0 Branch Warren Bodybuilder

Branch Warren bodybuilder will be one of expected bodybuilders at Mister Olympia 2010. Could he be the next one?

Branch Triceps

0 MusclePharm Bleeding Money

Perhaps one of the most ambitious nutritional supplement companies to hit the market in the past few years is MusclePharm. Right out of the gates they signed Paul Dillett, Louis Simmons, and a bunch of MMA fighters to endorse the product line. Getting Paul was a huge coup because he is the president of a decent-sized bodybuilding federation (the World Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation, or WBFF), as was getting Louie Simmons, who is a legend in the powerlifting scene. They also signed some NFL players, and have Dr. Eric Serrano on the team. Paul and Louie are still huge in their respective fields, and the NFL and MMA guys in their stable are certainly up-and-comers (Xyience tried going the MMA-Sponsorship route a few years ago, and it didn’t seem to work – while EAS did the NFL-player thing and it worked extremely well).

MusclePharm also made the early decision to go public, meaning you can buy stock in the company (*a share is going for about a buck right now).

All of these early and aggressive moves have made them the Bodybuilding.com “New Company of the Year” for 2009, and the 18th best selling brand on the site, while their testosterone booster, Battle Fuel, is the 5th best selling product in that category. If we take a closer look at the testosterone booster category, however, we find that two of the top 5 products are different sizes of the same product…Optimum ZMA. I don’t think it’s really fair to put a $10 bottle of ZMA in the same category as $40 bottles of legit test boosters…so if we don’t consider the ZMA bottles, then what we’re actually seeing is a top 3 product in the category. That’s no joke.

But since they are a publicly traded company, their finances are a matter of public record. And here’s how they break down:

Three months ended 2010 ———–

(unaudited)

Sales of product, net of $61,867 and

$112,314 allowances and discounts for

March 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively $ 1,258,588

Cost of sales (873,632)

———–

Gross margin (loss) 384,956

Operating Expenses:

Advertising and promotion 1,195,696

Bad debt 1,890

Service charges and fees 9,882

Salaries and labor 226,139

Depreciation and amortization 3,065

Insurance 22,690

Information technology 28,629

Travel, meetings and entertainment 28,720

Occupancy, telephone and utilities 30,302

Office and warehouse supplies 4,307

Professional fees 1,084,583

Other 709

———–

Total Operating Expenses 2,636,612

———–

Operating (Loss) (2,251,656)

Interest (expense) (358,060)

———–

Net (Loss) $(2,609,716)

===========

Now, I’m not really great with numbers, but their losses are in the millions. Millions! Removing the professional fees (the cost of going public), they still would have lost a quarter million dollars. And if we look at their sales figures, their promotional costs (sponsorships, etc…) are roughly the same as their sales. They’re certainly being very aggressive with their sponsorships, promotions, and athlete signings, but I’m just not sure that this business model is sustainable in the long term.They’ve certainly seen some returns on their investments, as evidenced by their ranking on Bodybuilding.com, but is it enough to turn things around before they go bankrupt?

Time will tell.

Source

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0 Species Nutrition Lawsuit and Company Update

Species Nutrition is in flux right now, either planning to reformulate their current line, or to phase the brand out altogether. I’m hearing that Bactolac (the company who previously handled their product manufacturing) is hesitant to continue working with Species and owner, Dave Palumbo, as they’ve been named in the recent lawsuit against Species Nutrition. From my understanding, Dave has been contacting other production facilities. However, I would also guess that his source for usnic acid is unlikely to continue furnishing it for him, as they too have been named in the current lawsuit, as has Bodybuilding.com, who will likely not carry the Species Nutrition brand after the lawsuit is finished.

I’m not entirely certain which route Dave is going, but he’d be smart to discontinue using the Species name entirely, as anyone performing a Google search will be greeted with an auto-fill informing them of the lawsuit:

In a practical sense, this means anyone who searches for information about Species Nutrition, will likely find out about the lawsuit, alleging unsafe (potentially deadly) products. Therefore, it’s in the company’s best interest to dissolve, and this is exactly what I’ve heard they’re talking about doing…perhaps to open up another company under a different name. All of that is logical, albeit conjecture at this point – but I’ll stand behind it and say we’re going to minimally see Somalyze and Lipolyze reformulated, and the name changed (but again, perhaps the whole company will also be setting up shop under a different one). I also think it’s telling that Palumbo hasn’t publicly spoken about the lawsuit, instead allowing John Romano and Joel Goldberg do all of the talking; this way, when Species takes a beating in court, and they pull usnic acid from their products, it’s John and Joel who have gone on the record and been proven wrong.

I’ve also heard from multiple sources that they’ve attempted to enlist the services of Patrick Arnold as a formulator for their revamped line – this is not a rumor, but rather, a confirmed job offer from Species Nutrition to Patrick Arnold. For many reasons, this is a bad idea: I’m not entirely certain that Patrick’s recent legal worries are finished, and the trifecta of three ex-cons involved in a single nutritional company, who have already been sued for product liability, would be a great target for the FDA. Also, the last time Patrick was involved with Species Nutrition, it involved Testolyze, a 6-OXO product which was pulled off shelves following the Bodybuilding.com raid.

