Nutrition
To understand the complexity and effectiveness of supplements in the pre-workout category, you need to know what started it all: nitric oxide boosters. Nitric oxide is a gas that has made a name for itself in the supplement industry. Just over a decade ago, nitric oxide was anything but a household name in gyms or supplement stores. However, this was soon to change.
The first nitric oxide booster supplements consisted of just a single amino acid: L-arginine. Today, such supplements consist of a combination of a variety of advanced ingredients and technical delivery systems. Virtually overnight, this supplement category has gone from an unknown nobody to a muscle-building superstar. Hardly any other supplement has ever undergone such an evolution in such a short period of time. How did this happen? Here is the story of the efforts that have transformed nitric oxide boosters into the most innovative supplements you can find on the market today.
What is nitric oxide?
Nitric oxide is a gaseous molecule that relaxes the smooth muscle cells of blood vessels, causing the blood vessels to dilate, allowing more blood to flow to the muscles. This increased blood flow also means the supply of more nutrients such as amino acids and glucose, which increase energy production during exercise and delay fatigue. In addition, toxic metabolic products are removed more quickly and muscle regeneration is accelerated during and after training.
What does science say?
Numerous studies support the effectiveness of nitric oxide booster supplements. The first study was conducted with arginine alpha ketoglutarate (arginine AKG) and concluded that subjects who took this compound over an eight-week period before training were able to significantly increase their bench press strength. Other studies conducted with arginine confirm that arginine increases muscle strength, reduces muscle fatigue and allows subjects to train longer and at a higher intensity than members of the control group.
Born in the lab
As with most supplements, nitric oxide started in the lab. Unlike most other supplement ingredients, the nitric oxide molecule helped the scientists who decoded its function in 1986 to win a Nobel Prize. After this discovery, word quickly spread about nitric oxide's ability to relax blood vessels and thereby increase blood flow. This not only led to a huge amount of medical research into the exact effects of nitric oxide, but also attracted the attention of scientists in the supplement industry. One company stood out: MRI (Medical Reseach Industry) immediately understood the effects nitric oxide could have on muscle growth. Increasing blood flow to the muscles during exercise generates a stronger muscle pump and allows more nutrients and oxygen to be delivered to the muscles, resulting in more energy during muscle contractions.
In 1997, MRI developed the very first nitric oxide booster, which was launched under the name NO2. Back then, NO2 was basically nothing more than a dose of the amino acid arginine. However, as simple as this may sound, it was very effective as arginine can easily be converted into nitric oxide in the body. Since regular L-arginine is not particularly well absorbed by the body, MRI used a form of arginine called L-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate (arginine AKG for short), which is basically arginine with an alpha-ketoglutarate molecule attached to it. The alpha-ketoglutarate increases the absorption rate of arginine so that the body can absorb more arginine per dose. And the more arginine the body absorbs, the more nitric oxide it can produce - at least up to a point.
The humble beginnings
Arginine AKG became a big hit. Users of this active ingredient loved the stronger pump they experienced in the gym and the ability to train at a higher intensity. The increase in nitric oxide production went viral and this led every major sports supplement manufacturer and even a majority of the smaller companies to focus their scientists, development team and marketing team on creating a better nitric oxide supplement. Many supplement manufacturers simply followed in MRI's footsteps and launched their own versions of NO2 that also contained arginine alpha ketoglutarate or other forms of arginine.
Other supplement manufacturers quickly realized that even though arginine is quite effective at increasing nitric oxide levels in the body, there is a limit to the amount of arginine the body can convert to nitric oxide. The limiting factor in this conversion is an enzyme called nitric oxide synthase (NOS for short). Nitric oxide synthase is the enzyme needed to catalyze the conversion of arginine to nitric oxide. Increasing the activity of this enzyme increases the amount of arginine that is converted into nitric oxide and, of course, the amount of nitric oxide that is produced. There are several ingredients that have been shown to increase the activity of nitric oxide synthase. These compounds include:
- Pycnogenol: This antioxidant flavonoid, extracted from the bark of French maritime pine trees, provides other antioxidant health benefits in addition to increasing nitric oxide production by increasing nitric oxide synthase activity.
