Showing posts with label procrastination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label procrastination. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Nutrient timing *may* make difference - for strength, body comp, muscle fiber...
Follow @mcphoo
Tweet
Could changing when you have a recovery drink have a significant effect on strength, body comp and other performance factors? It may be that simple. If you like your workout routine, but want it to produce better results, you may find that changing one thing has a not insignificant effect. There seems to be significant benefit to strength, muscle fiber, body composition and muscle glycogen uptake based simply on when nutrients are taken around a workout. Likewise this nutrient timing requires no other change to one's diet to have this effect.
A cool thing about this study is that participants were used to doing resistance work; they aren't newbies (as many studies use).
Here's what they had in their drinks:
Strength & Muscle gains What the above breaks down to show is that there was a statistically significant difference (only 5% likelihood that the finding is based on chance) in STRENGTH performance improvements with the group in things like the 1RM. Intriguingly, the cross sectional area of muscle went up (hypertrophy) more than the other group of the fast twitch fibers in particular - the ones uses especially in power/strength work.
Creatine and Hypertrophy. So, nothing too surprising in what the good stuff in the drinks is. If i could redo this study, i'd take out the creatine to study separately, as the consensus there has seemed to be that one can take it anytime to be valuable. That said, the authors here in the discussion suggest that there may be particular benefit to taking creatine around time of exercise.
Body Comp - another interesting finding is that the effect of timing on body comp (bf%, lean mass) was also significant.
Citation:
CRIBB, P., & HAYES, A. (2006). Effects of Supplement Timing and Resistance Exercise on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 38 (11), 1918-1925 DOI: 10.1249/01.mss.0000233790.08788.3e Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Could changing when you have a recovery drink have a significant effect on strength, body comp and other performance factors? It may be that simple. If you like your workout routine, but want it to produce better results, you may find that changing one thing has a not insignificant effect. There seems to be significant benefit to strength, muscle fiber, body composition and muscle glycogen uptake based simply on when nutrients are taken around a workout. Likewise this nutrient timing requires no other change to one's diet to have this effect.Bottom line: taking Creatine Monohydrate, Protein and Carbs "just before" & "right after" workout is a really cheap win to improving strength, body comp and muscle type improvements. The other group had taken the same fuel in the AM before any other food and late in the PM after anything else so fuel ups were at least 5 hours on either side of a workout.
Effects of supplement timing and resistance exercise on skeletal muscle hypertrophy.
Exercise Metabolism Unit, Center for Ageing, Rehabilitation, Exercise and Sport; and the School of Biomedical Sciences, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
PURPOSE: Some studies report greater muscle hypertrophy during resistance exercise (RE) training from supplement timing (i.e., the strategic consumption of protein and carbohydrate before and/or after each workout). However, no studies have examined whether this strategy provides greater muscle hypertrophy or strength development compared with supplementation at other times during the day. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of supplement timing compared with supplementation in the hours not close to the workout on muscle-fiber hypertrophy, strength, and body composition during a 10-wk RE program. METHODS: In a single-blind, randomized protocol, resistance-trained males were matched for strength and placed into one of two groups; the PRE-POST group consumed a supplement (1 g x kg(-1) body weight) containing protein/creatine/glucose immediately before and after RE. The MOR-EVE group consumed the same dose of the same supplement in the morning and late evening. All assessments were completed the week before and after 10 wk of structured, supervised RE training. Assessments included strength (1RM, three exercises), body composition (DEXA), and vastus lateralis muscle biopsies for determination of muscle fiber type (I, IIa, IIx), cross-sectional area (CSA), contractile protein, creatine (Cr), and glycogen content. RRESULTS: PRE-POST demonstrated a greater (P < 0.05) increase in lean body mass and 1RM strength in two of three assessments. The changes in body composition were supported by a greater (P < 0.05) increase in CSA of the type II fibers and contractile protein content.
CONCLUSION: Supplement timing represents a simple but effective strategy that enhances the adaptations desired from RE-training.
