04.22.08
Post-Workout Nutrition
Post-workout, your muscles need glucose and protein. (No fat.) Glucose to replace the glucose/glycogen that you just used up, and protein (amino acids) as building blocks for new muscle proteins.
Glucose is the direct molecule that your cells use to get energy. Fructose, found mostly in fruit, has to be converted to glucose by your liver. Maltodextrin is a starch of glucose molecules, usually made from corn or wheat.
Either glucose/fructose or maltodextrin or a combination of the two is fine. Some people are adamant about one or the other; most said simply “carbohydrate.” The main point is to get some kind of a faster-absorbing carb in your post-workout nutrition so that your muscle and liver glycogen can be restored (and won’t steal amino acids from your muscle proteins to reverse-engineer glucose).
My PWO shake:
- 2 scoops Blue Ice Iso-Extreme (30 g protein)
- 0.5 scoop Xtinguisher (25 g dextrose (carb))
- 8 oz Fruit Punch Gatorade (14 g carbs (fructose & sucrose))
- 1 scoop Max Glutamine (5 g)
An hour or so after your post-workout shake, have a regular meal of protein, carbs, and fat.
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03.28.08
Creatine
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| Photo by headcase |
First, your body naturally produces Creatine. So whether you like it or not, you’re “on” creatine. Creatine is not an anabolic steroid & does not mess with your hormones. Yes, women can take it. I just throw that out at the beginning because I see so many people trash creatine while knowing nothing about it.
A Biology Lesson
Your muscles run on ATP (adenosine triphosphate), or, technically, on the energy change released by breaking one of those phosphate bonds. After an ATP has lost a phosphate, it becomes ADP (adenosine diphosphate); it now lacks a phosphate. In order to get that phosphate back, ADP has to wait in line for glycolysis/glycogenolysis to finish up and free up some phosphates & enzymatically add them back. While your ADP is waiting, your muscles are still trying to work. And they need ATP right now.
Here’s where creatine comes in to save the day: creatine exists in stable form as phosphocreatine. That’s right; it has a phosphate attached. Instead of waiting in line at the glycolysis counter, your ADP first swipes a phosphate from phosphocreatine and jumps right back in as ATP. The creatine molecule is then degraded and excreted. By the time ADP comes around again, glycolysis has a supply of phosphate ready to go.
The Supplement
Creatine is a legal supplement and is fairly cheap. Creatine is sold in several forms, but creatine monohydrate has been around the longest and is most studied, so you can’t go wrong with it. You could also eats lots of meat–because it’s animal muscle, meat contains creatine.
Your body can store creatine, to an extent. The point of “loading” (periods of taking progressively more creatine) is to get your muscles to store more phosphocreatine, similar to carb loading for marathoners. However, because of phosphocreatine’s structure, you’ll also store extra water. Most of the immediate weight gain associated with creatine supplementation comes from this water. (That means, if you’re taking creatine, the scale is pretty much worthless to measure progress. It also means drink more water.)
So why take creatine? As we pointed out in the biology section above, creatine helps recycle ATP in the initial few moments of a workout; this delays the moment when glycogen stores and glucose become the fuel source, which can extend the length of a workout. Creatine doesn’t confer greater strength and superpowers on those who take it. Rather, because you can use heavier loads and/or do more reps, you can tax the muscles more, resulting in greater hypertrophy (muscle growth).
When to take creatine? Actually, the best time to take it is probably after exercise, when your body’s creatine stores are exhausted. In addition, since your PWO shake contains carbs, it will also help the creatine to be shuttled to your muscles and absorbed.
Resources
- Creatine for Women
- Skwigg on Creatine (note: Betagen = brand of creatine)
- Supplement Watch: Creatine
- Creatine Article
01.24.08
NROLF, Day 5: Power Rack!
Technically, it was last night, but I bought my power rack! It’s still in boxes in the garage, but perhaps tonight or Saturday night my dad and I can put it together. I bought a pulley system with it, too, with a high and a low pulley so now I can do Lat Pulldowns and Seated Rows. (And if I can borrow a digital camera, I’ll put up pictures!)
