Creatine: Even More Anabolic than You Thought

Using supplemental Creatine increases the amount of IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Like Factor 1) inside muscles. IGF-1 is a catalyst for Insulin and is produced by Growth Hormone. IGF-1 stimulates cell growth and lengthens cell life. IGF-1 can protect against cell and DNA damage by way of an enzyme family called AKT. AKT builds muscle and slows down cell death. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akt

Creatine increases Growth Hormone production. Acute creatine loading enhances human growth hormone secretion.

Growth Hormone increases the amount of IGF-1. Correlations of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I): effects of exercise and abuse by athletes.

Effect of Creatine Supplementation and Resistance-Exercise Training on Muscle Insulin-Like Growth Factor in Young Adults
IJSNEM, 18(4), August 2008,
http://www.humankinetics.com/IJSNEM/viewarticle.cfm?jid=t746qp3Yq234bLK6z366yvx4v683v3tUk843w2kzh232nT73e&aid=16023&site=t746qp3Yq234bLK6z366yvx4v683v3tUk843w2kzh232nT73e

“These findings indicate that creatine supplementation during resistance-exercise training increases intramuscular IGF-I concentration in healthy men and women, independent of habitual dietary routine.”

Fat Parents Influence Fat Children

Parents of overweight households tend to create overweight children. Not only is it caused by the overall diet of the family it is also due to expressed fat genes.

A woman’s bodyweight before and during pregnancy has a large influence on the future weight of her child. Children born to women who dad gastric bypass sugery are 1/2 as likly yo become obese.

A study done on Folic Acid mixed with other supplements shows that in mice the legacy of fatness can be broken.

Waterland, R.A., Travisano, M., Tahiliani, K.G., Rached, M.T., Mirza, S. (2008). Methyl donor supplementation prevents transgenerational amplification of obesity. International Journal of Obesity DOI

http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/07/obesity_amplifies_across_generations_can_folaterich_diets_st.php

Stress Hormone Causes Aging

The stress hormone cortisol causes pre-mature aging of the immune system. Cortisol shortens a protective cap called telomere that allows the cells to keep dividing. The shorter the telomere, the shorter the cell’s lifespan will be. Telomeres shorten every time a cell divides the telomere shortens, acting like a clock for each cell.

The reason cancer cells are so strong is because their telomeres don’t shorten enough during cell division. A healthy cell lives a proper and preset time. An unhealthy cell either lives too short, not allowing the body to replace it time, or too long, allowing uncontrolled growth.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/uoc–usi071508.php

Blood Sugar Alzheimer’s Connection

Men with low insulin secretion at age 50 had a significantly greater risk of Alzheimer’s.

http://www.realage.com/ct/tips/6373

One of the theories of factors leading to Alzheimer’s is that it is diabetes of the brain. The brain runs on carbohydrates and if the brain cells develop insulin resistance the brain can’t run correctly. If we don’t produce enough insulin our brain won’t be able to absorb the carbs it needs to run correctly.

Maximum Muscle Podcast # 2

Maximum Muscle Podcast # 2

1. Fitness Muscle & Nutrition News
a. Prohormones
Looks like Tren, methyl-1-test & the legal cousin to Winni V will be banned sometime later this summer

b.2/3 of Americans are Too Fat

c. Gene Expression of Creatine

2. Max Muscle Supplement Spotlight
a. ThyrX
Our thyroids are like our car idols. When your car idol is too slow your car won’t start during a cold spell. If you get your car started it will slall, and run really rough.

If your thyroid is slow you can feel cold, have low circulation, depression, arthritis, and many more symptoms.

Many of the ingredients in ThyrX help regulate healthy thyroid activity. Coleus forskohlii can mimic thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) by activating a gene in thyroid cells.

Diiodo-L-Tyrosine mixed with iodine increases the levels of the fat burning thyroid hormones T3 & T4 and the fat burning stimulant adrenal hormones epinephrine and noradrenaline.

