Consider “Marathon Mouse,” a rodent with an artificially tweaked protein gene that made him run twice as far as normal mice.

Want to know if your child has a future in track? Make junior say “Ah…” for a cheek swab to see if he has a gene common in fast runners.

Have an injury that just won’t heal quickly enough for a game? Scientists are coming up with ways to seal those muscle tears like the cheerleader heals herself on “Heroes.”

“It’s not a stretch to imagine that there’s an Olympic athlete — possibly at Vancouver — who has started this new, very risky form of gene manipulation,” said Dr. Theodore Friedmann, a top scientist with the World Anti-Doping Agency, which conducts drug testing for the International Olympic Committee.

WADA, a Swiss private law foundation with headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, banned gene doping in 2003.

“I don’t know of any particular case where a person has gene doped but the technology is here. If there isn’t a case I can point to today, there will be soon,” the geneticist said from his lab at the University of California-San Diego.

When the human genome was decoded in 2004, scientists scrambled to apply the knowledge in hopes of curbing muscular dystrophy, advancing stem cell therapies and unlocking the secrets of diabetes. Others discovered that manipulating genes could heighten athletic performance, kicking off a new stage of a classic race between dopers and the testers chasing them.

Gene doping is a broad term used to describe any change created purposely to a person’s DNA through various means, from injection to pill. Friedmann wrote in this month’s Science magazine about a few methods, including injecting IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor, a chemical manipulation of naturally occurring IGF.

When you lift weights, you cause tiny ruptures in your muscles. That action triggers your body to reproduce multiple copies of cells that merge with muscle fiber, ultimately strengthening your muscle. When the muscle is being rebuilt, another protein called myostatin tells the nearby cells to stop multiplying; your muscle is done growing until you can get back to the gym and repeat the process.

When the chemical IGF-1 is injected in rodents, however, their muscles heal at a much faster rate and they are able to lift more weight. IGF-1 can boost that initial strength and healing process, and it’s possible in another step to artificially block myostatin production, allowing the muscle to keep growing without putting in half the sweat.

Two simpler gene doping methods involve pills. When their existence was first revealed last summer in the journal Cell, an international uproar ensued, with media portraying them as fix-alls for the average person who doesn’t want to work out and the competitor who wants an edge.

The “couch potato pill,” a synthetic protein called Aicar, enhanced nonexercising rodents’ endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after four weeks. Another was an experimental substance, GW1516, which improved endurance capability by 75 percent. Neither drug is approved by the FDA, said their inventor, Dr. Ronald Evans, a geneticist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California.

“I got hundreds of phone calls from everywhere — a lot of athletes wanting to get it,” said Evans’, whose research was intended to treat muscle wasting and obesity disorders.

He is accustomed to controversy. In 2005, he showed the world “Marathon Mouse,” a rodent whose genes he tweaked so that it was resistant to weight gain and could run twice the normal distance of other mice.

“At first, I was bothered by the reaction,” he said. “It’s not what we might ideally want to think sport is, but the reality is athletes will do anything to perform better.”

Last year, Pierre Bordry, the head of France’s anti-doping agency (Agence Francaise de Lutte contre le Dopage) told Le Monde that he was “convinced that two new products have been used during the Tour, two drugs that are not yet on the market.”

CNN spoke with Bordry, who reiterated his belief, but did not respond when pressed to name those drugs.

There was no detection method for Aicar at the time of the 2009 Tour de France bicycle race, according to WADA spokesman Frederic Donze. If there has been a test developed since then, it’s WADA’ s policy not to reveal that, he said, adding that the French anti-doping agency has probably stored samples of the 2009 Tour for possible later re-analysis.

“I heard that Aicar had been used, but I have no idea if that’s true,” Evans said.

Aicar is listed on WADA’s nine-page banned substances list, which does little if there’s no known test for it or other gene doping mechanisms. Friedmann is only aware of one way to test, which is wholly impractical — performing a biopsy to see if a genetic change has left a tissue signature.

