For regular customers, if you'd like to reorder your supplements, see the link below. Scroll to the second paragraph after this one for the special offers.
Reading on, you'll find that this page will address two important concepts - First, how high intensity exercises affects your muscles' physiology and biochemistry; and how this affect can lead to either muscle growth; no growth; or muscle atrophy and damage, depending upon your diet, recovery time, and antioxidant/micronutrient status. Second, what hormones are best and safest to manipulate in order to enhance muscle protein synthesis; and what you should ingest in order to create the ideal hormonal environment for body/strength building. Estimated reading time is about 20 minutes.
You'll also have the opportunity to obtain a free 30 day supply of antioxidant support for your training, when you purchase 64oz of either Bodybuilding or Whey Protein Powder. Additionally, there's a pound of high quality protein/carbohydrate supplement powder available for 5.00 when you order 300 gm of top quality creatine. When you finish reading this Knowledge Link, you'll understand the logic behind having the products. If you just want to order, click on the link below, "Martino's Supplement Resources", then "Catalog Index", then "Protein Powder Supplements" to view these products. All orders are encrypted for your protection and peace of mind!
Also, at the end of this paper, I'll cover how to take your supplements, and supply you with an email address through which you can request copies or summaries of journal articles, or ask questions about nutrition or nutritional supplements.
Contents: 1)What The Heck Are Free Radicals? (2)The Biochemistry of Exercise. (3) Potential Problems Associated With High Intensity Bodybuilding (4) Safe, Natural Hormonal Manipulation To Facilitate Muscle Growth (5) References (6) Contact Me (7) How to Take Your Supplements.
What The Heck Are Free Radicals?
Free radicals are basically unstable molecules that naturally seek stability through reactions with other molecules, be they additional free radicals or more stable molecular species. Free radicals can be coincidentally generated where ever there are complex chemical reactions. In our bodies, free radicals often seek to stabilize themselves through reactions with the molecular components of healthy tissue, damaging them in the process and thus contributing to aging and various disease conditions over time.
Exercise increases oxygen consumption and thus indirectly enhances the potential for the production of oxygen containing free radicals. These free radicals are so reactive that they can lead to the damage of muscle tissue and have adverse systemic effects as well. Dietary antioxidants can significantly lower the free radical burden associated with strenuous exercise...
The (Bio) Chemistry of Exercise
Physical activity beyond a sedentary existence increases our intake of oxygen. Even short, high intensity exercise significantly increases oxygen consumption. This is because rapid and/or strenuous activity requires that energy be supplied at a rate faster than can be obtained through the use of oxygen. This "anaerobic", or "without oxygen" (production and) expenditure of energy, is ultimately replenished with the help of EXTRA oxygen. That is why you breath hard after short, intense activity. As such, the term "anaerobic" can be misleading, since oxygen is ultimately required to fully process all of the fats, carbs and proteins we eat into the energy our cells need to live and grow.
The energy from the macronutrient fats, carbs and proteins we eat is actually obtained from ultra small electrons that are extracted from those fuels and moved down a concentration gradient, with energy being collected at specific points along the way. This system of energy extraction is sort of like dropping a boulder down a mountain that has plateaus. Each time the boulder hits a plateau, it crashes and imparts some force, or energy, to the plateau it hits. The mountain thus collects energy at specific points as the boulder moves down to it's base. Oxygen acts like the earth that stops the boulder at the base of the mountain. It is the final stop for electrons in the energy generating chain.
Ninety five percent of the oxygen we breath serves as the last stop for the electrons removed from the fuels we ingest. The remaining 5% can catch electrons that leak out of the energy generating, electron transport system, resulting in the formation of superoxide free radicals and hydrogen peroxide, which are reactive combinations of free oxygen and hydrogen in our cells. Superoxide and hydrogen peroxide can then react with each other to form water and the extremely reactive hydroxyl radical.
