Supplementation Pt. 1 Pre-Workout

Well just as I promised....a little over a week ago, here is another post, and it is all about supplements.  I figured supplements would be great topic to discuss as they are one of the things I am most frequently asked about, as well as one of the most controversial topics in the fitness industry. For the sake of saving time I have decided that I am going to break these posts down into three parts that will be put up over a period of a couple of days, these three portions will consist of pre-workout nutrition, intra-workout(during your workout), and finally post-workout nutrition. Since we are starting off with the topic of the pre- workout, I should perhaps address my most frequently asked question.. "Hey Zach, what pre- workout do you take", to which I respond..."I don't take one." Yea, that usually warrants some blank stares and a general sense of confusion..so then comes the second question "well what do you do instead and why?" or "what pre-workout did you USED to take?" Before I answer these questions I should perhaps give a bit of an inside look as to what a pre-workout supplement is for those of you who are not exactly sure. A pre- workout is a supplement or combination of supplements that is to be taken prior to working out and is designed to have a performance enhancing, and energizing effect on the workout and will often have some anabolic properties in addition to energizing and priming the body for optimum nutrient uptake. The most common supplements included in a pre-workout are caffeine, nitric oxide, creatine, beta alanine, and branched chain amino acids (BCAA's).  I will cover the ins and outs of these later.

I am now going to address both of these questions first starting with what pre-workout I used to take. Just like everyone else who has ever lifted or taken supplements we are always looking for something bigger, stronger, and better, as a result of this I have taken my fair share of different pre-workout cocktails searching for the best result.  This list includes many products such as , 1MR(BPI), BlackPowder(MRI), Assault(MusclePharm), Jack3d(USPlabs), in addition to the mixtures I have also used Beta Alanine pills in combination with Kre-Alkalyn (creatine) capsules. Each one of these products has its own pro's and con's , however those pro's and con's are going to vary from person to person as everyone has a different physiological makeup and will respond differently to different products, this is why I am often hesitant to recommend pre-workout supplements, or any supplement for that matter to other people.  Because it may have a completely different effect on them, than it has on me. Of these products listed my personal favorite was Assault by MusclePharm, I felt that this particular product mixed the best, gave me the perfect combination of pump, focus, and energy and finally and honestly most importantly it was THE best tasting of all of the other products. This brings me to the next topic...why do people choose to use a pre-workout?  Well most often it is for the above reasons, the pump, focus, and energy. Ok so I am sure ya'll are wondering what exactly are these three factors, what causes them and how do they effect your workout?

Ok so let's start out with the "Pump", how does a pre-workout supplement facilitate the muscle pump? Well that is primarily through the supplement known as Nitric Oxide(NO). NO is beneficial to providing the pump as it is a signaling molecule that initiates vasodilation in smooth muscle, both at rest and during exercise.  Essentially this means that it opens up your blood vessels and allows more blood to move through the veins by inhibiting platelet aggregation and platelet adhesion, as a result NO acts as a mediator for neurotransmission as well as the stimulation of satellite cells, and also acts as a mediator for muscular hypertrophy(increases in size.) NO is most often marketed by supplement companies as causing an increased flow of nutrients and oxygen to the muscles through the dilated blood vessels, thus increasing exercise performance and quickening recovery....these however are simply claims of supplement companies and have not exactly been completely backed by the scientific and research communities.

Ok so now let us discuss the energy and focus portion, our primary supplement as must of us should know by now for energy and focus is the one and only caffeine. This is where things can get a bit tricky as caffeine effects everyone just a little bit differently, some get focused, some get jittery and some are immune to it and won't even feel any of the supplements effects. According to a study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research caffeine does in fact have ergogenic effects and can in fact improve your energy, but does it really have an outward effect on resistance training? According to this study from the NSCA it is hard to gauge it's exact effects on high intensity strength training, as everyone has an individual difference in response to the supplement.  Out of 14 subjects, there were 9 of which who responded by being able to manage heavier loads on the leg press than those who just used the placebo, there was however no notable difference in upper body lifts compared to lower body lifts. So basically that is up to you to determine your tolerance and reaction

Ok finally for the power output and lack of fatigue, these two aspects are going to be fueled by creatine and beta alanine. A study was done by NSCA to determine the effects of the combination of beta alanine and creatine on the working capacity at a neuromuscular fatigue threshold. It was determined from a sample from the vastus lateralis muscle that fatigue was much lower when there was a combination of creatine and beta alanine, or even beta alanine, creatine alone did not have an effect on preventing muscular fatigue as creatine is more appropriate for explosive bursts and strength.power output over very short amounts of time in heavy max effort lifts.

