Natural Pursuit: Nutritional Consultant

[NaturalPursuit]

Hello Boxingscene.com!

My name is Alex. I am the owner of "Natural Pursuit: Personal Training and Nutritional Consulting", an NGA amateur bodybuilder, and studying Nutrition and Dietetics at Seton Hill University. I have recently joined these forums for one main purpose….to help fellow athletes reach and surpass their goals and dreams! I can help you do this through Natural Pursuit by being your Nutritional Consultant!
Before I began bodybuilding, I played lacrosse and boxed in the offseason. As my passion for boxing began to grow I grew an interest in amateur boxing just as my lacrosse season began. Then, trajedy struck and I suffered a severse concussion which has kept me out of contact sports to this day and for the rest of my life. That is when I found my passion for bodybuilding and for nutrition in general! I became obsessed with both of these and they are now my entire life!
I still follow boxing very avidly and while I was with a client the other day it hit me, most amateur boxers focus mainly on their training and, for the most part, nutrition takes a back seat. As I still have a great passion for the sport, I would like to help anyone who is in need of any advice and, hopefully work with some of you! I know I can help you reach and surpass your goals! Please check out my website at natural-pursuit.com and if you have any questions you can contact on there or at my email.

Alex
“Train like a champion today, become a champion tomorrow!”

[NaturalPursuit]

Hello again! As my wish is to help boxers increase their performance around the world, I will begin to post helpful fact in this thread! Please take in and understand this information before applying it towards achieving your goals!

[NaturalPursuit]

#1 - Nutrition Countdown

"It’s 30 minutes until your next workout. Quick, what should you take to ensure high-performance energy levels, monstrous strength and ample supplies of nutrients to kick-start muscle growth processes?
We stumped some of you, didn’t we? Plenty of bodybuilders start bashing the weights after hitting a fast-food drive-through, after wolfing down a protein bar or even while running on empty. Most guys simply don’t give a lot of consideration to their nutritional attack even guys who will spend hours meticulously planning out exercises, sets and reps are often guilty of putting zero thought into the food and supplements that will actually fuel their training session.
That’s a mistake, and one you can put an end to right here. We’ve mapped out the nine top supplements for bodybuilders in preworkout mode, along with the best carb foods for stoking your body’s growth and energy furnace. Use this as your guide, and you’ll have improved power, energy levels, endurance and focus next time you train.

1. Whey protein
First on your list is supplying your body with critical amino acids needed not only as building blocks for muscle growth, but for energy during training. If your body uses the amino acids from whey protein, it won’t have to break down existing muscle protein to get aminos for fuel, which obviously could compromise your muscle size.
The research SAYS Drinking a whey protein shake immediately before you lift is even better for stimulating muscle growth than waiting until after the workout is over. Taking in a small amount of whey protein (without carbs) before you do cardio may also help you burn more fat when you exercise.
Timing and dosage Having a whey protein before exercise is your best bet, as it is a quick-digesting protein, which means your body will get the aminos it needs, fast. Go with 20 grams of whey protein isolate, hydrolysate or concentrate along with 30-50 g of carbs within 30 minutes of your workout.

2. Arginine
This amino acid is the main ingredient in almost every nitric oxide (NO) boosting product available. Arginine is readily converted in the body to NO.
The research says: Nitric oxide dilates blood vessels, which helps get more blood flow to working muscles. Enhancing blood flow to muscles right before a workout helps to deliver more nutrients, such as amino acids from whey protein, glucose and fats, and the anabolic hormones that rise during training, such as testosterone, growth hormone and insulinlike growth factor-I (IGF-I). Greater blood flow also means more water delivery to exercising muscles; since a muscle pump is essentially a result of muscle cells filling up with water from blood, more water supplied to the muscles results in a greater muscle pump.
Timing and dosage No matter whether the product you take supplies L-arginine, arginine alpha-ketoglutarate, arginine ketoisocaproate, arginine malate or arginine ethyl ester, go with 3-5 g about 30-60 minutes before workouts. For maximal effect, on nontraining days take a dose in the morning and before bedtime.

