Caffeine and creatine are two of the most extensively researched ingredients in sports nutrition. Some gym myths caution ambitious lifters against combining them, but a new study published in theEuropean Journal of Sports Science suggests there’s a potential for greater workout performance in the mix.

Although a single 6 mg per kg of body weight dose of caffeine increased endurance output on a stationary bike, subjects who’s been supplementing with 0.3 grams of creatine monohydrate per kg of body weight per day for 5 days increased performance to a greater degree than when creatine was used without caffeine.

For this study, a 175 pound guy would have consumed 23.7 grams of creatine per day. A general recommendation for creatine loading is to take 5 gram (one teaspoon) doses at each of your 3 main meals and before bed. That 20 gram amount is roughly similar to what this study suggests. On the other hand, 474 mg of caffeine may be outside your comfort zone. Caffeine tolerance is best assessed with a much smaller dose.

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Burning body fat is one of the most intensely pursued goals in any gym. One popular strategy for fueling your workouts with fat involves early morning cardio on an empty stomach. A study published in The FASEB Journal looks at whether you can set your body clock for fat burning.

Researchers fed lab mice one of four diets for 18 weeks: high-fat fixed schedule, low-fat fixed schedule, high-fat no schedule and low-fat no schedule. All of the rodents gained weight, and the ones with unrestricted access to fatty foods gained the most. The surprise comes with the scheduled high-fat dieters gaining the least amount of weight, even though their caloric intake equaled what the mice on an unscheduled low-fat diet received.

True Strength Moment: By consuming fatty foods at the same time of day for the same duration, mice on a high-fat diet were able to convert more of that fat to energy than mice that adhered to a low-fat diet. This might be a good tip for timing your cheat meals.

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L-Carnitine is an important amino acid that can help transport fat to the muscle to be burned as energy. In promoting better utilization of body fat, it may aid in weight loss and improve athletic performance.

BEYOND THE BASICS

• 500 mg of Pure L-Carnitine
• Single-Tablet Serving Size
• Provides Essential Calcium and Phosphorous

One of the biggest misconceptions about fitness is the belief that more is better. Many people believe they can speed up the process of getting in shape if they work out for hours at a time every day of the week. This “overkill” approach usually has the opposite effect, erasing the enthusiasm that they had headed into the gym on day one.

Rest days are good for both the body and mind. Training every day eventually starts to wear your body down. Even if you plan out your training program so you’re working different muscle groups each day, your body needs a rest day every so often. Exercise places a strain on the nervous system. It’s a form of stress, so taking a full day of rest several times a week is what the body needs to recuperate and grow.

The mind also needs a break from the intense stress of physical activity. You should always be excited about going to work out. Of course, we all have days when our enthusiasm isn’t always there. But when that attitude persists for several days in a row, you may need a couple days off to rest up and get it together.

The joints, tendons and ligaments of the body also need recuperation. Resistance training tends to put stress on these connective tissues so you have to be careful on how often and how heavy you train. Cardiovascular training can also be stressful on tendons and joints. Many runners who engage in long distance running every day eventually have ligament and tendon issues from insufficient recovery.

When you’re planning out your weekly training program, schedule one or two of rest days into your week. Space out your weight training and cardio workouts and don’t feel guilty about relaxing several days a week. Your body will thank you for it!

It’s been said that losing as little as 2% of your body weight in fluids can decrease performance by as much as 10%. Staying hydrated requires drinking, but does the temperature of the drink matter? A study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests it depends on the type of exercise.

A total of 45 physically fit men in their early 30s were given either cold (39 degree) or room temperature (72 degree) water during an hour-long exercise session. In tests conducted afterward, subjects who drank cold water delayed an increase in their core body temperature by 30 minutes. This allowed them to perform better on a broad jump test and cycle for longer until exhaustion.

On the other hand, cold water didn’t help these subjects bench press more reps to failure. In fact, the cold water slightly decreased bench press performance. So go with a cold performance beverageon cardio day, and mix up a pre-workout powder in room temperature water before weight room conquest.

Try our ABB’s Diet Turbo Tea as a cold energizing beverage when you hit your training:

An Energizing Tea To Give You That Additional Kick!