There are several ingredients containing, thyroid regulating, iodine. Iodine is the most common element to balance the thyroid.

Many other ingredients help fat loss by increasing your metabolic rate by other factors other than your thyroid.

3. Nutrient Timing
a.How to use Dieting Supplements
1. 8 - 12 week fat burning plan
A. Crash diets don’t work. Your body goes through too much of a change and can’t adjust to become balanced at your targety weight. If you have to put a lot of effort into change there has to be a lot of resistance to that change. Find the key to releasing the resistance to change. When you are proactive about change you will keep the results you see. You have to make your weight management a lifestyle change instead of something to do for a wedding.

Many people only look at the scale when they are losing weight. If you aren’t taking in enough protein while you are burning fat you will also lose muscle. The more muscle you have the higher your metabolism will be. Muscle is your friend to help you burn fat.

You want to eat at least 6 times a day. Simply look at how many calories you burn + how many calories you need to maintain and subtract 500 - 1000 kcals per day. Many people feel this is difficult so we at Max Muscle provide our Maxformation Nutritional Counceling.

Simple supplements that can be used to help with dieting.
1. ThyrX which is our spotlight product of the week.
2. ThermXX which is our powerful fat burner & diuretic with strong appetite support without being too strong of a stimulant.
3. Femme Lean is our new Women’s fat burner helping lower fat & appetite caused by hormonal disturbances
One of the active fat burning and pleasure giving ingredients in chocolate is in Femme Lean. Most of the pleasure of chocolate without the calories.
4. Anabol Cuts does exactly what most men are looking for; it helps build muscle while helping burn fat.
The mixture of Slimaluma that can help you slim your waist and Testofen which can increase your free testosterone. With the addition of Green Tea and Caffeine will feel a boost in the gym helping fire up your motivation to train to build muscle and burn fat.

4. Workout Timing
a.Circuit Training
Bootcamps: How to get the maximum out of them and how to fit them into your life.

The whole Bootcamp style workouts are huge. Many people get great results from Bootcamps but if done too often, for too long will result in overtraining.

The HIT (High Intensity Training) method is great to burn fat but if you do it too many times per week or too many weeks in a row you will burn out.

Bootcamps are great to start your general training cycle and strengthen your cardiovascular system while continuing to build muscle.

You will easily bring up your endurance while toning your body from doing Bootcamp training. Bootcamps are great to get you in shape when coming out of off-season or layoff. But be prepared for your cardio system to be taxed to it’s max.

5. Lessons from the Masters
Napoleon Hill
bio
Napoleon Hill was the 1st self-help guru. Mr. Hill was a newspaper reporter who had the luck to interview the riches man in the world at the time, Andrew Carnagie. The interview was orginally last only 2 hours but lasted 2 days. At the end of the interview Carnagie asked Hill to become his unpaid intern for life. In exchange Carnagie would introduce Hill to everyone in Carnagie’s circle including Ford, Edison, Westinghouse,the board of directors of US Steel and other millionaires. Carnigie wanted Hill to study and formulate a system of how to become successful from all of his interviews of the great men of his time.

Hill’s 1st book “Think and Grow Rich” has been used as a platform for many of today’s self-help gurus. A lot of Tony Robbins philosophy is formed on the backbone of Hill’s philosophy. The majority of book and movie “The Secret” is a feel good version of Hill’s philosophy.

Napoleon Hill’s philosophy can be used by anyone and in almost every situation. It can easily be applied for getting better workouts and taking better care of yourself. You can also learn how to take the success you find in the gym and move it out into the rest of your life.

Next week I will start an overview of Hill’s 1st chapter of Think and Grow Rich and give you my take on how to apply it to you exercise training and how to apply it to the rest of your life.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/DansMaximumMusclePodcast

Maximum Muscle Podcast # 1

Maximum Muscle Podcast will take you to the fast track of muscle growth, fitness and better nutrition.

