How Creatine Can Increase Muscle Mass
Creatine is a metabolite and it’s produced by the body naturally. It is found in several places in the body, including the brain and heart, but its highest levels is found in red muscle tissue. The main dietary source of this metabolite is found in fish and meat, but it can also be formed by particular amino acids. These amino acids are methionine, arginine, and glycine and they exist in the kidneys, liver and pancreas.
So you may be asking yourself how this information can assist your athletic performance. In fact, creatine supplements are a favourite of athletes, body builders, and weight lifters because it plays an important role in how the body’s muscles release energy and for increasing muscle mass by attracting water molecules to muscle cells and improving muscle protein synthesis.
Bursting With Energy
Creatine is undergoing vigorous study by researchers because it supplies the body with energy molecules. In a nutshell, when a muscle contracts it uses ATP (adenosine triphosphate) for energy and there is a very small amount stored naturally in a muscle. So the body supplies a revised version of the ATP energy molecule by accessing creatine phosphate molecules and creates ADP to replace ATP.
Six Pack Abs
Are you tired of that unattractive muffin top? Do you need to get rid of your love handles? Are you just looking to tone up your tummy? You can do it! The key to a flat stomach and great looking abs is a combination of diet, exercise, and supplementation.
The Diet
A flat stomach requires you to be hyper-aware of what you put into your body. Diet and nutrition are a major component of six pack abs. You will need to decrease bloating, retain muscle mass, and manipulate your calorie intake so that your body burns fat.
Bloating is a major cause of flabby stomachs. The best way to prevent bloating is by eating a healthy diet. A majority of the population is allergic to lactose. By simply consuming dairy products a lactose intolerant person will bloat.
Celiac disease also causes stomach bloating. A person with this disease cannot process glutens. Their body is unable to digest any food product containing glutens and the result is discomfort and bloating. All potential sources of gluten must be eliminated from the diet of a person suffering from Celiac disease.
Improve Your Muscle Endurance
Muscle endurance is necessary for any athlete who performs for extended periods of time. If you are able to perform a high number of repetitions using your maximum strength for an extended period of time you have muscle endurance.
Most athletes work constantly, through exercise and the use of healthy supplements, to build their muscle endurance. It is an important factor in almost every type of fitness activity. From swimmers to weight lifters, athletes will benefit from increased muscle endurance.
Twitch Muscles
Muscle endurance determines how well your “slow twitch muscles” are functioning or developed. Slow twitch muscles are the main type of muscle used for endurance. They are not able to exert great amounts of pressure but can withstand effort for a long period of time.
What is Nitric Oxide and Why Does the Body Need It?
Nitric Oxide is a molecule produced by the body to aid in vascular function. This molecule causes blood vessels to expand. Once expanded, blood vessels can function at higher levels. When the blood vessel diameter is increased blood will flow at higher amounts to deliver oxygen and other nutrients to your muscles and skeletal system.
For body builders nitric oxide is an important dietary supplement. Known as NO in workout circles, nitric oxide will give you a longer pump interval, increased strength, and rapid muscle recovery.
What Is It?
Nitric oxide is produced naturally by your body and, as stated, helps with blood flow. Once the diameter of your blood vessels has been expanded your circulatory system can send chemical messages through your blood stream to help improve and regulate bodily functions.
The Role of Testosterone in the Bodies of Athletes
Testosterone is often mentioned in conjunction with athletes and body building. What exactly is the role of testosterone and body building? Why do athletes need to have increased testosterone?
The Back Story
Testosterone is a naturally occurring steroid hormone. Testosterone has both anabolic and androgenic properties in the athlete’s body. This hormone is responsible for building lean muscle mass, giving the body energy, bone building and health, activating the immune system, and the male libido.
Testosterone is naturally secreted into the male body through the testes and into the female body through her ovaries. The adrenal glands also provide a small amount of the hormone to the body. As the body ages testosterone levels are decreased in the body.
SHBG
Reducing Body Fat and Increasing Lean Muscle Mass Through Nutrition and Exercise
All athletes are constantly monitoring their bodies. You want to know if you are eating enough or maybe you worry you are eating too much. Are you taking the right supplements? Should you even be taking supplements? These are all questions that concern anyone interested in developing their body for peak performance.
