Archive for the ‘Supplementation’ Category

The Importance of Whey Protein post-workout

Posted: November 17, 2014 in Supplementation
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How many of us have blamed genetics for causing us to: be overweight, not able to lose weight, weak, not able to build muscle, not athletic, or “I’ll never be able to do that?”, etc.?

Perhaps, it’s because you’re prior education has led you astray. Like many individuals, we all need  information and guidance to overcome boundaries and obtain our goals. I promise you that every Olympian, professional athlete, body builder, and like, have had a coach in their corner helping them with nutrition, workout plans, and/or supplementation. There is nothing wrong with seeking out help and advice to reach your goals and physical potential. Our society is consumed with our appearance. Instead of making goals to look like someone else, make a goal to be comfortable with how you look. Don’t stress yourself out trying to look like your favorite celebrity. Work on trying to look like your best self, by adopting healthy habits and seeking a coach.

Today we will be talking about the importance of supplementing with whey protein within 30 minutes after our workouts.FF 38

Research shows that taking whey protein after exercise can benefit the young, old, male and female alike, while significantly improving body composition, strength, agility and power. For any person, 20-25g of whey protein after a workout will do the trick to immediately start your recovery process by rebuilding muscle, sustaining protein synthesis, and getting you back in the gym sooner so you can reach your goals faster.

Although all macronutients play their own specific role in gaining lean muscle and losing body fat, protein is the king to all of these.

The biggest mistake people make when trying to gain muscle is not consuming protein directly after their workouts. We wonder “why can’t I gain any muscle? I worked out really hard.” Even if that is true, if you do not immediately reward your body and muscles with protein following your workout, you just wasted your time. If you wait hours after a workout to choke down some food, you just “suffocated” your muscles. They’re damaged at this point and it will take twice as long to recover, if you’re lucky. The soreness you feel the next day? It’s not just because “you worked out so hard,” but also, in most cases, because you didn’t recover properly with protein like you should have following the workout.

After this, you choose to workout again, even though your sore, but what you don’t know is your muscles haven’t recovered yet from the beating and abuse you gave them 24 hours ago, and now you’re ruining (once again) any gains you would have had from the workout before without the proper recovery. This then leads to over-training, which in turn leads to someone after many weeks, months, and years, never getting the results they want because they have no idea what they are doing is wrong.

If you have ever been one to read your favorite magazine, which tells you to run, lift, etc., and so that is what you do constantly…then you may need to reaproach your fitness model. There are numerous reasons why people can not gain lean muscle and lose body fat. A protein shake (best choice: Whey protein), is the door to walk through first to jump-start that journey of yours towards your goals.

Click here to see whey protein options.

Pistol Squats

Building Blocks for Muscle: Amino Acids

Posted: October 28, 2014 in Nutrition Nugget of the Week, Supplementation
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Have you ever heard this conversation at the gym or while hanging out with friends?

Wow! You look amazing – what is it you are doing and how can I gain more muscle like that (pointing at fit person)

Some of us have heard this conversation before, thought it, or said it out loud ourselves. So what is it that certain people do differently that allows them to more easily gain muscle from their hard work in the gym? Yes, taking a protein shake post workout is one piece…but the common person doesn’t always know that there is more to it than just that.

Branch chain amino acids (BCAA’s), are the building blocks for muscle. These are naturally occurring in animal based proteins, and in many of the whey protein shakes that people take after working out. But is that enough? For many people seeking to gain muscle, more BCAA’s must be consumed outside of our post-workout protein shake and animal proteins we eat at meals.

Why is it hard to eat the appropriate amount of BCAA’s instead of supplementation? While there are different goals for each and every person, in order to have optimal body composition, the majority of us do not have the genes it requires to eat the excess food and calories it must take in order to consume what our muscles need in order to grow, while keeping our body fat at healthy, optimal levels. You may say, why not eat less, and restrict ourselves of calories? Although in order to lose body fat, one must take a restricted, “burn more calories than you consume,” approach, with this comes uneducated decisions that lead to “weight loss”…aka…muscle loss. FF 7

In the attempt to lose fat, but retain muscle, BCAA supplementation is critical. What does the ideal supplementation of BCAA’s look like? For the advanced athlete, 10 grams of BCAA’s every 2 hours is a must. One would have to have roughly 8-10oz of chicken every 2-3 hours in order to get this amount, or 5 whole eggs along with 5 egg whites. This is not plausible for the average person. For anyone who chooses not to indulge in vigorous activity, always, 5 grams of BCAA’s every 2-3 hours is still needed in order to preserve muscle, while eliminating fat. This still includes something to the degree of 4-5 oz of chicken or 2 eggs and 3 egg whites. Most Americans don’t have 3 meals a day, and over 50% of Americans skip breakfast. This is an immediate result as to why so many people may see what they want on the scale, but not what they want in the mirror. In this scenario, weight loss equals muscle loss, not fat loss.

So what do you do from here? You decide what BCAA supplementation program is right for you. A few highlights include:

  • Advocare Catalyst (take 3 Amino Acid pills 15  minutes before working, first thing in the morning and right before bed)
  • In order to not skip breakfast, try a meal replacement shake (good combo between protein, fats and carbs to break your morning fast from sleeping)
  • For those working out consistently and hard, try muscle gain (consume 30 min before workouts and throughout the day up to three times)