Sunday, April 19, 2015

Vital Macronutrients for Building Strength and Muscle by Jerry Brainum

Ask any bodybuilder what the most important nutrient for building muscle is, and the likely reply will be, “Protein.” So it’s easy to understand why the emphasis in bodybuilding nutrition has been on protein intake. That said, the two other macronutrients, fat and carbohydrate, serve vital roles in building strength and muscle.
     One example: To maintain normal testosterone production, you need to get at least 20 percent of your daily calories from fat. And not just any fat. Studies show that only two types of dietary fat support testosterone synthesis, monounsaturated fat, such as is found in olive oil, and saturated fat. Polyunsaturated fat, such as is found in fish oil, has no link to testosterone, although recent studies show that it does appear to have anabolic effects in muscle.
     Of the three big macronutrients, carbohydrate has the worst reputation. Indeed, one of the most effective fat-loss methods is ingesting a low carbohydrate diet, which is based on the fact that carbohydrates—particularly, “simple” carbs, or those registering high on the “glycemic index”—are absorbed rapidly in the body, triggering the greatest release of insulin of all nutrients.
Insulin, in turn, encourages bodyfat production and blocks the release of fat for energy. So the basis of all low-carb diets involves controlling insulin. It works for most people, especially those who are insulin insensitive, an estimated 75 percent of the population. Basically, the cells become less sensitive to insulin, and as a result more insulin is secreted when they’re exposed to carbs, leading ultimately to more calories being stored as fat.
     Bodybuilders and other athletes are often confused by the admonishments of many so-called sports nutritionists that they should take in copious amounts of carbohydrate. It’s based on the fact that carbs are used to replenish glycogen, which is the stored form of carbohydrate in the body and the primary fuel for anaerobic exercise, such as bodybuilding training. The confusion lies in the fact that many diet experts who extol the virtues of high carbs for athletes don’t differentiate between endurance athletes and strength athletes. Endurance athletes use stored glycogen to a greater degree than strength athletes and do require more carbohydrates to replenish depleted glycogen stores in liver and muscle.
     Is there a nutritional requirement for carbohydrate? Contrary to popular belief, there is no actual requirement for carbs in human nutrition. While it’s true that certain tissues and organs of the body function better on carbs, such as the brain (this is debatable) and red blood cells, they can also use other fuel sources, including ketones, which are the result of incomplete metabolism of fat, as well as lactate and glycerol from fat. The latter two substances can be converted in the liver into glucose, the only form of sugar that circulates in the blood.
     Glycogen itself is a polysaccharide, a fancy term for complex carbohydrate. It has a branched-chain structure that allows it to pack a large amount of glucose into a relatively small space, enabling more effective storage. The primary sites of glycogen storage in the body are the liver—glycogen can constitute up to 8 percent of liver weight—and muscle.While muscle does store less glycogen, about 1 percent of weight, since there is more muscle in the body, muscle glycogen reserves are greater.      An important point is that liver glycogen is available systemically; that is, it can be broken down into glucose and then transported into the blood. It takes about 12 to 14 hours of no eating to exhaust liver glycogen stores, although you can do it in about two hours with moderate exercise on an empty stomach.
   Unlike liver glycogen, the glycogen stored in muscle can only be used by the muscle it’s stored in. That’s because muscle lacks an enzyme that would enable its glycogen to be broken down and enter the blood for systemic use.
    Even so, the body has a way to get by that. In the course of anaerobic metabolism, which involves energy production without oxygen, lactate is produced from the breakdown of carbs. The lactate can leave the muscle and then travel in the blood to the liver, where it’s converted back into glucose and sent back into the blood for use as an energy source, a chain of events known as the Cori cycle. What isn’t generally known is that the same lactate that is produced during intense training can be used to replenish depleted muscle glycogen stores, even in the absence of any food intake. That’s an important point, since it explains how people who are on very low-carb diets can continue to train hard, even though they’re not getting the primary energy fuel, carbs.
     Consider that a single resistance-exercise session can reduce muscle glycogen stores by 24 to 40 percent, depending on the duration, intensity and volume of exercise. Obviously, the more you work out, the greater the depletion of muscle glycogen will be. Training with higher reps using moderate weights leads to the greatest depletion of muscle glycogen, and this effect is most pronounced in the type-2 muscle fibers that are most prone to growth. The big debate is whether training with low muscle glycogen, as would occur with a very low-carb diet of, say, 60 grams or fewer a day, would hamper training intensity.
