Blog Posts From Active Expert: Nancy Clark RD CSSD Tagged With build_muscle

For skinny folks who want to gain weight...

guest — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 00:01:22 GMT

If your skinny high school son is pestering you to buy a weight gain supplement because he’s sure it will create bulging muscles by breakfast, think twice and save your money!

As you can see from the chart below, all weight gain supplements are expensive and offer nothing you cannot get via food. A hefty peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a tall glass of milk aids weight gain at a far lower price tag than an equal amount of calories from Muscle Milk.

Food-home based Calories Price Cost/100 calories

Granola (1 cup) + 500 $1.00 $0.20

8-oz 2% milk

Sandwich: PB & J 650 $0.95 $0.15

(3 Tbsp PB, 2 Tbsp J)

Chocolate milk, 16-oz 300 $0.60* $0.20

Instant breakfast 250 $0.80 $0.32

Grape Juice, 16-oz 280 $1.00 $0.36

Muscle Milk, powder 310 $1.78 $0.57

Drinks-on the run

Nesquick, 16-oz bottle 300 $1.79 $0.60

Ensure, 8-oz bottle 250 $1.75 $0.60

Muscle Milk, 14-oz bottle 230 $3.59 $1.56

As you can see, buying bottles of read-to-drink meal replacements can quickly get expensive.

A money-saving alternative is to make your own weight gain drink:

In the morning, blend 1 quart of 2%-milk with 4 packets of Carnations Instant Breakfast and 1/2 cup powdered milk (1,000 calories total). Toss in a banana or other fruit for more calories. Drink half at breakfast and take the rest with you in a travel mug. Yummier than most commercial products—and no vitamin-fortified taste or smell.

Spend your food budget wisely!

Nancy

For additional information, read the chapter on on to gain weight healthfully in Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook.

Creatine: A review of the research

guest — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:34:11 GMT

For athletes interested in bulking up, creatine is commonly a topic of discussion. While I typically recommend hard work and smart nutrition over taking a creatine, here is some information about creatine, to help you determine if you want to make it a part of your sports supplement program. The information is taken from a recent article in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

• Your liver and kidneys (and to a small extent, your pancreas) produce about 1 gram creatine per day and store it in your muscles. Your body will produce less creatine if you start taking creatine supplements, but this soon changes when you stop taking the supplements.

• Creatine is found in meat. Hence, meat-eaters consume about 1 gram creatine per day but vegetarians (and others who do not eat beef, chicken, fish or other meats) have lower amounts of creatine stored in their muscles.

• The average 154-lb (70-kg) man stores about 120 to 140 grams of creatine; taking creatine supplements can increase creatine levels inthe body.

• Higher creatine allows for more rapid ATP regeneration between resistance training sets. This allows athletes to maintain a higher training intensity and stimulates greater muscle strength and size.

• A typical supplementation protocol is: Loading phase: four 5-gram doses taken throughout the day (20 grams total/day) for five days, followed by 3 to 5 grams creatine per day to maintain.

• Some athletes have no response to creatine supplements. Perhaps these non-responders already had initially high creatine levels? If so, this suggests a maximum size for the creatine pool.

• Some athletes show an 8% to 14% improvement in 1 Repetition Max (the heaviest amount of weight a person can lift)—but not everyone experiences such a response.

• Vegetarians who take creatine tend to have a larger increase in lean muscle mass compared to non-vegetarians—5.3 lbs vs. 4.2 lbs (2.4 kg vs. 1.9 kg) respectively. Note: That's only one pound more ... not much!

•Although creatine has been shown to be most effective with anaerobic intermittent exercise such as lifting weights, it might also help athletes such as sprinters who do intense aerobic exercise that lasts more than 150 seconds (2.5 minutes)—but creatine’s effects diminish as the duration of the exercise increases over 150 seconds. Creatine’s benefits may be related to improving one’s anaerobic threshold.

•Creatine combined with high intensity or long duration exercise and a high carbohydrate diet can contribute to higher muscle glycogen stores.

• Creatine can act as an effective antioxidant after intense resistance training sessions.

• Post-exercise creatine can favor an anabolic environment and improve the recovery process.

• Because creatine gets stored with water, it increases intracellular water content. This can result in water-weight gain, increased muscle stiffness, and reduced range of motion.

• Creatine has not been well-tested in athletes younger than 18 years of age. Some speculate taking creatine might be a stepping-stone for kids that leads to more dangerous products like steroids (though this is just speculation).

• Creatine Guidelines for teen athletes include:

-Only recommended when the athlete is a serious competitor and is post-puberty.

-The athlete is eating a well-balanced sports diet that optimizes performance.

-Both athlete and parents understand the effects of creatine supplementation and approve of taking the supplement. No one can guarantee safety.