- American Ginseng: This form of ginseng, also known as Panax Quinquefolius, contains active ingredients called ginsenosides, which have been shown to increase nitric oxide synthase activity.
- Gynostemma Pentaphyllum: This plant, also known as Jiaogulan, is often referred to as southern ginseng as it grows mainly in southern and central China and has a chemical composition and function similar to Asian ginseng. The active compounds contained in Jiaogulan are called gypenosides and act in a similar way to the ginsenosides contained in ginseng by increasing the activity of the enzyme nitric oxide synthase.
- Histidine: Together with beta-alanine, this amino acid forms the active substance carnosine, which is of crucial importance for muscle strength and endurance. Histidine is also a precursor of histamine, which is involved in the body's immune response. In addition to this, histamine also increases the activity of the enzyme nitric oxide synthase. With the discovery of these excipients, supplement manufacturers began to combine them with other ingredients in nitric oxide booster supplements to bring even more effective nitric oxide boosters to the market. This helped this supplement category to become even more effective and popular and sales of nitric oxide booster supplements continued to rise.
Combined benefits
In the early days of nitric oxide boosters, most products focused solely on increasing nitric oxide levels. However, the beginning of the 21st century marked the start of a new era of nitric oxide supplements. The continuous pressure to improve existing products eventually led to the development of N.O.-Xplode by BSN, which marked the beginning of combined pre-workout products. N.O.-Xplode was the first nitric oxide booster supplement to combine stimulants and other performance-enhancing compounds with ingredients to increase nitric oxide production.
Before the introduction of complete pre-workout formulas, consumers had to rely solely on stimulants to get them through a tough training session, using combination products containing ingredients such as caffeine and ephedrine. With this in mind, BSN launched N.O.-Xplode. Although the supplement category of nitric oxide booster supplements had been on the market for some time and was enjoying increasing popularity, it was not yet synonymous with pre-workout supplements. Additionally, there were no "all-in-one" pre-workout formulas that provided nitric oxide boosters for pumps, creatine for strength gains, caffeine for increased energy and electrolytes for better hydration. N.O.-Xplode was born out of the need to satisfy all the needs for a muscle growth stimulating workout: Energy, mental focus, workout intensity (endurance, strength and hydration) and pump.
Nitric oxide booster supplements today
One way this supplement category continues to evolve is by moving away from arginine and using other ingredients to increase nitric oxide levels. One of the companies that has continued to drive this development is MPH, which launched the NO Bomb product in 2010. Until then, arginine and arginine AKG were the ingredients of choice used in most nitric oxide boosters. With Glyco Carn (Glycine Proponyl-L-Carnitine-GPLC), one of the active ingredients in NO Bomb, a new nitric oxide booster ingredient appeared on the scene.
In addition to this, NO-Bomb took advantage of another new discovery in the field of nitric oxide production: the nitrate-nitrite pathway. This newly discovered pathway acts independently of the arginine pathway and studies conducted with nitrate-rich beet juice have shown this pathway to be highly effective in increasing nitric oxide levels. NO-Bomb contained a standardized beet extract that activates the nitrate-nitrite pathway and increases nitric oxide levels. Perhaps the biggest breakthrough in nitric oxide production to date, however, is the ability to deliver a direct source of nitric oxide to the body. The supplement company Muscle Meds has launched eNoxide, the first supplement to deliver a true nitric oxide molecule. eNoxide is not a nitric oxide precursor, but a true nitric oxide molecule bound to an amino acid transport molecule. After absorption into the body, this compound dissolves and releases real nitric oxide.
The future of nitric oxide boosters
Just as nitric oxide boosters have continued to evolve over the last 15 years, they will continue to evolve in the future and become even more effective than they are today. Although it is not possible to predict exactly what discoveries will be made in the world of nitric oxide boosters, some experts suspect that future products are likely to contain compounds that reduce muscle protein breakdown. A nitric oxide booster with added anti-catabolic protection is likely to be the next natural advancement. So far, the goal has been to increase performance by eliminating all limitations and maximizing the stimulants used. However, the real goal is to build more muscle while reducing body fat, and this cannot be achieved simply by maximizing performance. In the future, a supplement that allows users to maintain every gram of muscle they've built through the use of an effective nitric oxide booster/pre-workout supplement will make this supplement category even more important for strength and power athletes.