A cool thing about this study is that participants were used to doing resistance work; they aren't newbies (as many studies use).
Here's what they had in their drinks:
All participants were prescribed 1 g of the supplement per kilogram of body weight (1 g-1·kg-1 bw), to be consumed twice on training days only. The supplement contained (per 100 g), 40 g of protein (from whey isolate), 43 g of carbohydrate (glucose), < 0.5 g of fat, and 7 g of CrM and was provided by AST Sport Science (Golden, CO). This dose provided an 80-kg participant with 32 g of protein, 34.4 g of carbohydrate, < 0.4 g of fat, and a 5.6 g of CrM in each serving (a total of 1124 kJ). The chosen supplement dose was based on previously reported intakes of this population (18) and was similar to previous studies that had involved protein (1) or CrM (8) supplementation close to RE. The participants were instructed to maintain their habitual daily diet during the trial.
Strength & Muscle gains What the above breaks down to show is that there was a statistically significant difference (only 5% likelihood that the finding is based on chance) in STRENGTH performance improvements with the group in things like the 1RM. Intriguingly, the cross sectional area of muscle went up (hypertrophy) more than the other group of the fast twitch fibers in particular - the ones uses especially in power/strength work.
Creatine and Hypertrophy. So, nothing too surprising in what the good stuff in the drinks is. If i could redo this study, i'd take out the creatine to study separately, as the consensus there has seemed to be that one can take it anytime to be valuable. That said, the authors here in the discussion suggest that there may be particular benefit to taking creatine around time of exercise.
it could be suggested that supplement timing promotes more efficient Cr accumulation within muscle and, therefore, greater strength gains and muscle hypertrophy during RE training. However, this aspect was not examined directly. Based on the results obtained, further investigations are warranted to examine dose responses and the extent of Cr accumulation during RE, and to fully elucidate the contributions of both CrM and whey protein to chronic adaptations during training.
Body Comp - another interesting finding is that the effect of timing on body comp (bf%, lean mass) was also significant.
A group×time interaction (P <>
Muscle Glycogen. Higher in the Pre/Post group too - and at that 10 weeks after the trial finished. The authors propose an argument for this finding.
Therefore, it could be suggested that PRE-POST supplement timing not only promoted more efficient CrM accumulation within muscle, but that this strategy may have also promoted more efficient muscle glycogen restoration during the RE program. In turn, these benefits may have enabled greater work capacity during subsequent workouts, thus helping to promote greater strength improvements and muscle hypertrophy. Although work capacity was not assessed, the significantly greater hypertrophy responses (in three of three assessments) and 1RM strength improvements (two of three assessments) demonstrated by the PRE-POST group after the program support this theory.Other studies have looked at taking on board fuel close to RE, but the authors of this study claim that the unique thing here is that no one changed their diet: they just added the supplement drink. The authors write:
In conclusion, although there has been a sound theoretical basis for expecting a beneficial effect from supplement timing, this is the first study to clearly demonstrate that this strategy results in greater strength and body composition improvements (i.e., a gain in lean mass and a decrease in body fat percentage) as well as muscle hypertrophy, compared with supplementation at times outside of the workout period. Unlike previous work that has examined chronic adaptations from nutrient consumption close to RE, a significantly greater muscle hypertrophy response from supplement timing was evident at three different levels (i.e., a greater increase in LBM, hypertrophy of the type IIa and IIx fibers, and contractile protein accrual). Additionally, these results were obtained with participants maintaining their normal eating patterns throughout the program. Therefore, we conclude that supplement timing represents a simple but effective strategy to enhance the adaptations that are desired from RE training.This study is from 2006. It may be that other studies since then that i've yet to find qualify these results differently. Likewise, the authors didn't use a total control group - a group that did no extra supplementation at all - it would be interesting to see if that outside RE time supplementation had ANY benefit at all.
That said, it does seem pretty compellingly simple, as the authors suggest, that just by putting pre/post protein/cho/CrM drinks around RE workouts is an Easy Win for supporting strength.