“Do you know an athlete who would consent to having their muscles cut? I don’t,” said Friedmann.

Another testing obstacle: How could one tell a difference in gene make-up without an athlete’s genetic code already on file for comparison? WADA is trying to address that by developing a “passport” program that will keep blood and urine profiles of elite athletes on file long-term. Canada and Great Britain announced this month they would participate in the program for the London 2012 Olympics.

Nevertheless, there is one basic and overall problem with gene doping, at least right now. Nearly every scientist considers the method potentially deadly, primarily because the method is still largely untested in humans. It’s unclear how to stop a gene mutation once it has begun, scientists say.

While Marathon Mouse did not, as some jokingly suggested, grow big enough to eat Manhattan, it had a healthier life than baboons that were given a substance known in its trademark form as Repoxygen during a 1998 lab study. The drug, which was developed but never marketed by British company Oxford Biomedica, carries an experimental virus meant to deliver a gene that treats severe anemia. There has not been a proven case of actual use of Repoxygen by athletes.

But in 2005, the trial of once-celebrated German track coach Thomas Springstein was a wake-up call to the sporting world that Repoxygen also carries the gene for erythropoietin, or EPO, a protein that boosts red blood cell production and endurance.

Springstein was convicted in a criminal court in his home country and given a 16-month suspended sentence for supplying performance enhancing drugs to his underage runners, who claimed he told them the pills were vitamins. Prosecutors read e-mails from Springstein in court. “The new Repoxygen is hard to get,” he allegedly wrote, apparently to an unknown supplier. “Please give me new instructions soon so that I can order the product before Christmas.”

In a 1998 study, baboons given a substance similar to Repoxygen nearly died when their red blood cell count skyrocketed so severely that massive amounts of their blood had to be drained. Other primates developed an immunity to EPO and failed to produce red blood cells at all. They had to be euthanized.

Yet despite such nasty outcomes, the ethical debate over gene doping is hotter than ever. In an era when it is socially acceptable, practically encouraged, to enhance yourself with Botox, tummy tucks or extreme dieting, people referred to as the “pro-dope” lobby say genetic manipulation is mankind’s natural evolution to achieving unparalled physical greatness.

Andy Miah, a bioethicist and University of the West of Scotland professor, argues that society is morally obligated to find safer means to genetically enhance athletes.

“If we can develop technologies that more carefully align with an athlete’s individual physiology, then the chances of it leading to unforeseen side effects diminishes considerably,” Miah said.

If it’s possible to create webbed fingers so that swimmers can improve their stroke, he’s for it.

“Some will recoil at the idea of this, since they feel it will sully the good name of so-called ‘clean’ sports. My response is that this is already happening,” he said. “Every athlete makes a choice about what technology they will use to help them prepare for competition. Some athletes will reject the advice of nutritionists, psychologists, physiotherapists and so on.

“They may not even wear running shoes. However, the majority of athletes immerse themselves in a world of technology — whether they perceive it or not — and modern sport has always been about the obsession to evolve performance, beat world records and generally test the boundaries of human capability.”

He notes cases of Paralympians who could perform better than their able-bodied competitors, such as double amputee Oscar Pistorius, a South African sprinter who some say has an advantage because of his Cheetah Flex-Foot carbon fiber artificial limbs.

Atlas Sports Genetics is a company founded a year and a half ago in Boulder, Colorado, considered America’s capital city for endurance sports. In 2009, Atlas sold about 1,000 mail-order at-home tests to parents mostly of junior high students, according to spokesman Mike Weinstein, a mechanical engineer.

Each test costs $149 and consists of a cotton swab and activator that Atlas says will show if the child possesses ACTN3, a gene expressed in fast-twitch muscle fibers. Stronger fast twitchers are faster runners. The company does not guarantee results, which are determined at a lab in Australia.