ABB’S BETTER BUILT FORMULA

• 90 mg of Caffeine
• Ginseng & Guarana
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Do you want to be the one contributing towards making India the diabetes capital? If not, then among the several strategies to help prevent this disease, a fiber rich diet is proved to be the most important one!
Penn State University researchers had 50 obese adults go on a reduced calorie diet. Half of them were on fibrous carbohydrates coming from whole grains, while the other half had refined carbs. The whole grain dieters not only lost more abdominal body fat than the refined grain eaters but most importantly also decreased their levels of C-reactive protein by an impressive 38% (An indicator protein for Type 2 diabetes and Cardiovascular disease risk). This is enough reason to switch over to more fibrous carb options.
To add pure fiber very conveniently to your diet you have an awesome option to supplement fiber as well! Try ON’s FITNESS FIBER to fiber-up your diet program and bring down your chances of acquiring this slow killer disease.

The effervescent delivery system is not just for aesthetic appeal and acceptance by taste buds, but its proved to amplify the absorption of nutrients.
– Eichman and Robinson studied the mechanism by which effervescence induces penetration enhancement of a broad range of compounds by using animal small intestinal epithelium. They found that CO2 bubbling directly onto the intestinal epithelium induced enhanced drug permeability due to an alteration of the paracellular pathway.
– ‘Efforsorb delivery’ is the technology effectively used by BSN to supply their BCAAs and other essential aminos more rapidly and completely. Featuring, a very well accepted pre-workout giant HYPER FX and great tasting amino supp AMINO X with the novel fizzy delivery system

Team sports athletes who can get an edge on game day by jumping higher than an opponent will be interested to hear about a training protocol examined in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. Researchers had 12 volunteer train 3 times a week for 7 weeks by adhering to either eccentric or concentric cycling.

A concentric contraction shortens the muscle, like when you’re curling a barbell toward the up position. An eccentric contraction lengthens the muscle. This happens when you try to decelerate an external force, such as putting the barbell down on the floor gently instead of allowing it to drop.

After being tested in trials of one-leg hopping, countermovement jumps and concentric cycling, scientists determined that eccentric cycle training improved leg spring stiffness and maximum power on multi-joint efforts, enabling higher jumping.

True Strength Moment: This is a relatively simple exercise to work into your routine and might be best applied during the off-season. Even if it doesn’t help you out-jump the competition, eccentric cycling might be an effective way to change up a stale cardio routine.

When you’re curling a dumbbell up toward your shoulder, your bicep muscle is shortening. That’s a concentric contraction. An eccentric contraction occurs when a muscle is actively lengthening. This typically happens when the muscle is approaching the maximum amount of force it can generate. A study published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise analyzes the effect of high-force eccentric exercise on muscle cell growth.

Researchers had 9 recreational athletes perform 300 eccentric leg extension actions to work their knee extensors. Muscle biopsies conducted 24 hours into recovery showed increased satellite cell formation in Type II fast twitch muscle fibers, the type of muscle used for short bursts of strength and speed.

True Strength Moment: Satellite cells play an important role in the growth, repair and regeneration of muscle. If you can work some eccentric contractions into your muscle development efforts, the end result might help you get a little closer to your goals. You probably won’t have to do quite the number of reps used in this study.

Our bodies can make vitamin D from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. But sunlight is so limited in northern climates during the winter months, your body might not produce any vitamin D at all. Here’s another issue: people with more body fat typically have lower levels of vitamin D because one form is stored in fat. A study published in the journal Clinical Nutritionlooked at what a daily dose of 4,000 IU did for overweight and obese resistance training subjects.

These 23 volunteers received either vitamin D or a placebo daily for 12 weeks. During this period, all subjects trained with weights. In the end, those supplementing with 4,000 IU of vitamin D lost more inches from around their waistline and gained a greater degree of strength than the placebo group.

True Strength Moment: The recommended daily dose of vitamin D was increased in 1997 to between 400 and 600 IU, depending on age. Some experts suggest increasing it even more to between 800 and 1,000 IU a day. While there are upper limits on what would be considered sensible, the nutrient needs of active adults outweigh those of less active individuals. That goes for micronutrients as well as the macronutrients protein, carbohydrates and fats. This study seems to back up that theory.

Epigallocatechin-3 gallate, known by the acronym EGCG, is a key component of green tea. In addition to the compound’s metabolic qualities, it’s said to have memory and brain boosting potential. A study published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research tested EGCG in the lab and on mice trained to locate hidden objects. Both experiments showed an increase in the production of neural progenitor cells, resulting in improved cognitive function.

