By Janet Angel, PhD-Nutritional Biochemist

You might be surprised to discover that athletes are often nutritionally deficient or nutritionally imbalanced. Recent scientific studies are proving that even the most conditioned athletes; those that boast top nutritional status, high energy output may be overworking their organs and systems and creating greater free radical damage along with inadequate nutrient absorption.

It doesn’t matter what type of exhaustive athletic training a person participates in, what matters most is that protein pathways may be disturbed and therefore amino acid breakdown and transmission suffer…muscles suffer. When micro nutrients become unavailable metabolism is inadequate and therefore the body is stressed making the immune system less than vibrant.

As we age the human body does not manufacture as many enzymes and often by the time a person is in their thirties digestive upsets occur and later more dramatic insufficiencies and symptoms appear.  Amino acids are the building blocks to life yet even those athletes consuming huge amounts of protein in any form will be less likely to fully metabolize protein without the appropriate enzymes available to assist. You may not know that your body is lacking enzymes…most likely it is.

Once food is heated above 119 degrees all of the enzymes are destroyed; the average American diet contains mainly of cooked foods and processed foods which are enzyme exhausted. Other issues play a role as well; for example, a person may consume several different types of foods at one sitting making the call for multiple enzymes critical to absorption.  Only raw foods contain enzymes and only enough to break down that specific food. Human beings will always be dependent upon exogenous enzymes, those existing outside the human body. Professional athletes, including professional body builders around the world, understand the importance of adding a quality multi-dimensional enzyme formula to their health regime. Athletes around the globe are choosing AbsorbAid Platinum® to help get lean, stay lean, build muscle and be stronger longer!!

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So when it came down to make the same decision this year, Greene didn’t have to give it too much of a thought judging by his – and his fellow competitor’s –  recent history. Both Phil Heath and Jay Cutler (the last two Mr. Olympia winners, respectively) prepared solely for the O and stayed away from competing until September.

Greene had a lot to prove in 2011 after a lackluster seventh place finish at his maiden Olympia voyage the previous year. He came back strong and dominated the big city stage at the New York Pro, which put him right back into the mix for a top three placing at the Olympia.

That is exactly what happened and Greene is once again in the conversation of dominating bodybuilders. He has already proven himself in Columbus on more than one occasion and he is more than ready to take it a step further.

KAI GREENE – CONTEST HISTORY

But they are this time around, and anything less shouldn’t be expected from The Governor!

All four champions from 2011 will return and defend their crowns, not the most usual circumstance when you factor in a number of reasons why this is a special occurrence, indeed. Many competitors skip the Arnold to concentrate on the Mr. Olympia or have no choice in the matter if they suffer an injury. Take Branch Warren, for instance. The Texas native not only won the title last March, but also the Most Muscular Award. Outside of the British Grand Prix a few weeks later (which he also won), Warren will have not had donned the posing trunks in nearly 12 months when he hits the stage at the Arnold. A freak accident caused him to become injured and have to bow out of the Mr. Olympia.

Warren will have his work cut out for him against a line-up that includes Dexter Jackson (a three-time Arnold champion), as well as Dennis Wolf and Evan Centopani, who both finished in the top six a year ago.

In female bodybuilding, it will be once again the great Iris Kyle looking to monopolize the Ms. International first place prize, something that she has been able to do on six prior occasions. “I just take one year at a time,” Kyle said. “I do my homework and try to come in with the package that (the judges) are looking for.”

Of course, Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia will have something to say about that, herself a four-time winner in Columbus and a frequent runner-up to Kyle here and at the Ms. Olympia.

Adele Garcia will look to add a fifth Ms. Fitness International trophy to her growing collection and will have to fend off the likes of Tanji Johnson and Camala Rodriguez.

In 2011, the inaugural Ms. Bikini International took place and Nicole Nagrani was named its first champion. “I feel amazing right now; I’m on top of the world,” Nagrani commented backstage following the win.

