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Think Muscle Newsletter #19April 9, 2002
Message from Think MuscleI am happy to announce that ThinkMuscle will now be published twice as often beginning with this issue! Sharing information once a month didn't seem nearly frequent enough to keep up with all the miss-information being circulated these days. It's my hope that twice as much ThinkMuscle to read will help you achieve twice as much success yourself! Combating misinformation isn't the only motive behind more frequent issues of ThinkMuscle. A steady stream of reader feedback continues to warm my heart each and every day. Here is just a sample:
All this makes the thought of putting together the Newsletter more frequently a joy rather than a chore. So look for a new issue every two weeks...or so. ;) Another way I was hoping to show my appreciation was to create a way for all ThinkMuscle readers to benefit from the success of the Newsletter and Hypertrophy-Specific Nutrition. What I'm proposing is an HS:Street Team. Let me explain... What is the Hypertrophy-Specific Street Team? The Hypertrophy-Specific Street Team (HS:Street Team) is a way for me to give back to those who, out of the generosity of their hearts, have supported me by spreading the word about ThinkMuscle, HST, and now HSN. Those who become members of the HS:Street Team, will receive any number of gifts and special values for their efforts to spread the word about HSN/HST. How will the gifts and special values be given? In order to give most to those who give most to HSN, many of the rewards and special values will be given out based on the number of referrals (and subsequent purchases) of HSN products that a Street Team member is responsible for. This will work by assigning each Street Team member a unique code, that they will then give to people to use when they make a purchase on the HSN website. This code will provide a discount for that person, as well as credit/points for the Street Team member. The Street Team member will then be able to cash them in for HSN product (Getting the highest quality products for next to nothing ain't bad.), HS:Gear (shirts, bags, lifting straps, shaker bottles that don't leak, and whatever else we can come up with), and they will also be the first to know about upcoming events, products, etc from Hypertrophy-Specific Nutrition. HS:Street Team members will also have their own forum to share strategies about how to get as many referrals as they can with the least amount of effort. Ideas such as putting their unique code on flyers, bulletin boards in gyms, on their website, and any other methods of reaching a lot of people at a time. Who is a candidate to become an HS:Street Teamer? HS:Street Teamers are NOT to be simple sales people or anything of the sort. Street Teamers are people who, through their own efforts, have come to know and believe in what Hypertrophy-Specific Nutrition (and HST, and ThinkMuscle) stand for. Namely, HSN, HST, and ThinkMuscle stand for 1) the free exchange of accurate and unbiased information about training, nutrition, and supplementation, 2) the highest standards in quality when manufacturing supplements and training gear, and 3) in absolute truth in advertising even if it means losing sales. Anyone who also believes in these standards, and wants to be a part of our efforts to spread these standards throughout the industry (magazines, supplement companies, gyms, etc), and wouldn't object to receiving something for their efforts, is a candidate for the HS:Street Team. So more ThinkMuscle and more great stuff for everybody! It's going to be a great year for ThinkMuscle readers! Till next time, -bryan Protein, Part 2 by Lyle McDonaldThis article is the second in a series of articles discussion the details of protein metabolism in bodybuilders. Part 1 addressed some basic concepts and definitions regarding protein, digestion of different forms of protein as well as total protein requirements for athletes. Part 2 of this article series builds on Part 1 with a discussion of protein digestibility and the beginning of a discussion of protein quality, which will be continued in detail in Part 3. Section 4: Protein digestibility: An important aspect of protein metabolism is how well or how poorly a given protein is digested by the human body. Claims are sometimes made that protein powders (especially predigested or hydrolyzed proteins) are digested more efficiently than whole food proteins. Claims are also occasionally made that vegetable source proteins are more digestible than animal-based. Protein digestibility is measured by seeing how much nitrogen is excreted in the feces compared to the amount of nitrogen which is ingested. A correction is made for the amount of nitrogen which is normally lost in the feces. Therefore, digestibility research examines how much more nitrogen is lost over normal levels when a given protein is fed. If an individual were fed 5 grams of nitrogen (approximately 30 grams of protein) and 1 gram of nitrogen was excreted in the feces, this would represent a digestibility of 80% (4 grams retained divided by 5 grams consumed). Table 1 shows the digestibility for some common proteins. Full text: http://www.thinkmuscle.com/articles/mcdonald/protein-02.htm Common Myths About Protein by Bryan HaycockFrom the Hypertrophy-Specific Nutrition series.Myth #1: High protein intakes will not affect muscle protein synthesis. Fact: Greater availability of amino acids means more protein synthesis within muscle cells.