Toney Freeman talks to BODY Magazines podcast, BODY Radio

BODY Radio is BODY Magazines own podcast (started this summer) and is hosted by the editor-in-chief Alex Danielsson and the writer Andreas Guiance. This week on the show Alex and Andreas talks to their first professional bodybuilding guest: Toney “The X-Man” Freeman!

In a break from preparing Thanksgiving dinner Toney tells us why bodybuilding also is a sport for the taller guys, how he trains to keep his waistline down.

Listen to the episode via the online flash player, or download the show as an MP3 file.

Jay Cutler coming to Gothenburg and The Fitness Festival!

The beginner bodybuilding competition Luciapokalen takes place at The Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre in Gothenburg on December 11-12th, at the same time and place as The Fitness Festival fair. The competition celebrates it’s 30th anniversary this year (1980-2010) and has booked several professional bodybuilders for guest posing, foremost Mr. Olympia himself, Jay Cutler!

Jay Cutler is presented by The Fitness Festival in cooperation with Gymgrossisten.com.

Luciapokalen Facts

• Sweden’s oldest and biggest beginners competition
• A special atmosphere
• Talented competitors
• New stars are made
• World class guest posers
• Room for 1.500 people in the audience

In December the amateur competitors will traditionally march in and disrobe for Luciapokalen Bodybuilding: The World’s Biggest Beginner Bodybuilding Competition!

Other professional bodybuilders that are coming to The Fitness Festival and Luciapokalen: Dennis “The Menace” James, Dorian Yates, James “Flex” Lewis, and Marcus Chacon.

Bromsa utvecklingen innan det är för sent: Rösta på Piratpartiet!

• Jag var en av de 34 918 som röstade på Piratpartiet i 2006 års allmänna val.
• Jag var en av de 225 915 som röstade på Piratpartiet i 2009 års val till Europaparlamentet.
• Jag röstar på Piratpartiet i 2010 års allmänna val. Gör det du med! En röst på Piratpartiet är aldrig bortkastad. Den sänder en stark signal till de övriga partierna att friheten på internet är en viktig fråga som måste tas på allvar.

Årets största valundersökning, den på Facebook med över 150 000 tillfrågade, ger Piratpartiet 5,3 %.

Piratpartiet har redan gjort skillnad. Sedan de fick mandat till EU-parlamentet har partiet påverkat en rad lagstiftningsförslag i bättre riktning. Ge dem möjligheten att göra det även här hemma. Rösta på Piratpartiet den 19 september!

På På vitycker.nu kan du redan nu visa var du står…

Vår DVD piratkopierades, men imorgon röstar jag på Piratpartiet

Med februariutgåvan 2009 av BODY Magazine medföljde vår egenproducerade DVD med innehåll från allt det som hände under Fitnessfestivalen 2008. Tidningen var prishöjd för att ta in en del av produktions- och tryckkostnaden. Produktionen var detta år – liksom förra gången vi gjorde samma sak (Fitnessfestivalen 2005) – ett stort projekt för vår lilla redaktion, och något som tar mycket resurser och tid i förfogande.

Strax efter tidningen kommit ut i butik var DVDn rippad och uppladdad på en svensk torrentsajt. Här en skärmdump en kort stund efter uppladdningen:

Samma sak som skedde med vår förra DVD, vilken faktiskt spriddes ännu vidare över nätet än den nya.

Personligen blev jag lycklig (ja, faktiskt exalteralt uppspelt) av att upptäcka att vår DVD blivit rippad, uppladdad – och att den uppskattades. Exempel på kommentarer som nedladdare gjorde:

• nice…
• Åå denna va nått för mig THX
• verkar intressant
• tack så mycket!!!
• Tack! Måste ju se när en själv tävlar!

Jag gav teknisk support på sajten (videouppspelningsprogrammet VLC har problem att spela upp denna skiva om man inte sade åt det att hoppa över huvudmenyn). Detta för att säkerställa att de som laddade hem den inte förkastade produkten som tekniskt undermålig, utan såg den med den kvalitet den var avsedd att visa.

Mervärdet i att besöka mässan och se tävlingarna, möta utställare, se de tävlande, fynda, se kraftuppvisningar och testa på redskap i montrar är enormt. Helhetsupplevelsen kan inte destilleras ned på en DVD. Inte heller går den att kopiera.

