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Yes. Toney “X-Man” Freeman will be bringing his A-game to the Columbus next weekend. One week out from the Arnold Classic, Toney is on point and will be bigger and better than we’ve seen him. You won’t read anything about the X-man passing out from doing cardio. This seasoned veteran is ready.

Congratulations to Allan Donnelly. WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ — David J. Pecker, Chairman, President and CEO of American Media, Inc. (AMI), today announced that Allan Donnelly has been named the new Editor-in-Chief of FLEX magazine. Since joining FLEX in 2006, Mr. Donnelly has been involved in all aspects of the magazine and website, rising from Senior Editor to Online Editor and, most recently, Executive Editor. His involvement with AMI and Weider Publications dates back to 2001, when he began as an Editor at Men’s Fitness and a contributor to Muscle & Fitness. Since its inception in 1982, FLEX magazine has been the world’s leading publication for bodybuilding enthusiasts. FLEX reaches over one million readers a month. About American Media, Inc. American Media, Inc. is the leading publisher of celebrity journalism and health and fitness magazines in the U.S. These include Star, Shape, Men’s Fitness, Fit Pregnancy, Natural Health, and The National Enquirer. In addition to print properties, AMI manages 14 different web sites. The company also owns Distribution Services, Inc., the country’s #1 in-store magazine merchandising company. SOURCE American Media, Inc. 

Lonnie Teper is once again the 2009 Arnold Classic bodybuilding emcee, and a part of our little group of ‘experts’, in which we try to accurately predict who will place in the top 10 of various contests. In his current blog, LT details how Isaac Hinds, Ron Avidan and LT differs in their predictions. Who do you predict, and can you outpredict the ‘experts’? Here is the blog with all three of our predictions. http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/blogs/lonnie/?p=877

8x Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman recently shared in a radio interview that he gets $5-6,000 per guest appearance. DAYUM! That’s some solid cash for an appearance. Fans can see Ronnie guest posing this April in Illinois.

Monday morning, and a lot of rumors were started on the Getbig boards that Kai Greene, while training at Gold’s Gym of Venice over the weekend, passed out while doing cardio, and someone called 911 to get him help. Furthermore, they said he was taken to the emergency room too. Well, I received a few calls today on this matter to set the story straight.  According to various people, Kai was training and working on his third round of cardio. When he finished the cardio, he was quite tired, and laid down in the back of the gym to catch his breath.  Some member of the gym saw him back there, and ran up the to front desk, and told them that somebody was passed out in the back of the gym.  According to them, no one called 911.  Kai rested, then got up, walked to his car, and drove himself home.  Now, another confirmed source said that he DID pass out.  He was on a stairclimber, doing cardio, and missed a step, whereas he fell off and passed out. They did call 911, but by the time they got there, he was ok, and he left on his own. So until Kai…

Rain, snow or shine, on March 6th, we will be heading to the 2009 IFBB Arnold Classic in downtown Columbus, Ohio.   And as we do every year, many of us like to predict on how will win and who may not be the best at the contest.  Of course this is just for fun, because in reality, none of us know how one is going to look in stage that day, but via rumors, reports and talk from follow competitors, fans and training and diet partners, the hype has begun. So who do I think will place well at the 2009 Arnold Classic. Here it goes, based on the 13 athletes that should be there. 1 – Victor Martinez.  Yes, a knee injury sidelined Victor from competing in the 2008 Mr. Olympia, in which many thought, if he had been healthy, could have been the new king. Instead, Victor now has some doubts from his fans, and others around the globe, on whether Victor will be ready when he gets on that state. Yes, he upper body should look fantastic, but will his legs match his incredible physique??? I think it will, and at the end, Victor will be crowned…

  Las Vegas is where it will be happening on September 24-27 for the Olympia contest. The updated Joe Weider’s Olympia Weekend 2009 site is up and revamped, with ticket sales beginning on February 28, 2009.   The site is located at www.mrolympia.com, so go check it out.  The Olympia Weekend is the biggest bodybuilding event of the year, with almost all of the top competitors in bodybuilding, fitness and figure competing.  The fun begins on Thursday, September 24th with the Mr. Olympia Press Conference at 1pm at the Orleans Hotel’s Showroom , followed by the Meet the Olympians at the Orleans Hotel’s Mardi Gras Ballrooms. The Olympia Expo begins on Friday, September 25th, opening at 10am, with early access at 9:30am to VIP and Platinum members. The expo is located at the Las Vegas Convention Center., and ends Saturday at 5pm. On Friday, at 11am, the Figure, Fitness and Ms. Olympia prejuding will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center stage.  On Friday at 7pm, the Men’s Prejudging and the Finals of the Fitness and Ms. Olympia will be held at the Orleans Arena. On Saturday, at 10:30am at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Men’s 202lb and Under Showdown Prejudging will…