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 I will concede that experiments have been performed that indicate that a lab animal can survive on a very limited protein intake assuming that fat and carbohydrate intake is adequate. Simply put, the body begins to reduce that amount of amino acid oxidation in order to spare nitrogen containing compounds. Yet can we really apply this kind of example to adult humans trying to build muscle? I think not. When the body begins getting stingy with amino acids because of low protein intake, non essential functions, such as skeletal muscle protein synthesis, drop to minimal levels. Other functions within the body such as the immune system, which uses glutamine primarily of muscle origin for fuel, also begins to suffer.9 This cripples the body's ability to cope with the stress and tissue damage induced by intense training. Researchers even believe that currently recommended protein intakes may actually predispose people to illness because of the limited reserve of amino acids. Here's what they have to say about current recommendations for protein intake: "...It seems reasonable to conclude that the lowered rate of whole-body and perhaps muscle protein turnover that appears to occur in healthy adult subjects when intakes of indispensable amino acids approximate the current international figures, would probably diminish the individuals capacity to withstand successfully a major stressful stimulus. Again, for those reasons, we view the significant reduction in the rate of body protein turnover in healthy adults, which permits them to more closely approach or even achieve amino acid balance at currently accepted amino acid requirement intakes, as an accommodation. Thus we further conclude that these international requirement intakes are probably not sufficient to maintain a desirable or adapted state."(Young VR., Marchini JS. Mechanisms and nutritional significance of metabolic responses to altered intakes of protein and amino acids, with reference to nutritional adaptation in humans. Am J Clin Nutr 1990;51:270-89) Emphasis added. Research clearly shows that by increasing blood levels of amino acids you increase protein synthesis in skeletal muscle. It has also been shown that you can maintain a positive nitrogen balance for extended periods of time and that nitrogen accretion will tend to continue as long as protein intake is high.10 Clearly if you want to maximize your gains in the gym you gotta get more protein than the average Joe. Myth #2: You can only assimilate 30 grams of protein at one sitting. Fact: The body has the ability to ... Full text: http://www.thinkmuscle.com/articles/haycock/protein-myths.htm Reader Q & A by Bryan HaycockQuestion: How did you arrive at the optimum number of reps for hypertrophy in HST? Answer: Muscle tissue does not distinguish between rep ranges. There is not a special number of contractions that "triggers" a hypertrophic response. The only thing that triggers hypertrophy is sarcolemma distortion and subsequent microtrauma and to a MUCH lesser extent, metabolic activity. Metabolic activity is more anticatabolic, then anabolic. These pathways of mechanotransduction have been mapped and are not in question. Yes, there are always more details to be ironed out, but the pathways are now established that go from mechanical load to muscle cell growth. In order to adhere to the principles of training induced muscle hypertrophy we must have progressive load. Progressive load sufficient to cause hypertrophy will limit the number of times the muscle can successfully contract against the resistance. There are several old studies that narrowed it down to a range of perhaps 20 reps (if the muscle is deconditioned) all the way up to 120% of your 1RM. So, depending on how conditioned the muscle is, you can use any rep range between 20 reps and negatives. While using HST, your reps decrease over time simply because the load is constantly increasing. It's that simple. There is no magic number, though others might have you believe there is. Question: Its spring time again and I need to get rid of the extra "hibernation fat" that I accumulated over the winter. What kind of weight loss program is most effective? Answer:... Full text: http://www.thinkmuscle.com/articles/haycock/0204-qna.htm |
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