     Studies that have examined the issue are paradoxical, with some showing definite drops in exercise intensity and others showing little or no effect. Much depends on the time span of the study, since it takes two to three weeks for the body to adjust to using fat as its primary fuel source rather than carbs. If the study was short-term, ending before the body has enough time for adjustment, the findings usually show negative effects on training intensity related to low carb intake and lack of sufficient muscle glycogen. After about three weeks of low-carb dieting, however, the body can adjust to using ketones, lactate and, to a lesser extent, fat as major fuels for training. Still, the “cleanest” and most effective fuel for intense training is muscle glycogen, since it takes more time for the body to metabolize other fuels. One supplement that would aid the use of alternative fuels is medium-chain triglycerides. Usually made from coconut oil, MCTs favor greater ketone production during low-carb diets, which both provides muscle energy and spares muscle from the catabolic effects of dieting.
    The greater use of fat as a fuel source is considered one of the main advantages of a lower-carb diet. Without sufficient glycogen in liver and muscle, the body turns to using more fat for energy. There are, however, dangers associated with the technique. For one thing, training with depleted glycogen tends to promote the release of AMPK, an energy sensor in muscle that encourages the use of fat as an energy source during exercise, with the majority of the fat coming from intramuscular stores. Unfortunately, it also interferes with the action of another protein, mTOR, that promotes muscle protein synthesis. So in people with low bodyfat stores, training under glycogen-depleted conditions may trigger the increased breakdown of muscle into amino acids, which are sent to the liver, converted into glucose and used for energy.
     Can training with depleted glycogen interfere with the muscle-protein-synthesis process that underlies muscle growth? A recent study examined that issue.1 Sixteen young, healthy men were assigned to either a nutrient or placebo group. They engaged in one-legged cycling with the purpose of depleting glycogen in one leg without working the other leg. Then they underwent an overnight fast and an amino acid isotope infusion to measure rates of muscle protein synthesis.
The next step involved training, doing eight sets of one-legged leg presses using 80 percent of their one-rep-max weight. Immediately after the workout and two hours later the men drank a 500-milliliter formula containing 20 grams of whey protein and 40 grams of maltodextrin, a carbohydrate, or a placebo drink. Muscle biopsies were extracted from the men’s front-thigh muscles, at rest and at one and four hours after the workout.
     The results showed that muscle glycogen levels were higher in the leg that hadn’t been exercised in both the nutrient and placebo groups. The major finding was that rates of protein synthesis didn’t differ between the groups, although those getting the nutrient drink did show an enhanced anabolic effect after the exercise.
     The authors suggest that even in the depleted-glycogen legs, there was still enough left in the muscle to support muscle protein synthesis reactions. On the other hand, the glycogen-depleted legs showed greater amounts of proteins linked to muscle catabolism four hours postexercise. Also, drinking the protein and carbs didn’t make any difference in the rates of muscle protein synthesis between the low-glycogen legs and the normal-glycogen legs. The nutrient drink did elevate levels of mTOR more in the normal-glycogen legs, but the four-fold boost in mTOR from the exercise alone was enough to equalize the muscle protein synthesis between the low- and normal-glycogen legs.
The bottom line is that training when you have low-glycogen stores will not interfere with muscle-protein-synthesis reactions to exercise. On the other hand, other studies show that some carbs must be present to activate intramuscular IGF-1, which is important for activating satellite cells, muscle stem cells that repair damaged muscle and are needed for growth to occur. In addition, performing intense eccentric muscle contractions, or lengthening of muscle during contractions, results in muscle damage leading to delays in complete muscle glycogen synthesis and complete muscle recovery following intense exercise due to a blunting of the activity of GLUT-4, the major glucose carrier into muscle tissue.
     So it’s probably not a good idea to curtail all carb intake if your goal is to increase muscle mass. In addition, muscle glycogen increases by about 20 percent following a five-day creatine-loading protocol of 20 grams a day, and recent studies show that taking in caffeine with carbs also boosts muscle glycogen repletion.

