Glutamine remains the supplement of choice for many bodybuilders. Glutamine is an amino acid that can be found naturally in lots of foods such as beans, meat, fish, poultry and dairy products. Glutamine is also an important component of protein powders and is one of the twenty non-essential amino acids found in the body.
Glutamine is the most common amino acid that is in skeletal tissues and makes up just over 60% of amino acids in muscles. And this is why Glutamine is so important for building muscle.
Glutamine for Building Muscle
Glutamine is distributed throughout the body and plays an important role in protein metabolism. In the eyes of someone that is trying to gain muscle, the strength of glutamine is its ability to reduce the amount of muscle deterioration that occurs as a result of intense physical training. Not being able to replace the high levels of glutamine used up during intense exercise could result in greater status to illness due to a weakening of the immune system. In addition, glutamine 'stolen' from the muscles to maintain the immune system must be replaced to keep those muscles in 'building' mode.
Supplementing with Glutamine
People wanting to build muscle can therefore benefit from supplementing with glutamine each day, preferably taken post-workout to enhance its recuperative effects. Glutamine is a classed as a non essential amino acid. Non essential means the body produces it naturally, not that it is not essential. Just over 60% of our glutamine is found in the skeletal muscle, with the remainder occupying in the lungs, liver, brain and stomach. Glutamine has a unique molecule structure with two nitrogen side chains. This structure makes glutamine the primary transporter of nitrogen in the muscle cells, crucial for supporting muscle growth.
Glutamine Research
Recently, glutamine has gained importance through research demonstrating its unique contribution to protein synthesis (muscle growth), anti-catabolic breakdown functions (prevents muscle tissue breaking down) and muscle building hormone elevating properties. Due to these effects, glutamine plays an important part in your body by aiding recovery of muscle cells. The immune and digestive systems crave glutamine. The digestive system often struggles to get enough glutamine to cope with the high protein diet of a for example a bodybuilder. The other main cause of glutamine depletion is intense physical exercise. When a person undertakes in intense physical activity (working out) more glutamine is required than the total amount produced by the body. If the body cannot get the required glutamine needed from the bloodstream it must revert to the storage facility, the muscles. The body will now break down the glutamine stored in the muscles and send it into the bloodstream. It's under these circumstances that glutamine supplementation is required.
by JonTaylor
It’s a common belief that, when you’re trying to lean out – or “get cut”, in gym lingo – you should switch your training to high repetitions with lighter weights. Is that really the way forward, or is it just bro science’? Well, there’s no gentle way to break this to you: high reps won’t make you cut.
The object of weight training is to stimulate muscle growth, not weight loss. Nutrition is the key to reducing body fat. You lift weights to build muscles – period! But that’s not to say that training with high repetitions doesn’t help at all.
Muscles consist of slow-twitch fibres that are activated during long sets with lighter weights, and fast-twitch fibres stimulated during heavy lifts over a low number of repetitions. Both fibre types can grow as a result of appropriate training.
Increasing the size of muscle fibres results in larger, stronger muscles, which in turn leads to a higher daily calorie expenditure. This is because muscle – unlike fat, incidentally – needs calories for maintenance.
Lifting heavy weights for a few reps increases the size of fast-twitch muscle fibres, which leads to muscle growth and higher calorie expenditure. Lifting lighter weights for a high number of repetitions does the same thing for slow twitch fibres. Technically, therefore, training with a high number of repetitions does help you to burn fat. But so too does heavy lifting – in which case, why deprive half of your muscles of a growth stimulus by limiting your training exclusively to a high-rep protocol?
An alternative is to try 3D training, which I have designed to be followed all year round. This method allows you to increase strength and build muscle while getting leaner.
How is it done? Well, let’s say that you split your training into four workouts: chest, back, shoulders and legs. The first thing to do it create three different routines for each workout. The first will be a heavy workout, focusing on a few compound exercises – essentially, a typical strength-training protocol. The second will involve a higher number of repetitions and increased volume – possibly super sets using a mixture of compound and isolated exercises. Last but not least, you should perform a workout consisting of super-slow reps; machines can come in handy here.
Let me talk you through the super-slow rep workout, as it's my own creation. Set up a boxing timer for four 60-second rounds with a 60-second break between each. Then perform 10 perfectly strict reps of a given exercise at 3:0:3:0 pace, without losing muscle tension. This way, you can break down the muscle fibres very efficiently without stressing your joints. And because the weights used will be very light, you will be ready to train heavy again the following day!
Keep rotating the workouts so that you perform each routine for every muscle once in every two- to three-week cycle. Then you just need to control your calorie intake for that ultimate superhero look!
