Archives for April 2009

I admit it, I watch America’s Next Top Model from time to time. I enjoy watching the photo shoots and the critiques the women are given. This photo of one of the models was posted on the show’s facebook page. Pretty funny to see people who don’t compete try to hit this pose. This and the “most muscular” pose are the two people like to hit whenever the topic of bodybuilding comes up.

Photo from America’s Next Top Model.

I’m guilty of it and receive emails from people pointing out misspellings or edits I need to make on various posts all the time. We’re only human, right? Fortunately, with the web you can change things quickly and they are immediately updated. No big deal.

What can be a big deal is if you’re spending thousands of dollars to run an ad in a magazine and you have misspellings. As one visitor (Tre Scott) pointed out, he wasn’t offended by the image of the baby in the VPX ad but rather the misspelling of the word “your”. Oops!

Let this be a reminder for anyone sending out resumes, comp cards or other printed material to have someone else take a look at your work and proofread it.

How many of you have heard of Carissa Moore? I’m guessing most of you have no clue. I wasn’t familiar with her either until I recently revisited a few surfing web sites. Long story short… Carissa Moore became the youngest surfer to ever win a Triple Crown Event (think Arnold Classic or Olympia) and at age 16 she’s the first female to grace the cover of SURFER magazine (think FLEX or Muscle & Fitness) in the last ten years. This makes her only the third, yes you read it right THIRD, female in the magazine’s 50-year history.

If you think making a cover in the fitness industry is difficult, try being a female surfer.

Cover of Surfer magazine. (photo from ESPN.com)

I guess you can’t feel too sorry for Carissa. According to her agent Bryan Taylor, in an interview with Surfing Magazine, Carrissa signed one of the biggest contracts in female pro surfing history. She left long-time sponsor Roxy and went with Red Bull and Nike 6.0. Not a bad duo to be signed by.

All said and done, the 16-year-old Punahou junior will likely be enjoying one of the most lucrative contacts in female pro surfing history (estimated to be in the range of three-quarters of a million dollars by one anonymous source). “CARISSA’S new agreements have for the first time ever shattered the glass ceiling of surfing sponsorship, opening up new and never heard of before possibilities for other surfers to eventually emulate,” says Taylor.

Congrats! Check out an interview with the cover girl on ESPN’s web site.

This is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t watch a lot of TV but now with sites like Hulu.com, I can catch things like this in their entirety online. Stewy hits the gym in this episode of the Family Guy.

“Stewy you look like Lou Ferrigno’s poop.”

Check out the entire episode here. Or watch it below:

This will be interesting to see what develops…

According to the SGMA, Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI) has introduced the Personal Health Investment Today Act of 2009 (PHIT) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressmen Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Zach Wamp (R-TN) joined Kind in sponsoring the PHIT Bill.

The PHIT Act would change current federal tax law to allow for the deduction or use of pre-tax dollars to cover expenses related to sports, fitness and other physical activities. Americans could invest up to $2,000 annually to pay for physical activities by investing money in existing pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Medical Savings Accounts (MSA) and/or medical reimbursement arrangements.  PHIT would only expand the expenses eligible for reimbursement to include physical activity costs as a form of prevention; PHIT would not increase contribution limits to these accounts. Once an individual or family spends 7.5% of their income on qualified medical expenses, they could deduct physical activity expenses directly.

“SGMA has been supporting this bill in recent years and we are delighted to see that Representative Ron Kind is leading the effort on this legislation,” said Bill Sells, SGMA VP of government relations.  “For the consumer, it reduces expenses associated with exercise, fitness and sports participation through the use of funds in pre-tax accounts.  By encouraging more physical activity via financial incentives, we will improve health, reduce medical costs and lower absenteeism at school and in the workplace.  PHIT has the potential to make a big difference in people’s lives, the economy and health care spending.”

“Regular physical activity is the best preventive medicine we can prescribe,” said Kind, a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. “This bill will give people the incentive they need to get active – to participate in that exercise class, join an intramural sports team, or sign up for a gym membership.”

With Kind, Blumenauer and Brady all serving on the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee, the prospects for PHIT are improved.  Health care reform is a top priority in Washington and PHIT is consistent with reducing health costs – a primary objective of reform efforts.

One of the main reasons PHIT is getting attention on Capitol Hill is due to the Congressional support generated by physical activity advocates last month during SGMA’s National Health Through Fitness Day (NHTF).  On NHTF Day, a delegation of well known athletes, sporting goods and fitness manufacturers, sports retailers, concerned citizens, physical educators and association leaders met with Members of the U.S. House and Senate  to encourage passage of two legislative initiatives that will help Americans (of all ages) become more physically active and healthy.  In addition to PHIT, the sports industry also promoted higher funding for quality physical education through the Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP).   PEP provides grants to school districts and community based organizations for innovative physical education and activity methods.  Since 2001, PEP has provided close to $600 million for equipment purchases and P.E. training.

“Both pieces of legislation are important,” said Sells.  “Basically, PEP provides support to school-age children while PHIT will provide financial incentives for all Americans to lead more active and healthy lives.”

— Source: sportsonesource.com

Need a little extra motivation or inspiration for your desktop? Download this week’s wallpapers of the week at bodybuilding.com. These were taken the day after the Orlando Pro show on a local track. Both ladies placed in the top five of the IFBB Figure division and the coolest thing is they’re both athletes off the stage.

Erin Stern High-Jumping.

Monica Brant on top of her game.

The Olympia may seem like it just happened but many companies are already on the hunt to secure this year’s booth staff. Maximum Human Performance (MHP) is looking for four women to work their booth at the 2009 Olympia Expo (September 25-27). Ladies, you should be in shape, have a personality and the ability to talk about their products. Intrested? Send a your information and photos (keep them relatively small file size as to not clog up the email) to info@maxperformance.com. Tell them you heard about it on hardbody.com and good luck!

This candid moment was taken as we headed off to the track for a photo shoot. Monica Brant, Jessica Anderson, Laurie St. Michael and Gale Elie were all smiles despite it being at the butt crack of dawn. Laurie is the woman you often see mentioned here for hair & make-up, she is the bomb. Gale has been busy training women like Jessica for NPC competitions and Monica well it’s Monica, nuff said.

The ladies pose for a candid before we head out.

The hottest FLEX swimsuit issue to date is on newsstands now. IFBB Pros Nicole Wilkins-Lee and Felicia Romero along with top NPC competitor Monique Minton grace the cover. The folks at WEIDER Publications agreed with the majority of you on the cover selection. Sixy-eight percent of you thought this was the winning cover in our poll. The cover and inside swimsuit photos were shot by one of the top industry photographers, Terry Goodlad.

FLEX swimsuit issue on sale now!

I’m told there will be a few behind-the-scenes videos from the shoot that will be online soon. Check the FLEXonline.com web site for those in the coming days. Congrats to all the women in issue and to FLEX for featuring the women of the industry on their cover.

The Denver Post was on hand for the Denver Dream tryouts last week. Check out the interviews with a couple of IFBB pros at the event.

Aight Twits, make sure you follow Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine on twitter. It just started but will quickly become a go-to spot on twitterverse. http://twitter.com/MandF_Hers