A Salty Situation

Every now and then you consume a little more of something than you had intended.  Maybe you saw it coming, maybe you didn't, but it happened (or was going to happen) regardless.  This kind of situation is a very common one in the diet world, and honestly, I think it usually falls into one of two categories.  You either eat too much sugar, or too much salt.  The first one I'll discuss in a later article, however I wanted to cover the necessary steps to take if you find yourself overdosing on sodium, as I happened to do this weekend (though somewhat intentionally.)

Now I knew that this weekend I would be training with my coach down in Eliot, Maine for two days, and would be spending the night in the gym.  Not wanting to break the bank on eating out, I decided to pack some food.  I only had one small suitcase, and no cooler or anything like that, so my options were limited.  Not only that, but I'd be training quite hard, therefore I knew I needed quality protein and carbs and PLENTY of each.  Can you guess the most convenient food packing option here?  That's right...CANNED FOOD.  Into my suitcase I threw two giant cans of tuna (10 oz), two giant cans of chicken (also 10 oz), a four pack of 5 oz tuna cans, and a 4 serving can of black beans (I also packed some oatmeal for breakfast, and had a wholelotta whey protein).  Every single one of these foods is AWESOMELY clean and has an epic nutritional profile, except for one little blip, which of course, would be the sodium.  Holy moley, that was a boatload of salt.  Somewhere around 2000 mg per meal if I calculated it correctly.  That's about 85% of my daily recommended intake.  What was I to do in order to battle such a crippling dosage of salt?

Well, the first thing to remember is that you cannot destroy your body (or your diet) in one or two days, no matter what you do.  It just doesn't work like that.  You won't wake up twenty pounds lighter just because you had an awesome workout the day before, and you won't wake up a fat lard the next day if you had one extra slice of cake.  Diets are about long term results, and the same goes for sodium.  Sure, if you consume a lot of it one day by accident, you'll probably retain a lot of water and feel (and look) pretty bloated.  But your heart won't stop, your blood pressure won't skyrocket, and you won't die.  Phew!  Now that we got that out of the way, let's see what I did to minimize the huge salt intake on my body.  

Firstly, if you're going to consume huge portions of salt, you need to consume even larger portions of WATER!  That's right, I probably drank two gallons each of those days.  Drinking more water will actually cause you to retain less, and will also do wonders in helping your kidneys filter out all those extra minerals.  Chug that stuff like there's no tomorrow.  I had at least two bottles of it with every meal (6 meals), as well as two bottles worth in my pre and post workout shakes.  DO NOT STOP DRINKING WATER.  I saw very minimal water retention, and I think drowning myself in the stuff did the trick.  Obviously don't drink past a semi-comfortable level, but don't be afraid to stick your head under the sink and go to town.  

Second thing to do?  Consume more POTASSIUM.  The sodium/potassium ratio in your body is a very important one, and must be respected.  In an ideal situation the ratio should be 1:1, meaning for every milligram of sodium you take in, you should have one milligram of potassium to match it.  The reasoning for this goes down to the cellular level, however without getting too complicated I'll just say that sodium and potassium are both EQUALLY responsible for ensuring proper hydration of your body, and without the correct balance you're in for trouble.  Potassium actually helps regulate the amount of sodium your body retains, so consuming more may ensure that you don't hold on to that crazy salt dosage.  It'll also help combat the hypertension inducing effects of sodium, lowering blood pressure considerably.  No matter your sodium intake, it's usually a good idea to make sure to eat potassium rich foods on a regular basis.  This goes even more-so if you're regularly physically active.  While I suggest whole foods such as bananas for this purpose, another easy way to get more potassium quickly is to consume a sports drink like Powerade or Gatorade (my solution for this weekend.)  

Despite a pile of salty food this weekend, I kept my diet clean and my body happy by counteracting the effects of excess sodium intake.  A little too much salt every now and then is no reason to fret, as long as you don't make it a habit.  Keep conscience of your sodium intake, and take the simple steps listed above in order to ensure it doesn't get out of hand.  

Eat big, train hard, drink LOTS OF WATER!  Good luck!

