To most people outside the gym, the word “muscles” brings to mind huge bulging muscle bellies and bodybuilders. The importance of muscle mass, strength, and metabolic function in the performance of exercise and sports, has never been questioned. However, muscles aren’t just for show. Here I will explain why.
Someone once said “there’s no sunshine without coffee.” I tend to agree. However, there’s a great deal more to understand regarding the benefits of caffeine – the central nervous system stimulant most people associate with coffee – and its effects on mental acuity, performance, etc. In this article I’m going to cover what people really need to know about this topic, and suggest a way to get the most bang for your money when it comes to this highly popular beverage and supplement.
The Basics….
Caffeine – a compound in the methylxanthine family – has its effects through various mechanisms on the central nervous system, and to be honest, I doubt those mechanisms are of great interest to most readers, so I won’t bother with an extensive discussion on it here. Suffice to say, caffeine positively impacts memory, performance, endurance, coordination and increases arousal, vigilance, while reducing fatigue, to name a few effects. Anyone who has used straight caffeine knows the stuff works, which is why the military, for example, adds it to gum as well as other things like bars and such. We all know the “energy drink/shot” category is all the rage these days even outside the gym setting. Although caffeine is not for everyone to be sure, it’s amazingly non-toxic. OK, so users of caffeine either know all this, or have at least experienced it, and don’t need much convincing it’s effective stuff for its intended uses. Let’s move into the more interesting info of this article, shall we?
The Institutes Of Medicine – commissioned by The DOD – just put out a paper of interest I found very interesting looking at the impact of Nutrition and Traumatic Brain Injury. The paper was called:
“The Nutrition and Traumatic Brain Injury Improving Acute and Subacute Health Outcomes in Military Personnel”
The report outlines key nutritional interventions that may be of value to TBI. Below is the summery with link to download summery report as PDF file. What I found particularly interesting was the identification of creatine (among others) as a possible nutrient of benefit. I have written about creatine as a possible Neurological Protection to brain injury and other insults:
A growing number of studies have found that creatine can protect the brain from neurotoxic agents, certain forms of injury and other insults.
Several in vitro studies found that neurons exposed to either glutamate or beta-amyloid (both highly toxic to neurons and involved in various neurological diseases) were protected when exposed to creatine.3 The researchers hypothesized that,
“… cells supplemented with the precursor creatine make more phosphocreatine (PCr) and create larger energy reserves with consequent neuroprotection against stressors.”
There’s various ways to figure out your cals and macro nutrients, most of them far more complicated then is needed. Here I give a simple way figure figure out both, and remove the mystery of macronutrient ratios that will work well for most of the people most of the time. I tried to get all ‘high art’ and film noir with the effects in this vid, and well, I probably won’t do it again! Sorry, wanted to play with some of the effects the software has I have not tried. 
“Knowledge is power” – Sir Francis Bacon
By Will Brink
The above title is one of the best-known expressions in the English language. It was true when it was penned by philosopher Sir Francis Bacon in 1597, and it’s true to this very day… It applies well to the issues of nutrition, supplements, and training, be it to gain muscle mass and strength, or to lose fat.
Can one make progress in their respective goals (e.g., losing bodyfat, gaining muscle mass, increasing strength, etc.) knowing essentially nothing about training, nutrition, or supplements? Maybe….If you do make any progress, it will be slow, hit or miss at best, and often the progress comes in spite of what you did, not because of it! Clearly, a base level of knowledge of a given topic – in this case nutrition, training, and supplements – is essential to obtaining one’s goals. Conversely, does this mean you need to be a rocket surgeon to make steady progress in losing fat or gaining strength and muscle mass? Of course not! As I said in my article on the K.I.S.S principle for making progress (1) :
How important is meal frequency? Is 6 meals per day really needed? How about 3 or 4? I cover the debate in this new vid!!!
Two articles mentioned in this vid you may want to read for all the details:
Yes, the Glycemic Index (GI) is an important part of the nutrition puzzle, but too much emphasis is placed on the GI by ‘net pseudo experts and companies attempting to sell you products. In this vid I cover the essential facts of the GI. I go into great depth about the GI in various articles here on the BrinkZone, as well as in both ebooks Fat Loss Revealed and Bodybuilding Revealed.
Casein or whey, which is best?
The casein vs. whey issue seems to contribute to much confusion for people. In this vid, I touch on the essential differences between them. I go into much more depth in the “pages” of Bodybuilding Revealed on casein, but an article that goes into depth regarding the shortcomings of the studies comparing these two proteins – as well as additional info on the whole pre and post workout nutrition topic – is mentioned in this vid and found HERE.
Fat Facts: The Truth About Dietary Fat. How much fat do you REALLY need? What types of fat are best? How much fat should be in the diet? What types of fat maximize testosterone production?! I cover that info here.