Related Posts
- A minute with mike 1: bcaa, leucine, whey: which when and why?
- A minute with mike 2: post workout recovery window
- nutrition in general: eating is a habit, and change is pain. here's help (inside p90x article)
- free 40+ page overview of approach that uses this nutrient timing stuff (precision nutrition)
Citation:
CRIBB, P., & HAYES, A. (2006). Effects of Supplement Timing and Resistance Exercise on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 38 (11), 1918-1925 DOI: 10.1249/01.mss.0000233790.08788.3e Tweet Follow @begin2dig
PDF
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Anti-Goal and First (things First) Principles
Follow @mcphoo
Tweet
Rannoch the Profound has a post about what happens to folks to scuttle their training:
Rannoch's observation got me wondering if one of the limiting factors that contributes to this OCD training effect is The Goal. This is not to say that goals are bad at all, but they can become mental mine fields when not treated appropriately. The voice in the head becomes:
That's kind of voice sounds irily reminiscent of procrastination/perfectionism. When the goal feels too daunting to achieve well, just leave it to the last minute and blame the fact that you didn't have enough time; or worry worry worry the little details (see "getting intrigued") rather than the big picture. Fear, fear of failure, of therefore being a failure is the thing in either case, and so inertia, it seems, sets in.
Goals have a lot to answer for. In a sense, perhaps, as Stephen Covey might put it, it's a trust issue with ourselves: if we don't meet our commitment to our goals, we break faith with ourselves till we give up on ourselves. Frequently we may coat the cost of this failure by "getting intrigued" (described towards the end of this post on complexity ). Where we say oh this isn't right; that isn't right; i'll do it tomorrow when the moon and the stars are aligned and i feel better.
For myself, this failure can be a particularly trying place to be if i can look back and see past successes, dedication, effort. So what's wrong with me *now* that that's not happening?
Maybe a better question to ask is what needs to be in place to re-establish relations with ourselves to feel that success of having done it than that dread of another day gone and the Goal further dishonored.
Maybe some of us who have already figured out that working out is important for our health, our spirit, our commitments, have to be to get to the headspace where the Real Goal is first to remember how to keep faith with ourselves and second to find a path back to doing that in terms of our fitness, health, well being. Perhaps it's as simple as re-setting the goal temporarily to something we KNOW we can accomplish, perhaps just to move something today. To move ourselves, a kettlebell, a rock - through space, perhaps multiple times in a row or throughout the day, and that that *is* a good thing, not only because it really *is* better than nothing, but because we said we would and we did.
Progressively, repeatedly, soon, the groove to that larger goal may just return, when we build our own confidence back up that we can keep our commitments to ourselves and we can trust ourselves with larger challenges.
In the interim, while simply keeping the commitment to move something in a day, we can give ourselves the space to figure out what may be acting in our lives right now such that we've been falling off the wagon; over complicating it, and what perhaps NOT to repeat once we get back in the groove such that we wind up back in the pit - if that's a recurring place to be.
A book i find helpful in this space is Stephen Covey's First Things First. The book talks about the importance of understanding why we *do* things, not in terms of some schedule like life as a perpetual to do list, but in order to define and move from principles. Don't prioritize your schedule; schedule your priorities is a phrase from the book. How do we determine our priorities? Based on what principles? what is our compass?
These questions apply here, in working out, too, i think. If we're not doing what we know to be right and good for our well being, and our ability to serve those we love, then something's askew, no?
Asking such questions can be a rather profound process. Covey suggests a number of ways to engage what can be very challenging work, where not working out is a symptom whose more profound causes may need investigation.
But in this meantime of engaging that process, and assuming that part of it may just be this loss of faith with ourselves to follow through on our commitments to ourselves, here's to everyone who's having a moment of doubt and self criticism. Let's give ourselves a break and all promise to do one push up, one swing, one pistol - one something - together in five minutes, and build on that.
