Proline Sports, Nutrition and Equipment Blog

Google ..... big disservice

Google... no doubt the buzz at least from what I've read recently. And I would be remiss if I didn't give full disclosure as to why I'm even bothering here. And if no one else reads it ...maybe a Googlebot will because he or she (is the googlebot gender specific?) hasn't accessed our business site in over a month.

To think Google would actually serve up a site that doesn't even carry the product searched in front of a site (like ours) that DOES to me is a disservice. Google, oh yea... more than happy to put us at the top of the list as long as we're paying for it. OH, and by the way Google's click through abuse policy sucks.

Search "Acid Zapper".... ProLine only one of two e-tailers selling the product.... dead last out of I'm not sure ... more than 150 results? Dead last. The list is endless. Why the change G O O G L E ?

Family seeks probe of Lopez's taekwondo win?

I caught wind of this earlier today written by the Houston Chronicle. Interesting request by the attorney for Nia Abdallah to have the Olympic Trials match with Diana Lopez investigated by congress. Thought is warranted a bit more press......nice nuggets in the comment section as well. I personally have not watched the video and can't seem to find it apparently because the USOC pulled it down off youtube.com. If anyone can produce the video please post a link in the comments section. Excerpts below......

Interesting to see where this might go.

By DAVID BARRON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

"2004 Olympic silver medalist Nia Abdallah said Sunday she was judged unfairly in her April 5 bout against Diana Lopez for a spot on the U.S. Olympic taekwondo team, and family members and supporters said Congress should investigate the matter.

Abdallah, 24, of Houston, lost to Lopez, 24, of Sugar Land, 1-0 in overtime at USA Taekwondo's Olympic trials last month in Des Moines, Iowa, to determine the federation's representative in the women's featherweight division at the Beijing Games.

Lopez's win enabled her to join her older brothers, two-time Olympic gold medalist Steven Lopez and Mark Lopez, as the first set of three siblings to compete in the same sport at the same Olympics for the United States since 1904."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5789147.html

The road..... more or less traveled

What was to be an essay of sorts has managed its way into my blog only because its likely to wind up here anyway. Random thoughts about my life in and out of Taekwondo.

When I sat down to write this I was looking for a little inspiration. Inside myself here, the day before a big test wondering how I will perform I started thinking back to the time in which the journey began. As a youth I never aspired to participate in martial arts. Only by chance was I introduced to the art and sport of Taekwondo, yes, in that order. What literally started as an extra curricular activity after school turned into what I can only explain to be an addiction for perfection and a quest to become numero uno (or something really close). Over the next few years in between daily workouts, after hours training and tournaments the art, or the sport now as it turned out took on a whole new meaning .....living, eating, sleeping Taekwondo.

4 Lungs and a bottle of Oxygen

Or, should I just say Cordygen VO2 by Millennium Sport Technologies. This has to be one of the most potent endurance supplements I've ever seen on the market. Now, big brother to Cordygen5 which is also a very good endurance supplement, Cordygen VO2 is ready to go to bat with the big boys in this ever growing endurance supplement market.

Leading supplement maker joins cycling’s anti-doping fight

WOODSTOCK, Georgia, February 21, 2008 — Starting in March, leading sports nutrition and supplement manufacturer Dedicated Athlete will break new ground in the fight against illegal doping, unveiling a first-of-its-kind program that allows customers to make direct donations to the non-profit Cycling Ethics Foundation.

Meltzers interview with First Endurance

Optygen Pilot Study Proves Positive

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects on highly trained distance runners of a commercial herbal-based supplement purported to improve endurance performance by increasing oxygen uptake, assisting recovery, and reducing lactic acid production. Though changes in performance variables (VO2 max, hemoglobin, serum ferritin and salivary cortisol) were similar between groups, time to onset of lactate threshold was nearly 42% greater in E=experimental vs C=control group. These findings suggest that although some performance variables were not directly affected, use of a commercial- herbal based supplement may have helped improve lactate threshold levels significantly. Read more about the study......