The 19-year-old again stood in the winner’s circle at the Olympia and will have to watch out for Sonia Gonzales (second) and Nathalia Melo (third), who were directly on her heels last March.

Perhaps the most interesting battle will take place in figure, where Nicole Wilkins and Erin Stern have gone back and forth in Ohio and Las Vegas the last few years. Wilkins has tasted victory at the last two Ms. Figure International shows and will also have to keep her eyes on Ava Cowan and Cheryl Brown.

Keep in mind that these lists are just the people who have been invited to the 2012 Arnold Classic and there will be some who decline the invite for one reason or another. But competing here is an honor and most will in fact be up there on the stage at the War Memorial come March 2 and 3.

The official lists are as follows:

2012 Arnold Classic (14)
Fouad Abiad
Gustavo Badell
Lionel Beyeke
Matthias Botthof
Evan Centopani
Eduardo Correa
Brandon Curry
Dexter Jackson
Michael Kefalianos
Ben Pakulski
Shawn Rhoden
Branch Warren
Ben White
Dennis Wolf

2012 Ms. International (15)
Maria Rita Bello
Brigita Brezovac
Kim Buck
Tina Chandler
Alevtina Goroshinskaya
Monique Jones
Iris Kyle
Debi Laszewski
Cathy LeFrancois
Zoa Lindsey
Geraldine Morgan
Yaxeni Oriquen
Kim Perez
Alina Popa
Maria Segura

2012 Fitness International (17)
Michelle Blank
Jodi Boam
Myriam Capes
Regiane Da Silva
Tina Durkin
Allison Ethier
Adela Garcia
Oksana Grishina
Tanji Johnson
Diana Monteiro
Julie Palmer
Kayde Puckett
Camala Rodriguez
Daniella Ruban
Kizzy Vaines
Sheri Vucick
Bethany Wagner

2012 Figure International (16)
Jelena Abbou
Teresa Anthony
Cheryl Brown
Krissy Chin
Ava Cowan
Heather Dees
Alicia Harris
Raquel Hernandez
Candice Keene
Gloria Keplinger Tarpley
Sue Knott
Larissa Reis
Erin Stern
Gennifer Strobo
Latisha Wilder
Nicole Wilkins

2012 Bikini International (18)
Jennifer Andrews
Jaime Baird
Abbie Burrows
Juliana Daniell
Sonia Gonzales
Candyce Graham
Diana Graham
Jessica Jessie
Lexi Kaufman
Nathalia Melo
Justine Munro
Nicole Nagrani
India Paulino
Jessica Paxson
Natalie Pennington
Monique Ricardo
Tianna Ta
Christine Vargas

For more information, be sure to visit the official contest website, www.arnoldsportsfestival.com.

Being held since November 7 on immigration issues, Martinez had little choice but to step aside at this time. In fact, he may find himself actually deported back to his home country of the Dominican Republic if a federal judge makes that decision on January 6. The government has to either release him, deport him or charge him with a crime within 90 days of being detained.

The trouble began for Martinez, 38, when he returned from the IFBB Arnold Europe on October 11. He actually won the show and has seen his career on a huge upswing after a brief lull. His green card had apparently expired and Martinez failed to apply for a new one. Coupled with the fact that he has been convicted of a felony in the past, this spelled disastrous as Martinez found himself in front of a United States Customs agent at the airport.

At an earlier hearing, the judge denied Martinez bail and ordered him back to his 6 X 8 cell in New York.

The 2007 Arnold Classic champion will have to straighten out his immigration status and hopefully will have that opportunity while living in the US. With the start of the IFBB contest season nearly upon us, Martinez will need extra time to get back into shape with this unexpected span of inactivity and no choice of what his diet consists of. The best case scenario is that he misses three months, and even that is a long stretch for a professional bodybuilder to have no control over his daily life.

