P.J. Braun, 2006 NPC New England heavyweight bodybuilding champion, has had gynecomastia surgery to remove bitch tits that he once developed during his early amateur bodybuilding days.

In this video, he endorses Dr. Mordecai Blau and firmly recommends him for performing this type of procedure.

For those of you muscle rats who have serious cases of gyno and are considering this option, Dr. Blau’s medical office is located in White Plains, NY…. and you can find out more about his practice HERE.

Anabolic steroids do not only bulk up the bodies of bodybuilders and athletes but also pump their gums.

According Dr. Onur Ozcelik and his colleagues from Cukurova University, the overgrown gums make it easier for bacteria in plaque to accumulate, placing steroid users at risk for severe gum infection.

The study compared the gums of 24 body builders who had been using anabolic steroids for less than one year with 20 body builders who had never used steroids. All participants were between the ages of 17 and 29. Gum thickness, encroachment of gum tissue onto teeth, and other measurements were rated on a scale from 0 (normal) to 3 (worst).

After the study, the team found out that steroid users have significantly enlarged gums but they did not have more plaque underneath their gums.

From medpage today:

The overgrown gums make it easier for bacteria in plaque to accumulate, placing steroid users at risk for severe gum infection, said Onur Ozcelik, D.D.S., Ph.D., and colleagues of Cukurova University here in the July issue of the Journal of Periodontology.

The gingiva is affected by sex hormones, and clinical changes in periodontal tissue have been observed during puberty, pregnancy, menopause, and with the use of oral contraceptives, Dr. Ozcelik and colleagues said.

Compared with their steroid-free counterparts, the steroid users were found to have:

1) significantly thicker gums (an average score of 1 versus 0.3; P<.001).
2) more gingival encroachment onto teeth (an average score of 0.9 versus 0.2; P<.001).
3) more overall gingival enlargement (average score 0.9 versus 0.3; P<.001).

The research team said that because it is not known if the gingival enlargement would also regress after the withdrawal of anabolic androgenic steroids, so dentists and periodontists have to be familiar with the potential side effects of anabolic steroids to the gingival tissues.

Interesting stuff!!!!

If you’re afflicted with allergies and occassional sinus attacks (just like us), then pay attention!

Budesonide, a steroid nasal wash, can help in minimizing the symptoms of chronic sinusitis without affecting functions of the adrenal gland, as per a small U.S. Study.

Chronic Sinusitis refers to a continuing inflammation of the nose and sinuses behind it, which affects up to 14 percent of the U.S. Population.

Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis said that this study was the first to examine safety of such a nasal wash besides noting that suppression of the functions of the adrenal gland is a known complication of Budesonide.

From Bio-Medicine.Org:

All participants reported at least some improvement in their sinusitis symptoms, and their adrenal gland function was not affected, the study found. The results were published in the March issue of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery.

“The clinical significance of this study is that budesonide nasal respules appear safe for short-term use for the relief of symptoms associated with chronic sinusitis,” the researchers concluded. “Budesonide respules seem to provide an effective treatment option for the patient with chronic rhinosinusitis with minimal fear of systemic adverse effects.”

The FDA has yet to approve Budesonide as a nasal wash.

This means that the nasal wash of this study would be an off-label use of the drug.

In the meanwhile, researchers advised doctors to advise patients about the risks associated with long-term use of Budesonide such as decreased bone mineral density.

Kinda cool if used appropriately, huh?

But this is not the kind of steroid you would use in a bodybuilding cycle… we just wanted to highlight this story because of the bad reputation that word “steroids” has earned lately.

Researchers have uncovered new evidence to explain the observation that diets rich in protein stunt the appetite, according to a recent report in Cell Metabolism.

The findings suggest a novel link connecting macronutrients in the diet to hunger, the researchers said. The results also point to a potential new target for the treatment of eating disorders.

“It is well known that protein feeding decreases hunger sensation and subsequent food intake in animals and humans,” said study author Gilles Mithieux of INSERM and Universite Lyon in France.

However, the mechanism by which proteins exert their control over appetite remained unclear, the researchers said. In fact, earlier studies have found that a rise in dietary protein shows little effect on the major hormones that regulate hunger, they added.

In a study of rats, Mithieux and colleagues made the surprising discovery that diets heavy in protein spark the production of glucose in the small intestine. That rise in glucose, sensed in the liver and relayed to the brain, led the animals to eat less:

“The current findings provide an answer to the question of how protein-enriched meals decrease hunger and reduce eating, unsolved up to now,” according to the researchers. “Our data also brings to light a novel concept of control of food intake, involving the small intestine glucose metabolism as a key relay from the macronutrient composition of the diet to the amount of food ingested.”