3. Carnosine
Carnosine is an amino acid supplement that is actually a dipeptide two amino acids (beta-alanine and histidine) bound together. You can supplement with either carnosine or with beta-alanine and histidine for the same effects greater muscle strength and endurance. That’s because, in muscle fibers, beta-alanine and histidine are combined to form carnosine.
The research says: Muscle fibers that have the highest levels of carnosine can produce the greatest amount of force and can contract for longer periods. Studies of athletes show that it is possible to increase muscle levels of carnosine by more than 80% with supplementation, but it can forestall fatigue. In the gym, this means you can get more reps with a given weight before reaching failure, or lift more weight for a certain amount of reps. Carnosine appears to work by buffering the byproducts that build up in muscles during exercise those byproducts eventually cause muscles to fatigue. Carnosine also has been found to provide antioxidant properties, meaning it scavenges free radicals that could damage muscle cells; this protection helps muscle recovery.
Timing and dosage Take 1-112 g of carnosine 30-60 minutes before workouts.

4. Carnitine
The supplement carnitine is considered an amino acid, but it’s not typical. It’s actually made from the amino acids lysine and methionine; vitamins C, B3 and B6; and iron. Carnitine is important for fat metabolism, as it is involved in carrying fat into the machinery in muscle, heart and brain cells, known as mitochondria, that burn it for fuel. Taking carnitine before workouts prompts your body to use more fat during the session.
The research says: University of Connecticut researchers have been integral in discovering carnitine’s importance to bodybuilders. One of their studies suggests that carnitine, like arginine, enhances blood flow to exercising muscles. However, the mechanism is likely different from arginine, which indicates that taking both supplements can offer additive benefits (i.e., it would be more valuable to take both of them rather than just one or the other). A more recent study from UConn suggests that carnitine enhances the number of androgen receptors in muscle cells responsible for binding testosterone in the muscle and initiating its effects on muscle growth and strength.
Timing and dosage: Although it generally doesn’t matter what type of carnitine you take L-carnitine, acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC), L-carnitine tartrate or L-carnitine fumarate to get the benefits mentioned, ALC does offer some advantages. Acetyl-L carnitine is found throughout the central nervous system, and studies show that it can enhance mental function, concentration and testosterone production, making it worth a little extra dough. Go with 1-2 g of ALC (or other forms of L-carnitine, if you choose) on an empty stomach about an hour before workouts. For maximal effect, on nontraining days take a dose in the morning and before bedtime.

5. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs)
Leucine, isoleucine and valine (BCAAs) stimulate protein synthesis, so most bodybuilders focus on getting a good dose of them after a workout when synthesizing protein is critical for encouraging muscle growth. Taking a dose before training helps prevent muscle breakdown during a session and stimulate protein synthesis after.
The research says: The body uses BCAAs for fuel, scavenging them from muscle fibers that means the body breaks down muscle fibers during intense workouts. By taking a BCAA supplement before training, you supply your body with a source of BCAAs to use as fuel, thus preventing that unwanted breakdown.
Timing and dosage: Go with 5-10 g of BCAAs 30-60 minutes before workouts. Also consider taking a dose after the workout, as well as in the morning and at night. For maximal effect, on nontraining days take a dose in the morning and before bedtime.

6. Creatine
Creatine used to be taken only postworkout for the reason that, after a brutal training session, muscle cells are primed to suck up nutrients. Today, science has shown that in addition to a postworkout creatine dose, you should take one preworkout, as well.
The research says: Taking creatine before you work out ensures that your levels of it are maximally topped off. In muscle, creatine gets converted to creatine phosphate, which produces most of the energy for contractions during weightlifting. Maximal levels of creatine phosphate will help you power through more reps, especially during later sets. It will also help pull more water into muscle cells, as creatine has strong muscle-volumizing effects that can enhance a pump.
Timing and dosage: Take 3-5 g of creatine within 30 minutes of training, and also take a second dose immediately after the workout.

7. Citrulline malate
If you like NO products, you’ll love citrulline malate. This supplement is made of the amino acid citrulline bound to a molecule of malic acid (malate) hence the extremely clever name. In the body, citrulline is readily converted to arginine, which then gets converted to NO. So, by taking a citrulline-containing supplement, you can further boost NO levels and blood flow to muscles.
The research says: Citrulline is involved in removing ammonia from the body. Ammonia, which induces fatigue, is a toxic compound produced when amino acids are metabolized for fuel during exercise. Since citrulline helps remove ammonia from the body, it can help to significantly delay fatigue during workouts. Malic acid aids in converting lactic acid, produced during a workout, to energy. Studies in humans confirm that citrulline malate supplements reduce fatigue, increase adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production during exercise and quicken the rate of creatine phosphate recovery following exercise all factors that can lead to more reps per set.
Timing and dosage Take 2-3 g of citrulline malate about 30-60 minutes before workouts.