This 1st Podcast describes what the future will hold.

I will explain why you can get great advice from a Championhip winning Powerlifter with 17 years of nutrition experience from working in the Sports Nutrition Industry. I am currently working for Max Muscle Sports Nutrition. This podcast and all of the opinions from the podcast and my blog are my opinions and not those of Max Muscle Sports Nutrition.

My goals and mission of Maximum Muscle Podcast is:

1. I will inform you of the newest and most important nutrition and muscle building news.

2. I will spotlight Max Muscle products and explain what result to expect from the product.

3. I will put into context how to mashup your workouts with your supplements. Some people have no idea why they are taking what they are taking. Growing mass while losing weight will never happen. Taking a dieting, appetite suppressing supplement while trying to pack on mass won’t work.

4. Lessons From the Masters is a how to do from the All time Great & Successful people the world has ever known. Everyone from Napoleon Hill, Anthony Robbins, Arnold, Jay, Ronnie, Sun Tzu and many, many more.

Louie Simmons: How to Do the Squat

[http://sreishus.blogspot.com/2008/07/squatting.html]
By: Louie Simmons
How to Do the Squat
What is good squat form?
What does it take to develop a great squat? First you must develop the hips, hamstrings, spinal erectors, glutes, and abs. Without a strong posterior chain (the muscles on the back of the body), you will not sit back into the proper squat position. That’s right. Sit back, never down. If the knees go forward in the yielding phase, they could hit the floor and the hips still would be above parallel. I talk to strength coaches from major universities on how to squat. I tell them that we have 24 guys who have squatted over 800 and six over 900 by box squatting with a wide stance. Many times these coaches will reply, I like Olympic squatting. One reason I guess is that Olympic squatting is what they were brought up on. But why do powerlifters use a wider stance? Because you use more muscle, and isn’t that what we’re after on the sports field? Only a wrestler would find himself in the weakest joint angles of an Olympic squat. That’s probably why there are no old, great Olympic lifters. Their joints are gone. When a prominent pro basketball coach said that Olympic squats were the best for his players and that a two-times bodyweight squat was all an athlete needs, I realized that a weak coach can only produce weak players. This coach and many like him must have a huge library and a very small weight room. Take Ben Johnson, for example. He squatted 620 at about 200 pounds. That’s three times bodyweight! Football players’ careers are being shortened not by the competition but by the fact that they are too frail compared to 10 years ago. I saw Brett Favre come out of the locker room and squat cold with the linemen using the same weight. That’s like having five quarterbacks protecting your quarterback, and that’s bull. Let’s get to squat technique, starting with the feet. They should be pointed straight forward. This forces the hip muscles into play. It is much harder to break parallel because the hip extensors and flexors are put in a very strong position for flexion. Turn the feet outward slightly if you are not flexible or if you are very thick in the waist and upper thighs. If you see someone who walks with their feet turned outward, they have weak hamstrings. As far as shoes go, Converse Chuck Taylor’s are best. Don’t have $100 shoes and a 10-cent squat. When squatting, think about pushing your feet out, not down. This will ensure that the hip muscles are working correctly. Push your knees out the entire time, starting from when you are unracking the bar. You should feel this in the hips. Next, start pushing the glutes to the rear as thought you are searching for a hair that is too far behind you. Arch the lower back and keep the chest up. Lean forwards as much as necessary to keep the bar over your center of gravity. To ensure correct bar placement, raise the chest and pull the shoulder blades together, to place the bar back as far as possible. This creates better leverage. However, if one carries the bar too low, it causes the lifter to bend forward, destroying leverage. What stance should you use? Everyone should box squat with a wide stance, because this builds the all-important hip muscles. Thirty years ago, the great Jim Williams said to train as wide as possible and pull your stance in, to a point, to break parallel at meet time. If you watch a great squat technician, you will notice that he bends only at the hips, the knees don’t go forward, and his back does not move. While descending in the squat, never squat down. Always squat back! If you push the glutes back, the