The group found that protein feeding of rats markedly increased the activity of genes involved in glucose production in the animals’ small intestine. Those activities led to glucose synthesis and release into the portal vein–the vessel that conducts blood from digestive and other organs to the liver–a phenomenon lasting after the assimilation of glucose from the diet.

Furthermore, they found that the flux in glucose detected by the liver glucose sensor activated parts of the brain involved in the control of appetite, causing a decline in subsequent food consumption:

“In addition to protein’s ability to diminish appetite, it had also been suggested that glucose appearance in the portal vein, as occurs during meal assimilation, may induce comparable consequences,” Mithieux said. “Here, we connect these previous observations by reporting that intestinal synthesis of glucose is induced following food digestion in rats specifically fed a protein-enriched diet.”

“As in rats, diets high in protein suppress appetite in people,” the researchers added. “The human intestine also synthesizes glucose. Therefore, glucose metabolism in the small intestine may be a new target in the treatment of food intake disorders,” they said.”

So eat more protein if you want to get rid of those late night hunger cravings!!!

Burning fat & building big muscle can become a mantra to those of us that seriously work out on a regular basis.

The whole aim of working out is to keep yourself in good condition, which means reducing the fat you are carrying and building muscle to make yourself stronger.

Many people still don’t understand the fundamental principles:

Tip 1:
Do lots of cardio. You’ll never burn fat & build muscle without it. If you have a regular lifting routine, the chances are you eat far more than a regular person. That’s okay, it’s all good fuel to help those muscles grow back bigger and stronger. But if you want to be big AND defined, you’ll need to do a lot of cardio to burn off the excess carbs and fat.

Tip 2:
A great tip to help you burn fat/build muscle while you work out is to vary the amounts of weight you lift – true, to get truly good gains and build muscle, you need to lift as much as you can without straining yourself. But did you know lightening things up a little, say once a week, will help you burn calories by exercising other areas of the muscle? Lighter weights and lots of reps is a huge calorie burner, and will give you a more sculpted look to the muscle. This is a basic necessity for those of you who are trying to lose fat or are on a cutting cycle.

Tip 3:
Another great way to burn fat and build muscle is to get into some kind of circuit training. It’s not a service offered at all gyms or health centers, but if you can find it then try to get involved. Imagine a running track with weight lifting equipment in the middle. You run, and then you lift, then you run, then you lift. You get the picture. There are no breaks, you do a lap, then you lift, then you do another lap. It’s HUGELY tiring, but will get you into the best shape of your life.

Tip 4:
This final tip is fundamental for many people, but it’s surprising how many serious workout fanatics just ignore the idea of watching what they eat. You don’t have to eat like a supermodel, but if you are careful about the way your daily intake is made up, you can see significant reductions in fat and an increase in muscle mass without ever changing your workout.

Clearly, there’s so much more to getting the perfect body than just blindly lifting weights. Hopefully this introductory guide will help you to optimize your own muscle building and fat burning results.

Good Luck!

When the average person takes a look at a bodybuilder all he sees is a series of lumps and bumps of varying shapes and sizes. Upon inspection he may find these odd protrusions to be fascinating, cool, or perhaps grotesque… maybe even a little intimidating. But little does he know how complex and intricate all these “lumps” really are!

Ok, first let’s stop calling them lumps or bumps and refer to them more properly as skeletal muscles, or just muscles for short.

Muscle is composed of bundles of muscle fibers or myofibers. Each fiber is composed of myofibrils, which, in turn, are composed of myofilaments.

The myofilaments are made up of two proteins called myosin and actin. The myosin and actin act within the smallest functional unit of muscle, the sarcomere, to produce a contraction. It is the myosin protein, however, which holds the key to the differences in muscle fiber types. (Complicated lumps these muscles, aren’t they! Still with us? Hope we didn’t lose you… Read on….)

In general, there are three different fiber types in skeletal muscle. These three include: Type I, also known as slow-twitch or red fibers; Type IIA, and Type IIB, also known collectively as fast-twitch or white fibers.

Type I are the slowest, smallest, and have the highest level of endurance of all the fibers. Next come the Type IIA and finally the Type IIB, which are the fastest, largest, and least endurance oriented in the group.