[NaturalPursuit]

#1 - Nutrition Countdown Continued

8. Caffeine
Remember the days when caffeine was supposedly bad for us? Now we know that caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that helps to energize all-out hardcore workouts. It also aids the ability to focus in the gym, boosts strength and muscle endurance, and enhances fat burning during exercise.
The research says: In the brain, caffeine competes with the compound adenosine for receptors adenosine slows down brain activity and makes you feel tired. When caffeine does its thing by blocking adenosine receptors, it leads to a significant increase in energy, drive, focus and concentration. Caffeine also increases muscle strength by positively affecting the molecules inside muscle fibers that cause muscles to contract, and enhances muscle endurance by blunting muscle pain during exercise and encouraging the burning of bodyfat for fuel.
Timing and dosage: Although you can reach for a cup of coffee to get a caffeine dose, before workouts you should go with a caffeine supplement; studies show the form of caffeine used in supplements tends to produce greater performance benefits than coffee. Take 200-400 milligrams (mg) about 1-2 hours before workouts.

9. Tribulus terrestris
This herb grows in the United States and is often referred to as puncture vine. That’s the boring news. The not-so-boring news? Tribulus is a proven testosterone booster. Getting an extra surge of testosterone before workouts can immediately increase your strength and power, pump up aggression and help enhance muscle growth afterward.
The research says: One of the main active ingredients in Tribulus is protodioscin, which stimulates the release of luteinizing hormone (LH). LH enters the blood and influences specialized cells in the testicles to increase testosterone production from cholesterol. Testosterone works to increase muscle growth by boosting the amount of protein muscles make. It also immediately ****es muscle strength and power by enhancing the firing of the nerves that stimulate the muscles. In other words, it’s good stuff if your goal is getting bigger.
Timing and dosage Take 250-500 mg 60 minutes prior to workouts.
Just the stacks, man
Regardless of your goal, we have the perfect preworkout supplement stacks for you.
GOAL SUPPLEMENT DOSE, TIME
PREWORKOUT
Maximize mass Whey 20 g, 0-30 minutes
Creatine 3-5 g, 0-30 minutes
Arginine 3-5 g, 30-60 minutes
BCAAs 5-10 g, 30-60 minutes
Carnitine 1-2 g, 60 minutes
Tribulus 250-500 mg, 60 minutes
Maximize strength Whey 20 g, 0-30 minutes
Creatine 3-5 g, 0-30 minutes
Carnosine 1-1.5 g, 30-60 minutes
Caffeine 200-400 mg, 1-2 hours
Tribulus 250-500 mg, 60 minutes
Maximize muscle endurance Whey 20 g, 0-30 minutes
Citrulline malate 2-3 g, 30-60 minutes
BCAAs 5-10 g, 30-60 minutes
Caffeine 200-400 mg, 1-2 hours
Maximize focus and drive Caffeine 200-400 mg, 1-2 hours
Acetyl-L-carnitine 1-2 g, 60 minutes
Caffeine 200-400 mg, 1-2 hours
Tribulus 250-500 mg, 60 minutes
Maximize fat burning Whey 10 g, 0-30 minutes
during cardio Carnitine 1-2 g, 60 minutes
Caffeine 200-400 mg, 1-2 hours"

Taken from and credit given to bodybuildingphilheath.blogspot.com/2011/12/nutrition-countdown.html

[NECK SNAPPER]

i think this is a great idea most fighters dont have the means to have a
nutritionist on there team that with some streth training technics would help
alot of fighters and coaches as well. it is a noble thing your are doing good luck..

[NaturalPursuit]

i think this is a great idea most fighters dont have the means to have a
nutritionist on there team that with some streth training technics would help
alot of fighters and coaches as well. it is a noble thing your are doing good luck..