ProLine Sports Nutrition and First Endurance Sponsor ProLine Rowing Team

ProLine Sports Nutrition to sponsor 2008 ProLine Rowing Team exclusively with First Endurance products.  To help speed recovery after grueling practices, ProLine will enlist the help of the ultimate recovery product Ultragen. Not only does First Endurance produce the #1 recovery product, but we've also recommended the team use the First Endurance Multi Vitamin (Multi-V) specifically designed for endurance athletes year round. These two products alone will help the team stroke their way to victory all season long. To help increase endurance and performance the ProLine Rowing Team will use the next-generation Optygen HP (High Performance) with Beta-Alanine.... The 2007 Discovery Champion Tour De France cycling team did!

With the new Optygen HP on-board the ProLine Rowing Team will be able to increase oxygen utilization, increase aerobic threshold and reduce lactic acid buildup. The beta-alanine addition will help increase muscular endurance, boost strength, improve exercise capacity and delay muscular fatigue.

Additionally, First Endurance has sourced the most potent Rhodiola available. The new OPTYGENHP formula contains 5% rosavin and contains 67% more actives than the Rhodiola that’s in the original Optygen formula. Clinical studies on elite endurance athletes have shown that it is the rosavins in Rhodiola that play a critical role in allowing the body to adapt to high levels of physical stress.

Please help me wish our 2008 ProLine Rowing Team success!

In search of EPO

It's a Sunday afternoon as we slumber into the fall season where Ironman's and Marathons become the weekly ritual. For many it will be the first in a string of events to come. I always ask people what makes them want to run 26.5 miles once let alone several years in a row. I need not look any further than right inside to find the answer.

This wandering thought has really little to do with what made me begin to start this blurb. In the middle of reviewing recent traffic reports to our site I came across some interesting information.... there is still a huge market for the banned drug EPO (Erythropoietin) among athletes or just the general public (though our business doesn't cater to the average Joe). The number of people Googling EPO and where to find it is astounding.

Could it get any better? Enter OptygenHP

First Endurance, the leader of cutting edge sports nutrition and supplements is poised to hit another home run when it rolls out OptygenHP High Performance, the next-generation of OPTYGEN at Interbike in September. With new ingredients like Beta-Alanine and some of the most potent Rhodiola on the planet we can't wait to try this stuff.

VO2 Max, VO2 Shmax

Came across this article on VO2 Max that I thought was very interesting and one that attempts to dispel the myths behind what a lot of endurance athletes long for.

I became particularly interested because as I went back into training nearly two years ago the agony of not being able to go an hour without wheezing and trying to catch my breath was frightening. Even after a year I was still struggling with my lung capacity, or lack of, as it directly affected my endurance. I was at a point where I was trying just about any supplement on the market (legal of course) that would help me in that area. First Endurance Optygen had quickly become my best ally, but that commercial is for another time.

After almost two years back in training I still have some struggles even though my endurance is much greater now. But I thought that maybe my body or lungs or whatever was no longer capable..... getting older? Didn't make sense because there are 60 year old men running marathons everyday. Granted I did some things to my body in the past it could have done without, but we're on the straight and narrow now... for the most part.

Enough of my rambling. Here's my point and what may ultimately be the limiting factor for myself and others.

"Historically, exercise scientists have attributed a leveling out or a plateau to VO2 max and that at the point this occurs determines the value. Research by Noakes and colleagues indicate that half of athletes tested in laboratories fail to demonstrate a plateau and that their VO2 or oxygen consumption is still increasing when they cannot continue further. This poses a question as to why these runners stopped if their oxygen consumption (the supposed limiting factor) was still on the increase. Prof. Noakes feels and is continuing to search for evidence that some “central governor” regulates the power output to the exercising limbs to help protect the body from “running itself to death” via a heart attack (VO2 Max or the Brain?).

Truck on!