The one secret of bodybuilding pros you may have missed
What’s the one secret of pro bodybuilders you may have missed?
Is the secret some undetectable designer steroid? Or is it a new myostatin inhibitor that unlocks limitations to muscle growth? Well my friend, it’s neither of these. In fact, it’s much simpler, legal and it’s available at your local supplement store.
You’re probably already familiar with pre and post-workout supplementation, but what do you know about intra-workout supplements?
Back in the day, most bodybuilders would drink plain old water to stay hydrated during their workouts. They’d eat beforehand and eat afterwards, sometimes drinking a post-workout shake to get some quick digesting protein and carbohydrates. Staying hydrated is important!
Then they advanced by mixing their water with BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) intra-workout. Research showed that these aminos were the ones responsible for inhibiting muscle breakdown during intense, muscle building exercise. Many bodybuilders are still stuck here…
EAAs (essential amino acids) are superior to BCAAs intra-workout. It only makes sense…the BCAAs are only three of eight essential amino acids required by the body for everything from improving the immune system to stimulating muscle protein synthesis.
So are just EAAs enough? There is plenty of evidence to show that they can stimulate protein synthesis, especially when they are in a very specific ratio like those found in AMMO-8. This is enough if you are on a carbohydrate-restricted diet or have some other aversion or digestive issue with carbs. But if you’re looking to stimulate the maximum amount of muscle from your workouts you need to combine EAAs with an easily digested carbohydrate.
A well-done study by Stephen Bird and his associates in 2006 showed some amazing results when EAAs were combined with carbohydrates. Check out the graph below that shows that, over 12 weeks, subjects were able to gain over double the muscle than those using a placebo and over 25% more than those using EAAs alone! They also lost the most fat…sounds like a dream come true, right?
In addition, the EAA plus carbs group experienced less chronic cortisol levels and a HUGELY less amount of muscle damage over a course of 48 hours. This means that they recovered much faster and could conceivably train the same muscle groups more often. This quickened recovery time is no doubt the reason why they were able to gain so much more muscle than the other groups.
Why does this combination work so well? During exercise blood flow is increased to working muscles by up to 500%. This dramatically enhances the delivery of amino acids and carbohydrates to skeletal muscle. So the “anabolic window” is not post-workout – it’s actually intra-workout!
EAAs are free form amino acids so they are digested very easily. The next “problem” to solve is what kind of carbohydrates to mix with your EAAs. The answer is cluster dextrin. Also known as highly branched cluster dextrin or HBCD. Cluster dextrin is a highly soluble, high molecular weight carbohydrate that requires very little digestion. It is made of long side chains that adopt a helical conformation that can “pull” other organic compounds along with it. That means it can actually improve the absorption of other compounds!
Keep in mind that Stephen Bird probably didn’t have cluster dextrin or use a specific amino acid complex (AMMO-8 is 33% more anabolic than gold standard EAAs). He also didn’t add Hydromax, betaine anhydrous, taurine or electrolytes to his EAA/carb drink. Chances are that if he did, the subjects using this concoction would have gained even more muscle and lost more fat! (Betaine anhydrous alone has shown to increase lean muscle mass by four pounds and decrease fat mass by seven!) These ingredients can only be found in Battle Juice. Bodybuilders “in the know” have been using intra-workout nutrition for quite some time now, combining EAAs with carbohydrates to increase muscle mass, decrease fat and speed recovery. And now you know their secret! Advanced Genetics has perfected intra-workout supplementation with Battle Juice. Add this supplement to your program and start making gains again!Sources Bird, Stephen P., Kyle M. Tarpenning, and Frank E. Marino. “Independent and combined effects of liquid carbohydrate/essential amino acid ingestion on hormonal and muscular adaptations following resistance training in untrained men.” European journal of applied physiology 97.2 (2006): 225-238.
Beelen, M., Koopman, R., Gijsen, A. P., Vandereyt, H., Kies, A. K., Kuipers, H., ... & van Loon, L. J. (2008). Protein coingestion stimulates muscle protein synthesis during resistance-type exercise. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 295(1), E70-E77.
Pasiakos, S. M., McClung, H. L., McClung, J. P., Margolis, L. M., Andersen, N. E., Cloutier, G. J., ... & Young, A. J. (2011). Leucine-enriched essential amino acid supplementation during moderate steady state exercise enhances postexercise muscle protein synthesis. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 94(3), 809-818.