“It really is kind of for the Type-A parent that really wants to confirm what their hopes are that their child is going to be an athlete,” he said. “It hasn’t been as large a market as we thought it could have been, but we’re growing.”

Experts CNN spoke with agreed that there was no way one gene could predict that a child is a future world-class cyclist or Olympic sprinter. There are more than 200 genes linked to exercise. There is no single solution to sports success, they said.

Evans was reminded of this recently at a conference. He was finished giving a lecture and looked up to see athletes in the audience.

They asked him: “If I take your drug with EPO and growth hormone, would it be safe? How do we get it?”

“I asked them: ‘Why do you want to do this?’ ” he said.

“They said, ‘Because we’re athletes,’ ” the scientist recalled.

Then the athletes turned the question on him.

“They asked me, ‘Dr. Evans, let’s say there was a drug out there that you knew would make you smarter and you might be able to make another discovery, would you take it?’ ” he said.

“I had to think about it.”

300 Spartan Workout

300 Spartan Workout

I try.You will soon feel the difference…What is most important in this business?
Patience Patience Patience Patience
No Pain No Gain

Volume Work Fitness

Red and white muscles

Fitness in the world of research is pointing to a fundamental truth: muscle hypertrophy predominantly white muscle occurs with rapid turning. Fast turning white muscle fibers with dense power studies are stimulated. Slowly turning red muscle fibers with low-tempo aerobic activities are stimulated in more .. Long-distance runner in red-fiber muscle group are examples of many developing athletes. If we look at this type of athlete to run the red muscles very easily constitute the basic conditions of the muscular appearance can understand. Weight lifting equipment to do more work in the high recurrent running red fibers. Therefore, activation of white muscle fibers as you can, that the number of repetitions and the maximum power with low volume expander in the direction of the lift to the effect will be. Muscles how to work as a high repetitive if you zoom out so much volume onlarao chance is to win. Depending on the person’s genetic structure, the number of white muscle fibers can reach the person can also determine the limits of the maximum muscle size. But looking at it, be in despair and stop trying to muscle is not true. Every man can shape muscles visible as improving.

Muscles to relax

What to consider increasing the volume in November that one of the most important point is this: the muscles need rest to grow. Work is just the beginning. For the development of muscle tissue to repair and takes a week for sure. Therefore, a muscle group to work with a frequency greater than five days, to gain in terms of volume, is not true. Each muscle group once a week is the best way to work.

Sets and repetitions

4 to 8 the number of repetitions is low again. However, white muscle group you’re working in 8 muscle groups may be unable to repeat the warning. Legs need to set the normal 20 repeat shoulder may require a set of 12 again. Each set between 2 to 4 minutes should give. Purpose of each re-set the maximum explosive power should be able to give. In a set of breath you have left do not go to the next one immediately. Relax your muscles burning and normalization of the cross and wait for your breath. High number of repetitions to muscle volume business. In fact, they even hard. Low number of repetitions you should try to remove the maximum power sarfedebileceğiniz weight. Very low number of repetitions with your last set (2 – 4) must remove the highest weight you can lift. In the meantime, your system will not force the joint movements, smooth and in a manner appropriate to the discipline must move. Please note that we have developed muscles and skeletal system to permanent joint damage can not be more important than the occurrence.

Warming

At the start of each work to warm up, do a few high re-set underweight. With very low weight may occur again to do this can prevent accidents and injuries. You can remove the remove the maximum of breast twentieth minute of an operation can take place. Do not immediately run high when you enter the hall to the weight. Before removing heat definitely heavy.

Nutrition

To gain muscle weight as the volume of muscles will need. We must pay attention to two things by diet. First of the muscles is carbohydrate fuel. Required to support the carbohydrate to the muscles have to work. How much carbohydrate you receive, age, weight, depending on your metabolic rate changes. The second, the amino acid is a substance used in muscle building. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. To speed up the muscles of people per kilogram of body weight every 1.5 to 2 grams of protein should take up.