Lots of Protein, Little Gains

This is kind of a fun thing to think about, at least in my opinion.  All you muscle heads out there: have you ever really stopped to consider all those supplements you're taking, the ones that claim to be super effective, and contain recovery formulas so advanced that they're basically GUARANTEED to make you bigger, stronger, faster, more quickly than anything else on the market?  Well I've got a picture for you:

That there is two 13 gallon bags filled with containers of protein, representing about 8 months worth of supplements.  Contained inside are five Combat Powder tubs (4lbs of protein each), two tubs of Wheybolic Extreme 60 (2lbs of protein each), and two generic brand protein tubs (I believe one was a Six Star whey protein tub, and a Body Fortress protein tub, each again containing 2lbs.)  I've also had a couple more tubs of the Body Fortress protein that were thrown out previous to this instance.  That's a total of at least 32lbs of whey protein, not to mention a couple other supplement bottles in there like Amplified N.O. Loaded pre-workout and Purple Wraath (a branch chain amino acid blend.)

Let's think about this for a second.  Do I have more muscle mass than I did at the beginning of this year?  I sure do!  But do I have an extra 32 lbs of solid muscle packed onto my frame?  NOT...EVEN...CLOSE.  If I've gained 4 lbs of muscle this year, I'd be quite pleased.  And believe me, it didn't all come from the supplements (I've been eating like a horse.)

So what does this mean?  Are supplements worthless?  Are they placebos?  Are the supplement companies screwing you out of your money?

The answer is no.....and a little bit of yes at the same time.

Sure, you can bet those companies make their products for a LOT less money than they charge you.  But are they selling you worthless powder in a plastic jug?  NO!  Supplements have come an extremely long way since their introduction in the 70's, and they ARE very advanced blends of fast digesting proteins that your body has a much easier time using to build muscle. Believe me, I wouldn't be able to work out nearly as often or as hard as I do without supplementation.  They greatly assist with recovery, and keep me feeling tip top in order to hit it heavy as often as possible.

But supplements AREN'T miracle workers.  The muscle building process is a slow and tedious one, and despite the quality of that powder you're putting into your body, at the end of the day only a tiny fraction of it will be used to build the solid muscle you so desperately desire.  It's a depressing fact, but it's one you should know before you go scooping loads and loads of the latest whey protein blend into your shaker bottle.

In my opinion, you should obviously keep supplementing with proteins, pre-workouts, and stuff like that.  They work.  But don't go overboard on the dosage, because you'll just be wasting the stuff.  Your body  can only use so much, and as the picture above shows quite clearly, it adds up after a while.

Oh, and if you're looking for a way to cut down on supplement cost, how about eating some more real food?

Lift hard, eat big, and get strong.  Good Luck!

Muscle Pharm COMBAT Powder *Review*

I've been using Combat powder for long enough, I believe it's time I let the world know what I think.  And if I could, I would climb to the highest mountain, and from the summit scream to all humanity just one simple phrase:...."THIS STUFF RULES!!!!"  That's right, Muscle Pharm's Combat powder really is a fantastic protein blend in so many ways, and if you're looking to change it up from your old boring, generic whey protein WITHOUT breaking the bank, I suggest you give Combat powder some serious consideration.

Why is it so great?  Well what makes Combat powder so unique is that not only does it have all sorts of high grade whey protein blends in it (hydrolized, isolate, and just plain concentrate), it ALSO has all sorts of other protein sources blended into it which your body needs to fully recover.  This stuff has egg white protein, micellar casein (a long acting protein that will feed your muscles for up to 8 hours after you're done lifting!) and a heaping load of glutamine which aids tremendously in shortening recovery time.  Listen:  training for Olympic style weightlifting means I lift every day, and lift heavy 95% of the time.  I need a protein that will bring me back up to snuff ASAP, in one night's sleep minimum.  This stuff does that.  It's got a rocking protein blend, and an AWESOME amino-acid blend as well to give your muscles basically everything necessary to rebuild for another day of heavy weights and hard reps.