Congratulations to us, we did it. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
You are trying get moving, not launch a rocket.
So many people seem to struggle with this. If the conditions aren't optimal they simply abort.
Give me 10 minutes and a kettlebell. Not so hard.
For those with workout OCD, it stops progress in it's tracks. The requirement to have everything in it's proper place prevents them from so much as breaking a sweat. This anabolic anxiety permeates everything they try to do. Plans are great but if you are fixated on a having all the ingredients for particular outcome you are missing "all that heavenly glory".
Rannoch's observation got me wondering if one of the limiting factors that contributes to this OCD training effect is The Goal. This is not to say that goals are bad at all, but they can become mental mine fields when not treated appropriately. The voice in the head becomes:
I *have* to do this kind of workout today because of this GOAL i have for date X, and if i can't train that way because of whatever (including just being pooped) then what's the point? anything "less" than the prescribed load, volume and moves is just failure (to serve teh goal), so why bother? I'm such a loser, aren't i?
That's kind of voice sounds irily reminiscent of procrastination/perfectionism. When the goal feels too daunting to achieve well, just leave it to the last minute and blame the fact that you didn't have enough time; or worry worry worry the little details (see "getting intrigued") rather than the big picture. Fear, fear of failure, of therefore being a failure is the thing in either case, and so inertia, it seems, sets in.
Goals have a lot to answer for. In a sense, perhaps, as Stephen Covey might put it, it's a trust issue with ourselves: if we don't meet our commitment to our goals, we break faith with ourselves till we give up on ourselves. Frequently we may coat the cost of this failure by "getting intrigued" (described towards the end of this post on complexity ). Where we say oh this isn't right; that isn't right; i'll do it tomorrow when the moon and the stars are aligned and i feel better. For myself, this failure can be a particularly trying place to be if i can look back and see past successes, dedication, effort. So what's wrong with me *now* that that's not happening?
Maybe a better question to ask is what needs to be in place to re-establish relations with ourselves to feel that success of having done it than that dread of another day gone and the Goal further dishonored.
Maybe some of us who have already figured out that working out is important for our health, our spirit, our commitments, have to be to get to the headspace where the Real Goal is first to remember how to keep faith with ourselves and second to find a path back to doing that in terms of our fitness, health, well being. Perhaps it's as simple as re-setting the goal temporarily to something we KNOW we can accomplish, perhaps just to move something today. To move ourselves, a kettlebell, a rock - through space, perhaps multiple times in a row or throughout the day, and that that *is* a good thing, not only because it really *is* better than nothing, but because we said we would and we did.
Progressively, repeatedly, soon, the groove to that larger goal may just return, when we build our own confidence back up that we can keep our commitments to ourselves and we can trust ourselves with larger challenges.
In the interim, while simply keeping the commitment to move something in a day, we can give ourselves the space to figure out what may be acting in our lives right now such that we've been falling off the wagon; over complicating it, and what perhaps NOT to repeat once we get back in the groove such that we wind up back in the pit - if that's a recurring place to be.
A book i find helpful in this space is Stephen Covey's First Things First. The book talks about the importance of understanding why we *do* things, not in terms of some schedule like life as a perpetual to do list, but in order to define and move from principles. Don't prioritize your schedule; schedule your priorities is a phrase from the book. How do we determine our priorities? Based on what principles? what is our compass?
These questions apply here, in working out, too, i think. If we're not doing what we know to be right and good for our well being, and our ability to serve those we love, then something's askew, no?
Asking such questions can be a rather profound process. Covey suggests a number of ways to engage what can be very challenging work, where not working out is a symptom whose more profound causes may need investigation.
But in this meantime of engaging that process, and assuming that part of it may just be this loss of faith with ourselves to follow through on our commitments to ourselves, here's to everyone who's having a moment of doubt and self criticism. Let's give ourselves a break and all promise to do one push up, one swing, one pistol - one something - together in five minutes, and build on that.
Congratulations to us, we did it. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
COACHING with dr. m.c. 
