TOPIC: CREATINE LOADING

Hey everyone, just a quick one today! We have been getting alot of questions about creatine and the proper protocol on how to load before exercise. For those who take this supplement and are interested, the Australian Institute of Sport recommends 5 days of repeated doses consisting of four 5g doses per day. After this period, a maintenance dose of 3g per day is needed for 28 days. After this, you may choose to have a washout period. For further info, check out the link below.

Link: http://bit.ly/17ASiAz

 

Mission Nutrition 🙂

TOPIC: BETA ALANINE REVIEW

Hey guys and girls and welcome to another supplement review. If you have ever taken, currently taking or thinking of taking beta alanine as a supplement to improve sports performance, this post is for you!

So what is beta alanine? Beta alanine is a naturally occurring amino acid which is a rate limiting precursor of carnosine. In simple terms, this means the amount of carnosine present in the body is dependent on the amount of beta alanine ingested. So what’s carnosine you ask? Carnosine is a dipeptide which is highly concentrated in the brain and muscle tissue. Carnosine in muscle tissue has been observed to increase the strength of muscle contractions in high intensity exercise. From what research tells us, supplementing with beta alanine can increase levels of muscle carnosine by 40-80%. This supplementation is very similar to creatine loading but in this case with beta alanine.

After completing a brief literature review we found that beta alanine is still recognised by the AIS as a category B supplement. This means it still requires research before it is scientifically proven to be effective.

In the meantime, for those currently taking this supplement, the newest article written by Stegen et al. 2013 has found that beta alanine loading is 64% more effective with a meal than loading the supplement individually. They revealed the mechanism behind this loading is similar to creatine loading involving the hormone insulin. Therefore for those who feel this supplement is effective, try loading with a meal. For the rest of us, we will continue to wait until beta alanine is approved by the AIS as an effective supplement for sport performance. It won’t be long!

 

Mission Nutrition

TOPIC: Q&A PRE-WORKOUT

Hey everyone, we have a question from Matt. He writes, “Given the recent concern over ingredients in certain pre-workout products, what should I be looking for in a pre-workout to ensure that it will both increase my performance and do it safely”?

Our answer:

That’s a great and wise question Matt. As many of you may or may not know, the supplement industry is a global multi-billion dollar industry with supplements ranging from safe and beneficial to dangerous and dud. For those who purchase supplements on a monthly basis, you might be familiar with a product called Jack3d which was developed by USPlabs as a concentrated pre-workout supplement. It was recently stripped off the market as it contained an ingredient called 1,3 dimethylamylamine (DMAA). The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S issued warning notices for the safety of its use as reports of severe adverse effects and cause of death were arising. Although DMAA has been scientifically researched to show various gains in lean muscle development and can stimulate fat loss, we do not recommend this pre-workout concentrate as there are other substrates which have also been scientifically researched and can boost performance safely. These substrates include, creatine, caffeine, nitrates and beta-alanine which have all been proven in scientific-peer-reviewed journal articles to increase exercise performance in a safe manner. We will be covering all of these pre-workout substrates throughout the year but feel free to research on your own. I hope this answer has shed some light on some pre-workout substrates which can increase performance without burdening health. Happy reading everyone!!

Mission Nutrition 🙂

TOPIC: SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN PERFORMANCE ENHANCING SUBSTANCES

Hey everyone, regarding the recent drug scandals we thought it would be our duty to release some information regarding sports performance supplements which will enhance performance in a legal manner. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has devised a system where performance enhancing products are categorised into 4 groups based on their scientific effectiveness and legality. For those who have sporting goals and seek an effective performance enhancing substance (pre-workout, during exercise, post-workout), “category A” should be most looked into. This can be viewed below:

http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/supplements/classification_test

Please like and share this status if it was beneficial to you!

Mission Nutrition 🙂

TOPIC: CREATINE LOADING PROTOCOL

Hey guys, we have a question from Eric. He posts, “when is the best time to use creatine”?

That’s a great question Eric! Creatine is also known as methylguanidine-acetic acid; a compound which is derived from amino acids. It is a muscle fuel and assists us in the resynthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) during exercise. In other words, it helps us rebuild energy faster during exercise so we don’t have to wait around as long. In order for this to be an advantage, creatine must be ‘loaded’ before exercise activity. The general protocol for loading of creatine is 5g at 4-6 doses (per day) of creatine monohydrate with carbohydrate for the first 5 days to increase muscle creatine concentration by 20%. After this stage, you can maintain this concentration by taking 5g of creatine each day. This concentration of creatine can remain inside our muscles for 4-5 weeks before returning to normal concentration. Therefore, the best time to use creatine is a minimum of 5 days before competition or exercise in order for a visible increase in exercise performance. Hope this helps Eric and if you guys found this helpful give us a like!

Mission Nutrition 🙂