The entire sport of bodybuilding awaits the announcement of Martinez’s fate next month. If deportation occurs, he would still be able to compete at overseas shows, but the ‘Big Two’ of the Arnold and Olympia will have to wait until Martinez either applies for another green card or citizenship.

VICTOR MARTINEZ – CONTEST HISTORY

But just seeing some of these names from yesteryear was a thrill all in it’s own, as the crowd at the Jackie Gleason Theater can attest. It has been years – and in some cases, decades – since some of these men donned the posing trunks.

In the bikini Olympia qualifier, India Paulino took first place, with Tianna Ta (second) and Juliana Daniell (third) following.

Just who walks away from the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami, Florida this weekend remains to be seen, but it goes without saying that we should all take note of those names and expect to see them in the months and years ahead.

2011 will be the first year that the Men’s and Women’s Physique divisions will be represented at the Nationals.

In its 29th year of existence, the Nationals has had a who’s-who of the sport of bodybuilding come through the ranks. This is an impressive list of the winners and the greatness that many of the men have went on to obtain since turning pro is self-explanatory:

1982: Lee Haney

1983: Bob Paris

1984: Mike Christian

1985: Phil Williams

1986: Gary Strydom

1987: Shawn Ray

1988: Vince Taylor

1989: Troy Zuccolotto

1990: Alq Gurley

1991: Kevin Levrone:

1992: John Sherman

1993: Mike Francois

1994: Paul DeMayo

1995: Don Long

1996: Willie Stallings

1997: Tom Prince

1998: Orville Burke

        1999: Aaron Maddron 

2000: Victor Martinez

2001: Jonnie O. Jackson

2001: Toney Freeman

2003: Mat Duval

2004: Chris Cook

2005: Bill Wilmore

2006: Desmond Miller

2007: Evan Centopani

2008: Ed Nunn

2009: Cedric McMillan

2010: Robert Burneika

Regarding the reduction of body fat, these problems are almost always diet, not workout, related. The “Iron Guru” Vince Gironda stated “body sculpting is 80% diet…if you don’t have your diet down first, the rest is moot.

I was told a story of a nineteen-year old named Pete who was overweight and fat, his diet consisted of mainly pasta and other carbohydrates. Pete’s goal was to become a Mr. America winner. Under Vince Gironda’s wing, Pete got ripped and won the Mr. California title. How did he do this? By taking Vince’s advice, he gradually reduced his carbs and increased his protein intake.

Stone Age Eating

The vast majority of nutrient consumption for the past 100,000 years or so has been in the form of saturated animal fat and protein, with fat taking the larger percentage. The balance was made up of  things that could be eaten in a raw state such as vegetables, berries, some fruits (in season) and nuts. That’s basically it. It has only been fairly recently that mans diet has shifted to a diet of high carbs – breads, pastas, candy bars, sodas, etc.  And we grew fat and sicker and weaker after that change was made.

Arnold and many of the bodybuilders of the 60′s were on the Vince Gironda’s diet of steak, eggs, protein powder mixed with half and half, etc.  It was a healthy moderate fat, high protein, low carb diet with plenty of green veggies.

A bodybuilder named Eddie Giuliani, who worked at World’s Gym in the 1980′s, used to laugh at the “carb freaks” who were trying to get lean on diets full of pasta. “I can’t wait until bodybuilders go back to the steak and eggs diet.”,  he would say.  At the time Eddie was in his fifties, but he still had a ripped six-pack that would make everyone envious.

There should be  no doubt that dietary fat does not make people fat.  It is the combination of fat and carbohydrates (and excessive caloric consumption along with a sedentary lifestyle) that makes people fat.

Recently I decided to radically lower my carbohydrate intake. I replaced all carbs with green vegetables and limited my fruit to one serving per day. I got much leaner on a 65% fat diet than I ever was on 50% carbs. (I do try to balance my saturated fats with omega 3 oils and try to consume more lean meats, but fat is still fat calorically speaking. Dietary fat also has little to do with cholesterol and heart disease. If you want the truth, read The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD.)