How about the nutritional profile?  I can assure you that this protein is very high quality stuff with VERY high quality ingredients.  It's won "best break-out brand" and "best packaging" from bodybuilding.com, and was nominated for "best protein powder."  The nutritional profile obviously has a lot to live up to, and it's no surprise that it doesn't disappoint one bit.  Combat powder is extremely low carb, low sugar, low fat, and packed with 25 grams of protein per scoop!  Here's the nutritional information right off Muscle Pharm's website.  Take a gander:

Supplement Facts

Serving Size: 1 Scoop Approx. (33.6g)

Servings Per Container Approx.: 54

	Amount Per Serving	%DV
Vitamins & Minerals
Calories	140
Calories from Fat	15
Total Fat	1.5g	4%
Saturated Fat	1g	8%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	75mg	27%
Sodium	150mg	6%
Potassium	200mg	6%
Total Carbohydrates	5g	2%
Dietary Fiber	1g	4%
Sugars	2g	*
Protein	25g	50%
Calcium		13%
Iron		3%
Multi-Level Amino Acid Growth Matrix	33g	*

Combat Powder Proprietary Time Release System:
Micro Filtered Whey Protein Blend (Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Hydrolysate, Micellar Casein, Egg White Albumen, L-Glutamine, BCAA Blend: Alanine, L-Leucine, L-Valine, L-Isoleucine, Lysine, Arginine, Glycine, Histidine, Tyrosine, Cystine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Serine, Aspartic Acid, Threonine, Tryptophan*

Digestive Enzyme Blend
Protease, Lactase

Other ingredients
Natural and Artificial Flavors, Inulin, Sodium Chloride, Acesulfame, Potassium, Sucralose, Soy Lechtin, Potassium Citrate

* The Tryptophan in this product is naturally occurring.

*Daily Value (DV) not established

How's it taste?  DELICIOUS.  Seriously, this may be the best tasting protein powder in existence, and I'm not alone in that opinion.  Countless reviews of this product have all commented on how great this stuff tastes, and how AMAZING it is to drink compared to what ever protein they switched from last.  Before Combat, I was on "Wheybolic Extreme 60" from Amplified Muscle Performance.  Let me tell you now that this powder blows them out of the water as far as taste goes.  There are 6 awesome flavors of Combat powder:  Banana Cream, Vanilla, Chocolate Milk, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Cookies & Cream, and Triple Berry Blast.  

My personal favorite?  By far the Chocolate Peanut Butter.  I swear this stuff is like drinking a Reese's for 5 minutes straight.  It's just plain heavenly, utterly brilliant.  If you want a great tasting protein, pick up some Chocolate Peanut Butter Combat powder from Muscle Pharm.  It's as simple as that.  

How's it mix?  Again, Combat powder impresses me enormously when it comes to mixability.  In my shaker bottle, when thoroughly shaken, there's no clumping, no chunking, and no flavor imbalances.  Plus, the flavor is powerful enough in this protein so that you can mix it with more water than you'd initially believe.  I take two scoops per workout, and I mix them with about 20 oz of water.  The result?  An incredibly creamy taste that completely disguises the fact that it's mixed into water.  No more watery protein taste for me, thanks.  I'll take Combat powder.

Does it work?  Heck yeah!  Since I've been on this powder, my squat has gone up about 10-20 kg, and my clean and jerk and snatch have gone up 8 kg and 5 kg respectively.  That's a pretty big improvement in not too much time.  I feel strong on this powder, and every day I want to test it out to see if it's worked for me.  I've smashed all sorts of PR's other than my competition lifts while on this powder as well, so yes, I can safely say that Combat powder works.  

So what's it cost?  Not much.  Right now at bodybuilding.com it's for sale at $39.99 for 4lbs, an amount that will last you over a month and a half if you only take one scoop each day.  I think you'll agree, that's an absolutely amazing deal for such a high quality product, and is definitely worth more than the $70 other companies are asking for their inferior products.  On bodybuilding.com only, there's a new flavor too, called "S'mores."  Here's a link to the deal, hope it lasts a little longer for all of your sakes.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/musclepharm/combat.html

So what's the verdict?  Well, it's not surprsing that I will be ordering this stuff for as long as that online deal persists.  This protein is high quality, versatile, and feeds your body in all sorts of beneficial ways that other protein powders just plain DON'T.  Average whey protein absorbs quickly, then backs off in a rather short span of time.  Combat powder just keeps on building and building, feeding those tired muscles for 8 hours.  I don't have to be sponsored by Muscle Pharm to say that I love Combat powder and highly recommend it to anyone looking to pack on some serious strength and muscle mass. 

http://musclepharm.com/combat-powder