The history of nitric oxide and nitric oxide booster supplements at a glance:
- 1772: Nitric oxide is discovered by Joseph Priestly. For the next 200 years, nitric oxide is thought to be a toxic gas
- 1986: Scientists discover that nitric oxide is naturally produced in the body of humans and other mammals and relaxes blood vessels
- 1997: The company Medical Research Institute (MRI) launches the supplement NO2, which contains arginine alpha ketoglutarate (AKG) as an active ingredient.
- 1998: The discovery of nitric oxide and its role in the dilation of blood vessels is awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
- 1999: The company Maximum Human Performance (MPH) launches the supplement TRIAC, which combines arginine and creatine.
- 2004: BSN launches the product NO-Xplode, which combines nitric oxide boosters with stimulants, creatine and electrolytes.
- 2005: Muscle Tech launches naNOx0, a nitric oxide booster in the form of caplets with rapid delivery for an almost immediate onset of action.
- 2008: BSN expands the NO-Xplode formula to include beta-alanine and several other forms of creatine
- 2009: Muscle Meds launches eNOXIDE, in which nitric oxide is bound to an amino acid and which releases nitric oxide in the body when this bond is broken.
- 2010: MPH launches NO-Bomb, the first supplement to contain a clinical dose of GPLC and deliver nitrates as nitric oxide precursors.
- 2011: UGENX launches PUMP'D Nitric Gel, a gel for application to the skin that enables a local increase in nitric oxide-mediated blood flow.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/turbo-boost-nitric-oxide-pre-workout-special.html
Do you avoid these mistakes and achieve a defined body? Are you making one or more of these mistakes? Check the list.
1 - Using diets designed for physically inactive women
Most popular diet and weight loss books are designed with what marketers refer to as the target audience in mind. This is the type of person the product is designed for. Trendy diet books and weight loss plans advertised on television target one demographic: physically inactive women.
Are you a middle-class housewife with 2.3 children in your thirties or forties who thinks that exercising means going for a walk with your girlfriends? No? Then why are you dieting like a housewife from the yogurt commercials? Diets for average people are designed to achieve the goals of an average person: a low weight on the scales. Even men succumb to the obsession with body weight, many of them not even realizing that there is such a thing as body composition or catabolism.
"Hey, I lost 10 pounds!" Yes, you lost 5 pounds of fat, 3 pounds of muscle and 2 pounds of water. Congratulations, you're thinner and weaker, you're producing less testosterone and your metabolism has slowed down a bit more. You fit in with the opposite sex without having to inject estrogen or cut off your penis. Great weight loss success, lady. Now go watch a telenovela.
Unless you're extremely obese and just trying not to die during the next year, your diet goals probably exceed the capacity of a housewife's diet capabilities. You want less fat, but you also want more muscle, more strength and better athletic ability. None of this can be provided by your mother's diet plan or the latest Dr. Oz book.
The solution
If you need to follow a diet plan to get back on track, then you need to make sure it's designed with your target audience in mind: a man who works out and who cares more about looking and performing better than dubious numbers on the scale. Make sure this diet plan takes into account that you want to build muscle and be strong.
Note: Such a plan is unlikely to be advertised by a D-list celebrity, nor does it have a name like "Kale Detox: Tighten Your Tummy in Two Days!" You'll find plenty of better options on this site and the relevant bodybuilding sites on the internet.
2 - Overdoing it with the "you need to eat to get bulky and muscular"
Most men love to eat and eat a lot. So it's easy to overdo it with the calorie surplus when the focus is on building muscle. There's a difference between eating enough to provide the body with enough energy for training, recovery and muscle hypertrophy and eating so much that you look more like a fat guy with a serviceable trapezius than a muscular exerciser.
Massier arms don't count if 7 centimeters of your girth is slobbery fat. And if your abdominal girth is growing, then it's pretty safe to say that you're significantly exceeding the calorie plus you need to optimally fuel hypertrophy with energy and building materials. You are simply building up stubborn fat deposits and perhaps even stretching the skin permanently, without building more muscle mass than with fewer calories.