True Strength Moment: Neural progenitor cells work like stem cells in the brain, where they can change into different types of cells. This research suggests that increasing their production has a positive impact on learning, memory and object recognition. Those who appreciate an anytimeboost of energy and alertness from green coffee and green tea extract might have more than improved mental focus and calorie burning working in their favor at the gym.

You want to put your best effort into every workout. Sometimes, this can be a bigger than usual challenge due to long work days, stress and lack of sleep. There’s nothing worse than getting ready to train and feeling like you’re already spent.

Carbohydrates are your body’s primary source of energy. One of the best ways to make sure you have enough energy for training is to consume complex carbs throughout the day. Carbs are stored in muscle cells as glycogen which your body burns as fuel during anaerobic efforts like weight training and high-intensity cardio.

Even if you’ve skipped meals throughout the day, you can still get in a good pre-workout meal to save the day and provide the energy you need for training. By combining complex carbohydrates with a quality source of protein you give yourself the benefit of exercise energy and amino acid muscle support.

Stay away from simple sugars like candy, fruit juice and other rapidly-digesting carbohydrate foods. These options promote spikes in blood sugar levels that are often followed by an energy crash. You don’t want to run out of energy before you’re through hoisting plates.

Instead, go with complex carbohydrates that will be digested at a much slower rate and can provide a more sustained level of energy. Foods such as oatmeal, oat bran and Ezekiel bread are great choices for your pre-workout meal.

Along with those complex carbs, make sure to get in some protein to provide your body with amino acids that can provide anti-catabolic support during your workout and also help kick-start the recovery process that begins afterward. Egg whites, protein shakes and tuna fish are all great choices.

My favorite pre-workout meal consists of 5 to 6 egg whites, 1/2 cup of oatmeal and either 1/2 cup of blueberries or one slice of Ezekiel bread. I eat this 60 to 90 minutes before starting my workout and have plenty of energy to give my training session 100%.

What’s the best weight load and rest interval for developing muscle size and strength? The answer depends on a lot of things, and is likely a little different for everyone, but a study published in theJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research offers some tips for beginners or anyone looking to change up a stale routine.

Scientists recruited 6 males in the mid-20s and had them perform 4 different weight training sessions on different days, all equalized for volume (sets x reps x load). Strength sessions involved 8 sets of 3 reps at 85% of 1RM. The muscle size routines were 3 sets of 10 reps at 70% of 1RM. One day, subjects were allowed a minute of rest between sets. On other days, they were allowed 90 seconds.

The biggest increases in testosterone came from the muscle size session using a short rest interval. The lowest was the strength session with short rest interval. So if you’re looking to boost your natural production of testosterone in the weight room, keep the rest interval about a minute in length. Recovery is going to take up to 48 hours either way.

Whether you’re hoisting a stack of plates or swimming laps, a demanding session of exercise is going to elevate your heart rate and leave you winded. According to a study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, body fat helps determine how quickly you recover from these conditions.

Fourteen professional cyclists were recruited to perform 30-second all out sprints. After determining levels of body fat, researchers calculated the time it took excess oxygen consumption and heart rate to return to normal. They found that body fat impedes heart rate recovery and delays the return to normal breathing.

True Strength Moment: While it’s next to impossible to reduce levels of body fat to zero, professional cyclists are known to be some of the leanest athletes around. How does your waistline compare? If you’re starting to let your diet get away from you, this might be the incentive you need to dial in that diet a little tighter.

L-Carnitine is an important amino acid that can help transport fat to the muscle to be burned as energy. In promoting better utilization of body fat, it may aid in weight loss and improve athletic performance.

Related Product

BEYOND THE BASICS

• 500 mg of Pure L-Carnitine
• Single-Tablet Serving Size
• Provides Essential Calcium and Phosphorous

Summer’s the time for grilling steaks, fish filets and ribs over flaming charcoal, but a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences cautions against preparing a lot of your meals this way. Research on lab mice found that a byproduct of dry heat cooking called methyl-glyoxal can contribute to abdominal fat buildup and insulin resistance over time – four generations, in the case of these lab rats!

True Strength Moment: While the rodent subjects in this study probably ate barbequed items almost exclusively over four lifetimes, you probably don’t cook out on the grill all that often. Still, this study offers cautionary insight into how too much of a good thing can turn against your goals for living a fit, healthy lifestyle. If a little is good, more isn’t always better.