Now, aerobic energy, and some of the free radicals generated as a result of aerobic exercise, is produced INSIDE of our muscles' mitochondria, which are the main sites of energy production in our cells. The inner membranes of our mitochondria are crucial to the synthesis of ATP, the main energy product derived from all fuels, be they fats, carbs, or proteins. Free radical damage to the inner membrane of mitochondria can lower the production of ATP, contributing to the fatigue and weakness felt after long or intense physical activity.
Our cells have lots of mitochondria. The total number in each cell type depends upon the function of the cell. Using muscle tissue as an example, the muscle cells in the legs of a trained runner will have many more mitochondria than a guy who is habituated to heavy squats. This is because the slower rate of energy use by the runner's leg muscles provides for the direct use of oxygen to obtain energy from fuels, mainly stored fat. This is opposed to the squater's leg muscles primarily using oxygen to recover from high intensity energy production, which is generated and used faster than the aerobic process supplying the runner's muscles, and is derived almost exclusively from carbohydrates. Recovery for the squater involves an immediate resynthesis of very short term energy reserves, and a longer process of restoring muscle carbohydrates called glycogen.
The squater's anaerobic energy production takes place OUTSIDE of his mitochondria, in the cell's cytoplasm (an open fluid environment). The product of that anaerobic energy production may then be carried into his mitochodria for further energy extraction.
Potential Problems Associated With High Intensity Bodybuilding
There are a few things unique to bodybuilding exercises that can potentially cause even more free radical damage to muscle tissue than aerobic ("with oxygen") exercises. Check this out:
Bodybuilders often employ unique methods to work their muscles in order to stimulate growth. We may use static contractions for as long as we can stand; raise heavy weights as fast as we can; or resist, as mightily as we can, the descent of an extremely heavy weight. These training techniques can lead to the generation of free radicals from sources other than, and in addition to, the energy generating electron transport chain.
For example, a set of breathing squats, for 20-25 reps using your own body weight, will precipitate a humongous oxygen debt, requiring a rapid, massive intake of air (and expiration of carbon dioxide) due to the high intensity anaerobic contractions of the large muscles in the lower body.
Likewise, holding a squat position for as long as possible under heavy weight will require massive oxygen intake following that exercise, in order to aerobically replace the energy that was anaerobically expended. Your heart will pound and the blood vessels in your legs will dilate in order to rectify the temporary ischaemic condition that the isometric exercise precipitated in your working muscles.
Still further, resisting, as mightily as you can, a weight that exceeds your squat maximum, and slowly forces you down, might not cause you to breath as heavily, but can lead to some serious free radical generation, with subsequent weakness, pain and soreness to boot, particularly if your muscles were fatigued prior to performing your negatives.
The first two exercise scenarios will increase your oxygen intake and can further contribute to the production of free radicals, due to a slight microtrauma to muscle fibers in the case of the breathing squats; and the ischaemic (bloodless) condition that can occur with lengthy isometric contractions.
But in the case of the eccentric (negative) squating exercise, you get even more free radical production, because negative exercises can damage the microarchitecture of the muscle's contraction mechanism, as well as it's cell membranes. This damage can lead to the leaking of all sorts of ions and biomolecules, causing inflammatory reactions that attract white blood cells called neutrophils. Neutrophils will release more free radicals, as well as enzymes that degrade damaged tissue, in order to facilitate the clean up and repair of your muscles. These complicated processes are the reason why negatives can result in some serious soreness days after you've done them. Further, negative exercises can disrupt a muscle's membranes such that the portal it uses to import glucose into the cell is messed up. You can thus feel weak for a couple of days as a result of that disruption. Note that the level of muscle cell disruption can depend on the trainee's experience and muscle conditioning. It's much easier for a beginning bodybuilder to cause microtrauma to their muscle cells than it is for an advanced trainee, who may require a plethora of fancy techniques to really "feel" their workout the next day.
Regardless of what it takes to cause a little growth stimulating discomfort, on the positive side of the pain, your muscles will be a lot more durable and significantly stronger, after your body recovers and your muscles heal. The key point is recovery and healing; you can't do that right with just rest alone. You need the right kinds of nutrients and plenty of water.