Nya tider, nya möjligheter. Vinsten ligger inte i att låta bli att förändras. Vinsten ligger i anpassning.

• Plastbiten, DVDn, är en lockelse för att börja träna. Vi säljer (inspiration till) träning.
• Plastbiten, DVDn, är en lockelse för att börja träna. Vi (är med och) arrangerar träningsläger.
• Plastbiten, DVDn, är en lockelse för att besöka mässan. Vi (är med och) arrangerar mässan.
• Plastbiten, DVDn, är en lockelse till att börja tävla. Vi (är med och) arrangerar tävlingar.

Vår tidnings chefredaktör skrev en kort text som lades ut på bland kommentarerna på torrentsidan:

Alex Danielsson här, chefredaktör för träningstidningen BODY Magazine. Jag är presentatör av/speaker på denna vår DVD-produktion från Fitnessfestivalen 2008. DVDn medföljer på köpet av den BODY Magazine som finns ute i en butik nära dig fram tills 24 februari.

Det vore såklart önskvärt för vår tidning (och förlaget som äger tidningen) att alla intresserade införskaffade utgåvan och DVDn paw rihk-titt. Men nu är ju saker och ting som de är. Så enjoy your free lunch 😉

Vad ni ser på DVDn är bara en liten del av det som hände under två dagar i december 2008. Om ni gillade vad ni såg så rekommenderar jag att ni planerar in ett besök på Fitnessfestivalen 2009. Den avhålls 5-6 december på Svenska Mässan i Göteborg. Ses vi där?

För mer info se www.fitnessfestivalen.se samt www.luciapokalen.nu.

Alex Danielsson, alex@body.se, www.body.se

Möten, mys och mingel med medmänniskor som är intresserade av samma sak som du är upplevelser värda att betala för.

De finns de som är beredda att stödja och/eller införa drakoniska åtgärder för att behålla en känsla av total kontroll över sin produkt. Dessa skrämmer mig. De ser inte (eller väljer att inte se) de allvarliga integritetsproblem som uppkommer.

• System för övervakning kommer att missbrukas. De styrs av människor.
• System kommer att användas på sätt som de inte var avsedda för. De styrs av människor.

Finns det färdiga verktyg som kan användas för total övervakning och av “oönskade beteenden” kommer vägen – kantad av goda intentioner – att leda till just total övervakning.

Innan jag första gången röstade på och blev medlem av Piratpartiet (2006) lade jag min röst i val på partier i det rödgröna blocket. Så icke denna gång. Jag önskar få saker mer än att Piratpartiet faktiskt var onödiga (något de själva säger att de önskar), genom att de existerande partierna var mer rädda om integritetsfrågorna.

Dock behövs Piratpartiet här och nu för att röra om i grytan.

Imorgon, på Rösta på Piratpartiet-dagen, går jag och förhandsröstar på Piratpartiet i valet till EU-parlamentet.

Pingat på Intressant. Andra bloggar om: piratpartiet, politik, eu, eu-valet 2009

A Swedish Pumping Iron – ‘The Life of the Iron Thug’

Zone Capone together with Vincent Media Production put his film ‘The Life of the Iron Thug’ online at thelifeoftheironthug.com, payment able via Paypal or SMS. Running time: 176 minutes. Most spoken word is in English.

Also starring: Per Juhl, Peter Forsberg, Homan Meshkat, Fredrik Jäder, Lil’T, Crazy Jojje, Kari Risberg & Mac, Göran & Anna Rosén, Jesper Kvarnhammar, Roddy & Cicci Benjaminson, Palle & Frida.

Trailer for the DVD version of the film:

Zone Capone, a street thug and former rock-star turning businessman & bodybuilding, competing on the national level in Sweden, Europe. Zone started hus website zonecapone.com back in 2001 and instantly went from an underground local oddball to a well known household name within the iron-game!

With tons of attitude and millions & millions of hits zonecapone.com spread it’s tentacles worldwide & has since then become a concept in the modern day bodybuilding world both on the net & beyond.

Despite maby not having the best competitive physique Zone himself has reached star status all over Scandinavia with his kick-ass attitude & his odd outlook on the iron game & life as a whole! Today Zone is constantly in the news both on the net & in the magazines…

More about Zone Capone in his journal on BODY Magazine forum, he also has a thread about the filming of the movie on the same forum.

This weekend in Gothenburg: The Swedish Fitness Festival!