Extend your arms downward as breathe.

Exhale as you move back into first position without having to pull your arms.

Note :10-12 repetitions

Run your back muscles with weight lifting.

You’re in luck! This quickie leg and glute toner is inspired by my friend Michelle Vrakalos who teaches a kick-butt ballet barre class at M6 fitness in California. Ballet barre fitness classes incorporate lengthening and toning exercises that help you build the strong but graceful body of a dancer. Michelle’s class kills you with the reps–believe me, just holding your arms up above your head or parallel to the ground becomes work after a while. But it’s worth it when you see the results.

I put together this simple collection of exercises to target your glutes, tummy, and thigh areas. If you want to make it more difficult just add more reps, or you can even circle back to the beginning once you have completed the entire round of moves. Start out with as many reps as you can but aim for at least 20. Michelle loves to do 4 sets of 8 if you really want to go for it!

It’s okay if you feel a bit goofy while performing these moves. My clunky, athletic self never looked so silly than when trying to be graceful like a ballerina. Ballerinas are some of the hardest working athletes out there, and look at their bodies! Don’t forget to blast your music for a little extra motivation.

1. Toe Squat
Raise up onto toes, arms out to the side for balance, squat down and squeeze your knees together while balancing on toes and lifting your heels on the way down. Hold for 2 seconds before raising back up, balancing on toes continuously.

2. Leg Forward Lunge
Place one leg out front, hands on hips (or hands crossed at chest), squat back and down onto the back leg, slowly rise back up.

3. Side to Side Hops
Balance on one leg and push off to land on opposite leg. Gain your balance before pushing off back to the original leg, hands at chest level.

4. Plie Jumps
Stagger feet so one leg is slightly in front of the other, jump up and switch feet. Balance, push off and switch back.

5. Outward Calf Raises
Position feet away from each other, slowly rise up and squeeze calves, lower back down and repeat.

6. Soldier Toe Touch
Balance on one leg, hold same arm out parallel to the floor, lift the opposite leg up and touch the tip of your toe to your hand keeping leg straight.

7. Open Faced Side Lunge
Extend your arms out to the side, step one leg out and squat into that leg, push off and back to starting position. Switch legs keeping your arms out continuously.

Lower Back and Calf Stretch

Lower Back and Calf Stretch Description:
This exercise is designed to stretch your lower back, but also works to stretch the hamstring and calf muscles. Equipment

Used: None Sport Specific: All Muscles Used: Back Categories: Stretches

Begin by standing upright, feet shoulder width apart, hands at your sides.

Slowly bend forward from the waist, focusing on keeping your back straight.

Continue to band forward from the waist, reaching towards the ground. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds. Return to standing position and repeat.

BOSU Lateral Leg Lift

BOSU Lateral Leg Lift Description:
This exercise focuses on strengthening the hip abductors or outer thigh area. Equipment Used: BOSU Sport Specific: Golf, Gymnastics, Hockey, Skiing, Snow Boarding Muscles Used: Outer Thigh – Hip (Abductors)Categories: Core

Place your hip on the center of the ball and your elbow on the floor in line with your shoulder. Place opposite hand on hip (or on the BOSU in front of your stomach if you need extra balance).

Slowly raise top leg.

Continue to raise top leg to a comfortable level, then slowly lower leg to starting position.
Notes:
Recommended reps: 8-10 reps on each side to start, increasing as you progress

The National Fitness Test is the brainchild of Dave Reddin, a fitness trainer for the Rugby World Cup squad and a consultant to Team GB. “I wanted to show people how easy it is to take control of your fitness and get a fair assessment that is relative to age and sex,” he says.

The fact that the test is home-based and requires little more than a tape measure, a computer (visual and written instructions appear on the screen as and when you need them), a watch with a second hand, and a set of weighing scales certainly make it accessible to all and maximises its appeal. But is the test valid?

