Anyone can put on muscle; keeping it on is a different story.
These 11 tricks will keep you on the plus side of the BEEF ledger.
Originally featured in:
Men's Fitness December, 2001
Written by: The Editors of Men???s Fitness
Gaining lean muscle is really quite easy???if your training is supplemented with the appropriate nutritional plan and complemented with adequate rest. If you keep these three keys to growth in balance???and that???s what we urge you to do each month in Men???s Fitness???you can grow like a weed.
But did you know that it???s possible to lose muscle? The wrong moves can throw your body into a process called catabolism, which in effect turns your body into a self-cannibal, devouring its own muscle???the very thing you???ve put time and effort into gaining.
The following strategies will help you prevent catabolism and allow you to retain all that enviable lean beef you???ve put on.
1| Always Cool Down
Cortisol, one of the body???s critical hormones, aids your fight-or-flight response, your survival instinct. But if it remains too long in your system, say as the result of chronic stress, it becomes catabolic. Similarly, if your lactate levels remain elevated too long after training, cortisol levels will increase, which means that your muscle tissue will be cannibalized.
???A good cool-down is certain to bring down lactate levels and speed recovery,??? says Randall Dorvin, C.S.C.S., the head strength and conditioning coach for the University of New Orleans. ???I suggest a good six- to eight-minute walk at about a 3.6-mph pace.??? This will not harm you in the way that a long cardio session would after an intense resistance workout.
2| Keep Lifting and Cardio Separate
This will help you prevent overtaxing your muscles, says Jorge Carvajal, C.S.C.S., a veteran trainer. ???Doing your cardio the day after strength training,??? he says, ???can actually help you recover faster for the next resistance workout, because the cardio will bring more much-needed blood and oxygen to the muscle at a time when it needs it.???
If you have no option but to do cardio and weight training on the same day, make sure to do the latter first. This approach allows you to utilize as much muscle and liver glycogen as possible when you hit the weights???doing cardio first will deplete energy stores, which will lead to faster fatiguing while you lift.
To minimize catabolism of muscle, Carvajal recommends a relatively new technique that may not work for everyone. He suggests his athletes take up to 40 grams of branched-chain amino acids and five to 10 grams of L-glutamine five to 15 minutes before starting a post-resistance-workout cardio session. Afterward, he advises taking an additional five grams or so of L-glutamine. ???That gives the muscle an amino-acid pool to pull from,??? Carvajal says, ???rather than stripping it from muscle tissue,??? which would cause catabolizing of the muscle tissue.
He also points to two possible drawbacks of this supplementation approach: cost and gastric distress, kind of an ???in the pocket and in the gut??? double-team. A less expensive alternative is to take only the L-glutamine or to consume 20 to 22 grams of whey protein (which contains all eight essential amino acids) between your lifting and cardio sessions. Numerous protein drinks can meet your amino-acid needs at such times.
3| Eat More When You First Start a Cardio Program
While this may sound counterproductive, you actually need the extra calories in order to stay out of a negative nitrogen balance during the first two weeks of training, says Bryan Haycock, C.S.C.S., an exercise physiologist and editor in chief of ThinkMuscle.com. As a consequence of not increasing your calories, you???ll lose more protein than you take in and, hence, kiss muscle goodbye. If there???s any upside to this it???s that ???after two weeks, the body will adapt and muscle loss will slow,??? says Haycock.
To combat muscle loss during this adaptive phase, you should consume plenty of carbs and lean protein. You should also attempt to gain a few pounds, not lose them, advises Haycock. Then, after two weeks pass and your body has adapted to the regimen, you can begin your ???cutting??? diet. ???This approach will ensure that you do not create undue catabolic stress when you increase your exercise volume and cut calories at the same time,??? Haycock adds.
4| Be Wary of Low-Carb Diets
An insufficient intake of carbs can deplete your glycogen stores quickly during cardiovascular exercise, and this will force your body to use protein as an alternative energy source, says Mike Merk, C.S.C.S., director of health and fitness for the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, and spokesperson for the National Strength and Conditioning Association. ???In turn, this will prevent the proteins you do ingest from performing their primary job of building and repairing muscle tissue,??? Merk says.