NECK SNAPPER,

Thank you very much for the kind words! I have found my passion not only in achieving success in my respective sport, but also helping others achieve their full potential in reaching their goals! If you have any suggestions, ideas, or questions, please feel free to post them here!

Natural Pursuit
"Train like a champion today, become a champion tomorrow!"

[NoLove]

I dont take any supplements apart from creatine ethyl ester and multi vits. My daily diet:

Meal one: Porridge with water

Meal two: Chicken salad sandwhich with wholemeal bread

Meal three: Veg and white fish

Meal four: one potatoe

Meal five: Can of tuna, Chicken breast and 2 eggs.

I do a 40 minute run every day at a heavy pace.

[NaturalPursuit]

I dont take any supplements apart from creatine ethyl ester and multi vits. My daily diet:

Meal one: Porridge with water

Meal two: Chicken salad sandwhich with wholemeal bread

Meal three: Veg and white fish

Meal four: one potatoe

Meal five: Can of tuna, Chicken breast and 2 eggs.

I do a 40 minute run every day at a heavy pace.

NoLove,

Welcome to the thread! I see your diet and it looks like your getting all high-quality food sources but what you need to consider is how many cals/pro/cho/fat your intaking. As long as those macronutrient requirements are hitting your goal to either maintain, loose fat, or gain muscle, your doing great!

[NaturalPursuit]

#2 - The Importance of Post Workout Nutrition

"You don't need to be a resource management specialist to know that time is the most valuable finite resource that you have. And as you well know, there's a very limited amount of it to go around. So if you're smart, you'll figure out ways to get the greatest return on the investment of your time.

While this may be well recognized and applied in many aspects of modern life, it confuses me as to why people seem to ignore this when it comes to their exercise training. From what I see on a daily basis, it's clear to me that most people in the gym are wasting their time investment. They're spending precious hours engaged in strength or endurance training programs that yield little or no results?

Need proof? When was the last time someone in your gym made any noticeable physical progress? In fact, when was the last time that you made any significant physical progress? Exercise training has the potential to yield huge returns on any given time investment. Isn't it a shame that most people don't ever see this magnitude of return?

Despite this disappointing reality, I'm here to tell you that hope is not lost. In fact, there's a very easy way to capitalize on your investment. You see, in most cases the exercise is not the problem. The problem is that people fail to invest in the other important commodity that, in combination with exercise, yields the biggest returns.

They're buying the cart without the horse, the lemonade stand without the lemonade. They're spending their time focused on only the exercise program while ignoring the importance of a sound nutritional program.

Now I could write a dozen articles focused on straightening out the nutritional problems of the world. But those articles are for another day. In this article today, I intend to focus on what is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of exercise nutrition - eating during the post-workout period. The knowledge of how to eat during this time will maximize your efforts in the gym and yield the biggest returns on your time investment.


Remodeling and The Post-Workout Period


Exercise, both strength and endurance training, is responsible for countless health and aesthetic benefits. However the exercise itself is a significant physiological stressor. Perceived symptoms of this "stress" are often mild and include muscle soreness, the need for extrasleep, and an increased appetite.

These symptoms let us know that the exercise has depleted the muscle's fuel resources, caused some minor damage, and that the muscle is in need of replenishment and repair. While the words depletion and damage may sound like negative things, they're not if they only stick around for a short period of time. You see, these changes allow the muscle to adapt by getting better at the exercise demands placed on it.

Therefore if you're doing endurance exercise, the muscle will become depleted and damaged in the short run, but in the long run it will super compensate, building itself up to be a better aerobic machine. And if strength training is your thing, you'll tear down you're weaker muscle fibers in favor of building up bigger, stronger ones.

In all cases, exercise essentially tears down old, less adapted muscle in order to rebuild more functional muscle. This phenomenon is called remodeling.

While the remodeling process is much more complex than I can describe here, it's important for me to emphasize that this remodeling only takes place if the muscle is provided the right raw materials. If I plan on remodeling my home I can hire a guy to tear down a couple of walls, a guy to clean up the mess, and a guy to come in and rebuild better walls than the ones that came down.

But if I don't give that guy any bricks, how's he going to get anything done? If I don't give him the bricks, all I'll have in the end is a much smaller, unfinished house.