Well, the aerobic fitness side of things is addressed using a four-minute step test – you simply step up and down a step of measured height to a designated rhythm (provided as a sound clip) and record your heart rate before, immediately afterwards, and then a minute later. Reddin took elements from two existing well-validated fitness tests – the Harvard Step Test (above) and Canadian Home Fitness Test – to create this simple protocol. “The combination of resting heart rate, the heart rate achieved after four minutes of exertion and your ability to recover within a minute are used to give a ‘fitness index’ or score,’ he explains.

The step test is what’s known as a ‘submaximal’ test – in other words, it doesn’t require you to reach exhaustion. “In submaximal testing, fitness isn’t being directly measured but estimated using the heart rate response,” explains Steve Hunter, an exercise physiologist at South Bank University. “Recovery heart rate is generally a good measure of cardiorespiratory fitness and with repeated tests, a quicker recovery provides indirect evidence of an improvement in fitness level.”

While Hunter concedes that step tests are easy to administer, he points out that they carry a risk of tripping and, he says, can lead to an underestimation of fitness levels if the legs are weak. He suggests the Rockport Walking Test (above) – a one-mile walk (ideally on a smooth, level surface) as briskly as you can manage. Time taken to complete the mile, along with age, heart rate at the end of the test, and gender, are used to estimate ‘VO2 max’ – or maximal aerobic capacity – widely seen as a ‘gold standard’ measure of fitness. “This test demonstrates good reliability in test/re-test measurements and offers an indication of improvement,” he says.

If you want a true measure of your aerobic fitness, you’ll need to don a nose clip and breathing tube while you run yourself ragged on a laboratory treadmill (a crash mat is handily placed at the back, in case you go flying off). Such tests are the norm for serious athletes, but there are also ‘field-based’ maximal tests that can give you a good estimate without necessitating costly lab visits.

“The Multistage Shuttle Test [or bleep test, above] is one of the most accurate and reliable, showing a strong correlation with measured VO2 max,” says Hunter. “However, it involves a large amount of stopping and turning, often at some speed, so I would not recommend it for the masses. It’s best suited to young, active individuals, particularly those involved in team sports that require change of direction.”

A slightly less daunting alternative is the Cooper Test – a 12-minute run in which you cover as great a distance as you can, or the 1.5-Mile Run, in which you aim to complete the distance as fast as possible. Hunter says such tests are useful for fit, healthy, active people but may be too challenging for the general ‘apparently healthy’ population.

Reddin has incorporated the 1.5-Mile Run into his ‘Park Fitness Test’, one of the forthcoming additions to the National Fitness Test website, geared towards fitter people. But he believes that for the general public, the idea of having to go out and run, or measure a distance, could be off-putting. “The idea with the home-based test was to appeal to the greatest number of people and get as many of them as possible to give it a go,” he says. “Many people know they’re unfit – this gives them a chance to try the test without even having to tell anyone or leave their own home. It’s a great awareness tool.”

My one gripe about the National Fitness Test is that when calculating your overall fitness score and ‘age,’ equal weighting is given to aerobic fitness, flexibility, strength and shape. While these are important components of fitness, it’s aerobic fitness that is the real key when it comes to heart health, disease prevention and combating obesity. And this observation has nothing to do with the fact that I ranked ‘poor’ in both strength and flexibility …

Whatever fitness test you’re undertaking, you need to follow the instructions to the letter if you are to get meaningful results. The disadvantage with a home test is there isn’t anyone watching you and it’s possible to cheat or do things slightly wrong. (For example, the National Fitness Test uses the ‘plank’ exercise, above, to assess strength. And while I, of course, executed mine with perfect posture, it would be easy to do it badly and still score highly by holding the position for a long time.) Recruiting a friend or partner to help with timing and technique is a good idea.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that unless you intend to repeat any fitness test in the future, the results merely provide a snapshot of where you are now. “In terms of making tests reliable and repeatable, it is essential that the methods followed are precisely the same on each occasion,” says Hunter. “For example, carry out the test at the same time of day, and if outside, try to do it when the environmental conditions are the same or as similar as possible to that of previous tests. Otherwise, you may mask the effects – positive or negative – of your training programme.”