5| Refuel Almost Immediately After Training
Merk says to do so ???within 15 to 30 minutes after a workout. Do not wait too long, or you will significantly reduce your body???s ability to store glycogen, which will ultimately impair your recovery and inhibit subsequent workouts.??? Merk recommends a ???boosting??? beverage made up of plenty of carbs and protein???there are many kinds on the market. To complete the refueling process, make sure to eat a small, balanced meal consisting of complex carbohydrates, protein and water within 90 minutes of the workout.
6| Lower Your PH
You probably haven???t thought about acids and bases since high school chemistry class???you probably didn???t think about them then, either???but it???s something your body deals with automatically every day. Metabolic acidosis is a condition in which your blood levels become so acidic that your body starts cannibalizing muscle tissue for its glutamine in order to balance things out. Acidosis is caused by diets centered on meat protein and lacking in fruit and vegetables, which is a pretty good description of both the common North American diet and those trendy high-protein weight-loss plans.
In a study conducted at the University of California at San Francisco, supplementation with potassium bicarbonate helped preserve muscle mass in catabolic subjects. Since taking bicarbonate is neither practical nor advisable, your second-best strategy is to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, which have inherent organic compounds such as citrate and malate that yield acid-neutralizing bicarbonate ions, keeping your PH levels from tipping you toward a catabolic state.
7| Take Vitamin C All Day Long
As we???ve already stated, cortisol is a stress hormone that kicks your body into a catabolic state. A number of things can trigger cortisol release, among them hard-core training. A study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine examined two groups of ultramarathoners. The group that had been given two daily 500-milligram doses of vitamin C for seven days prior to a race had lower levels of cortisol after the event. Since vitamin C seems to blunt exercise-related cortisol release, every fitness-oriented male should be getting at least the daily minimum of 90 mg, and???depending on stomach tolerance???up to several times as much.
Because vitamin C is water-soluble, a portion of your dose will be quickly excreted. Therefore, it???s best to spread your doses out over the course of a day to ensure that you maintain appropriate levels long-term.
8| Hydrate Yourself for Workouts
???Drink at least 16 ounces of water an hour before working out and at least a liter during training,??? recommends exercise physiologist Jim Wright, Ph.D. Being well-hydrated keeps your body???s circulatory system functioning properly, transporting oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to the working muscles while at the same time helping clear lactic-acid accumulation more efficiently, which means faster recovery and better growth.
9| Get Some Late-Night Protein
Bodybuilders are masters at retaining muscle. Consider lifting the following out of their arsenal of tricks, especially if you can???t seem to pack it on despite your best efforts: the 3 a.m. protein shake. Set an alarm to wake you up in the middle of the night, slam down 30 grams of protein and go back to dreamland. ???During a night???s sleep???which is hopefully between seven and nine hours???the body goes into a catabolic state,??? says Jeff Stout, Ph.D., director of the Nutricia Institute of Sports Science.
If this nocturnal feeding frenzy seems a bit extreme, Stout offers an alternative solution. He advises you to regularly eat a ???slow protein??? such as casein, which can be found in cottage cheese or in products such as Met-Rx and Myoplex. ???The protein from cottage cheese peaks in your body over an eight-hour period, whereas whey protein peaks and declines over the course of three hours, but it???s a great protein immediately after a workout.??? Stout says that casein is great for people on a limited budget and with limited time to eat.
10| Never Skip Breakfast
Even if you???ve sucked down a bedside protein supplement???and especially if you???ve slept through the whole night???you will inevitably wake up in a catabolic state. That???s why your best protein at this time is a fast-acting protein, and, says Stout, ???the best thing to get you out of a catabolic state is whey protein.???
11| Check Your Ego at the Door
???Even the most well-built machines can???t go balls-to-the-wall nonstop,??? says Wright. And neither can you. While going to failure on occasion is necessary for making gains, using it as your modus operandi is a recipe for failure. ???Constantly subjecting your muscles to the highest stress levels is going to increase the amount of cortisol, a catabolic hormone, your body produces,??? Wright says. And while cortisol production is a natural reaction to resistance training, an overabundance of it can inhibit muscle gains. Train for gain, not for your ego: She doesn???t care how great your bench is, but she???ll sure love a
great-looking physique.