Scandinavia’s No 1 meeting point for the Scandinavian market!

• Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
• Date: December 8-9

The Fitness Festival was first held in its original form in 1986. The festival has grown to become Scandinavia’s natural meeting point for the fitness and wellbeing trends of today and tomorrow. In 2007 the festival is set to be the best ever. Hopefully both where marketing and the number of visitors are concerned. visitor statistics show an ever rising number of visitors and we reckon on welcoming at least 10.000 high quality visitors this year.

The Fitness Festival represents an opportunity for club owners, personal trainers and active people from all over Scandinavia to meet under one roof. And over the course of the festival there will be activities going on all the time to attract visitors from the growing Scandinavian fitness market.

Show Profile

Sports nutrition, fitness and training equipment, wellbeing and beauty, health, care and rehabilitation, consultancy for the fitness & wellbeing sector, aerobics, music and fashion.

The amateur competitors marching in and disrobing for Luciapokalen Bodybuilding:
The World’s Biggest Beginner Bodybuilding Competition!

You can call out the competitors at Mr. Olympia 2007!

Last year Ronnie.cz made a cool application where you could compare all Mr. Olympia contestants with each other, pose for pose (based on photos from FLEX Online from the prejudging). This year the application is hosted on www.mr-olympia.eu:

Technorati Tags: Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler, Bodybuilding, Ronnie Coleman, Olympia

Swedish female bodybuilder, 51, profiled by The New York Times

In todays edition of The New York Times Eva Birath, a Swedish female bodybuilder who started competing at 47, is profiled in the article “At 51, Establishing a New Body of Work“. Visit Evas home page and blog!

Eva Birath’s decision to go from a harried marketing executive to professional bodybuilder was an almost-unheard-of career change.

In December 2002, Eva was laid off. Birath sold her house and moved into an apartment. She sold her car. She had no idea what to do next.

She began going to a nearby gym, where one of the regulars told her she had a good physique for bodybuilding. She found out about a tournament to be held the following December and she signed up, despite knowing virtually nothing about the sport — how to diet, how to train, how to pose.

“It was very unusual for someone to begin bodybuilding at my age, but I thought my age was one bit of the challenge,” said Birath, who is now 51. “I think all people have preconceptions, like that bodybuilders are all stupid. I think I probably thought bodybuilders were a bit stupid, too.”

Technorati tags: Bodybuilding, Female Muscle, Fitness, Muscle, Babes, Weight training, Gym

Which Mr. Olympia do you think will be victorious in 2007?

1) Jay Cutler 2) Ronnie Coleman View Results

Technorati Tags: Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler, Bodybuilding, Ronnie Coleman, Olympia

Wanted ad: Person to apply posing oil on fitness & bodybuilding competitors

This job ad was posted to Arbetsförmedlingen, a Swedish employment agency with over 325 local offices, on Monday:

Wanted: Posing oil smearer for the Swedish Championships in Bodybuilding/Fitness (1 Position)

We at eSunLess are looking for a nice, energetic person for helping us at the Swedish Championships in Bodybuilding/Fitness, October 13-14 (Saturday-Sunday).

Your duty will be to take care of all the bodybuilding and fitness competitors need for posing oil, right before they step onto stage.

It is important that you are comfortable taking responsibility. Send a photo of yourself.

Salary: 500 Swedish Kroner per day (about US$75).

In comments to the Swedish media (who naturally picked up on the story after it began to be e-mailed, blogged about and discussed in forums) the companys owner, Luke Ray, said:

The posing oil is extremely important, the amount has to be just right. Too much and the muscles are obscured, and the competitor can place last instead of winning.

Over 70 people have answered the ad – so far. Mostly female applicants in their twenties…

Technorati Tags: Advertising, Bodybuilding, Fitness, Viral, Viral Marketing, Fun, Jobs, Employment, Muscles, Work, Career, Marketing, PR, Babe, Girls, Guys, Hunk, bikini, trunks, Sweden, word of mouth, buzz marketing, online advertising

Update: Now Sweden’s largest tabloid has a report on it’s web-tv channel. Click on the image below to view how the pro explains to the person not familiar with bodybuilding how and why the posing oil is applied:

Video: Don’t fall victim to the fake gym membership!

In a follow up to an earlier post, this time The Real Hustle demonstrates how the scam artists get people on the street to give out their bank account information in exchange for a gym membership – to a fitness center that will never exist! For more education, visit their YouTube page.

Technorati Tags: BBC, Gym, Membership, Hustle, Hustlers, Scams, The Real Hustle, Thiefs, TV, Video, YouTube

Ronnie Coleman announces retirement from Mr. Olympia Competition

BSN Online, supplement sponsor to Ronnie Coleman, announces his retirement from the Olympia competition stage:

Amidst a whirlwind of speculation, Internet message board gossip, hearsay, conjecture and bodybuilding industry rumors for the last year, 8-Time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman and arguably the greatest bodybuilder of all time has just shocked the world by announcing that he will be officially retiring from Olympia competition after this upcoming Mr. Olympia contest on September 29th.

Ronnie, knee-deep in contest prep and in all-out training camp mode, was just quoted moments ago as saying, “This is it for me at the Olympia, and September 29th will be the last time I step on a Mr. Olympia stage. I want to thank God, my family, my friends, all the great fans who have supported me over the years, Weider and especially BSN. I don’t take anything for granted and appreciate all the support from the bottom of my heart. I’ll see you all at the Olympia!”

But it is not a total retirement, as FLEX Online reports from the interview on Monday with on Pro Bodybuilding Weekly:

Coleman, however, stopped short of saying he was retiring from the sport entirely. “I like a lot of the European stuff, so maybe the European stuff or the Arnold Classic if I can get my nerves up for that,” Coleman said of where he would compete next, if not at the Olympia. “But definitely, I would like to do the European Stuff if they can have it any more over there, because the tour has already been cancelled for this year.”

When pressed by hosts Dan Solomon and Bob Cicherillo on why he would become the first Olympia winner to lose the O, then go on to compete in other competitions, Coleman answered, “The Olympia is no small task, that’s a big task. There’s a lot of pressure going into it, a lot of work you gotta put your body through and stuff. Just the Olympia atmosphere itself is so, so big. And I’ve done that for so many years now. It comes to a point where you have to move on and do some other things.”

Technorati Tags: Mr. Olympia, Jay Cutler, Bodybuilding, Ronnie Coleman, Olympia, Bob Cicherillo, Supplements, BSN

Video: American Gladiators on Family Feud in 1994

Richard Dawson returned to the Family Feud after a nine year absence for a special week of charity shows. In this full episode the American Gladiator men (Saber, Nitro, Laser, and Hawk) are playing against the American Gladiator women (Sky, Ice, Zap (mad sexy), and Panther):

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Technorati Tags: American Gladiators, Family Feud, Gladiators, Richard Dawson, TV, Awesome

Video: Ellen Degerenes’ appearance on American Gladiators

Here’s links to clips from the second season of Ellen, Ellen Degeneres’ 1994-1998 sitcom, that features her character appearing on American Gladiators. Ellen dates Nitro after trying out for the show in this episode. Appearances by Hawk, Nitro and Ice. Here’s a longer synopsis:

Ellen tags along with Adam when he goes to try out for “American Gladiators”, but the only way she can get into the arena is if she tries out. So she does. Unfortunately for Adam’s dreams, Ellen makes the cut and he doesn’t. As they are leaving, Ellen is approached by Nitro, who proceeds to ask Ellen on a date. She says “yes”, even though Nitro isn’t really her type.

After they go out a couple of times, he dumps Ellen, claiming there was no chemistry. When Ellen arrives for her competition, Ice (Nitro’s female equivalent) makes fun of Ellen because Nitro dumped her and because Ellen is a scrawny little thing. This taunting makes Ellen angry, and when the two women square off in the pugil-stick competition, Ellen lets Ice have it.

Watch part 1 on YouTube | Watch part 2 on YouTube | Watch part 3 on YouTube

Technorati Tags: American Gladiators, Ellen, Ellen Degeneres, Gladiators, TV, YouTube, Awesome

Video: Don’t get ripped off in the locker room!

The BBC Three program The Real Hustle educates viewers about how hustlers, scam artists, thiefs and swindlers do their dirty deeds. In this episode they demonstrates a simple way for a thief to help their self to your valuables, which you thought you had safely locked up in the locker room cabinets. For more education, visit their YouTube page.

Technorati Tags: BBC, Gym, Hustle, Hustlers, Locker Room, Locks, Scams, The Real Hustle, Thiefs, TV, Video, YouTube