As far as nutrients go, proteins and carbohydrates are well known, and a bit overemphasized - particularly proteins - for recovery purposes. This overemphasis is brought about by the fitness and bodybuilding's print and broadcast media frequently touting protein as the primary nutrient needed for muscle growth; plus the fact that protein and carbs comprise the bulk of what most of us eat anyway (Note that our long term health could benefit from habitually eating less processed proteins and carbs. More on that in another Knowledge Link).
Unfortunately however, protein and carbohydrates are hardly enough, since all ot the free radicals generated in a heavily worked muscle can slow down the repair and growth process that use those macronutrients. Further, it is the MICROnutrient vitamins and minerals that are absolutely necessary to process the fats, carbs and proteins we eat into energy storage units and tissue building blocks. Therefore, as we use up large amounts of fats and carbs for energy, as well as breakdown proteins during and after our workouts, we are also using up our micronutrient vitamins and minerals. If your micronutrient status is too low to really support your training, and it could easily be, your healing will be slow and your growth slight, if it occurs at all.
And if you are one of those who thinks "no pain no gain" means training all the time, you are flirting with the horrors of overtraining syndrome, especially if your diet is low in antioxidants and other critical micronutrients. This condition can lead to muscle catabolism (breakdown), fatigue, irritability and nervousness, in part due to a disruption of your amino acid metabolsim, brought about by hard work and insufficient recovery time.
The bottom line is that training hard without the proper amount of rest and attention to the appropriate micronutrient intake is just plain unhealthy!
So, if you take your training seriously, and you want your muscles to repair and grow following a high intensity workout, getting sufficient recovery time and supplementing your diet with antioxidants and other micronutrients is your best bet!
Why supplement? Well, the micronutrients in foods are actually rather easily diminsihed. For example, vitamin C, which is found in potatoes, many fruits and some vegetables, is easily lost into the water and air upon boiling/cooking of foods containing the vitamin. And fruits, particularly those that are partially eaten or cut open, can rapidly lose their vitamin C to the air. A box of orange juice for example, if left unsealed in the frig, can lose most of it's vitamin C in a few days.
Likewise, vitamin E, which is found in whole grains and nuts, as well as vegetables and nut oils, is often destroyed in the process of using grains to make breads, cereals, etc. Some preservative chemicals can also mess up the vitamin C and E levels in foods. Bottles of vegetable oils left unsealed for awhile will lose most of it's vitamin E content through reaction with oxygen in the air.
Despite the fact that the diminished vitamin E and B contents of grains are required, by law, to be re-added to foods made by stripping whole grains, the levels to which they are restored are based on the RDA and a few other criteria, which requires only that the amount restored be the MINIMUM amount of the nutrient needed to prevent deficiency diseases - WOW! You don't want to just prevent deficiency disease; you want your muscles to heal and grow as a result of your training! That requires extra carbohydrates, extra protein, extra calories, and extra micronutrients, more than the average Joe or Jane, since your training puts extra demands on your body's energy generating and growth mechanisms. This fact, plus the aforementioned nutrient loses that DO occur from the foods we eat (as a result of processing, cooking, storage, etc.) makes nutritional supplementation a necessity in order to optimize your training results!
Now, before I address the anabolic benefits of a carbohydrate/protein supplement, let me recommend the Free Antioxidant Formula mentioned earlier. This formula contains vitamin E, which helps to protect the unsaturated fatty acid bonds in muscle cell membranes from free radical damage. The formula also contains vitamin C, which helps to regenerate vitamin E from it's oxidized state (vitamin E gets oxidized after it serves it's protective function). Vitamin C also takes part in the synthesis of collagen, which is crucial to muscle attachments, blood vessel health and bone strength.
Additionally, the Free Antioxidant Formula contains selenium, which is a critical component of one of our body's most important endogenous antioxidants, the glutathione peroxidase system. Glutathione is a tripeptide substrate of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, which is found in every cell in our bodies (tripeptide means that the molecule is composed of three amino acids.). The enzyme uses the glutathione substrate to "quench" free radicals generated by exercise and other sources, and significantly reduces the impact that exercise induced free radicals have on muscle tissue. Unfortunately however, the effectiveness of the glutathione peroxidase system can be reduced by as much as 40% following high intensity exercise. The dietary antioxidant vitamins E and C can thus serve to support and back up that antioxidant enzyme system following an exercise stress. Note that the Free Antioxidant Formula contains preformed glutathione as well.