Well so now that we have covered why all of these products have effective ergoneic effects on the body, particularly in combination with each other I am sure many of you are wondering "So Zach, why don't you take a pre-workout supplement?" Well here we go, I relied to heavily on it to get me through my workouts, I eventually became immune to the caffeine and it just was not giving me the energy I desired so I decided to cut it out and improve my overall diet.  As of right now I have not consumed caffeine since April, nor have I used nitric oxide, or beta alanine.  I do however still use creatine, as a part of my post workout.  I have recently thought about going back on caffeine for that extra kick and also using 100% beta alanine powder or capsules instead of using a pre-workout.  Another reason that I decided to stop taking a pre- workout was because of the ingredients list....what in the hell is half of that stuff?  I have taken Sport and Exercise Pharmacology classes and I have no idea how to pronounce half of the ingredients in a pre-workout..why would I ingest that?  Then let's talk about the sugar levels and the artificial dyes, a pre-workout is essentially a glorified workout kool-aid!!
So here is my final answer, if you are cool with all that sugar and God only knows what the hell those chemicals are, then go for it!! But if you want to try and keep it a little bit cleaner I would suggest just making your own pre-workout by taking caffeine, beta alanine,NO, and creatine separately in pill or powder form and just taking them down with some water and some fruit before your workout, yea it doesn't have the delicious watermelon punch taste but hey it might be worth it in the long run.

Fins Up!!

Hey there you crazy sharks, got a busy week so I am working on getting a new supplement article going up on the home page, should be pretty soon!! In the meantime check out the "nutrition/recipes" page and the "media" page got some goodies up there for ya'll to chomp at!!  Be expecting some more exciting new posts, media, and even some apparel soon!! I will be keeping ya'll updated via facebook and twitter, spread the word and remember, FINS UP!!

Week4

To give some of you a little insight to my training I am currently preparing to compete in a Strongman competition for the lightweight class(175lbs).  As of right now I have completed my first three weeks of my eight week training program and am about to begin my fourth week today.  This particular competition is not your average strongman competition as there is not a lot of odd object lifts involved i.e car dead lifts, atlas stones, kegs, yokes, frame holds and so on.  This event is actually only composed of two lifts, a one rep max over head press and a one rep max dead lift. That being said I am sure many of you can imagine what most of my training program is composed of....you guessed it overhead presses and dead lifts.!!

This brings me to the purpose of this post, so often people will ask me how to improve certain lifts whether it be a squat, dead lift, bench press or even something such as a pull up.  Often times people are searching for elaborate responses and multiple tips, techniques and loopholes. When it comes to fitness people are constantly looking for an easy way out and any shortcut possible.  But the answer is really quite simple. Are you ready for it?!? Drum roll..........if you really want to improve your bench press you should......BENCH PRESS......(crickets chirping).  Not exactly the answer you were looking for huh? Seriously though if you want to improve your bench or any lift for that matter the best way to do it is simply by focusing on that lift.  Yes you can approach the muscles from different angles and methods, such as dumbbell bench press and push ups but even though you are still training your chest you aren't working on your bench press.  Same goes for the pull up yes you can use bands for support, do slow negatives and do jumping pull ups but at the end of the day those are all still pull ups, if you want to get better at pull ups then do pull ups.  Doing inverted rows, pull downs and bent over rows will help to increase the strength in your back and develop your lats and rhomboids but they will not improve your pull up as well as simply doing a pull up.

It's like the old saying folks, "Practice what you suck at."

Fins Up!

Bull Shark?!

For my first post I figure that I should take some time to explain the origin of my title as I am sure many of you are wondering why the hell I am talking about sharks. Ok well let us start with the obvious, they are freaking badass..how many other animals or people for that matter do you know that have an entire week dedicated to them on a major television station? What's that you say? Zero? My point exactly! Now that we have established the basics lets get into why serious lifters like you and me should idolize these beasts.

The Bull shark is a survivor, this beast has rolled with the punches and evolved to adapt to its surroundings for millions and millions of years, nothing has been able to kill it off yet.  These guys are basically bulletproof and completely fearless, the meanest and nastiest animal on the planet, seriously this thing is feared in the ocean and by people on land who are miles away from the nearest beach. This is probably because this bad boy has been found hundreds of miles up rivers and even in freshwater lakes that are many miles inland.  While all of the other sharks hit a "plateau" and decided that they would only be restricted to the oceans the Bull shark decided that saltwater was just not enough, so he broke that barrier and got what he wanted. Finally let us talk about what truly makes the Bull shark so epic, on a more scientific note this hoss has an average testosterone level of roughly 900...to put this in perspective the average adult male human has a level of about 40-45.  Seriously? well its no wonder they have survived for hundreds of millions of years, they have literally scared off extinction by having such high test levels. 

So ladies and gentlemen, the next time you are at the gym and you put up some insane numbers and your lifting partner compares you to a bear or a gorilla think to yourself, do I want to be a sleepy, half hibernated berry eating scavenger, or a chubby banana eating tree climber. I would hope the answer would be no. So folks next time you head up to the gym attack those weights like a Bull shark.

Fins Up!!