Bodybuilding.com is the leading bodybuilding web site with a claimed 'million plus' forum members. It also sells bodybuilding and health supplements -- lots of them -- over 12,000 products according to the web site.

According to an FDA notification, on 3 November, Bodybuilding.com and FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients of a nationwide and international recall of all lots and expiration dates of 65 dietary supplement products that were sold through the company's website, www.bodybuilding.com.

FDA believes that the recalled products contain the following ingredients that are currently classified, or the FDA believes should be classified, as steroids: "Superdrol," "Madol," "Tren," "Androstenedione," and/or "Turinabol." Acute liver injury is known to be a possible harmful effect of using steroid-containing products. In addition, ther FDA says that steroids may cause other serious long-term adverse health consequences in men, women, and children. These include shrinkage of the testes and male infertility, masculinization of women, breast enlargement in males, short stature in children, a higher predilection to misuse other drugs and alcohol, adverse effects on blood lipid levels, and increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.

Customers who have any of the products in their possession, says the FDA, should stop using them immediately and contact their physician if they have experienced any problems that may be related to taking one or more of the ingredients listed above. Any adverse events that may be related to use should be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.

The FDA says that consumers should return any unused products purchased on the company's site to the company. 

---> Find out how to choose weight training supplements in this article.

The following is a list of the recalled supplements.

• 4Ever Fit D-Drol
• Advanced Muscle Science Dienedrone
• Advanced Muscle Science Liquidrone UTT
• Anabolic Xtreme Hyperdrol X2
• APS (aka Advanced Muscle Science) Mastavol
• APS (aka Advanced Muscle Science) Revamp
• APS (aka Advanced Muscle Science) Ultra Mass Stack
• APS (aka Advanced Muscle Science) Ripped Stack
• Better Body Sports Finadex
• Black China Labs Straight Drol
• Black China Labs Straight Phlexed
• Body Conditioning Solutions TestraFLEX
• Bjorklund Methyldrostanolone
• BOSC Enterprises Epi-Tren
• BOSC Enterprises Magna Drol
• Chaparral Labs Epivol
• Chaparral Labs Pheravol-V
• Competitive Edge Labs M-Drol
• Competitive Edge Labs P-Plex
• Competitive Edge Labs X-tren
• Diabolic Labs Epio-Plex
• Diabolic Labs Finabolic 50
• Diabolic Labs Revenge
• Ergopharm 6-OXO
• Ergopharm 6-OXO Extreme
• EST (aka Engineered Sports Technology) MethAnstance
• Extreme Labs Susto-Test Depot
• Fizogen ON Cycle II Hardcore
• G.E.T/ (Genetic Edge Technologies) SUS-500
• G.E.T/ (Genetic Edge Technologies) Tren-250
• Hardcore Formulations T-Roid
• I Force Nutrition 1,4 AD Bold 200
• I Force Dymethazine/Reversitol Combo Pack
• I Force Reversitol
• I Force Nutrition 17a PheraFLEX
• I Force Nutrition Dymethazine
• I Force Nutrition Methadrol
• IDS (aka Innovative Delivery Systems) Bromodrol
• IDS (aka Innovative Delivery Systems) Grow Tabs TR
• IDS (aka Innovative Delivery Systems) Mass Tabs
• IDS (aka Innovative Delivery Systems) Oxodrol Pro
• IDS (aka Innovative Delivery Systems) Ripped Tabs TR
• IDS (aka Innovative Delivery Systems) Rapid Release
• Ripped Tabs
• Kilo Sports Massdrol
• Kilo Sports Phera-Mass
• Kilo Sports Trenadrol
• Monster Caps Monster Caps
• Myogenix Spawn
• Nutra Coastal D-Stianozol
• Nutra Coastal H-Drol
• Nutra Coastal MDIT
• Nutra Coastal S-Drol
• Nutra Coastal Trena
• Performance Anabolics Methastadrol
• Performance Anabolics Tri-Methyl X
• Purus Labs E-pol Inslinsified
• Purus Labs Nasty Mass
• Rage RV2
• Rage RV3
• Rage RV4
• Rage RV5
• Redefine Nutrition Finaflex 550-XD
• Redefine Nutrition Finaflex Ripped
• Transform Supplements Forged Extreme Mass
• Transform Supplements Forged Lean Mass

Brad Schoenfeld is a well-known trainer and author from New York. He runs the popular Personal Training Center for Women in Scarsdale.

His latest book, published by Human Kinetics, is called the Women's Home Workout Bible, subtitled A better body for every budget.

The first thing that impresses about this book is the quality of production -- large format and with superb color photograph illustrations of exercises and equipment.

Read the full review at Women's Home Workout Bible.

Tempo in weight training is the rhythm at which you raise and lower a weight, including the rest time at the top of the lift and at the bottom of the lift. There's much discussion in weight training circles about the best tempo for various outcomes, but this mostly applies to bodybuilding and general weight training rather than powerlifting or Olympic lifting.

Tempo has a particular numeric scheme to describe the different phases. For example, 30X1 would mean:

• The first number '3' is the time in seconds to return the weight in the eccentric or negative phase.
• The second number '0' is the pause at the completion of the exercise or at the starting point.
• The third character 'X' means an explosive lift in the concentric phase. This would be the raising of the dumbbell in an arm curl for example. X stands for explosive movement, but this could be 2 to 5 seconds in an alternative tempo arrangement.
• The fourth number '1' is the pause at the top of the lift (or press) -- when you have bent the elbow and lifted the dumbbell to maximum contraction in an arm curl for example.

