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What are these extra ingredients in my Amino Acids?these extra ingredients in my Amino Acids?
Amino Acids are considered to be one of the staple supplements for gym-goers, for their brilliant muscle-building and recovery properties. But we often see some added extras on the list of ingredients, but what exactly is being added to our Aminos? It’s easy and very common to be skeptical about all the different ingredients you see on an unfamiliar label, especially when it comes to supplements. I’m sure many of you pick up a product and get a headache looking at the dangerous-sounding chemical names on the back! So here’s a comprehensive guide to some of the common names you may see when checking an Amino acid product label.
What to look for on the Pre-Workout Label
Pre-workouts are often very daunting supplements, with a confusing label full of nonsense ingredients. Choosing one from this array of confusion can certainly be a challenge even for the most experienced lifters. Hopefully this article can help you to understand the ingredients, and enable you to choose a pre workout which is right for you.
Can you cut weight too fast?
Cutting weight, whether for a show, or just for your summer body, can be very tricky, especially when it comes to patience. Many of us want those hard-earned results NOW! Most people who need to lose weight can get health benefits from losing even a small amount of about 5% of their weight if they keep it off. Doesn’t seem like much, does it?
Dirty bulking vs Clean bulking
Bulking seems to be the main goal of most gym-goers through the colder months, to pack on some muscle ready for a summer shred, but there’s two different ways of going about it. Bulking is essentially just gaining weight, ideally through muscle growth, but this also constitutes some degree of fat gain simultaneously. Dirty bulking refers to the idea that eating a lot of calories, regardless of the macronutrient breakdown can result in increased size and strength, so, tied together with being the easier method, it seems the reasonable choice. Clean bulking is the reverse, and involves creating a calorie surplus with healthy balanced foods, resulting in minimal fat-gain, with optimal muscle growth. It can certainly be said that both of these methods can have decent results on your body, but which should you choose? Let’s take a look at each.
High Bar vs Low Bar Squats
Barbell Squats are one of the best exercises you can perform to increase your leg strength, but there are two different ways of going about it. To the untrained eye it can be difficult to identify the differences, but a closer look reveals that different Athletes perform their squats with the Barbell placed on different parts of the upper back.
Benching for Hypertrophy vs for Powerlifting
The Barbell bench is possibly the most popular weightlifting movement in the gym, but who knew there were such different ways of performing the lift, to achieve different goals? Benching for Hypertrophy basically just means performing the Bench Press to optimise pectoral engagement and growth, while Benching for Powerlifting means trying to lift as much weight as possible. The key difference between these will be the range of muscles used. For the Hypertrophy bench the aim is to use primarily the Pectoral (Chest) muscles, whereas the Powerlifting Bench will also incorporate more of the Anterior (Front) delts and Triceps.
Increase your deadlift like this
Deadlifting is the ultimate lift. There, I said it. That’s right, not the squat or the bench press, the deadlift.
It requires raw strength and is relatively simple to complete. You must pick it up, lock it out and place it back down again. It’s obvious if you don’t, you can’t cheat it like you can with a bench press or squat by doing a half rep. You have to pick it up and put it down. I’m not encouraging poor technique by the way, the deadlift is still a skilful lift and proper form is paramount if you want to reduce the chances of an injury, which is most likely going to be a lower back one resulting in a considerable amount of time spent out of the gym, not ideal.
Understanding Glutamine
Glutamine is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Its side chain is similar to that of glutamic acid, except the carboxylic acid group is replaced by an amide. It is classified as a charge-neutral, polar amino acid. It is non-essential and conditionally essential in humans, meaning the body can usually synthesize sufficient amounts of it, but in some instances of stress, the body's demand for glutamine increases, and glutamine must be obtained from the diet. It is encoded by the codons CAA and CAG.
MCT Oil- is it really bulletproof?
The basics:
You might have heard fitness professionals talking about coconut oil coffees and ketogenic diets for weight loss and optimizing lifestyle. There is so much information out there, it can be hard to identify the facts and make your own decision about using products. So let’s break it down!
Vitamin D- The secrets of the sunshine vitamin
Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, which can be found in dietary food sources such as oily fish, eggs and it is often added to dairy products in low amounts. However the greatest source we have is sunlight. Our bodies can make vitamin D from cholesterol if we get enough UV rays! In areas further away from the Equator- this can be difficult!
What does it do?
Vitamin D has multiple roles in the body, and is amazing in its diversity!