Kate Troescher's Taking Over This Blog!

Kate Troescher, a 2005 Cal grad, athlete, yell leader, and writer for "The Bear Insider" and Scout.com - california.scout.com - is taking over my blog! Kate's energy and interest will provide you with a great online experience.

She's not only getting this blog, but the Women's Sports and Women's Tennis Blogs, as well as one of her own. But I'll still be around to help her make posts and maintain things.

Welcome Kate!

Steroids and Women's Bodybuilding - 46 Percent Believe Steriods Are Necessary To Be Competitive in Fitness and Figure - Terry Goodlad

The photo of Jennifer Caprati is not used to imply that she's taken steriods. The photo is the best example of raw female athletic power available. If a woman can use steroids to gain this kind of ability, she can alter the outcome of a contest, and her own body's evolution in the process.

April 5/06
Just Say No
By Terry Goodlad

In our most recent Bodysport poll we asked our readers if they thought the use of anabolic steroids or growth hormone was necessary to be competitive at the amateur level in fitness and figure. Not surprisingly 46% said yes and 54% said no.

Steroids are a not a problem in our society but people that have no patience are, and that is why drugs like steroids are so popular. There was a time when craftsmanship and quality was something people happily waited for. The wait simply increased the value of what was gained in that time.

The infatuation with convenience and not-so coincidental death of persistence, pride and work ethic began a few years back with the birth of fast food. About then people started burying themselves in more credit card debt than they could possibly afford to have what they wanted now, and having a big hat became far more important than having the cattle to back it up. Today that same "I have to have everything instantly" mentality is rampant in the fitness industry as well and absolutely no one is apologetic about it, it's expected. Everyone wants the fastest way, not the way that builds pride in ownership.

For example let's take a look at theoretical Thelma. After munching down whatever tastes good and staring at a computer screen all day for a lifetime, her ass expands to epic proportions and one day while trying on clothes in a department store change room, an evil mirror jumps out and tells her the truth. In a whirlwind of discarded plus sized panties and control top hose she runs bawling from the store, wedges herself into a mini-van and tears off to a gym. Once inside some buff dude named Chip or Lance sits her down and fills her head full of useless information about machines she could care less about until she is hypnotized into signing up as a member.

The next day she shows up in the baggiest stuff she could find, with the obligatory sweatshirt tied around her waist that hangs down over her prodigious backside. She has her introductory "training session" with some young chickie named Barbie that looks like she was born about the same year Thelma's training clothes were in style. She doesn't do much other than stand there counting reps but today just having someone beside her in this unforgiving place is more than enough.

Jet forward a couple months after she has been training consistently and eating what her body needs and all of a sudden its time to go shopping for a new wardrobe and people that used to knock her over on their way to the water fountain suddenly find anything she has to say very interesting and have an urge to be her "friend". It's happening and she likes it.

Sooner or later she finds out about competing and she decides to enter a contest. Usually there is a guru someplace that knows everything about everything and after hooking up with the guy and telling him about her dreams of being on the Olympia stage, she is informed that all those girls take drugs and you will have to take them to if you want to be like them.

The story goes on with all sorts of middles and endings but the point is very clear without even knowing what happened. Drugs will get you there faster and that fact is certainly true. But you can get there without them, it will just take a little bit longer and you will have to learn more about feeding and training your body. Beyond that its just character building work and once you learn how to shape your body you won't need anyone or any substance to make it look the way you want it to.

You will have to work for it, its not going to be free as most things worth having are not. But neither is steroid use, there is a price. If you can find an athlete that will admit to anabolic steroid use and they have been doing it for a year or two to compete, ask to see a face shot of them before they started the drugs and ask them if they have had to have anything done to their faces besides the obvious need to shave those thick dark chin hairs every other day or so. Clitoral enlargement is also a side effect and if you think it's not noticeable or perhaps something you can live with then you really need to pick up an issue of Muscle Elegance Magazine and peruse the nudie shots of some athletes published there before you decide.

Not only do the drugs have unwanted side effects, they are most likely black market drugs and who knows where they were made or what conditions they were made in. In a disease and bacteria phobic society we panic when a can is dented on a store shelf but have no problems jamming a needle in our asses and pumping in a couple cc's of God knows what because some dufus in the gym gave his seal of approval that this stuff was "good".

If you still don't think it's a problem, ask yourself if you would recommend the same drugs to your daughter or little sister.

The first lesson is to examine your motives for what you are doing. Is it about feeling better about yourself or feeling better about yourself when you use drugs? Maybe, just maybe, feeling better about yourself comes in time when you face a challenge in life and with your own resources and character, you muster what you need to face and succeed at that challenge. If you use something to get you there then you will always know it wasn't just you…you may never know what you are truly capable of. But you will know it took drugs to get you where you are.

Fitness whether recreational or competitive should be a lifestyle of healthy eating, exercise, and finding balance in life. The result is having a body and a life you are proud of whether you put it on stage or not.

If you think you need drugs to compete in fitness or figure you are probably selling yourself short or maybe needing a different sport or place to set goals and achieve them. If you think it's a good idea to take drugs to compete in fitness or figure, then ask yourself if you would recommend the same to your own daughter or your younger sister. If it's a good idea for you but not for them, then maybe you need to work on feeling better about yourself, drugs won't help you there.

If you have to put your body, your face, and your self esteem at risk to get something or be a part of something then chances are it's not worth it. You are better than that.

Craig Titus Strangled Melissa James, Kelly Ryan Injected Her With Morphine - Grand Jury Transcripts

What this reveals are the actions of two very sick people.