The same holds true with exercise remodeling. In particular, during the exercise bout and immediately following it, exercise breaks down our musclecarbohydrate stores and our muscle protein structures. Then, the immune system comes in to clean up the mess.

And finally, signals are generated to tell the body to rebuild. However, as I hope you can now see, without the proper protein and carbohydrate raw materials, this building can't take place. You'll be left with muscles that never reach their potential.

So with this analogy, I hope it's obvious that this post-exercise period is not a time to take lightly. Remember, you spent a significant amount of time in the gym breaking down the muscle for a good reason. You want it to be better adapted to future demands.

So to realize full return on your time investment, you need to give the body the raw materials it needs, namely protein and carbohydrates.


Feeding Hungry Muscles


As I mentioned earlier, all trainees (male or female), regardless of their chosen mode of exercise, must take their post-exercise nutrition seriously in order to provide the muscle with the raw materials it needs. As all types of exercise use carbohydrates for energy, muscle carbohydrate depletion is inevitable. Therefore a post-workout meal high in carbohydrates is required to refill muscle carbohydrate/energy stores.

However any ol' amount of carbohydrates will not do. You need to consume enough carbohydrates to promote a substantial insulin release. Insulin is the hormone responsible for shuttling carbohydrates and amino acids into the muscle. In doing this, carbohydrate resynthesis is accelerated and protein balance becomes positive, leading to rapid repair of the muscle tissue.

Therefore, by consuming a large amount of carbohydrates, you will promote a large insulin release, increase glycogen storage, and increase protein repair. Research has shown that a carbohydrate intake of 0.8 to 1.2 grams per 1 kilogram of body weight maximizes glycogen synthesis and accelerates protein repair. However, unless you've had a very long, intense workout, 1.2g/kg may be a bit excessive as excess carbohydrate can be converted to bodyfat.

Therefore I recommend 0.8g of carbohydrate per 1 kilogram of body weight for speeding up muscle carbohydrate replenishment while preventing excess fat gain (van Loon et al 2000a).

In addition, since muscle protein is degraded during exercise, the addition of a relatively large amount of protein to your post exercise meal is necessary to help rebuild the structural aspects of the muscle. After exercise, the body decreases its rate of protein synthesis and increases its rate of protein breakdown. However, the provision of protein and amino acid solutions has been shown to reverse this trend, increasing protein synthesis and decreasing protein breakdown.

Researchers have used anywhere from 0.2g - 0.4g of protein per 1 kilogram of body weight to demonstrate the effectiveness of adding protein to a post-workout carbohydrate drink (van Loon et al 2000b, Roy et al 1998). As an increased consumption of the essential amino acids may lead to a more positive protein balance, 0.4g/kg may be better than 0.2g/kg.

While your post-workout feeding should be rich protein and carbohydrate, this meal should be fat free. The consumption of essential fats is one of the most overlooked areas of daily nutritional intake but during the post workout period, eating fat can actually decrease the effectiveness of your post-workout beverage. Since fat slows down transit through the stomach, eating fat during the post workout period may slow the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates and proteins.

As your post workout feeding should be designed to promote the most rapid delivery of carbohydrates and protein to your depleted muscles, fats should be avoided during this time.

Finally, another important factor to consider is the timing of this meal. It is absolutely crucial that you consume your post-workout meal immediately after exercise. As indicated above, after exercise, the muscles are depleted and require an abundance of protein and carbohydrate. In addition, during this time, the muscles are biochemically "primed" for nutrient uptake.

This phenomenon is commonly known as the "window of opportunity". Over the course of the recovery period, this window gradually closes and by failing to eat immediately after exercise, you diminish your chances of promoting full recovery. To illustrate how quickly this window closes, research has shown that consuming a post-exercise meal immediately after working out is superior to consuming one only 1 hour later.

In addition, consuming one 1 hour later is superior to consuming one 3 hours later (Tipton et al 2001, Levenhagen et al 2001). If you wait too long, glycogen replenishment and protein repair will be compromised.

In conclusion, when you decided to start exercising you decided to give up a specific amount of time per week in the interest of getting better, physically. However, if you haven't spent the necessary time thinking about post-exercise nutrition, you're missing much of the benefit that comes with exercising.