Many schemes are possible, depending on the program you're following and the results you're after. "Superslow" training, for example, might use a 10-second lift rather than an explosive lift. I know of no reliable research that shows that training at this very slow tempo has any advantages.

For novice and general fitness training, you could use 3331 or even 3631. Remember that the first number is the eccentric or negative movement of returning to the starting position while lengthening the muscle and increasing the joint angle. Older trainers seem to benefit from an explosive (X) concentric phase according to recent research, and explosive lifting is a standard training methodology for developing power for sports or other requirements where speed and strength are required.

Back extensions and hyper-extensions work the lower back muscles, the erector spinae, which appear to play a role in maintaining a strong and pain-free back.

You can do back hyper-extensions on a mat on the floor or on a fitness ball, but a specialized gym station is available in many gyms. It's often called the hyperextension bench. See how it works here:

How to Do Back Extensions

Image: (c) TrainerClipArt.com

If you're a woman and you cycle or swim on a regular basis, you're doing your heart and cardiovascular system a lot of good.

Unfortunately, this non weight-bearing exercise is not the best type of exercise to maintain and perhaps enhance bone density and strength -- yes even cycling. You need to get more impact into your exercise program.

Although this also applies to men as well, as discussed in Velo News recently, women are even more at risk of declining bone density.

Impact exercises like running and jogging and appropriate weight training exercises are highly recommended. Here's a roundup.

• Best Exercises to Prevent Osteoporosis
• Exercise Program for Bone Health

Most of the advice you read for weight training frequency says to do no more than two days consecutively or to take two recovery days between sessions for a total of about 3 days each week -- for beginners at least.

That's not a bad starting point but you need to apply some common sense. I know it makes sense for beginners in order to limit injury and soreness, but as you get fitter, and as you understand how to manipulate the intensity and volume of workouts for any particular body region over the course of a weight training program, then you might very well train every day of the week -- at least occasionally -- although it's probably not a good idea to make a habit of it. It's not like all of sudden the wheels will fall off if you do seven days straight from time to time if you're in tune with how your body is feeling and coping.

Physical training with weights, running or any other form of activity requires a common-sense approach to get the best results. You don't want to overdo it, but if you have a good sense of your capacities, you don't want to be restricted by some arbitrary rule either.

I know, it's been discussed endlessly. How much protein do you need for building strength and muscle? I addressed this in an article quite a while ago called How Much Protein for Bodybuilding.

In my latest article I look further afield at the long-term safety of high-protein diets, especially diets high in animal protein. Now I'm not saying that strength trainers and athletes in general don't need more protein. In fact it's a universal recommendation among sports nutritionists and it's not unusual to see recommendations of up to twice the dietary recommendation for sedentary people, which is where I draw the line. But it's not uncommon to see up to four times the RDA and 40% of total energy from protein recommended by some in the bodybuilding community.

That could conceivably be unhealthy, or even dangerous over the long term by reducing intake of other essential nutrients and for a variety of other reasons. And there is no convincing evidence that a 30% or 40% protein diet improves muscle or strength in anabolic diets.

• Are High-Protein Diets Safe In Weight Training

A while ago I wrote an article about how important it was for gym managers to be aware of hygiene issues at their gymnasiums -- especially with H1N1 flu about the place -- but equally at any time.

(c) GymValet

A new product caught my eye; one that fits entirely with my idea of how one aspect of gym hygiene should be handled, so I am pleased to be able to describe it here, even though I have not personally used it. You will need to check it out personally to see if it suits your needs. However, the product does have an impressive list of users and testimonials on the web site, including universities and fitness centers.

GymValet is a combined disinfectant spray bottle and towel holder that places equipment cleaning and sanitizing supplies within arm's reach of every exerciser. The GymValet easily attaches to both strength training and cardiovascular equipment.

And to get the latest on H1N1 and colds and influenza, check out Kristina Duda's excellent Cold and Flu site at About.com.

I'm never quite sure when an older adult becomes a senior these days; or if it's the other way around; or even if the terms are any use at all. The rules of fitness and health pretty much cross age boundaries, even though exercise capability changes to some extent with age.

And over at the Supertraining forum it's become quite a habit now to refer to older exercisers (over 50s perhaps) as "geezers." How embarrasing. All in jest though, and there does seem to be a lot of geezers -- or maybe they just have more opinions to offer!

Anyway, I put together a summary of why every geezer or senior or older adult should get into weight training.

To stay young of course! How Weight Training Helps Seniors Stay Young.

The short answer is, yes they can, but there may be limits. Vegans don't eat any animal foods at all -- no meat, eggs or dairy. However, it's pretty much a myth that you need meat or animal protein to build size and strength. I'm not saying that vegans are well represented in elite, open competition in the strength and muscle sports, but for most practitioners, a well-constructed vegan diet can have nearly all the necessary constituents required for building strength and muscle, including sufficient complete protein.

The two dietary constituents naturally missing from a vegan diet that could restrict optimum performance are vitamin B12 and creatine. B12 is only available in animal foods but many manufactured vegan foods include B12 supplementation and so do multivitamins; so B12 is not really a problem.

Creatine, a natural constituent of the body and a proven bulking and power enhancing supplement in sports nutrition, is not found in plant foods and supplementary sources are derived from animal products. It's likely that the low creatine levels found in vegan and vegetarian diets could restrict performance in strength and power sports compared to non-vegetarian athletes, although actual performance comparison studies would tell us more.

Further information on vegan bodybuilding is available at Robert Cheeke's site.

Burke DG, Chilibeck PD, Parise G, Candow DG, Mahoney D, Tarnopolsky M. Effect of creatine and weight training on muscle creatine and performance in vegetarians. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Nov;35(11):1946-55.