Nasser El Sonbaty graces the cover of the April Flex, roaring to destroy all competition at the 1997 Arnold Classic. Other articles include an interview with Flex Wheeler, how the East Germans built a doping system for their athletes, and an excellent pictorial on Becky Rampey.

Flex Magazine considers themselves the bible of hardcore bodybuilding. Each month, Flex visits and speaks with the champions of bodybuilding at their gyms, at contests, and at their homes, gathering information and photographs, Flex brings you their latest strategies, and the competitive goals that they apply to further develop their title-winning physiques. Flex is the official magazine of the IFBB.

Bodybuilding:

• Naked Guns 22 1/2 ... ish! When Chris Cormier and Paul Dillett got together after the fact to review a photographic record of their impromptu biceps workout, the repartee was as hardcore as the reps.

• Maximum Lift: You'll be gobsmacked to pieces once you read this ripping treatise on extending your wingspan - and creating the illusion of a trimmer waist - from the training desk of the Shadow. This keep of the hallowed Sandow has a blunt message: If you want to carry more mass, depth and separation on those broad shoulders, you'd better ditch the heavy dumbbell presses in favor of seated Smith machine presses. By Dorian Yates.

• The Drop Zone: Arm day is no picnic in the green grass if you're willing to take your training over the edge with drop sets, supersets and forced reps. Engorge your arms with enough blood to gag a pencil neck geek with this startling shock set workout. By Ian Harrison.

• Gettin' Down: Hoping to pack on some size this year? Then you'd better learn to squat hard and heavy. If the final few reps of the final set on heavy day don't make you see the White Buffalo, you didn't use enough weight. Here's the beef on squatting from the strength and conditioning guru at John Hopkins University.

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: With his pro card in hand, Jack Smith - a charter member of bodybuilding's Capital Gang - has the jaw dropping delt development to put the big hurt on a slew of much larger physique stars. This '96 NPC Nationals lightweight champ is a man with a plan - both for bodybuilding and life. Jimmy Stewart, eat your heart out!

Features:

• The Big Picture: The Flex Wheeler File!

Contests:

• Desert Storm; Though the U.S. team stayed away, physique champions from 78 countries braved the dangers of open conflict to compete at the World Amateur Men's Bodybuilding Championships in Amman, Jordan. Amid the shifting sands of animosities and allegiances, the Jordanian militia roared through the rocky alabaster canyons of Amman to give their lives - if necessary - for this golden anniversary of the IFBB's World Championships.

• Eastern Europe's Muscle Rebirth: If anyone had the half baked idea that women's bodybuilding in Eastern Europe had gone the way of the proverbial wrecking ball, those misinformed nattering nabobs of negativism learned a thing or two at the 1996 IFBB Women's World Amateur Championships in Rimini, Italy.

• Eurotrashed II: The Hard of Darkness: In this continuing saga of the 1996 IFBB Grand Prix tour - sand Dorian Yates - we learn many strange and mysterious things about bodybuilders and bodybuilding. To quote Kevin Levrone, "It's not a vacation, it's a survival course".

Nutrition:

• Advanced Nutrition: This month: Maintaining muscle while dieting; dietary fats and sex hormones; amino acids and muscle protein synthesis.

Pictorials:

• No Surrender! Nasser El Sonbaty sees his future in bodybuilding: destiny, drive and success.
• No Misunderstanding: Hawaiian eyeful Becky Rampey seeks no dispute in her motivation as a female champion.
• The Flip Side of the 1996 Mr. O: From the backstage recesses of Chicago's Arie Crown Theatre, Flex offers a reverse angle on the latest Mr. Olympia contest.

Posters:

• Becky Rampey / Chris Cormier

Supersection:

• Brave New Drug World: To combat all the misinformation being promoted as fact in other publications and floating around in cyberspace on the Internet, Flex has enlisted the finest scientists and researchers to bring the truth to its readers. This is not a bible of drug usage; rather, it is a service to help readers make intelligent decisions and staying up to date on the vanguard of cutting edge research.

• This month: Stephan Hartl's "The Pill that Ruled the World", the first installment of a compelling five part series on how the East Germans built a doping system that dominated athletics; Philip Goglia's final Array Q&A, and much, much more.

Departments:

• Factoids
• Flex Files
• Flextra
• Hard Times
• IFBB World Report
• Mr. Olympia corner
• NPC Report
• Reader's Market
• Superteen
• Talkback