 Have you been ripped off by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.To keep up with latest research pertaining to nutrition, exercise science, ergogenic aids, anti-aging, food supplements, fat-loss, and other topics, subscribe today to Jerry Brainum's Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com.

1 Camera, D, et al. (2012). Low muscle glycogen concentration does not suppress the anabolic response to resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol. In press.

©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

 



Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Jerry Brainum Reveals Training Tips And Stories From The Golden Era – Part 1


In this episode of the Super Strength Show, we dive into part one of a three part interview series with Jerry Brainum. Join us, as one of the most well known publishers and editors in the fitness industry, reveals training tips and stories from the Golden Era of Bodybuilding.

More Specifically in this 3-Part Series:

  • 12 year old Jerry Brainum’s quest for BIG muscles.
  • Jerry explains how he started writing for the Iron Game.
  • Jerry shares how his years experience in the iron game evolved.
  • Everyone is different. Find out what works for you.
  • The benefits of high reps to failure and its effect on hypertrophy.
  • What is Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy
  • Learn about growth hormone and why it’s likely not going to help stimulate your muscle growth.
  • The difference between yesterday’s training and today.
  • Why it’s really bad to gain weight between contests.
  • The heart and soul of weight training – Progressive Resistance Training
  • A workout routine that follows Progressive Resistance Training.
  • How many sets, how many reps?
  • Combining Aerobics with weight training.
  • Interval training vs. Steady state training.
  • Everything you need to know about how to grow your calf muscles
  • Old school bodybuilding aesthetics.
  • Believe in yourself and don’t listen to the naysayers.

About Jerry Brainum

If you’ve picked up a bodybuilding magazine at any point during the past 35 years, you have likely read something by Jerry Brainum. He’s had over 5,000 magazine articles published, was the science editor of Muscle and Fitness magazine for 10 years, and editor-at-large at Flex magazine for 8 years. He’s written for Men’s Fitness magazine, Sports Fitness magazine, Muscular Development magazine, Muscle Mag International, and was a regular contributor to Ironman magazine for 28 years.
Jerry has given seminars all over the world about nutrition and food supplements and has been a nutrition consultant for numerous elite, world-class athletes.
Jerry was also a competitive bodybuilder and trained with Arnold Schwarzenegger at the original Gold’s gym in Venice, California in the 1970s. Since then, he’s worked with other elite bodybuilders in helping them achieve top condition.

http://superstrengthshow.com/jerry-brainum/

 

– Part 1

click on image to Listen to the Episode>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Bonus Q&A

Every person that we interview on The Super Strength Show has an opportunity to answer some extra questions that aren’t asked in the podcast. It’s a chance for our listeners to learn a little bit more about our guests and to get even more value from our show. Check out the answers that  Jerry Brainum provided below!
Can you share one of your habits that contribute to your success in the gym? Regularity, I try to workout consistently.
What are your favourite exercises? I have no particular favorite exercises.
What are your favourite muscle groups to train? All of them.
What are your favourite pieces of equipment? Nautilus equipment,Hammer strength machines.
What is currently on your workout music playlist? Don’t listen to music when I train.
How do you psych up for a workout or set? I don’t need to.
What was one exercise or routine that gave you great gains in muscle mass and/or strength? High intensity, heavy training to total failure. Used this nearly 40 years ago, made the best ever gains.
What’s your favourite way to speed up recovery between workouts? Leucine added to protein drinks and between meals.
What’s your favourite meal? Cheese omelet.
What’s your favourite cheat meal and how often do you indulge? Pizza, once a week.
What supplements do you feel work well for you? Vitamin-mineral, whey, creatine, antioxidants, joint factors.
What do you do to relax? Read and study.

 ©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited. 

 

  I would like to give special thanks to Ray and the folks at Super Strength Show for the informative interview. Lee

http://superstrengthshow.com/jerry-brainum/#more-1908


Have you been ripped off by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com


Sunday, April 12, 2015

Jerry Brainum a conversation, publisher of Applied Metabolics By Dr. Michael Dusa

Here is a link many readers have been asking for, to a recent interview with Jerry Brainum, written by Dr. Michael Dusa, in which Jerry  discusses how he got involved in bodybuilding and writing. Some nostalgic photographs are included. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I have....Lee  


 JB: I wrote Bill Grant's first courses in 1982. Flex asked me to write two articles, and Joe Weider welcomed me aboard. I wrote for Muscle & Fitness and Flex, and always hand delivered articles to the Woodland Hills office. A guy named Ben Pesta..........

