SPRINGFIELD, IL (09/13/2013)(readMedia)-- The Illinois National Guard's 129th Regional Training Institute (RTI) will host the state's first Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP) Instructor Summit in conjunction with the Adjutant General's Combatives Championships Sept. 14 and 15 at Camp Lincoln in Springfield.

Chief combatives trainer with the RTI, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Grant of Caseyville, Ill., planned the Instructor Summit and said MACP has evolved over the last few years to include new training to meet the tactical needs of forces on the ground.

"Many of the techniques and training methods we will cover during the summit were adopted from the Special Operations Combatives Program," said Grant. "We will train on how to fight with weapons, weapon retention and transition during hand-to-hand combat, hand cuffing and vehicle extraction techniques, and most importantly, how to conduct MACP training at the unit level in a safe yet realistic manner."

Grant attended the three-day Army-wide national summit at Fort Benning, GA., in 2012.

"That sparked the idea to create a summit for our combatives instructors here in Illinois," said Grant. "Our intent is to make this an annual event to coincide with the TAG Combatives Championships each year."

He said combatives instructors at the unit level are spread throughout the state and it is difficult to get them all together to update the training after their initial MACP instructor certification.

"This summit will provide a priceless opportunity to bring dozens of our MACP instructors all together at one time to train on the latest and greatest that MACP has to offer and provide a rare opportunity to network with other instructors to share ideas on training methods and unit-level combatives program development," said Grant.

With the idea in place, Grant said it was a considerable challenge to prioritize the vast amount of material and squeeze it into one day of training.

"The combatives program has progressed so much in the past few years we could easily spend several days training on new stuff and hopefully next year we will," said Grant.

He hopes the instructors will return from the summit to their units with more tools to conduct safe and realistic combatives training.

"Plain and simple, combatives saves lives. Whether directly by providing the tools needed to dominate an enemy in close-quarter-combat or indirectly by providing the courage, confidence, resiliency and warrior ethos needed to survive in a combat environment," said Grant.

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JOHN MAYER

Born & Raised Tour!

Special Guest Phillip Phillips

Tuesday, November 19 at 7:00pm

iWireless Center

Moline, IL

On Sale Saturday, September 21 at 10 am!

Reserved seats ($29.50, $49.50, $59.50, $69.50 plus applicable fees) will be available at the iWireless Center box office, charge by phone at 800/745-3000 and online at www.ticketmaster.com

Brought to you by Jam Productions.

More Information on John Mayer available at:

www.johnmayer.com

Seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician John Mayer has announced additional dates for his current U.S. tour after a successful summer run, selling out in Los Angles, Denver, Houston, and Dallas among other territories. This is the singer's first tour following a three-year hiatus.

The new tour dates kick off on 11/19 in Moline, IL and run through 12/17 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, with Phillip Phillips ("Home," "Gone, Gone, Gone") continuing to support for most U.S. shows. Tickets go on sale for most cities on September 20and 21 at 10 a.m. in respective time zones. Citi cardmembers will have exclusive access to presale tickets with most dates going on sale September 17 at 10 a.m. EST. For full details please visit www.citiprivatepass.com and www.johnmayer.com .

Mayer's new album Paradise Valley debuted at #1 in 4 countries, and in the Top 10 in another 8 countries. The new album also marks his highest career chart entry in Switzerland, Ireland, Austria, Italy, and Belgium. His previous albums-Room for Squares, Heavier Things, Continuum, live album Where the Light Is, Battle Studies and Born and Raised-have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide combined.

Mayer is using the U.S. tour to both raise funds for and heighten awareness of the effects of post- traumatic stress on our military veterans. One dollar from each tour ticket sold in the United States will go to the Northern California Institute for Research and Education. Mayer partnered with NCIRE two years ago to create programs that help veterans return to healthy and productive civilian lives.

He has been honored with seven Grammy Awards and an additional 11 nominations.  Mayer has also been included in Time Magazine's annual Time 100 list of the most influential contemporary thinkers, leaders, artists and entertainers, and twice been featured on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine's annual "Guitar" issue. Last year, he was honored in Washington, D.C. by the Recording Academy for his philanthropic work on behalf of both U.S. military veterans and young people interested in music.

