take a healthy risk on it. The real deal is getting that MARKETING that only the NPC/IFBB have been able to develop – as being the top dog for so many decades.

The natty federatons (and there’s several of them) have taken care of some of the guess work for us. They have proven that natural bodybuilding on its own, can fuel shows, keep a national magazine afloat, and garner interest from the supplement companies for advertising. Now it’s a question of whether the Big Fish in the pond wants a bite?

Finally, I believe that Ben Weider’s vision for bodybuilding as an Olympic sport, continues to be echoed by many of the sport’s most respected champions, journalists, and fans. If and when the NPC/IFBB decides to make this a priority again, it will be a guy like Skip LaCour representing the United States, not Ronnie Coleman. Cheers! ]]> http://www.hardsweat.com/27853-ifbb-natural-pro-division/feed/ 0