The worst case scenario is that you develop anabolic resistance: the impaired ability to build muscle caused by excessive calorie intake over time. It starts with insulin resistance, leads to leptin resistance, and when this problem is fully developed, it will manifest itself in excessive fat gain, loss of pump during training, stagnant strength gains, inflammation, and even low libido. Also, shedding excessive amounts of fat after each bulking phase becomes harder and harder and soon you'll have that pregnant potbelly look that will take years off your life.
The solution
About 100 kcal above maintenance calories is all you really need to provide the energy required for muscle gains. This is about building muscle, not building an impressive potbelly. Use a targeted diet around training to provide that extra energy, not chocolate bars or fast food. The quality of the food matters. Anyone who says otherwise is selling books and fantasies.
3 - Eating like a professional bodybuilder
Men fall into the trap of making mistake number two, copying the diet of your favorite bodybuilder or your favorite muscle-bound movie star. The problem? Well, most men don't have the genetics of a pro bodybuilder, they don't perform the marathon training sessions of a pro, and they don't use the performance enhancing substances that the pros use. Heck, even guys who use steroids probably don't use even a tenth of what the pros use. All of these points allow for leeway in diet. The pros can get away with insane diet plans because of steroids (at least for a couple years).
You can't. If you follow the muscle building diet plans of these people, then you will get fat and ruin your health. And if you follow the diet plans of the professionals, you will lose muscle...and ruin your health. And sadly, many of these competitive bodybuilders and gurus make a living selling these dysfunctional diet plans to google-addicted groopies. And those personalized diet plans they sell? They usually have three or four versions of the same plan with slight variations and simply tell you that the plan you receive in the mail is customized for you. In reality, such plans are far from personalized.
The solution
Look critically at nutrition advice from professionals. You may be able to pick up a few tips from these guys - many of them are in fact quite intelligent - but always remember what their plans are: THEIR PLANS. Not yours. Your body is a laboratory and you need to run your own experiments to find out what works for you. This takes some brain power and some work. Don't like that idea? Then keep paying someone for the privilege of being their nutritional bitch.
4 - "Define" when there's nothing to show under the flab
Many men today suffer from the (delusional) notion that if they lose 5 or 10 kilos, they will uncover a shapely body that deserves to be on the cover of a fitness magazine. What they realize afterwards is that there wasn't really anything under that layer of flab worth showing off.
It's understandable. You're working out with weights, but you still look kind of soft and flabby. And visible abs might increase your chances of seeing a woman naked who isn't on a website. So you continue with your fat loss diet. The result? Not really a better physical appearance, but a weakened metabolism and the inability to eat three carbohydrate sources at once without building fat.
First of all, let's remember that the lean participants in these Mens Physique competitions usually weigh around 90 kilos in the upper ranks - defined. And most of them are bigger than their brethren in the bodybuilding category. So if you weigh a soft 78 kilos, you won't really be happy with a leaner 68 kilos. Muscle matters - not just how low your body fat percentage is. Make sure you have some muscle before you embark on a definition plan.
The solution
Many people recommend that these guys build mass before they diet down. And sure, they need to build muscle. But skinny yet flabby guys often have the same underlying problems as fat guys - a dysfunctional nutrient uptake mechanism and poor nutrient partitioning abilities. Basically, when these guys eat to build muscle, they mainly build fat. And when they diet to lose that fat, they also lose muscle mass. The solution in this case is to use neither a targeted mass building diet nor a fat loss diet. Instead, the underlying problems need to be addressed.
Yes, cut out the obvious junk foods that are problematic for everyone, but don't diet. Instead, repair those metabolically active but broken fat cells with cyanidin 3-glucoside to selectively increase insulin sensitivity in the muscles. In short, this means that your body will release and burn fat more easily while maximizing nutrient uptake into the muscles. Basically, food will be used instead of stored and you can now build muscle and lose fat without extreme dieting.
5 - Too much beer
T-Nation editor Dani Shugart has worked as a nutritionist for some time. 90 percent of her male clients lost fat by reducing or eliminating their alcohol intake. And these weren't real drinkers, just ordinary men who had enjoyed a few beers after work and in front of the TV.
