The Power of Supplementation, performance edition

In my previous post, I discussed how supplementation can help improve your diet & nutrition.  This post highlights more of how supplements can boost your performance.

Most athletes view supplements as a way to improve their performance.  In honesty, I thought that too when I first was driving into the field.  The first supplement that I had ever taken was a form of creatine monohydrate called Cell-tec (or Cel-tec, I don't remember exactly).  In any case, I was supplementing with it largely because my friends were and because it seems that what limited knowledge I had at the time was that it was supposed to get me ripped and huge.

Nevertheless, nothing is what it seems.  I can no longer take creatine without becoming violently ill.  It's a rare side effect associated with it's use.  The moment it hits my stomach I vomit, nearly every time.  Pretty terrible if you ask me.  So I go on, not taking it.

My friends & colleagues now can take it without any adverse effect.  Most of them take it so that they can lift more weight or to put on mass.  I envy them to some degree.  The primary effect of supplementing with creatine is an increase in performance, specifically lifting and sprint performance.  One of the major ways that this is accomplished is by increasing the water in the cells, of which is what binds to creatine at a molecular level.

I mentioned in my previous post BCAAs, or Branched Chain Amino Acids, these are amino acids that are primary metabolized in the muscles rather than going through a chain of events to get there.  My primary reason for use is to preserve as much muscle tissue as I can in a caloric deprived state.  I find that in hyper-dosing (a lot of BCAAs), that I don't experience the same degree of soreness as I would otherwise.

Regardless, some supplements are designed to boost performance.  The ones that I had talked about are some of the best out there.  In my next post, I want to discuss the superpower, Omega 3.  

How often should I run?

By run, I mean cardio, and by cardio I mean anything not lifting.  Cardio in some ways has characteristics to lifting, and in other ways none at all. 

When many do cardio, it's long & slow.  For that you can generally do it day in and day out without fail.  Your body
won't hate you (most of you) and early on you'll see progress, at least until you stop challenging yourself.  It's monotonous, mind-numbing, and yet can be oh-so-satisfying.  But you can do it every single day as long as your body says it's ok. 

Take interval training, or High Intensity Interval Training for you more technical savvy people.  This is often way more strenuous than your long & slow training (hence the "High Intensity" part).  Your ability to handle this with frequency is dependent on the action performed and even the duration of the activity. 

If you're running, you have to take into account the beating on your joints that will ensue when you do it often enough.  This means analyzing the terrain, the shoes
, the duration, and the speed of which you'll run.  If you're swimming, you have less (usually) to think about.  Generally speaking, running is simpler and easier to perform because we are all innate runners, at least in a limited capacity. 

If you were to do sprint running, at 100% every single day, it's likely your performance will suffer over time as you're just beating your body.  If you were to "cross-train" with say...rowing or swimming, you might be able to sustain 100% much longer and more frequently.  The same goes for long distance stuff, as you vary the intensity and type of training, it's much easier to sustain over time. 

The answer to "how often should I run?" is complex, as you were able to see.  Like lifting, it's very complicated and dependent on the individual and the choice of exercises.  In this case, variability is much more important to sustain a 100% effort level, but even then it's unlikely that you'll be able to sustain it long. 

So the best answer of how often is how often that you're able to.  That is always the correct answer, but know that the 100% effort is harder to come by.  Enjoy what you're doing and do it to the best of your ability.  

Carbs: Best friend & Worst enemy

Carbohydrates, or carbs, are the nutrition world's best friend and worst enemy.  For weight management, they are one of the major role players, with the other primarily being fats.  However, with low carb diets in abundance out there, it's probably worth noting what the value of the carbohydrate is.

Carbohydrates are basically sugar.  Not sugar in the sense of what you'd add to tea or something, even though that is accurate, but any thing with the molecular structure similar to what you see in this image.  Basically, they're broken down into single molecule sugars (monosaccharides), double sugars (disaccharides), and longer sugar chains (polysaccharides).  Depending on the molecule, will determine which of these that they are.

Most sugars that are introduced to the body in any form eventually are broken down into glucose, which is a monosaccharide.  Depending on the size of the molecule, the time to break it down is an important factor in weight management.  So starchy foods, such as breads, oatmeal, potatoes, etc., take longer to digest than things like candy, cookies, etc., because of
the molecular structure.

Eventually, the sugars make it into your blood stream where they can then be routed into the muscle and other cells for energy production.  They are a faster used form of energy over fats, and can be replenished quickly.  So, for intense exercise, carbs are good.  If you are not accustomed to exercise or at the least, intense exercise, then carbs may be used in slight, but then be stored in your fat cells for use later.  So, this is why carbs sometimes make you fat.

When you're carb depleted, say on a low carb diet, your body will use it's internal carb stores (glycogen, a cellular storage form of carbohydrate) first.  Afterwards, and the longer duration of the diet, your body is forced to use fat stores as energy because you've depleted it's carb stores.  Therefore, when you are on a low-no carb diet, you lose weight, but in the form of fat.  Usually these kinds of diets are best suited for those who engage in minimal exercise, figure athletes, and those who have an abundance of body fat on a non-training day.

I wanted to share the basic run down of carbohydrates with you because of it's villanous nature.  Next week, I'll be discussing fats and how they're important for your overall health and well-being.  

Take a rest!

So this week was a planned rest week.  This ended up being a wonderful thing because I got sick for the last day and a half, so lifting would've been next to impossible.  Rest is one of those things that is necessary for us but if you're anything like I am, you're too stubborn to take a day or so.

My original plan for the week was to lift Monday and then do some light-moderate cardio most of the week.  Even if I did say I hate doing cardio in my last post.  Honestly, cardio is something that I need to maintain weight or it all falls apart on me.

Next week I begin a new lifting plan.  It doesn't seem nearly as aggressive as the last one, which was extremely aggressive.  This also only has me lifting 3 days per week instead of 4.  Sometimes cutting it down really helps.  I think the problem was with the last one is by the time I got to the point to where I could max, I was burned out and unable to perform at optimal levels.

That's what makes this rest week wonderful.  Other than I was sick, it's something that helps for me and many others reset the system.  Likely if I were to go ahead and max on Monday or Tuesday of next week, I'd perform well.  I'm not planning to, however, just start a new thing with similar goals.

So, if you're feeling the burnout and need something new, don't hesitate to take a rest day or even a rest week.  It's hard for a lot of people to wrap their heads around, but it is vital to your success or failure.