Beginner's guide to supplementation

[Mr.Toonie]

Overlooked: A Beginner?s Mistake
by: Peter Tunney

Minimizing muscle loss is the most common mistake people make they do not take enough care. I have worked in a health store for a bit over a year now and more often then not people make the same mistakes. These people will come into the store to buy the latest pre-workout powder and expect to get huge. They do not understand that although these may be a tool to be utilized to make there goals become a reality slightly faster, without proper nutrition they will never get there. As I see it there are three keys, each key is a separate component to any type of work out regime. These components are: your day-to-day supplements, your pre- workout supplements, and your post- workout supplements.

Your basic pre-workout supplements generally consist of an arginine, a creatine, various amino acids to aid recovery, and occasionally a stimulant. The most noticeable and thus, to a beginner, the most sought after of these being the stimulant. If you think back to when you first tried a stimulant based supplement, you think of the rush, the adrenaline, and the desire to work out. It is felt almost immediately, gives you the momentum to go the gym on the day?s you do not feel up to it. Sadly this generally does not last the length of your workout. This failure to last goes unnoticed by you because by then the other key ingredients have kicked in and supersede the stimulant effect. The stimulant has failed you.
Again, thinking back to your workout, looking down at your arms as you struggle to get that last rep out, your veins starting to bulge, your blood surging as you complete it dropping the weights, you walk to the water fountain. As you pass the row mirrors you can?t help but glance over starring at your veins, seeing them pop out for the first time. This, you realize, is what people call ?the pump?. The pump is attributed predominantly to the arginine. This is what you still notice at the end of your work out, after your stimulant has worn off. As you head back to the weights you notice you are not as tired as normal, your recovery seems much faster, the increased oxygenation happening in your muscles is having its desired effect.
As you think about the number of reps you just performed you realize it was greater than normal. You realize the effects of the creatine surging in your body, promoting more rapid ATP production, giving you more endurance. As you sip your water, slightly in awe of your pre- workout shake, the extra energy, the boost, the oxygenation, you know this is the best thing to make you reach your goals.

So you just finished your workout, time for a shake. Your post-workout shake generally consists of a protein, some carbohydrates, and occasionally glutamine. Now you may not know why you are taking this shake, as it does not make you feel any different, but everyone else is so you figure why not. Now for those of you who do not know why you are taking this I am here to tell you.
Post-workout you have depleted your carbohydrate stores in your muscle, as well as having diminished the surrounding amino acid stores. The amino acids are replenished by the protein you take in your shake. This is preferably a fast and slow digesting protein mix. The fast acting protein is quickly digested and easily absorbed to optimize muscle recovery; examples are a protein isolate or a hydrolysate. The slower acting proteins; micellar casein; prevent more muscle catabolism much more effectively and last loner, thus making a combination of both ideal. However it should be noted that there should be more fast digesting protein, a 3:1 mix would be good. The amino acids recovered from the digestion process are then sent through out the body for various tasks. Amino acids control everything from muscle tissue repair to hormone secretion.
The ideal carbohydrates for post-workout shakes should be high glycemic carbohydrates that spike insulin levels. Insulin makes it easier for glucose to get pulled into your muscles. This provides the energy needed for optimum muscle repair. Also, insulin makes the muscle more permeable to amino acids. So that being said you now know why it is a must to consume your post-workout shake, even though you feel no different, except possibly for a little bit of bloating.

