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By Phil Stevens
After 10 plus days and 4800+ miles
in the Suckmobile (http://www.yourworkoutsucks.com),
sleeping, eating, sh… well you know, all in the same house
on wheels, it was like pulling into Eden when we parked at the hotel
and casino in Las Vegas. Bright lights, beautiful women, not having
to worry about emptying the septic tank or rolling off the bunk
and killing Jeff innocently sleeping below me.
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Oh t'was like heaven. Heaven
with endless buffets, scantly dressed beauties serving you
drinks, and in our case, front row seats to listen and talk
to the best and brightest in the field of sports nutrition
at this years ISSN conference.
To be honest I've sat down
three times and began to write this with the intention of
having two short articles, one for each day focusing on the
highlights of the seminar.
GREAT!! Well I would begin and
wouldn't get half way through day one and I'd have 4000 words.
What the hell, I'm writing a summary not a book.
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That should give you an idea of
the amount, and quality of information given at this conference.
So I've decided instead of aiming
to summarize each talk in brief that I attended, that I am going
simply paraphrase and summarize the points that I personally found
new and interesting into broader topics that were addressed multiple
times over the two days. Then following the article, Charles, Lonnie,
Jeff McNeill, myself and others in the attendance or in the know
will gladly tap back into our notes and memories to discuss any
topic further.
Over-Training
Richard Krieder talked on this topic,
one that hit home for me. It really taps into the more isn't better
line of thinking. Truly over-training and the myriad of health problems
it can cause, hormonal issues, weight loss, performance loss, nutrient
deficiencies, etc. is a real thing, but over-reaching comes first.
As my first hand experience has noted
true over training can take months or years to come back from, and
in many athletic cases has ended careers. The athlete is so physically
and therefore mentally overwhelmed they simply never return to a
high level. Both varieties are very hard to diagnose, and sadly
harder more so in the anaerobic athlete then the aerobic.
The number one thing we can look
for in ourselves and our clients is cold symptoms, specifically
upper respiratory problems as well a simple lack of drive to train.
The methods to combat this were pretty mainstream, and things we
should all know. Proper, smart, training with deloads, and adequate
or over adequate intake and nutrition.
Nutrition and recovery that follows
the training. If the training load has a drastic increase, then
so must the nutrition quantity and quality as well as rest.
Creatine Was HUGE Again
If you're not taking this supplement
for the general health benefits alone at this point I should probably
begin to call you some inappropriate verb.
It was a delight to see all the attention
on actual REAL science, and the overwhelming push was for plain
old creatine monohydrate. It was stated flat out by several, if
not all in the panel, Creatine Monohydrate is the ONLY form that
is proven in science to have any effect, and NOTHING has shown to
be better, so just take it.
Some studies show as much as double
the muscle gain as compared to placebo. New evidence is showing
that the weight gain, even in the first few weeks, is NOT only water
but actual muscle tissue.
Dr. Candow showed some awesome results
in his studies and talked on the effects of creatine on bone formation.
The two main points being creatine can not only up regulate bone
formation but inhibit degradation, and Creatine plus training showed
a significant increase in IGF-1 compared to training and placebo.
Usage suggestions across the board were still just a basic 5-8 grams
a day, with some going a bit higher.
One study, by I believe Dr. Stout,
showed some impressive results with subjects taking 16 grams a day
for 28 days. No need to load it, but you can. Timing, The best time
to take creatine (and many supplements) is pre-workout, if you're
taking a single dose.
While, yes, carbs are shown to help
the uptake of "stuff" creatine included into muscle tissue,
exercise alone can be a very effective at achieving this. Add whey
to your diet with creatine on a regular basis and your talking,
time to get SWOLE!!
Protein Intake, Timing, Meal Size, etc..
This range of topics was, of course,
huge. There was some variance across the board with some leaning
towards a high protein intake, others leaning more toward the RDA,
or just above.
Leucine, much like creatine, took
a headlining seat at this conference with Layne by far championing
it more then any one else. Layne Norton, Ph. D, based his talk on
optimal protein intake and meal frequency. The most interesting
part of the talk was the stress on Leucine.
He went as far as claiming that protein
intake should be based not on total protein, but on the amount of
Leucine. From what I recall, a recommendation of .04 grams / kg
per day, with 3-4 grams per meal. Layne also gave meal suggestions
to reach that 3-4 grams per meal using beef (50g), egg, chicken
(50g), dairy, whey (30g). When you average this out it for a 200lb
athlete it came out to just above 1 gram / kg of total protein a
day.
Layne also was the lone person
to suggest less meal frequency, and larger meals as optimal for
maximum protein synthesis and muscle mass.
This was interesting and based on
his findings that Leucine even after 3 hours was still elevated
to the maximum after a meal containing 3-4 grams of Leucine. Leucine
being the on switch / signal for protein synthesis that it is, it
was his belief that one could not elevate protein synthesis again
by spiking leucine content again until the leucine levels again
dropped. Interesting, real world not sure. They need more testing.
