How Caffeinated Muscle Builders Can Actually Be Bad For Your Workout
Written by Gerald Fitz | 
Some of the following health problems can get worse when caffeine is used in the diet. The obvious first would be cardiovascular health problems. Caffeine increases your heart rate, your blood pressure, and has even been shown to contribute to the development of heart problems. Some studies have even shown that caffeine has been linked to a problem called coronary vasospasms. Vasospasms result in around 20% of all fatal heart attacks. This is important for even those who seem healthy, but as a result of caffeine could possibly be susceptible to one of many heart conditions.
Another health problem that can get worse with the use of caffeine is stress. This is noteworthy because of the amount of people that suffer from stress. In fact caffeine stimulates the excretion of stress hormones which can produce heightened levels of irritability, muscular tension, anxiety, pain, insomnia, indigestion, as well as a decreased immunity system. With increased levels of stress, the everyday decisions will get progressively worse.
Fruit Juice Versus The Whole FruitWritten by Sandra Prior |
The citrus board isn't really that concerned about whether you choose to eat an orange or drink a cup of orange juice. The growers probably prefer that you go with the juice because it's more processed, which means they can charge more for it. But putting cares of major fruit conglomerates aside, which is better for your body - whole fruit or fruit juice?
The Winner is: A draw The Reason: Oranges and orange juice, apples and apple juice, blueberries and blueberry juice, cranberries and - you get the idea - have benefits. As long as the juice is 100% juice, with no added sugars, both it and the whole fruit used to make it are packed full of antioxidants and are good sources of slow-digesting carbs. If you find that second part surprising, you're in the old school that believes that fruit juice is an excellent accompaniment for post-workout creatine. Fats: The Good and the BadWritten by Sandra Prior |
Fat forms part of the normal balanced diet as it provides essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. Fatty acids are found in all the membranes of the body and therefore fat is a very important nutrient. It is also important to remember that not all fats are equal. Too much saturated fat increases the blood cholesterol level and causes obesity.
Saturated Fats Saturated fats occur mainly in food of animal origin such as fatty meat, full cream milk, ice-cream, cream, butter, cheese, and lard. Saturated fats from non-animal origin include non-dairy creamers which contain the saturated vegetable fats like palm kernel and coconut oil. Fat-Free Mass GainsWritten by Sandra Prior |
One of the hardest nutrition programs to put together is a mass-gaining plan for the formerly fat guy or the person who continually wrestles with bodyfat. The problem: whenever the individual's mass gains start to kick in, lo and behold, he starts to balloon up and add too much bodyfat. It's a never-ending struggle and exercise in frustration.
So just how do I put together a mass-gaining plan that promises mass without the unwanted blubber? It requires three carefully honed steps.
Upsize/Downsize
Step 1 is divided into two separate menus: one to be followed on training days and another to be followed on rest days. This takes into consideration the fact that the person who struggles to add clean, blubberless mass has to eat less - fewer carbohydrates and calories - on days he is not training or he'll add too much bodyfat. On training days, I'll set the bar at 2 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight along with 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight divided over five or six meals. Therefore, a 200-pounder would eat 400g of carbs with 200g of protein. On rest days, I'll lower the carb amount down to 1g of carbs per pound of bodyweight. That means he'd switch to 200g of protein and 200g of carbs. Follow step 1 for three weeks.
Step 2 calls for an increase in both carbs and protein - to 2.5 g of carbs per pound of bodyweight and 1.2g of protein per pound. The aforementioned 200-pound man will move up to 500g of carbs and 240g of protein. However, too many carbs can quickly ramp up fat storage, so a bodybuilder may have to incrementally move up to that level by increasing his carb intake on two of every five training days for the first four weeks. In other words, if he trains five times a week, he would simply increase the carbs and protein to the prescribed level twice in those five days. |