Now, most importantly, your day-to-day supplements. These are the most overlooked supplements by beginner bodybuilders, and day to day supplements should be the first things considered. The first and foremost supplement that everyone needs, let alone someone putting there body under extreme amounts of stress; i.e. a bodybuilder; is a quality multi-vitamin. This should be something you take regardless of if you?re working out that day or not. Simply put a multi vitamin makes sure you have adequate nutrition. You may not know the benefits of vitamins, so I?ll tell you a few. Zinc helps cell repair, growth and even division, thus if you are trying to make gains and you are deficient in zinc, its going to be a lot harder to do. Another added benefit is it helps with production of the hormones testosterone, insulin, and growth hormone. The B vitamins help in the digestion of carbohydrates and fats, can elevate mood, improve circulation, aid in blood cell health, and that?s just to start. You can see B vitamins are quite necessary in the body. Vitamin C produces collagen, which basically help to hold your body together. Calcium, as everyone knows, is used to promote healthy bones, also it aids in the transport of numerous amino acids through out the body. And lastly iron, which is really one of the top three minerals in your body. This is a transporter of oxygen via hemoglobin. As you may have guessed a lack of iron leads to less energy as your muscles do not get necessary oxygen. As I said I was just going to list a few, but even from the ones I listed you can see how important a multi-vitamin in day-to-day life.
Another important daily supplement is the supplementation of anti-oxidants. These help to fight free radicals in your body. As you put your body under more stress, such as a work out, smoking, alcohol, or pollutants, you introduce more free radicals to your body, and the need for anti-oxidants becomes greater. These free radicals have an oxidizing effect on the body. This oxidizing is similar to leaving an apple sitting out. If you have never left an apple sitting out, as time passes it slowly changes to brown and begins to corrode, this is the apple ?oxidizing?. So as you can bet, sure as the apple will turn color, that free radicals deteriorate muscle. Now anti-oxidants as I mention above fight free radicals and aid in preventing this oxidization from happening. Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Vitamin B2, B3 and B6, Zinc, Copper, Ginko Biloba, and Coenzyme Q-10 are all good anti-oxidants. So as these are found in foods you can either eat foods rich in these or supplement your diet accordingly. Apart from just supplementing individual vitamins or minerals, you can supplements thing like Goji , Noni, Cranberry or coffee-berry to list a few, all of these have high anti-oxidant properties, also alpha-lipoic-acid has good anti-oxidizing features.
Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in your body. It is a part of proteins, plays a major role in digestion, is used largely in your immune system, and helps in the regulation of cell volume. Now that?s not a complete list of what it does, but as you can see it does just about everything. When you work out you deplete your body?s stores of glutamine. Your immune system and your gut go and rob your muscle tissues of the stored glutamine, as these take precedent over muscle tissue. So supplementation of glutamine makes it so that when you work out and deplete your body of it, there is still ample amounts of this amino acid present so your body does not have to rob your muscle tissue. Glutamine is not a supplement that will help you build muscle, but it will prevent tissue breakdown which is just as important.
Essential fatty acids or EFA?s as they are commonly called, are another important daily supplement: These are your omega 3?s, omega 6?s, and omega 9?s. These particular fats are classified as polyunsaturated, and can not be made by the body nor can it be stored in the body. These are converted into prostaglandins and other chemicals and do numerous things in the body. These chemicals are responsible for proper brain function as the brain is predominantly fatty tissues, for providing energy, helping lubricate your joints and skin and proper muscle maintenance. Also they are responsible for making up cell membranes, so literally every cell in our body relies on these to function.

So now is the task of summing everything listed above up for you. Your pre-work out supplement may seem important, as it makes your work out way more intense however as you probably know muscle is not built during your workout, but during your rest. Next your post workout shake, this is optimal to start recovery and thus to start growth. This is the time when you go from small gains in strength and size, to leaps and bounds. You day-to-day supplements are the most essential thing in bodybuilding. They limit the amount of muscle breakdown, limit oxidization in your muscles, maintain optimal hormone levels, and keep your body in good health. Everyone gets all caught up in the pre-work out, some remember the post work out, but the most overlooked and the most important step is your daily nutrition and day to day health, hopefully now you this will not be a mistake you make as well.


**Note- this article does not deal with proper nutrition, daily eating habits and timing, or the different needs for different work out styles, this is a generalized supplementation article for basic needs. The key being basic needs, and as the title says this is a beginner?s article.