Still, Patrick has had proven success as a formulator; he’s got a commercial winner on his hands with the Chelated D-Aspartic Acid product, he struck gold with prohormones, and did very well with Geranimine. By contrast, Palumbo couldn’t formulate a glass of chocolate milk.

At this stage, a enlisting the services of Patrick seems unlikely, as he would almost certainly lose his job over at Muscular Development. I’m also told by numerous sources (confirmed) that Patrick declined the offer to formulate for Species. This all went down approximately at the same time as Romano happened to write an article about how great Patrick’s new DAA product is.

But…should we see any new (and decent) products being mysteriously added to the Species Nutrition (or whatever they call themselves by that time) product line, a lot of suspicion will be leveled at Patrick.

Source

Your Eight Week Summer Slim down! Get Started at Bodybuilding.com!

0 Positive Test Confirmed at the 2010 NPC Team Universe

According to industry source Anthony Roberts there has been one confirmed and one suspected but yet unconfirmed positive drug tests at the 2010 NPC Team Universe.

Check out the story here:

Positive Test Confirmed at the 2010 NPC Team Universe

Perfectmatch.com - The best approach to find the one.

0 Bodybuilding Diet Plan

In bodybuilding Diet is as much important than training. And even for those who are competing. Here's a Pre-contest bodybuilding diet plan: Read>>

0 Supercompensation and the Progressive Overload Dilemma

So what exactly is Supercompensation and the Progressive Overload Dilemma? Well if you've been training consistently for more than a few years you've already faced it, although you may not have been familiar with its name.

As a beginner, almost any training program will produce results. A body that hasn't adapted yet to training will adapt quickly. It may seem as though you're able to add weight to the bar almost every workout.

Each workout stimulates an adaptation to allow the body to handle more the next time. The period of time in which the body is sufficiently prepared to handle a greater load than before is called the Supercompensation phase.

But eventually progress slows and further increases in strength and muscular size are only possible when the program is altered to produce more overload. At this point, weight can no longer generally be added at every workout, but often weight can be added weekly.

At this point progressive overload requires manipulation of sets, reps, load, rest intervals and time-under-tension (TUT).

But what happens when you’ve manipulated all of the variables as much as possible and you still can’t make progress?

This is called the Progressive Overload Dilemma.

The solution or at least the attempt to provide progressive overload is through the manipulation of volume and intensity over longer periods of time.

With a couple years of training behind you, the loads you can lift are far more taxing to both your structures as well as your recovery ability. For this reason, cycling of loads and volumes must be carefully planned or progress is halted.

The longer you train, the more complex the planning of your training must be to elicit further progress.

Here’s a breakdown of how volumes and loads are cycled to give progressive overload at the different stages of your training career.

Beginner

Week/Workout Volume/Load

1/1 Moderate/High (PR)

1/2 Moderate/High (PR)

1/3 Moderate/High (PR)

2/1 Moderate/High (PR)

2/2 Moderate/High (PR)

2/3 High/High (PR)

3/1 Moderate/High (PR)

3/2 Moderate/High (PR)

3/3 Moderate/High (PR)

This can often continue for 3-6 months. Moderate volume is generally 2-3 working sets and High load means that you’re lifting more than before.

Intermediate

Week/Workout Volume/Load

1/1 High/Moderate

1/2 Moderate/Low

1/3 Low/High (PR)

2/1 High/Moderate

2/2 Moderate/Low

2/3 Low/High (PR)

3/1 High/Moderate

3/2 Moderate/Low

3/3 Low/High (PR)

This type of progress will eventually stop as the PR numbers get higher and higher. When they stop, periodization must be introduced as follows to allow for further progress.

Advanced

Week/Workout Volume/Load

1/1 Mod-High/High

1/2 Mod/Low

1/3 High/High

2/1 Mod-High/Mod

2/2 Mod/Low

2/3 Mod-High/Mod

3/1 Mod-High/High

3/2 Mod/Mod

3/3 Low/High (PR)

4/1 Low/Low

4/2 Low/Low

4/3 Low/Low

As before, when hitting a new PR is not possible after successive 3-5 week blocks, and with all other lifestyle factors in check, programming must be planned for PR attempts to be at 5-6 month intervals.

Elite

Week Volume/Load

1-4: Mod/High

5-8: Mod/Mod

9-13: High/High

14-17: Mod/Mod

18-21: High/High

22-25: Mod/Mod

26-29: Low/Very High (PR)

In the end, continued progress is the result of carefully planning the alternating sequences of volume and load manipulations to provide progressive overload over time which results in supercompensation which allows for the new PR.

If you have any questions about how you can incorporate this into your training, please leave your comments in the comments box below.

0 Danger Lurking in Some Dietary Supplements?

Danger Lurking in Some Dietary Supplements?