Talking about one of the series of nutritional supplements that improve fitness: whey protein, creatine, branched chain amino acids

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Author: Xiaoneng (from Douban)
Source: https://www.douban.com/note/603471657/
 
I have always used only whey protein and creatine for fitness, but a colleague recently prepared Resuming fitness, fitness has not yet started, I bought a lot of supplements (Supplements), and also took pictures and sent them to the chat group in our office. There are many things I have seen before but never used, so I spent After a period of time, the knowledge of these nutrients has been supplemented. Then I bought a new supplement for over $200 and started using it not long ago.

This series of articles is a summary of my research. Because all the literatures used in my research are in English, and my study of fitness theory is also after I went abroad, I translated most of the terms in this article from English to Chinese using Google Translate, because I only knew their English name. I hope the translation is accurate, I can't be bothered to check it on Baidu. There are also some that I don't know how to translate, and Google's translation of the donkey's lips is not the horse's mouth, so I will use English directly.

I am going to write a series, and each article will only introduce a few nutritional products, because there are too many, it is too long to put them in one article.

1. Whey Protein

I have been using whey protein for four years, and it should be said that it is the most famous nutritional product in the fitness industry. I think for most people who don't have a high pursuit of fitness, but just want to maintain their figure, lose weight a little, and gain muscle, only using whey protein is enough. Of course, most people who work out don't think that they just want to keep in shape, lose weight a little bit, and gain muscle. Studying fitness knowledge and enough self-discipline to adjust and maintain your fitness and diet plan, but fitness intermittently, and finally find that you are not making much progress.

What is whey protein? It's actually a by-product of the cheese-making process. Put the enzyme in the milk and let it sit for a while, and the milk will layer, a solid layer and a liquid layer. The solid part (Curd) is the cheese of the future, and the liquid part (Whey) is whey. The unpurified whey contains very little whey protein, only about 35%, and there is still a lot of fat and lactose in it. It is not a very ideal substance, so it takes continuous refining to make whey protein powder suitable for fitness.

There are two types of whey protein, one is called Whey Protein Concentrate and the other is Whey Protein Isolates. The latter is the former after more purification, so the protein purity is higher, and the fat and lactose content is less. Another property of Isolates is fast absorption, which has both disadvantages and advantages. The advantage is that after drinking, the protein can be quickly absorbed by the human body and used to synthesize the protein required by the muscles. One is to promote the absorption of blood sugar by cells in the blood, which leads to a decrease in the sensitivity of insulin receptors on the cells (Desensitization), so the body will secrete more insulin. Type 2 diabetes is formed after this vicious cycle occurs too many times. of.

Another benefit of Whey Isolates is that there is less lactose, so if you are Lactose Intolerant, Isolates will be more suitable.

My fitness trainer has repeatedly insisted that I only use Isolates. I believe in his choice. Why? Here's a photo of him:

I drink whey protein twice a day, once just after I wake up, to supplement the protein my body uses up during sleep (I eat Cottage Cheese before bed because it's rich in casein, Casein is digested slowly, which can continuously supply energy to the body for a long time during sleep, reducing the body's breakdown of protein in the body), and the other is within 10 minutes after exercising.

In the morning I use 30g protein whey protein (two scoops, of course, protein and measuring scoops vary by brand) and post workout 45g - 60g protein whey protein.

The post-workout whey protein intake is recommended with something sweet, such as bananas, because sugar helps protein absorption.

Most cheap whey protein contains Soy, in the form of Soy Lecithin, because Soy Lecithin is an Emulsifier that makes protein powder and water better and faster blend together, making it easier to stir. I can understand that merchants put emulsifiers into protein powders, because if you look at the reviews of protein powders on Amazon, you will find that many of them give one star because the protein powder is not easy to stir, but better protein powder will Use sunflower lecithin instead of soy lecithin, or leave out the emulsifier at all, as soy is known for its phytoestrogens, which bodybuilders avoid Even for people who are not exercising, the negative effect of estrogen on the body is greater than the positive, so I try to buy any food that does not contain soy products. Yes, I look at the ingredient list and nutrition list for everything I buy, all foods. So I don't like the fact that the nutrition table of Chinese food only uses 100 g as a unit, and I don't like that it does not list the sugar content separately, but includes it in carbohydrates.

I have tried many brands of whey protein, and compared the whey protein nutrition table and ingredient list of several times more brands. At present, my favorite whey protein with the above advantages is this: http:// amzn.to/2j2P5TN. Looking at the big bucket, it doesn't take long for me to drink like this.

2. Creatine (Creatine)

I have been using creatine for a year. This nutritional product is not as common as whey protein, but I think it is still the most famous fitness nutritional product other than whey protein. public.