Apart from the calories, alcohol itself is not so much a 'fat-storer' as a fat-burning suppressor. And if your goal is to lose fat, then it's not wise to take yourself out of fat-burning mode for several hours. And high alcohol consumption activates several mechanisms that will ruin your protein synthesis and recovery.
A beer after work or on the weekend won't ruin your body development right away, of course, but can you stop at this point? And if your main goal is fat loss, can you accept that this will stall your progress? If you are trying not to exceed a certain amount of calories per day, will you allow yourself 2 beers totaling 300 kcal or save those calories for foods or supplements that will bring you closer to your goal? Maybe your body development goals aren't that important to you.
Sure, you can get away with it - at least for a while and at least when you're younger. But most men can't. And many don't realize this until they're over 40 and have to crawl out of a deep hole.
The solution
Take a serious look at your drinking habits. Give up the beer and ignore whatever your lame-ass friends will think. Has it gone too far? Is it hindering your progress? If you absolutely need a post-work stress reliever and live in a state where it's legal, then just 2.5mg of THC has all the relaxing benefits and virtually none of the downsides of alcohol. And you can even get this in the form of a 2 kcal mint, so your lungs will be as healthy as your waistline.
6 - Not learning how to cook
Mom's gone and now grown men can no longer feed themselves properly. Sad. Not learning how to cook is like not learning how to wipe your butt. Are you unable to prepare your own meals that fit your goals? Are you more "alpha" because you have to rely on others to feed you? Are you smarter because you don't know how to do something that is necessary every day of the year, a few times a day?
These gaps in their skills cause many men to depend on others to make the nutritional choices for them - whether that's a partner who doesn't care about your silly goals or some fast food franchise or food manufacturer who would put cocaine in your frozen pizza if it meant you'd buy more of it. Cooking your own food is a very basic form of self-reliance. If you can't feed yourself, then not only are you willfully ignorant, but you're putting your body development goals in the hands of others - and those people don't really care about your goals.
The solution
Become a man and put on an apron. Okay, you can skip the apron. But start working on the basic skills and take back control. The internet is here to help you.
7 - Become complacent
Poor women. There is more social pressure on them not to be fat. They are pressured to look good and looking good usually means not being obese. And that's not a bad thing. "Oh no, I need to stay in better shape because society demands more of me!" Boo hoo. You know they like to look good and living longer is another plus. Sometimes outside pressure encourages us to make better choices.
Men often don't experience this pressure to the same extent. Big bellies and man boobs are part of the uniform of the over 35s in North America. It's expected and it's pitiful. Women are often surrounded by other women who are constantly concerned about their bodies or their diets in general. This is typically not the case for men. Their friends are fat. They eat a lot of junk. And their social activities partly revolve around drinking and eating.
I once had a fat client who told me that it was impossible for him to improve his diet because he watched sports with his friends and he had to eat with them. Yes, he was really grown up and still had both testicles.
The solution
Get a divorce. No, not really, but imagine that you are getting divorced. Free yourself from that "married guy", dad-bod complacency. That's right, pretend you're back on the market after all these years and that, if you're lucky, new eyes will see you naked. Maybe younger, more athletic eyes. And she expects you to go mountaineering with her. Are you still happy with the body your dietary choices have given you? Probably not. You may adjust your workouts, but you'll definitely feel compelled to revamp your diet too.
8 - Thinking you can still eat like a teenager
High school is over. You're no longer 17, you're no longer playing multiple sports, and you're no longer working out several hours a day almost every day of the week. You're just that kid in your mind. Most men still catch touchdown passes and occasionally act like teenagers, even if their bodies no longer fit that mental image of themselves.
Even if you work out regularly, your time is probably limited and you have other responsibilities. You can no longer get away with eating for two football training sessions a day, which has been replaced by a 45 minute training session with weights and stress at work. Your diet needs to be adapted to your current needs and activity level.
The solution
It's time to eat like an adult. You start again. Forget the memories of what used to work and what you used to be able to eat. Stand in front of the mirror and ask yourself what THIS body needs. Probably something different than what your teenage body got away with.
Fat loss starts in your mind. Clean it up with some honest evaluation and you'll be able to make a good diet plan work.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/8-mistakes-men-make-with-diets
By Chris Shugart | 05/06/16
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