The Free Antioxidant Formula also contains beta carotene, a potent, non toxic precursor of vitamin A. Beta carotene can help to protect our eyes from age associated free radical damage, and is a component of the antioxidant defense mechanism of our body's low density lipoproteins (LDLs). As such, beta carotene can help to decrease the risk of age related cataracts and atherosclerosis, in addition to helping vitamin E and the glutathione system protect muscles from free radical damage (Note that LDLs are not really "bad" forms of cholesterol; they are actually important lipid carriers in our blood. LDLs can become corrupted however, if our antioxidant status is chronically low, and in that corrupted state contribute to the development of atherosclerosis.).
The Free Antioxidant Formula provides all of the above micronutrients in a base of lemon oil and fruit juices; nothing synthetic for our liver and kidneys to have to detoxify. The synthetic excipients and fillers in many other vitamin and mineral supplements, though small in overall amount, still require our liver and kidneys to process them, in order to make them less toxic, water soluble, etc. This extra attention is necessary so that those synthetic, non nutritive components can be transported through and excreted from our bodies. Not so with the food components of the Free Antioxidant Formula, such as the lemon oil, which is metabolized as an additional nutrient.
All you need to do is go to www.vitamin-tim.com, order 64 oz of either the Bodybuilding or Whey Protein Powder, and you'll automatically receive a FREE 30 day supply of antioxidant support for your workouts. ALL ORDERS ARE SECURE AND PROTECTED, and you'll get your product sent straight to your door!
Safe, Natural Hormonal Manipulations To Facilitate Muscle Growth.
Here, we'll address the anabolic benefits of ingesting a carbohydrate and protein drink after your workout....
Though the exact mechanism by which resistance exercise causes muscle hypertrophy is not completely understood, it is quite well known that habitual bouts of intense muscle overload can lead to increased protein synthesis and subsequent muscle growth (in part due to the repair process mentioned above).
Our bodies hormonal milieu after exercise plays a key role in the adaptive synthesis of our muscle's contactile proteins. As such, it is important to identify what growth promoting hormones will or will not be affected by high intensity bodybuilding exercises. These hormones are: growth hormone (GH), testosterone, insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and insulin...
After a bout of high intensity weight training, plasma GH levels usually elevate, and peak immediatlely post exercise, or a few hours thereafter.
Similarly, testosterone levels have been reported to be elevated immediately post-exercise, but a common, predictable effect of weight training on testosterone levels has not been identified.
IGF-1 is likely not directly affected by weight training, nor is insulin, which happens to be one of the more potent anabolic hormones in our bodies. An increase in our body's plasma insulin levels can cause a cascade of stimulatory effects on the release of other anabolic hormones, such as GH and IGF-1. Insulin itself directly affects the synthesis of muscle protein by stimulating muscle amino acid uptake, as well as the energy, vitamin and mineral cofactors needed to support the anabolic process...
The above info runs contrary to the popular beliefs that testosterone is the most important anabolic hormone to elevate; and protein the most critical nutrient to supplement for muscle growth. That ain't necessarily so. Here's why:
First off, testosterone is part of a complex system of interrelated hormones that controls the expression of proteins and other biomolecules, not just in muscle but throughout our bodies. It even affects our brains and behavior. Further, testosterone's release is not easily subject to simple stimulus' such as exercise or food. This is probably just as well since testosterone can mess you up if it remains consistently elevated above what is appropriate for your normal growth and development.
A study which evaluated the effect of dietary supplements on anabolic hormones (1), correlated the highest levels of insulin in subjects who consumed a combination carb/protein supplement; and noted that the LOWEST blood testosterone levels were associated with a PROTEIN ONLY treatment after exercise! If all this is generally true, then high protein diets can acutally decrease testosterone levels, while not raising insulin levels much at all. And despite what's said about testosterone and muscle growth, the fact is insulin gets the raw materials your muscles need to heal and grow into the cells stimulated by exercise.