Other's had what seemed like very
valid arguments that yes, Leucine is #1. It is very important and
needed to trigger protein synthesis, but, just due to the fact that
Leucine was still elevated did not mean that protein synthesis was
still happening on the skeletal muscle level.
It was their belief that the pool
of other amino's could very well have ran dry even though the ignition
for synthesis (Leucine) was turned on, that the gas tank (amino
acid pool) was likely empty. That by having a further meal of protein
one could kick start protein synthesis again.
So this ran right over into the lower
optimal meal frequency claim. Dr. Stu Phillips made his opinion
in opposition clear by stating, if I may paraphrase, ".. that
the fact is, if you want to get BIG, and carry a lot of muscle mass,
you need to eat protein, and eat it often. You need to aim to always
stay in a positive nitrogen balance." It will be interesting
to see what comes about from further research on both sides.
The take-home messages on protein
above all were:
- The RDA values were NEVER intended
to be the target of your of your protein intake let alone optimal,
it was what was found to be required to sustain healthy life.
- Athletes are indeed a unique population
and need a higher intake of protein, strength and power athletes
even more then others.
- There is NO evidence for a limit
on how much the body can digest and utilize in one sitting.
- Target your protein intake on quality
sources (meats, dairy, fish, poultry, and eggs), and timing around
workouts is optimal.
- Whey is the king of all proteins,
in quality, amino acid profile, its protein synthesis triggering
ability, and all else.
- Soy is OK, its not great, it not
as good as the others, but its OK. (this talk and the way it was
presented did little to convince me to make soy a staple)
- Protein is good, eat it.
Protease Supplements, Namely Bromelain...
Look for some interesting data coming
from the Big Dr. Willoughby's lab at BYU, and bromelain's ability
to reduce inflammation, and force degradation, as well as aid in
recovery. This was one of the few studies directly on strength and
power athletes and showed some real promise. If Dr. Willoughby's
physique has anything to do with bromelain use, I'd listen. This
guys traps started at the top of his head. He was jacked.
Nitric Oxide Supplements
In the end, none of the current supplements
on the market have any evidence backing them. None of the ingredients
have shown any increase in lean mass, performance or even increased
blood flow.
The major fault is that all these
supplements reference studies and no one reads them.
For the most part, the supplements
are under dosed by at least ten-fold, and as well the referenced
studies with the ten-fold increase in dose are being administered
IV and not orally which makes a HUGE difference.
There is one supplement now being
studies that is showing promise in raising blood NO levels, GLPC
(Glycine Propionyl-L-Carnatine), but the fact is, it needs more
studies.
Fatigue
Studies have shown that much of fatigue
may be simply due to mental or perceived exertion. That the mind
and CNS is in large part the limiting factor of exertion.
Studies were referenced where a simple
sweet tasting solution was given to athletes and they were able
to up their intensity to a once-again higher output, and for a longer
period of time. How much is due to the mind we are not yet sure.
It is known that the body does protect
itself from damage. The mind will shut you down well before you
are able to elicit permanent damage (in most cases).
Caffeine in very high doses is a very
effective aid in limiting fatigue and perceived fatigue as well
as aiding performance. Dose, were talking 3+ mg per lb. So for a
200lb athlete, 600+mg taken 30 minutes prior to training ,WOW!!
I love me some coffee. Another interesting point was in the study
referenced only two of the participants showed no increase in performance,
and both of them happened to be NONE regular/habitual caffeine users.
Miscelleaneous
Growth Hormone alone is not anabolic
to skeletal muscle.
Sodium is the most underrated and
under utilized nutrient for aiding hydration and performance.
Insulin is nothing more than a storage
mechanism in the adult population and not something that is anabolic.
There was very much a leaning toward less carbs for strength and
power athletes, even in the peri-workout periods.
Conclusion
This conference was a huge reminder
of how much one can get out of attending such events. That if your
really serious about fitness and nutrition, be it on the professional
or personal level, you really owe it to yourself to attend like
events for the information given and networking.
I hope my attempt to summarize two
jam-packed days, and literally pages of notes has been somewhat
successful. It was a joy to attend this conference, to see old friends,
make new ones, as well as soak up all that is Las Vegas.
I apologize if in the attempt to
save time and space I neglected to reference a presenter, and once
again, we can gladly go into a bit more detail in the article discussion
thread on the forum.
About The Author
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Phil, while attaining both his
Bachelors and Masters degrees in studio art found another
passion, that of training and nutrition. A constant student,
his real-world under-the-barbell and behind-the-fork approach
has led to many an opportunity, experience, and change in
his life as well as those he has worked.
Phil currently, aside from his
varied work with Team Staley, is a working and showing artist
(http://www.philstevens.com).
His current personal fitness goals are to become a competitive
force as middleweight strongman competitor, while building
upon his power lifting experience in which he has seen as
high as a top ten national ranking; with a two year goal of
obtaining an elite ranking as a 242 or 275lb weight class
RAW power lifter.
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Staley
Training Summit 2008
Coming Soon!
Oct. 18th-19th,
2008
Click
here to learn more or call now for more details
and for a list of speakers!
Toll-Free: (800) 519-2492
or 480-813-6205
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