My calorie intake was higher, but my body fat has decreased and my energy levels were way up and I didn’t have the “blood sugar lows” I had while on a higer carb diet.

Give Vince’s Diet a test drive

First, gradually cut back on the amount of processed carbs you’re consuming. Pastas, breads, sugars, etc., are typically the biggest problems. Replace the calories from these with protein foods and green vegetables.

Plan on eating five to six small meals throughout the day will help.  For example, if you’re consuming 2,500 calories, divide that by five and have 500 at breakfast, morning/afternoon snack, lunch and dinner.

Drink lots of water.  If you’re not drinking at least a gallon per day, you’re setting yourself up for water retention.  Your kidneys won’t have enough fluids to work with and you’re going to have trouble losing body fat.

About The Author: Paul Becker is a natural (steroid free for life) bodybuilder and fitness consultant. For more information on Bodybuilding and Bodybuilding Supplements visit his website at http://www.trulyhuge.com

Dayana Cadeau may be making the switch at the right time and announced it last month on her Facebook page:

“I would like to thank all my fans for their support for all these years of my bodybuilding career. This weekend was my last Olympia show as a bodybuilder. I’m gonna do Women’s Physique as an IFBB pro. Much better for me.”

Throughout her 16-year bodybuilding career, Cadeau has competed in numerous shows each year and was a regular at the Arnold Classic and Ms. Olympia. As recently as the last Arnold, she finished in the top 10, and was in the top six at the 2010 Olympia.

But now she is delving into a new class that people are still curious about. Physique is said to be in between bodybuilding and figure, so someone with as much muscle mass as Cadeau will have to a lot of modifications to her routine and diet in order to bring it down.

It remains to be seen the effect that WPD will have on the industry and if other female bodybuilders will follow Cadeau. And then there is the question of how many amateur competitors will go into physique instead of bodybuilding. These are all things that will play themselves out.

But for now, it will be very interesting to see the transformation of Dayana Cadeau.

The top six resembled the one in Las Vegas in more ways, with Dexter Jackson being the one exception. ‘The Blade’ sat this show out, so Toney Freeman moved up from seventh at the O to sixth here. Kai Greene (third), Victor Martinez (fourth) and Dennis Wolf (fifth) placed the same.

The big names in bodybuilding will now enter a much deserved offseason in anticipation for an action packed 2012. In March, of course, the Arnold Classic takes place and we surely will see the likes of Martinez, Wolf and Freeman. But there will be questions if Greene will compete in Ohio again.  It seems a given that Cutler and Heath will choose to prepare year round for the Olympia.

The final placings at the IFBB Sheru Classic were as follows:

1- Phil Heath

2- Jay Cutler

3- Kai Greene

4- Victor Martinez

5- Dennis Wolf

6- Toney Freeman

7- Michael Kefalianos

8- Alfonso Del Rio Valencia

9- Mohammed Touri

10- Ntuk Sunday

11- Varinder Singh Ghuman

When asked if this was his most difficult win, English barely hesitated when he replied, “Definitely. I was just glad that I persevered.”

Without David Henry in the line-up due to military duty, English stared down James “Flex” Lewis and Jose Raymond and successfully defended the 202 Showdown title. The differences between this year and the previous ones were obvious and English acknowledged as much.

“Each year istotally  different, but you can never measure the heart of a champion,” he said. “Most of the competitors in my division are all champions in their own right. They have already won pro shows. So I always give everyone the same respect. You can never look passed anyone.”

Lewis finished as the runner-up and bested Raymond (third) after losing to him at the New York Pro. Jaroslav Horvath took fourth place in his final competition before retirement, Shaun-Joseph Tavernier placed fifth and Jason Arntz dropped one spot from last year but still came in looking good enough for the top six.

Seven through 10 were as follows: Stan McQuay, “Tricky” Jackson, Allan Auguste and Marvin Ward.