Still, obviously, amino acids and proteins are important for muscle growth, just not in extremely high concentrations. Of possibly even greater import are carbohydrates, since they are the main, immediate source of energy for intense anaerobic activities such as weightlifting (Creatine phosphate provides an initial few seconds of energy for high intensity muscle work; then carbohydrates become the primary fuel source, gradually giving way to body fat if the intensity of the effort falls off.).
Carbohydrates contributes to muscle growth in three ways: (1.) They are needed to help fuel your muscle's recovery effort, along with stored body fat (The use of stored fat for recovery and growth of muscle tissue, along with the high metabolic activity of the extra muscle mass, is why high intensity exercise can be an excellent way to lose excess body fat and keep it lost!). (2.) Carbs can also contribute to muscle size as a result of your muscles storing extra amounts of glycogen (muscle sugar), as well as synthesizing extra amounts of the enzymes needed to burn that glycogen for energy. (3.) Finally, carbohydrates, taken with protein, provides for the greatest amount of insulin release, which in turn results in higher levels of GH, which, along with insulin, enhances amino acid uptake and protein synthesis! Throw in the fact that the action of insulin is greater following high intensity exercise, and you have a natural anabolic cycle that depends on three key components: high intensity training; the timed stimulation of insulin to enhance macronutrient uptake and anabolic hormonal activity; and the supplementation of micronutrient antioxidants, plus the cofactors required to minimize muscle trauma, while supporting recovery and growth...
An additional carb/protein supplement you should consider for support of exercise induced muscle growth includes whey protein. Whey protein has the highest naturally occuring amount of the brached chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine and valine. These amino acids are important for two reasons: they contribute to the release of insulin more so than other amino acids; and branched chain amino acids, particularly leucine, are thought to especially facilitate protein synthesis when present in muscle. In fact, the highly touted bodybuilding supplement, HMB, which was shown to enhance muscle growth in some cases, is a metabolite of leucine.
Martino's Supplement Resources can supply you with a rich, chocolate flavored Whey Protein, which has 11g of complex carbohydrates per serving. Likewies, the Bodybuilding Protein Powder has 19g of complex carbs to enhance insulin release and support muscle growth!
Just go to www.vitamin-tim.com, click on "Catalog Index", then "Protein Powder Supplements", and order 64 oz of either the Whey Protein or the Bodybuilding Protein Powder, and you'll get your free 30 day supply of the Antioxidant Formula! The Antioxidant Formula can be viewed by clicking "Catalog Index" then "Multiple Vitamins". In fact, everyone of the over 300 products provided by Martino's Supplement Resources can be viewed @ www.vitamin-tim.com, along with a description of each product and an ingredient list. There are also natural skin and hair care products available!
Other Supplements To Consider
Creatine you've probably heard of. What this stuff does is provide extra amounts of a component of your muscle's short term energy fuel called creatine phosphate (CP). The energy in CP is obtained from the bond formed by the phosphate with the creatine molecule. At the start of fast high intensity actions, the bond is broken, the stored energy used, and the the creatine and phosphate molecules are separated. The CP fuel can get all used up in the first minute of a high intensity exercise bout. During brief rest periods however, the CP molecule is resynthesized. Supplemental creatine can help your muscles to rebuild the CP more quickly, and in higher concentrations than usual. This can provide for a delay in fatigue and a higher burst of energy in your next bout of high intensity activity. You can thus apply more effort against a competitor, or apply more energy towards your bodybuilding than before. If you do choose to step up your efforts using supplemental creatine, make sure to supplement the antioxidants and vitamin B cofactors needed to control free radical production and support healing and growth in your muscles.