September 14 - Scott County Extension Office presenting s program on composting 10:00

Fresh local dew kissed apples. Nothing but goodness. You just have to try some.   Saturday Sept 21st (next week) Bring the Kids, you're all Invited! This will be a great fun activity for the whole family.  We provide the cupcakes and all the supplies you bring the smiles and laughs!  Bring your camera and have memories to share!  Starts at 10:00 on the deck area and lasts as long as the cupcakes hold out. What a difference a week makes, all those buds starting to open. Look at all of those gorgeous Mums! Each of the plants have tons more of buds on them and will bloom into even a bigger vibrant bouquet. Several vendors have a large selection, so come and get them. They would look great at your house!

Myths abound about the subculture of bodybuilding, a sport that took off with the explosion of the health-and-fitness industry in the 1970s.

Back then, the public knew even less about these extreme and dedicated athletes until the release of a breakthrough docudrama in 1977, "Pumping Iron," produced by Jerome Gary and featuring a champion named Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The film has long fascinated Vlad Yudin, writer, director, producer and principal of The Vladar Co. He has been busy on multiple film projects this year, but right now his focus is the Sept. 20 release of "Generation Iron," created with "Pumping Iron" producer Gary and narrated by Mickey Rourke. (Visit www.generation-iron.com to watch the trailer and get showtimes.)

Yudin spent months with the seven bodybuilders featured in the docudrama as they prepared for the Mr. Olympiad contest. He says he came away with an appreciation of how little the public still knows about the sport and the athletes who so compulsively pursue physical perfection.  For one, many people believe bodybuilding is about size - not true.

"It's about developing symmetry," he says.

Here are four myths he says are rampant in literature about bodybuilders, and why they're not true.

• Myth No. 1: Bodybuilders suffer from "negative body image," or "reverse anorexia." Many observers have written that bodybuilders are driven by an eating disorder known as reverse anorexia: No matter how big they get, when they look in the mirror, they still see a skinny wimp. Not true, says Yudin. "The whole point of this sport is to perfect the physique - the goal is to develop perfect symmetry, not to get as big as you can be. These guys are striving for a perfect score in competition. If they see a weak spot, they're going to work on building that up."

• Myth No. 2. Bodybuilders depend on steroids to achieve results. Steroids do not make champions, Yudin says. Bodybuilding champs are athletes so dedicated to constantly consuming the right nutrients on the right schedule and to working out, it becomes a lifestyle. "People think they're just pumping themselves up with steroids, but bodybuilding is a science that requires effort 100 percent of the time, Yudin says.

• Myth No. 3: Bodybuilders have low self-esteem. For some, this may have been true at one point in their lives, Yudin says. Some experienced bullying; others had acceptance issues. But most now have a healthy, even robust, sense of self-esteem. "You can see it in how they carry themselves. They don't do this because of a lack of confidence," he says. "If they did, they wouldn't be able to go on stage and be judged with such intense scrutiny on their physique. They've put in a lot of work and they know they look good." He gives the example of Phil Heath, one of the seven men featured in his film. Heath grew up as a talented athlete and played basketball for the University of Denver. "He started hitting the gym more to train, and became more interested in bodybuilding than basketball," Yudin says. The two-time Mr. Olympia knew he had talent from the get-go and took advantage of it, he says.

• Myth No. 4: Body builders are socially isolated. They get a rap because they dedicate their life to the gym and their diet, Yudin says. They eat every two to three hours and they're in the gym two to three times a day. You just don't see them out and about very often. "But four of the seven men we featured are married. A fifth lives with the mother of his children, and a sixth got married after we stopped shooting. Their family lives are a big part of the film," Yudin says. While he concedes bodybuilders have to be selfish to a degree in order to maintain their grueling schedule, that doesn't mean they're loners who avoid others.

"Branch Warren is a devoted family man who brings his daughter to competitions," Yudin says. "In the film, you see him carrying his daughter through the back stage."

About Vlad Yudin: Vlad Yudin is the principal of The Vladar Company, a media and entertainment production company. IMDb Profile: www.imdb.com/name/nm2852166