SUPPLEMENTATION
Understanding Taurine
Taurine, or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is an organic compound that is widely distributed in animal tissues. It is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the large intestine, and accounts for up to 0.1% of total human body weight. Taurine is named after the Latin taurus which means bull or ox, as it was first isolated from ox bile in 1827 by German scientists Friedrich Tiedemann and Leopold Gmelin. It was discovered in human bile in 1846 by Edmund Ronalds. Taurine has many biological roles, such as conjugation of bile acids, antioxidation, osmoregulation, membrane stabilization, and modulation of calcium signaling. It is essential for cardiovascular function, and development and function of skeletal muscle, the retina, and the central nervous system. Taurine is an unusual example of a naturally occurring sulfonic acid. Chemical and biochemical features Taurine exists as a zwitterion H3N+CH2CH2SO3-, as verified by X-ray crystallography.
What vitamins should I take?
With the supplement industry being worth billions, it can sometimes be easy to overlook some of the most important and maybe a little bit more ‘boring’ supplements that are still essential to your health. I am of course, talking about vitamins.
If you didn’t know, a simple search in google will define vitamins as ‘’any of a group of organic compounds which are essential for normal growth and nutrition and are required in small quantities in the diet because they cannot be synthesized by the body.’’
What is in your Pre-Workout? Breaking down the ingredients
Pre-workouts cover a fantastic array of supplements, quite obviously taken before working-out to maximise results! Choosing a Pre-workout can be very daunting, especially if you turn over the tub to peruse the ingredients list! At first glance it can appear to just be a terrifying list of nonsense chemicals, which is completely understandable. So here we go, I'm going to lay out a number of the most common ingredients, and try to explain their role in the Pre-workout, and their effects on your body!
Are you doing these 3 things correctly?
When it comes to training, I have always educated people on 3 specific areas they must focus their success on if they want to continue to see progress in the gym. These three areas are Progression, Nutrition and Recovery.
Not building mass? Read this...
Let me start off by saying that I have been in your position, I know how you feel. I used to be that skinny guy who couldn’t build any mass and, if you’re reading this, I guess you are too.
The good news is that I’m not still that skinny guy who can’t build mass. I did in fact find the perfect way to add mass to my frame, and it's not no secret formula. You need to understand that when I’m talking about adding mass to your frame, it's not all going to be slabs of muscle. Most of it will be, but you can’t add those slabs without adding some fat, it's just the way it goes. With that said, you can certainly limit the amount of fat that is added through smart training and diet.
Are you a healthy lifter?
This may be a question that you haven’t asked yourself for a while, or even ever. I know we can all get carried away with wanting to hit certain numbers in the weight room and on the scale, I’ve been there. When doing this, it can be easy to forget to ask yourself if you are doing it in a healthy way.
What does make you a healthy lifter then? Well, there are a few things that anyone can do to make sure they are prioritizing their health alongside their training and none of them are secrets. Plus, they are relatively simple to incorporate into your routine. They are also variables you are very aware of, but they can easily be overlooked by more exciting goals you put in place.
When should I take my supplements?
Lots of us take a variety of different supplements, from Proteins to Pre-workouts and post-workouts, vitamins minerals and much more. But it’s tough to know exactly when you’re supposed to take each of these, (Excluding the ones where the clue is in the name…)
There is a lot of disagreement over when the optimal time to take your supplements should be, with different professionals arguing over the anabolic window after training, fasted cardio in the morning and other niche training methods and routines which have taken the fitness industry by storm.
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.
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.