 

 

   Link to interview   http://www.jerrybrainum.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-conversation-with-jerry-brainum.html

 

 

I would like to give special thanks to Ray and the folks at Super Strength Show for the informative interview. Lee

http://superstrengthshow.com/jerry-brainum/#more-1908

 

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 


Saturday, April 4, 2015

Anabolism and Insulin by Jerry Brainum

Beginning in the late 1990s, a strange phenomenon became apparent in professional bodybuilding contests. While the competitors were all in superlative condition, when they turned to the side for a pose, their abdomens protruded in a manner similar to that of a pregnant woman. Yet, when they
flexed their abs, they all had deeply etched abdominal-muscle definition. Whatever was causing those protruding guts couldn’t be fat. So what was it?

Various theories have attempted to explain the bulging bellies now commonly seen on many pro and even amateur bodybuilders. Some attribute the look to too much growth hormone.

The primary anabolic product of GH is insulinlike growth factor 1, which is produced in the liver (and also locally in exercised muscle). There are many receptors in the gut for IGF-1; when they are activated, the affected organ gets larger. Consequently, many explain the protruded abdomen as resulting from IGF-1 stimulation due to heavy GH use. The enlarged organs simply push out the gut.

In addition, the arrival of the bloated-gut look in bodybuilding coincided with the coming of large-scale use of insulin. Bodybuilders in the Arnold era never used insulin, and bloated guts were as rare as unicorns on Broadway in those days. When you had a bloated gut in the ’70s, you were fat. Period. Back then, insulin was used for its primary medical purpose: to treat diabetes. As such, the only bodybuilders likely to use insulin were those who had type 1 diabetes, which is characterized by a loss of cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

Why would healthy men not suffering from diabetes ever inject insulin? It has several properties that are attractive in terms of bodybuilding. For one thing, it’s considered an anabolic hormone. Insulin stimulates the entry of amino acids into muscle, where they are used for muscle protein synthesis, the underlying stimulus for growth. In fact, insulin promotes muscle protein synthesis only in the presence of a high concentration of amino acids.

Most of the time insulin is more involved in anticatabolic effects. It slows the breakdown of muscle, a significant effect because the body is in a constant struggle between anabolic and catabolic elements. If a substance such as insulin blunts the catabolic effects, the anabolic effects dominate, and muscle growth ensues. So in that sense insulin is indirectly anabolic. Some scientists refer to the role of insulin in muscle growth as “permissive,” meaning that its presence favors anabolic effects, although it doesn’t itself stimulate them.

The influence of insulin on muscle is apparent in what’s known as the “insulin resistance of aging.” While most cases of insulin resistance, which is considered a precursor of diabetes (it’s often called “prediabetes”), are related to excess bodyfat, another type of insulin resistance can occur in older people that is not related to bodyfat. It’s is caused by a gradual loss of muscle, and it becomes a classic vicious cycle, as the increased insulin resistance leads to even more muscle loss. The loss of insulin activity encourages increased muscle loss, since as noted, insulin potently prevents muscle breakdown. Studies of older people who have been diagnosed with age-related insulin resistance show that if they get a dose of insulin greater than what a meal would produce, the muscle loss stops.

What bodybuilders have empirically discovered is that when used with other anabolic drugs, particularly anabolic steroids and growth hormone, insulin provides synergistic anabolic effects. For one, it blocks the primary side effect of using large doses of growth hormone, namely high blood glucose, or hyperglycemia. Excessive blood glucose can eventually cause the pancreatic cells that produce insulin to burn out, resulting in diabetes. That has sometimes happened to those suffering from acromegaly, a condition caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland that leads to excessive release of growth hormone. But when insulin is used in conjunction with GH, the high blood glucose release is tempered by the insulin. Insulin also works with GH and steroids to promote amino acid entry into muscle for use in muscle protein synthesis, and it also triggers the enzyme that triggers the synthesis of muscle glycogen, which stores water in muscle, producing a “fuller” appearance.

One danger of using insulin for bodybuilding purposes is that besides its effects in promoting muscle growth, it is also the most potent lipogenic hormone in the body. In the presence of excess calories, especially those derived from simple, or high-glycemic-index carbohydrates, it triggers the production of bodyfat. Even so, it’s a myth that insulin alone does that. You have to eat too many calories. Growth hormone opposes the fat-stimulating effects of insulin, as do anabolic steroids—another reason for combining that trio of anabolic hormones.

