Don’t tell me that you have either lost track of the time, or that your simply ‘not ready’ to reveal your hard work? No one wants to be carrying too much excess in the warmer months. That’s ok though for if this sounds like you, I have a sure fire solution that will help you rip up the mid section in record time!

The Challenge – Abs in 6 weeks!

Let’s face it; we need to get on top of things NOW. The longer we stall or just meander though, the less time we will have to showcase our hard work in the summer sun. So let’s get this underway NOW and devise a rapid plan of attack to achieve instant results!

I have created these 10 steps in achieving your goals. Let’s now go through these 1 by 1 and at the end, your abs will be more then just a pipedream.

1 – Goals and Time frames

I know this may sound like a no brainer, but we need to choose a goal and a time frame. Try not to fall victim to just saying “a 6 pack” and “ASAP”, get definite! The better your visualization, the better your plan! The more definite your time frame is, or in this case we could even say DEADLINE, there you have more chance of sticking to your plan when the going gets tough. So we have a goal, and we have a timeframe – now we need understanding of the bigger picture for there is more too it then just crunches.

2 – The BIGGER Picture

To sculpt the perfect midsection, as I said there is more too it then blasting out reps on your ‘AB Master PRO’. To get the best results possible you need to create your plan of attack to compliment ALL aspects of effective programming which not only includes your direct AB training, but the remainder of your resistance training, cardio vascular and fat loss training, nutrition, supplementation and recovery. I will go into each in a little more detail now and the combination of what will result in the best plan for YOU.

3 –Your Abs are just like your other muscles

There is more to a rock solid mid-section then blasting away the crunches every morning. The muscles of the mid-section, namely the Rectus Abdominals, Transverse Abdominals and additionally your Internal and External Oblique’s, they respond to training just like any other skeletal muscle in the body. As such there is no real logical reason that you need to do the volume of work that many will have you believe. Plus, your abs are working constantly in relation to core stability and assisting in every other action that you are doing. Please don’t fall victim to the hype.

With your exercise selection, we choose exercises that will deliver:
- Flexion (crunch, reverse crunches etc)
- rotation (movements that create a ‘twist’)
- isometric contraction (contraction without movement)
- and all of the big exercises like squats, deadlifts and bench press.

Your best AB program will be one that contains elements of all the above.

6 exercise AB Blaster Routine

1 – Lying Leg Raise – 2 sets x 12-15 reps
2 – Crunches – 2 sets x 12-15 reps
3 – Reverse Crunch – 2 sets x 12-15 reps
4 – Rope Crunch – 2 sets x 12-15 reps (or if no access to a machine, hands behind the head crunch)
5 – Bicycle Crunch – 2 sets x 12 reps each side (hands behind the head, you raise the right elbow to the left knee, lower, then repeat for the other side. That is 1 complete rep)
6 – Abdominal Brace/Plank – 2 x 1 minute holds (you can also do a side plank to smash the oblique’s)

4 – Resistance Training

When training for ultimate abdominal development and definition, you should never ignore your other muscle groups. Rather, use the rest of your physique to help showcase your midsection. How so? Well I want you to picture looking at either a picture of yourself or reflection in the mirror. Reducing the size of the midsection is one definite way of making improvements; the other is to highlight the areas that will offset your mid section size.

Shoulders – concentrate on lateral movements and the medial head of the deltoids. This will help to add size and roundness to the area = a better V taper and the illusion of a smaller waist.

Chest – concentrate more on the upper chest which will help in ‘lifting’ your chest higher, again the illusion of a tighter midsection.

Legs – concentrate on the Vastus Lateralis (outer thigh) which will give your legs more ‘sweep’ which again, makes your midsection look smaller.

Arms – concentrate on bigger, compound exercises such as dips and curls. Added arm size, once again will simply help to offset your balance and make your midsection look smaller.

Great results are part real, part illusion – or should I say exaggerating the truth through clever training (also, get a tan and lose the torso hair – it also makes a difference).

5 – Cardio vascular and fat loss training

Hard and heavy weight training is THE best form of exercise for fat loss as it builds muscle, raises metabolic rate, shift in body composition etc but CV training definitely has its place. Over the space of a week, I would schedule in specific times when you would use a high intensity approach for cardio, and other times for a more moderate approach. A lot depends on your availability, but 4-5 sessions per week usually is ideal with 2 harder sessions, and 2-3 moderate sessions

High intensity – just as the name sounds either outdoor or on equipment. My personally preference after a warm up is to perform ‘all out’ for about 15 seconds, and then a lower intensity to recover for 45 seconds. Repeat for 5-15 rounds and your toast! I would also schedule your intense work on the days you are not weight training.

Moderate Intensity – more of a general, moderate and consistent paced output for around 30-40 minutes.

6 – Nutrition

To reveal the abs, you will need to diet! Ultimate definition is more about nutrition then training anyway, that’s my belief. You can do all the training in the world, but if you are still eating way too much food then there is still way too much fat covering your hard work. To extend further, another important factor is if you are more of a ‘sugar burner’ or a ‘fat burner’. The defining definition: a sugar burner is one who has a diet predominant in carbohydrates and a fat burner, one whose diet is higher in protein and fats and lower in carbs. To get the best results, which are achieved by burning the most amount of fat, being in a ‘fat burning’ state is a definite advantage.

How do we create this? We need to focus on a diet higher in protein and good, functional and essential fats, and minimizing the intake of carbs to only a couple times a week to replenish stores and those carbs being of additional good quality. You will need to say good bye to the processed rubbish. We are what we eat, and a good days eating when trying to burn the most amount of body fat could look like:

Breakfast – 3 poached eggs

Morning snack – high quality protein shake in water, with either a handful of almonds of a small tablespoon of natural peanut butter

Lunch – 1 serve lean protein (i.e. – chicken, steak) with mixed fibrous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower etc)

Afternoon snack – high quality protein shake in water, with either a handful of almonds of a small tablespoon of natural peanut butter

Dinner – Similar to lunch, you can substitute the vegetables for a salad (feel free to include a little avocado and olive oil dressing)

7 – Supplementation

Supplements here can make the difference, but can also create un-necessary headaches. Fat burning and thermogenic supplements can definitely help speed up the process and protein shakes can help fill the nutritional void when other good choices are not there, or as an in between meal. But I should also add, remember that protein shakes can also be your un-doing if you have too many. Most trainers I talk too, they consume way more protein then they need. NO natural trainer needs anything like 500g of protein per day which equals 2000 calories. Too many shakes = too many calories = too much fat. Yes, you can get fat from protein and you can get fat from shakes if it is above what you need, even if your mixing those shakes in water (which you should be doing anyway).

Supplements are there to supplement, use to ‘help’ and they will do just that.

8 – Recovery

As I briefly touched on above, your abs are just like any other muscle group. This means there is no reason you need to blast your abs every morning with the Brittney Spears AB Workout before skipping breakfast. As I said before your abs are involved in everything you do so they are ALWAYS getting a workout, but for direct AB work I would not target them specifically anymore then 2 x per week.

9 – Accountability

As you proceed through your plan (with your limited deadline), you need to keep your personal accountability super high. What this means to me, you need to be constantly asking yourself “am I doing everything realistically possible” to achieve my goals by the due date?

- Am I consistent with my training?
- Am I consistent with my nutrition?
- Am I consistent with my supplementation?
- Am I consistent with my recovery?
- What else can I do?

Ask this of yourself everyday. If you happen to have a bad day and slip off the rails, it won’t turn into 2 because you will be able to pull yourself back into gear and start proceeding forward again. It is all about taking stock of your efforts and giving the best you can CONSISTENTLY.

10 – Action

Last one, Action. It really doesn’t matter how great your training is, how great your nutrition is and if you are using the latest fat burner, unless you are consistent and you actually GIVE IT A GO which means TAKING ACTION, then you will never get there. Don’t worry about excuses; leave that for the guys who are swimming in t-shirts all summer. You have a rock hard mid section to reveal!

Josh Dickinson is a co-founder and the Training Director for Physique Essentials, an ‘exclusive’ Personal Training and Massage provider based in the Albury/Wodonga region. If results are what you are after, please check out their website http://www.physique-essentials.com

For example, you want carbohydrate for energy, but too much carbohydrate can make you lethargic or make you crash. If you focus on a lot of protein, your body won’t have a readily available source of energy because it takes longer to break down protein than carbohydrate.

Athletes need a different type of diet than a weightlifter, because an athlete is interested more in speed and endurance than in bulk. However, most athletes do resistance training as well, and they use up muscle aerobic movement too, so how much protein do they need?

The answer to the question of what athletes should do is based on what is most healthy. Protein is what builds up muscle; fat is needed for your hormones, nervous system, and brain; and carbohydrate is the quickest way to provide energy for your daily activity and to maintain a constant supply of blood sugar to the brain. If you are missing any of these nutrients, or don’t have them in adequate quantities, you will suffer from ill health, or at least less health than you could enjoy.

Nutrients and Metabolism

At each meal, you should have a balance of the three different macronutrients. If you had just carbohydrates, for example, your body would be missing protein nutrients that slow down the breakdown of carbohydrate into sugar, and you would find yourself starving soon after you ate. You also wouldn’t be providing your body with the building blocks to restore and add muscle after you exercise, either. Plus, it’s harder to fill up on carbohydrate than protein, making it likely that you’ll eat more than you should.

This illustrates the importance of balance in your diet.

Diet also depends on timing. An athlete who is about to go on a race should have a large supply of carbohydrate to run on, so that he doesn’t run out of energy. However, without protein to make the sugar break down more slowly, he might find himself with a burst of speed and then a blood sugar crash. Obviously, this isn’t a good outcome.

The other major factor is an athlete’s particular metabolism. Some people simply burn calories faster than others. If you know that you have a very fast metabolism, you will probably need protein to offset the speed of breaking down sugar for energy. Someone whose metabolism is not quite as fast might get by with mostly carbohydrate.

The Supplements

Also, never forget why you eat. It’s not just about being the best athlete or looking good. It’s about giving your body the nutrients it needs. If you want to really be your best, you need to be getting all the essential nutrients.

This means possibly going for an all-in-one supplement like the Universal Nutrition Animal Pak, or buying separate supplements if you know you’re getting most of what you need in your diet. However, do consider what your diet isn’t giving you and fill in the gaps.

For example, if you aren’t drinking orange juice with breakfast, you might want to start taking Vitamin C. If you don’t eat fish fairly often, you might want some Optimum Nutrition Flaxseed Oil to get the essential fatty acids you’re missing.
Other supplements you might want include creatines like Bronx Wild Bull, chromium, green tea extract, a protein powder like Dymatize Elite, and anything that can assist you in reaching your goals as an athlete and a health enthusiast.

When it comes to the proper diet for a bodybuilder or weightlifter, there are two factors at work: one is doing what is healthy and will allow you to sustain heavy lifting for an extended period of time, while the other is maximizing the effects of your workouts to have the biggest muscles you can. You probably know that you are going to have to have a unique diet to support your weight lifting routine, but what happens if you decide to stick with an average-calorie diet, as opposed to a higher-calorie diet?

Well, at best, you would be holding yourself back from experiencing all the benefits of frequent workouts. At worst, you would be actively damaging your body without fully repairing it, because you just don’t have enough calories or nutrients to keep up with your level of activity. In this case, you are also more prone to injury, because your body isn’t at its best when it isn’t getting what it needs.

Defining “Enough” Calories

You should understand that frequent exercise is going to use up more calories. While you might feel like you should lower your calories to lose weight, this is not necessarily a good idea if your calories are already hovering around an average quantity for your body type. You need enough calories to support the activity you’re doing.

Skipping out on food or having too-small meals is going to come back to bite you later on. Your body will naturally be more equipped to lose weight as you put on muscle, so if one of your main motivations to become a weightlifter is for the weight loss, keep this in mind.

What Does the Diet of a Bodybuilder or Weightlifter Look Like?

What specifically should the diet of a bodybuilder or weightlifter contain? There are three types of macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. What you want are the healthiest types of each, and in the proper ratio to each other.

Generally, you want to keep the caloric intake of protein and carbohydrates even, and have about half the calories of those in good fats. If you don’t get enough of each, you won’t maximize the results of your workouts, and you might even be harming yourself. Since one presumed goal of exercise is to get healthier, this is the last thing you want to do.

Another important feature of a bodybuilding diet is frequent meals interspersed throughout the day. Instead of two or three large meals, you should have four to six smaller meals. The major reason for this is that you need a lot of energy, but you need it throughout the day, not all at once. If you were to eat a lot of food all at once, you would actually feel less energetic, as your body would be using more energy for digestion than for activity. Keeping meals light and healthy will give you the energy you need for lifting and living.

Vitamins and Supplements

Finally, consider the importance of vitamins and supplements in maximizing your workouts. You should take Vitamin C for its antioxidant properties, green tea extract pills to reach thermogenesis, a creatine like Bronx Wild Bull for better overall recovery and performance, a source of essential fatty acid sources like Optimum Nutrition Flaxseed Oil for overall health, chromium supplements for a better metabolism, etc.

You might also try a protein powder to maximize the bulking potential before a workout, such as Dymatize Elite. And for convenience’s sake, consider an all-in-one supplement like the popular Universal Nutrition Animal Pak. Through a strong diet and a range of helpful supplements, you will achieve the kind of success you desire out of weight lifting and bodybuilding.

Every day, you eat a certain number of calories, and you also burn a certain number of calories. The number of calories burned is based on your metabolic rate and your activity level. Your resting metabolic rate (also called “basal metabolic rate”) is the amount of energy that you expend if you’re not doing any activity. In other words, if you slept all day and had not eaten for twelve hours, you would simply need enough energy to maintain the functioning of your vital organs and nothing more.

Most people do more than nothing (shocking, isn’t it?), but to truly succeed at weight loss and maintain a healthy weight, you have to understand the way calories and your metabolism are interconnected. Taking your resting metabolic rate and adding the kind of activity you do on a daily basis, you’ll determine the number of calories you need. Then, you exercise enough to burn more calories, forcing your body to tap into your fat stores for the remainder of the energy you require.

Thermogenesis

Depending on your metabolic rate, you might need to do more activity for your body to look for energy in your fat cells. If you have a fast metabolism, you are able to do very little activity and still burn up most of what you took in, because your body uses those calories. If you have a slow metabolism, more of your calories will turn to fat, and you will have to work out harder and for a longer period of time if you want to lose weight.

And that brings us to thermogenesis. Thermogenesis is the process by which your body’s metabolism takes fat and converts it to heat. When you have a fast metabolism and need more energy than your caloric intake is providing, your body naturally turns to your fat stores for energy. Natural thermogenesis occurs when you are cold; your body shivers to keep you warm, but in doing so, it is also required to find a source of energy to create heat.

You’ve probably heard at some point that you burn calories when you’re cold and shivering. Now you know why.

Stepping On the Metabolic Accelerator

Of course, while shivering is natural, this isn’t the only way to experience thermogenesis. For a minute, consider your metabolic rate to be like a car. The car is plugging along on cruise control at about 60 miles per hour, and it really doesn’t change too much, except on the occasional hill or dip in the road. However, give it a burst of gas and suddenly it roars to life and starts accelerating, breaking free of the cruise control. Your metabolism is just like this. If you want to have a change in your weight, but your metabolism is still plugging along at the same rate, it will be harder to succeed.

Instead of trying desperately to lose weight and not getting the kind of success you want because of a slower metabolism, you can actually induce what is called the “thermogenic effect” or “thermogenic response.” With this, it’s like you just pressed on the accelerator and revived your body.

Your body will suddenly need to burn more calories in order to keep up with your thermogenic state, and you can take advantage of this if you have a healthy exercise and diet regimen. If you are in thermogenesis, the boost can be all you need to feel more energy, burn more calories, and ultimately, lose more weight.
The great news is you can get this response by taking certain supplements like Muscletech Hydroxycut Hardcore, which contains green tea extract.

There are plenty of products out there that prey on people’s desire to get “instant results” without any effort. Hopefully, you already know that there is no such thing as a miracle cure. With that fact being understood, there is a way to jumpstart your metabolism and experience significant health benefits at the same time: green tea. You may have heard about the benefits of green tea already, or you may be entirely unfamiliar with them.

Weight loss is really all about how much energy you are using versus what you are consuming (best expressed with the popular “calories in versus calories out” expression). When you break it down this way, it sounds deceptively simple, but it really can be a challenge to lose weight. Green tea extract pills induce a higher metabolic rate in you; the official term for this is “thermogenesis.”

Thermogenesis and Antioxidants

In a nutshell, thermogenesis is the production of heat in the body. Everybody converts the food they eat into energy, and in that process, heat is produced. Sometimes, the body needs more energy than you are taking in, and it finds this energy in your stores of fat. As you can tell, exercising enough and eating right are still necessary if you want to be at your ideal weight, but a metabolism boost might be all you need to start shedding pounds and building muscle.

Green tea helps you accomplish thermogenesis through caffeine. When your body is stimulated, it will start burning up more energy. If you’ve ever looked up the ingredients on any diet pill, you have probably noticed caffeine on the list for this reason. Caffeine is a natural ingredient in green tea, and you can enjoy a higher metabolic rate and an increase in fat burning just by regularly taking a green tea extract pill. At the same time, the increase in energy can make it easier for you to hit the gym or go for a jog.

That’s not all that green tea offers, however. While turning up your body’s metabolic rate can help you shed pounds and feel more energetic, green tea also is a very powerful antioxidant, cleansing your body of toxins and making you healthier overall. Catechins are compounds found naturally in green tea, and they serve as both antioxidants and metabolites. From them, you can potentially enjoy a lower risk of chronic diseases (including a lower prevalence of carcinogenesis, which is what causes cancer), antibiotic properties, and even reduced signs of aging.

Other Benefits of Green Tea

While the inducement of thermogenesis and the presence of catechins are green tea’s biggest draws, there are still more benefits that have been demonstrated. Green tea has inhibited two enzymes: one, called amylase, breaks down carbohydrate into sugar, and so slowing the enzyme down keeps you from feeling hungry as quickly after you’ve eaten (an effective way to avoid cravings). The second, called fatty acid synthase is part of the process of converting carbohydrate into fat.

Naturally, inhibiting these two enzymes can result in dramatic weight loss, because you are less likely to overeat and less likely to put on fat. If you want to lose weight and be healthier, green tea extract supplements such as NOW Green Tea Extract and PrimaForce Lean Green are excellent tools that can help you with your health goals.

It’s a complex process that needs a lot of input in order to work properly. It must work efficiently and productively or else the body will run out of energy simply because the cells are not storing nutrient molecules. Most people know there are different types of nutrients known as protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals and each is transported by the bloodstream. But that’s where the similarity stops.

Different nutrients are broken down and absorbed in unique ways. For example, carbohydrates are first broken down by enzymes present in saliva whereas proteins are first broken down in the stomach and small intestine. Playing a vital role in all of this are elements such as essential amino acids and alpha lipoic acids.

Carbohydrates

Enzymes play an essential role in the digestion of carbohydrates. The enzymes in your saliva start the process and additional enzymes produced in the pancreas and small intestine finish the job. The process for complex carbohydrates is essentially food item to maltose, which is starch molecules, to glucose which passes through the small intestine into the blood stream.

Complex carbohydrates are called starches. Simple carbohydrates are sugars. Carbohydrates are essential for energy production.

Proteins

Proteins are made of two types of amino acids. There are the essential amino acids obtained from food and the nonessential amino acids the body can produce. The process of breaking down proteins begins when they come in contact with stomach enzymes.

The breakdown process is continued in the small intestine where pancreatic and intestinal enzymes break the protein down to its smallest denominator – amino acid molecules. The molecules then pass from the small intestine into the blood stream to be transported.

Fats

Fats are broken down by bile acids produced by the liver and small intestine enzymes. The large fat molecules are reduced to small molecules which are called cholesterol and fatty acids. Bile acids mix with the small fat molecules and makes it possible for them to enter mucosa cells.

At that point the smaller fat molecules reform back into large molecules for transport.

There are two nutrient transport systems involved for moving fat molecules. The first transport system carries fat molecules that have been stored in the lymphatic system to the chest. The second transport is the same one used by carbohydrates and proteins. The second transport system is the bloodstream which carries the fat to various parts of the body to be stored for energy.

Vitamins

Vitamins are elements in food and supplements that assist the biological processes of the body. They help the body use carbohydrates, proteins and fats efficiently. They also are used by the body to produce blood and nervous system cells.

Water soluble vitamins pass through the small intestine into the blood stream for transport. Fat soluble vitamins are transported in the same way as fat molecules.

Minerals

Minerals are essential for many different reasons such as efficient muscle function and healthy bone development. They are found in food and are absorbed through the small intestine into the bloodstream for transport.

Transporting Energy

The nutrient transport system in the body is quite elaborate. The digestion process is designed to convert ingested nutrients into a form that makes it possible for cells to access them. There are a lot of chemical reactions taking place to achieve this goal such as the enzymes mixing with food leading to the breakdown into the smallest molecular components.

Most nutrient molecules combine with oxygen before entering the cell. At this point the cell is storing energy which is constantly being used even when you are sitting still. The metabolic process converts the nutrient/oxygen molecules into heat.

In theory you could obtain all the necessary nutrients through only food, but it seldom is that simple for athletes or people who expend unusual amounts of energy. For example, athletes will use creatine in far larger quantities than someone less active.

There are many supplements that can be added to a person’s diet to enhance the digestion and nutrient transport system. For example, Controlled Labs Purple Wrath contains a number of elements known to improve nutrient delivery such as Lysine, Arginine, and Threonine.

A product such as Dymatize BCAA Complex 5050 contains amino acids that promote protein synthesis. The BSN Nitrix capsules contain arginine and a host of other elements that assist the uptake and storage of nutrients. Furthermore, a product like Dymatize FLUD, which is specifically designed to to aid in nutrient transport, uses a pharmaceutical-grade blend of waxy maize to act as an “internal vacuum” by pulling the nutrients and water directly to muscles without relying on digestion in the stomach.

In addition, the nutrient transport process also impacts glucose levels in the blood. Overloading with carbohydrates and sugar can cause insulin overreactions leading to sudden fatigue. Healthy supplements can supply nutrients without adding sugar or complex carbohydrates that convert to sugar so you avoid blood sugar spiking.

Body building and health supplements can be instrumental in helping the body process nutrients efficiently. When they are used in conjunction with a balanced diet, the athlete will have more energy, greater endurance and a body able two easily withstand the rigours of intense physical activity.

Looking good is much different than feeling good. Just like lifting 150 pounds for a few seconds is much different than lifting strong through a two-hour competition or playing with plenty of energy for a whole game of soccer or tennis. You can tell when athletes get tired too, because they can’t pivot with any speed or respond quickly or even lift their sports equipment with full strength.

So what exactly is fatigue? Why do you get tired and lose energy? Medical researchers have a good understanding now of how the body obtains, stores, and uses energy. It is a complex process that involves oxygen and use of multiple nutrients and elements.

Breaking It Down

Muscles use adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for energy which is a chemical compound. It is needed for muscles to contract. ATP is produced through the normal metabolic process which is the process whereby nutrients are broken down into glucose. This glucose is either used immediately; gets stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen; or is stored as fats, carbohydrates and fats.

Energy is a unit of fuel consumption like a litre of fuel in your car. Muscle ATP is used for those short bursts of intense energy while demanding muscles exert strength such as during weightlifting or kicking a soccer ball. There are also short term energy needs like energy needed for running down the field for a couple of minutes and this process uses the ATP stored as glycogen.

Then there is the need for endurance which is the long term energy use. This energy comes from the metabolised nutrients stored in cells throughout the body.

So where does oxygen fit into the energy picture? Oxygen is needed for endurance energy. When you lift a weight and use the ATP stored in the muscles, oxygen is not being used. Oxygen is not needed to break down or replenish ATP. But when involved in long term physical activity, the body uses the fats, proteins, and carbohydrates for energy and it needs oxygen to break down the ATP.

It doesn’t take long to figure out that low levels of oxygen will lead to fatigue and low energy. If the body can’t convert the fats, carbs, and proteins due to lack of oxygen, it’s just like a car running out of fuel. All the systems are in place and ready to operate, but there is nothing to fuel them.

By the way, during moderate exercise the body may or may not use oxygen to breakdown ATP. The body is so complex and such a sophisticated system it can shift between immediate, short term and long term energy use as needed. But anytime oxygen is used the glycogen breakdown will occur at a slower pace.

ATP On Demand

To reduce fatigue and increase energy, it is critical the body be supplied with the right nutrients and elements it needs to produce glycogen, fats, and carbohydrates in order to produce the right amounts of ATP. ATP is only stored in very small amounts in the body. Athletes who exert effort for more than a few minutes must rely on the body’s ability to produce ATP on demand from nutrients and elements that are supplied.

Creatine phosphate, commonly referred to as just creatine, is one of the elements needed to produce ATP. It is creatine that can reduce muscle burning lactic acid production so muscles don’t tire as quickly. Creatine is manufactured in the body in the liver, kidneys and pancreas, but it needs access to the right supply of certain amino acids.

That is why supplements can be so beneficial in reducing fatigue and increasing energy levels in a number ways. There are a number of high quality supplement products on the market that will supply the amino acids and vitamins the body needs to efficiently break down glycogen into ATP and to produce creatine.

For example, NVE 6 Hour Power contains many essential energy producing elements and vitamins. NOW CoQ10 supplies antioxidants needed by the body to efficiently convert food to ATP. There are many supplementation products like these that supply the ideal amount of vitamins, minerals and essential elements that athletes and sports enthusiasts need in greater quantities than less active people.

The amino acids needed to produce creatine are l-methionine, l-arginine and l-glycine. Then there are elements such as Acetyl-L-Carnitine which assists the metabolic process by promoting the use of fatty acids as fuel and thus increasing endurance. Vitamin B12 assists with iron absorption which improves oxygen transport in the circulatory system. Folic acid (vitamin B9) assists the body with using amino acids and sugar. Magnesium is needed for efficient ATP production.

Mixing It Up

There are many other elements the body needs for energy, and an easy way to insure you are getting adequate supplies is to use a product specially designed for increasing endurance and reducing fatigue. These types of products contain a blend of vitamins, minerals, elements and nutrients. A good example is the Universal Nutrition Animal Pak.

Athletes, exercisers, sports enthusiasts and weekend players all have special needs when it comes to creating and producing energy. It’s no fun to get tired halfway through an activity. A few well-designed supplements can provide exactly what is needed and not being obtained through normal diet.

Using extra energy equates to needing extra fuel.

For example, Green Bulge manufactured by Controlled Labs is a natural supplement that can be taken regularly to promote creatine production. This enables the athlete to endure intense short bursts of activity without getting fatigued. It is also used by bodybuilders to bulk up muscles. Your body produces creatine but not in enough quantity to satisfy the body’s needs when it’s pushed to physical limits.

There are lots of other products on the market promising the same results, but it’s essential that athletes be very careful about the supplement products used. Green Bulge promotes creatine but it does so by supplying glycocyamine and betaine anhydrous which are natural ingredients for the body. This means the product is safe, natural, easily absorbed by the body, and promotes healthy organs.

Starting With Safety First

Supplement safety is a concern every consumer faces, but sports enthusiasts are often even more aware of what they ingest. That’s why supplement manufacturers who produce products that are extensively tested and market proven are the best choices.

It is very important to purchase your supplements from distributors who sell high quality and safe supplements and can back up that claim with clear and honest labelling. Tested manufacturers like Supplements Plus, Avant Labs, and Muscle Tech have been supplying natural supplements for a long while. There are at least 20 supplement brands that can be trusted to provide athletes with the right elements for peak performance.

That brings up another point: when faced with numerous brand choices, how do you know which one to pick? One of the best steps you can take when you are deciding between several different supplement brands is to take the time to read what others like you are saying about the products they have tried. Testimonials and blogs have proven to be great forums for information exchange. Testimonies about actual experiences and the products that work are invaluable.

Not Every Supplement is Created Equal

When physically active, the body has a lot of demands placed on it. For example, a bodybuilder will metabolize creatine at a much higher rate than normal. Athletes often put an enormous strain on the muscles to the point connective tissue is broken down unless the right balance of protein is supplied. Someone who is a sports enthusiast can even strain the digestive system by eating specialized diets that still need the addition of elements such as amino ids, creatine, glutamine, and nutrient transporters.

So what kind of safe supplemental products are on the market for athletes? When investigating the vast variety it can be a bit confusing at first because of the hype. But the fact is there are tremendous products available that supply athletic bodies with exactly what they need to meet the many needs including increasing endurance and strength while also reducing fat by improving the metabolic rate.

For example, Controlled Labs Purple Wreath is called the “Holy Grail” for athletic performance enhancement. It improves the body from three directions: 1) maximizes fat loss so your body is leaner, 2) enables the leaner body to have increased strength and endurance, and 3) enables the leaner body’s muscles to recover quickly from the stress of exercising.

Here is another example of a safe supplement that words in a multi-directional manner. The product Body Octane by MAN Sports will improve athletic performance by enabling muscles to exert more strength for longer periods of time. But it also assists the recuperative power of the muscles. It’s a one-two punch the body needs to perform harder and more efficiently without injury.

A third example of a safe nutritional product is Dymatize Micronized Glutamine. There is scientific evidence that athletes who train excessively will reduce the levels of L-Glutamine in their bodies. Glutamine is a natural element manufactured by the body so taking a supplement according to recommended dosages is safe.

By using a glutamine supplement, athletes can prevent the reduction of glutamine levels while also once again safely provide multiple benefits. These benefits include maintenance of muscle tissue, improved protein processing through the natural digestive process, and enhanced endurance.

Develop a Supplemental Program Safe For You!

These are just 3 examples of the beneficial and safe supplements on the market for athletes or those who are physically active. You should begin with a basic program of supplements that address energy levels, endurance and strength, and recovery. The basic program can then be tweaked as you determine your unique needs.

Are you still tiring too easily? Do your muscles ache after every workout? Are you not having any success at bulking up your muscles? Does it seem to take too much time to recover after a workout? These are the kinds of questions you should continually ask yourself with the goal of developing a supplement program that is safe for YOU.

It is perfectly acceptable to contact the distributor, manufacturer or lab when you are unsure of a certain supplement and want more information. Reputable supplement companies will have expert information readily available for sharing.

It is completely safe to buy athletic performance supplements from a highly regarded internet distributor like Supplements Plus. You should take the same precautions you would take in a store, (read the labels, check the expiration date), but supplements purchased over the internet from a trustworthy site will meet high quality control standards.

By the way, there is another benefit to buying from a great supplements company. You not only are able to purchase high quality supplements, but you will also get great customer service. It’s important to get quality service that matches quality products, because it can be disappointing to buy a product and then have to wait ages before it even ships.

Supplements Plus offers a secure shopping site and fast shipping and those are two features you want no matter where you shop. And if you ever need assistance with your order, you will be sure to appreciate the high level of customer service!

Athletic performance enhancing supplements are an excellent and natural way to get great results in a hurry. You can pump up your workouts, decrease recovery time, increase weight loss, and boost your overall health using safe and effective supplements. So are supplements safe? You bet they are when you buy the right brands!

So which is right? Can you burn fat with no effort or does it take a lot of effort or is the truth somewhere in between? The truth is the body gets some of its energy by accessing the energy which has been stored and the storage units include fat cells.

