Nx Level Fitness owner and manager Mitch Ross stands in front of his SWATS bus while hawking a bottle of his “ultimate spray,” a steroid alternative that SWATS sells. An NFL linebacker sued SWATS, saying that the spray made him test positive for steroids, but the court has since thrown the case out. Additionally, Fultondale physician Dr. Doug Alford has had the supplement tested for steroids, and all tests came back negative.

A Fultondale fitness guru is ready to unleash a new product, despite an unsuccessful attempt by a Major League Baseball player to sue him.

Mitch Ross, owner and operator of Nx Level Fitness in Fultondale, is preparing to market his Legal Extreme Athletic Performance, or LEAP, energy drink. Ross developed the formula himself over a period of five years, and he says it’s intended to be an alternative to canned energy drinks, which he says aren’t effective. According to Ross, LEAP makes mitochondria, which provide human cells with energy, more effective.

“The more mitochondria you have, the more energy you have,” he said.

LEAP is just one of several products Ross sells through his company, Sport With Alternatives To Steroids (SWATS). Mitch also developed “chips” that are placed on the body to naturally increase performance or reduce pain.

Another of his products is “The Ultimate Spray,” an alternative to growth hormone that, according to Ross, has various benefits, from accelerated healing to fat burning. The spray is made chiefly from freeze-dried, ground-up antler velvet that comes from a particular breed of deer native to New Zealand. Although Ross didn’t develop the formula, he discovered the product and began distributing it nationwide.

The spray is mostly used by NFL and Major League Baseball athletes; in mid-2010, SWATS was sued by St. Louis Rams linebacker David Vobora, who tested positive for banned steroids and blamed Ross’s Spray.

“Nobody else has ever had a complaint about one of my products,” said Ross.

Ross sent a sample of the spray to Dr. Doug Alford’s office in Fultondale. Alford, in turn, sent the sample to a lab in Tennessee.

“It contained absolutely no anabolic steroids,” said Alford. “Medically, there is nothing dangerous or illegal in his products.” Alford has also tested SWATS’s chips.

The case was eventually thrown out because Ross couldn’t legally be sued in Missouri, but he could still be sued in Alabama.

“A whole lot of top NFL players still use it,” he said.

Ross entered the fitness industry immediately after graduating high school. He opened a gym in Gardendale in the 90s, but had to close it down.

“I got into drugs. But, I turned my life around in 1998 when I accepted Christ,” he said.

Ross cites his former drug problem as a reason for starting SWATS. He said he is personally against the use of steroids in athletics.

More information about Ross’s products can be found at SWATS’s website, www.swatsteam.com.