knees will not go forward. In fact, if you sit back far enough, the shins will be past vertical. This is only possible with box squatting. And it’s important because this causes a great stretch reflex. Also, by forcing your knees apart, you are significantly increasing your leverage, by shortening the distance between the hip and the knee joint. If you pull your knees together, you increase this distance and create poor leverage. In addition, this is a sign of weak hip muscles. After breaking parallel, you must first push against the bar. After all, the bar is what we are trying to raise. Unfortunately, you see many lifters who push with their feet first. This causes you to bend forward Into a good morning position, which is opposite of what you are trying to achieve, in addition to being dangerous. When your back bends, you are likely to miss a squat or get injured. Most people think of squatting as a multi-joint muscular action. I see it as flexion of the spinal erectors and hip flexors and slight flexion of the knees. It’s much like trying to jump onto a high box; you flex as much as possible in the beginning and hope you make it. Others push gradually through the lift; just enough to accommodate the external force that is being applied. As far as equipment, in a meet, wrap the knees toward the inside. This means wrap one clockwise and the other counterclockwise. This helps to stabilize them. Wear a suit that allows the knees to be forced outward ad the glutes to be pushed out to the rear. Don’t wear straps that are too tight. This will cause you to bend over. In training wear a suit with the straps down and a belt. This will help the technical aspects of squatting. When someone must wear full gear for 3-4 weeks before a meet, their technical skill is low. To summarize, build the posterior chain: calves, hams, glutes, lower and upper back. Strong abs are a must. They are what you lean on to descend and push off of to ascend. Out of our top 100 squat-ters, four use an upright back position. That means that 96% lean forward, with - of course - a great arch. While descending, the glutes move first and the head and bar move last. So, in the concentric phase, the opposite happens. You must push against the bar first. One workout per week must be devoted to speed (box squatting) and one for maximal effort, with a variety of core exercises such as good mornings and squatting with special bars that change your center of gravity. To all strength coaches: the next time you have your athletes do Olympic squats, ask yourself why. The joint angles are not advantageous for the stretch reflex. If a lineman were to use that position on the field, he would easily be pushed backward. The Olympic lifts require flexibility. There are many drills better suited to increase flexibility. Everyone thinks the Olympic lifts are so quick. While your cleans at 60% look fast, so do our box squats at 60%. The athlete who can power clean 400 uses 240(60%). The lifter who can squat 800 uses 480 (60%). Who do you really think would be faster and stronger? Compared to a powerlifter, an Olympic lifter can’t squat with the Sunday paper. A kid that can hang clean 400 would look frail to an 800 squatter. And don’t forget, in Olympic lifting, as the bar is raising, the lifter is lowering himself, making it appear that they are moving the bar at great speed. Olympic lifting is the biggest bust in the United States. We have not placed a single lifter on the “A” list, yet strength coaches still advocate the Olympic lifts.

http://sreishus.blogspot.com/2008/07/squatting.html

The Power of Yes

“Never let anyone tell you no who doesn’t have the power to
say yes.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
U.N. diplomat, humanitarian, U.S. first lady

Command Yourself to Be Happy

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hope.”

–Andrew Carnegie.

Heart Attack Survivors Still NOT Pro-Active

Still far too many Heart Attack survivors are not paying attention to their bodies. Too many are still not aware of the risk they are still living under. Far too many people think the Hospitals and Doctors are in charge of their Patients health. Doctors and Hospitals only can help and offer assistance and education. It will always be the Patient who is in charge of Patient health.

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20080207-17601.html

“Forty-six per cent of patients had “low knowledge levels” and 43 per cent thought they were at no higher risk of having another heart attack than other people their age, Professor Sharon McKinley from University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Nursing, Midwifery and Health (NM&H) and Professor Kathleen Dracup, Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) reported to the American Heart Association.”