As you contract a muscle, you’ll recruit those muscle fibers in a specific order. The smallest fibers, Type I, are recruited first. As the speed or force of contraction is increased, you will sequentially recruit the Type IIA and IIB muscle fibers. However, to recruit the Type IIB fibers it may take over 90% of a maximal contraction!

All people are born with these muscle fiber types. Most muscles contain almost an even split of slow (Type I) and fast (Type II) fibers. There are a few exceptions, however, as the soleus muscle of the calf is predominantly slow twitch, while the gastrocnemius muscle and the hamstrings are predominantly fast twitch. Also, individuals that are involved in sports with vastly different requirements, like sprinters vs. marathon runners, may have a higher/lower percentage of one fiber type.

So what does this mean to all of us bodybuilders? Well, in order to obtain maximal muscle size we must regularly train all of our muscle fibers. A combination of bodybuilding (higher and lower rep), powerlifting, and even a little Olympic-style lifting may be best. Bodybuilding seems to stress the Type I and IIA fibers, while the IIB fibers may be best stimulated through powerlifting and Olympic lifting.

We here at GymJox believe that the key to long-term bodybuilding progress is: VARIATION!!!

Using the general training protocol of 3 sets of 10 reps will work to a point, but soon your body and mind will adapt and a change will be necessary to keep progress constant. By selectively alternating your training volume (total sets/reps), training intensity (weight lifted), training techniques (forced reps, pre-exhaust, supersets, drop sets, etc.), training tempo (rep speed), rest between sets, body part arrangement, etc., you’re more likely to avoid injuries and over training and therefore maximize your gains.

Just remember that your muscles are stubborn. The body enjoys homeostasis and change is not something that comes easily. The body will fight you every step of the way. Don’t do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Don’t get stuck in just one type of training program! Be creative! Be dynamic! Your muscles will reward you with continuous gains in size, strength, and endurance.

Now, get to work on those “lumps.”

Good hydration helps your kidneys cope with the extra toxins generated by the extra protein (and, potentially, creatine) that you ordinarily may consume in weight gain diets.

These wastes need to be dissolved in water.

If the kidneys do not have enough water to handle the waste removal load, they can turn to the liver for help.

This is not a good thing as one of the liver’s duties is to metabolize fat for energy.

When the liver is helping the kidneys, it isn’t metabolizing fat.

In other words, a properly hydrated body will burn more fat tissue.

So the answer is FALSE of course!! Drinking water helps you BURN fat… duh!

Controlling the release of cortisol can be achieved by employing the following methods:

1) Exercise (aerobically and with weights): This may seem like a paradox but correct exercise, although it increases stress, will negate the effects of cortisol in the long term. The key is to not overtrain and to do just enough to adequately stimulate the particular system being training (muscular or aerobic). Aerobic sessions should be kept at between 30 and 45 minutes and weight sessions should be no longer than 45-60 minutes. The endorphin release from these two types of exercise should offset any release in cortisol. Exercise will (during and immediately afterward) place the body in a catabolic state. But provided the sessions are not too long and nutritional needs are met, a relaxed state will ultimately be achieved, and cortisol release will be controlled. Weight training also increases growth hormone which offsets cortisone release.

2) Nutrition: Nutrition is important at all times of the day for bodybuilders. To control cortisol release, eating first thing in the morning and directly after a workout are optimum times. This is because in these most stressful times insulin does not have the nullifying effect it normally has on cortisol and diet must facilitate an insulin release directly. Both carbohydrates and protein are important at these times.

3) Stress Management: Given that cortisol is released in response to stressful life events, whether they be of a physical or psychological nature, it is important to try to control these events. For example, it would be wise to try to relax whenever possible and to try not to overreact to trivial things like losing ones shoes, etc. Every time this happens cortisol is released and gains are compromised. Think of what we could achieve if stressful events were relatively few!

4) Supplement with Glutamine: Glutamine may help to reduce cortisol by supplying cortisol with blood glutamine. If glutamine is artificially supplemented, cortisol will not have to destroy muscle fibers to obtain it.

5) Sleep: Cortisol is at its lowest and growth hormone is at its highest during slow wave sleep (deepest stage of sleep). Ensure that this stage of sleep is attained every night.

6) Limiting Caffeine Intake: As little as 2-3 cups of coffee per day can elevate cortisol levels due to the stimulating effect of caffeine.