-Qualified professionals supervise the supplementation of only reputable brands of creatine supplements.

-The athlete does not take more than the recommended dose.

• Creatine supplements come in many forms, including in combination with protein and carbohydrates. More research is needed to determine if one style is the most helpful.

ª Negative health reports associated with creatine are few. The isolated reports suggest the athletes took high doses and had undiagnosed renal disease.

• Creatine is not associated with increased cramps or injuries. If anything, creatine holds more water in the body, and this might decrease the risk of dehydration.

To read the complete article by Robert Cooper and colleagues, go to http://www.jissn.com/content/pdf/1550-2783-9-33.pdf

Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update

Eat wisely, fuel well before and after you lift weights, exercise wisely, and enjoy the benefits.

Nancy

Post-exercise protein: How much is enough?

guest — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:31:56 GMT

How much protein does a weight-lifter need to get an optimal response from exercise? --Is it an absolute amount or grams per kilogram body weight?

Speaking at a symposium spononsored by PINES (www.PINESNutrition.org), protein researcher Daniel Moore PhD of the University of Guelph in Canada reported that for generalized advice, 20 grams of post-exercise protein does the job for the average athlete. More is not better. In a study that compared 20 and 40 grams, the higher 40-gram dose offered minimal additional benefits for muscle protein synthesis. Don’t waste your money on supplements, and also don’t fill up on protein while ignoring your needs for carbohydrates to refuel your muscles. You want to consume three times more carbs than protein!

For more personalized advice, the best bet is to determine post-exercise protein needs according to body weight. Moore recommends targeting about 0.25 g protein per kilogram body weight (that’s about .11 gram per pound) to maximize muscle protein synthesis. This means:

-- a 50 kg (110 lb) female would need approximately 12.5 grams protein post-exercise

--a 100 kg (220 pound) man, would need about 25 grams protein post-exercise.

Any excessprotein primarily gets burned as fuel or stored as fat.

You want to offer your muscles a continous supply of protein, so enjoy repeated “doses” throughout the day. Most athletes do this naturally with meals and snacks.

For more information:

Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Chapter 7: Protein to Build and Repair Muscles

Tips for building muscle

guest — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:34:35 GMT

Speaking at the 27^th annual symposium of SCAN (the Sports and Cardiovascular Nutritionists’ group of the American Dietetic Association), Dr. John Ivy, PhD of the Department of Kinesiology & Health Education at the University of Texas-Austin shared these pointers:

• During extended exercise, your muscles need water, carbohydrate, electrolytes, and perhaps protein. While the need for protein during exercise to enhance performance can be debated, consuming protein will not be detrimental. For example, adding protein to a sports drink can lower post-exercisce markers of muscle damage, reduce post-exercise muscle soreness, and enhance recovery.

• Consuming protein before and after you lift weights optimizes gains in muscle mass and power.

• If you are serious about building muscle, you should eat meals and snacks consistently throughout the day, to provide a steady infusion of carbohydrates (to fuel) and protein (to build and repair) muscles.

• Eating breakfast is important to take the body out of a catabolic (breaking-down) state. Don't skip this morning meal!

• Consuming a small (100-calorie) high protein snack (such as some turkey or cottage cheese) before going to bed can enhance the availability of amino acids throughout the night. Anabolic (muscle building) activity is highest at night, so this snack can help optimize muscular development.

For more information:

Nutrient Timing by John Ivy

Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook

Building muscle while losing body fat

guest — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:09:26 GMT

Q. I want to bulk up while getting leaner. How can I gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?

A. It’s difficult for the body to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Building muscle requires calories. If you are restricting calories to lose undesired body fat, your body does not have the fuel it needs to create new muscle tissue. Instead, the body breaks down muscle to use for fuel.

A dieting athlete can minimize muscle loss with—

1) a small calorie deficit that contributes to slow fat loss.

Knock off 200 to 400 calories a day (not 800 to 1.000 calories!).

2) an adequate protein intake (i.e., enjoy a protein-rich food at each meal and snack).

A reasonable target is about 0.7 to 1.0 gram protein per pound body weight, or about 100 to 150 g protein for a 150-pound person. That equates to 1 quart of milk (32 g), 1 can tuna (35 g) and 6 ounces chicken breast (45 g), plus the protein you get in other foods (bread, cereal, vegetables). Protein supplements tend to be needless; food can supply what you need.

3) frequently eaten meals that offer a constant supply of protein and fuel.

Eat at least every three or four hours, and have a small protein-rich bedtime snack, such as some cottage cheese.

4) strength training to help protect against muscle loss.

Your body protects the muscles you use, but breaks down the muscles that are less active and uses them for fuel.

For more information on how to lose fat and maintain energy for exercise, see

my Sports Nutrition Guidebook.

Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD

Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics