Science
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Low thiamine means more harmful oxidants
Having low levels of thiamine, aka vitamin B1, can increase oxidative stress. Exercise increases the production and circulation of harmful oxidants that can damage your DNA, promote inflammation, slow recovery and potentially cause cancer. Naturally, these harmful oxidants make muscle growth impossible, so reducing oxidants must be your number one priority if you want serious muscle growth. And who doesn’t want that? That’s why new research showing that thiamine deficiency increases oxidative damage underscores the need for bodybuilders to eat a solidly clean and well-balanced diet rich in thiamine and other oxidant eliminators. FUSION FACT You need thiamine to destroy...
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HMB supplements work at any age
There’s a line of reasoning among bodybuilders that goes like this: The older you get, the less muscle you can build, the more fat you gain, and the less effective supplements become at giving you mind-blowing results. While it’s clear that building muscle is harder as you age because of declining hormones, and that gaining fat is easier because of metabolic slowdown, it’s not so clear that supplements work less as you age. And when it comes to beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB), a new study challenges the conventional wisdom. Researchers gave HMB to young, middle-aged and older bodybuilders and found that, regardless...
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Glutamine is vital for natural pumps
You’ve been hearing it for years from bodybuilders, doctors and chemists: When it comes to getting a pump, enhancing blood flow, increasing muscular contraction quality and more, arginine in its various forms is king. But a new German study shows that arginine isn’t the only kid in town. Enter glutamine. Researchers examined the metabolism of glutamine, arginine and citrulline. They found that glutamine contributes 64 percent of the arginine production that results from a single dose of citrulline. The researchers concluded that glutamine is important for natural arginine production. FUSION FACT Arginine may be important for the pump, enhanced blood...
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Cardio doesn’t benefit from creatine
Everyone knows that creatine is simply awesome for building muscle, and that cardio is essential for good, strong cardiovascular health and speedy recovery from brutal workouts. But have you ever wondered what the effect of creatine and cardio together would be? Scientists did, so they set out to find out. Scientists divided subjects into a group taking creatine and a group taking a placebo. Both groups did an intense cardio program for 11 weeks, with three cardio sessions per week, each lasting for 45 minutes. The scientists were testing to see the effects of creatine on cardiovascular health, as measured...
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Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Affects on Inflammatory
Bodybuilder’s use an array of supplements to help them in the gym, or getting them more jacked and maybe just for overall health. One of the essential supplements that many bodybuilders take is fish oil. Fish oil has been shown numerous times to promote heart health, help with one’s joints and may aid in preventing heart and stroke. Fish oils have also been shown to reduce inflammation, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. A recent study looked at what supplementing with an omega-3 fatty acids, which fish oil essential is, had on the soreness that occurs...
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Importance of BCAAs in Training
As every bodybuilder knows, protein is essential to getting huge. It provides one of the building blocks, amino acids, that we need to pack on pounds of muscle. Amino acids have their various classifications, and perhaps the most important type is branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Why are BCAAs so important to a bodybuilder and why is it perhaps mandatory to supplement with them? Well, here’s why: BCAAs are metabolized when we work out. When we’re resting between workouts, the body is repairing damaged muscle. In order to repair muscle, the body uses BCAAs. So if the BCAAs are used up...