Supplements

Uncategorized — By Ryan on September 30, 2009 1:20 am

Most people are going to instantly go to ideas of juice and roid monkeys with that word and a simple education in supplements can clear up this confusion.  There are some very natural products that give our bodies a little bit of an edge. Not all people are going to need every supplement out there, and at the same time some will need one more than the other. Now there are some things that certainly can be attained naturally but I personally get absolutely no joy out of spending 1/24th of my day in a kitchen making a meal and then another 30 minutes eating it. It would be wonderful if I did, but the reality is I don’t. So for my protein and my carbs I need supplements to make sure that I get enough to maintain and grow my lean muscle tissue.

PROTEIN: By eating enough protein to maintain your lean tissue while losing fat, you keep your metabolism revved up. Every pound of lean tissue burns 14 calories per day compared to only about three calories burned for each pound of fat per day. When you take in protein it is metabolized into lean muscle mass more than anything, the rest is mostly flushed out of your system. The more protein you take in (to a limit-too much taxes your kidneys) the more you build lean tissue and that alone is enough to rev up your metabolism to the point where it is burning more calories in a ‘resting state’. However that being said ‘Muscle work builds muscle, not protein supplements’ (http://www.campusrec.uci.edu/fitness/includes/protein.pdf)
Another Article to read regarding Protein on weight loss: http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition/Protein.html

There are specific formula’s to follow depending on what you want to do with your body. You can refer to the first linked PDF file above for some backup on what I am saying but I have been trying to achieve a minimum of a 2.0g/kg ratio. This means that for every KG of body mass I take in a min. of 2 grams of protein. I am 91kg and so my bare minimum is around 180g of protein. Now my goal is to get bigger, something which most women run away screaming from. It is so funny how when I start talking to women about weight training they get petrified about ‘bulking up’(much more petrified than maintaining a large bum). How you train and what you put into your body will determine this not simply training and taking supplements on its own. For someone aiming to be lean and toned a 1.4-1.6 g/kg protein ratio is perfect. If you are say 65kg(140lbs) then you should be aiming for around 90-100 grams of protein to go along with your training schedule. This means you will actually have to know what you are putting into your body.. Counting calories is horseshit, I have seen people close to me try it and it doesn’t work. Don’t count the Calories, KNOW what the calories are made up of and go from there. You know what is high in fat and sugars, don’t eat them!. Alternatively learn how much nutrients are in your food and run a tally of how much protein is going in. You don’t need to keep a bloody pen and paper with you all the time, just keep a general figure in your head and keep your eyes on your quota. Refer again to that PDF for a table with protein amounts in common foods.

Your protein intake should be split up throughout your day so you are doing say 30g in the morning when you wake up, 10g or so before your workout, 30g after and then whatever else you eat in the day to make up the rest. For someone bulking up you are going to need a bit more, more often. I personally do 60g when I wake up, 40 before my workout, 65g after my workout and then normally a shake of 40g for lunch with my normal diet on top of that. The most important times to have elevated protein in your system is in the morning shortly after you have gotten up and immediately after a workout as your body is in it’s most depleted state at those times.

It should be noted that I am not relying on shakes for 100% of my nutrition, nor would I recommend it. Solid food is a wonderful thing, AS LONG as you don’t eat shit. If you don’t think you have the strength to stay away from chips and Burger King then stick with the shakes and multi-vitamins. But myself I indulge in nice Veggie burgers and the like every chance I can, soups, salads, generally real good food or I go crazy.

Carbs: http://www.muscle-fitness.co.uk/5.html

Atkins and all the rest of these jokers can take a hike as far as I am concerned. Carbs are a wonderful thing and an ESSENTIAL thing to a healthy and toned body. They fuel the body for exercise, help drive protein into muscles for growth and prevent the breakdown of hard-earned muscle mass. What is crucial to know here is where your carbs are coming from and the most common source of it in our bloated society is White-Refined Sugar, the bloody scourge of our lands. No matter what kind of exercise you are doing our bodies must burn through the sugars that are stored in them from prior consumption before they can even thinking about touching the fats which is why it is so important to know where your carbs are coming from. A good amount of healthy carbs in your diet is essential to not only looking healthy but feeling healthy, so do NOT avoid whole grain products at all you are only doing yourself a dis-service. Cutting the sugar out of your diet will lead to almost immediate results as your body is then going to be able to start eating away at those reserves instead of burning through the can of pop. None of this anyone needs to hear, it is all common sense, don’t drink pop, don’t candy or shit like that it is really that simple. This single switch will no doubt play the largest role in loosing unwanted and excess weight. We don’t need it, and after you loose your psychological addiction to this shit (which our society has cleverly engineered) you won’t even like it anymore.

Creatine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine
http://www.absolute-creatine.com/creatine.htm – please note the section on ‘women and creatine’.

For some of us Creatine is the quickest way to gain mass. With a body type that is tall and lean and while this generally is a very favorable thing considering the alternatives it is not the body type that you want if you are training 7 days a week. The most common form of Creatine is Creatine Mono-hydrate, which means that there is about 12% water in the mix that bonds with the creatine and in-turn bonds with my muscles which leads to increased water retention in my muscles as a nice side effect. HOWEVER this is not the purpose of taking creatine, although it is the icing on the cake, creatine in studies has shown to dramatically increase strength and endurance exercises. In runners they get faster times and can run longer, with weight trainers it means they can squeeze an extra 15-20% more reps out at a higher weight. This allows me to tear more muscle which leads to more muscle repair which leads to more fat being burned and converted into lean muscle mass. The harder you can push yourself the quicker the results are going to be. It should be noted that there are specific creatine products designed for women in order to eliminate the water-retention quality of creatine (who wants to be bloated?) and the women should talk to the experts about which one is best for them. Bottom line is creatine allows you to push harder for longer squeezing that much more out of your workouts and pushing your results further than they could go normally. There are many different kinds of creatine products on the market most are a pre/post product meaning you ke a serving before the workout and then another one after the workout. There are some others where you do a smaller amount during the day and that is it. Again it all depends on the product and what works best for you.  The downside is that Creatine can increase your water retention making you a bit larger however not quite as cut.

Glutamine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamine
http://www.criticalbench.com/glutamine-benefit.htm

Now this is something, training or not, that everyone and their neighbor’s dog should be taking.. The benefits all around good from increased vascular elasticity to aiding gastrointestinal function to aiding healing times after surgery.
When it comes to training one of the key benefits of this supplement is that it goes to preserve existing built lean muscle mass. Again like with creatine this allows you to do more in less time, as your body isn’t replacing as much lost or “catabolized” muscle-mass it gets to refine itself more as apposed to rebuilding or in my case add more muscle mass in a shorter amount of time. It is recommended that you take about 10g of Glutamine a day, normally right before a workout, and then right before bed (the two times of the day where your body is most susceptible to being in a catabolic state.

There are a few other natural products I do to give myself an edge which I will not go into as they aren’t necessary when someone is starting out. The main key here are the one’s described above, when you should be taking them and in what quantity.

Tags: carbs, creatine, fitness, glutamine, powders, protein, supplements, working out