Archive for March, 2008

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Man-made muscle

Friday, March 28th, 2008

By JENNIFER ROSS Contributor Twenty years ago, after picking up his first bodybuilding magazine, Randy Brendeland knew what he wanted to do. …
Twenty years ago, after picking up his first bodybuilding magazine, Randy Brendeland knew what he wanted to do.

and even after 14 weeks of intensive training and dieting the 35-year-old hasn’t lost his passion for competitive bodybuilding.

Brendeland, owner of Team Fitness in North Vancouver, has lost 48 pounds by consuming around 350 grams of protein per day.

To do so, his diet consists of mainly egg whites and lean turkey.

“I get extremely focused when I am training,” said Brendeland, who hasn’t competed since 2003.

He is currently doing seven days a week of cardio training and five days of weight training. An hour of cardio is done in the morning and another in the evening on an empty stomach using the tread and step mills.

“I do it because it provides me with a sense of accomplishment,” he explained.

It’s all in an effort to be ready for the IVKAR Cup of Natural Bodybuilding next month. Brendeland will compete in the novice category against naturally toned and sculpted athletes.

All the competitors will face drug and polygraph tests to prevent steroid use.

As early as grade 12, with the help of whey protein powders, Brendeland weighed 210 pounds.

A year later he competed at the Victoria Gold’s Gym Classic, his first body building contest and earned 14th place. At 22 he started a fitness clothing line called Rapid Body Wear and worked part-time as a deputy sheriff while training to become a champion bodybuilder.

After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1992, Brendeland moved to Vancouver with renewed determination. He bought a membership at Olympic Fitness, a downtown gym known for its hard-core bodybuilders, and began training. To make extra money while working as a car salesman and bouncer he sold memberships to a North Vancouver gym called Empire Fitness.

It was at Empire that Brendeland first started using steroids.

He was working towards the 1996 Bodymax Classic and was injecting himself with performance enhancing drugs.

The results were increased strength and energy, decreased body fat and better recovery times.

He placed seventh out of 12 competitors and a year later placed fourth and qualified for the B.C. championships where he finished third.

In 1997 Brendeland opened his own North Vancouver gym, The Firm, and a year later he qualified for the Canadian Nationals and decided to get off steroids.

He placed first at the 2001 Canadian National Bodybuilding Championships in the heavyweight division. Two years later, at Musclemania Vancouver he placed first in the heavyweight division.

“Over the past twenty years I have gained and lost over eight hundred pounds and that can be really hard on your body,” said Brendeland.

The six-foot tall bodybuilder currently weighs in at 215 pounds and is working at losing another three pounds before the show.

“The natural movement is growing in popularity. It’s great because it is healthy and attainable,” he added.

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Body Building Products - What is best for you?

Friday, March 28th, 2008

So you want to be a bodybuilder? You fantasize of ripped muscles and a well defined six pack. While many dream of aspiring to the bodybuilding realm, few actually reach that pinnacle. In order to build the muscle required to become a …
So you want to be a bodybuilder? You fantasize of ripped muscles and a well defined six pack. While many dream of aspiring to the bodybuilding realm, few actually reach that pinnacle. In order to build the muscle required to become a competitive bodybuilder, one must endure a rigorous fitness routine, which include hours of weightlifting. In addition bodybuilders are required to adhere to a special diet and require a considerable amount of rest to allow their muscles to recover from the strenuous workouts.As a sport, body builders take part in competitions worldwide. Participants are judged on their muscle tone, symmetry and overall routine. There are several levels of competition from amateur to the highly respected Mr. or Mrs. Universe competition, which has spawned the successes of such figures as the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In order to increase muscle mass, one must first decrease body fat content. One way to increase this mass in to increase the intake of protein, which is the main component of muscle. Foods such as eggs, meats, beans and legumes are high in protein content and are a staple of a body builder’s diet. Not only do these foods help to build muscle, but they also aid in repairs.