When you consume food, the nutrients include carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Your digestive system breaks down the food into a form that enables the body to store what it needs for survival. There is a complex process involved of course which includes the need for enzymes called lipases. That is why people with digestive problems often add enzyme supplements to their dietary plans.

Though the body will often rely on carbohydrates for energy, the goal of athletes and exercisers is to efficiently use fat stored in the body in addition to the carbs which power the central nervous system. Once the fat has been stored in what are called adipose cells, the body has a method it uses to access the broken down nutrients.

Fuelling the Body

Fat oxidation is a process which breaks down the fatty acids stored in the cells into a usable energy source. This source is called ATP and it is a major contributor to the ability of the muscle to contract while exerting force at the same time.

Fat oxidation is not dependent on fat consumption. It is more a factor in an energy equation because the amount of fat oxidized is in direct proportion to the amount of carbohydrates available for conversion to energy. When you want to reduce body fat or lose weight, you need to convince the body to release more energy from the adipose tissue cells first instead of seeking carbohydrate energy.

The rate of fat oxidation is a direct result of the amount of exercise you get and the rate of triglyceride release from the adipose tissue. Triglycerides are the fatty acids which result from the conversion of nutrition into usable elements as fat. The process of fat oxidation involves breaking down fats stored in the cells and converting them to either glycerol or fatty acids.

While glycerol is processed by the liver, the fatty acids are carried by the bloodstream throughout the body. That is where nutritional supplements such as the enzyme carnitine can be so beneficial to those wanting to increase fat oxidation in order to reduce fat in the body. Carnitine facilitates the transport of the fatty acids to cell mitochondria.

Improved Transportation System

Supplements including carnitine and other enzymes in addition to essential vitamins and minerals can help the body operate more efficiently all the way to the cell level. Fat oxidation is just one source of energy for the body, but it plays a critical role in weight maintenance and the ratio of fat to lean.

Since carnitine supplements can assist with the transport of fatty acids resulting from fat cell breakdowns to cell mitochondria, levels of energy producing ATP are enhanced as a result of the fat oxidation process. Vitamins, A, B, C and E in addition to glutamine supplements among others stoke that fat burning process so that you really are able to burn more calories, enhance your energy levels, and reduce your body fat at the same time.

During a workout when you are stressing the muscles, cortisol is produced. The cortisol leads to muscle protein breaking down into amino acids which enter the bloodstream. The amino acids then synthesise glucose in the liver for energy. Naturally, if cortisol levels are too high there will be an excess of muscle breakdown.

A Matter of Preservation

The muscle breakdown process is complex, but it is clear that controlling the cortisol production is one of the best ways to prevent muscle breakdown. Fortunately that is easy to do by taking specific supplements which directly combat the breakdown process. In fact, there are a variety of supplements which can limit cortisol production and provide a number of other health benefits.

One of the primary supplements known to prevent muscle breakdown is glutamine. Glutamine is an amino acid found in muscle tissue. It plays a critical role in the synthesis of protein and so can offset some of the effects of elevated cortisol levels experienced after intense workouts. The more glutamine available to the body, the better able it is to combat the muscle breakdown process.

Other important supplements which can prevent muscle breakdown include a host of vitamins and minerals. For example, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and fights free radical damage in the cells throughout the body. Healthier cells work more efficiently and are better able to do their job which in the case of muscles is to produce energy. But vitamin C can also reduce the time it takes for the muscle to rebuild connective tissue.

Other essential vitamins which can prevent muscle breakdown include vitamin A and the vitamin B-complex. Vitamin A assists with the building of muscle tissue. The vitamin B-complex promotes a healthy cardiovascular system which supplies oxygen to the muscles and assists with the digestion of muscle-building protein obtained through diet.

Essential fatty acids also work to prevent muscle breakdown. The Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are used by the body to build strong cell membranes among other benefits. The stronger cells results in stronger body tissue and organs including the muscles.

Don’t Rely Just on Diet

Relying only on diet alone for nutrient balance is difficult when you exercise regularly. This is true for both the average but regular exerciser, and the competitive athlete. It is more a matter of degree than anything else, because each person experiences various levels of stress in the muscles which results in the cortisol production.

Unless you faithfully record your nutrition plan and the nutrients consumed, it’s hard to know you are giving your muscles the right supply of amino acids, vitamins, minerals and other elements needed to prevent muscle breakdown. And elements such as the Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are obtained through diet and supplements and are not synthesised by the body.

There is really only way to insure you are giving your body the nutrients it needs to manage your workout. That insurance is in the form of dietary supplements.