Nutrabolics is on a role, first signing MMA fighter Frank Mir, who will appear at their booth at the 2009 Arnold Classic Weekend, and now also has signed IFBB pro Ben White. Ben White was the 2007 NPC USA Overall champion, and startted his IFBB pro career at the 2008 New York Pro, only to fall short of a qualification to the 2008 IFBB Mr. Olympia by one place.  This year, Ben is going to try again by competing in the 2009 New York Pro bodybuilding contest. In a press release, Ben said “I would like to thank my new sponsor Nutrabolics for helping me to get ready for the 2009 New York Pro Show. I am very happy to be part of such a great time of athletes and I would like to thank all my fans for their contrinuing support. As everyone knows, I took the whole 2008 off to work on impriving and perfecting my physique. I have made great strides and gains, and I look forward to competing in the 2009 IFBB schedule in the best shape of my career.”

For the last few years, only the top two men out of all the classes turned pro with the IFBB. This year, the NPC has added one additional slot for a person to turn pro. So instead of two, three competitors that has won their class will turn pro. Also, the Bikini division has been added to this years show, with each of the class winners turning pro (six total).  Add 2 pro cards for Women’s Bodybuilding, and 6 pro cards from Figure, and that makes a total of 17 new IFBB Pros come the end of the July. For those of you that wish to compete or attend, the event will be held on July 24-29 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  For complete event information go to www.musclecontest.com.

It begins…. because of the peanut recall from PCA (Peanut Corp of America), companies like Forward Foods, which makes the Detour Bars, are suffering big time. On Tuesday, they filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Recall insurance is expensive, and many of these companies just don’t carry it.  Here is the press release on it.  NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Forward Foods LLC, the maker of Detour energy bars, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday after a tainted peanut recall by its supplier, Peanut Corp of America, forced the company to recall many of its own products on fears of possible salmonella poisoning. Forward Foods, which makes high-protein, snack and meal replacement bars primarily under the Detour name, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware, saying that a “significant” amount of its inventory must be condemned. The company on Jan. 29 had voluntarily recalled all Detour bars that contained roasted peanuts from Peanut Corp. A salmonella outbreak traced to one of Peanut Corp’s plants led to one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history. The salmonella outbreak sickened 600 people, more than half of them children, and it may have killed nine people. The contamination has been traced to a Peanut…

Lee Priest is most definitely out of the 2009 Australian Pro, which has disappointed thousands of fans who wanted to see the comeback of one of the most prolific IFBB competitors, who was suspended when he left for a while. Lee is going to have surgery this Wednesday in Australia (that is Tuesday here in the US) on a torn tendon, which needed to be screwed back on to the bone and stitched (Lee’s words). After that, he won’t be able to move the arm for six weeks. We wish Lee a speedy recovery. For all those fans in Australia, Lee is still supposed to be at the 2009 Australian Pro, just not competing on stage, but to greet the Australian fans.

Lee Priest anticipated return to the IFBB pro circuit at the 2009 Australian Pro five weeks away has been talked about for a long time now, and here are a few pictures of Lee Priest. You can see more pics and a discussion of Lee Priest on the Getbig Boards at Lee Priest has new pics

“In light of recent circumstances, I feel it is my responsibility to clear the air and explain one of the many reasons why both Dave Palumbo and John Romano were terminated. Dave was hired two years ago to be Editor-in-Chief of the Muscular Development website. During the first year, he was instrumental in helping to grow it. During this past year, Dave’s interests were focused increasingly on his side businesses of training athletes and launching his supplement line. John was hired by Dave as a paid employee to endorse and promote this supplement line. Because of this, John’s position as Senior Editor was compromised. Together they were using MD and the website as a vehicle to further their own interests, and as a result, less time was being spent on increasing the website’s potential and taking it to the next level. During their employment, Dave and John’s contributions were very much appreciated, and they were well compensated. Editor-in-Chief and Senior Editor are full-time positions and we require those who hold these titles to be willing to give their total focus. This was not the case. Dave and John have not worked onsite in the MD offices for over one year,…

Monday began with a jolt in the small world of bodybuilding, as we learned that Dave Palumbo and John Romano, were both let go by Muscular Development.  Robbie Durand has been appointed the new editor in chief of Muscular Development’s web site. After Romano was fired by MD, he sent the following statement to PBW Radio about the situation.  (John’s statement was read by Dan & Bob on the PBW’s Feburayr 2nd show).    “After 18 years of dedicated service to Muscular Development Magazine, and more recently its website, the relationship that saw me rise from a mere contributor to Senior Editor has come to – as all things inevitably do – an end.  However, the end was not unforeseen. My gradually eroding confidence in the manner in which business was being conducted, and the decisions that were being made, painted a very telling picture of things to come.  Clearly, the direction the magazine and website are now headed counter my beliefs, not to mention those of my radio partner, and former Editor-in-Chief of the Muscular  Development.com, Dave Palumbo.  As you all probably know, Dave’s relationship with MD also ended today.  The manner in which the end unfolded was rather unfortunate,…