Timing is everything
March 21, 2008
An important new study from Australia has shown for the first time that taking a protein/creatine/glucose bodybuilding supplement immediately before and after resistance training leads to significantly greater improvements in strength and body composition than taking the same supplement at other times of the day.
Twenty-three recreational male body-builders completed 10 weeks of structured, supervised resistance exercise training, taking a protein/creatine/glucose supplement (1g per kg of body weight twice daily on training days only) under two different conditions:
- One group took their supplements immediately before and after their four-weekly workouts;
- The other group took the same supplements first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
The researchers tracked changes in 1rep max (RM) strength, body composition and the vastus lateralis muscle in the frontal thigh before and after the 10 weeks of training.
They found that the body-builders who took their supplements before and after workouts showed significantly greater improvements in 1RM strength and body composition (ie an increase in lean body mass and a decrease in body fat percentage) than those who took them at either end of the day.
‘We conclude’, they said, ‘that supplement timing represents a simple but effective strategy to enhance the adaptations that are desired from [resistance] training.’
Med Sci Sports Exerc, vol 38, no 11, pp1918-1925
Raw Eggs To Boost Protein?
March 4, 2008
I was asked this yesterday as I was doing a training session and realised I did not know what the latest take on Salmonella and raw eggs was. I had been trying to get a clients protein intake up in the morning and he had told me he was having a few egg whites to do this. I used to do the same a number of years ago in the good old days but now things have changed. I knew this was still not a great idea but wanted to check out the Food Standard Agency for latest information.
I found this article and it is not good news.
Between November 2005 and January 2007, eggs purchased from 1,567 catering premises in the UK were tested for salmonella contamination. Eggs from eight different countries were tested. Most of the eggs originated from the UK (89.0%).
Salmonella was found on the shells of six samples, of which one was also contents positive, giving a prevalence of 0.38%. Five of the positive samples were from the UK and one was produced in Germany. Salmonella Enteritidis was the most common serotype (0.31%) with phage type (PT) 4 being the most common phage type (0.19%).
The survey showed evidence of poor egg storage and handling practices in catering premises. Half (55%) did not store their eggs under refrigerated conditions, a fifth (20.7%) of egg samples had expired best before dates or were in use after three weeks of lay indicating poor stock rotation, and 37.1% mixed and pooled eggs for use during the day.
