The core bodybuilding community is failing to support the critically acclaimed steroid documentary “Bigger Stronger Faster*” at the box office. Bodybuilders have the most to gain by the commercial success of a movie that presents the audience with factual information challenging uninformed beliefs about the alleged dangers of anabolic steroids; such a brilliant documentary has the potential to change attitudes regarding steroids in mainstream America. But if the bodybuilding community fails to support a movie that was, as producer Alex Buono says, “made for them” then it may represent the loss of an incredible opportunity to influence public opinion regarding anabolic steroids. Read more
Former steroid dealer David Jacobs and IFBB fitness pro Amanda Savell were discovered dead early this morning. It was first reported on Anthony Roberts blog and also reported by John Romano on Muscular Development and Hardbody. I have confirmed it with a close friend of Amanda Jo’s who has spoken with her family and police on the matter. While it was most likely a murder-suicide with Jacobs first shooting his former girlfriend and then turning the gun on himself, police have not ruled out a double homicide.
David Jacobs was one of the largest steroid dealers in the country importing raw steroid powders from China and converting them in an underground lab. David Jacobs was ostracized from the bodybuilding and fitness community due to Jacobs generous plea agreement with prosecutors. In spite of his large-scale steroid distribution ring, Jacobs did not serve jail time and was only sentenced to probation. He has repeatedly denied being a snitch other than publicly naming football player Matt Lehr as a distributor of steroids and growth hormone.
The murder-suicide is a terrible tragedy. It is probably only a matter of time before the media starts to suggest steroid use and roid rage as the culprit behind the tragedy much as they did with Chris Benoit. But I hope the media spends some time to appreciate the “richness of these lives” lost and seek ways to avert future such tragedies. This was best said by Jack Darkes in his review of the Chris Benoit tragedy:
If AAS are blamed and the richness of these lives ignored, then the opportunity to prevent such rare events goes unrealized. Singling out a drug to blame leads to fiery rhetoric, congressional hearings, prohibition and scare tactics; none of these have succeeded in curbing drug use, especially among those at greatest risk for harm. Most AAS users do not experience negative effects and hence distrust the message and the messengers, perhaps most notably among those who should listen. Research has shown this many times. Blaming AAS diverts focus from potential indicators of risk and predictors of harmful outcomes. This is where science might be most helpful in dispelling simplistic notions and in working toward more effective risk identification, targeting of limited resources and reducing associated harms.
Rest in peace.
Former baseball player and anabolic steroid advocate Jose Canseco was hired as a spokesman for a supplement company appearing at the company’s booth at the 2008 Arnold Classic. Testosterone Nation reports that Canseco is working with MVP Nutrition since he spent so much time talking to world fitness champion Michele Levesque.
So, you admit to using steroids. Then a supplement company hires you to say you built your muscles using their pills and powders? Um, okay. Canseco seemed to spend most of his time macking on the hired booth booty anyway.
But Jose Canseco actually works for German American Technologies, makers of Jet Fuel. Oops. Perhaps, GAT should consider hiring some attractive booth help to keep Jose from straying and inadvertently promoting the competition?
However, the most humorous anecdotes involving Canseco at the Arnold Classic involve the comments he received from Expo attendees (”iWitness: Arnold Sports Festival,” March 6):
[B]oth at the EXPO and the after-party, people kept walking by yelling “juicer!” and “steroid user!” at Canseco. Uh, you’re at the Arnold. Calling someone a juicer here is like walking into a porn convention and calling the women sluts. It’s, you know, kinda the whole idea.
How could they be oblivious to be surrounding by thousands upon thousands of anabolic steroid users the entire weekend? With over 150,000 people attending the Arnold Sports Festival, including a significant percentage of bodybuilders and athletes who use steroids, this event probably holds the record for the highest concentration of steroid users in a single location!
The Los Angeles Police Department discovered former bodybuilding cosmetic surgeon Bruce Nadler, MD and his wife dead as the result of gunshot wounds on Monday, February 4, 2008. Authorities believe it is an apparent murder-suicide perpetrated by Bruce Nadler.