Many people think that creatine is a hormone similar to testosterone. In fact, creatine is a mixture of three amino acids (Amino Acid), and amino acids are the components of protein itself. Creatine is naturally found in most meats and fish, including humans.

The main function of creatine is to give you energy, allowing you to exercise more intensely and better stimulate muscle growth.

If you haven't slept in your junior high school biology class, you should know that ATP is the main source of energy for the human body, and ATP is decomposed into ADP to generate energy. ADP loitering around in the body is useless. Creatine's job is to convert these vagrant ADP back into ATP to continue producing energy.

According to this principle, creatine is also helpful for the operation of the brain, and the increase of creatine in the body will also lead to the improvement of brain function, which is also confirmed by the latest scientific research.

Another role of creatine is to promote muscle synthesis. Because it can replenish water to muscle cells, muscle cells will grow more diligently after absorbing more water. This is why everyone says to drink more water after drinking creatine.

I hesitated for a while before I started to use creatine, because some data show that creatine will have side effects for a long time, but I have been using creatine for a year and have not experienced any side effects, so I am more assured about the safety of creatine of.

Some people say that creatine should be taken before a workout. If you use Pre Workout, take a look at the ingredients list, 99% of it contains creatine. But my coach said that as long as you eat creatine every day to keep it at a stable level in your body, you don't need to eat it before working out. So I put 5g of creatine in my protein powder every morning.

Some people advocate overloading (Load) creatine, which is to eat 15-25 g per day at the beginning, eat for five days, let the creatine in the body reach saturation, and then reduce it to 5 g per day to maintain saturation. In fact, it is not necessary. If you eat 5 g a day for 30 days, your body will be saturated with creatine. It's a question of speed. Fitness is a marathon, not a 100-meter sprint. 25 days is not that important, and overloading will increase the risk.

Taking 3-5 g per day is the recommended amount in most literature, I recommend 5 g.

The creatine I take is this: http://amzn.to/2jOmzsW. Although it has five stars on Amazon and more than 9,000 reviews, it is not packaged in buckets, and you have to find an empty bucket to put it in. But if you don't care about the packaging, I still recommend it.

3. Branched Chain Amino Acid (BCAA, Branched Chain Amino Acid)

Like creatine, branched chain amino acid is a mixture of three amino acids, of which Leucine, as the most useful amino acid, can not only promote protein synthesis, but also It can improve the ability of cells to synthesize proteins (Capacity).

It's not enough to boost protein synthesis, BCAAs also slow down the breakdown of proteins. Because it can reduce the activity of substances that break down proteins, it can also block the expression of DNA about the production of such substances. This last sentence can be a bit difficult to understand. In this way, it is written in a person's DNA that he is very likely to have lung disease, but it does not mean that the person will have lung disease. If the person uses other methods (healthy living habits, diet, etc.) to make this description of lung disease in DNA If you can't "express" it, then this person will not get lung disease. By the same token, branched-chain amino acids block the "expression" in the DNA described in this paragraph that produces substances that break down proteins.

Because of this advantage of branched-chain amino acids, it is very useful when dieting and reducing fat. Dieting to reduce fat will inevitably reduce muscle, because food supplies less energy to the body, the body will find muscle for it, thus leading to muscle breakdown. This becomes even more pronounced as your fat percentage decreases, as less energy is stored in the body. But branched-chain amino acids allow you to lose fat without losing as much muscle because it slows down the rate of muscle breakdown, so if you're on a diet to lose weight, you might as well drink some branched-chain amino acids.

You must know that the rate of protein increase in the body is equal to the rate of protein synthesis minus the rate of protein breakdown, so branched-chain amino acids kill two birds with one stone and help in both directions.

That's not enough, branched-chain amino acids have another benefit, which is that they can help with greater intensity fitness. Tryptophan is an amino acid that is converted into serotonin in the brain, and serotonin causes fatigue and sleepiness. People can fall asleep at night, there is a lot of credit for serotonin. But fitness will lead to faster production of serotonin, so people's fatigue will also increase with the extension of fitness time. However, branched-chain amino acids compete with tryptophan, suppressing the speed at which it enters the brain. With less tryptophan in the brain, the production of serotonin will become slower, and people will not be so easily fatigued, so they can carry out greater intensity. and longer workouts.

In fact, whey protein contains branched chain amino acids, but from the perspective of optimization, it is not enough. So I also supplement with 10 g of BCAAs every day before my workout. And because branched-chain amino acids are consumed in the process of fitness, I will also drink 10 g of branched-chain amino acids with protein powder after the workout to promote muscle recovery.

The branched-chain amino acids I currently drink are this: http://amzn.to/2iT7dEg

So much has been said about these three nutritional supplements that improve fitness, and the next few articles will be more niche nutritional supplements, because The "public" is all finished in this article.