Sample chest workout
Heavy:
Flat bench press: 4 x 5 reps (2:0:1:0 tempo)
Bench press at 30 degree incline: 4 x 6 reps (2:0:1:0)
Weighted dips: 3 x 8 reps (2:0:1:0)
High volume:
Dumbbell press at 30 degree incline: 4 x 12 reps (3:0:1:0 tempo)
Dumbbell fly at 15 degree incline: 3 x 15 reps (3:0:1:0)
Flat dumbbell press: 4 x 12 reps (3:0:1:0)
Cable crossover: 3 x 15 reps (3:0:1:0)
Dips: 3 x 15 reps 2:0:1:0 tempo
Super slow reps:
Bench press at 30 degree incline: 4 x 10 reps (3:0:3:0 tempo)
Decline machine press: 3 x 10 reps (3:0:3:0)
Dumbbell fly: 3 x 10 reps (3:0:3:0)
Press-up: 3 x 10 reps (3:0:3:0)
By: Captain Physique
Meat products belong to one of the six major food groups. Poultry, pork, red meat, game and fish all provide the body with essential nutrients, minerals and vitamins in order for it to remain healthy.
Recently, however, there has been public controversy concerning just how healthy eating meat on a daily basis really is, especially red meat.
It’s argued the consumption of red meat directly links to heart disease and even cancer. Meanwhile, fears have grown about the amount of fat in all meats, particularly saturated fat.
So, what are the facts?
Minerals
Meat has a very high mineral content including body essentials like magnesium, zinc and iron.
* Magnesium
Magnesium is important for bone strength as it improves vitamin D synthesis as well as help decrease net acid production. It’s thought the consumption of magnesium through diet could assist in preventing osteoporosis.
* Zinc
Zinc is vital for the body’s immune system and is essential for muscle growth and repair.
Most importantly, iron helps to maintain energy levels as well as maximise oxygen transport throughout the body. If there isn’t enough iron being consumed people run the risk of developing anaemia and fatigue. Red meat and turkey are particularly iron rich.
Protein
Meat is an excellent source of protein, which is essential for any healthy diet. It helps build and repair muscle as well as help maintain healthy hair, bones, skin and blood.
Due to its High Biological Value (HBV), protein obtained from meat is easily digested and thus absorbed quickly and effectively by the body.
Red meat, chicken and turkey are extremely high in protein.
Vitamins
Vitamins are vital in maintaining a healthy body. Meat is a particularly good source of vitamin E and B vitamins including B2, B6 and B12.
Vitamin E has very strong antioxidant properties and helps reduce damage caused by oxygen to cells thus allowing faster muscle repair and recovery.
B vitamins all work together to help convert food into energy but they also have individual uses. B2 is essential for the manufacture of red blood cells, which then transport the oxygen around the body. B6 is vital for protein synthesis and B12 is imperative for good nerve functions.
Other Benefits
Minerals, protein and vitamins aside, meats, especially fish, provide the body with essential unsaturated fats like Omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3 can actually help reduce cholesterol levels, blood pressure and the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
What To Watch Out For
Unfortunately, meat can be high in saturated fats. Lamb, pork, beef and duck are considered the worst culprits.
Too many sat fats can actually increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol.
However, when choosing which meat to buy, opt for lean cuts like roast joints, skinless chicken breasts, turkey and extra lean steaks and trim any excess fat before cooking.
In essence, meat should be consumed as part of a healthy diet particularly for athletes.
While the benefits of meat seem to outweigh the negatives, it’s important to moderate the daily intake, as too much could potentially have harmful consequences.
According to the American Heart Association, the daily consumption of meat should be limited to 6oz.
Bodybuilding is a sport that relies on heavily on it's competitors maintaining a strict nutritional plan in order to get themselves into peak physical shape for competitions.
Bodybuilding requires it's competitors to build muscle mass whilst also keep their body fat percentage as low as possible which is a very difficult task. In order to achieve these feats bodybuilders should consider a variety of supplements such as the below.
Beta Alanine
A beta alanine supplement has been shown to not only aid performance, but also help aid the development of lean muscle mass. By buffering the lactic acid from your muscles beta alanine allows you to train more rigorously and thereby aids the development of lean muscle mass whilst helping you burn additional calories to keep your body fat percentage low.
Whey Protein Isolate
Whilst many athletes will reach for a standard whey protein shake after a workout, bodybuilders should instead consider a whey isolate shake. Whey isolate is lower in carbohydrates and fats than a standard protein shake making it ideal for muscle gain whilst still keeping your body fat percentage low.
CLA
CLA is an ideal supplement for supporting weight loss and lean body composition goals. This makes CLA a powerful aid when trying to cut before a big competition or show as it can help to get your body fat percentage right down. For this, CLA supplements should be a staple for any bodybuilder in the build-up to competition.
ZMA
Having a good recovery supplement is essential for bodybuilders in order to allow them to spend as much time as possible in the gym prepping for competitions. For this reason a supplement such as ZMA is the go to option as it can help aid muscle aches and pains thereby allowing you to get straight back into the gym.
by DavidNicholls