These 11 tricks will keep you on the plus side of the BEEF ledger.
Originally featured in:
Men's Fitness December, 2001
Written by: The Editors of Men???s Fitness
Gaining lean muscle is really quite easy???if your training is supplemented with the appropriate nutritional plan and complemented with adequate rest. If you keep these three keys to growth in balance???and that???s what we urge you to do each month in Men???s Fitness???you can grow like a weed.
But did you know that it???s possible to lose muscle? The wrong moves can throw your body into a process called catabolism, which in effect turns your body into a self-cannibal, devouring its own muscle???the very thing you???ve put time and effort into gaining.
The following strategies will help you prevent catabolism and allow you to retain all that enviable lean beef you???ve put on.
1| Always Cool Down
Cortisol, one of the body???s critical hormones, aids your fight-or-flight response, your survival instinct. But if it remains too long in your system, say as the result of chronic stress, it becomes catabolic. Similarly, if your lactate levels remain elevated too long after training, cortisol levels will increase, which means that your muscle tissue will be cannibalized.
???A good cool-down is certain to bring down lactate levels and speed recovery,??? says Randall Dorvin, C.S.C.S., the head strength and conditioning coach for the University of New Orleans. ???I suggest a good six- to eight-minute walk at about a 3.6-mph pace.??? This will not harm you in the way that a long cardio session would after an intense resistance workout.
2| Keep Lifting and Cardio Separate
This will help you prevent overtaxing your muscles, says Jorge Carvajal, C.S.C.S., a veteran trainer. ???Doing your cardio the day after strength training,??? he says, ???can actually help you recover faster for the next resistance workout, because the cardio will bring more much-needed blood and oxygen to the muscle at a time when it needs it.???
If you have no option but to do cardio and weight training on the same day, make sure to do the latter first. This approach allows you to utilize as much muscle and liver glycogen as possible when you hit the weights???doing cardio first will deplete energy stores, which will lead to faster fatiguing while you lift.
To minimize catabolism of muscle, Carvajal recommends a relatively new technique that may not work for everyone. He suggests his athletes take up to 40 grams of branched-chain amino acids and five to 10 grams of L-glutamine five to 15 minutes before starting a post-resistance-workout cardio session. Afterward, he advises taking an additional five grams or so of L-glutamine. ???That gives the muscle an amino-acid pool to pull from,??? Carvajal says, ???rather than stripping it from muscle tissue,??? which would cause catabolizing of the muscle tissue.
He also points to two possible drawbacks of this supplementation approach: cost and gastric distress, kind of an ???in the pocket and in the gut??? double-team. A less expensive alternative is to take only the L-glutamine or to consume 20 to 22 grams of whey protein (which contains all eight essential amino acids) between your lifting and cardio sessions. Numerous protein drinks can meet your amino-acid needs at such times.
3| Eat More When You First Start a Cardio Program
While this may sound counterproductive, you actually need the extra calories in order to stay out of a negative nitrogen balance during the first two weeks of training, says Bryan Haycock, C.S.C.S., an exercise physiologist and editor in chief of ThinkMuscle.com. As a consequence of not increasing your calories, you???ll lose more protein than you take in and, hence, kiss muscle goodbye. If there???s any upside to this it???s that ???after two weeks, the body will adapt and muscle loss will slow,??? says Haycock.
To combat muscle loss during this adaptive phase, you should consume plenty of carbs and lean protein. You should also attempt to gain a few pounds, not lose them, advises Haycock. Then, after two weeks pass and your body has adapted to the regimen, you can begin your ???cutting??? diet. ???This approach will ensure that you do not create undue catabolic stress when you increase your exercise volume and cut calories at the same time,??? Haycock adds.
4| Be Wary of Low-Carb Diets
An insufficient intake of carbs can deplete your glycogen stores quickly during cardiovascular exercise, and this will force your body to use protein as an alternative energy source, says Mike Merk, C.S.C.S., director of health and fitness for the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, and spokesperson for the National Strength and Conditioning Association. ???In turn, this will prevent the proteins you do ingest from performing their primary job of building and repairing muscle tissue,??? Merk says.