I’ve been tracking my calories and macronutrients at SparkPeople. I’m hitting the total calorie mark for each day, and I’m getting at least my protein minimum. But I think I’m too high on the carbs (over 50% most days) and too low on the fat. There’s the problem with everything being “low fat”: I can’t get enough fat!
I stopped by Max Muscle last night, too, and picked up more glutamine (both the powder and some chewables) and some EFA capsules. So now my supplements look like this:
- Max High5 protein (Mocha Cappuccino!), 2x/non-workout, 3x/workout day
- Glutamine powder, with protein
- EFA, 2 capsules 2x/day, morning & evening
- Syner-B12, 1 tablet 1x/day, morning
- Vitacell, 2 tbsp 1x/day, morning
- Glutamine Chewables (orange), 2 wafers, evening, every day; 2 wafers, morning, non-workout days
Only the EFA capsules have to be swallowed, which is good because I hate swallowing anything. I have to hold my nose until I have no choice but to swallow. Ugh.
My hamstrings are still letting me know they’re here, and other muscles were cranky when I woke up. They’re loose now, but with enough twinges to remind me that they have done work.
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01.16.08
Glutamine
Glutamine is an amino acid (one of the building blocks of protein) and makes up about 60% of your skeletal muscles. Glutamine is a nonessential amino acid: that is, your body can synthesize it. However, it is used in so many processes in your body and can be used to synthesize other nonessential amino acids–and can be used a source of nitrogen–that supplementing with glutamine may be beneficial.
Glutamine is involved in growth hormone production, immune system function, and intestinal health. It is given to patients in burn wards, and they recover faster. Also, studies done have shown no overdose amount for glutamine (which rather makes sense, since it’s just an isolated amino acid).
I take a glutamine supplement with my protein shakes. One scoop = 5 grams. In addition, my protein has extra glutamine already. So I’m taking about 30 g/day, working out or not. I also keep meaning to take another 5g right before bed, but I haven’t got the habit yet of eating before bed.
Since I started adding glutamine, I’ve had little to no DOMS–and I used to usually have a lot of lingering soreness. And in that time, I’ve been increasing my weights until the last few reps every workout are hard to finish.
I’ve seen lots of forum postings that say they take 1.5 g/day and feel no difference; therefore, they conclude it doesn’t work and tell everyone to not take glutamine. That’s just silly, to take hardly any and then to say it didn’t work so it’s useless. Take a normal dose for several weeks and then tell me what it does.
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12.10.07
Whey Protein
I’m in to weight lifting and general getting-in-shapeness, so I take extra protein. Protein is good for maintaining and increasing muscle mass. But I can’t eat chicken 5x/day. The important things to look for in a protein powder are:
- that it’s a whey protein isolate or whey protein isolate blend. Whey isolate is the most pure form of whey protein, so it has less junk in it. (And whey > casein > soy.)
- that there is a high percentage of protein per serving. That is, if the serving size is 32 g, the amount of protein is close to that number (e.g., 26 g protein).
- that it tastes good. Protein powders have come a long way in 20 years, and now they can provide a lot of protein and a great taste.
I belong to several online groups for weight lifting, weight loss, and getting in shape. Everyone has their favorite protein that they like to brag about. Today I did some research on the second bullet above, percentage of protein per serving. I was surprised that a lot of the “pure” powders had a lower protein percentage than I would have expected.
These are people who have lifted weights and taken supplements for years, and they’re eating protein that has a low protein percentage. But hey, it tastes great and it’s cheap, right? I’ve read posts in which people have advocated calculating how much you pay per scoop–but what if most of the scoop is not protein? Why pay for what you don’t want?
From all the powders I looked at, the MaxPro came in the best at 23.5 g/serving with 20 g/protein. The High5 is at the upper range for most of the “pure” protein powders I found out there, and it’s a blend!! So sure, the Max Muscle proteins cost more, but you’re buying more protein. Works for me.
Obviously, I could be said to be biased since my parents own a MM store. So go check for yourself. How much non-protein are you getting in your protein powder?
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