Reducing Body Fat
Fat might as well be a four letter word for most of us. Every workout show on television focuses on body fat percentage and how to reduce this percentage. Fortunately body fat can be reduced through diet and exercise.
A well balanced diet will keep you from ingesting too many fatty foods. It will encourage you to focus instead on foods and food groups that that help burn fat. Green leafy vegetables, peppers, and certain fruits are natural fat burners. They can be added at every meal to help reduce body fat naturally.
Exercise is also a great way to reduce fat. Aerobic exercises speed up your metabolism which in turn helps your body process and eliminate foods faster. With a higher metabolism your body will use what it needs and get rid of the rest before it finds a permanent place on your body.
How the body Uses Amino Acids
The body requires amino acids to function properly. You may have heard that protein fuels the body, but it is more correct to recognise that it is the amino acids from those proteins that make your body function at optimum levels.
Amino acids are formed in the body when proteins break down. These amino acids then find their way to the body systems where they are most needed. The more proteins you consume on a daily basis the more healthy amino acids your body produces.
The Science Behind Amino Acids
Every time you eat foods containing proteins or take a protein supplement you are increasing your body’s ability to perform. Proteins, once ingested, travel directly to your stomach. Once in the stomach these proteins break down into amino acids. Once in the stomach the amino acids combine with digestive and other hormones and are directed to the different body systems that depend on them for proper functioning.
How the Body Uses Protein
Proteins are vital to proper body function. These important nutrients help your metabolism, your hormones, and your immune system function at optimum levels. Protein is also the key ingredient for building muscles. Next to water, protein is the most important part of a healthy diet.
How Much?
The amount of protein the human body needs varies from person to person. A body builder will require more protein than an average person. When protein is consumed in higher amounts than the body needs it will store this extra protein. For a body builder this is good news since that extra protein goes a long way toward building lean muscle mass.
Every time you work out you are breaking down muscle tissue. To rebuild this muscle tissue your body requires protein. Adding protein to your diet, in the form of protein supplements, will help you get stronger faster.
Fast Acting Proteins
Why Body builders Need Supplements for Maximum Performance
Body builders spend hours perfecting their bodies. And not all of this time is in the gym. A successful body builder will also be concerned about what he eats and the nutrients his body is getting through his diet. A big question for any body builder is whether they should add supplements to their diet.
A Balanced Diet
The balanced diet for a body might shock the average person. A good diet for athletes includes high amounts of carbs and high amounts of proteins. Why does a body builder want to consume these typically fat building foods?
The goal of a body builder is to develop a beautiful body, great muscle tone, and keep healthy in the process. In order to manage all three of these goals a body builder will need to eat foods that give him energy and help build muscle mass.
A lot of high energy foods have a reputation of adding unwanted pounds to the body. A body builder can take these potential pounds and turn them into lean muscle mass with intense workouts. For example, proteins break down to amino acids which can give body builder’s energy to work out and are the building blocks for lean muscle mass. Proteins also aid in repairing muscles and boosting the body’s metabolism.
Why Supplements Should Be Included in a Balanced Diet
Athletes are well known for eating healthy and balanced diets. They know the value of fruits, vegetables, and meat and how these foods help prepare their body for a great workout. Athletes also are usually aware that a healthy diet is not enough. Athletes burn calories at a very high rate and need supplements if they wish to build muscle mass and work out at optimum levels.
Why Add to Your Diet?
The news is full of information on additives used to process even “natural” foods before they reach your neighbourhood market. These pesticides, growth hormones, fertilisers, and other chemicals cut down on the nutritional value of the food you consume. Cooking food is also known to cut down on the nutritional value of what you eat. This information has been used to encourage everyone, not just athletes, of the importance of adding supplements to their diet.
If a normal person is in need of dietary supplements it only follows that you, an athlete, must have these supplements added to your diet. Supplements have been created to replace and add to the nutrients lost in the growing and preparing of food and you can easily add these supplements to your balanced diet.
An Athlete’s Needs