5| Refuel Almost Immediately After Training
Merk says to do so ???within 15 to 30 minutes after a workout. Do not wait too long, or you will significantly reduce your body???s ability to store glycogen, which will ultimately impair your recovery and inhibit subsequent workouts.??? Merk recommends a ???boosting??? beverage made up of plenty of carbs and protein???there are many kinds on the market. To complete the refueling process, make sure to eat a small, balanced meal consisting of complex carbohydrates, protein and water within 90 minutes of the workout.
6| Lower Your PH
You probably haven???t thought about acids and bases since high school chemistry class???you probably didn???t think about them then, either???but it???s something your body deals with automatically every day. Metabolic acidosis is a condition in which your blood levels become so acidic that your body starts cannibalizing muscle tissue for its glutamine in order to balance things out. Acidosis is caused by diets centered on meat protein and lacking in fruit and vegetables, which is a pretty good description of both the common North American diet and those trendy high-protein weight-loss plans.
In a study conducted at the University of California at San Francisco, supplementation with potassium bicarbonate helped preserve muscle mass in catabolic subjects. Since taking bicarbonate is neither practical nor advisable, your second-best strategy is to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, which have inherent organic compounds such as citrate and malate that yield acid-neutralizing bicarbonate ions, keeping your PH levels from tipping you toward a catabolic state.
7| Take Vitamin C All Day Long
As we???ve already stated, cortisol is a stress hormone that kicks your body into a catabolic state. A number of things can trigger cortisol release, among them hard-core training. A study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine examined two groups of ultramarathoners. The group that had been given two daily 500-milligram doses of vitamin C for seven days prior to a race had lower levels of cortisol after the event. Since vitamin C seems to blunt exercise-related cortisol release, every fitness-oriented male should be getting at least the daily minimum of 90 mg, and???depending on stomach tolerance???up to several times as much.
Because vitamin C is water-soluble, a portion of your dose will be quickly excreted. Therefore, it???s best to spread your doses out over the course of a day to ensure that you maintain appropriate levels long-term.
8| Hydrate Yourself for Workouts
???Drink at least 16 ounces of water an hour before working out and at least a liter during training,??? recommends exercise physiologist Jim Wright, Ph.D. Being well-hydrated keeps your body???s circulatory system functioning properly, transporting oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to the working muscles while at the same time helping clear lactic-acid accumulation more efficiently, which means faster recovery and better growth.
9| Get Some Late-Night Protein
Bodybuilders are masters at retaining muscle. Consider lifting the following out of their arsenal of tricks, especially if you can???t seem to pack it on despite your best efforts: the 3 a.m. protein shake. Set an alarm to wake you up in the middle of the night, slam down 30 grams of protein and go back to dreamland. ???During a night???s sleep???which is hopefully between seven and nine hours???the body goes into a catabolic state,??? says Jeff Stout, Ph.D., director of the Nutricia Institute of Sports Science.
If this nocturnal feeding frenzy seems a bit extreme, Stout offers an alternative solution. He advises you to regularly eat a ???slow protein??? such as casein, which can be found in cottage cheese or in products such as Met-Rx and Myoplex. ???The protein from cottage cheese peaks in your body over an eight-hour period, whereas whey protein peaks and declines over the course of three hours, but it???s a great protein immediately after a workout.??? Stout says that casein is great for people on a limited budget and with limited time to eat.
10| Never Skip Breakfast
Even if you???ve sucked down a bedside protein supplement???and especially if you???ve slept through the whole night???you will inevitably wake up in a catabolic state. That???s why your best protein at this time is a fast-acting protein, and, says Stout, ???the best thing to get you out of a catabolic state is whey protein.???
11| Check Your Ego at the Door
???Even the most well-built machines can???t go balls-to-the-wall nonstop,??? says Wright. And neither can you. While going to failure on occasion is necessary for making gains, using it as your modus operandi is a recipe for failure. ???Constantly subjecting your muscles to the highest stress levels is going to increase the amount of cortisol, a catabolic hormone, your body produces,??? Wright says. And while cortisol production is a natural reaction to resistance training, an overabundance of it can inhibit muscle gains. Train for gain, not for your ego: She doesn???t care how great your bench is, but she???ll sure love a
great-looking physique.
