Feeling Drained

[jmm]

I'm not convinced, to be honest. The Journal of the American Medical Association recently did a meta-analysis on RCTs of anti-oxidant supplements - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/297/8/842 - which found that betacarotine and vitamin A and E supplementation *increased* mortality. Vit C didn't have a significant effect on mortality. I mean, it doesn't look like any of these will do much harm, but I don't like taking pills without good reason....

I'd think most body builders (not on v-diet type things) would eat enough wholefoods that meeting their nutritional needs shouldn't be a problem. More ain't necessarily better, and an orange, for example, will have much more good stuff in it than a vitamin C pill. Tastes better, too

 

[colby2152]

Vitamin A/E will kill you?

 

[the_dark_master]

Mmm, on the subject of E's, Arnold used to imagine his biceps as "mountain peaks" to improve the mind-muscle connection, which leads me to wonder...
Would dropping an E before a workout help you to connect fully with all the muscles of the body? (that's if you could direct the halucinations to a *Hulk* like scenario) I suppose one could start off with something milder - mushrooms perhaps?

 

[jmm]

<div>
(colby2152 @ Mar. 30 2007,00:24)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Vitamin A/E will kill you?</div>
In the populations studied, they certainly appeared to increase mortality. Not that they'll make you drop dead or anything, but supplementing with these may increase your odds of dying in a given year (and could therefore shorten your life a little).

dark_master- sometimes find it useful to visualise my muscles moving. Not sure drugs would be particularly helpful: insofar as visualisation can be useful, you can do this cold sober.
Hm, MDMA shouldn't be a particularly potent hallucinagen, should it? Maybe other stuff in 'ecstasy' pills.

 

[colby2152]

You have to keep in mind what foods they may have been eating in addition to the A/E intake. There are way too many other factors to make such a point that A/E are harmful for you.

 

[Slapshotz]

[I highly doubt multivitamin supplemenation is going to kill anyone. I think sometimes that the JAMA needs to float these outrageous correlation studies out there to get their name back in the news.

As lifters, we are putting a type of strain on our system that it probably wasn't meant to endure, so an extra multi should be a staple for all of us, but that's just my opinion.

Maybe the JAMA should focus more on Phen-fen, Celebrex, and Ortho products. Those products really did kill, and then spent billions of $$ to try to prove that they didn't.

 

[jmm]

sure Colby, but the number of people included in the meta-analysis was such that their diets were likely to average out to nothing too weird. Most people bodybuilders get down enough food that getting plenty of vitamins shouldn't be a problem. This was an analysis of placebo-controlled trials - those taking certain vitamin supplements had a (slightly, but statistically significant) higher mortality rate than those not.

Slapshotz, I'd agree that drug trials, licensing etc. leave a lot to be desired. That doesn't mean that *more* pills is the solution. Our bodies also weren't 'meant' to get our vitamins in pill form - getting our vitamins through food instead means we generally get the in relatively bio-available form, with a good range of nutrients together, and spread out throughout the day instead of in a single dose.

Again, just my opinion, but I don't like taking pills without good reason, and don't see a good reason to take a multivit. At any rate, the doses in most multivitamin pills are probably low enough to be of relatively little concern - I'd much rather spend the money on food, and more useful supplements like whey.

Anyway, in terms of feeling drained, I've been finding it really helpful to get 20mins or so sleep in the afternoon after workouts. Obviously not an option for some - I like working fro home

- but I've found I feel much better if I do this.