I assure you that once you start paying attention to this variable in the recovery equation, your time in the gym will be much better invested.


Whole Food Vs. Nutritional Supplementation


Anchored firmly atop their calorie-counting soapbox, nutritionists have traditionally asserted that whole food always trumps supplemental nutrition. For them I have only one sentiment:

Always...it is a meaningless word. -Oscar Wilde

While I wholeheartedly believe that complete, unbleached, untreated, and unprocessed whole food should form the basis of any sound nutritional regimen, there are some instances in which supplements can actually be superior to whole food. In the case of post-exercise nutrition, I believe that liquid supplemental nutrition is far superior to whole food for the following reasons.

[NaturalPursuit]

#2 - The Importance of Post Workout Nutrition Continued

Liquid Meals Are Palatable And Digestible


Typically, after intense exercise, most people complain that eating a big meal is difficult. This is understandable as the exercise stress creates a situation where the hunger centers are all but shut down. However, as you now know, it's absolutely critical that you eat if you want to remodel the muscle, enlarge the muscle, or recover from the exercise.

Fortunately liquid supplemental formulas are palatable, easy to consume, and can be quite nutrient dense, providing all the nutrition you need at this time. In addition, since these formulas are structurally simple (I'll save the biochemistry for another article), the gastrointestinal tract has no difficulty processing them. Your stomach will thank you for this.


Liquid Meals Have A Fast Absorption Profile, Whole Food Is Just Too Slow


The latest research has demonstrated that liquid supplemental formulas containing fast digesting protein (whey hydrolysates and isolates) and carbohydrates (dextrose and maltodextrin) are absorbed more quickly than whole food meals.

To put this into perspective, a liquid post-exercise formula may be fully absorbed within 30 to 60 minutes, providing much needed muscle nourishment by this time. However, a slower digesting solid food meal may take 2 to 3 hours to fully reach the muscle.


Liquid Meals Take Advantage Of The "Window Of Opportunity", Whole Foods May Miss It


The faster the protein and carbohydrates get to the muscle, the better your chances for muscle building and recovery. Current research has demonstrated that subjects receiving nutrients within one hour after exercise recover more quickly than subjects receiving nutrients three hours after exercise. Liquid nutrition is making more sense, isn't it?


Liquid Meals Are Better For Nutrient Targeting


During the post exercise period, specific nutrients maximize your recovery. These include an abundance of water, high glycemic index carbohydrates, and certainamino acids (in specific ratios). It's also best to avoid fat during this time. So the only way to ensure that these nutrients are present in the right amounts is to formulate a specific liquid blend. Whole foods may miss the mark.


Post-Exercise Choices


So your workout is over and it's time to reach for your post workout meal. What do you reach for? Here are a few examples of good post-workout choices in order of effectiveness.



A specifically formulated recovery drink
1 serving Biotest Surge - (305 calories) - 25g Protein, 50g Carbohydrate, 0.5g Fat



A homemade recovery drink
1 serving whey protein + 2 servings Gatorade - (369 calories) - 25g protein, 66g Carbohydrate, 0.5g Fat



A whole food recovery meal
12 oz of skim milk + 1 serving Vector - (358 calories) - 18g protein, 65g Carbohydrate, 2.8g Fat


References




Levenhagen et al. (2001). Postexercise nutrient intake timing in humans is critical to recovery of leg glucose and protein homeostasis. Am.J.Physiol Endocrinol.Metab. 280(6): E982-993.

Tipton et al. (2001). Timing of amino acid-carbohydrate ingestion alters anabolic response of muscle to resistance exercise. Am.J.Physiol Endocrinol.Metab. 281(2): E197-206.

Roy et al. (1998). Influence of differing macronutrient intakes on muscle glycogen resynthesis after resistance exercise. JAP. 84(3): 890-896.

Van Loon et al. (2000a). Maximizing postexercise muscle glycogen synthesis: carbohydrate supplementation and the application of amino acid or protein hydrolysate mixtures. Am J Clin Nutrition. 72(1): 106-111.

Van Loon et al. (2000b). Ingestion of protein hydrolysate and amino acid-carbohydrate mixtures increases postexercise plasma insulin responses in men. J Nutr. 130(10): 2508-2513."

taken from and credit given to bodybuilding.com/fun/berardi4.htm