Bruce Nadler called himself the “world’s strongest plastic surgeon.” He was probably the best known cosmetic surgeon catering to amateur and professional bodybuilders. He had performed over 700 gynecomastia surgeries in his career; “gyno” is a side effect of anabolic steroid use when antiaromatase and/or estrogen antagonists are not use concurrently.
After retiring from the practice of medicine in August 2005, Dr. Nadler, who called himself “the world’s strongest plastic surgeon,” wrote the “The Nip Tuck Workout: Exercise through the Eyes of a Plastic Surgeon” and subsequently moved with his wife to Los Angeles to reinvent himself in a new career as personal trainer with the opening of Nip Tuck Fitness LA in Beverly Hills.
Retired plastic surgeon and certified personal trainer Bruce J. Nadler M.D. has brought his Plastic Synergy training system to Los Angeles. As stated in his book, “The Nip Tuck Workout – Exercise through the Eyes of a Plastic Surgeon,” Dr. Nadler has created an exercise program based on the plastic surgical principles of proportion and symmetry. It combines careful analysis with an individualized exercise prescription.
Bruce Nadler, MD retired after the New York State Board of Professional Medical Conduct charged him with 29 specifications of professional misconduct in thirteen patients according to public records. Rather than fight the charges, Nadler submitted and consent agreement and voluntarily relinquished his medical license.
The specifications of professional misconduct were primarily related to prescribing a variety of anabolic steroids, growth hormone and ancillary medications used by bodybuilders including Saizen, Serostim, Genotropin, Androgel, Depo Testosterone, Delatestryl, Deca Durabolin, testosterone cypionate, testosterone enanthate, Nolvadex, Proscar, Clomid, tamoxifen, Arimidex, Finasteride and Viagra. In each case, he was accused of the following:
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Failure to obtain and/or note an adequate and complete medical history and/or history of current complaint from patient.
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Failure to perform and/or note a complete and appropriate physical examination of patient.
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Failure to obtain and/or note appropriate and medically indicated laboratory studies on patient including: prolactin, TSH, LH, hepatic and renal function, and assays for estrogen levels and HCG.
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Failure to properly diagnose patient’s condition and/or rule out underlying disorders.
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Inappropriately and without medical idnication and/or justification, prescribing and/or maintaining patient on various medications.
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Failure to maintain a medical record for patient in accordance with accepted medical standards which accurately reflects his care and treatment of the patient.
Bruce Nadler’s beliefs regarding anabolic steroids and bodybuilding were controversial for physician. He explained his own steroid use and his willingness to prescribe steroids and growth hormone to his patients in an interview with Testosterone Nation:
I’m my own test laboratory in that respect because, in the last two years, I’ve been taking 6 to 8 IUs a week of growth hormone, and I alternate between 200 mg a week of deca and 200 mg of testosterone cypionate the next week. Instead of going super physiological, I believe in just going to maximum natural levels to that of a man in his twenties. In this way, there are no side effects.
Nadler was also critical of the steroid hysteria in the U.S. and the political posturing surrounding anabolic steroids:
I’ve always felt that politicians always have to make the majority of the electorate think that they’re doing something? So they inconvenience a small, unimportant group, like bodybuilders. They have no idea what they’re talking about. Somebody hands them a speech, and they go! They took something that could have been done safely and sent it to the black market and all of the inherent dangers that go along with dealing with that element. Will they ever be legal again? I hope so.
Ron Nelson Brady, Jr. is accused of attempting to hire an undercover police detective posing as a hitman to kill three witnesses testifying against Pro Bodybuilder Craig Titus. Brady was described in court as a bizarrely obsessed fan of professoinal bodybuilder Craig Titus; muscle hero worship was cited as the motive behind his participation in the assassination plot that prosecution witnesses in the Titus-Ryan murder trial.
Craig Titus and wife IFBB Pro Fitness competitor Kelly Ryan were charged with murder, third degree arson and attempting to avoid prosecution in the homicide of Melissa James. The bodybuilding couple has been incarcerated since their arrest in December 2005. Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan are set to go to trial on June 2, 2008.