Still, it’s not as simple as it appears. Using insulin is the proverbial taking the tiger by the tail. Used improperly, in excessive doses, it can cause side effects ranging from fainting to slipping into a coma. Several bodybuilders have passed out after injecting too much insulin or using it without carbohydrate. One or two have even progressed to short-term comas. A 1997 case study published in the British Medical Journal documented the case of a 21-year-old male bodybuilder who injected too much insulin, which resulted in severe brain damage. Another case reported in 1994 involved a 19-year-old bodybuilder who injected 320 units of insulin, a massive dose, which led to hypoglycemia—low blood sugar—severe enough to cause convulsions.

The most recent case in the medical literature involved a 31-year-old male bodybuilder on a steroid regimen who added insulin to the program. He was rushed to the emergency room after being found unconscious.

When I spoke with Tim Belknap, who won the AAU Mr. America title in 1981 and the NABBA Mr. Universe in ’85, about insulin use in bodybuilding, he was aghast. Tim had type 1 diabetes, which he acquired as a child and which required him to take insulin injections. “I would do anything I could to get off insulin, and these guys are purposely injecting it?” he asked incredulously. Tim went on to predict future health problems for those “stupid enough to use insulin,” noting how hard it was to control the effects of insulin over time.

While the use of insulin in bodybuilding is questionable at best, its use by nondiabetics who are not interested in competition is nothing short of mind-boggling. Yet, according to a recent survey conducted over the Internet, many who use insulin do not even compete.1 The survey was conducted on various Web sites that have discussion boards or forums related to bodybuilding, weightlifting and anabolic steroids (terrible info on those sites, by the way). The survey was narrowed to 41 users of insulin and various other anabolic drugs. The typical insulin user was found to be a white male, average age 30, who classified himself as a “recreational exerciser,” which means that he doesn’t compete and has no interest in it.

Recreational exercisers represented 47.5 percent of the respondents, and 95.1 percent of them also used anabolic steroids. Most expressed an interest in gaining weight. Of those who used insulin, 35 percent were competitive bodybuilders, 10 percent were athletes, and 7.5 percent were strength athletes—powerlifters and Olympic lifters.

Most of those using insulin used the short-acting, or regular, insulin, such as Lispro, and none used the longer-acting forms, which are associated with a higher rate of side effects. The average dose was seven units, and it was used once a day, usually accompanying a postworkout meal. It was most commonly injected into the abdomen.

The most common side effect reported was low blood sugar, which affected 56.8 percent of the respondents. One person reported becoming unconscious after injecting insulin, and most of the respondents were concerned about possible adverse effects from insulin use. The insulin and needles were easily obtained from pharmacies and Internet suppliers. None of the users bothered to check their blood glucose with a glucose meter.

The fact that the majority of respondents to this survey were not competitors and had no apparent interest in competing is both alarming and revealing. They got most of their information from anabolic-related Web sites and forums, which are notoriously inaccurate. Still, the fact that they were concerned about possible side effects shows that they were aware of the power of insulin.
I suspect that many heard or read about the use of insulin by pro bodybuilders and figured that it might represent a shortcut to getting bigger, especially when used in conjunction with steroids and GH. They aren’t considering the bloated-gut look that will likely occur with long-term use of GH and insulin. In addition, recent studies have linked high blood insulin to not only more rapid aging but also higher rates of various types of cancer. Insulin, along with IGF-1, is known to promote cancer, and insulin itself is considered a primary culprit in some types of colon cancer.

What makes the use of insulin by noncompetitors even more dubious is that you can safely and effectively get all the anabolic benefits of insulin through nutrition. A technique as simple as taking in a postworkout whey-and-simple-carb drink can boost insulin nearly 40 percent above baseline, comparable to injecting insulin but without the possible side effects. These people need to stop listening to the nonsensical “bro-lore” delivered on Internet forums and instead study nutrition to find means of stimulating maximum anabolic effects in muscle. That way they will have the best of both worlds: good health and larger muscles with none of the risks of using insulin. For more details on precisely how to do it, check out my e-book Natural Anabolics, available at www.JerryBrainum.com.

Editor’s note: Jerry Brainum has been an exercise and nutrition researcher and journalist for more than 25 years. He’s worked with pro bodybuilders as well as many Olympic and professional athletes. To get his new e-book, Natural Anabolics—Nutrients, Compounds and Supplements That Can Accelerate Muscle Growth Without Drugs, visit www.JerryBrainum.com.   IM

1 Ip, E.J., et al. (2012). Weightlifting’s risky new trend: A case series of 41 insulin users. Current Sports Med. 11:176-179.


©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com

 
 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com