Synthol demolishes muscle tissue

Synthol is no longer a novelty. Some bodybuilders have been injecting themselves for years with a mixture of 85 percent MCT oil, 7.5 percent lidocaine and 7.5 percent alcohol, targeting muscle groups they feel are not growing fast enough. Surgeons are now starting to notice the long-term effects of the Synthol rage: and they are not mild.

Synthol was concocted in the 1990s by the bodybuilding guru Chris Clarke. It's a 'site enhancement oil', consisting of fatty acids that accumulate in the muscle tissue where you inject the oil. As a result muscles grow at a fantastic rate. Bodybuilders like Greg Valentino developed an unnatural physique by using the substance and became world famous. Peter Hiesinger followed his example  and became ill.

Doctors have already written about the dangers of bodybuilders injecting themselves with oil, but more recently case studies have started to appear that describe the long-term effects on bodybuilders who injected themselves with Clarke's brainchild years ago. Injected fat, the study has shown, causes inflammations that decimate muscles over time.

This happened for example to the 29-year-old bodybuilder that the surgeon Suleiman Ghandourah of University Hospital Marburg. Four years ago he started injecting Synthol into his biceps, but recently these muscles started to play up. They hurt so much that the man had to stop training, and in the end he was constantly in extreme pain. The man's biceps [below left] not only looked strange, they felt strange too. It looked as though they had developed holes in them. When the doctors made an MRI scan of the man's right biceps which was in worse condition - they saw that the muscle was now made up of separate parts. There was oil between the muscle fibres [below left] and the remaining muscle tissue was inflamed.

The doctors decided to amputate the most seriously damaged part of the biceps, a piece measuring 11 x 5 x 5 cm. This helped. Six months later the bodybuilder asked the doctors to perform the same treatment on his other biceps.

The doctors operated on the man's arms. They discovered to their amazement that the man had almost no muscle tissue left in his arms. His arms were filled with pus and fat. The surgeons removed these, but when they did an MRI scan a year later they saw that hardly any muscle tissue had been restored. Three years after the operation the man was still suffering from pain and could no longer train at all.

The New Sit-Ups

Here's something you probably never thought you'd hear out of the mouth of a fitness pro: Stop doing sit-ups. But according to Jay Cardiello, celebrity strength and conditioning coach, not only do sit-ups and crunches isolate very few muscles in your abdomen, they also aggravate an existing problem for most Americans: the anterior tilt.

"Most people sit at a desk all day, staring at their computers or talking on the phone, which creates a hunched-over position or an anterior tilt in your body," Cardiello says. "So you're already crunching forward at work all day – why would you want to do that at the gym?"
To train your abs, do planks instead, says Cardiello. Planks and side planks work your abs, in addition to your posterior side – the underdeveloped, underutilized backside of your body that includes your back, butt, and hamstrings. "A full-body movement like a plank or side plank works more joints and activates more muscles than doing crunches, and they train your posterior and anterior at the same time," Cardiello concludes.

When doing planks and side planks, remember to keep your spine as straight as possible, without hunching your upper back, raising your hips, or letting your hips or knees drop. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds, or until you lose form, and repeat if you don't feel any strain or pain. When regular planks become easy, try doing them on an unstable surface, like a Swiss ball or even a bed, to create a sense of imbalance and force your body to recruit even more muscles.

5 Things We Can Learn From Arnold About Building Muscle

Arnold Schwarzenegger is arguably the ultimate American success story.

In this article, we'll examine 5 mechanisms that perhaps contributed to Arnold's bodybuilding success.

1. Chase the Pump

Arnold was a big proponent of training for "the pump." The pump is a phenomenon whereby muscles become engorged with blood following resistance training. It's primarily achieved by performing multiple sets with moderate to high reps.

2. Keep Your Mind on Your Muscles -Arnold was astute when he claimed that resistance training was more than simply lifting a weight from point A to point B, stating that "the weights are just a means to an end; how well you contract the muscles is what training is all about."

3. Visualize Performance - Arnold frequently employed a technique called visualization (a.k.a. motor imagery) whereby he mentally pictured the way he wanted his muscles to look, and then imagined them taking this form while training.

4. Strike a Pose - Watch nearly any training video of Arnold from back in the day and you'll see images of him posing in front of the mirror. Arnold would pose between sets, pose after a workout, and pose on his off days.

5. Go Heavy - Arnold didn't believe that bodybuilders should train like powerlifters. Rather, he felt that bodybuilders needed to master many different techniques. One essential technique for physique mastery was, in his opinion, maximal strength training. Arnold stated that "the basis of bodybuilding is developing muscle mass by lifting heavy weights."