An additional way to maintain a protein rich diet is by the use of Body Building Products. There are a plethora of such Body Building Products, powders and shakes readily available on the market today. They are normally an added component of a healthy body builder’s diet. often times, given their hectic workout schedule, Body Building Products are used in the place of a regular meal. Meal replacement products are not only high in protein and low in fat; they also contain appropriate amounts of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals in order to help sustain the athlete until their next meal. While Body Building Products were made popular by professional athletes, they are starting to find their way into the mainstream fitness market as well.

Bodybuilding shakes and supplements are available in two forms. Some are ready to eat, or drink, while others require the addition of juice, water or some other liquid before they can be consumed. Some of the more common products used in the bodybuilding arena include amino acids, glucosamine, chondroitin, creatine, and thermagenics. Body Building Products can be purchased in a variety of venues such as health food stores, pharmacies and from online vendors; however, some require a doctor’s prescription before they can be acquired.

The science and technology of fitness are constantly evolving. Manufacturers are creating Body Building Products that will not only provide all the necessary nutrition an athlete requires, they are also making them in formulations that taste good. It is important to remember that while these products provide the essential nutrients a body needs, they are not a replacement for a well balanced, healthy diet filled with appropriate amount fruits, vegetables, protein, grain and dairy products. Furthermore, supplements will not produce muscle mass without proper exercise. When in doubt, remember, the surest way to a healthy fit body is proper diet and exercise.

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Knoxville’s Putnams make their mark in bodybuilding, figure

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Putnam, 30, finished second in his weight class at last year’s USA Bodybuilding Championship. Peter Putnam flexes during a recent workout …
Peter and Jessica Putnam would be the first to admit that bodybuilding and figure competition require many personal sacrifices.

A big, greasy Southern-style breakfast? Never.

A wild night on the town? Forget about it.

A nice dinner-and-movie date? Maybe in the offseason.

“It is a consuming lifestyle,” Peter Putnam said. “Your meal schedule, your training schedule dictates your day.”

But the effort has paid off for the Knoxville couple. They’re two of the hottest names on the bodybuilding and figure scene, according to Allan Donnelly, writer and editor for Flex Magazine.

Recently, they became the first married couple to ever appear on the cover of back-to-back issues of Flex, a popular industry magazine.

Peter Putnam, 30, finished second in his weight class at last year’s USA Bodybuilding Championship, and Donnelly said Putnam is the favorite for a top finish at this year’s event on Friday and Saturday, which would potentially give him pro status.

Jessica Paxson-Putnam, 24, meanwhile, is a star in figure competition, which focuses on proportion. She won the 2006 New York Pro Figure competition and placed fifth at the event in mid-July.

“They are in a unique position, going through the same things at the same time, making their mark on the industry at the same time,” Donnelly said.

Despite worldwide fame within the bodybuilding community, the Putnams are virtual unknowns locally beyond their roles as trainers at the Walker Springs Rush Fitness Complex.

“It’s pretty amazing we don’t hear more about them,” said Eddie Reymond, owner of the Health Shoppe, a health food store on Kingston Pike.

Bodybuilding is a growing niche in Knoxville, Reymond said. There are about 100 people in the Knoxville area who compete, he said, and many more who participate recreationally.
“You can kind of see it grow, and having people like Peter and Jessica is probably adding to that,” Reymond said. “People think,

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Muscle & marriage: Bodybuilding champs redefine strong r

Friday, March 28th, 2008

The Sanders are one of the few husband-wife bodybuilding couples in the Southeast. They will compete in Saturday’s Mississippi Bodybuilding and Figure …