7) Increase Vitamin C Intake: Research has shown that patients receiving 3 grams of vitamin C per day experience lower cortisol levels. A daily multivitamin should do the trick, as most are loaded with vitamin C.

As one trains and diets according to the dictates of tried and tested bodybuilding strategies it is well worth noting the implications of cortisol release. Its effect on the body can be deleterious if not controlled effectively and aspiring muscle jocks should strive to employ the methods outlined in this article if success is desired.

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is actually very dangerous for aspiring bodybuilders and gym jocks… it can really fuck with your muscle building goals if not addressed properly.

In fact, cortisol is termed catabolic as it has the opposite effect to testosterone, insulin and growth hormone in that IT BREAKS DOWN MUSCLE TISSUE!

Cortisol, which is naturally released by the adrenal glands under conditions of high mental and physical stress and high temperature, is the body’s primary catabolic hormone.

The three main functions of cortisol are:
1) The reduction of protein synthesis.
2) The facilitation of protein to glucose.
3) The halting of muscle tissue growth.

It is therefore essential that cortisol release is controlled if one is to facilitate muscle growth.

As well as being released under conditions of stress and high temperature, cortisol is also released first thing in the morning. Morning cardio has been thought to be effective for this very reason.

However this is misguided thinking because exercising on an empty stomach first thing in the morning has been shown to actually intensify cortisol’s effects thus resulting in further muscle loss, and consequently metabolic resistance to body fat loss.

There is not a lot a bodybuilder can do in terms of completely restricting cortisol release as, although cortisol can be problematic for bodybuilders, it is an important hormone nevertheless.

The vital functions that cortisol govern are the regulation of inflammatory responses in the body and the balancing of blood sugar in times of stress. It is excess cortisol that is the problem for bodybuilders not cortisol per se.

The dangers of excess cortisol are:
1) Reduced growth hormone, and testosterone output.
2) Osteoporosis.
3) Reduced muscle and increased abdominal fat.
4) Impaired memory and learning.
5) Reduced glucose utilization.
6) Impaired immunity.

For those of you who’ve managed to stay lean yet still can’t shake that overbearing belly fat, chances are that your cortisol levels need to be addressed.

We’ll be discussing how to control cortisol levels in a future post… SO STAY TUNED GYM JOX!

Hard gainers need to incorporate many different principles in order to achieve their muscle building ambitions and goals. Many bodybuilders get to discover this through the hard way of personal experience, which results in wasted time, energy and money.

Most aspiring muscle jocks go to the gym believing that there is no such thing as training too often, too much, or too long. They don’t bother to spend a respectable amount of time in constructing an effective training regimen for themselves.

Training on these principles ultimately results in lack of muscle growth… and to counter this problem hard gainers mistakenly put in more training hours at the gym. But in doing so, their results go from bad to worse.

Well it’s a good time to start facing the truth, folks!

In the sport of bodybuilding, effort and effect do not show any evidence of a linear relationship. On the contrary, our bodies are fuel burning entities which are very complex and depend upon delicate balances. Improper and excessive training breaks downs these balances. Simply put, if you burn your energy reserves faster than they get replenished, you’ll deplete the entire mechanism of strength, stamina and ability to recuperate.

If you are a beginner bodybuilder, you MUST get your body conditioned to handle increased levels of stress rather that jump right into the drive to achieve your goals quickly. It is wise for beginners to keep their workout schedule to a maximum of three days per week, training the whole body in each workout and training each muscle group with a maximum of three sets per exercise. Each set should be taken to total failure… not mental failure but physical failure. In other words, don’t quit mentally before your body physically forces you to quit.

Bring variety in the types of exercises employed. If you take up exercise “A” for a muscle group in one workout, then take up exercise “B” for the same muscle group in the next workout.

Split training is suggested for advanced bodybuilders. If your workout schedule is comprised of training four days a week – Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays – separate body parts so that half of the body is worked on Monday and the other half on Tuesday.

As a muscle building addict you need to increase your protein intake with significant amounts than you take up in a normal active life. As soon as you substantially increase your protein consumption, your muscle size will gradually increase.

In fact, if you are a hard gainer then this may be your root problem. As per modern standards you need at least 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per pound of your body weight in order to provide the scenario for muscle mass growth. Unfortunately, most hard gainers don’t even consume fifty percent of this requirement.

Lastly, your training program should emphasize more on the use of free weights over machines. And always be sure that you have warmed up adequately before you start lifting weights for muscle building.

We’ll have more info that hard gainers can use in future posts, so stay tuned gym freaks!