Nutrition Archives | Page 9 of 9

7 Carb Secrets For Success

May 4, 2010March 4, 2010 by GoldenMuscles

With all the hype floating around the Internet and the banter flooding TV talk shows about the wonders of high-protein diets, you might think carbs are useless except for producing fat. You might also think that if you consume carbohydrates, they will undermine your attempts at building a better physique.

The fascination with high-protein diets is nothing new; the recent onslaught of carb bashing that has gone along with it, though, is both ignorant and counterproductive to building a healthy diet that is ideally suited to complement hardcore training.

Let’s ditch the hype in favor of a concrete analysis of applying carbs to building muscle mass. Here are seven tips for incorporating these unfairly maligned nutritional nuggets into your muscle-building program.

1 HIGH CARBS + HIGH PROTEIN = MORE MUSCLE
Consume plenty of carbs and protein when you are trying to build muscle mass. A carb deficiency during mass-building mode leads to protein degradation — dietary protein is utilized for energy instead of muscle building. Mass gainers need at least 2.5 grams (g) of carbs for every pound of bodyweight to enable protein to be truly anabolic. When in mass-building mode, make sure you are taking in 1 to 1.5 g of protein per pound of bodyweight.

Four Fail-Safe Perks Of Protein

May 5, 2010March 1, 2010 by GoldenMuscles

Here are a few fail-safe perks of protein to prove once and for all that there’s more to this provocative subject than you’ll get from the chicken heads clucking in the gym. Let’s set aside the fat and focus on the sizzle of the great protein debate.

1 LEAN BEEF AND WHEY GET YOU RIPPED

Leaning out dictates that you limit daily fat intake to 10% or less of total daily calories, increase aerobic activity and go the low-carb route. As carbs are decreased, the calories lost must be replaced with calories from protein. Whey is the ideal choice to fill that void, as it is dense in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and readily used as fuel when the body is in low-carb mode. Lean beef, another viable protein option during dieting, is packed with alanine, a vital amino acid that, when converted into glucose, can be used as an energy source. In this way, the protein-based calories targeted for muscle building are not instead burned as fuel when carbs are low.

2 MIX PROTEIN AND CARBS AFTER TRAINING

The name of the game is “spiking” insulin, the anabolic hormone that increases glycogen formation and protein synthesis. A great way to spike is to add a protein powder drink to your posttraining meal. For ideal mass building in the metabolic golden hour after training, consume your carbs and protein in a 3:1 ratio. If you take in 30 g of protein, for instance, also consume 90 g of carbs in the same meal.

Increased muscle mass without adding fat.

February 24, 2010 by GoldenMuscles

Many athletes wish to increase their muscle mass without adding fat layer. But many of them fail to achieve its aim because of different reasons: lack of information, lifestyle, physical inactivity, etc. To increase muscle mass it is necessary to consume more calories than you burn. It is very difficult to determine for how many calories a person needs during the day, but it can be calculated approximately.
1. Calories should be qualitative, but not “empty”. You must exclude all simple carbohydrates (sugars). Also flour products should be the suspended or at worst reduced as quantities (pasta, white bread, rolls with jam, etc.). You should choose nutrient quality products, for example, one kg of milk(15% fat) contains 15 gr. saturated fat and 1 kg of milk of 2.5% – 25 gr. fat, so we choose milk with fat content as less. From carbohydrates we choose only complex ones (rice, potatoes, oatmeal, vegetables) and we avoid the simple ones (sweets, sugar, fruits in large quantities). We choose unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and saturated fats should be minimized. We choose skimmed milk, diet poultry meat, lean pork and skimmed milk products.

Pomegranate For a Pump

May 4, 2010January 30, 2010 by GoldenMuscles

Drink eight ounces of pomegranate juice with 20 g of whey protein before workouts for a better pump

Every hardcore bodybuilder knows to take nitric oxide boosters like arginine, not just for the pump they deliver, but for muscle growth and strength gains as well. Few may realize, though, that to help protect their increased NO level, they should consider reaching for a cold refreshing glass of pomegranate juice.

Researchers at UCLA have recently reported — in the aptly named journal Nitric Oxide — that pomegranate juice was effective at protecting NO against oxidative destruction. In laboratory tests, the scientists compared the effects of the juice on NO destruction and NO action to other antioxidant-rich sources, such as Concord grape juice, blueberry juice, red wine and vitamins C and E.

Pomegranate was found to be more effective at protecting and augmenting NO than all the others. In some cases, it was more than 300 times as powerful. The researchers determined that the potent antioxidant activity is responsible for the juice’s benefits on NO.

Get Ripped And Pumped

May 4, 2010January 9, 2010 by GoldenMuscles

Stack these two supplements to get ripped and pumped

• CITRUS AURANTIUM
Commonly referred to as bitter orange, this plant contains the active ingredient synephrine. Synephrine is similar chemically to ephedrine yet it does not raise heart rate and blood pressure as ephedrine can. Synephrine mimics the actions of norepinephrine. This neurohormone works to increase metabolic rates. Synephrine also stimulates receptors on fat cells that increase lipolysis — the release of fat from the fat cells to be burned for fuel. In addition, synephrine has even been found to decrease appetite.

•ARGININE
This amino acid is readily converted in the body to nitric oxide. NO is responsible for countless processes in the body, including the dilation of blood vessels — the most critical to bodybuilders. This widening of the blood vessels allows more blood to flow through and reach tissues such as muscle fibers, which enables more oxygen, nutrients, anabolic hormones and supplements to reach them. NO also appears to have its own ability to encourage fat burning. French scientists have discovered that NO enhances lipolysis, making more bodyfat available to be burned as fuel.

Goodbye Knee Pain?

May 4, 2010December 5, 2009 by GoldenMuscles

Pycnogenol’s dual benefits make it an ideal bodybuilding supplement

Looking for another line of defense against that knee or shoulder pain that’s been bothering you? A patented compound from the bark of the French maritime pine tree (Pinus pinaster) may be the answer.

The bioflavonoids and polyphenols that are within Pycnogenol are similar to the compounds in red wine that contribute to its ability to improve heart health. Studies have found the compound to have a variety of benefits, including decreasing blood pressure and improving skin health. Several recent studies report that Pycnogenol can also decrease joint pain while improving joint function. This makes it an excellent choice for bodybuilders suffering from pain in their knees, shoulders or other joints that have been overworked from years of heavy lifting.