When Billy and LeQuida Sanders go to the grocery store, their first stops are the bakery and the candy aisle.
Just to look.
“We’ll stare at all the stuff. I’ll say, ‘Ooh, I’d buy that’ - meaning probably a pound cake. I crave pound cake,” says LeQuida, 34. “and Billy loves candy.
“But then we’ll go and get what we came for - water and grapefruit.”
The Sanders are one of the few husband-wife bodybuilding couples in the Southeast. They will compete in Saturday’s Mississippi Bodybuilding and Figure Championships at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson. About 60 competitors are expected.
“Bodybuilding takes a great commitment,” says Billy, 41, a Jackson police officer. “and it’s not just the workouts. Anybody can go to the gym. It’s the dieting that keeps a lot of people from doing this. and having my wife go through it with me makes it a lot easier.”
“The diet makes you grumpy,” LeQuida says, laughing. “But at the end of the day, we realize it’s the diet making us that way and it’s not anything personal. We never go to bed without saying ‘I love you’ and we pray every morning before he goes out that door. Being a police officer, we know he might not come back home in one piece. So we make sure we keep things in perspective.”
The “grumpy” diet consists of oatmeal, egg whites, turkey breast, fish (with no seasoning), asparagus, broccoli, grapefruit and up to three gallons of water daily. Supplements include B-12, B-6, Glutamine and an occasional fat burner.
They work out at the Courthouse Racquet & Fitness Center on Lakeland Drive twice a day Monday through Saturday - cardiovascular for 45 minutes in the morning followed by a two-hour workout in the evening. Sunday’s session consists of cardio only.
Apparently, they have found the right formula. Billy and LeQuida won the overall titles at the NPC Southern Cup in Bossier City, La., in May.
Both had always worked out. “I’d get a (muscle) burn, but that would be about it,” LeQuida says.
But in 2001, Billy attended the Mississippi Bodybuilding and Figure Championships.
He happened to take along his video camera. “We were watching the tape one night, and I just couldn’t believe these people. I loved it right way,” LeQuida says. “I told him right then, ‘I’m going to do that.’ I think he thought I was joking.”
LeQuida sought the help of one of the women she had seen competing in figure, Kim Jones.
“I could hear her passion for it over the phone,” says Jones, a personal trainer and owner of Miss Kim’s Gymnastics and Cheerleading workout center in Raymond. “As a trainer, when you find someone who wants to soak up information like a sponge, it’s awesome.
“But I put her through some tests,” Jones laughs. “If we trained sort of easy one day, I’d be so hard on her the next day I thought she was going to quit. She would get upset, not answer her phone. But she would always show up the next day to work out.”
After watching LeQuida in her first competition, in Tunica in 2002, Billy decided to start bodybuilding, too.
“I think I impressed him,” LeQuida says with a smile.
Her first three years, LeQuida competed in the figure division, which focuses on lean and toned muscles rather than mass. “But I wanted more action,” she says. Two years ago, she switched to bodybuilding.
She gets some stares.
“I have a lot of women turn their noses up at me,” she says. “I’ve even been told ‘That’s not very lady like.’ But I just smile. I tell them this is the lifestyle I’ve chosen, and as long as I put the Lord first, I know I’ll be able to live it.”
She and Billy also get the inevitable question about whether they used steroids. Competitors at this weekend’s competition won’t be tested for steroids, but LeQuida says, “I’ve never done steroids. It took me five years of hard work to look the way I do. You don’t have to do steroids if you eat right and work out correctly.”
Billy adds: “People bring it up all the time to me. What they don’t realize is that we’re in the gym seven days a week - rain, shine, sleet or snow. The way we look is not about steroids.”
But LeQuida says she understands why people ask because her appearance changes - even her facial features - every year. “The more muscle I add, the more different I look,” she says. “But that’s OK with me.”
Since she’s been competing, LeQuida’s biceps have grown from 9 inches to 20, her waist dipped from 25 to 18 and her body fat decreased from 16 to 9. She stands 5 feet 3 1/2 inches and weighs 143 pounds.
“I love it,” says Billy, who is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds. “I want her to get bigger and bigger.”
Their four children, ages 13 to 20, love it, too.
“They take pictures of us to school - and we always have to make career day,” says LeQuida, who owns Lady of America fitness gym in Flowood. “We’ll have kids mashing and poking on us … but all of that is part of the fun.
“Like I said, this is not for everybody. But it’s perfect for Billy and me.”

