Many bodybuilders are starting to go beyond steroids and use growth hormone and now IGF-1. Recent research suggests that IGF-1 may play a big role in cancer formation. Harvard Medical School scientist showed that exposure to high amounts of IGF-1, may increase risk of many forms of cancers. The researchers noted that the studies are not conclusive though. Cancer is a very complicated disease and diet, environment, and genetics is a big factor in the cause of cancers. It’s best to not put these highly anabolic hormones in your body at all, so you have less risk of cancer.

Most sports trainers believe in icing as a way to help with healing and reducing swelling. There was a study done a few years ago that contradicts this popular belief. A study was done on 9 men in their 20’s. After strenuous excercise they measured their range of motion, creatine kinase, and muscle soreness. 14 days later(with no excercise between these 2 weeks) they did the excercises again. They then seperated the two groups one getting an ice massage with a 250ml thermal polystyrene ice ball and the other getting a “fake” one. They analyzed 24, 48,72 post massage and the results showed there was no significant impact between the placebo and non-placebo group.

Final thoughts:

While this study may seem to blow old tradition right out the window, it is only 9 volunteers, hardly a sizeable sample space to be outside of statistical significance. None of the participants had a true injury either, where icing may actually have a benefit in reducing extreme swelling.

Overtraining is a horrible thing for bodybuilders. It is often what puts inexperienced bodybuilders gains to a halt. Often we forget about the health effects of overtraining. Many bodybuilders are aware that overtraining increases the levels of cortisol, which leads to depression, sleep, and joint problems. According to research done in Chicago, Illinois it also may increase risk of heart disease too.

Bodybuilders who are steroid users often use NAC, Milk thistle, and other liver supplements to help their liver during and/or after a heavy cycle. One thing they may want to add to that is Olive Oil.

A study was done a few years ago by turkish researchers. They found that a olive oil and soybean oil combination, had the ability to regenerate liver cells in adult rats. While this study is done on rats, we don’t know if it works for humans. Olive Oil is a good source of “good fats”, so it will be worthwhile when trying to get your testosterone production back, regardless if it actually helps regenerate liver cells in humans.

You’ve probably heard that high protein diets lead to increased calcium excretion, leading to increased risk of osteoporosis. Men are usually only susceptible to it at very old age, but women can are higher risk at younger age. To help combat this, having extra calcium in the diet is important. Luckily protein powders and milk also happen to have significant calcium in them. According to recent research high salt in the diet increases calcium excretion. One way to combat this increased calcium excretion, is to increase your potassium intake or increase calcium in your diet.

If you are having trouble feeling rested after a long nights sleep you may be suffering from Sleep Apnea. Sleep apnea is a disorder, where a person will suddenly stop breathing spontaneously while asleep. They will stop breathing for up to 30 seconds and violantely awake in order to restart breathing.

You can stop breating multiple times at night and disrupt the sleep pattern. This can effect your recovery from workouts. Sleep Apena usually effects overweight or big individuals. Very muscular bodybuilders may be low bodyfat % as a result of carrying more muscle, but they are also storing more fat then the average person overall. If you think you might be suffering from Sleep Apnea, you may want to get tested for it.

Social Physique Anxiety is a general mental condition, describing someone who’s thoughts are constantly worrying about what others think of their physical appearance. While everyone may think they have this condition at some point, it is when these thoughts cause you to miss out on life.

Many people think that woman suffer from this much more than men. However, a study by East Carolina University and the University of Florida, showed that both sexes suffer from Social Physique Anxiety in almost equal numbers. Many new and experienced bodybuilders suffer fromBigorexia.

Overweight or very skinny men may also suffer from “Gym fright”, that keeps them from ever joining a gym. If you have to get a home gym, then do it. But eventually it would be best for these types of people to join a gym and raise their confidence level.

This may sound like an obvious title, but often when the music and adrenaline is pumping, you may not feel like stopping your workout when you feel very slight pain during lifting. Not all injuries are equal, you can pull or strain a muscle slightly without causing a severe injury. This might cause you to shrug it off and maybe continue lifting.

It’s better to stop your workout and let it heal, than to make it worse. If you feel something funny or painful during your lift, stop your workout immediately. Depending on how bad it felt, you may want to take off a week or 2 from lifting with that muscle. Even if you don’t feel pain when you move it afterwards, your body does not lie. If you felt a slight pain or numbness in one of your muscles during the lift, then something is wrong. Weight training, when using proper form, is very safe. It’s hard to get a severe injury during weight training, unless you neglected a smaller injury by excercising through it.

Tuna makes up a large protein source for many bodybuilders because of price and convenience of it. But how healthy is Tuna with Mercury and other concerns?

Mercury & Tuna:

Many officials and nutritionist recommend that you should not eat more than 1-7 cans of tuna a week, depending on the source. Canned tuna has less mercury than Tuna steaks and chunk light white canned tuna has less mercury than chunk white canned tuna. If you plan to eat a lot of tuna, the liver supplement NAC is also recommended to help with mercury detoxification and elimination in the liver.

Health effects of too much Mercury:

The effects of too much mercury are: Lack of coordination, confusion, vision and hearing problems, and possible permanent damage to brain or kidneys. Luckily, adults can usually recover from mercury poisoning by stop eating Tuna.

Dangerous Tuna from China:

Where you get your Tuna is a major problem. Tuna from China is full of dangerous toxins and antibiotics. With U.S labeling in it’s current form you may not have any way of knowing where it is from by just reading the label.

In 2002 Congress pass and bush signed a law requiring country of origin be put on food labels. Due to politics it has yet to be implemented more then 5 years later! If you care about your health you should look for tuna that you know is not from China. If they don’t label the origin of country, don’t buy it.

Nearly 60 million people today have joint disorders. If you have been hitting the weights for years, you may need to take joint support supplements to help with your joint pain or arthritis. Even younger bodybuilders could use it as a preventitive measure against future joint problems.

Joint Supplement Reviews:

Glucosamine: Glucosamine (Glucosamine sulfate) is a natural occuring compound that helps manafacture glycosaminoglycan in cartilage. Glucosamine has been used in helping people with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. A study done on 178 Chinese suffering from knee arthritis took 1500 mg for 4 weeks. It was found more effective and better tolerated than prescription drug Ibuprofen. Recommended dosage is 500mg 3 times a day. There is no severe side effects from Glucosamine.

Chondritin: Chondritin (Chondritin Sulfate) is a major part of the structure of cartilage. According to studies it promotes bone healing. Recent studies also show it can lower cholesterol, help against arthersclerosis and help prevent heart attacks. Dosages are recommended at 300mg 3 times a day. There is no severe side effects.

MSM: MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) is another major constitute ofcartilage. Preliminary research shows it may be effective in Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Recommended dosages is 2 grams a day. There is no severe side effects with MSM.

Calcium: Calcium will help against osteoporotis. Steroids and high protein diets can cause an increase risk for osteoporotis in men. Calcium also may play a role in preventing cancer. 1000mg is the recommended daily dosage

Celadrin: Celadrin is a proprietary blend of acetylated fatty acids, esters, and other compounds. Celadrin works at the cellular level to make the joints more fluid and mobile.