Zinc. All of the hormones discussed earlier: IGF-1, growth hormone, testosterone, and insulin, are affected by zinc nutriture. Zinc is directly involved in the synthesis and release of growth hormone, as well as in the production of IGF-1. Tissue levels of testosterone are stabilized by zinc; and blood levels of insulin are partially zinc dependent, as is your body's sensitivity to that hormone. In other words, insulin won't work as well, neither will the other hormones, if you are running a zinc deficit.
Zinc is found in foods high in protein such as beef, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, beans and some whole grains. Problem is, heavily cooked/fried foods can contain altered proteins and fats, which can adversely affect the zinc content in those foods. Skipping meals does not help your zinc intake either; nor does a very low protein diet (which some endurance athletes try).
For men, even sex can affect body zinc levels, since an ejaculation can contain from 1-5 mg of zinc. The recommended daily intake of zinc is 15 mg. Estimates are that many men get less than 10 mg of zinc per day, due to eating patterns and busy lifestyles leading to the exclusion some meals.
Further, exercise can contribute to zinc losses in urine and sweat. And muscle catabolism, as a result of overtraining and/or inadequate antioxidants and other micronutrients, can contribute to urinary zinc losses, since 50-60% of total body zinc is stored in skeletal muscle.
MAKE SURE YOUR DAILY ZINC REQUIREMENTS ARE SATISFIED. Go to www.vitamin-tim.com, click on the "Catalog Index" then "Chelated Minerals" or "Mineral Apartates" to order supplemental zinc!
References
1)Chandler RM, Byrne HK, Patterson JG, Ivy JL: Dietary Supplements Affect the Anabolic Hormones After Weight Training Exercise. J Appl Physiol 76(2): 839-845
**Need a copy or summary of the journal article above, or any other article related to nutritional science, exercise physiology or disease prevention? Need a question answered about nutritional supplements? Would you like to see a certain topic addressed in a future Knowledge Link? Send me an email by clicking on the Martino's Supplement Resources link below. The email address is at the base of the MSR page. I'll try to get you an answer to your question, or a copy or summary of a journal article, for free, within a few days of your request! For journal articles, it'll help to have: the name(s) of the author or authors; the journal name; the year the article was published; as well as the journal volume number and page the article starts on.
**How to take your supplemetns: For evening workouts, take your Antioxidant Formula either in the morning, with breakfast, or with your lunch. Following your evening workout, when you feel your stomach is ready to take in nutrients, ingest one serving of either your Whey or Bodybuilding Powder. Sometimes it helps to eat a piece of fruit, or drink fruit juice 15 to 20 minutes before ingesting the more complex powders. This will start the release of anabolic insulin and help your muscles to begin their recovery of the glycogen that was used during your workout. If you normally don't eat for several hours after your workouts, take another serving of your carb/protein supplement powder two hours later. If you habitually eat shortly after working out, following your supplements (not immediately, you may wanna give your stomach about 15-20 min to decrease the fluids in the liquid supplement), ingest some complex carbs and a low (saturated) fat protein source, along with some green vegetables, and a multi vitamin supplement that contains zinc, magnesium, calcium and all of the B vitamins (Check out www.vitamin-tim.com for these as well).
If you workout in the morning, take your Antioxidant Formula, plus a B vitamin, calcium, magnesium and zinc supplement with the preceeding day's last meal, then follow the same procedure as above for supplementing the anabolic powders and eating after your workout: for breakfast, get some complex carbs, and a lowfat protein source. Get a source of calcium with breakfast (And every other meal for that matter; even if it's a supplement). Get your green vegetables later in the day if you can't or won't eat them in the morning. Don't overcook 'em.
**Also note, due to the concentration of the selenium in the Antioxidant Formula (50mcg), which is close to the upper limit of the RDA for selenium (70 mcg), don't take more than two servings of the product a day. Though seleniem is often argued by many investigators to be underconsumed by most of us, particularly athletes and active people, who have benefited from 200 to 400 mcg per day, selenium is a trace mineral, meaning you don't need a whole lot to benefit (mcg = microgram, which is one millionth of a gram!).
**Lastly, it takes time for your blood and tissue concentrations of supplemented nutrients to reach beneficial levels, so train, be patient and get plenty of rest!
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