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Catching up with… Ted Voight

Friday, March 28th, 2008

That’s just a taste of the final stages of attaining the look for a bodybuilding competition. Ted Voight, a 1998 Johnsburg graduate, joins less than 1 …
Here’s an exercise regimen most people aren’t used to:It involves not only having a lean body, but dehydrating yourself, making your skin thinner by dropping water weight, doing some last-minute lifting and eating sugar so your veins start popping out.

Pretty abnormal, right?

That’s just a taste of the final stages of attaining the look for a bodybuilding competition.

Ted Voight, a 1998 Johnsburg graduate, joins less than 1 percent of the U.S. population that is dedicated to living in the weight room. Ultimately, he’d like to attain the status of pro heavyweight bodybuilder in the next year or two.

“The human body is such a complex thing,” Voight said. “Like eating one candy bar could cause you to retain water under the skin. The look that we go for is unnatural.”

Voight, 26, has been lifting and working out to some extent since he was 11. But he never saw himself as a bodybuilder growing up. Like many people, he thought the look simply didn’t make sense.

Once he got into the dynamics of the body, though, he was hooked.

“We’re … dysfunctional,” Voight admits of the bodybuilding world. “But it’s my passion, and you can’t put down my sport and passion.”

The former IHSA state-qualifying wrestler and Johnsburg football player had plans to continue his football career at Illinois State. But he decided to put that behind him.

Voight started as a business major, then found out about isU’s exercise and nutrition program.

“I didn’t know they had that in their curriculum,” Voight said. “I graduated with honors because I was into the subject matter, asking professors questions all the time, almost trying to stump them.”

Post-college, Voight was a personal trainer at Life Time Fitness, and he hoped to work his way up the corporate ladder. When that didn’t happen, Voight felt he was capable of opening his own place, only with a personal touch.

That’s just what he did a little more than a year ago when he started PT 101, a personal training and fitness facility in Roselle.

“Typically, when you open a business, when you start off, you start slow,” Voight said. “I went in big – bigger place, more equipment than what I planned to do. and it expanded quickly.

“They took a big hit at Life Time [in Schaumburg]. A lot of their guys came here. It affected their training program, and we’re blooming.”

PT 101 has nine full-time trainers and one part-timer, all capable of handling diverse clientele. Whether it’s kickboxing, bodybuilding or treating knee or rotator cuff problems, Voight said the company covers nearly everything. and it is done one-on-one between the trainer and client.

“I sit with the clientele and we go over goals,” Voight said. “Everybody gets a free assessment, and what happens is we size them up with the right trainer.

“When they see the people training in here, they see how hands-on we are.”

As trainers pass along their expertise to clients, they work on their own goals. For Voight, he attacked bodybuilding with vigor from Day 1.

Rather than start out at a novice show, Voight delved into the Mr. Illinois competition when he was 24. He took third at light heavyweight, but only the top two receive national qualification status.

“It was a learning experience,” Voight said. “It was very hard on me, but it’s very rewarding.”

Voight didn’t ease up. Last year, he returned to the Illinois competition and also traveled to Wisconsin’s. He won both at light heavyweight, earning national show qualification status through June 2008.

Along the way, Voight has a growing supplemental company sponsoring his path in Pride Nutrition.

After competing recently at junior nationals, the 5-foot-8 Voight realizes he needs to work more heavily on his arms and bulk up to a 225-pound frame so he can become a heavyweight. His hope, obviously, is to attain professional bodybuilding status.

At that level, the judging criteria is flawless.

“At the national level, they look at what you don’t have,” Voight said. “Everybody’s got a good six-pack, bulging pecs. But when you walk out there, you just say,

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