Hunter recommends repeating tests every six-12 weeks. “Don’t be tempted to repeat them too frequently, because it can be discouraging if you don’t see any improvement,” he says.

Sam Murphy

Look at the food you’re feeding your body and replace some of the belly busters with slimming treats. You know you can’t eat 4,000 calories a day and get great abs, but it’s not just about the calorie count when it comes to a flat stomach – it’s also about the food.

“All things being equal, if your daily caloric intake is set at 1,400 calories, a diet of nutrient-rich foods is going to keep you fuller longer, reducing your cravings and giving you more energy, compared to the same number of calories of less nutritious food, which will help you on your road to a better body,” says registered dietitian Tracey Ryan.

The five foods you’ll need for flatter abs will help you be healthier and leaner. Plus, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by some of our diet suggestions.

1. Orange Fruits and Veggies: According to a recent review from Copenhagen University Hospital, the best way to whittle down your waist is to replace carbohydrates from sugar and refined grains (like white bread) with carbs from fruits and vegetables. Orange-hued foods were found to be the most effective substitutes.
Since fruits and vegetables are high in fiber, they keep you feeling full longer and researchers believe the high levels of antioxidants like vitamin C and beta-carotene fend off the belly fat. Get a good dose of beta-carotene from carrots,

abs body diets

cantaloupe, squash and peaches. You can get your vitamin C from oranges and berries, but remember that fruit juice is not a good substitute for the real thing.

2. Lean Meats: You should be getting about 25 percent of your daily calories from protein, Ryan says, but you should make sure to choose lean sources like poultry, fish, low-fat yogurt, and fat-free milk to keep calories down. Nuts are also high in protein, but can also be high in calories, so eat them in moderation. Tracey recommends roughly a handful a day.

Protein helps to keep you feeling full and boost your energy, aiding in your weight-loss efforts. According to research from Skidmore College and Copenhagen University Hospital, eating additional protein is especially helpful for those over 40 in reducing abdominal fat.

3. Nuts: A recent survey of more than 8,000 Americans found that selenium, a cancer-fighting mineral, seemed to also lower rates of abdominal obesity, reporting that those with lower levels of selenium had larger waistlines.

Several foods contain selenium, so it’s hard to know if you’re getting your recommended 55 mcg per day. The best sources are nuts (especially Brazil nuts), whole grains, poultry, red meat and seafood. Foods rich in vitamin E, such as nuts and seeds, will increase the effectiveness of selenium in the body.
Your best bet to get enough selenium is to eat a varied, balanced diet or try a supplement containing the mineral.

4. Wine: Could drinking possibly help you keep your middle little? Several studies suggest that light drinking, compared to teetotaling, protects against weight gain around the waistline in women. Data reviewed by the National Center for Health Statistics points to one 4-ounce glass of wine most days as the best bet.

The key to boozing and losing is the “less is more” philosophy. While one glass has great health benefits, having more is just going to add inches to your waist and cause you to think you’re funnier, smarter and better looking than you really are. The only 6-pack you should be having is the one under your shirt.

5. Fish: There’s a difference between good and bad fats. Eating good fats like monounsaturated and omega-3s make it easier to stay slim, according to recent research.

“The healthy fats, like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, are found in fish, nuts, olive oil and avocado, while the bad fats, like saturated and trans are found in butter, shortening, pre-packaged cakes and cookies,” Ryan says.

A Wake Forest University study found that over a 6-year period, participants whose only source of fat was trans fats gained 30 percent more fat in their abdominal region and had early signs of diabetes. You don’t have to fear fats if you know which are good and bad.

Exercise and follow these simple guidelines and you’ll be on your way to an abs-olutely amazing midsection!