GRAND JURY TRANSCRIPTS: Friend: Pair told of violence

Bodybuilders described confrontation, woman testified

By GLENN PUIT
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Kelly Ryan participated in the brutality that culminated in the death of her personal assistant by using a Taser gun on the victim, beating her and helping to inject the woman with a massive dose of morphine, Ryan's self-described best friend told a grand jury.

In her testimony to the grand jury that indicted Ryan and Ryan's husband, Craig Titus, on murder charges, Megan Pierson, 25, also said Titus demonstrated how he strangled 28-year-old Melissa James, according to the grand jury transcripts.

Pierson told the grand jury that she and her husband, Jeremy Foley, were at Ryan and Titus' southwest valley home on Dec. 13, the same day authorities suspect Titus and Ryan's live-in assistant was slain.

Pierson testified that Ryan told her that a confrontation had occurred between her and James at the home because she and Titus suspected James was stealing from them and was planning to steal their identities.

Ryan is a 33-year-old past Ms. Fitness America and Ms. Olympia runner-up, and Titus is a 40-year-old past place-winner of international Mr. Olympia competitions.

"They had gone into Melissa's room and found, opened up, a lock box that had credit cards, copies of credit cards, a (home equity line of credit) statement ... and copies of IDs," Pierson said.

She said Titus was especially angry at the discovery.

"Very, very pissed," Pierson said, adding that Titus said, "There is three things that you don't mess with. That's friends, family and his money."

Pierson said Ryan told her that during a confrontation with James, she had taken a Taser gun away from James, then used it on James.

"It, I guess, stunned her in the back of her neck, but she (Ryan) didn't have it up high enough, so it just kind of got her attention," Pierson told the grand jury.

"And Kelly tried to do it again, and she, I guess she didn't have the voltage up high enough, so she yelled for Craig, and Craig came upstairs, picked Melissa up, brought her downstairs into the living room and supposedly body slammed her (James) and started beating her up," Pierson testified.

Ryan told Pierson that after the beating, James "took a Xanax" and went to bed, Pierson said.

"While she was sleeping, Kelly went into her room and punched her in the face," Pierson said.

"She (Ryan) said that she punched her a couple of times, she showed me the marks on her knuckles from it, and she said that ... Craig was holding her down and told Kelly to get the morphine and she shot a whole needle of morphine into her leg," Pierson said. "She said she was very resilient because it didn't do anything to her."

Later that evening, Titus demonstrated to Pierson "how you can strangle somebody," and then he demonstrated a chokehold for Pierson.

"He did it on me, and you instantly stop breathing," Pierson said. "It scared me the way that he motioned, the way that he showed it on me.

"Craig just walked in and started talking about it and, that's how, he started talking more about how he said that he killed Melissa," Pierson said.

"He said that he was joking around, but that is how he had killed Melissa, by strangling her," Pierson said.

"I mean, he was laughing, so I really did not believe he was serious," she said.

Pierson said that Titus then mentioned James' body was in his wife's car and that Titus said he was going to drive the vehicle to Red Rock, "scatter clothes around the car and set it on fire and make it look like a rape."

Pierson's testified before the grand jury earlier this month, and the grand jury wound up indicting Ryan and Titus on charges of murder and arson in the death of James.

Twenty-three-year-old Anthony Gross is charged with being an accessory to the killing and with arson.

Authorities allege Titus and Ryan killed James, then burned her body in Ryan's Jaguar off state Route 160 in the desert outside of Las Vegas. The burning car was discovered Dec. 14.

Pierson said when she and her husband left the home of Titus and Ryan the night of Dec. 13, Titus gave the couple a gym bag.

"We said our goodbyes, and there was a gym bag next to my purse," Pierson said. "I grabbed my purse, walked out and Craig said, 'Hey, wait, you forgot this,' and I said 'What is this?'"

"He said, 'Oh, don't worry about it, I talked to Jeremy about it; he said it was OK to have it at your house for a couple of weeks,' " Pierson said.

"He said that he knew the police were going to be coming to his house the next day, and he acted like he just didn't want whatever was in the bag in the house while the police were there," Pierson said.

The following day, she said, she looked in the gym bag and saw "a Taser gun, a stun gun, a gym rope, and something else for one of the Taser guns or stun gun," Pierson said.

Pierson said she turned the items over to police, and according to grand jury transcripts, authorities found other physical evidence that corroborated Pierson's account.

An analysis of the Taser gun indicated it had been fired multiple times on the day James was slain, and Las Vegas police crime scene analysts found remnants from the discharge of a Taser gun inside Titus and Ryan's home.

Also, a medical examiner told the grand jury that James had a high level of morphine in her body at the time of her death.

When questioned by a prosecutor in front of the grand jury, Pierson admitted she did not tell police what she knew when first questioned by police because "at first I was protecting Kelly."

It was all "very upsetting," Pierson said. "It's very depressing. ... I thought I knew her better than this."

Pierson said she was frightened by Titus. Nevertheless, she agreed to meet with Titus and Ryan a few days after Dec. 13 at an acquaintance's house.

"Kelly was playing dumb, saying that 'they (police) think we did it,' and Craig said that they were going to go to Greece," Pierson said. "He said, 'It's no big deal. Kelly is going to continue to compete there, everything will be fine,' and he said he only needed two witnesses to say that she (James) was overdosed in the front seat of the car and that they'd get off."

Ryan's attorney, Tom Pitaro, declined to comment on the grand jury transcripts Tuesday because he had not read them yet.

Titus' defense attorney, Richard Schonfeld, declined to comment on the specifics of the transcripts, but he said the veracity of the evidence is expected to be challenged in District Court. He previously said that Titus' accusers have significant credibility problems.

Authorities allege that Titus and Ryan first told police they did not know what happened to James. They later said they found her dead of a drug overdose, then panicked and burned her body.